Not For Now

Attend to the sound of the far distance.

Know what few now living will experience.  Listen, and hear.

Emerging Figures  by Black Mountain School

Seeming

Some cultural losses cannot be replaced.

In consequence, cultures change; remote Time Past and Time Future are no longer recognizable.

Tabula Rasa to Total Effect II

Perspectives constantly evolve.

Nonetheless, a single perspective cannot be imposed upon reality, and there are such things as objective facts.  As a means of expression, the arts can promote specious and absurd ideas and viewpoints as easily as do other process of communication, and, in point of fact, have their own traditions for doing so.  One clean slate is as inconsequential as another, and the forces of history continue to have effects, with or without their being acknowledged by anyone in particular.

A "Single Shadow" Theory

Disingenuous, facile arguments to the contrary, music can have far reaching impact and influence.

When this is not the case, other, "more serious" issues have superseded basic cultural values at the expense of both individuality and community.  These issues always have the appearance of profound crises, and they always have a totalitarian source and origin, as the historical record of such times reveals.  But, for good or ill, one may only convey such things clearly through implication, thus art.

Far Ranges

Exceptional cultural developments, once grasped, elevate entire societies.

Not being understood, such developments are encountered only in whispers, scattered like seeds.

In either case, the work is no less essential, while the artist is of no more profound importance, and pretense is no less absurd.

Aesthetics

Every type of art illuminates, but cognizance of meaning is not effortless. Nor should it be.

Failure to grasp the abstract nature of ideas and the inability to sense the realities of the human condition are the consequences of individual and social errors for which civilization bears little, if any, responsibility.  The state of ignorance is one of worthlessness, and it was ever thus.

Exercise V

Conceive as does the sculptor, who "releases" the work within the stone block.

Listen, and hear, the sound composition within the sonic environment and in the mind, by perceiving in both active and passive perspectives, which is to say, consciously and objectively on the one hand, and subjectively on the other, observing perceptual, emotional coloration.  Using the most effective instrumentation*, recreate the conditions and experience.

* My preference is the Korg Wavestation synthesizer, for its subtlety and range of aural expressiveness.

Search and Discover

Observe appearances, recognize realities behind them.

It is the uncanny that is at once familiar and yet strange, alien, and unknown.

Remote, Immediate

Dissipated force of what has been does not become more, and is lost.

Loss of this nature is complete, and permanent. One understands that such things, people, and events impacted reality and culture in ways no longer evident, and that they are increasingly becoming entirely obscure.  At a certain point it will be as if they had never existed.

The artist who creates to evoke the uncanny seeks outcomes at a far remove from such scenarios.

If Purpose, So Meaning

Stylization reflects aesthetic sense.

As manner and gesture reflect tone and attitude, the artistic representation references tradition and nature according to artist intent. Impressions are thus altered as they become expressions.

Simplicity, Upon Reflection

Art offers perspective; propaganda indoctrinates.

Inability to form and sustain coherent thought, or to follow another's line of reasoning through a sequence of ideas, defines a state of mindlessness.

This is neither a "natural" state nor an "unselfconsciousness" one, though it is often so described by those who take advantage of it to manipulate people to various ends, criminal, social, and political.

Word Falling

Perception conveys what words obscure.

Above, one does not see the fountain if the attention is directed elsewhere, yet it is nonetheless real. Until it is seen, it is beyond awareness,  Once seen, it remains in mind and experience.

Language, particularly that which is highly "controlled" through cultural or political coercion, limits understanding to certain select elements of approved jargon and verbal cues, ultimately limiting the capacity to think independently.  This is, in point of fact, the goal of such constraints.

Visual and sound arts direct experience beyond the merely material and physical.  Abstract concepts and metaphysical fundamentals do not cease to exist simply because one will not acknowledge their being and reality.

There are essential expressions that will not be reduced to propaganda or subjugated to temporal power.

Rule and Order

Foundation yields meaning.

One incapable of sustained, rational thought cannot comprehend how any artist conceives, works, and expresses.  This is a perpetual issue within the arts themselves.

It is the scenario in which is found the soi-disant charlatan, capable only of  poor imitation, and unfit for the responsibility required of any chosen role.  Such a malign character imposes a huge, particularly repellent burden upon the arts, seeking nothing more than self-aggrandizement while spoiling the repute of any expressive field with meaningless, pretentious absurdities.  Destined for failure, most produce nothing, others go unheeded, while some small numbers benefit, in the way of predators and parasites, from the arbitrary distribution of government funding.

The solution remains what it has always been: rational thought, decisive action, and intolerance not only for fraud and corruption, but for the conditions which make it possible for them to thrive.

Exercise IV

Listen, and hear, while analyzing detail.

Consciously describe the specifics of each sound in an environment.  Determine each source, and identify the qualities of each element, clarifying objective comprehension of such things as tone, color, and pattern. Take account of subjective responses and relevant aesthetic perspectives.

Mentally delineate the sonic structures and juxtapositions that the imagination suggests.  Apply these experiences to the work of composing and recording representative expressions.

Marrow, Nerve, Light

Ideas have consequences; causes produce effects.

The most dangerous conflicts are not always won through armed combat.

Fail, Represent

Loss of culture overwhelms any form of technological connectivity.

Ignorance of such a profound nature renders abstract inquiry impossible, not because of the literal extinction of abstract ideas, but because of the loss of the cultural vocabulary needed to articulate them.

Gesture Forward

Reflect, consider critically, and act.

To do less is thoughtless, reflexive reaction, neither creative nor vital.

If, Then, Yet--

Physical sound media is being rapidly and purposely manipulated toward total extinction.

My pieces are created with due consideration given to the eighty minute formats, but are designed to be heard as segments of a single, unified work and listening process that informs the listener's internal and external experience of sound. Certainly this is compatible with the streaming media model, and time constraints are of no concern. At issue is not the process of creation, but that of its reproduction, out of which matters of intellectual property and artists' rights are at stake, along with the existential value of the art of sound.

It is not necessary to be degreed in behavioral sciences to comprehend the object of rendering all physical formats obsolete, as that is the outcome of making music ubiquitously accessible without the need of manufacture and distribution outside the digital domain.  And if, as is clearly the case, it is presumed that the music consumer is indifferent to the source, origin, and concrete existence of the "product", the artist as a free human being is a nonessential factor, even an obstacle, to the process. All that is needed is any subject who will acquiesce to manipulation of image for absolute control of the commodity to established and made permanent, and this scenario is already in place.

Consider all that has come before, understanding that very little, if any of it, will ever again exist.

Impress, Artifact, and the Windblown

Even realism is a stylized reflection.

The realism I strive for in my compositions and recordings is perceptual in nature, that is to say, it reflects how environments develop their impressions upon the listener within one's aural field.

The total effect is neither music nor directly perceived atmosphere, but the former structured as the enhancement of the latter's subtle forms, patterns, and movements.

Orwellian Generic Pop

Observe the diversion of all cultural currents into endless deserts of existential meaninglessness.

The choice is one of freedom of thought and action predicated upon individual responsibility or the subjection to superficially benign absolute power with its dubious comforts, ultimately resulting in the universal eradication of all essential liberties.