Not For Now

Attend to the sound of the far distance.

Know what few now living will experience.  Listen, and hear.

Emerging Figures  by Black Mountain School

Seeming

Some cultural losses cannot be replaced.

In consequence, cultures change; remote Time Past and Time Future are no longer recognizable.

Tabula Rasa to Total Effect II

Perspectives constantly evolve.

Nonetheless, a single perspective cannot be imposed upon reality, and there are such things as objective facts.  As a means of expression, the arts can promote specious and absurd ideas and viewpoints as easily as do other process of communication, and, in point of fact, have their own traditions for doing so.  One clean slate is as inconsequential as another, and the forces of history continue to have effects, with or without their being acknowledged by anyone in particular.

A "Single Shadow" Theory

Disingenuous, facile arguments to the contrary, music can have far reaching impact and influence.

When this is not the case, other, "more serious" issues have superseded basic cultural values at the expense of both individuality and community.  These issues always have the appearance of profound crises, and they always have a totalitarian source and origin, as the historical record of such times reveals.  But, for good or ill, one may only convey such things clearly through implication, thus art.

Far Ranges

Exceptional cultural developments, once grasped, elevate entire societies.

Not being understood, such developments are encountered only in whispers, scattered like seeds.

In either case, the work is no less essential, while the artist is of no more profound importance, and pretense is no less absurd.

Aesthetics

Every type of art illuminates, but cognizance of meaning is not effortless. Nor should it be.

Failure to grasp the abstract nature of ideas and the inability to sense the realities of the human condition are the consequences of individual and social errors for which civilization bears little, if any, responsibility.  The state of ignorance is one of worthlessness, and it was ever thus.

Exercise V

Conceive as does the sculptor, who "releases" the work within the stone block.

Listen, and hear, the sound composition within the sonic environment and in the mind, by perceiving in both active and passive perspectives, which is to say, consciously and objectively on the one hand, and subjectively on the other, observing perceptual, emotional coloration.  Using the most effective instrumentation*, recreate the conditions and experience.

* My preference is the Korg Wavestation synthesizer, for its subtlety and range of aural expressiveness.