In a previous post, I discussed Contemplative Music Theory in the context of beginner’s mind, and asked what that might offer to improve our thinking about music, and music theory. That essay barely scratched the surface of what contemplation brings to the endeavor, so I’ll add a bit more now. One primary benefit of allowing… Continue reading More on Contemplative Music Theory
Tag: new music
Contemplative Music Theory
This blog is called Contemplating Music for very specific reasons, the primary one being that it urges the adoption of an approach to knowing that differs from the paradigm of learning and knowing that pervades our culture. It’s hard to pin down in just a few words what that paradigm is, but I’ll make an… Continue reading Contemplative Music Theory
Sound!
The foundation of my work is that sound itself is the primary expressive phenomenon. I come to that state of thinking by the influence of a couple of sources: one, experience performing and then composing modern classical music, and another, the realization that what I love about rock and roll music is the combined sound… Continue reading Sound!
In Praise of Debussy (Musical Energy: Register)
Claude Debussy pioneered the world of sound in western classical music, and I revere him as the head of the sound-as-such movement that includes Varèse, Ligeti, and many, many recent composers. In this post, I’ll explore a single piece of Debussy’s, focussing narrowly on one aspect of the piece to demonstrate how he created music using… Continue reading In Praise of Debussy (Musical Energy: Register)
Musical Energy: Horizontal Density
An important, time-honored way to increase the energy of music is by speeding up. Of course, speeding up the tempo, the speed of the beat, is a very familiar means of doing so. I want to explore a larger concept here, horizontal density, which refers to the number of events per unit of time. Events… Continue reading Musical Energy: Horizontal Density
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
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
Roots
I recently wrote about meta-composing, a path combining many threads of my experience as a musical thinker, composer, and teacher. Funny how things settle into our minds. That seemed, and is, a major realization, a turning point in my compositional career and life. After I posted that, a college classmate and fellow Governor’s School of North Carolina… Continue reading Roots