Who knows what makes some kids care more than others about sound?
What sets the standard for quality in a child's experience of sound?
Is there a standard or is it a function of the child's own personal experience of the world around her?
Living a few blocks away from the Deagan Chime Company in Chicago I grew up with the ringing of beautiful chimes every quarter-hour. I notice when bells ring. The sound is more than itself.
When Hans Neumann pointed out the bells in Ravel's Le Gibet I was struck by how hidden they were by the notation of that sound in the same shape and dimension of circle on the page as other sounds that were "just" piano sounds.
Since then I have discovered other instances of bells: in Dvorak's Dumky Trio, for example. I now know how to find them, perhaps because I am always on the lookout for experiences that will transport me back to the source.
Friday, February 8, 2013
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Knowing the Real Thing When You See/Hear/Taste It
One way to characterize the education I received as a young child was to keep the kid from recognizing his or her own perceptual power.
As a teacher I make it my priority that each child know that the integrity of their response is what counts, not mine.
That old fashioned method is resurfacing with a vengeance in this era of testing, testing, testing; competing, competing, competing.
We hold our children back in every way, stifling creativity and discouraging the development of their critical faculties by leading them to believe that right answers are what count.
As a teacher I make it my priority that each child know that the integrity of their response is what counts, not mine.
That old fashioned method is resurfacing with a vengeance in this era of testing, testing, testing; competing, competing, competing.
We hold our children back in every way, stifling creativity and discouraging the development of their critical faculties by leading them to believe that right answers are what count.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Fours all Over the Place
Recently I was privileged to be in the same room with six terrific musicians singing Dufay's Ave regina caelorum mass. What incredible rhythmic exuberance!
One of my favorite proofs of our era's narrowing rhythmic spectrum dates from back in the 70's when, in a coffee shop, I heard something vaguely familiar coming over the Muzak and had to stop to figure out that it was the well-known Bach Minuet in G with a extra beat added to each bar. Yow.
Someone commented recently on an evening at Barbes listening to Rachelle Garniez that it was so refreshing to hear songs in 3/4 time.
One of my favorite proofs of our era's narrowing rhythmic spectrum dates from back in the 70's when, in a coffee shop, I heard something vaguely familiar coming over the Muzak and had to stop to figure out that it was the well-known Bach Minuet in G with a extra beat added to each bar. Yow.
Someone commented recently on an evening at Barbes listening to Rachelle Garniez that it was so refreshing to hear songs in 3/4 time.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
So What, Then, Is The Real Thing?
"Aha!"
Perhaps that's it: What Kurt Andersen calls an "Aha moment." It is the rose being looked at/seen, the in-tune fifth sung/heard. Call it the transaction between stimulus and response.
Perhaps that's it: What Kurt Andersen calls an "Aha moment." It is the rose being looked at/seen, the in-tune fifth sung/heard. Call it the transaction between stimulus and response.
Monday, February 4, 2013
String Improvisations Spring Show March 2-3
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| Women's top: "The Yellow Submarine" (closeup) |
and sale of String Improvisations in NYC featuring original one-of-a-kind knits for women plus rugs/throws/coverlets, made for the most part, of recycled fibers. Included are several new garments.
Email for more information.
The Real Thing
An unusually insightful music theorist responded to my Tonal Refraction method by suggesting I read A History of Reading by Alfredo Manguel. Wise suggestion.
It has only gradually dawned on me to what extent my work is really about reading, specifically about the elusiveness of reading notated music. Manguel, a reader and writer rather than a scientist or historian, examines reading from all kinds of points of view, including reading pictures and objects--the kind of reading most of us don't even think of as reading.
In so doing he puts his finger on the real issue, one that has baffled many generations of thinking souls in many cultures. What is real, after all? What does reality consist of? Which is more real, the letter, the word, the thing referred to, the image of the thing, etc.?
Last night, describing the pleasure I take in reading this book, a poet friend leapt to the sacraments. I was dumbfounded. What does this have to do with it?
This morning it is clear to me how it is related. That involves yet another reality: mystery. Yes, mystery is a reality. It must be, for otherwise who would presume to use a notational system for ecstatic experiences of any sort or dimension? Why would anyone bother?
Admitting the reality of mystery is no simple matter. It first entered my own thick skull in the music of Palestrina, with which I was involved on a daily basis every day of my high school years.
It has only gradually dawned on me to what extent my work is really about reading, specifically about the elusiveness of reading notated music. Manguel, a reader and writer rather than a scientist or historian, examines reading from all kinds of points of view, including reading pictures and objects--the kind of reading most of us don't even think of as reading.
In so doing he puts his finger on the real issue, one that has baffled many generations of thinking souls in many cultures. What is real, after all? What does reality consist of? Which is more real, the letter, the word, the thing referred to, the image of the thing, etc.?
Last night, describing the pleasure I take in reading this book, a poet friend leapt to the sacraments. I was dumbfounded. What does this have to do with it?
This morning it is clear to me how it is related. That involves yet another reality: mystery. Yes, mystery is a reality. It must be, for otherwise who would presume to use a notational system for ecstatic experiences of any sort or dimension? Why would anyone bother?
Admitting the reality of mystery is no simple matter. It first entered my own thick skull in the music of Palestrina, with which I was involved on a daily basis every day of my high school years.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
More on that Quarter Note
As if it were not enough that we were quarter-noted to death as music students, the current pop music scene is making sure that there is not a trace of life left in us. Four on the floor and the walls and the ceiling and the brain--all over the place.
It is harder and harder to play classical music without pointing out beats even where there are none or, even better, where the composer has deliberately obscured the beat so that the listener has to listen more carefully, wondering what might have happened to it.
It is harder and harder to play classical music without pointing out beats even where there are none or, even better, where the composer has deliberately obscured the beat so that the listener has to listen more carefully, wondering what might have happened to it.
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