Loss of the Contemplative

A shallow view of technology suggests that it allows the user to "defy limits".

Such a view reflects limits that technology has already brought to bear against the imagination.

Tabula Rasa to Total Effect

Sensory impressions, experiences, contemplation, abstract ideas.

Thus thoughts, choice, media, and expression, reflecting the subjective sensibilities of the artist and objective realities as well.  What is ultimately revealed is being in the world.

Fire, Forge, and Force

To re-create is not enough, and futile.

The great themes and visions must be re-formed.  All the arts, philosophies, schools of thought, aesthetic systems and methodologies shrink in universal estimation as they become effortlessly accessible, and are realized in only the most petty, shallow ways. Comprehension fails entirely, lacking all substance.

Mention the concerto, the tone poem, or "The Birth of the Cool" and be prepared to meet blank stares or pathetic dissembling. Existentialism, Taoism, Cubism, and Impressionism alike are met with all the depth of interest and enthusiasm of a dray horse.  These are, in fact, not effortless at all, and their reality will not be apprehended to any degree without arduous effort.  There is no alternative, yet shamming is as ubiquitous as it is intolerable, as if those who claim to have read Eliot or Burroughs, listened deeply to "Rhapsody in Blue", or experienced a moment of Zen have actually done so.  If it were so, indeed, many aspects of culture would be entirely different than they clearly are.

Such things as these must be brought back to life, by the force of will and creative effort necessary to illuminate them as newly, essentially desirable, and as central to human progress, as digitized information is to contemporary technology.  And this is by no means a likely event.

Within the Unexpected

Every perception awakens with sudden change.

Here, in conditions outside the ordinary, art and reality converge.

Asymmetric Effect

Predictability is toxic.

It is the death of art, and ultimately of culture. It is written on the stake driven through the heart of American rock music; it is the nemesis yet of American jazz, and of the global avant-garde, not only in music, but in every field of cultural endeavor.  Even so, innovation is quietly suppressed, or damned with faint praise, in the erroneous, elitist belief that the listener lacks the intellectual and emotional wherewithal that is necessary for forward-thinking, or, worse, that the listener is little more than a mindless consumer whose dull appetites must be directed toward the "just" ends of a kind of (commercially acceptable) political correctness.

As composer and artist, I respect the listener, and am not subject to such grotesque errors.  And thus it is that I have spent four decades pursuing and perfecting compositions and recordings that cannot be forced into a mold or followed to inevitable conclusions, even with- no, especially with- repeated listening.  I will not compromise.  I do not expect less of my listeners.

Concealed Energies

Let there be no confusion: it is the artist who defines art.

Those who say otherwise have other agendas; those who allow their art to be defined by others may be many things, but they are not artists.  The likes of these are ubiquitous, found everywhere from print media to "web presences", all embraced by "endowment" managers, cultural nabobs, academic sycophants and political bureaucracies.

I, like other artists, define my terms.  All the rest exist in a miasma of glorified fraud and waste.

This, too, is what it means to listen, and hear: to discriminate between the real and the falsified.

The Sounds You Hear

I don't "make music" in the traditional sense, though I have done so previously, for decades, in fact.

Generally speaking, music involves forms, arrangements, harmonies, melodies, genres, and a host of sophisticated and technical concepts that define it as an art form.  Boston's Berklee College of Music comes to mind as a contemporary institution focused on these matters.

I am only interested in sounds as they are encountered in the course of events, and with developing their combinations in the way of an artist applying paint to canvasses that are continually in motion with tones and imagery.

To the Purpose

The art of listening clarifies perception.

I compose accordingly, engaged in producing this total effect. This is a means to listen, and hear.

Totality

Art exists in a broad spectrum combining concepts, gestures, performances, and objective works.

Impressions, perceptions, and ideas that cannot be put into words must be articulated by other means, each of which extends the cultural vocabulary of the human condition.

Strike Counter Strike

Collective idealism can never tolerate art.

But this is an ancient idea.

Art is the expression of an autonomous individual, one who takes a measure of reality and expresses that measurement.  What matters is the discernment necessary to evaluate whether a work is a true reflection or a falsification.

Critical Clarity

"Feeling" is not reasoning.

No artist maintains credibility or integrity who claims purely subjective and emotional perspective is superior to established fact, and no such expression rises to the level of art.

Lies and propaganda may be interesting for what they are, but culture and history remain objective in judgement, and uncaring as to whether they are viewed as unkind.

The foundation for intellectual and perceptual elevation is Reason, a point of departure that is most essential, even as the transcendent sense of being rises beyond all understanding.

Impermanence, Transformation

Detachment clarifies perspective.

Reality changes, while perceptions and emotions do not always follow.

View and Variation

Art expresses belief and judgement.

Certainly this means art represents a philosophical perspective, whether viewed as a representation of reality or as gesture alone. To interpret or to simply experience any work implies a philosophical choice.  Were it otherwise one would have no choice, other than to accede to, or impose, diktat.

What cannot be expressed directly can, and will, be evoked by other means.

System

Nothing is random, but only apparently so.  It is an appearance only.

Everything has a cause, and in terms of the finished work, that is the role of the artist.

Where Monsters Roam

Observe the decline in prominence of the arts.

If technology alone directs culture, information is everywhere available and nowhere internalized.

This is a failure of the imagination generated by an extreme sense of self-importance brought on by "connectivity".  It is a state of illusion, one that dulls and devitalizes the creative sense.

Knowing

The artist creates perceptions and impressions.

These will be accepted or rejected on face value, or, in certain individuals, they will become knowledge of things beyond appearances. Who genuinely perceives, views, listens?

For most, this will remain a mystery.

The Uncanny and the Avant-Garde

Assemble elements both predictable and popular and there is nothing unexpected.

Now strip away, by degrees, these elements. That which was recognizable evolves toward the unknown, taking on an alien aspect while remaining somewhat within the realm of experience.

This is the aesthetic beauty of the unexpected, outside the bland, dull order of shock and offense.

Bell in the Fog

One who recognizes objective reality and deals with it accordingly creates with visionary clarity.

The worst circumstances are nonetheless actionable to such an artist. Corruption, like every element of culture, increases until it exceeds its boundaries, and thus its possibilities, then grows weak and declines, sometimes precipitously.

Whenever possible, act; when action is not possible, gather strength.

Force and Limit

Engaged in the creative act, it is possible to maintain focus on the outcome.

Trace expression from aesthetic concept through emotional and intellectual evaluation, and what is significant is total effect.  All else reflects the cultural climate, regardless of the degree to which any personal, subjective, and objective forces combine in composition and execution of the work.

Grasp of Reality

Historically, art directs attention and reflects cultural direction.

Dictators and tyrants have always punished artists with whom they were in contention, but it is only since the twentieth century that such base, evil impulses have become pervasive in a general culture overseen by internationalist media promoting global conformity of thought.

And thus it is that the artist rebels against a new dark age.

To Rise Above

The artist chooses, and afterwards the only choice is forward.

This is transcendence: to rise beyond circumstance and obstacle, ridicule and contempt.

And this is expression, as opposed to pretension, which is defined by attachment.  Attachment to the self, to recognition, and to the lesser things, wealth and personal power. These have no significance beyond themselves.

The way of the artist is elevation.  Above, beyond.

Reality, Gesture, Object, Effect

Balance reason and the intuitive.

The creative act expresses synthesis of idea and media; it is in flux until it is complete.

Less and Excess

Impression is foundation; expression is judgement.

If the artist expresses sagacity, the work confirms clarity of perspective.

Culture Counter Culture

Art implies faith in perception and artistic vision.

Those who will not trust enough must never be trusted.

By Now

Cultural progress is in difficult straits.

Everywhere cultural expression is superseded by grasping ideology, and the loss to forward thinking is substantial.  A kind of socially-engineered suspension of intellectual risk that stultifies critical thought has generated, over time, a lack of vigor, even a dazed timidity, in the arts.

In every form and manner, give voice to truth. To deny the existence of truth is to deny life, and to know nothing.

Attention and Immersion

What most consider to be "culture" is, plainly stated, too easily grasped.

The fact that one experiences does not necessarily mean that one comprehends.

Listen, Hear, Know

Art in any medium conveys ideas. In a word, art speaks.

Denial of objective meaning does not change facts. Art confirms when all else fails or falsifies.

Beleaguered

From any perspective, the persistence of failed ideas is truly insufferable.

Neither artist nor culture can thrive is an atmosphere poisoned by absurd ideologies and dogmatic denial of the fundamental right to call into question what one collective or another asserts to be "settled issues". Clearly, these are viewpoints that operate to the advantage of one at the expense of another. Expression will be free, and if not, it will be pointless.

All Costs

One critical cliché suggests that, at one time or another, society is "ready" for certain works of art.

This suggests a belief that human character is infinitely malleable, a common error among political ideologues who would define and limit culture.  The idea is not without some merit, but it fails to take into account individual force of will. It is the nature of rebellion to find its expression in those who will bear the yoke of responsibility, but who cannot tolerate the idea of any form of subjection to a mindless conformity.

Adapt

Those who know nothing of culture create certain self-evident conditions.

Brute ignorance and dead-end apathy are not the artist's concerns, but they must be overcome nonetheless.

Undetermined

Music is everywhere.

Yet musical culture, with its myriad facets, has vanished, absorbed into a single, all-encompassing media perspective.  The term "rock-star" is now used as an adjective that has nothing to do with music; living examples number fewer than a dozen, and less than a handful of these are genuine, consequential artists. The dead bury the dead.

Ultimately, the artist must shoulder the burden of the real, wherever it leads.

Some Confusion

The obscure may ultimately be revealing.

Rightly understood, the mind and individual range of perception are sources and origins of creative power. But judgments of this nature cannot account for all forces in play, nor can the commonplace simply be subdued and brought to bear upon expression without depth of understanding.

Many things are ultimately beyond the scope of mere intellect, and there are many people who are highly, yet poorly, educated.

If It Is Possible

Art requires thought.

Initial impression communicates very little; superficial responses communicate even less. Ignorance of aesthetic principles and purposes are commonplace, so to accomplish anything is to achieve much.

But art does, in fact, communicate far more than merely that which is already known.

Think, Again

The artist says, I will make you see.  The composer thinks, I will make you listen, and hear.

One creates the future by setting aside both preconceptions and personal dogmas.  It cannot be otherwise, and it is an individual act, not a matter of social conformity.

This is the meaning of the modern, not the destruction of Time Past, but the opening of the mind to Time Future.

Find the Key

Every element of a work must contribute to total effect.

This is true of art, and life as well. Cause yields effect, and may be directed. Nothing is "random".

Direct Experience

Connectivity is not creativity. Not by a long shot.

Effortlessness renders expression dubious, spotlighting its impermanence and eviscerating its power.

If my concepts are not given due consideration, if my music is not in your ears, I accomplish nothing, as far as "connectivity" and other such claptrap goes.

And far more than wasted effort is in progress; here, now, and at all times, one must move forward.

Promoveo, promovi, promotum.

Approaching Terra Incognita

Consider "objective reality" in terms of limits to perception.

Understanding this, attend to what may be seen, heard, focused upon, and expressed past those limits. Here are visions lit by sunlight and fire, symphonies stirred out of desert sands.

On Towards Morning

Pop art and popular culture communicate a broad spectrum of ideas and emotional perspectives.

Still, one must look beyond the merely material, the superficial and concrete:

 Δόξα ἐν ὑψίστοις θεῷ καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς εἰρήνη ἐν ἀνθρώποις εὐδοκίας.

Disconnect

With the realization of loss, one seeks what is missing,

Freedom of experience is grace; freedom of expression is lost upon those without it.

Composer as Medium

Perceive, conceive, express.

Work is revelation, and not to be imposed upon.

Lines of Demarcation

One link to Time Past and Time Future is tradition.

Observation of tradition and its elements, as an analytical means to understanding, is neutral in nature. In the simplest of artistic terms, tradition may be expressed through a variety of media according to the sensibilities of the individual artist.  What is not neutral is the artist's attitude toward tradition.

Typical attitudes are those of respect, realistic acknowledgement, or contempt. These are revealing, in that they indicate whether the artist places greater value upon the work, or upon other things such as ego, social status or ideology. The astute viewer or listener cannot fail to detect such expressions and their impact on the total effect of any work.

Reason Amid Riot

One cannot number the voices that go unheard, or the expressions missed in the clamor.

Yet culture endures, much of it outside the narrow straits of media and commercial enterprise.

Outside Perceptual Limits

Reveal the unseen and unheard.

Elevate the real; eliminate the false.

Adulteration

The artist who is not self-reliant compromises the work.

Those who demand that art and music be free need not be surprised when they are given propaganda, and ultimately realize that art no longer exists.

Surrender Nothing

It is not modern culture, but the contemporary critique of culture that is fraudulent.

As criticism, it is not put forth with the intent of encouraging elevated expression, but as a vehicle for seizing and controlling cultural perspectives, and thereby to do the same with wealth and power.

No one understands this fact more than artists who have lost both autonomy and all means of support while "works" of no value beyond their dubious meanings as sociopolitical "statements" are lauded by the so-called intelligentsia.

Torn Curtain

The legitimacy of  'art' is always in question.

This is a means of control.  The artist may conceive and devise unprecedented concepts and methods, by which to produce entirely original works, yet until and unless such works are deemed "legitimate" or "authentic" by one or another respectable source they are of no significance whatsoever.

The fact that this recognition almost invariably takes place through either social posturing or some form of political maneuvering should never be lost upon the creative individual.

Singular Variations

Perceptions suggest and evoke reasoned responses as well as instinctual reactions.

Conversational tone changes, ideas are visualized, words chosen, and the imagination expressed in every medium.  But the clamor is ceaselessly for "free art", and so are art and artists valued.

Breaking

The arts must reject conformity and assert independent visions from positions of strength.

Totalitarian cultures cannot tolerate opposing perspectives, because they are incapable of defending absurd ideas and asinine viewpoints.  What critical thought and insight reveals, against the weight of risk and threat, courage and integrity demand the arts illuminate.

Moment

It is a simple fact.  Art is highly significant and valuable.

One cannot debase the contents of consciousness, whether personal or cultural, without serious consequences.

Substance, Shadow, Consciousness

So-called "dark" visions and expressions are but infantile, morbid extravagances.

To place greater value on technology than upon the ultimate potential of the human mind is an affront to humanity itself. Such a false perspective is one of infinitely greater hazard to freedom, culture, and society than any demoralized view of the human condition can possibly be.