I gave a concert of my recent surround-audio electronic works on WSU School of Music’s Faculty Artist Series this weekend, and wrote the following program notes to… Read more “Faculty Artist Series program notes”
Category: Aesthetics
“But when they were come into the Void, Ilúvatar said to them: ‘Behold your Music!’ And he showed to them a vision, giving to them sight where before was only hearing; and they saw a new World made visible before them, and it was globed amid the Void, and it was sustained therein, but was not of it. And as they looked and wondered this World began to unfold its history, and it seemed to them that it lived and grew. And when the Ainur had gazed for a while and were silent, Ilúvatar said again: ‘Behold your Music! This is your minstrelsy; and each of you shall find contained herein, amid the design that I set before you, all those things which it may seem that he himself devised or added. And thou, Melkor, wilt discover all the secret thoughts of thy mind, and wilt perceive that they are but a part of the whole and tributary to its glory.”
And:
“And thou, Melkor, shalt see that no theme may be played that hath not its uttermost source in me, nor can any alter the music in my despite. For he that attempteth this shall prove but mine instrument in the devising of things more wonderful, which he himself hath not imagined.”
J.R.R. Tolkien, “The Silmarillion”
“Everyone creating is a member of the family,
Passing down genes and ideas in harmony.
The players and the cynics might be thinking it’s odd,
but if you rewind the tape, we’re all copying God.
Copying God. Copying God.
Copying God, copying God.
Add your own piece, but the puzzle is God’s.”
Jack White, “Zoo Station Zebra”
Passing down genes and ideas in harmony.
The players and the cynics might be thinking it’s odd,
but if you rewind the tape, we’re all copying God.
Copying God. Copying God.
Copying God, copying God.
Add your own piece, but the puzzle is God’s.”
Jack White, “Zoo Station Zebra”
“Emphasis flips backwards and forwards between the Pythagorean mathematical purity of music and the materiality of its manifestation; and both are always present, they tangle with each other in a fascinating way.”
Henry Brant, “Spiritual Music: ‘positive’ negative theology?”
Henry Brant, “Spiritual Music: ‘positive’ negative theology?”
“Form would not be beautiful unless it were fundamentally a sign and appearing of a depth and a fullness that, in themselves and in an abstract sense, remain beyond both our reach and our vision… [it] is the real presence of the depths, of the whole of reality, and it is a real pointing beyond itself to these depths.”
Hans Urs von Balthasar, “The Glory of the Lord: A Theological Aesthetics” (volume 1, “Seeing the Form”)
Hans Urs von Balthasar, “The Glory of the Lord: A Theological Aesthetics” (volume 1, “Seeing the Form”)
Time, change, perfection. Seeking a new music: II. 2 October
II. 2 October In the context of the above and my most recent sketches toward “One Day as a Thousand Years…” I have been musing (mus[ic]ing) on… Read more “Time, change, perfection. Seeking a new music: II. 2 October”
Time, change, perfection. Seeking a new music: I. 30 September
What kind of sound do I want to make? What kind of sound do I want to hear? Sound. Organized. Structured… time? Marked time? Imagined ways of… Read more “Time, change, perfection. Seeking a new music: I. 30 September”
“Serious” music?
I’ve been hearing composers and performers light-heartedly wishing they could just be rock stars for years. Sometimes not entirely light-heartedly. Most composers and performers I know listen… Read more ““Serious” music?”
Charles Ives on Authenticity
Excerpts from: Charles E. Ives: Memos (Ed. Kirkpatrick; Norton 1991) Charles Ives: Essays Before a Sonata, The Majority, and Other Writings (Ed. Boatwright; Norton 1961) “To a… Read more “Charles Ives on Authenticity”
EARS WIDE OPEN 