Transcending the Verbal

The observer, giving due consideration to the limits of expression through language, will recognize that tone communicates in ways both subtle and profound.

The poetic extends toward the philosophical; the philosophical, toward the ineffable. Tone quality in sound, in its capacity to convey those things that cannot be articulated in words, may approach the imaginative and the sublime through combinations of aural imagery impossible to attain otherwise.

Advance

What appears spontaneous comes about as the result of innumerable forces and conditions.

As a composer, I am interested in gesture defined by environment, that is to say, by emerging and expanding elements of tone and setting.  This is designed as a transformational process marked by an equilibrium of sustained, evolving aural imagery.

Any choices in performance or production that may modify and augment the total effect of the work are subjective in that they reflect aesthetic sensibilities, yet their implementation is determined solely by the auditory elements of the work itself.  Interference with the unfolding expression is incompatible with its outcome.

Metamorphosis

Changes in culture and changes in individual perception lead to the emergence of unexpected forms.

At first these forms are perceived as strange and unprecedented; then their origins become apparent as their effects are felt and their connections to sometimes obscure traditions become clear.

The composer acts according to the historical impulses at play in the world of outward, objective experience as well as those intimate and dynamic forces found within the seemingly infinite world heard and conceived in the inner ear of imagination.

Distances Emerge

Listening can provide a change of consciousness in ways similar to that of a journey or dream.

One leaves nothing behind, in any event, but perspectives may alter, and changes in tone, focus and perceptivity may bring about greater understanding and deeper, broader appreciation for what is real.

This is not escape, but immersion in equanimity and balance of reason and feeling.

Selective Hearing

Some will say, stepping outside the everyday boundaries of work and play, "But I hear nothing".

The listener harassed by a subjection to immediacy hears little more that what is thrust directly into perceptual awareness.  Even the value of music that should brighten perspective degrades in such conditions.

There is much pleasure, and elevation of moral reason, to be found and engaged in the sounds of stillness, once consciousness expands to listen, and hear with the inner ear- and there is much to inspire the composer and creative artist in rendering these sounds and atmospheres.

Clairaudience

Sound is always present, always perceptible.

Shaped and manipulated according to specific ideas and techniques, sounds become music.

Now listen to the sounds of the day in the course of moving from one place to another.

Imagine specific ideas and techniques for shaping and manipulating those sounds, with their unique combinations, patterns, and tonal qualities, to produce representations of atmospheric environments.

While retaining much of a musical nature, such compositions are more akin to works of art, with their various properties, than those created utilizing the elements and techniques of music.

Transience and Aesthetic Temperament

Among myriad attributes, art confronts mortality as witness to its reality.

The artist perceives and expresses, and these works are the experiences of a life seen, heard, and revealed.  There is much to do, much that can not be done, yet the way of the artist is to demand everything of oneself and very little otherwise.

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.

Unknown Appearances

Hear what is not there.

Limited to expectations of listening experience, the imagination and perceptions constrict and stultify.

Discern, out of the ubiquitous familiar, those sounds that cannot be identified, remaining uncanny and out of reach. These are seeds of creative gesture, challenging artistic representation.

Environs II

In the course of the day, innumerable sounds and noises pass through consciousness.

Heard as musical constructs and given form in the imagination, such elements of aural imagery, if homely, fragmented, and for the most part unnoticed, nonetheless form an artist's palette of immense possibilities.

Opening Awareness

Varied sounds are suggestive of seasons, desirable surroundings, and serene settings or circumstances.

Still other tones and juxtapositions of aural patterns bring to mind the weathering of rocks, stillness of ocean expanses, movement of bone against muscle, and stranger, more subtle, vaguely unconscious perceptions or ideas.

To listen, and so to hear with the inner ear, is to explore and discover.

To Strive and to Revolt

Dare to do, and dare again and again.

No artist need apologize for the range and scope of individual vision and arduous work, nor tolerate ignorance in the act of bringing forth light.

Functioning

Design implies purpose.

The composer recognizes artistic work as having abstract and concrete value.  Such things as are evident in analysis and experience of sound productions- aesthetic pleasure and interest as well as suitability for the listening environment can serve here as examples- are of essential significance.

Yet beyond the beautiful and finely-rendered, from my perspective, the most desirable effects are those of illumination, equanimity, and elevation.

Narrative

Music is typically recognized in the form of arrangement of sounds over time.

Culturally, musical styles emerge and diminish in impact and influence upon the public imagination according to various aesthetic, historical, and social forces.

Setting aside this grasp of form and formula altogether, contemplate sounds as basic elements to be manipulated according to aspects of artistic composition such as balance, line, spatial relationships, tone color, patterns, juxtaposition of dynamic reference points, and so forth.  From this perspective, I work at variance with general musical methodology, developing aural atmospheres reflecting sounds as they occur and are perceived in natural surroundings as well as social environments.

Anomaly

Listening involves more than what is generously termed "appreciation of music".

Perceptual clarity in apprehension of tone color, texture, and grasp of meaningful aural gesture, while easily developed, are rarely challenged and elevated in the normal course of the listening experience.

Depth of listening awareness enlivens consciousness of these subtleties and develops the inner ear of imagination.  This is an inborn faculty, far too often dulled by constant exposure to the mediocre and mundane, through both trite performances and poor quality sound reproduction systems.

Everywhere

Every setting offers sequences of perceptions.

Every sequence is uniquely that of the percipient.

In terms of sound, music- including cinematic sound design- is typically arranged to attract and hold the attention while directing it through a series of auditory events.

The compositions under discussion here, as the listener may notice in sampling them, are arranged to reflect natural perceptual fields in which the percipient is afforded opportunities to direct personal attention at will within aesthetically pleasing aural environments.

Setting, Space, Movement, Being

Hear the world.

Thought moves through language, then beyond words, as sounds move beyond music.

Imaginings

Perceive directly.  Otherwise awareness will be distorted through the filters of media culture.

At minimum, consider the reasoning that informs the various narratives of cultural events.  Clearly, some perspectives are realistic, others predicated upon the emotional desire for particular outcomes.

But reality conforms to no one; change is constant and inevitable, so it is wise to act in accord with nature, and with integrity.  Set aside those frames of reference outside one's individual approaches and interpretations of ideas and events, and reflect upon the significance of personal experience.

Listen, and hear the original imagination.

Finding Time

Social and cultural conditions-- and conditioning of behavior-- place time in the context of limits.

Within such limits life is constricted and state of mind grows fatigued.  It is natural to rebel against such temporal and existential burdens.

A fitting response to these conditions is one that expands perspective beyond narrow, linear attitudes toward the dimension of time through contemplative thought and activity.

Arts that reinforce heightened states of awareness contribute to a fuller understanding of the human condition, and, from a composer's point of view, it is through the arts of sound that such illumination may arise.

Mood, Tone, Atmospherics

Consider mood in terms of sound as evoking an emotional response.

Tone, then, may be considered to reflect the composer's attitude towards the subject of the work.

Essential, from my viewpoint, is a balanced perspective lending itself to a response of equanimity, whether in the process of composition or that of the listening experience.