Embrace

The human and natural worlds are interrelated, not separate.

So the composer cannot say, I seek to replicate nature, as if removed from it.  All sound forms exist within the limits of perception, and none are alien to the creative mind and process.

In and Out of Place

In musical terms the idea of order relates to a perceptual recognition of sequences.

Such sequences are critical even in the most complex works, and represent exquisite degrees of human design. These arrangements of musical elements are systematic and purposeful.

Nonetheless, alternatives to these designs need not produce chaos and noise. They may instead be composed as representations of any number of processes of objective reality for which there are no human equivalents, specifically such things as the motion of atmospheric currents, tidal ebb and flow, erosion of stone, and other phenomena.

Distance, Echo, Reality, Being

Sound in memory delineates a subtle understanding of experience.

But this is inconsequential unless there is a more profound understanding of order, one which extends beyond linear pattern, repetition, and variation.

Position, Eye and Ear

Give attention to visual and aural perspectives in the same manner: as potential works of art.

As the eye of the imagination conceives visual representations, so may the inner ear originate and develop compositions in sound.

Sounds of Reason and Free Will

Penetrate the twilight between worlds, if you can, and you will find a place few reach.

Many claim this quest by many names: few begin the journey, fewer still set foot in the right direction.

Those who hear with the inner ear, with persistence and personal sacrifice, may yet perceive this world with a consciousness greater than themselves.

No one knows.

Sound Only

Music is one form.  Sound is many forms.

Those attached to music create music.  Unattached, one listens, and hears, and creates accordingly.

Sound and Setting

Perceptions that contribute to setting aside attachments release contemplative states of mind.

This is the simple process of combining sound and setting for total effect. Yet few make the effort, as it cannot be of value without first comprehending the purpose of distinguishing appearances from reality in approaching the phenomena of existence.

Here, Now

"Passion" has its limits, most of them inconsequential.

The sounds I am interested in creating and presenting are those that reflect not only the human condition, but humanity's unique place in the universe.

Nothing More

The intent of mass media is exploitation, and it is transparent in all its applications.

Manipulation of any group is facilitated by a contrived scenario of desperation and excitement.

One Take

The mind filters and assembles and evaluates perceptions.

Culture informs consciousness, but the strength of that culture and consciousness depends on the individual who will not be yoked to the wheel of collective vision.

Application

Everything must be connected, etc., etc., ad nauseum.

Observe the ever-strident discourse that insists humanity be dependent upon technologies, as if there is no imagination, creativity, or consciousness otherwise.

Late and Soon II

Culture evolves with the speed of communications,

Accordingly, developments of ideas and techniques that once took centuries now run their courses in years or decades. Yet when communication is instantaneous, such ideas can be dismissed as having no value within minutes, and all the more so when understanding is predicated upon mere superficial engagement and shallow, or failed, thought processes.

These facts must not escape observation, and consideration must be given equally to an additional truth: regardless of how quickly information moves, ideas, techniques, and creative efforts may still undergo developments that take years, decades, and centuries.

Muse

Art is more than a product.  It is more than decorative surfaces and stylish sounds.

Art is a philosophy: it is a way of being and communicating that transcends the frayed threads of common banality, emotional excess, and vanity.

Take No for an Answer

There is, in fact, a great disturbance throughout the aesthetic fabric of culture.

See everywhere reflexive acceptance of mediocrity as the norm, and "controversy" as the claim of art. These are no more than contradictory passions, with contradiction expressed as a grasping, illogical lack of self-knowledge. There is nothing to be gained by bland, benighted subjectivity.

Art is a force of experience, and if it cannot be found within the culture, it must be brought forth.

Walls Within Walls

Defy the norms.

The creator influences, the culture establishes.  The only outcome of a sealed system is decay.

Repute and Noise

It is the work that moves the artist.

The ego and the persona, these are indifferent things.

Sense, Cognition, Being

Perception informs consciousness, and perspective is developed through sensory information.

The self-evident simplicity of understanding and acting in the world is taken for granted, as is the fact that music is a form of communication and expression.

But there is far more, beginning with the idea that sounds may be composed in forms of a completely different nature than the music that commonly influences viewpoint and attitude, and conceivably such forms may alter consciousness over time in profound ways.

Past Party City

Observe that rhythmic sounds are typically of short duration.

These are expected in music, with longer compositions lasting a number of minutes, briefly engaging the listener's attention.  Consider, then, the prolonged rhythms of sound as they evolve over time, between morning and night, and over years.  These, too, can be made manifest in compositions and recordings, but they are rhythms as a manifestation of sounds other than those given to be musical.

Waves, Currents, Tides

Fill the environment with sounds as if they were works and objects of art.

None of the common attributes of music are necessary, only sounds filling a spectrum of aesthetic beauty, and variations in density thereof.

Unexpect

A voice in the crowd says, "Time claims everything."

The voice inside my head says, "...except the timeless", and, clearly, is not impressed.

New Ground

Accept the status quo and accept absurdity.

The artist explores, discovers, and reveals, or there is no art.

Appearances and Evolving Attitudes

Cultural conditions limit, as well as enhance, creative consciousness and conduct.

Where there is no receptivity for artistic endeavor, the culture stagnates; if conditions change, the palette of the artist increases, with unpredictable, yet significant, outcomes.

Perceptual Consciousness, Elevation of Being

Observe music, in all its forms, in myriad situations; some are common, some exceedingly rare.

As a composer, I am interested in creating works that fix the listener's mind in contemplative states.

Intricacies of Artistic Conflict

Put simply, every work of art, regardless of its form, is an expression with purpose.

There must be communication, representation of the experience of reality, the sound or color or motion of individual experience.  All else is presentation and narrative.

The idea that one artist "competes" with another for the same audience is ludicrous. The artist of merit is driven by the singularity of personal expression, or the so-called "art" is a ruse with no more motive or reason than a vaudeville act whose time is past.

Finding

To understand the moment transcends its limits.

To presume a work of art cannot be surpassed is to fail to grasp the nature of art.

Sphere of Mind and Art of Sound

Consider composition that imposes nothing on the atmosphere it creates.

It is absurd to assume the composer has no ego, yet it is not outside the realm of possibility that the sense of self-importance may be restrained, controlled, and directed toward total aesthetic effect.

Supersensory Impressions

Open the inner ear beyond the common and easily recognized sounds of the day.

As a consequence, expect to hear the extraordinary, what some might call the uncanny, even the paranormal.  These are sounds outside the spectrum of mundane experience.

Movement, Motive

Gain wider consciousness of abstract perspectives in sound.

Listen and hear, through instrumentation into effect, beyond structure into evolving forms, and outside the common and given expectations regarding music, including the role of the artist.

In doing so, begin to sense the aural parallels of distant, unknown territories.

Will in Being

Music, arts, culture, et cetera.  These suggest ruminations that lend themselves to creative action.

But what becomes apparent in the experience of creative action is the realization that the later years of the twentieth century brought historical forces to bear upon the artists of the time that, more often than not, blunted their perceptual sensibilities and stultified their humanity.  Yet one cannot speculate as to the extent to which numerous works suffered for this intensity of focus on the erratic, the violent, and the crude in the various cultural settings wherein art, music, literature, and poetry found expression.

These works speak for themselves; many achieve and sustain authentic greatness, while most are forgotten, or consigned to a form of mainstream obscurity, known only by name or notoriety.

What is clear is the necessity for an assertion of reason and critical acumen, if for no other purpose than as a contrast to the unsatisfying, tiresome, desperate, and despairing nature of these previous historical works.

About Now

One appearance may be judged to be reality as it is, and another, illusion and deception.

Simple questions may obscure complex, insidious subtexts; complicated processes may result in clarity of expression. There are those who say popular music is inconsequential, lyrics unimportant, yet these reinforce a wide spectrum of cultural attitudes that are everywhere visible.

Here again is a scenario reflecting stagnation in cultural consciousness; while imaginative technologies provide for entirely new dimensions of expression through sound, the critical, discriminating listener is offered nothing beyond technically proficient rhythm, percussion, melody and harmony, ad infinitum.

Culture and the Environs

Go far.

From a distanced perspective it is clear the "culture" surrounding entire populations may reflect individual taste and interests yet be devoid of a single original impulse or expression.

This is vanity and complacency, indicative of a loss of vision, a failure of the spirit of reason and inquiry, and vapid self-indulgence.  One must go beyond, even into the uncanny and unknown.

Oppose, Engage, Evolve

Art first.  All the extraneous nonsense is just that, foolish waste.

Bring together the transcendent sounds.  Elevate the surroundings and thus the culture.

Shadows, Shallows

Observe, as vicarious experience supersedes direct engagement with reality.

Art undergoes transformations that may or may not be absolute and permanent, yet regardless, what was once essential recedes into a past beyond comprehension.

Contribution

Sound may be manipulated as an art form at a distant remove from "music".

Such a statement is outside the context of cultural and academic politics.  It is the simple fact that sound may be used as an art medium, made "problematic" only by the definition, articulation and application of the creative processes involved and the fact that most such experiments are failures.

These compositions, based on aesthetic principles, are the results of successful experiments, ideas, concepts, and theories that may be replicated, refined, and extended.

The Need for Sound Art

The fish, it has been said, is not aware of the presence of water.

The discriminating listener is constantly aware of the sounds of art subverted by "programming".  It is the same set of generic structures adorned with different characterizations and attitudes of style. The artist must transcend this, and provide the listener the opportunity to acclimate to a different state of auditory awareness.

Yet it is effortless to recognize the uniqueness of these aesthetic atmospheres, composed, as it were, of  "reverse-engineered" representations of perceptual sound environments.

Distant Echoes Remaining II

Range of awareness, not complexity, extends and refines consciousness.

Contemplative understanding is not burdened by the complex nature of things.  It is the emptiness of the vessel that makes it useful; the least obtrusive sound may bear more meaning than the loudest.

Field of Listening

It is possible to hear only what seizes the attention.

When this is the case, reality is understood within narrow limits. Aesthetic awareness is more than a refined sense of perception.  It is a survival skill as well.

Atmosphere Shift

One of the pub-restaurants.

Someone asks the composer, "What kind of music do you like?"

Oh, I suppose you could say I like anything that does not sound like music.

Trailing

In the rise and fall of things, cultural decline is natural.

Still, it must be remembered that such decline is not an inevitability, but the consequence of choices.

Go

Culture demands messages from its artists.

But the arts endure oppression when the sole message the culture demands is one of affirmation and reinforcement of the status quo.  There is such a thing as a concept of right and wrong, and within the so- called "gray areas" is a single dynamic of momentum that impels ideas and actions in one direction or the other.

The arts move toward elevation.  Without direction, and only reinforcement, culture moves into decline, compelling, if possible, its artists to act as sycophants.  These are not artists, but flatterers, lackeys, and bootlickers.

High Strangeness II

It is said that pursuit of poetry leads to philosophy.

It seems to me that pursuit of art tends toward the mystic; pursuit of sound tends toward the uncanny.

Imitation of the Unseen

Before the thought is the sound.

Being is a mystery; expression, a cipher.

Unreleased Expressions

Cultures that fail to value the arts will soon be bereft of both the works and the artists.

Artists will continue to produce, without fail.

But, as I have done, they will no longer make newly-completed works generally accessible.

Idea and Gesture

Things are done by choice, or by thoughtless instinct coupled with self-absorbed motivations.

I choose to take an interest in the arts, in music, philosophy, history and the sciences.

But one should never miss an opportunity to keep one's mouth shut.  It is a simple choice.

Vanguard Into the Gloaming

Consider the poetic.

...my ghost eye trapped in a camera lens.

Spoken, associate sound, tone, meaning.

How dare I assert these works are l'avant garde vrai?  The avant garde is now no more than a social context,  There are no sound structures such as I compose, productions of will and reason unique to themselves.  Culturally, there is no comprehension, but only vague association with unfamiliar works and "fame".  It is as if canvasses exist to startle Roberto Matta.

But he is time past.

Cut In-- Out-- Up Zone Nova

William Burroughs machine form blank.  "Hear the action?"

No reason to doubt the Old Hand. But reason is learned, not instinct.  Supreme advertisement, contra
human individual, served to burn down.  The meaning between the words.  The tones, not the sounds.

Hear the action?  Sound and subtext, the point of the spear.

Will, Fate, and Other Things

Notes are always essential for any artist.

If the artist must be an island, it will be so. Civilization must be given the written word or culture cannot thrive through transmission of idea, image, thought, instruction.  These exist from one artist to another, across time and space.

The Notebooks of Albert Camus are recommended to artist and discriminating reader alike.

Total Sonic Impression

Utilizing studio as instrument, compose according to sounds of objective experience.

This, then, is singularity of vision: develop aural analogues as perceptual correlates of settings, objects, events, atmospheres, and the contemplative impulse to grasp an infinity of possibilities.

Reality, Intangible

The presence of sound is not, in and of itself, the presence of spirit.

It should not be impossible to comprehend that sound may evoke spirit, yet what is essential is that the contemplation of sound may direct the listener to spiritual awareness and higher consciousness.

The Predictable and the Dead

The term "artist" is devalued, and every artist recognizes this.

Nonetheless, the artist carries on, aware the "preexisting audience" is not the possible one.