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
Tag: Beginner's Mind
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
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
Musical Energy: Dynamics
One of the most important means of altering the energy of music is by means of dynamics. Officially known as loudness, or sound pressure level, this acoustical fact can be measured accurately and expressed in decibels (dB): perception of loudness is a fundamental aspect of our hearing. Accomplished at the very first stage of the… Continue reading Musical Energy: Dynamics
Musical Energy: Harmony
By now, I’ve written in the blog rather often about the Sound-Energy Aggregate, or SEA theory. The basic premise is that many musical factors, or parameters, are involved in creating the acoustical information that our brains process. The theory holds that any musical factor can create energy that changes over time, and that all musical… Continue reading Musical Energy: Harmony
Meta-composing
I have had a rupture in my composing life that spans the pandemic, but I couldn’t say that the pandemic is the cause. On March 1 of 2020, I enacted a pre-premiere, a “dry run” of a piece whose premiere would end up being postponed for two years, Groundhog Night (the link here is to… Continue reading Meta-composing
“How’s it going?”
How’s it going? It’s a simple question that needs a more complicated answer than “fine”. The more I live in this world, the more I realize that my life is full of opposites, and that both “fine” and “not so well” are credible answers to that familiar question on a given day. And I’m coming… Continue reading “How’s it going?”
Socrates and me
I just read a really great article by Paul Woodruff, “How I learned to heal my soul, with help from love and Socrates”, which describes Socrates’ thoughts on healing the soul. It makes me realize that Socrates has had a long-term effect on my soul, my thinking. His teaching method, the Socratic method, is well… Continue reading Socrates and me
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
Music and Spirit
When you get right down to it, the essential reason I am following a thread deep into the workings of music is that I sense the connection between music and spirit. I have even said in recent memory that music is spirit. Before the pandemic, my spouse (Vivian Montgomery) and I had a conference all… Continue reading Music and Spirit