Category: General

I’ve always enjoyed Chinese poetry (in translation at least, as I am unable to read Chinese) by Li-Bai and others. It’s been a while since I last spent time reading poetry so I decided I would like to find some on the internet so I could convert them for my PDA (I’ve been reading texts on it quite a bit lately). I was pleasantly surprised to find a number of websites having translations of “300 Tang Poems” (here and here). I’m looking very forward to exploring these poems once again. =)

Last week I changed my morning route to work and instead of taking the bus all the way I’ve been getting off half-way to work and walking the rest. Stopping by the tea shop, now a part of my morning routine, I picked up a cup of lady grey and walked down the street, looking ahead towards the bay, a cool gentle breeze, an intensely deep blue sky–I was satisfied.

I find myself returning to Rachmaninov’s “Isle of the Dead” everyone once in a while… today, I marvelled at how long it is before that wonderful opening returns, accompanied with a lovely floating violin line. The swells of sound that move with the piece’s lush harmonies, the delicate textures which arise from the mass of sound, the almost unending delay of the inevitable in the return of that opening… I think it is Rachmaninov’s orchestration of his harmonies that have made the most impression on me, the choice of timbres and open spacing.

I don’t know his music as well as I’d like, and perhaps this reaction to this latest listening of his music is a sign I should I be spending more time with it…

I’ve been listening to my minidisc player for the first time in a while… I used to listen to my mindisc player quite a bit, almost whereever I went I would have some music or another playing. I’m reminded of the experience of listening to music on headphones, listening within a very personal musical space, the sound very rich and enveloping, being able to hear the details of the sounds. That personal sound space, cut off from the rest of the world, yet, in other ways, opening it, flavoring it, allowing one to take a step back from being right where one was and instead of interacting with it, observing it.

That kind of perspective is refreshing, to be aware of all the details, to look at the world as an observer, to look at the world with fascination, listening to music that is altogether other worldly, if in just the fact that it is in its own time and space.

I’m a tremendous fan of internet radio stations as a way of encountering new music. Over the years some of my favorite stations have come and gone and others have persisted in providing wonderful music. One of my favorites I’ve rediscovered is Radio@Netscape‘s 20th Century station. Already today I’ve heard pieces I’ve been wanting to check out for some time (just finished listening to George Crumb’s “Unto the Hills”…) and other pieces by composers I simply never knew about.

Anyone else have favorite internet avant-garde/experimental/modern music stations they’d like to share?

^_^

to walk, truly, freely, how pleasant it is! moving freely, the mind wandering curiously, the thoughts from daily life at rest, attention simply on the moment at hand, all the time in the world to explore thoughts deeply, a peaceful ease, floating on along…

i used to walk more regularly than i do these days. i think it’s just that san francisco doesn’t require walking as much as new york did. i find i’m missing that time walking, thinking back to those days in new york going block to block, look up to see the buildings, thoughts adrift. ..

reminiscing about the walk up park avenue east from union square with that blue sky that one day, listening to debussy’s “la mer”… the walk from the hotel petrus to downtown krakow and back again that i took so many times, each so unique, the river, the sky, wawel in the distance… the walk after jumping in the river in geneva… the walk along the seine in paris at night with gypsies playing…

“Still Life” is something of a strange, contradictory term… I usuallly associate life as something active, moving, dynamic, and that which is still to be something passive, motionless. Yet, most still life can be dynamic and rich while motionless…

There’s a phrase from one of Michio Kushi’s Macrobiotic Cookbooks, dynamic homeostasis, which I read maybe six or seven years ago and is still with me today. That idea, of something being in balance, yet in motion, rich, alive, has been an ideal for me, something to pursue in life and in music.

The idea of stillness has been on my mind a lot lately as I’m contemplating the nature of the music I’m involved with. Not a music without motion within it, but rather a music that has the effect of motionlessness. That, regardless of what’s in the music, the experience is as John Cage once said, “to sober and quiet the mind, thus making it susceptible to divine influences” …

It’s been quite some time since I finished a piece of music… it’s a thought that weighs heavily on me at times. In that time, however, I think a lot of life has been lived, so nothing lost. The pieces I’ve been working on the past year or so–I think I’m going to give them up. That was a very hard decision to come to, but I think it best.

These pieces, these fragments, have been sitting there, and I find myself hard pressed to continue with them. I’ve struggled very much, and in the end, I think it’s simply that these pieces aren’t me. I look back at my early inquiries into music and find them very much rich and full, something very pure about them.

These past pieces have had something in them too, something raw, pure, but of an energy and aesthetic I’m simply not about. So the time spent trying to find their paths were perhaps more about me finding my own, once again.

This time exploring these paths have not been for not, though. I find that they have very much enriched my views on what I believe I will be seeking once again. The techniques behind the ideas are still very much appealing, only perhaps the ideas themselves were not the ones to which to apply the techniques.

I feel a great sense of freedom in this decision, finding myself once again in territory more familiar and inspiring.

Last night I began meditating as I used to do back when I was very actively composing music; the calmness and serenity of it has helped make this decision so much easier, having cleared the way back to the life of living beautifully. Tonight’s T’ai-chi practice was as peaceful and focused as it’s ever been. And here I am, smiling away at the screen, curious to once again listen for where the sounds want to go.

^_^

About a year and a half ago I took some time off and went to Krakow, Poland for a couple of months (a long held interest after reading a book on Henryk Gorecki). On the way there, riding LOT Polish Airlines, I was seated next to a very nice older lady. We began talking about interests of ours: she enjoyed yoga, I’m very much into tai-chi, which she was interested in as it was getting harder for her to do yoga. We also got to talking about travelling in general (the way she described Thailand made it sound amazingly serene and beautiful… If I should ever find time to end up there, it’s because she inspired it).

Well, we get around to talking about music, and strangely enough, she asks, “Do you listen to hip-hop?” Well, I thought to myself, yes, but why is she asking this? Then, she proceeds to ask an even stranger question, “Do you like Stretch Armstrong?”. Now, I had known about Stretch Armstrong, but I was thinking how could this 60+ year old Polish woman know of him, an underground hip-hop DJ?

Well, I told her “Yes, I like Stretch Armstrong. How do you know about him?” to which she replies, “I’m Stretch’s mother!”.

After more conversation, she was telling me about things Stretch was doing and the things she’s concerned about; it surprisingly reminded me of my own mother’s concerns about me.

So, after that, it dawned on me that everbody has a mother, and I got to thinking about all these famous people’s mothers, what they must be thinking about their children… (Are you eating well? Are you healthy? Why don’t you call more!?)

^_^

I purchased Steve Reich’s Three Tales maybe a year ago, while visiting New York. I remember putting it on the stereo when I got back to San Francisco and not thinking much of it, so it rested in my collection without much attention.

This past December I had purchased another copy for Dr. Boulanger as I found out he was a bit of a Reich fan, and so we listened to the CD while travelling down the highway in his car. I think we were both pretty floored by the music.

I found the blending of live instruments and sampled/processed sounds to work really well, and the contrasts of the vocal harmonies with the rest of the musical texture to be very tasty. The things that really stood out for me was his harmonies, as well as his use of the English language in sung text.

I debated using text for some time a while back and I never found a way that seemed to work for me. Perhaps it’s just that I’m native speaker of English that it doesn’t usually work for me, but most uses of English in sung text always sounded somewhat Broadway-ish. However, I really think Reich does a great job with text. (I don’t think I’ll ever end up using text though, perhaps a limitation of my own…)

Last night I finally got around to watching the videos and found myself mesmerized. I found myself appreciating the movies very much, and the music more so now. Reading the reviews on Amazon I can see how some of the not so favorable opinions of the video work by Beryl Korot could be construed, but I found the work effective.

Maybe the more interesting question to come out of this is: how is it that sometimes in engaging with a new work I find it dismissable, when later approaching it I find it affecting? Since it’s happened a number of times to me, I think I’m more prone to give things another shot. Maybe it’s just a limitation on my own part, maybe tastes just change. Either way, I’m glad I spent time to take another look (and listen) to these pieces.