Mystic Stew

Art bears witness, true or otherwise.

Popular taste does not always bend to political narratives.  Something else is out there. 

Drift and Surge

Attend to limits as indicators of what lies beyond them.

What is revealed offers choices in creative action of all kinds.  For artist as composer, it is a means to the discovery and exploration of sounds and their interactions.

Reality View

Consider the influence of individual will upon critical perspective.

Contrast this influence with that of a "collective will" as represented by mass media. In this way, reflect upon a common course of action, and one that is personal.

It is through volition alone that authentic choices are made, as opposed to unthinking reactions.

Creation and Loss

There can be no compromise.

Free expression is worth the sacrifice, or it is not.  Choose to lead, and lead by example.

Choice, or No Choice

Ostensibly free to create, one knows the gravity of coercive prevailing standards.

Every artist realizes the impact of cultural conditions characterized by totalitarian conformity.

Wind Blowing Past the Grand Palace

It is possible to eliminate many of the abstract and "man-made" elements of music.

The result is sound composed to represent the reality of perceptual environments.

Above All Else

The present-day artist has one monumental obstacle.

A single thing is critical, and it must be accomplished: the artist must rise above all media and do as the art demands, with or without acceptance or appreciation.

Listening and Knowing

I compose for expression through sound of a universal sense of being.

That is the "statement", and there are no others to diminish the art of experience.

Ghost Stories

Consider the reality of things left unexpressed that are beyond living memory.

The artist as antiquarian may reconstruct impressions to evoke settings, moments, characters, and something of the mood and tone of obscure imagery otherwise utterly lost.  These are perceptions outside the parameters of what is effortlessly known, and their value is immeasurable.

Force of Suggestion

Totalitarian society establishes the foundation of coercive rule.

Innovation vanishes with imagination; originality in the arts dies first, long before tanks roll.

Of The Unexpected

In a free culture, the unexpected creative expression is regarded highly.

Where only the expected expression is accepted and tolerated, there find a totalitarian society.

Transmission XI

Artistic works prior to the introduction of mass electronic media convey diverse expressions.

These works are the result of individuality and tradition, rather than being a reflection of a common intellectual and emotional currency. This individuality of voice held firm until the latter quarter of the twentieth century, when it was gradually overcome by the conformity of idea and opinion rigidly held in force by the dominant, globally-informed media of contemporary times.

One need not think when one can assume a perspective and attitude already fully formed.

Thought and Memory II

Individual expression reflects knowledge in the abstract as well as direct experience.

So it is with any endeavor refined and elevated to the point at which it exists, evolves, and conveys meaning in the form of art.

Exercise XIV

Focus the attention on an abstract idea.

Take account of imagery evoked and events, both visual and auditory, suggested by the abstraction and its meanings. Develop these as aesthetically informed compositions within any desirable limits.

Gesture and Resonance

Cultural environments may or may not impose conditions upon perspective.

Artistic perspective is concerned with vision, concept, finished work, total effect. and little else.

Against the Enervating

The artist today is well-advised to seek perspectives outside the cultural mainstream.

This is not to say it is necessary to focus the attention away from tradition or the self-evident good in society and culture, but to risk the observation that these may, in fact, be far removed from the norms in common currency and worthy of interest and perusal.  Very little is as it appears to be.

The Unseen Path

A common perspective is, by definition, mundane.  So, in fact, is its opposite.

That which is forward-thinking comes into being by individual and independent thought, neither commonplace nor contrary to the expected, but sui generis, outside and distant from agenda and ideology.  This is thought as art, and contemplation as elevated experience leading toward solution-based outcomes.

Sparks in the Night

Indefensible perspectives and ideas cannot withstand dissent and debate.

For such benighted ideologies to attain and hold cultural dominance, all contrary expressions must be silenced.  There are places where this is possible, and conditions that make this possible.

Where one voice is raised, others will rise.

Courage, Risk, and the Avant-Garde

Art cannot exist in a totalitarian social environment.

It can only go underground.  Wherever in the shadows it may be glimpsed, it must be defended.

Music for Polymorphic Listening

Sounds in combinations form constructions, and these, in juxtaposition with other sounds, evolve.

This evolution develops an extended structure, or design, based upon simple tones or other chosen sound events. These may then be increased or decreased in scope by adding or removing elements, and continued to any duration desirable according to the aesthetic judgement of the composer.

The total effect of such compositions varies with the perceptual awareness of the listener, who is not directed to the specific experience of "the movement of sound through time".