Listening and the SEA

The manner of listening the Sound-Energy Aggregate (SEA) requires is very much a contemplative practice, and listening is essential to the SEA approach to musical understanding. The SEA asks that one simply listen openly and then recall sounds and energies heard. This framework for listening is subtly different from how we are typically encouraged to… Continue reading Listening and the SEA

Relationship: Musical Texture and Energy

Texture is a word carefully defined in music, and it doesn’t necessarily mean what one might think. In music, texture is the way all elements present relate to each other. Historically this would mean the way melodic lines combine to form patterns. When a melody is imitated by a following voice, we call the texture… Continue reading Relationship: Musical Texture and Energy

Flow depends on trust

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

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

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