Cross Talk

Clearly, perceptivity stands in opposition to nihilistic insensibility.

Yet the latter perspective always takes contemporary precedence by dint of incessant clamor, appeals to ignorance, and mob mentality. The sleep of reason yields monsters; their attempted expressions are nugatory, and absurd.

That which will be must conform to reality, and reality will not be coerced.  Contrived eccentricities create neither power nor individuality, and the quest to make them do so has rendered them common, pointless, vapid, and impotent.

Art Under The Boot

The presence of propaganda means one thing: the presence of chains.

In a totalitarian, politically correct culture, the artist must be self-reliant.  Or there will be no art.

See, Express, or Grasp Nothingness

Art collapses in the hands of the unfinished intellect, the ideologue, and the timid.

This is a failure of vision as well as intellect. A failure of recognizing the human condition, it is disabled further by a lack of critical foresight.  Yet it is sustained by the like-minded, until definitive revolt can no longer be restrained.

Divergence in Direction of Sound and Idea

Put plainly, music is one form of creativity involving sounds, and there are other forms that do not necessarily conform to the categories generally considered to encompass music.

Music is an art and a science. The creation and expression of aural imagery is a different kind of art, and a different application of science, one that analyzes environments for the purpose of replicating their varied atmospheric elements in stylized forms through processes of sound manipulation.

Art and Accord

Expression serves greater possibilities.

Things will not always be as they are. Change will come. Elevation inevitably parallels decline.

Consciousness is a rarity in the universe, and expression in every form speaks to its permanence.

Aesthetic Constructs

There are perspectives from which cultural expression is unnecessary.

This does not alter the fact that every human idea and action reflects a perspective upon reality, and that existence itself shapes that view into one form or another of expression and meaning.

Active Thought

Thinking ahead is essential to progress, and it is not difficult.

What is, in fact, nearly impossible is for a culture immured in material attachments to undo the belief that there is nothing more to live for than the present moment now, and thus recognize innumerable possibilities-- with the understanding that many of these are already within reach.

I see the experience of listening to sounds dancing in the air.

Loud, Bright, Fast, Inferior

Conditions that reduce art to spectacle are entirely artificial.

Such conditions follow a prolonged period of decline and apathy. The central focus of culture is no longer attached to spurious ideas and expressions.  Interest is lost, change is difficult to recognize.

But authentic art never varies or loses force, and draws change toward future reality.

Auditory Frame Theory

Sound is constant.  Perception is context.

The composer chooses a theoretical setting in which sounds are arrayed as they occur in perceptual consciousness and sets them in motion.  Patterns, therefore, are not established beforehand, but are the result of fluidity and juxtaposition as the work progresses. This is listening, and hearing, as it takes place outside the context of "music", its paradigms, and its arrangements.

Crossing

Culture provides context.

Nonetheless, the role of the artist is beyond that of validating or contradicting culture.  Let all those incapable of detachment do those things.

The point is devotion to the work, to the progression of ideas, and to the force of vision greater than the vanity of ego.  The finished works, with their impact in total effect, speak for themselves.

Question Motive

Some refer to "the broader culture" in terms of gaining acceptance. This is oversimplification.

Impulse to create reflects a sense of meaning and direction forward in experience. Nothing more.

Burning Drafts

In theory, aesthetic perception elevates experience.

That one may realize such elevation in experiential reality is fact, yet it is not effortless, requiring some critical thought with regard to multifarious ideas. and therefore it is the common experience of but few.

It is revealing how often those who lavish praise upon the "elite" athlete are quick to condemn the arduous efforts and work of the thinking individual, whether in the arts or other fields of endeavor.

Expression as Disputation

Consider the possibility of irreversible intellectual decline.

Contrast present cultural perspectives with objective experience.

Expression, Conscience, Permanence

Certain arts reflect nothing more than the transient character of culture.

Other, more noble arts, speak to the elevation of culture and the individual, together and separately.

Stand, Fall, Rise

Art will be, or it will not be; brazen attitude will not hide failure, nor timidity grasp success.

Cultures and societies may be oppressed, or coerced into self-censorship, but art obeys the law of the individual artist.

Expression, Impact, Integrity

Reality and the artist's imagination are the sources of art.  This is my judgement.  Others are free to deny it, whatever their inclination may be towards the subject.

I am the originator of the work, and the work is my responsibility.

These are things within my power, my knowledge and my control.  Among the things outside my power are the opinions of listeners, the intellectual and emotional projections they may place upon the works, and the manner in which the works are received generally. This is to say that I bring forth the works as they are, and that whatever they may become is out of my hands.

One may well assert that such points are given, and unnecessary; one will be reminded, however, that it is effortless indeed to call day, night, and night, day.

In point of fact, such is the nugatory perspective of the foolish and the intentionally false, those who would indiscriminately influence the easily led for their own ends.

And this, certainly, is not the way of art, but of something else entirely.

Choice, Pressure

There is subtlety of expression, contrasting spectacle, to be experienced.

But culture everywhere at all times falls short of the visions of art.  This is nothing new.  No culture is viewed by objective standards as thoroughly "enlightened", and it is for the wise artist to grasp that the mediocre is the regular fare, and mundane, whether in extravagant or casual forms. It is only over extended periods of time that cultures acclimate to forward-thinking and visionary expressions.

Undreaming

The modern artist cannot fall prey to complacency.

Art reflects and expresses the failures of human cultures as well as their aspirations.

Rates of Change

Create with the effects of change over time in mind.

When the original can no longer be recognized, the work is finished.

Now, apply this concept to that of "music".

Learn by Impression

Perceive clearly.

But this demands refined awareness of sensory information, directly experienced and unmodified by emotional bias.  In this way it becomes possible to listen, and hear, in ways that allow understanding of aesthetic sound composition that neither depend upon nor express musical paradigms.