Paint with Words, Sculpt with Sounds

That the idea of "art" as a kind of effortless free expression reserved for the brilliant and gifted remains in common currency, given centuries of evidence to the contrary, is absurd.

All that becomes art does so through a prolonged process of arduous focus and uncompromising personal vision, upending the facile and the mundane while transforming the fabric of existence into the tapestry of the future, and always against the tyranny of the status quo.

Sound, Imagery, Metaphor

Sound suggests and becomes atmosphere.

Settings and the objects within them may be symbolic and archetypal, and sound, as well, may impress these shapes and shades of meaning upon the listener.  These may be sweeping and expansive or intimate, with a variety of aural motifs evocative of emotional and spiritual  impressions.

From an artist's or composer's perspective, such are the musical designs, textures, combinations, and juxtapositions of aural imagery that immerse the listener in a contemplative listening environment.

Impulse, Direction, Detail

Images, emotions, and ideas appear to the creative artist or composer, fraught with complications. Some would call certain insights impossible to convey.

Any limits placed upon the creative impulse must be intentional on the artist's part, and never in subjection to cultural conformity.  To do otherwise is a failure of vision.

Technology and Impression

Villiers de L'isle Adam might write today, "As for living, our machines will do that for us".

Instead, direct perception through the medium of technology, rather than merely towards it.  From the composer's perspective, the work must do more than fill the ears, the heart and the mind.

 It must open them.

Self, Scene, Sound

Environments shape human action and interaction.

We respond to settings and the people we find in them in a variety of ways, with diverse behaviors that are reflections of personal character.  It may or may not be within our control to be in certain places or circumstances, but our choices within them are indicators of whether or not we conform our wills to the reality of those scenarios.  As Epictetus puts it, it is within our power to refrain or sustain.

Clearly, then, it is apparent that certain atmospheres are themselves possessed of degrees of character, as impressed upon them by humanity, and that others, though perceived through the filter of human consciousness. reveal a different order of existence.

It is the composer's sense of reality as well as self that inspires and shapes musical works.

Culture and Consciousness

As speech patterns vary according to geography and background, so do perceptions of the arts.  This is particularly the case with music, as it is universally constant.

As a result listening habits become fixed and ingrained, with little variation over time, as is only natural.

This is not to say that the adventurous listener will not discover the extraordinary, but to note the distance from the commonplace that must be crossed to connect with such works.

Sound in Time and Mind

Music in its varied forms or genres appeals to diverse interests and levels of attention.

Beyond existing in these forms as diversion or entertainment, combinations of sounds are, in and of themselves, of aesthetic and artistic moment, and contribute to heightened states of consciousness.

Atmospheres in Motion

Sounds and imagery combine and coalesce in the imagination.

Compose to convey this dynamic that enlivens each listening experience differently.

Sensibility

Bring to light the things that go unnoticed.

Bring forward into the listener's consciousness those sounds that define existence, that reflect the sounds of the earth turning on its axis.

Idea, Emotion, Perception

Music, to some minds, is a narrow concept.

For others, it expresses and heightens awareness.

Explorations

Seek any direction for inspiration.

Ultimately, it comes from within.
 

Sensory Clarity

Seek the beauty and the subtlety.

Catch an impression of rain approaching in distant trees, and paint this feeling into the musical canvas.

Ancient Modern

Allow no attachment of sound to "the times".  By this I mean, restrain the impulse to reflect and respond to the transient and impermanent.

Through auditory imagery and aural metaphor, merge time past and time future.

Hidden Prague (mp3 format)

Silence and Sound

Some listeners do not distinguish between individual instruments, respond physically to rhythms, and internalize the emotional impression of a musical work. Some listen with a technical ear, for qualities of cohesiveness and musical technique.

Then there are those who listen with the inner ear, perceiving with the imagination, for whom frost and flame, shadow and light, color and movement and uncanny possibilities emerge into being with every vibration.  Some are children, but most certainly not all.

Timelessness

The cultural significance of the arts and letters varies in intensity from time to time. Literature and poetry, music and the visual arts will, on various occasions, take precedence over such things as business and politics in the public square.

The way of the artist, regardless, is alight with the lamp of vision.

Realism

Artistic efforts may be marred by the necessity of empathy with the artist.  It can be difficult to sustain interest in works burdened by such subjectivity.

Conversely, the painter or composer rarely serves the role of a mere recording device.

The balance is found in both vision and the manner of representation through which idea, feeling, and corresponding imagery are conveyed.

To deny the value of moderation suggests insufficient capacity to appreciate it; to denigrate the virtues of restraint is commonplace absurdity.

Auditory Topography

Every movement and change in perspective alters the listener's perception of the surroundings.

Accordingly, compositions and recordings, given various effects and juxtapositions of sounds, may suggest a walk through a landscape.  

Emanation

Unperceived, yet it exists.

Unheard, it coalesces in the unconscious.

Beyond and beneath notice, it assumes form and its vibrations move toward expression.

Echoes of the Future

Consider auditory art beyond current forms.

Music is a medium that communicates with the unconscious; the sounds of myriad historic eras reveal their various cultures in the light of emotions, ideas and attitudes.  The solemn, the frenzied, the simple and the sophisticated reflect in sound the human condition of the times.

Take A Moment

Listen, hear, think, and imagine the sound of the immediate surroundings to be the sound of unfamiliar music.

Yet, more likely than not, there is already music in the surrounding environment.

If this is the case, consider the mood, tone, and theme of that music in comparison to what the atmosphere suggests without their presence.