Fire and Force

Give free play to the imagination and enlarge the range of consciousness.

To seize an artist's meaning may pose difficulties; to contemplate an expression as it exists is to come near to its power, and from this vantage point sense its virtue.

Sound and Shape

An image forms in the mind.  It may be visual or auditory.

Find the tools, develop the methods, utilize the medium, bring forth the message, the perception, the impression. 

Elements of direct experience pass through the prism of imagination, emotion, intellect and the senses.

This is transformation, bearing the mark of the artist's hand and sensibility, by which the common and ordinary become profound and uncanny.

Nature, Meaning, Revelation

A work of art reveals a perception, an experience, communicated in concrete terms.

Among essential qualities of energy, character, and significance, a work of art in sound is expressive of meaning; it may fail to conform to conventional expectations in terms of generic musical forms, but its tones, patterns, and combinations thereof have peculiar emotional and perceptual value of their own.

Thus it is that, beyond enjoying the simple pleasure to be taken in an atmosphere brightened by ambient music, the listener's interest may be drawn to a sound design's archetypal and symbolic expressiveness in ways that further enhance the listening experience.

Imaginative Power

Not fact, but sense of fact; not the knowledge contained in the reproduction of a perception itself, but that of the singular impression it presents the artist. In this way certain qualities of music, or the presentation of sounds in aesthetic context, shadow elements of other arts rather than imitate prevalent musical forms.

Consider the invitation to listen to the composer's perceptions, to think and feel, if possible, in the imaginative spirit of the artist. This need not be an imposition on a mind attuned to popular culture, and asks only that the listener be in a receptive frame of mind or mood to listen without the need to "catch" the tune or respond to a beat or rhythm.

Presently, if the listener is so inclined, it may be possible to detect a "poetic" quality to the design in sound, a feeling or impression of a different, but not unfamiliar, sense of reference. Something along the lines of a walk in a park or open field may come to mind, as opposed to following an arrangement of a song or standard instumental work. 

Within this emerging atmosphere there are patterns, colors, tints of sound, textures and spaces, shapes and lines and distances, along with an awareness of movement; all of these elements are most often associated with the visual arts. Temporal movement itself may be perceived as more easily borne than is usual with the general passage of time, as is often the case with aesthetically pleasing experience.

Combinations of sounds in this manner are transformational by design and intent; bearing the impress of the artist, they sketch the panoramas of imagination.

Vision, Manipulation, Effect, and Regard

Neither camera nor audio recorder is a perceiver.

The scientifically-inclined understand perception as a function of sensory organs and brain; another perspective, that of the philosophical thinker, will just as likely consider this function as one of awareness and mind.  All animals perceive through the senses, of course, but they do not make the conscious fine distinctions mentioned.

The making of such contrasts is a human trait, as is the function of reason.  This is an evaluative function, and through reason, attendant emotion, cultural circumstances and available materials artistic expression is realized.

Conception, Elaboration

Fundamentally, creation is both intuitive and analytical, being at times spontaneous and inspired while at other times developed with care, patience and exceptional effort. 

The difference between the two is in the process, not the nature, of the creative act.  In the interval between concept and expression, work takes diverse forms according to an artist's methods.  Trial and error, chance, and unforeseen events or accidents have their place in production scenarios as well, whether the artist is of a meticulous and logical disposition or is one who relies more on instinctive and unconscious faculties.

The individual artist's temperament and perspective bring unique effects to his or her creations, as do imagination and vision.  The value of work ethic impacts every aspect of the effort as well, and should never be underestimated, as it is essential to art in every form.

Elemental Expression

Mist rises and flows over and through the surroundings.

This is freedom of form, fineness of response, delicacy of movement, a force that effortlessly overwhelms.

Brittany, August 1978.  For an evening hour of strange beauty, the sound of a Breton bagpipe, the binioù kozh, drifting among the gardens of Carnac, embraced in just such an atmosphere. 

To apprehend and convey the indefinable is to dare perception with purpose.

Singular Force

That which is driven by ideas exists by virtue of principles, and by its own merits.

Independent thinkers, that is to say, people of individual imagination and autonomous will, are so constituted as to resist being subsumed into the easy comfort of cultural conformity; it is tedious and predictable to one of such a disposition. 

This is the artist for whom commercial success is an indifferent thing, for whom the myriad objects of status are of no consequence.  What matters is intensity of being and fullness of expression, depth of thought, strength of vision and the quest for possibilities and their realization.

Conceptual Improvisations

Impression, aesthetic synthesis, imaginative vision, expression in form. 

Stimulus, brought to a fund of knowledge and experience, is resolved as a vision to be brought into being through sound, dance, painting, drama, poetry, or any media.

Drama in sound, music in architecture, dance in sculpture, poetry in film, any and every combination and connection of idea and intuition, perspective and process, brings to light the creative and critical act of the imagination. 

Impression and Process

Art captures form and color, shape and line, and implies movement. In a painting, for example, or a photograph, these elements convey such things as feelings, ideas and thematic content. 

Sounds present similar impressions while undergoing diverse processes as they move through time. These temporal developments exert forces on the psyche, and they impact mood, sensory awareness, and state of mind, in varying degrees of intensity.

Splashes of color, scatterings of tones over the course of an hour or evening, or clever juxtapositions of elements are, in themselves, mere atmospheric ornamentation.  The art which illuminates them is revealed in the total aesthetic effect of the finished work on one who experiences it.

Nebulous Clarity

A dreamlike uncertainty of sound.

 
Neither confusing nor chaotic, such are the sounds that fill spaces approached and entered but not yet fully grasped. 

Step through gates or doors and find a world in motion.  As yet unacclimated to the atmosphere, listening to color, brightness, the echos of deep shadows, voices of glass and silver, the ear and the mind devise order, seize mood and symbol, appraise circumstances as agreeable; the journey is illuminated, surrounded by song in universal language.

Travel anywhere the imagination wanders, as lightly as rain.

Correspondences, Aural and Visual

For some, perhaps most, imagination will furnish sound imagery in association with visual stimuli, as it does with words.

And the converse is true also.  Auditory imagery will stimulate perceptual impressions in context with the surrounding environment and in the mind as well.

While musical performance and presentation combine sound and imagery to striking results for an audience, it should not be forgotten that sound alone connects intimately with the listener, whether in a personal or social setting.  Composers who respect listeners' taste, intelligence, and emotional discernment may communicate through sound in ways that are understated in approach, to equally far-reaching effects.

Imaginative listening is the foundation of unique and imaginative sound works, whether these are of a fundamentally generic musical nature or they owe their origins to more asymmetrical perspectives.

Aural Imagery, Sonic Symbols

Art in sound moves with affinity for perception and thought, as well as emotion.

An atmospheric synthesis of sound elements forms a language that depicts, through suggestive combinations and connections of tone and pattern and vibration, sensory effects and imaginative visions.  Places, people, and events may pass before the mind's eye in sympathy with thoughts and impressions arising out of the listening experience as a result. 

Emotion or feeling is by no means eliminated-- this is neither possible nor desirable-- but it is not the sole focus of the sketch or transformation ambient piece.  Enhancement of environments conducive to a contemplative state of mind is foremost, not the creation of vicarious emotional states.

These, then, are elemental sensations, originating in aesthetic expression through sound, and illuminating, perhaps altering in a subtle manner, the consciousness of the listener.

Art as Sound

Rhythm arouses emotional expression, which in turn is developed with ornamentation.  All else is refinement of sensibility, theory and technique, if this is the whole of the idea of "music".

Anyone who cares in any degree for the reality of art knows and perceives in ways that art requires for its very existence. Each individual and personal perspective holds insights into artistic ideas and concepts that may form a catalyst through which visions of future human expression and culture are revealed.   

The traditional and the popular have their places, but they are not held in positions of value and importance by either the arrogance of specious conventional authorities or the shallow whims and declarations of self-styled arbiters of fashion.

Most particularly in an information culture, one must see and hear the arts through one's own eyes and ears.

Sound, Sense, Thought, Being

Tone, mood, atmosphere: being sensory images or impressions, and thus suggestive of emotional content, these convey implications words alone can not provide the listener.

It is a widely-held view that emotional content forms the essence of music, and that it is the central reality of the musical experience.  There is no reason to dispute the nature and fact of this belief, yet it is equally certain there are other ways of listening and composing that are, by intent, removed from the ordinary limits of emotional experience.

Works created for such aesthetic ends may be thought of as presentations of auditory imagery designed to evoke environments in which the listener's consciousness is not subject to the vagaries of emotive excitation, but rather directed toward contemplative states of mind.

Conceptual Succession

Interrelated ideas form patterns and reorganize their elements to emerge in diverse manifestations, different intellectual and emotional perspectives, for instance, or unexpected expressions.

Consider, contemplate, analyze, draw conclusions, gesture, communicate, represent.

But, one objects, it may not be understood.

If such is the goal, do not look or reach beyond the obvious.  If there is more to art and expression, the aims and purposes are beyond as well. 

Understanding will arise in time, or it will not.  But measure the known against the unknown, and there is always more.

Imaginary Consciousness

Over time habits of listening and thinking become ingrained in the psyche.

Disregard for conceptual limits does not eliminate them, but they become plainly discernible as indifferent things that, for some, are obstacles that can neither be understood nor overcome.

Promoveo, promovi, promotum.

Film, Sound, and Thought

Combinations of auditory and visual imagery suggest, as do word combinations and connections in poetry, multiple possibilities and levels of meaning through concrete and abstract impressions.

In cinema and television applications, narrative pace, characterization and plot drive the action, as they do in theater productions, but these are translated through mediums that provide more possibilities in presentation than direct performance.  Lighting, camera angles, sound, and sound effects distort and color perceptions, producing a different total effect than that of works onstage.

The art made manifest in the combinations of sound and images as they change and move is of equal importance to all other elements of the film, and in some productions it is the central element around which the themes of the work arise. 

The term soundtrack cannot adequately convey the significance of this aspect of the work, given its critical contribution to the overall artistic statement made by the production.  Still, musical clichés are often the norm, metaphorical tones, sound sequences and textures that enhance mise-en-scène are rarely brought to bear artistically-- in even the more imaginative screenplays-- and subtlety is too frequently sacrificed for overwrought intensity, particularly in generating suspense.

As always, everything depends upon the vision of the artist or artists involved.

Late and Soon

The experience of sound is more than auditory sensation. 

Musically, it is cultural, attitudinal, and physical, as well as emotional and cerebral. In impact and influence, it is an existential phenomenon.  It is within the listener as well as in the air.

Beyond listening, one may also observe, contemplate, make choices, and create expressions revealing experiences, emotions, and ideas.  Transformation ambient music, through tones, textures and patterns, does so by placing less emphasis upon musical forms and more upon sounds themselves and the impressions they convey.

Vanguard and Context

It has been said that Picasso was as familiar with the work of the Old Masters as he was his own.  Andy Warhol's final series of paintings was based on variations of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper.  John Cage utilized the Classic of Changes, or I Ching, as a musical composition tool.

The avant-garde does not appear out of a vacuum, rootless, without foundation, directionless and devoid of cultural reference.  As a manifestation of the artistic impulse, it reflects elements of the cultural sensibilities of the artist, whether the goal is to advance traditional forms or break with them altogether.

In contemporary terms, this manifestation may encompass all cultures, all of history, and all human expression.