Week 1 1/5/2020

Dismiss the subjective.

Observe and give due consideration to the surroundings. 

Deny false perspectives and they become obvious.

Week 44 11/5/2017

Listen, and hear, becoming aware of the preponderance of musical artifacts.

This is the consequence of a long standing, selective process of exclusion of musical artists from the commercial cultural setting, specifically in the pursuit of extravagant political agendas.

Music culture must evolve naturally, because manipulation of musical culture destroys it.

Ambimusica.com

Singularity of Form and Content

Ubiquity and saturation have reduced all media to a nugatory state.

Feigned interest is the rule of the day.  One can no longer say, such and such a thing is "marvellous", or "unique",  Availability and repetition renders even the finest forms commonplace, mundane, and, to some extent, regardless of quality, banal.

Those seeking authentic representations of experience must discover expression that is sui generis, uncanny, unexpectedly original, and transformational.  One must go far beyond externals to do so.

Ambimusica.com

Orwellian Generic Pop

Observe the diversion of all cultural currents into endless deserts of existential meaninglessness.

The choice is one of freedom of thought and action predicated upon individual responsibility or the subjection to superficially benign absolute power with its dubious comforts, ultimately resulting in the universal eradication of all essential liberties.

Clear

If nothing else, eliminate cultural detritus.

Media obsessions, "conversations" and "issues" comprise a single burden; it is an unnecessary one.

Lead, Or Be Led

I don't presume to speak for artists. They can speak for themselves, as I do on behalf of my work.

I believe reality is far more than that revealed by the senses, and that it can be perceived, by degrees, in the light of reason and free will, the spiritual faculties. Insights and understanding gained in such a way may be artistically expressed, and thus refute the debased assertions of the narrow-minded, the materialistic, and the totalitarian who would dictate the terms of human experience.

Interpretations

An individual referred to one of these works today as "Zen Music".

The particular piece was the album Night Traffic, and the individual remains unaware that I am the composer and producer of the work.  A different perspective on the familiar is always suggestive.

That someone, in the midst of initiating a discussion about progressive music, listened to the sounds and associated them with the view of Zen represented in popular culture-- one of calm and a general sense of equanimity of attitude-- indicates a desirable effect.

Culture Paradox

Observe the "information society".  Find knowledge ubiquitous, literacy merely functional.

When this plethora of information leads to the assumption that the possession of an internal fund of knowledge is unnecessary, the error is one of profound consequence. Consider only the implications of failed, archaic, totalitarian ideas impressed upon art, politics, and the social order because their outward appearances give the uninformed the specious impression of "novelty". Yet this is of very little moment in comparison to the mass abdication of critical reason it presupposes.

Thus the essential nature of the contemplative, and of atmospheric sound art to enhance reflection.

Overwrite Antiquity

Forgotten events are in motion.

The composer will do well to capture their forces, origins, tones and dynamic movements.

Their essential natures may be lost to contemporary understanding, but not to the modern listener, who feels their impulses in the unformed sounds of imagination.

Cycles, Vibrations, Fasces

Listeners display curiosity, flexibility, self-possession, and respect for the arts and artists.

Consumers want conformity, particularly in thought and action, with little cost or consequence.

Any cursory survey of popular music immediately reveals well-defined contrasts between the genuinely creative work and the fabricated reflection of popular opinion.  There are myriad implications.  And they are not worth my time, listener, or yours.

One / Not One

The composer and artist, among others, is forced to view culture critically.

One cannot simply muse upon content and technique, presentation, continuity, and form, or be concerned only with aesthetic outcomes.  Social dynamics generate cultural pressures, and those coercive influences are applied toward conformity of thought and action as manifested in cultural expectations.  One must be open, yet aware, of choices that lead to subjection to societal diktat or autonomy of thought and action-- if one is to be responsible to one's work.

Elementary

Tones create simple metaphors.

Combined, tones expand, in the manner of ideas expanding into concepts.

Atmospheres illuminate settings; settings contribute to perspectives; aesthetic pleasure and communication between composer and listener grows deeper, wider, and more elevated, ultimately altering perception and refining the art of listening.

Sonic Memory and Aural Flux

Re-imagine the beauty of events in auditory impressions.

Envision the sounds of numerous such events in combinations and permutations designed to reveal their essential meanings.

This is aesthetic revolt against the constraints of cultural certainty.

Break Through in Grey Room

Subjection to immediacy obstructs equanimity, restricts perception, and hinders communication of meaning and value.

The imposition of instantaneous direct involvement with media upon consciousness narrows and distorts perspective, yet it is most often a matter of choice and habit perpetuated by technological culture and its proponents.  As such it is within the power of one's will to determine the extent of its necessity and desirability, given cognizance of the reality and the self-aware capacity to call it into question analytically.  Certainly this suggests the virtue of direct perception, as well as that of art in opposition to illusion.

Consider the effect of the sounds of cicadas at night on the people of the late prehistoric ages.

Situation and Scenario

Art creates context outside the ordinary.

With situation, tone, and setting circumscribed for aesthetic perspective and perception, any artistic expression may be placed for greatest enhancement of total effect.  As courtyards and scenic walks are established for such purposes, so may the visual and musical arts find imaginative placements outside the mediocre and mundane.

Thought and Feel

Lucid perception stimulates clarity of thought and insight.

In giving thought to the content of the arts and experiences open to personal choice, it is plain and clear which ones elevate or degrade awareness and understanding.

The way of the artist is to perceive and create, and more, to sustain.

Culture and Consciousness

As speech patterns vary according to geography and background, so do perceptions of the arts.  This is particularly the case with music, as it is universally constant.

As a result listening habits become fixed and ingrained, with little variation over time, as is only natural.

This is not to say that the adventurous listener will not discover the extraordinary, but to note the distance from the commonplace that must be crossed to connect with such works.

Perceptions in Obscurity

Accepting the "given" in regard to music, all the elements of understanding fall into place.

The listener then enjoys certain types of music, dislikes others, or is neutral in point of view regarding them. There is nothing to think about; either it provides subjective pleasure or it does not, whether it is a masterwork filled with passion and spiritual intensity or it merely has a good beat and you can dance to it.

The detached observer takes a different perspective, recognizes the various aspects of music for the effects they produce, considers their myriad forms and patterns, and notes the variables and extremes in dynamics, sophistication, technique, presentation and instrumentation that define the genres and appeal to both the popular and refined tastes and sensibilities.

Set aside the given of  "musical appreciation" along with the fashions, the attendant subcultures, the platitudes of "show business", and it becomes certain there is much more to the art of sound than adherence to cultural norms and well-worn styles.  Freed from form and formula, sounds and tones, in pattern and combination, can enhance consciousness and elevate experience in ways far beyond those to which listeners are accustomed.

To listen and to hear is prescience.

Gesture, Word, Tone II

Archetypal sounds are imbued with meanings recognized across all cultures and understood according to their universal associations.

All languages speak to the poetic essence of aural meaning.  These are the sounds of ceremony and ritual, triumph and whimsy, the awe-inspiring, the bittersweet, the fearful and the serene.

Drum, flute, gong, voice, stringed instrument, bell, shaker; through variation and combination these come to represent the essential elements of ideas and emotions in symbolic ways, as do verbal expressions.

And like love, honor, justice, sadness, threat, peace and all other symbolic meanings communicated via language, whether in casual, formal, popular, esoteric, spiritual or secular terms, a profound degree of meaning is conveyed in the form of tone-- immediately recognized, instantly and intensely understood.

Singular Force

That which is driven by ideas exists by virtue of principles, and by its own merits.

Independent thinkers, that is to say, people of individual imagination and autonomous will, are so constituted as to resist being subsumed into the easy comfort of cultural conformity; it is tedious and predictable to one of such a disposition. 

This is the artist for whom commercial success is an indifferent thing, for whom the myriad objects of status are of no consequence.  What matters is intensity of being and fullness of expression, depth of thought, strength of vision and the quest for possibilities and their realization.