Week 35 9/1/19

Creativity is far more rare than commonly understood.

This is because there is value on the one hand, and price on the other.  What is the cost of freedom in a free culture?  What is that which is priceless worth?

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.

Opposing Forces

Recognize the dominant forces in play throughout cultural settings.

These are forces of control, and particularly in terms of discourse, intellectual judgement, and the arts.  All such spurious "authorities" are media driven, and are owed no loyalty or subjection as mere appearances of reality, shallow and unjustifiable.

As such there is no rebellion beyond individual choice, as a matter of personal integrity.

Made once, it is the choice of liberation, and it is permanent.

There Are No Terms

Every artistic potential that becomes real does so because of choice and action.

Neither cultural attitudes nor the "preparedness" of "the public" can stop the artist. There is one thing of importance, and one thing only: the work.

Meanings, Objects, Actions

Expect the invention of new forms.

It is not necessary to abandon the old forms, and unwise to act as if the historical forces that shaped them no longer exist.  One must be prepared for the unexpected, take the measure of possibilities as they emerge, and create according to the means afforded reason. Regardless of the risks of failure, (and there will be many), the future will be come into being, renewed by perception and forged with daring, integrity, and sweat.

Simultaneity II

Classicism and the Modern do not always converge, but neither are they mutually exclusive.

Narrow thinking produces limited and foolish expression, absurdly demeaning the genuinely elevated as belonging only to time past.  All perspectives take place within myriad frames of reference, and the arts of sound embrace clarity and aesthetic purpose in communicating the gestures of life, from the grand and sweeping to the minute and ephemeral.

This is human character and expression, thrusting aside the burden of temporal considerations.

Elevation or Decline

To be conditioned to experience sound in rigid forms is to lose touch with perceptual awareness.

By this I mean that the sensations of sound lose breadth, depth, and nuance.  A "sameness" of texture, tonal quality, and stylistic formula pervades the listening experience, and the ability to distinguish between the finely wrought and the merely competent is stultified.  Essential sounds of the surrounding world, with the exception of undesirable noises, are dimmed, such that they may even go unnoticed in the scheme of things.

Having experienced the joy of music and the beauty of sound, the faithful listener will find such a state of affairs unacceptable.  The composer would do well to accept the challenge of not only restoring a fullness of auditory awareness, but of improving upon the art of listening itself, and moving beyond the conformity of expression that diminishes listening pleasure.

Moments of Clarity

Instances of direct perception may take place in any setting, without the necessity of preparation.

It is as if, while engaged in the business of life, the world of external reality suddenly presents itself to the senses and demands acknowledgement, in full, of being, in and of itself.

Any art may serve as the medium through which such experiences become real.  The art of sound lends itself to evolving atmospheres that are conducive to evoking, and sustaining, such insight and awareness.

Disconnection, Immersion

Technology may serve a variety of purposes, or be no more than a diversion.

In the former case, technology may yield increase in capability, expanding potential; yet it is clearly the latter that occupies the attention with little in the way of reward. Here, in fact, is an example of a situation in which power of choice rests with the individual will, and the artist acts accordingly.

Idea, Intuition, Sound, Vibration

Perceptions are limited; understanding is a subjective struggle with facts and appearances.

But every work of art corresponds, in fragments and imperfectly, to a greater design and vision.

Background, Being

Sounds, unceasing, go unheard.

Attention is fixed elsewhere in the scheme of the mundane, of work and play.

It is possible to know and hear the moment now in the surroundings, to sense with the inner ear the totality of experience, and to realize more aural beauty, in the imagination, than the sounds of music alone evoke.

Still Point

Intuitively and thoughtfully, analytically and with rational feeling, the observer and artist considers the distance between cultural norms and individual experience.

Along the axis between the two there are numerous perspectives.  There are variables that determine points of balance, as one discovers in a composition in which elements are chosen and arranged to satisfy this equilibrium.

The observer and artist recognizes these variables in terms of honesty of expression and personal motivation in the context of cultural and social expectations, and acts accordingly in bringing creative concepts into being.  Certainly this is a deliberative effort, informed by imagination as well as the reality of cultural conditions, and predicated upon a degree of objectivity.

It is also a matter of integrity of character and expression, for those who practice it.

Atmosphere, Sound, and Signature

Inescapably, art reflects the psyche of the artist and the times in which it is made.

The sounds of this day can be any number of things in any set or series of combinations, and the previous century's ideas regarding order and chaos must be viewed in terms of a striking increase in information technology, creative applications, and concomitant changes in ideas regarding both excellence and absurdity.  Nevertheless, it is a combination of personal vision and cultural forces at play in the realization of a work of artistic merit.

In an age of intellectual wealth, it is possible to associate and unite a wide range of diverse elements and develop unique approaches to issues of method and style in creative endeavors.  These are the possibilities that give the future immediacy and presence.

Higher

If the aims of music are more than the perpetuation of vanity and greed, the listener will know.

Art exists for reasons as old as human existence, and music, as an art form, invigorates the senses and the imagination.

It may be crass, exploitative, absurd, and pointless from time to time, but whatever its negative attributes, it can always be more than a sign of the times and a signal of despair and desperation. 

It can symbolize, through sound, our higher ideals and most uplifting desires.

It can, and does, illuminate past, present, and future.

Virtue and The Good

Ideas flow throughout culture over time; some run dry, others permeate the social and cultural strata.

If what the philosophers say is true, happiness is a life of virtue according to reason.  Its pursuit engages the spiritual faculties, which are Reason and Free Will.  The Good being self-evident, all else is illusion, delusion, vanity, pride, conceit-- obstacles to the quest.