Week 9 3/3/19

What is the way of sound?

Every element of the surroundings resonates with energy, vibration, and frequency.  This is a function of change, expansion, and consciousness.

Ambimusica.com

Some Will Understand, Others Will Not

Bring the uncanny into expression.  It is a tall order, yet it can be done.

The beginning is abstract, that is to say, theoretical.  This vision must comport with the possibility of perceptual reality that may be rendered in concrete form.  For the composer, this acknowledges the fact that sounds must be transformed and synthesized to evoke extramundane experience, and then juxtaposed and reproduced in aesthetic contexts unrelated to designs generally attributed to music, while being accessible within the sphere of art.

What the mind conceives, the hand may render.  Listen, and hear.

Ambimusica.com

Self, Nature, Sound

Observe the impress of nature upon the human world, as opposed to the common perspective.

Cultures move toward the natural world and away from natural reality according to the attitudes of the moment, but of all artistic expressions, the content of musical works is generally confined to the realm of the personal and social.

Whereas surrealism, pop art, and other emotionally charged forms like abstract expressionism have their musical counterparts in such styles as jazz fusion music, one must look to the classical tone poem and modern minimalism to get even a limited sense of the art of sound being used to convey objective perceptions of the world.  There are few analogous modes of a musical nature for concepts such as those of the "still life" form, landscape painting, or impressionism, because it is a matter of exhaustive theorizing and experimentation to come to terms with such concepts as an individual artist.

But, having settled these matters, the composer is exploring unique and fascinating sonic terrain while experiencing the unprecedented effects of sounds that are at once musical, non-musical, and engaged with human reality and the natural world in balanced measure.

Now, This Place

Consider a balance of human sounds and the natural world.

It is an error to think of humanity and nature as mutually exclusive.  Listen, and hear.

Light, Tone, Shade, Shape

Set aside all conceptions and subjective ideas regarding music.

Sound environments may be developed in much the same ways as colors and shapes are advanced upon a canvas.

Depth, Distance, Shape

The vantage point is a hillside looking down upon a river some two hundred yards below, and above the treeline.

A steady and prolonged gust of wind blows between the riverbanks, from the water level to upwards of the treetops, a vast current of rushing air, approaching in the distance, following the flow, and fading down the distant waters like the passing of a ghost train, almost visible, vaguely palpable, then gone away, a thing alive, a living sound.

The composer would do well to bring the merest reflection of such an experience into being.

Tone and Spirit

Out of surroundings, impressions.

Out of impressions, meaning. The objective and subjective combine; sounds emerge, and are directed to total effect.  Within aesthetic beauty, find recognition, perception of atmospheres, and in moments, strangeness, the uncanny.

Art and Atmosphere, Sound and View

Place perception in context.

Now the composer and listener, artist and observer, given diversity of experience, may discern unique perspective as percipients.  If engaged, intellect, emotion, or the spiritual may dominate, or they may balance together.

Each point of view, initially defined by natural differences, gains a degree of unity and a sense of meaning, established by setting and circumstances.

Capture

Color the air.

Set aside cultural associations and emotional connotations, experiencing sound as environmental art.

Experience and Imagine

See and hear with the mind's eye and the inner ear.

The sound of tea roses spilling over a garden wall.  Deserted street in evening mist.  Summer lightning, early starlight, scent of salt water and wood smoke.

Voice says, "Listen..."

Heightening

Social contexts favor culturally familiar musical forms, while personal environments tend to reflect the state of mind and mood of the listener.

Satellite radio channels, for instance, attract the particular interests of specific audiences, as clubs and coffee houses do their clientele.  Individual audio players, on the other hand, invariably contain highly personalized playlists.

Contemplative music and sound designs are distinctive in their appeal to both public and personal contexts.  Such works are essentially representative of serene and elevated perspectives, whether in conjunction with ceremony and ritual, artistic productions, or in simply enhancing the atmospheres of living spaces.