Image and Essence

Music is generally understood in terms of common knowledge, in the way that recognition of imagery signals its meaning.

The listener's expectations are centered upon style and instrumentation, while the musician discerns method and technique, and all these are conveyed in performances and representative recordings.

Yet sound and beauty converge in countless other ways, producing myriad shades of meaning.

Environs

Musical selections programmed for public places presume, with some accuracy, various attitudes and emotional perspectives, and adhere generally to the rhythm and pace of social activity.

In short, such music reflects and promotes movement, manipulates and entertains.

Consider, in contrast, musical environments conducive to reflection and contemplative, creative activity, designed in such a way as to illuminate consciousness while contributing to clarity of thought.  

Changes in the Nature of Listening

Conceptual compositions designed to reflect the manner in which the observer encounters sounds in the real world also draw the receptive listener into altered perspectives and perceptions of sounds and surroundings.

As a result of becoming oriented to ways of listening and hearing beyond one's accustomed norms, sensitivity to aesthetically beautiful aural impressions-- what might be called the fair sounds of the everyday-- grows to be constant and immersive.

Intimacy and Transcendence

Moving freely to diverse perspectives, the authentic and the artificial become less well-defined and the imaginative, suggestive, and perceptually striking seize the attention.

The tedium of constant familiarity loses its grip, giving way to the impulse toward fuller cognition and deeper awareness of setting and scene, implication and intention, the visionary and the uncanny.

Listen, hear, experience; move beyond general expectation and the excessive and the absurd as well, on toward clarity, balance, and, one may dare say, the beautiful.

Open Air

The casual observer will see clearly that perception of music is the result of cultural conditioning,

Yet the contemporary stage is set for the listener to explore far beyond narrowly defined cultural expectations for musical realities, and there no longer exist viable sub-cultural social contexts defined primarily by music styles (and adherence to associated fashions) for good reasons.

The common and the outré, being easily accessible, are on equal footing, and as a result the insular mentality engendered by sub-cultural identification has grown untenable and ridiculous, particularly over the last decade.

 The listener is free to follow any sounds in any direction, and so is the composer and creative artist.

Possibilities

Lack of meaning is merely that.  Nothing more.

Art is endless connection and implication.

Diffusion

Styles spread throughout culture, gradually losing impact as saturation takes place, then languish and dissipate, as the history of music and the arts demonstrates.

The individual artist must act according to personal vision and fundamental facts.  Medium, method, and message stagnate without the will to investigate the unexplored and the discipline to risk failure.

Neither failure nor success are ends in themselves.  

Movement, Distance, Direction

Culture provides, exploration reveals, and art offers perspectives.

In the world of auditory arts there is the given, everywhere in evidence, and the unusual, being out of the ordinary.  But there exists also the unexpected or uncanny, and with it a change in perception.

Paint with Words, Sculpt with Sounds

That the idea of "art" as a kind of effortless free expression reserved for the brilliant and gifted remains in common currency, given centuries of evidence to the contrary, is absurd.

All that becomes art does so through a prolonged process of arduous focus and uncompromising personal vision, upending the facile and the mundane while transforming the fabric of existence into the tapestry of the future, and always against the tyranny of the status quo.

Sound, Imagery, Metaphor

Sound suggests and becomes atmosphere.

Settings and the objects within them may be symbolic and archetypal, and sound, as well, may impress these shapes and shades of meaning upon the listener.  These may be sweeping and expansive or intimate, with a variety of aural motifs evocative of emotional and spiritual  impressions.

From an artist's or composer's perspective, such are the musical designs, textures, combinations, and juxtapositions of aural imagery that immerse the listener in a contemplative listening environment.

Impulse, Direction, Detail

Images, emotions, and ideas appear to the creative artist or composer, fraught with complications. Some would call certain insights impossible to convey.

Any limits placed upon the creative impulse must be intentional on the artist's part, and never in subjection to cultural conformity.  To do otherwise is a failure of vision.

Technology and Impression

Villiers de L'isle Adam might write today, "As for living, our machines will do that for us".

Instead, direct perception through the medium of technology, rather than merely towards it.  From the composer's perspective, the work must do more than fill the ears, the heart and the mind.

 It must open them.

Self, Scene, Sound

Environments shape human action and interaction.

We respond to settings and the people we find in them in a variety of ways, with diverse behaviors that are reflections of personal character.  It may or may not be within our control to be in certain places or circumstances, but our choices within them are indicators of whether or not we conform our wills to the reality of those scenarios.  As Epictetus puts it, it is within our power to refrain or sustain.

Clearly, then, it is apparent that certain atmospheres are themselves possessed of degrees of character, as impressed upon them by humanity, and that others, though perceived through the filter of human consciousness. reveal a different order of existence.

It is the composer's sense of reality as well as self that inspires and shapes musical works.

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.

Sound in Time and Mind

Music in its varied forms or genres appeals to diverse interests and levels of attention.

Beyond existing in these forms as diversion or entertainment, combinations of sounds are, in and of themselves, of aesthetic and artistic moment, and contribute to heightened states of consciousness.

Atmospheres in Motion

Sounds and imagery combine and coalesce in the imagination.

Compose to convey this dynamic that enlivens each listening experience differently.

Sensibility

Bring to light the things that go unnoticed.

Bring forward into the listener's consciousness those sounds that define existence, that reflect the sounds of the earth turning on its axis.

Idea, Emotion, Perception

Music, to some minds, is a narrow concept.

For others, it expresses and heightens awareness.

Explorations

Seek any direction for inspiration.

Ultimately, it comes from within.
 

Sensory Clarity

Seek the beauty and the subtlety.

Catch an impression of rain approaching in distant trees, and paint this feeling into the musical canvas.

Ancient Modern

Allow no attachment of sound to "the times".  By this I mean, restrain the impulse to reflect and respond to the transient and impermanent.

Through auditory imagery and aural metaphor, merge time past and time future.

Hidden Prague (mp3 format)

Silence and Sound

Some listeners do not distinguish between individual instruments, respond physically to rhythms, and internalize the emotional impression of a musical work. Some listen with a technical ear, for qualities of cohesiveness and musical technique.

Then there are those who listen with the inner ear, perceiving with the imagination, for whom frost and flame, shadow and light, color and movement and uncanny possibilities emerge into being with every vibration.  Some are children, but most certainly not all.

Timelessness

The cultural significance of the arts and letters varies in intensity from time to time. Literature and poetry, music and the visual arts will, on various occasions, take precedence over such things as business and politics in the public square.

The way of the artist, regardless, is alight with the lamp of vision.

Realism

Artistic efforts may be marred by the necessity of empathy with the artist.  It can be difficult to sustain interest in works burdened by such subjectivity.

Conversely, the painter or composer rarely serves the role of a mere recording device.

The balance is found in both vision and the manner of representation through which idea, feeling, and corresponding imagery are conveyed.

To deny the value of moderation suggests insufficient capacity to appreciate it; to denigrate the virtues of restraint is commonplace absurdity.

Auditory Topography

Every movement and change in perspective alters the listener's perception of the surroundings.

Accordingly, compositions and recordings, given various effects and juxtapositions of sounds, may suggest a walk through a landscape.  

Emanation

Unperceived, yet it exists.

Unheard, it coalesces in the unconscious.

Beyond and beneath notice, it assumes form and its vibrations move toward expression.

Echoes of the Future

Consider auditory art beyond current forms.

Music is a medium that communicates with the unconscious; the sounds of myriad historic eras reveal their various cultures in the light of emotions, ideas and attitudes.  The solemn, the frenzied, the simple and the sophisticated reflect in sound the human condition of the times.

Take A Moment

Listen, hear, think, and imagine the sound of the immediate surroundings to be the sound of unfamiliar music.

Yet, more likely than not, there is already music in the surrounding environment.

If this is the case, consider the mood, tone, and theme of that music in comparison to what the atmosphere suggests without their presence.  

Inspiration

The reality of the sudden creative impulse is undeniable.

It leaps from the cool darkness of the unconscious with diamond brilliance, draws together scattered yet critical glimpses of ideas into conceptual clarity, and unites vision and act in the expression of art.

Yet it strikes according to preparedness, and in the unique form of the individual artist, and so it is incumbent upon the artist to know, analytically and viscerally, the ways and means by which such personal visions come to bear upon the creative spirit and are realized through application of idea and method, if it is to be a continuous influx and constant force.

The prolific creativity of an elevated imagination and a steady hand is undeniable as well.

Cycles, Ephemeral and Infinite

Surrounded by sounds at all times, one loses consciousness of them.

Recordings, broadcasts, and the sounds of mixed media are omnipresent.  There is a tendency to accept this state of affairs as natural, when it is not so, and of little lasting significance in the scheme of things.

The rhythms of reality are vast and broad, reaching great distances and depths and moving through cosmological time.   To compose or design sound to suggest such impressions, it is only necessary to hear more than the momentary and trifling, and to listen with the inner ear.

Vision, Sound, Expression

Sensory experience suggests countless possibilities.

Clear the fog of subjective emotion if this is not so.

The Receptive

To project, rather than perceive, is a common source of error in apprehending experience.

This speaks to motivation, habit, attitude, the reasons for creating as well as choosing to encounter art, and whether the composer, painter, photographer, film maker, sculptor, architect or dancer connects or separates from the audience.

Within each individual and each encounter is a degree of choice.

Transience

The casual observer of culture will note everywhere the saturation of trivial content.

The result is a loss of historical tradition, intellectual and emotional clarity, and individuality in favor of the shallow and sensational.

Such are the conditions in which the artistic vision reasserts its commitment to the real.

Elements and Transformations

Cast sounds into the environment, observe their forms, reactions and interactions

Auditory imagery alters as tones cluster and disperse to spread across and throughout distances; the flora and fauna of the imagination come closer to experience.  These are distinctive sonic qualities, contrasting with the predictability of generic music, beautiful for the total effect they produce.

It is not even necessary to think of this as music at all.  It will be what it becomes.

Process Dynamics

In a tone composition, continuous flux may be manipulated, but the object is not control, which would defeat the purpose of creating a state of fluidity.

Impose limits, add and remove elements, alter juxtapositions, colors, and meanings, as a painter does with brush strokes or as a poet modifies diction, breath or phrasing.

Span, Measure, Reach

Time is consumed; energy and emotion expended.

Observe, and consider the aspects of culture to which these things are devoted.

Think, before proceeding, of lasting impressions, and the extent to which effort may uplift perception and understanding beyond the frenetic and ordinary.

Within, Without

Immersion in sound is continuous and often unnoticed.

Listen.

Observe, hear what previously held no meaning.

This involvement is creativity's core, that of knowing and acting upon what must be done through receptivity, deliberation, and engagement. 

Atmosphere, Awareness, Heart and Mind

Generic musical forms are most often associated with their particular emotional appeals and the attention their intensity of expression demands.

Moving away from familiar forms such as these toward concepts of sound as art, the connections made by listeners may be more associated with the cerebral and perceptual, uniting qualities of sound and tone with those of thought and contemplative experience.

The Possible and the Unknown

When ideas and practices are fixed and without variation, decline is inevitable and often permanent. Entire industrial and technological cultures rise quickly with innovation, become monolithic, and collapse under the burden of conformity and stagnation.

The way of the artist is one of vision when there are no possibilities, and of action when the hand becomes capable of what the spirit foresees.

Impermanence, Creativity, Impression

Consider the sounds of the wilderness, and those of civilization.

The river, the plains, the highway, the supermarket: each has associated expectations of sounds and their combinations, just as there are associated expectations with "music".

Set aside expectations.  Create and sustain sound environments reflecting heightened awareness, gleaned from any and all sources of aesthetically pleasing auditory imagery.

Textures

Initial experience is perceptual impression.

Sounds associated with sensation evoke feeling first, then emotional and intellectual connections. Some connections are entirely personal; others may be more objective or abstract, as the directly sensual yields to symbol.

The composer of atmospheric works finds opportunities for juxtapositions of auditory images that can link the delicate and bold, the dense with the ethereal, the urgent with the serene, or any combination that enlivens experience.

I count myself among those whose interests in the art of sound are focused upon expressions of the reflective, the contemplative, and the imaginative.

Opposing Forces

The medium is sound.  Vibrations generated in every possible way create panoramas, of the mind as well as of the environment.  Composer and listener move within these atmospheres, together and separately.

Timeless and universal themes and motifs carry the seeds of future expressions, and these often arrive in contrast to expectations, unfettered by either tradition or rebellion.  The extraordinary takes its own course of possibilities, clashing with the commonplace, beyond the view of entertainment media, the microscope of the cultural status quo.

Aural Radiance

Postulate a musical form in which equilibrium of composition emerges in a gradual unfolding of tones. 

The combination of sounds evolves like a kind of luminosity that expands throughout the atmosphere, altering colors and hues, brightening hidden places and casting ever-changing shadows.

Imagery and Symbol

The observer of art apprehends meaning in visible expression and movement; the listener senses significance conveyed by tone, pattern, and auditory imagery.

In each case meaning is a part of larger connections, both cultural and personal, that arise from the past and are carried forward into the future, enlivened by human perception.

Long Moment

Lose track of beginning and ending.

Compose works that create a palpable sense of timelessness, utilizing sonic structures that contribute to sustaining that feeling.

Facility

Indiscriminate impressions reveal nothing and lead to no conclusive ideas.

Yet any impression may prove revelatory to creative imagination and judgement.  

The Real

Free the perceptions and attention to experience follows.

Consider distinctions between arts that distract and arts that enhance experience.  Musical compositions that turn the attention toward clarity of awareness will do the latter.

The Long View II

A composer may begin anywhere and go anywhere, particularly if guided by vision and principle and willing to put forth the effort required to develop and progress over the long run.

In the world of the arts it makes no difference if inspiration strikes suddenly, as it sometimes does, or if, as in my experience, the work evolves over the course of many decades to become what it is.

There is no alternative to devotion, and no substitute for following the way of the artist.

Intention and Impression

Art may be a barrier as well as a bridge.  As propaganda, it manipulates; as academic pretension, it obfuscates, often as a gambit to deny the self-evident for less than honorable purposes.

Intelligent listeners and observers owe no allegiance to such things, confident in their perceptual acuity and personal knowledge of cultural history.  Human nature will be as it is, while art, music, literature and other works of merit communicate directly, with integrity, to all who are capable of setting aside prejudice to give rational consideration to aesthetic experience.

Reflection and Reflex

In any media, the superficial is initially of paramount importance.  It is the instantaneous impression, the sudden sense of an image and the expression of reality it offers that communicates with force.

At this first critical moment, the percipient does more than observe, and projects emotional interests or needs and a fund of personal information upon the art form as an object of interest.  This may be seen as something of a poetic, or romantic, moment of interaction.

Then, given the receptive viewer or listener,  it is the content of the artistic work that sustains such involvement.  Thus much depends upon whether it is the audience, the personal ego, or the art to which the artist is devoted.