In my teaching, I have a habit of having people 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 into… Continue reading Drawing musical energy
Category: Just Listening
Blog posts about the Just Listening workshop or experience ne will be found here.
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
Evolution of a practice
As I’ve begun this blog, I’ve had in mind sharing ideas on music facilitated by experience in meditation, thus the title, Contemplating Music. Regular readers and those who know me well will have noticed that there is a divide in my writing, between technical issues surrounding my SEA analysis technique and the more general, socially… Continue reading Evolution of a practice
Contradiction as a Path to Truth
Some years ago, at a conference of the Association for Contemplative Mind in Higher Education (ACMHE), I got excited about an idea brainstormed with a group, and the thought keeps popping up in various ways to this day. The idea, of how contradiction is a pathway to truth, may seem strange to some, so it’s… Continue reading Contradiction as a Path to Truth
What is, is.
What is, is: let that realization change your life. Well, it can if we keep returning to what it means, the fullness of its implications. The phrase on its own implies something immediately, and with a rejoinder begins to awaken deeper thoughts. The full statement should be: “What is, is. What is not, is not.” … Continue reading What is, is.
Open Ears, Free Mind
As I have described elsewhere, this blog grows from my experiences with new music, teaching, and Zen meditation. These experiences and more have combined to spur the creation of Just Listening, which in fact derives its name from Shikantaza, or “just sitting”, the type of Zen meditation that I do. As I sat this morning,… Continue reading Open Ears, Free Mind