Flow gets a fair amount of attention these days, and rightfully so. When we can do what we do, even though it is complicated, difficult, dangerous, or just pure fun, with little to no thought about how to do it, we are in the flow. Uncertainty about how to do such a thing might cause… Continue reading Flow depends on trust
Category: Just Listening
Blog posts about the Just Listening workshop or experience ne will be found here.
Uncertainty
In my writing here, and in my teaching of composition and theory, I have learned to embrace and celebrate not knowing. Having a desire to understand more deeply this phenomenon, knowing it as I do mostly from an experiential perspective, and arriving at it from several angles, I have been reading Physics and Philosophy by… Continue reading Uncertainty
Reduction
I’ve long talked of how anything that helps can also hinder, or some variation of the thought. A point of view, an approach, a way of being, virtually everything, can do harm or good to oneself, one’s cause, society or the world. I’m coming to realize, amid so much rejection of science and the scientific… Continue reading Reduction
The starting point is energy.
All of music reaches us initially through our ears, which modify complex physical vibrations into analogous streams of electrochemical energy that pass into the brain. The transformation of vibration into energy is first a physical, mechanical phenomenon, and the further into the brain it gets, the more it becomes a psychological phenomenon. Thus there is… Continue reading The starting point is energy.
Drawing musical energy
In my teaching, I have a habit of getting people to draw their account of a piece. Since I call virtually everything into question, a natural thought arises: what’s that drawing all about? Drawing asks for an embodiment of a visual sort, which helps a person put the thoughts they may have about a piece… Continue reading Drawing musical energy
Grateful for Being Noticed
This spring I was awarded a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council to support my workshop, Just Listening. It matters deeply to be noticed, recognized for what one does. I’ve been working on a new venture for several years now, always returning to the idea that I am bringing an experience of value to others.… Continue reading Grateful for Being Noticed
Energy Words
We know immediately if a word describes high energy or low energy: for example, lethargic instantaneously suggests low energy. It also immediately implies musical factors: slow tempo, low volume, probably not high-pitched. Doesn’t this tell us a lot about our everyday language and its implications for the analysis of musical energy? Another word that comes… Continue reading Energy Words
Following the Need
The Just Listening workshop began as an attempt to promote the analytical practice I call the Sound-Energy Aggregate. At a time of great distress about my own future, having had most of my teaching cut one fall, I reached out to a career coach to get help in developing a way to promote the SEA.… Continue reading Following the Need
Music and Community
One of the most important books to have influenced my thinking about music and music-making is Christopher Small’s book, Music, Society, Education. Among the many things it helped clarify for me, one thing that probably drew me into his thinking was that he used Grateful Dead concerts to demonstrate the growth of community in shared… Continue reading Music and Community
Melody as relationship
One of the most simple, yet striking realizations to come from the SEA theory is the fact that melody is a relationship. It’s so often talked of as all about the pitches, what they convey, and that’s not wrong. Many point to the value of rhythm – Ornette Coleman’s saying that rhythm is like oxygen… Continue reading Melody as relationship