Music of Our Time

Music Can Heal Humanity

2010-03-02T11:37:00.000-08:00

Music Can Heal Humanity

In the early 21st century, much of the world has opted for the insanity of war, race hatred, religious intolerance, materialism, nationalism, a thirst for power, class dominance, obsession with celebrity and corporate greed. Humanity sorely needs a return to ideals of peace, brotherhood, tolerance and spirituality. My forty-plus years of experience in music composition and performance have convinced me that music can heal humanity of this pathology. Music can heal the consciousness of humanity. This music should not provide any easy answers, or facile solutions, but should dig deep into human consciousness and provide original solutions to big ideas. Music lacking in conviction or made in the spirit of materialism will not work in this arena. The example of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony makes perfect sense in this respect. Not only does it provide a musical setting for Schiller’s poem depicting universal brotherhood through joy, it also embodies all the creativity, humor, energy and spirituality that make its appeal nearly universal.

I don’t mean to imply that all we need to do to solve our problems as a human race is listen to Beethoven’s Ninth, although that would be a step in the right direction. What I am suggesting is that we make new music in this spirit of creativity and humor using the musical languages of today. Many of the ideas contained in this work are implicit in today’s music: e.g. 1.) the acceptance of all sounds as being worthy of exploration and musical development (the “universal brotherhood” of sounds); 2.) the fascination with process which is implicit in the interactions of people; 3.) the joy of discovery inherent in the exploration of new ideas and perceptions. As Schiller’s text makes clear, joy is a clear basis for universal friendship.

Freude, schöner Götterfunken
Tochter aus Elysium,
Wir betreten feuertrunken,
Himmlische, dein Heiligtum!
Deine Zauber binden wieder
Was die Mode streng geteilt;
Alle Menschen werden Brüder,
Wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt.

Joy, beautiful spark of God
Daughter of Elysium,
We enter your sanctuary, drunk with fire,
Heavenly one!
Your magic binds again
What custom sternly parts.
All men become brothers,
Where your gentle wing rests.

Translation adapted from Wikipedia.com

There is only one human race and all people respond to music. Music is a cultural universal. A brain engaged in musical activity is a happy brain. The patterns of neural activity involved in musical behavior take place in many different areas of the brain and indicate a deep involvement of the mind as well as very pleasurable emotional states. Recent discoveries in the field of neuroscience bear this out. See below.

In order to do this, we need to make a music in which the spirit of creativity and universal brotherhood takes precedence over the spirit of materialism and territoriality. Musicians who aspire to spread this spirit need to think first of the needs of the human race and their career moves second. This music should not be used as to display wealth and power, to establish racial or class dominance or act as a nationalistic call to arms. This is no easy task: musicians have material needs as well as everyone else and the ego dies hard, but the very survival of the human race may be at stake. This task requires people to act in selfless ways, which may run counter to much of what they have been taught since childhood. The music which can accomplish this task will be the equivalent of speaking truth to power and the very force of its conviction will sweep away all opposition.

The conflict and struggle of much human endeavor can be worked out in music rather than in war and unbridled competition. Creative solutions can be found in which everyone wins. When musicians make music together, they can’t fight. When people listen and sing together, they can’t fight. This is so true as to sound simplistic, yet it is so obvious as to be constantly overlooked. Musicians must work together in order to create a coherent result, and some may need to work in a heroic manner to master the technical and musical complexities of new works, in a belief that they are pushing the boundaries of what is humanly possible in music.

The glorification of war and militarism, which is so much a part of the commercial psychology of corporate news media reporting can slant the consciousness of human perception today to the point of pathology. In the internet age, where the communication of information is so fast, this psychology is almost meaningless anyway. Much of this “news” reporting is little more than pandering to politicians (they may control access to some information) and nationalistic propaganda of the worst sort. Much more important is investigative reporting and writing of history. The power of music to touch and move people deeply is generally unquestioned by most rational thinkers, yet many musicians continue with business as usual, putting commercial concerns above service to humanity.

The United States contains about 5% of the world population, yet consumes over 40% of the world’s resources annually. The violence and repression necessary to preserve that level of inequality taints almost all the values of our national mythology and dialog. We must strive to be an equal member of the world community of people with no superiority of position. This innocent sentence is so contrary to conventional American wisdom in the 21st century as to sound subversive. When musicians explore the aspects of different cultural values in a context of respect and tolerance, a spirit of love arises spontaneously in listeners and artists alike. Music that incorporates techniques and sound worlds from different cultural traditions, provided these techniques are well understood and mastered through serious study (not mere exoticism) can make a true integration of consciousness between cultural ideals and transcend the psychological gaps between people of different cultures and technological stages just as learning foreign languages can lead to understanding other cultural viewpoints.

Contemporary experimental music with the listening strategy of welcoming every sound with fascination or the strategy of exploration of the sense perceptions and cognition of musical process provide further paradigms for healing the human race of narrow closed-mindedness and intolerance. The fearless exploration of new performance rituals, electronic, instrumental and vocal techniques and states of consciousness by contemporary performers can provide a paradigm for people of good will who want to make peace with former enemies, who may still harbor memories of past wrongs, resentments and fears of communication. At another level, all musics are equally valid and it is important to approach them all with fascination and in a spirit of tolerance. Cultural snobbery doesn’t work and separates the listener from valuable new learning experiences. We all have our preferences, but they should be liberating rather than narrowing.

The Sacred Power of Music

2010-02-26T11:17:00.000-08:00

The Sacred Power of Music is my contribution to John Zorn's new publication Arcana V. Please support John's Publication; I highly recommend it. There are articles from 32 different composers dealing with many aspects of magic, mysticism and the spiritual in music. http://tzadik.com

Here is some feedback from composer/conductor Joel Thome

2010-01-15T07:08:00.000-08:00

Your blog is inspiring, articulate and profound. It should be read by every music student and every composer!
With thanks and warmest regards, Joel

Infinite Permutation as a Creative Principle

2010-01-13T20:25:00.000-08:00

Consider the following process as a manner of invention for musical material. A medieval composer takes a melodic fragment from plainchant, sets it in longer note values as a cantus firmus, and composes polyphony against the cantus firmus according to the contemporary practice. The new music sounds like medieval polyphony instead of plainchant. A bebop musician in the 1940’s takes the chord changes of a standard popular song and composes a new melody using the same harmonic structure. The new tune sounds like bebop instead of a standard pop song.

Now consider that the medieval composer takes a line of the new music and makes it the basis for new polyphonic composition using the same process. Or the bebopper makes substitute chord changes for the new tune and then composes a new melody over the substitute changes. These processes can continue ad infinitum, and the new music will always retain a seed of the original, but it will not necessarily be recognizable to the causal listener. Furthermore, the new work may sound radically different from the original or the most recent creation and the composer can create a new musical language in this manner. There is no end to the different directions this process can take, and there is no reason why the new creative work may not deal with any of the parameters of music (besides melody, harmony and counterpoint) and reframe the old model with, for example, new tuning systems, structural principles, rhythmic systems, instrumental, vocal or electronic settings, etc.

Artistic Vision and Craft

2010-01-08T04:56:00.000-08:00

I define artistic vision as: the generating ideas for works of art; and craft as the power and technique to carry out the artistic vision. Much of our training as musicians consists of mastering the techniques and skills used to execute musical ideas. Less training is spent on the development of artistic vision. People who earn graduate degrees in music are not generally expected to do original research until they reach the doctoral level; even then, their topics of research are often suggested and always approved by their graduate advisers. Contrast that with the musical originality of the giants of music history: Machaut, Josquin, Monteverdi, Bach, Beethoven, Berlioz, Wagner, Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Ives, Parker, Cage, Ellington, Partch, Monk, Stockhausen, Xenakis, and Gaburo, some of whom were self-taught or didn’t earn graduate degrees. Many composers with advanced degrees have superior craft, but lack original vision. Many musical visionaries possess original artistic visions, but lack the technique to completely realize their ideas; they either limit their musical visions to match their technique--or else they eventually master the craft necessary to realize their visions.

The ideal, of course, is to develop an original vision and possess the craft to realize that vision. Vision and craft go hand in hand. I have sometimes been criticized by performers for composing music which is technically difficult if not impossible. Of course, the technique is necessary to realize my ideas completely and distinctly. If performers approach my music with a sincere desire to understand the artistic vision, and they dedicate themselves to realizing that vision, the technical mastery follows naturally. Good musicians who work hard make great performances with an intensity which is excellent and rare.

My Music Is For Everyone

2010-01-07T06:55:00.000-08:00

My music is for everyone. Those who listen with open minds will find their hearts opening and feel love for every lving being. Those who listen with open hearts will find their minds opening to infinite possibilities. Those who listen with open hearts and minds will find their bodies responding to the deepest rhythms of the universe.

America's Pathological Obsession with Celebrity

2009-01-16T05:11:00.000-08:00

1.16.09

America’s Pathological Obsession with Celebrity

To watch the news media transform Barak Obama from Democratic presidential candidate to celebrity-in-chief after the election is to be reminded of the deeply pathological obsession Americans have with the hero worship which negates the validity of the individual and represents an anti-democratic spirit. I am not criticizing Obama, I voted for him. He seems like a very good man; it is good to have a president elect who doesn’t brag about the fact that he doesn’t read newspapers, like his anti-intellectual predecessor. He seems to have the motivation of wanting to serve rather than to amass personal power and money; and he has inherited a shambles of Bush’s legacy of war, torture, spying on citizens, profiteering, economic and ethical collapse. I wish him all the best in his task of running the country.

Unfortunately, the people who create media celebrity not just of politicians, but also film and television stars, rock stars and celebrity businessmen, scientists and yes, composers don’t understand the true nature of artistic creation and research but focus on the symbolic nature of image and its dissemination in an effort to cater to vicarious pleasure in their clients and profit from them. As soon as the election was over the hawking of memorabilia began. Democracy resides in individuals not the leaders; they are only elected to serve the people. My deep concern is that hero worship of celebrity leaders leads to imperial thinking and makes a mockery of democracy. Our last leader thought of himself as above the law and look at what it resulted in. My prayer is that Barak Obama will be able to see through the hype and live up to his fine words.

In Defense of Modernism

2008-11-30T06:01:00.000-08:00

In Defense of Modernism

Nowadays it is common to hear people say things like: “the death of modernism” and “discredited modernist attitudes of the past” or “humans have a congenital inability to understand anything but tonal music” or “music should be entertainment first”. In contrast, consider the life and work of Anton Webern, who labored in obscurity during an era of chauvinist nationalism in his native Austria and quietly rebuilt the foundations of European concert music by developing the contrapuntal practice and timbral implications of previous work along with serial technique. The extreme brevity of his middle period work was unprecedented in concert music history. The extreme concentration of his musical thought led Stravinsky to call him a “miner of diamonds”. That the importance of his work was almost universally recognized after the Second World War testifies to the truth that modernist music is not impossible to understand.

Music with an experimental consciousness bespeaks a fresh outlook on life and an ongoing development of knowledge. People who appreciate experimental music and other avant garde arts have a kind of openness of mind which comes as a breath of fresh air in a world of hardened attitudes and political positions.

I have come to the conclusion that the current prejudice against experimental music is a result of confusion between music and music theory. Music theories come and go as musicians attempt to explain the musical languages of their times or former times, yet great music of any culture or era has the power to outlast the fashions of the day regardless of which theoretical construct or musical language was used in its composition. That is why we still listen to great music of the past. It speaks to us regardless of the theory the composer knew and practiced, because of the compositional excellence of the composer’s technique and the honesty of his artistic voice.

We deeply respect the poetic art of Shakespeare, but wouldn’t dream of recommending that contemporary poetry should be written in Elizabethan English or use classical forms. Yet a similar attitude prevails among reactionary critics and musicologists who insist on the primacy of earlier musical languages and the impossibility of understanding music conceived with experimental principles. (It is a bit like saying that poetry written in a foreign language couldn’t be any good because it is written in a foreign language.) There is nothing particularly universal about any music theory or language as many pedagogues claim (they are generally repeating the same mistakes they were taught). If any theory were universal, we would see the same musical language used in every culture in every age. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Musical languages are as various as spoken and written languages and they evolve continuously just as the meanings of words keep changing as language is used.

Music theories are not only the result of analysis of past or current practice; some new theories are the result of composers’ need to organize new musical ideas or may make use of conceptual models borrowed from other disciplines. An example of this is Xenakis’ use of probability concepts in the development of his theory of stochastic music.

Music is much more than a form of sonic entertainment; it is also a form of knowledge and wisdom capable of touching humans at the very deepest levels of consciousness. This knowledge aspect of music is continually developing as a kind of scientific understanding, and the aesthetic aspect is timeless, as a conception of beauty. The interaction between these two aspects is the nexus of artistic creation in music. Composition, performance and listening all take part in this creation.

The primary message of a musical composition (from the smallest details of its sound world to the design of its macrostructure) is realized according to the intention of its creator. This is so true as to seem tautological, but what does it mean? As with any human endeavor the creator’s intention is coded into the creative act and its tangible result. If a person designs and builds an ultra fast racecar, the car will be a result of this intention and will be built accordingly, with special internal parts and racing tires, etc. It will be substantially different from a family sedan or a limousine. This is obvious to a casual observer even though she may be unskilled in the appreciation of the technical details of its construction.

Music that is a part if an historical tradition also embodies the ideas and attitudes attached to its genre. If the composer develops some of those ideas or rejects some, the knowledgeable listener will understand this. The case of experimental music is special. Since Beethoven, there is a tradition of musical experimentation, in which innovation has become a kind of normal expectation of musical genius. (In a certain sense, this is oxymoronic, since innovation and tradition are generally contradictory.) The composer is expected to invent some new sounds, sound combinations, or musical ideas as a normal part of the creative process, and many composers continue this tradition, even though some critics and listeners consider the tradition to be dead or irrelevant.

The experimental work of John Cage represents a high water mark in this respect, since he expanded the notion of music making to include chance operations, nonintentional sound and incorporated silence into music as an essential element. He also introduced the listening strategy of appreciating all sounds (even environmental sounds) for their own sake, quite apart from any musical ideas in the conventional sense. He also incorporated a kind of theatre (different from staged drama and more related to real life) into the process of music making. He regarded the avant garde to be an attitude of mental flexibility.

Some listeners consider the avant garde not to be an attitude of mental flexibility, but a musical language and treat it as just another historical style, which has passed its heyday. The idea of postmodern music as somehow “newer than new” reflects this notion. The ironic detachment of considering the incorporation of older musical ideas to be somehow innovative bespeaks a consideration of musical style above musical substance. Keeping up with the latest trends in musical fashion has become more important than invention of musical ideas and techniques.

Music seems to be unique as an art form in which traditional work is passed off as somehow innovative, or an acceptable practice of performance. Or unusual mixtures of different styles are called new. This attitude would be laughable in the sciences and other arts, but it is the convention in music. Can anyone imagine a visual artist who only painted in the style of Leonardo or a scientist who only reworked the theories of Newton? Our symphony orchestras and opera companies routinely program only the works of past masters or commission new works from composers who use “accessible” (read conservative) musical language, in the hopes of not alienating their moneyed patrons by challenging their unspoken assumptions.

The Nature of Musical Time and SPANDA

2008-07-23T04:53:00.000-07:00

The Nature of Musical Time and the Composition of SPANDA

Structure in my music follows a model borrowed from physics. I apply this system to the structuring of both time and sound. There are up to 12 hierarchical levels of structure in this system. They are from smallest to largest:
1.) particle/wave, 2.) atom, 3.) element, 4.) cell, 5.) field, 6.) subzone, 7.) zone, 8.) world, 9.) system, 10.) galaxy, 11.) cluster, and 12.) superstring. Each level of structure is at least one order of magnitude larger than the previous level, and will contain several elements from the next lower level.

Musical time exists in at least three domains of perception. In the audio spectrum (roughly 20 Hz. to 20 kHz.) we may perceive the qualities of pitch, timbre, noise, loudness, etc. I will call this the domain of pitch and timbre. In the next domain of time (roughly 20 Hz. to about 10 seconds) we perceive the rhythmic aspects (durations and patterns of relative duration between sounds) and internal changes in the pitch, timbre and loudness envelopes (growth and decay aspects) of sounds, as well as the shorter aspects of musical ideas (motives, melodies, short phrases, harmonic successions, motion of sound in space and accents of various kinds). I call this the domain of musical rhythm. In the next time domain (from about 10 seconds to about one hour) we perceive the larger structural aspects of music (longer phrases, periods, sections, movements, etc.) in which the musical forms and the development of ideas take place. I call this the domain of musical form.

Stockhausen has pointed out* that each of these domains is about eight to ten “octaves” in size. (An octave being a 2 to 1 ratio of time duration, whether measured in frequency (cycles per second or Hertz) or in duration (micro seconds, milliseconds, seconds, minutes, hours, etc.). For example, the interval between pitches with the fundamental frequencies of 220 Hz. to 440 Hz. constitutes an octave in the pitch domain; the difference between the two tempi MM 60 and MM 120 constitute an “octave” in the rhythmic domain, and the durations 30 seconds and one minute have the ratio of an “octave” in the structural domain of musical time.) Different perceptions of time (pitch, timbre, rhythm and duration) take place in these different domains because our nervous systems process the temporal data differently as the sound materials cross the perceptual thresholds between each phenomenon. Musical composition consists mainly of the ordering of sonic configurations of the different musical elements in these three different temporal domains. So the composer must master the configuration of time in several different ways. Within each domain there are many different parameters of sound to be ordered and configured.

I conceived the complex of 198 compositions titled SPANDA in 1989 using this understanding of musical time. SPANDA is a Sanskrit word borrowed from the yogic philosophy of Kashmir Shaivism, which means the ‘creative throb of Consciousness’ (which creates the entire universe and everything in it). The duration of the entire complex was derived from the pitch of the first sound of the first composition in the complex. That pitch is a Bb with the fundamental frequency of 116.54 Hz. When this frequency is transposed downwards by 27 octaves, it passes out of the domain of pitch and timbre, through the domains of rhythm and musical form, and into the next domain of time in which we live our lives and experience our education and life experience. The former Bb now forms a “wave” one cycle of which has the duration of 13 days and almost eight hours. (See table one below.)

116.5409…Hz. Bb

58.27947…Hz. Bb (one octave lower)

29.13523…Hz. Bb lowest Bb on the conventional piano keyboard

14.56761…Hz. below the audio spectrum
Into the domain of musical rhythm

7.2838……Hz. (four octaves lower)

3.6419……Hz. (3.6 cycles a second or .2745 seconds per
cycle)
.5491” (duration of one cycle measured in seconds)

1.098…”

2.196…” (eight octaves lower)

4.393…”

8.786…”

17.573…” (no longer short enough to be perceived as rhythm)

35.146…” (12 octaves lower)

70.292…” (1minute 10.29” per cycle)

2’ 20.58…”

4’ 41.17…”

9’ 22.34…” (16 octaves lower)

18’ 44.68…”

37’ 29.372…”

1 hr. 14’ 58.745…” (out of the domain of musical form
into the temporal realm of education and life experience)

2 hrs. 29’ 57.49…” (20 octaves lower)

4 hrs. 59’ 54.98…”

9 hrs. 59’ 49.961…”

19 hrs. 59’ 39.92…”

1 day 15 hrs. 59’ 19.84…” (24 octaves lower)

3 days 7 hrs. 58’ 39.694…”

6 days 15 hrs. 57’ 19.898”

13 days 7 hrs. 54’ 38.77” (27 octaves lower)

Table One

The full theoretical duration of SPANDA is thirteen days, seven hours, 54 minutes and 38.77 seconds. (In reality this duration will vary somewhat with individual interpretations of tempo and rubato interpretations of different performers.) Each day of the cycle was subdivided according to different principles of division, and embodies a different “rhythm” of durations based on the principles of each day of the cycle. The collective proportions (of the durations of the 198 pieces) constitute the coherent macrostructure of the complex. I proceeded in this fashion according to my understanding that a numinous world of hyperspace exists under the aspect of patterned relations,** in this case the pattern of relative durations of the compositions in the complex, a kind of higher order of temporal macrostructure. I sometimes refer to this as the architecture of the complex.

SPANDA Macrostructure

13 days 7 Hours 54' 38.77" = Bb 116.54Hz / 2 27 times ( = a wave one cycle of which is 13 days 7hrs 54' 38.77")

Day principal sound structural principle # of time zones Title

1 Bb noise entropic 27 Symphonies of Sound

2 F logarithmic spiral 19 Symphonies of Time

3 Ab spatial 8 Symphonies of Space

4 E exponential 11 Symphonies of Energy

5 D polyphonic overlapping 7 Symphonies of Earth

6 G expansion from a point 5 Symphonies of the
Light of Consciousness

7 F# linguistic, microcosmic 13 Symphonies of the Word

8 A aperiodic different speeds 7 Symphonies of Love

9 D# biomorphic 10 Symphonies of the Seed

10 B games and play 15 Symphonies of the Children

11 Db linear growth and decay 11 Symphonies of the Vine of
Life and Death

12 C isomorphic with inversion 26 Symphonies of the
Universe

13 Bb serial 37 Symphonies of
Transmutation and Metamorphosis

14 Bb silence seamless Postlude (7 hrs. 54’ 38.77”)

Each composition of the 198 constitutes an individual “time zone” of a specific duration whose internal structure is subdivided according to different numerical principles into “time fields” which are in turn subdivided into different “time cells” with specific internal structure which contain the sonic materials. These different levels of temporal hierarchy constitute the macrostructural, middle level, rhythmic, and microstructural forms of the compositions. In this way of working, the fundamental dichotomy between form and content disappears since the content is determined by the form and the form may be determined by an analysis of the content. Furthermore, the principles which determine the rhythm may also be used to determine the melodic, harmonic and timbral materials.

What is Melody?

2008-04-20T06:40:00.000-07:00

What is Melody?

What makes a melody? What makes a melody recognizable? What makes a melody memorable? Are words necessary for a memorable melody? Melody is one of the most universal aspects of music and for many people; it constitutes the essence of music.

I define melodic line as a configuration of pitches in time with rhythm. It can be infinitely long. A melody is a segment of a melodic line and carries musical meaning. If a melody has coherent shape and is simple enough, we find it recognizable and not chaotic. If it has complex rhythm and/or a highly disjunct melodic curve, it may be chaotic and not recognizable. It should also not be too fast or too slow to be recognizable. (A five note melody that takes five milliseconds or five days will not be recognizable as a melody.) It may not be recognizable if played too softly or in very thick contrapuntal texture and therefore masked. A recognizable melody is one which can be recognized on repeated hearings and distinguished from other recognizable melodies. A memorable melody is one which can be reproduced by the listener. It may also stay in the memory and play automatically in the mind's ear. Length may also be a factor. Longer melodies are usually recognized within the first few notes. It seems that there is a kind of gestalt perception at work. If there is internal repetition of melodic or rhythmic patterns this usually aids in recognizability. Dynamics, timbre and tempo may be strong factors. A coherent, well-formed melodic curve is a strong factor. If there are words, this will also be a factor.

What distinguishes a melody from a configuration of tones in time with rhythm which may or may not be highly structured, but lacks the qualities of recognizability or memorability? These qualities may vary somewhat from individual to individual, (depending on training) but a certain well-formed quality and simplicity are usually necessary. Length may be a factor, although longer melodies are often recognized quickly within their first few notes, and their endings may not be particularly memorable. If there is internal repetition of pitch patterns or rhythmic patterns, these may be factors in coherence.

Neuroscientists have discovered through studying brain scans of neural activity in subjects listening to music, that many different brain areas are involved in the perception of music. It would stand to reason that the more brain areas involved, the more recognizable and memorable the melody, although this may not prove to be the case. In fact, melodic complexity may somehow work against memorability after a certain point, a kind of law of diminishing returns.

Music and Dance

2008-04-01T05:03:00.000-07:00

"Music begins to atrophy when it departs too far from dance; poetry begins to atrophy when it gets too far from music." - Ezra Pound

The connection between music and body rhythm is very deep. Even in music which is not overtly connected with dance, the musicians perform a kind of dance when they perform. Next time you attend a performance of concert music, observe the motions the performers make when they perform. It is as if they are possessed by the music. Some pianists even conduct themselves with their unused hand when playing with only one hand, or sing along with their performances. Next time you observe human bodies in motion, reflect on the insight of composer Warren Burt “when I watch post-modern dancers dance in silence, I'm very aware of the musicality of their body movement, their motion phrasing, the music of their kinesthetics. I can almost sing this silent, gestural music. Music can exist as a series of kinesthetic gestures, even without one sound being made....” All of the arts can carry musical and rhythmic qualities, and form mental analogies and metaphors for music. Language has a natural rhythm; visual art and film have coloristic and formal qualities, etc.

There is a kind of dance in all physical reality. All physical objects are in constant vibration. Even stationary objects are in constant motion at the micro and macro levels. The earth’s architectonic plates are in constant slow motion. The earth’s rotation, its revolution around the sun, and the spiral motion of the galaxy, carry all stationary objects along in a macro motion. Newborn babies continuously move their bodies in an interaction with physical reality. Indeed the whole universe vibrates at many different frequencies and directions, from the continuous expansion of the cosmos down to the elementary particles at subatomic levels. In yoga philosophy, this continuous state of vibration is known as the cosmic dance of Shiva.

In the study of world music, we find cultures in which the distinction between performer and audience is not hard and fast. In some cultures, audience members think nothing of singing, dancing, clapping in rhythm, ululating or otherwise interacting vocally with the performers at any point of the performance. The performers may depend on this interaction for their inspiration and respond in a highly creative manner to the energy coming from the audience. In some performance contexts the musicians, dancers or audience members may become possessed by the spirits of ancestors or gods and perform in a manner which may display trancelike characteristics, altered states of consciousness and/or superhuman strength. 1. 2.

For a contemporary composer making music for dance an important question is: will there be a close connection between the music and the dance or not? Since John Cage and Merce Cunningham instituted the practice of making music and dance which were conceived independently and only connected by being performed in the same time and space, this has been an option. The opposite approach was instituted by Karlheinz Stockhausen who invented a dance “language” for the composition Inori to be performed by a dancer in the exact rhythm of the composed music.

The connection between the music and the dance can also be treated as a variable of the composition. This connection can be very tightly controlled (as the Stockhausen example), completely independent (as the Cage/Cunningham example) or loosely connected in many different ways. This connection parameter may also be conceived as a continuum with complete connection at one end and complete independence at the other end and variable amounts of connection being at different points of the continuum between the ends. If you conceive the pitches of a scale as being on a continuum between low and high, a melody may be viewed as a pattern of points on the continuum with a specific duration for each point. This is what composers do when they compose melodies. This melodic model of composition is quite valid for composing any aspect of music which can be represented as a continuum or complex of continua. Thus a “melody of connections between dance and music” can be composed by applying the melodic model and composing a series of points on the continuum and giving it a set of durations; then, for each duration, invent a dance with its specified degree of connection with the music. This melodic model is quite relevant for any musical parameter subject to representation on a continuum. Thus, a “melody of durations” (between long and short) or a “melody of dynamics” (between loud and soft) or a “melody of spatial movements” (between close and far or front and rear or left and right) or a “melody of timbres” (between bright and dark) may be conceived and executed as a kind of melodic line.

You may ask: “How is it possible for music to depart too far from dance, if the vibration of the universe is universal and inescapable?” I would answer that sometimes music theory is mistaken for music. Music is not about theory, theory is about music. Music is connected with dance in the physical world, not in the abstract world of theory.

1. Mead, Margaret Trance and Dance in Bali a classic film in Anthropology from the 1940’s.
This is so common in gospel music and jazz as to be well known. The Duke Ellington performance at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1956 is a good example.
The Worlds of Music: An Introduction to the Music of the World's Peoples, Jeff Todd Titon the chapter on Agbekor music of West Africa.

2. Excursions In World Music, Nettl et al. chapter on Shona Mbira music and the Bira ceremony.

Nonesuch Explorer Series No. 79710 track 6 Nyamaropa Yekutanga sound recording of a Shona Bira Ceremony with Hakurotwi Mude, voice; “at such a ceremony, the entire village participates throughout the night until sunrise, singing, dancing, clapping and drinking. After many hours, the music culminates in the dramatic possession of a spirit medium who then advises the villagers about their problems. In this example some villagers are heard singing, while others “drum” to the music of the Mbira ensemble with hand clapping and dance steps.” Quote is from the liner notes.

Music and the Spoken Word

2008-01-30T08:14:00.000-08:00

Music and the Spoken Word

Connections between Music and Language

On the Origins of Music and Language

It has recently become acceptable to speculate on the evolution of language in the field of linguistics after being considered a scientific taboo for more than a hundred years. Quite apart from the question of why so called "open minded" academic fields contain taboo topics (perhaps a subject for future blogs) there is some new speculation on this topic. In her recent book, The First Word, linguist Christine Kenneally tells the compelling story of the quest for the origins of human language. She gives an account of how language developed, how the random and layered processes of evolution wound together to produce a talking animal. It also addresses the question: Is language a uniquely human phenomenon? We may well ask the same question about music.

The well-known phenomena of birdsong, whale song, porpoise chatter and ape vocalizations raise important questions about the connections between animal speech, human speech and music:
Are there (psychological) connections between music and speech in humans and animals?
In what does human communication consist?
If speech (and/or music) is and innate (or even unique) in humans how do animals use sounds in communication?
What are the connections between human response to animal song and human song?

ALSO:

Did music and speech evolve from a common ancestor form of communication?
It is possible that human reaction to animal song is akin to the “emotional” reactions people have to robot behavior which mimic human attention with eye blinks, lip movements, changes in facial expression, etc. see The Real Transformers NYTimes Magazine 7.29.07 by Robin Marantz Henig

Music and Education

2007-12-07T20:40:00.000-08:00

The Nature of Music Education

“The preponderance of psychological evidence indicates that experts are made, not born.” (Philip E. Ross The Expert Mind Scientific American August, 2006)

The true nature of music education lies in the mentoring process. The spark which flies from the teacher to the student can ignite the student’s mind and inflame it to master the field and surpass his/her mentor. My teachers, students and I form a network of minds which encompass a vast body of knowledge and wisdom. My teachers also include the masters from the past whose works and recordings I study, as well as those I come into personal contact with. My students, many of whom have become professionals, continue the work of my mentors and go on to mentor others.

The example of mentoring is especially instructive in the study of Indian classical music. In a similar way that language is learned, the student is introduced to the teacher and studies begin (often as early as age three or four if the teacher is a family member) with rote learning of a graduated series of lessons which, if continued, inevitably lead to mastery. The lessons are taught in a context of mutual respect and with a love of learning which encourages the young mind to blossom in a nurturing, non-punitive environment.

I consider myself a student for life and continue to study new topics and work on the development of new skills. Cognitive scientists have found that motivation is a stronger factor in mastery than native ability. “It is no accident in music, chess and sports…(that) professionalism has been emerging at ever younger ages, under the ministrations of increasingly dedicated parents and even extended families.” (Ross, p.71) Because of this attitude toward learning new topics and skills, my mental flexibility has continued and increased into my 60’s with new interests and skills being added all the time.

There is a ten year rule in psychology which states that it takes approximately a decade of heavy labor to master any field. (Ross p. 69) When mastery is attained, there is a graceful, effortless quality to the work and listeners are left with the impression that making music it is easy. Indeed, once mastery is attained, it is easy to practice the art which has been mastered. Most of us are masters of walking and speaking our native languages, among other skills. We do these tasks so well that we seldom think about the technique involved. Yet, when we watch a baby take the first few steps or learn to talk, we can appreciate what complex tasks they really are, and how much effort goes into the mastery of these skills. How many millions of words have we spoken in our lives or steps have we taken? There is a very good reason why we do it so well: we practice all the time. Bird Parker once said that, as a boy, he used to practice eleven hours a day; and he continued to practice incessantly all his life. Is it any wonder that he reached such a high degree of technical and musical excellence? “The expert relies … on a store of structured knowledge.” Ross Op. Cit.

A favorite technique I use in the mastery of music is effortful repetition. If something is impossible, I practice it one hundred times and it then becomes possible. If it is difficult I will practice it one thousand times. It then becomes easy. After ten thousand repetitions (literally) it becomes permanent, not unlike walking, speaking, driving or swimming. If performing is a problem, I do it repeatedly, and phych myself up for each performance, with autosuggestion.

Once mastery of music has been attained, learning should not stop, but should continue and grow into new areas and more advanced levels. The sad state of many masters of baroque, classical and romantic music is that they never go on to master the music of their own time and place. If they had lived in the baroque, classical or romantic eras with their present attitudes, they would have ignored the great music all around them, even as they do today. Unfortunately, as teachers the often pass on this past-oriented approach to learning. Fortunately there is a body of performers, including many of the generation in their 20’s and 30’s, who are intensely curious about the newest and most innovative music. They are helping to revolutionize vocal and instrumental technique and inspire composers to expand the language of music.

Music Can Heal Humanity

2007-11-21T09:33:00.000-08:00

Music Can Heal Humanity

In the early 21st century, much of the world has opted for the insanity of war, race hatred, religious intolerance, nationalism, a thirst for power, class dominance and corporate greed. Humanity sorely needs a return to ideals of peace, brotherhood, tolerance and spirituality. My forty-plus years of experience in music composition and performance have convinced me that music can heal humanity of this pathology. The right kinds of music can heal the consciousness of humanity. This music should not provide any easy answers, or facile solutions, but should dig deep into human consciousness and provide original solutions to big ideas. Music lacking in conviction will not work in this arena. The example of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony makes perfect sense in this respect. Not only does it provide a musical setting for Schiller’s poem depicting universal brotherhood through joy, it also embodies all the creativity, humor, energy and spirituality (soul power) that makes its appeal near universal.

In order to do this, we need to make a music in which the spirit of creativity and universal brotherhood takes precedence over the spirit of materialism. Musicians who aspire to spread this kind of music need to think first of the needs of the human race and their career moves second. This music should not be used to display wealth and power, to establish racial or social dominance or act as a nationalistic call to arms. This is no easy task: the ego dies hard, but the very survival of the human race may be at stake. This task requires people to act in selfless ways, which may run counter to much of what they have been taught since childhood. The music, which can accomplish this task, will be the equivalent of speaking truth to power and the very force of its conviction will sweep away all opposition.

The conflict and struggle of much human endeavor can be worked out in music rather than in war and unbridled competition for a few crumbs. When musicians sit down and make music together, they can’t fight. This is so true as to sound simplistic. Yet it is so obvious as to be constantly overlooked. Musicians must work together to create a coherent result, and many may need to work in a heroic manner to master the technical and musical complexities of new works, in a belief that they are pushing the boundaries of what is humanly possible in music.

The glorification of war and militarism, which is so much a part of the psychology of corporate media news reporting, slants the consciousness of human perception today to the point of pathology. Much of this “news” reporting is little more than nationalistic propaganda of the worst sort. The power of music to touch and move people deeply is generally unquestioned by most rational thinkers, yet most musicians continue with business as usual, putting commercial concerns above service to humanity.

The United States contains about 5% of the world population, yet consumes over 40% of the world’s resources annually. The violence and repression necessary to preserve that level of inequality taints almost all the values of our national mythology and dialog. We must strive to be an equal member of the world community of people with no superiority of position. This innocent sentence is so contrary to conventional American wisdom in 2007 as to sound subversive. When musicians explore the aspects of different cultural values in a context of respect and tolerance, a spirit of love arises spontaneously in listeners and artists. Music that incorporates techniques and sound worlds from different cultural traditions, provided these techniques are well understood and mastered through serious study (not mere exoticism) can make a true integration of consciousness between cultural ideals and transcend the psychological gaps between people of different cultures and technological stages.

Contemporary experimental music with the Cagean listening strategy of welcoming every sound with fascination or the Stockhausenean strategy of exploration of the sense perceptions and cognition of musical process provide further paradigms for healing the human race of narrow closed mindedness and intolerance. The fearless exploration of new instrumental techniques and states of consciousness by contemporary performers such as the late David Tudor, can provide a paradigm for people of good will who want to make peace with former enemies--who may still harbor resentment and fear of communication.

Here is some feedback from American/Australian composer Warren Burt

2007-11-14T05:24:00.000-08:00

Just looked at your blog entries. Nice stuff. I look forward to more. Your commonsense attitude to things is refreshing. Why is common sense such an uncommon commodity?

Music and culture

2007-10-30T08:47:00.000-07:00

Some people identify with a particular musical style or historical period of music to the point of elevating their own personal preferences to the level of general aesthetic principles. They may become extremely uncomfortable if forced by circumstances to listen to music identified with another historical period or subculture. Still other people have new musical and cultural experiences with little or no stress, just as some people learn new instruments or languages quickly, seemingly without effort. Their musical and cultural tastes are flexible and open ended.

Culture is always in a continuous state of development, and intellectual ferment, just as living languages are continuously evolving, with new words and usages being added and others dropped whenever dictionaries are revised. Culture is the cumulative expression of the values in the hearts and minds of the world’s people and music is an important part of that. Most musical languages are also evolving in a more or less continuous manner and reflect the culture as a whole. The social experiences of music listening and music making are very important, and the music may depend on them for its very existence. The aesthetic experience and the perception of beauty in music are more important to me than the cultural context, and do not depend on them for its appreciation. That is why any music can be appreciated which may have been created long ago or far away.

Some of my ideals for intellectual ferment and cultural development are: deep curiosity, a fascination with sound and process, tolerance for other ideas, and compassion for struggling humanity. The value of any particular piece of music is not necessarily tied to the cultural or historical context of its origin and may transcend its context if well enough made. I try to put the music first.

More from the Soul of Music

2007-10-16T09:04:00.000-07:00

Zen and the Art of Music Composition

Composition doesn’t have to be complex or hard work to yield good music. Anyone can practice it with the acquiring of a few principles and a trust for the process of right-brain thinking. The following represents an easy approach to composition, which anyone can learn quickly, and practice to the point of infinity.

I. Listen carefully to what you hear in your mind’s ear or in physical reality.
II. Capture some sound (in a verbal description, sound recording (sampling) or some form of musical notation).
III. Process the sound in some perceptible sense by varying some aspect(s) of the sound
IV. Document the process in some form.
V. Go back to step one
VI. Evaluate the results and revise if necessary (Be careful of self criticism; if it becomes too obsessive, put revision off until later. Don’t dam up the creative flow.)
VII. At some point, break this cycle and present the resultant sounds. A good rule of thumb is Dylan Thomas’ idea to stop when the revisions don’t make the poem any better.

Everything we do as composers can be seen as some part of this approach.

Composition and the spirit of work

As a child I had a recurring dream about being in a desert or beach with high dunes around me on all sides. Sitting alone in the sand with the hot sun overhead and a small sieve in hand, my job was to strain all the sand of the dunes through the sieve. When beginning to study composition in my early twenties, I remembered the dream and understood that every grain of sand I was straining represented one of the musical notes I was to compose in my life. Each note coming out of the end of my pencil was arriving from an infinite source and was being filtered through my mind, symbolized by the sieve. Having taken this experience as a metaphor for my compositional work, I continue to work in a disciplined manner, like a scientist or a kitchen worker separating spices by hand.

value of innovative arts

2007-09-11T08:41:00.000-07:00

The following is a paragraph from my new book, The Soul of Music

The unique value of the innovative arts is that they can break the mental prison of convention and impart a fresh outlook on life. They teach us to think outside the box of conventional thought and behavior and invite us to lead lives of deeper meaning and appreciate the beauty all around us. There is great excitement in having new experiences, and the opening of the mind to the possibility of the next new experiences.

Esther Lamneck CD review

2007-08-29T08:12:00.000-07:00

Esther Lamneck is one of the greatest clarinetists alive. That her name is not a household item is probably the result of her intense dedication to exploring the newest music of the most complex character, rather than the conventional repertoire, and her dedication to teaching new generations of students (at NYU) to play contemporary music. Her new CD on the Innova label, Cigar Smoke (Innova 673), brilliantly demonstrates her mastery of all aspects of clarinet technique in the musical context of solo clarinet and electronic/computer music. Ms. Lamneck was responsible for the creation of this music and gives amazing performances of all the works. They include: Cigar Smoke by Robert Rowe, Musicometry I by Lawrence Fritts, Trio for Clarinet and Two Computers by Cort Lippe, Abyss by Dinu Ghezzo, Event Horizon III by Orlando Legname, Lifelines by Lawrence Moss, and Crack Hammer by Zack Browning.

The title track, Cigar Smoke alternates sections of composed music with cadenzas in which the clarinetist and the computer respond to each other interactively. The most interesting music in this piece occurs in the heterophonic textures created by the interaction between clarinet and computer.

Musicometry I, incorporates recorded samples of Ms. Lamneck’s prior improvisations made at the composer’s request and direction. Particularly fascinating are the noise sounds made by the clarinet in the initial improvisation and incorporated into the computer music performed against the same sounds played against themselves by the clarinetist in performance.

Trio for Clarinet and Two Computers is a three-movement work which uses two computers, one of which responds to specific improvised clarinet sound events and triggers independent computer music. It represents the most sophisticated use of technology on this recording.

Abyss in seven sections, by Dinu Ghezzo, one of Ms. Lamneck’s NYU colleagues, is based on Milton’s dark theatre play Samson Agonistes. The piece carries an air of Eastern European melodrama (Mr. Ghezzo comes from Romania) and Ms. Lamneck improvises with great abandon here. It retains its emotional impact on repeated hearings.

Event Horizon III explores the sound world of granular synthesis and is the most interesting piece sonically. The composer has incorporated extended clarinet techniques in a cadenza in the middle of the piece.

Lifelines uses intricately interwoven lines between clarinet and electronic music. Particularly effective are Ms. Lamneck’s use of alternate fingerings to create timbre shifts and multipohonics. The tape part has some fascinating percussive timbres.

Crack Hammer provides a welcome sense of fun and humor in an otherwise very serious CD. The composer employs repetitive, additive rhythms with an unpredictable sense of humor. The form and rhythm of this piece were based on a magic square. Ms. Lamneck’s impeccable sense of timing makes the performance very exhilarating.

This outstanding recording (which was funded by the American Composers’ Forum’s Recording Assistance Program) should attract a lot of attention and provide Esther Lamneck (who also is a master of the Hungarian tarogato) some of the rewards she so richly deserves.

2007-08-03T06:32:00.001-07:00

Hello,

This is Dary John Mizelle (DJM) with the first posting for the blog musicofourtime OOT. The first request is for comments reacting to a quote of Kyle Gann from 1988 (Village Voice), which is:

"Why is great American Music always the underground, never the mainstream?"

He may not agree with it today. If so, he is free to blog a response. In any case it is an interesting question.

There will be much, much more, along with comments, reviews and opinions.

DJM