bee'ay'see'aych

I think it's good to question assumptions, because in our new millenium notions of human intelligence (including complex brain functions like musical creativity) will come into sharp focus. There are two lines of fairly intense research on a global scale that will eventually combine - reverse engineering the brain at the level of neurons, and the engineering of a general artificial intelligence.

There isn't a single music centre in the brain - musical creativity (and genius) will be of special interest to science just because it engages and orchestrates so many diverse areas of the brain to somehow becomes much more than the sum of their parts.

For me Bach essentially mastered and exhausted much of the the creative and technical potential of twelve tone equal temperament *at the moment of its inception* - for me this is an exceptional achievement, since we still use this tonality system it is also unsurpassed.

It also takes a very uncommonly flexible and powerful mind to improvise 4, 5 and 6 part fugues, and many other conceptually complex feats that are attributed to him. It could be argued though that this is just being clever.

My own story however isn't that concerned with these things since I am not inherently moved by complexity or mental agiility. I experience the soaring and incandescant sonorities of Bach's music, the kaleidoscopic waves of fibrillating emotion and it changes my life. That's genius.

compose

Composers compose. What do improvisors do? Kind of reminds of my first visit to rural India, there were  signs saying 'non-vegetarian sold here'. Be clear that composing is an historical and cultural anomaly.  Look anywhere else in the world through known history; it's not there. Yet composing as a serious  intellectual concern in western europe precipitated a truly astonishing accelerated evolution of the  practice through ever more sophisticated and complex creative constructs, resulting in a puzzling but  almost complete cessation part of the way though the 20 century. Puzzling indeed.

I want to define consciousness. Wait, let me back up a little, If I were to define composing I would  call it the deliberate act of human consciousness on music creation. That's why I wanted to define  consciousness, not that there is one definition, but we use the word in so many ways, and most of them  do not help me explain my idea. It's that internal mind space where

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gestures of Intent

 I've noticed a number of devices and technologies appearing lately that offer an enhanced palette of musical control for musicians.

 First up a clutch of Open Sound Control (OSC)  applications that allow you to control or interact with music software wirelessly. Chief amongst these are mrmr, TouchOSC  and Fantastick  - using any of these on my iPod I can adjust and influence the MaxMsp environment on my laptop during a performance fairly disreetly.

The main advantage here for me is that I can use a computer without anyone else having to see it, I really dislike seeing computers on stage. Mainly because I find it visually distracting, but also because the compter as a symbol sends a psychological message to the audience that is at odds with their decision to

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getting focused

It's going deeper into how I think about my own music. Names for works of music have always troubled me since I believe the sounds should speak loudly for themselves, on their own terms without the need to lean on verbal or pictorial evocation. 

I've never felt good about naming music. So I then thought about refererencing different pieces by date it's quietly efficient and adequate. But now I'm not so sure. As I keep thinking and working my focus sharpens. I'm losing sight of things I did in the past. 

Today's reality for me is a singularity: sensuous string contours with exotic electronic resonances. No meter, no harmonic context, no bar lines, no time signature, monophonic, monolithic, serene, aware and delicate

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identity

I've been thinking about why I do the things I do, and what urges me on. It's kind of gelled for me recently, and my conclusions do not really come as a surprise.

This moves me: solo performance, just intonation, free improvisation, performance environments modelled on natural processes(shoals, growth of organisms), sounds of natural elements (wood, stone, glass, electricity, metal). 

I've also noticed that I often prefer the company of visual artists to musicians. Just recently I've felt compelled to understand more about mind, consciousness, unconsciousness, personality, identities. Until now I haven't been able to find a context, to have an understanding of it all at once. I think I do now.

I yearn to bridge the gap between my experience of life and the unique expression of myself that lies beyond layers of conscious and unconsciousness; I would like to experience a state of being truly myself, to know my pure identity. 

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