Prefigurations

Art inspires art, as experience and perception shape expression.

The nature of the art of sound is that it must expand, conceptually and in scope and gesture, with the vision of the listener and composer, outside the context of the so-called musical forms.

Each and All

Time Future is heard in Time Past; it echoes in Time Present.

Life continues, and expression of that beauty and that continuity may be heard with the inner ear.

Surface, Shadow, Symbol, and The Real

Art is human reality; thus within it, human error.

Observe digital media in various forms; consider these in the context of Plato's allegory of the cave.

Enliven

Exert the force of intellect; persist in intuitive thought, and sustain it; engage the moment now.

Discipline the faculties to observe and become cognizant of finer detail in a wider range of perception and experience is intensified, that is to say, heightened.  Open up the mind's eye and the inner ear, bringing imagination into being, in life and in art.

Undercurrents

Confine or limit cultural expression and it will appear in other forms.

Reason yields to instinct in the popular imagination until it reasserts itself out of necessity in opposition to confusion and error, just as primal emotion is brought to bear against rigidity of intellectual authority and control.

But these are simplistic reactions.  The way of the artist may be one of balance, and lucidity of intuitive expression.

Reign of Spirits

In the quiet landscape, near and distant sounds evoke uncanny presences in the imagination.

Listening, hearing, and contemplating the unseen, it is possible to perceive in the way of ancient or "primitive" people, alert to change of atmosphere and movement both subtle and extensive.  These are, in fact, highly refined faculties worthy of development for their perceptual and aesthetic virtues.

The composer may do well to create to this order of understanding.

Uncertainty of Beauty

Observe the course of the history of Western music, consider its developments, and give regard to the effects of widespread global influences over the past century.

The convergence of diverse forms leads the composer and listener to myriad choices, and ultimately to realizations, whether intentional or not, of broader perceptions and more refined artistic goals.

Impression, Perspective, Monad

The art of sound is manifest in the experience of listener and composer alike.

And these are the important things, in and of themselves: individual experience and the art.

Drawing Breath

One does not seek only the fulfillment of expectations in the arts and attain experience of their virtues.

The sound arts, nonetheless, offer the opportunity to comply with the expectations of a wide range of audiences that are culturally conditioned to desire the predictable.

It is also possible to compose to enhance the total experience of the listener, and to awaken this through the inner ear.

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.

Startle, Settle

Become alert to the stir of sounds.

Perceive the apparently random character of disconnected sounds, widely separated and unrelated.

But this is narrow perception compounded by ignorance of the nature of things.  Attend to the rise and fall, the mingling and coalescing, the unity, dispersal, and dissolution that, seen and heard and sensed as change, is reality's essence.   Time means nothing in such unity as this, and nothing is arbitrary on this scale.

 As the listener may bring to realization, the composer may imagine and bring into being.

Sound Settings

In natural conditions the listener perceives the whole of the sonic environs and distinguishes its separate elements.

Accordingly, elements of sound composition may include producing representations of various sources, directions, and distances, equal in effect to the work's essential auditory structural components.

Even as recordings, such pieces as these do not lend themselves to superficial, immediate grasp and interpretation; they contribute, rather, to establishing long-term processes of active listening, passive hearing, and expansion of meaning.

Remote Sounds in Landscapes and Interiors

Causes in time past unfold now in events yet to be.

Sense the aural character of the moment in motion, trace its origins, hear its approaching outcomes.

This may not be music, but something uncanny; familiar, yet unknown.

Proximity and Correlation

Whether subjected to sounds or immersed in them by choice, the effects are tangible.

If the superficial and sensational are believed desirable, the mind will gravitate toward such things, find them in abundance, and access them easily.  But this is the province of narrow perspective.

A forward-thinking frame of mind demands much more of experience, and will vigorously exert all the efforts necessary to realize the fullness of life on a larger scale.

In the arts, it is imperative to create that experience.

Speculative Music Structures

The composer who proposes artistic works of a different order than those in common currency must, like Blake, be prepared to create a system suitable for these productions.

Speculation must be engaged in concrete terms and proved, often over prolonged periods, with patience and painstaking diligence.

As to my perspective, the composer determines conditions, defines limits, engages possibility and opportunity, then manipulates, shapes, and releases sounds into what become the environments that tones and gestures themselves create.

Gesture, Art, Sound

As speech imparts attitude, so clarity, volume, and texture of sound conveys it through the total effect of tone, with its combinations and juxtapositions serving to attract and direct the listener's attention.

A state of being at once contemplative and perceptually lucid will not be brought into being by the coarse artistic gesture, nor will it yield to such without reason.   Elevation of consciousness is a demanding goal, and the cultivation of mind and equanimity an arduous task, but these are worthy and virtuous aims for artist, listener, and composer alike.

Waves of Sound and Thought

Every listener is different; every sound is uniquely experienced.

Mood and attitude impact listening, as listening engages idea and emotional state of mind.

Thank You.

Prescience charts as Top 100 Ambient MP3 Best Seller at Amazon.com the 1st day of its release.

Being in Reality

Sound compositions constructed by placement of auditory imagery neither coerce attention nor yield to expectations.

In such conditions the listener is released from subjection to immediacy and the trifling ideas and events in common currency associated, consciously or not, with generic musical forms and their cultural settings.

These are essentially modern sound arrangements that welcome deeper thought, composure, and presence of mind.

Sweep

The sophisticated listener is generally aware of the elements of Western music and the history of its development, along with the evolution through creative synthesis of numerous genre forms.  There may also be, perhaps, some knowledge of archaic styles, non-Western sound compositions, and diverse cultural contexts related to musical ceremony and ritual.  This information can be acquired by experience and academic studies as well.

But all this is "given" in terms of the appreciation of music.  It is the standard norm in understanding, and the accepted received wisdom.

Far less often encountered in regard to the sound arts is an attitude of questioning and curiosity, and speculation regarding other possible interpretations and applications of auditory phenomena that may suggest other purposes and aesthetically pleasing experiences is rare.  These are simple questions:

Why is this the state and order of things?  What else might there be of equal or greater moment and value?

Yet, absent this spirit of inquiry, there is only stasis.

Sound Composition as Unfolding

Sounds as they occur in everyday environments are shaped by continually changing forces.

Perception of these sounds most often takes the forms of passive hearing and active listening in the course of movement through various activities, and is of an essential, primal nature.