In Hearing of the Unseen World

At the intersection of life and art is mystery.

Consciousness grasps, and realization measures what can be known against what remains unknown.

Symmetry

Order, proportion, balance.

But these alone are simply appearances, and may be no more than easily contrived artificialities; the aesthetic sensibilities are engaged and expand through myriad perspectives, direct perceptions, and appreciation of imperfection as well.

Message

Every work of art is a communication.

It says, "This is reality, this is the world, this is a story about life and experience."

Advance

The unorthodox envisions progress, yet requires risk.

Whether in theory, approach, or execution, advancement of creative thought through unconventional means may ultimately yield value and significance, but for the artist, the work is its own justification.

Cynosure of Sounds

Chaos to order, and again to chaos, to order, ad infinitum.

Perceived differently: a fabric woven of being and becoming, reality of continuous change.

Ease and Difficulty

Art engages subjective emotion as well as objective perception.

The percipient forms impressions and responds accordingly.  The artist, nonetheless, may choose to gratify the aesthetic temperament of an audience, seek to shock the sensibilities of another, or remain indifferent to anything other than the art itself.

The Depths Beneath the Surfaces

Perceptions must be more than the equivalent of a cursory glance, a brief awareness.

Hearing, one absorbs atmospheres; listening, one interprets and understands.  These are different levels of consciousness than those of moving to rhythms and nodding to beats.

But the way of the sounds, and of their intent, must be different as well.

Cycles and Permutations

Both order and change suggest meanings that may be sensed, if not fully understood.

Things rise and fall.  Change will occur.  The concrete, impermanent and material reflect the ideal, the permanent and abstract.  The artist perceives and represents the moment of experience, and the old becomes the new.

Entity, Abstraction, Existence

Poetic works combine elements of language in constructions of verbal imagery.

As a composer, I am concerned with tones and their juxtapositions, the atmospheric imagery of real environments, and, like certain poets, with the depiction of visions and realities not perceptible by the senses.

Expression, its Dynamics, and the Unexpected

There are those who would govern culture, control its expressions, dictate its directions and outcomes.

They are nameless and many, but such perspectives are ultimately absurd, Utopian, and impotent in the context of reality. What cannot be predicted cannot be controlled over time.

For the artist, it is simple, and cannot be otherwise:  Do what must be done.

Into the Valley

The excesses of musical creativity and performance are easily forgiven in light of the emotional intensity the arts of sound bring to bear upon creator and audience alike.

Left unchecked, such creative impulses may nonetheless drive the artist into grievous error, and the foundations of celebrity subcultures have little in the way of sustaining the spiritual faculties necessary to avoid shallow and absurd commitments to base, often brute perspectives.  One attains the genuine heights without, or in spite of, mere appearances and the welter of human ignorance, even in its most refined forms.

Facing the existential realities, one understands the meaning and purposes of art, considers, and acts accordingly, or falsely, if the understanding is false.  And it was ever thus.

The Furthest Reach

The nature of art has long been considered one of spiritual expression.

For the composer, like any other artist for whom this tradition holds, sound is a material reflection of the greater ideals, and the creative act is a leap of faith.

To Be Free

The fog of noise in daily life may go unnoticed in the course of work and play, but it is no less oppressive.

Freedom is a responsibility that demands individual choice and action, if it is to be experienced at all. Society, politics, and culture play numerous and critical roles in the exercise of free will and human reason, but the contemplative and meditative have a crucial place as well.

Thus the impetus and purpose for these compositions and recordings.

Distant Echoes Remaining

Much is ignored, much goes unheard.

Of the surrounding world, what remains beneath the attention, that is to say, at a far distance from perceptual focus, can beggar the imagination of all but the child, who remains constantly alert to its cosmos of wonders.

Yet growing accustomed to these, the child moves on, forgetting, wandering into fantasy.

Like Water III

Sound events take place in expanding waves.

A single perspective suggests sound moves in a linear fashion through time, as in the development of a narrative ballad.  When multiple perspectives combine, however, through consideration of various aural effects such as spatial form, emphasis, shading, contrast, unity, and so forth, sound-- and time-- lend themselves to different perceptual interpretations and expressions.

Wavelengths

Listening yields meaning.

This is not to propose that such meaning is always apparent, even to the listener. It may be necessary to adopt a more objective perspective to ascertain the numerous possible meanings a sound, piece of music, or pattern of sounds suggests.

What is certain is that some compositions (and recordings) will have sustained, timeless value, while others are dated to particular settings and events, and still others are silly, frivolous, and disposable.

Then there are the ultimate sounds, the archetypes-- the storm surge, mountain wind, desert night and urban cacophony-- the screams and whispers at the origins of all that may be heard and expressed.

Natural Touch

Consider the natural environment as a template for sonic art, or, if you will, expression of musical form.

Given that the intended outcomes are at the fringes of music, it is nonetheless expression that reflects, modifies, expands upon, and explores auditory events as they occur in the natural world through the prism of the composer's percipience and aesthetic perspective.

Fancy and Gravity

Poetic thought, regardless of its forms of expression, creates juxtaposition and contrast.

Reader, viewer, and listener may interpret according to their best lights, yet the expression remains, over time, sharpened by conceptual understanding yet obscured by shades of cultural change.

Where to Begin

Sparks fly and may be traced to their origins.

Musicians create patterns.  What is rather more interesting is to discover patterns, particularly in the order of things in which no patterns appear to exist at all.

These are images in sound of the living world, those that set the inner ear of listener and composer ablaze with recognition.

Aware

The arts of sound convey emotions, ideas, and spiritual states of being.

The artist projects and objectifies experience as expression and as a learning process, extending and confirming knowledge while establishing perspectives at a distance from the boundaries of time and space.