tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81889707971294112572024-02-08T07:46:38.917-08:00Richard Osborn GuitarPoetLariathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04695604489899446146noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8188970797129411257.post-20038225118887517732022-01-08T22:41:00.003-08:002022-01-08T22:41:24.393-08:00<p> Seven years since posting last! I had no idea how the blogosphere worked, and had hoped to elicit interest and responses that would create a dialog.<br /><br />This is just a trial to see if it shows up. If so, maybe the blog can reincarnate in some way</p>PoetLariathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04695604489899446146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8188970797129411257.post-981480059546439392015-10-18T13:40:00.000-07:002015-10-18T13:40:24.346-07:00A Sampler of World Music for the Guitarist<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Before
tackling the elements of an American or Western raga, as suggested in a previous post, I
would like to take a side excursion: to
“…. return to the most basic response we
have when thunderstruck by a piece of beautiful music”. In this excursion, I want to share some of
the primary musical places that have affected me most deeply and are continuing
sources of inspiration, under the rubrics of “World Music” and “Western
Classical Music”…….<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A
Sampler of Music for the Serious Guitar Improviser/ Explorer<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">WORLD<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I came to the world of acoustic guitar exploration from a
background in both Western classical music and world music (just beginning to
open up in the West in the 1950’s and 1960’s).
Although I didn’t pursue a career as a classical guitarist (I still play
a limited repertoire and keep up technical exercises), the idea of a commitment
to the deepest and profoundest experiences that one can have in both Western
classical and world music is one that I still cherish. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I would like to provide here a smorgasbord of world music
experiences in the hope of widening and deepening the perspective of guitarists
who like me are exploring the possibilities of new music. I will not to even try to be comprehensive or
“informed” about this selection. I am
not an academic or an ethnographer, but an active musician myself. These samples come from a lifetime of my personal
enjoyment (and idiosyncratic taste).
What I do hope to share are some major places along the way that
continue to enrich my own musical journey, and hopefully to inspire yours to
new heights. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I have purposely included music here of some extended length. One of the aspects of exploratory music is
learning to appreciate a much larger sense of time itself. As the poet Gary Snyder once said to a fellow
worker: “It’s not a long trip; you’ve
just got a short mind.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There are a few other things immediately noticeable about this
list. First, is that I am giving few
samples of music from Europe or the Americas.
I feel that most of the major traditions of music in all of these
countries already have a very prominent place in the consciousness of musicians
in America; most even have large
audiences and very active advocates promoting concerts and airtime. So I may only try to fill in a couple of less
known places in that Western panoply of music. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The other thing that may be less noticeable is that most of the music I
am bringing is not “folk music” per se.
Most of these recommendations come from court or classical traditions or
at the very least a “high society” form, rather than the folk and emergent
forms of musical play. This could in
itself be a subject for future discussion, but for now I will just note it
along the way. I hope the other unifying
feature of these selections is that they are all very strong “soul music”, big
in “rasa”. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">INDIAN
SUBCONTINENT</span></u></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I am a lifelong fan of the Hindustani classical tradition
of northern India. It was influenced by
the Islamic culture of the Mogul empires.
The music of the south, the Carnatic tradition, is perhaps more ancient,
associated more with the ancient Dravidian race, and tends to be more oriented
toward dance rhythms.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Although most people who know of Indian music at all
associate it with the sitar, I have from the first been a much bigger fan of
the “sarod”: approximately guitar-sized,
with a flat metal plate instead of a fretboard, and a timbre that is like a
bell-like cello.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Ali
Akbar Khan</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">, sarod, performing (perhaps with Mahapurush Misra,
tabla)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Raga
Misra Mand</span></u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">. </span><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xazSUr2KLw">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xazSUr2KLw</a></span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><u>Raga Chandranandan</u>: </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CtXORtvvYM">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CtXORtvvYM</a></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Bismillah
Khan</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">,
shehnai, with <b>Vilayat Khan</b>, sitar,
performing <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“<u>Chaiti
Dhun</u>”: </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0T7TPfJYX4I"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0T7TPfJYX4I</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> <u>Raga Gujari Todi</u>: </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScAges0dBec">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScAges0dBec</a></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Ali
Akbar Khan</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> with his cousin <b>Ravi
Shankar</b>, sitar: a concert in 1972,
shortly after the death of Khan-sahib’s father Allauddin Khan, considered one
of the greatest musicians of all time in India<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1nKVExbewM">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1nKVExbewM</a></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Shivkumar
Sharma</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">, santoor<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Here
with master tabla player Zakir Hussein: <u>Raga
Kirwani</u>, at a festival in Poona, with crickets!! </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mVYI_CaEPQ">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mVYI_CaEPQ</a></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Debashish
Battacharya</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">, Indian slide guitar<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> An NPR
“Tiny Desk Concert” with a vocalist: </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8WWNKhdy-w">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8WWNKhdy-w</a></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Rajendra
Prasanna</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">, bansuri<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3lyYz19mEU">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3lyYz19mEU</a></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Sultan
Khan</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">,
sarangi; Zakir Hussein, tabla: shorter Raag Basant<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j42rQ4S7Svg&list=RDTVLAB3jsawA&index=14">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j42rQ4S7Svg&list=RDTVLAB3jsawA&index=14</a></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Nusrat
Fateh Ali Khan</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">, performing a “qawwali”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9Ui2deAKr8&index=9&list=RDalMEZfaAYq4">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9Ui2deAKr8&index=9&list=RDalMEZfaAYq4</a></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">…………………………………………………………..<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Far
East: JAPAN, CHINA, INDONESIA<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Japanese
Koto by Shoko Murata:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> duet
with shakuhachi by Michio Miyagi: “Haru
No Umi”: </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29WgFkhv62w">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29WgFkhv62w</a></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Japanese
Koto by Nanae Yoshimura</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">:
Miki “Autumn Fantasy” (more
modern exploration): </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQHimwCqctk">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQHimwCqctk</a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="MsoHyperlink"><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> Japanese
Shakuhachi (artist unknown): </span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJDelLCAlD8">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJDelLCAlD8</a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Chinese
Pipa by Yang Jing: </span></b><u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lykgg5phVJE">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lykgg5phVJE</a></span></u><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<u><br /></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Chinese
Gu zheng: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujzMHLac404">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujzMHLac404</a></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Chinese
erhu, an unadorned solo: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZT1l5jf7vs">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZT1l5jf7vs</a></span><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Tuvan
throat singing</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> (a "solo duet" with higher harmonics)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0djHJBAP3U">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0djHJBAP3U</a></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Indonesia
gamelan<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZZTfu4jWcI"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZZTfu4jWcI</span></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">NEAR
EAST, AFRICA<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Oud</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">: in Arabic, this is “al oud”, which became “the
lute”, grandfather of the guitar<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Hamza
El-Din, oud:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oa_zc_M-2w8">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oa_zc_M-2w8</a></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Anouar
Brahem, oud; Kudsi Erguner, ney:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZE9GctzzxI">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZE9GctzzxI</a></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Djivan
Gasparyan, duduk (Armenian ney): <u> </u></span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDmeeGXip6U&index=4&list=RDWl2yImS6gsk">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDmeeGXip6U&index=4&list=RDWl2yImS6gsk</a></span><u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Abdullah
Chhadeh, qanun (an Arabic zither)<u>:</u></span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vKFrQvJmZM">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vKFrQvJmZM</a></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Tar<u>:</u></span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=df6x9AgAW-Y&index=25&list=RDgpJMcL9tVrs">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=df6x9AgAW-Y&index=25&list=RDgpJMcL9tVrs</a></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Parviz
Meshkatian, Persian santoor</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">: </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEWGtIzZARc&index=15&list=RDb9cZzCdT2M4">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEWGtIzZARc&index=15&list=RDb9cZzCdT2M4</a></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Toumani
Diabate, kora</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">: </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjTX8tvF0n0">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjTX8tvF0n0</a></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Stella
Rimbasai, mbira<u>:</u></span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPWmWk8uv-I"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPWmWk8uv-I</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">EUROPE<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Mariza,
fadista</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">: </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi4_y6MVmP8"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi4_y6MVmP8</span></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="MsoHyperlink"><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">SOUTH AMERICA (some of
these could be classified as “classical”:
I only included them here because I love them so much)</span></b></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="MsoHyperlink"><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span class="MsoHyperlink"><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Villa Lobos: Aria
from Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5:</span></b></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gejY9FQlDGM">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gejY9FQlDGM</a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span class="MsoHyperlink"><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Barrios, “El Ultimo Canto”
(Berta Rojas</span></b></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">):</span></b></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ts6t3r6WIsM">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ts6t3r6WIsM</a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span class="MsoHyperlink"><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Mercedes Sosa singing songs of Atahualpa Yupanqui</span></b></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">:</span></b></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC5WUCNFK6Q">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC5WUCNFK6Q</a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span class="MsoHyperlink"><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Buena Vista Social Club</span></b></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">: </span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaerapRPS64">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaerapRPS64</a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="MsoHyperlink"><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><u>HAWAII</u> (you already know the slack key guitarists)</span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="MsoHyperlink"><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span class="MsoHyperlink"><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Cazimero Brothers</span></b></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">: </span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P72U8ZqIFw">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P72U8ZqIFw</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">........................................................</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Please let me know if any of these do something for you. Thanks.</span></div>
PoetLariathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04695604489899446146noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8188970797129411257.post-44657409961366433752015-09-08T11:14:00.000-07:002015-09-08T11:14:51.464-07:00<div style="text-align: center;">
Toward a Western Raga - II</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="background: yellow; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-highlight: yellow;">Silence and Sounding, Emptiness and Fullness</span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="background: yellow; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-highlight: yellow;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before we jump into the “thinginess” of a Western raga, we
would do well to try to encounter the substance, the essence of Indian raga,
what its suchness is. I say this because
I believe that in the end an “Western raga” is going to be an American or
Western flavored incarnation of “raga-ness”. And you'll note that I have shifted to the term "Western", instead of the more parochial "American", raga.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I titled this particular essay “silence and sounding”
because as we become mindful of the world of Indian raga, we quickly notice
that raga is always emerging from silence, but also that in the Indian view
silence is not just emptiness or non-sounding but the universal matrix of
creation, the result of the vast “OM” by which the universe has come to be and
through which it continues to be sung into existence. The actual beginning of an Indian concert is: darkness in a space set aside for the concert,
a spotlit central area, the smell of incense (universal expression of prayer),
the gathering then stirring and gradual quietening of the “audience”, the
artists’ “Namaste” (acknowledging the presence of God in everyone and
everything present), fine-tuning the instruments, and then the drone of the tanbura. When did the concert begin? Perhaps when you first heard it was going to
happen and started to anticipate going….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is almost negligible, a thing easily overlooked, this mindful
attention to setting. But its importance
cannot be stressed too much. When the
concert begins with the first “formless” improvisation without rhythmic pulse,
the “ALAP”, it is clear that we are in new uncharted territory. I think many Westerners are initially
uncomfortable with this great opening out into silence, with the long stretches
of time as the musician begins to savor each not, every interval, and enters
the unique psychic landscape of the RAGA.
Where is this going? When will it
start? Is he ever going to go on to the
next note? Where is the tune?…. It is
time to learn to savor the music, drink it deep, note by note, let it enter you
as you enter it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The silence is the
setting for the notes; the notes are what the silence hoped for, conceived,
gave birth to….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When poet Gary Snyder worked on ocean-going freighters, a fellow seaman once started bitching about the length of the trip. Snyder’s response was, “It’s not a long trip;
you’ve just got a short mind.” The first
lesson of the RAGA is that the journey contains the goal: it is the being here now, becoming totally
involved with the RAGA in a relationship that is not “equivalent to” but in
fact IS an actual relating to a living being.
That’s right: Indian artists
become so involved in the love relationship with the raga (each associated with
particular gods, with certain emotions, with seasons and time of day) that in
the words of one vocalist it “becomes everything; it is everywhere.” And this relationship arises as a new thing,
therefore out of “darkness” and emerging from silence. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Since this is an encounter of living beings, it rests on the
flow of breath. If I had to identify the
single biggest failing or blind spot in the play of musicians generally, I
would have to say that it is a lack of breathing and of space and silence. I often actually feel breathless when
listening to some guitarists: there is
no let up, no space to breathe, no time to ponder or appreciate. Also, this has nothing to do with the sheer number
of notes per second, but everything to do with being open to the depths of the
mystery of being. Anyone who meditates quickly learns that thoughts need not
disturb the silent communion one is engaged in.
Living beings are breathing beings:
breathe in, breathe out. The
rhythm of nature. Play a note, listen to
the note. The silence around the note
allows its mystery to expand and be perceived; paying attention to that silence
will guide you to where that note wants to go, to what its partner is, to what
the responses to it may be called forth from one’s own depths….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Silence and emptiness in music may be like the dark matter
that constitutes the majority of the matter in the universe. Both Jung and the Hindu saint Ramakrishna
compared consciousness itself to the lotus that arises out of the dark muck of
the deep of the lake floor, which travels then up through the sea of the
unconscious, and which then emerges on the surface: our conscious experience like a Zen cork
bobbing on the swells of the deep ocean.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My first classical guitar instructor, Fred Gibson, had a
saying that became an anthem for me, representing the true path of the
guitarist: “You can play as well as you
can hear.” Everything depends on
listening, and if you want to hear truly deeply, you must hear with your entire
being. When I first heard a raga
performed by Ali Akbar Khan, it felt like the voice of the sarod was emerging
up out of my own vocal chords, so intimate and true as the experience.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Earlier I said that silence is not a question of the number
of notes being played or not. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> There is
silence and breath that can be found in drone notes. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> There
can be relaxation and open space in the midst of a run of notes as well as in
the temporary surcease of notes. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> There
is a silence and space for breathing and recollection of a kind found in
repetition.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> There is a sense of silence
and space the musician can create through dynamics: “filler notes” and “inside voices” can be
played softly. There is a noticeable
lack of dynamics in the playing of many acoustic steel string guitarists today,
and it’s unfortunate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here is a great quote from the book “Brush Mind” by Kazuaki
Tanahashi:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> “<i>A painting without negative space is like
music without silence. For music to have
intensity, the silent part must be done well:
a still moment can be the highlight of a performance</i>.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is a quality of breathing that is difficult to put into
words but which we can immediately recognize when we pay attention.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Again, Tanahashi: </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“<i>We cannot create space. When we try to make it, it is dead. But without our effort it does not
appear. When we let it come, it is
alive.</i>”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the guitarist, breathing is something that has to be
consciously incorporated into your playing.
Performance anxiety has two very destructive side effects: unconsciously speeding up and the tendency to
hold one’s breath. There are very
concrete things you can do (in addition to just “remembering to breathe” as my
classical instructor would admonish) to increase this quality. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> One is simply to sing everything you play,
even (maybe especially) the short technical exercises. Do this until you feel that your fingers are
literally expressing your own voice.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> The
rhythm of Call- and- Response is one that builds space into music, as it
resonates with the rhythms of breathing. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Another excellent practice I recommend derives
from the jazz practice of “trading eights”
(or “fours” or “twos”). This is
when two musicians jam and alternate, each playing eight measures (or four or
two) and then laying off while the other responds with his/her own eight. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> If you are practicing with small motifs (I
will speak of this in another essay), observe this rhythm of trading off: for example, a two-bar phrase followed by a
two-bar silence (keeping the drone going). </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These and other practices will not only restore breath and space to your
music, but will also begin to bring shape and interest to your explorations, a
living breathing shape that keys into your listeners’ own living rhythms.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is also a very fertile ground of silence and space
found in rhythm itself. As a soloist, I
am often performing without the benefit of an accompanying percussionist. To remedy this, one has the audience’s own
participation of active listening to rely on.
After establishing a clear and strong rhythm, one starts leaving out
notes and begins to syncopate against the beats that would be played by the
drummer. This is a very satisfying
practice for both performer and listener, as it heightens the sense of
participation and the sheer joy of the rhythm.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you have not gathered by now, I think of silence and
space and breathing as the darkness out of which life emerges, and the true way
of the guitarist is the “no way” of letting the silence sing. The darkness is the true source of fullness
and energy and life. Darkness symbolizes
the end of “minding”, replacing it with mindfulness: our light is darkness to God, and vice versa. Welcome the silence and enter its home.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As Tanahashi says, “<i>Let
the brush see it.”</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the guitarist, “Let your fingers sing it.”</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">“With no surroundings there
can be no path, and with no path one cannot become free.”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #181818; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
<span style="background: white;">―<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1230.Gary_Snyder"><span style="background: white; color: #666600; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; text-decoration: none;">Gary
Snyder</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/5959"><i><span style="background: white; color: #666600; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; text-decoration: none;">Practice of the Wild</span></i></a></span><i><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
PoetLariathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04695604489899446146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8188970797129411257.post-82269755708401412812015-05-26T09:27:00.001-07:002015-05-26T09:27:20.555-07:00<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Toward an American Raga - I</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What does it mean to try to establish or sketch out or even
think of a school of “American raga”? In
fact why raga at all?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you are thinking of playing in a raga style, it must be
because you have heard Indian classical music and felt it resonate in your
soul. That primary experience should always
be kept in mind as we explore what it might mean to bring the raga approach to
our own explorations. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I will not attempt
to define what raga means, other than to say that it is a fractal kind of word. By that I mean that it refers to the scale of
a tune, the melody and known structures of performances, and to the actual
living improvised performance of the tune.
It is that last term which is of vital importance for this discussion. There are many fine websites online for you to explore the traditional Indian meaning of the word raga.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One way to pursue that primary soul experience of raga would
be to immerse oneself in the Indian system of music itself and attempt to become
a practitioner. For those tempted to
this path, be forewarned of the tremendous demands this path will make. Indian music is a tradition of several
thousand years standing, and is a self-contained musical universe with no
relationship at all to Western music or Western theory. Moreover, the path of the aspiring musician
demands hours of practice every day, and it’s usual “arc” assumes at least 10
years of steady practice before playing one’s first raga. The greatest recent master of the sarod, Ali
Akbar Khan, was trained by his father, the legendary musical genius Allauddin
Khan, and from the age of 6 onward Khansahib (as he is affectionately and
reverently referred to) practiced 18 hours a day, most of the time with his
father in attendance correcting his every mistake. In fact, this kind of musical training was
really only made possible by the old social order of the rajas, who were
wealthy enough to fund music schools within their palaces and support the musicians
and their families for life. For this
reason, Khansahib acknowledged that even within the Indian tradition itself, he
might be the last of the traditional players.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All of which is why I decided not to attempt that path
myself. In addition, I am also deeply
steeped in Western music and have no desire to abandon its influences.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How to respond to the beauty of Indian classical music? As a musician, what can one do to try to open
one’s own practice to something deeper and more beautiful? If not to assimilate oneself to the Indian
tradition, it is to do what one can to bring as much of the approach into one’s
own native practice, without becoming a “wannabe Indian”. Along the way, we might see that by not
trying to recreate the Indian tradition we are also allowing the greatness and
beauty that already exists in Western classical music to flow into our process
too. This already begins to create the setting of an American raga, the sense of inclusiveness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then, what are the essential elements of Indian classical
music that are translatable or transferable to our American experience? And what are the commonalties of our
experience of the beauty of music?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think one must return to the most basic response we have
when thunderstruck by a piece of beautiful music. Personally, that experience has always been
as though someone had cut open the top of my skull and allowed me to float up
and experience a totally new landscape of feeling I had never suspected
existed. Sometimes one feels just a huge
expansion of one’s heart. If you have experienced anything like this,
being struck with awe, delight, a new-found freedom and magnification of
expression and feeling, then it would be wise to keep this living experience
enshrined in your heart as you move forward:
this is what we hope to achieve as we play and explore music, not the
mere replication of a shadow of someone else’s expression or tradition.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Having said all that about the primary and primal experience
of beauty in music, common to all music and cultures, I will then say that I
have reached the conclusion that an “American raga” is not possible without the
presence of a spiritual practice of some kind.
Looking at the millennia-old system of Indian classical music, one sees
that the music is intimately and totally integrated with Hindu and Muslim
cosmology and spiritual practice.
Indeed, the Indian raga and music has been called a “technology of
spiritual exploration”. Even within the
Indian system itself one is supposed to work with a guru. Can
there be any denying that our experience of Indian music is so striking for the
very reason that it consciously and directly resonates with our inmost
experiences and aspirations? I think
not.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To attempt to build a system of American raga without
incorporating a spiritual practice would be to reduce everything to technique and
mimicry, trying to make Indian-music-like sounds. This is doomed to failure (which has been
proven over and over again as Western musicians make shallow attempts to
incorporate Indian music into their styles).
In this, my own first raga-style teacher Robbie Basho was correct in
insisting “soul first, technique later.”
However, I would modify his saying to the much less punchy “soul is
primary; technique supports and helps give expression to soul”. I do not share Robbie’s disdain for
technique, and will have a lot to say on that score later. The bottom line, though, is that without
soul, without one’s own personal on-going spiritual practice, trying to bring
Indian music into a Western approach becomes just a mechanical replication of
scales and riffs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You will notice that I do not try to define what your
spiritual practice should be: this in
itself begins to point to a more “American” approach to raga, and opens the way
to complexity and richness. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Trying to
import Indian music whole hog into our music is a temptation for the mind: the mind loves systems and Indian music has
had several millennia to contemplate and systematize itself. Ragas are associated with particular gods and
goddesses, with seasons, with times of day, and specific emotional states. I would just make a pitch for you to pay more
attention to your heart than your mind in this essential matter. It is a much darker and more difficult path, but the only one that will keep your music authentic and your own light burning strongly. Mindfulness is the "sine qua non" of this approach.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Given a spiritual basis and practice, what are the other
things about Indian ragas that are essential and that we can bring into our own
American practice?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’ll take up what I feel to be the central elements that can
be brought over into an American raga in my next essay, but I’ll say for now
that I believe them to include the following:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> -- </span>The connection of the voice to soul, to body and
to the world<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> -- </span><!--[endif]-->thus, a MELODY-DRIVEN music, melody understood
as the expression of the soul<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> -- </span><!--[endif]-->A sense of ABSOLUTE SCALE: notes as “states and stages”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> -- </span><!--[endif]-->The lessons of fretless instruments<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> -- </span>IMPROVISATION<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> -- </span><!--[endif]-->RASA: the
full spectrum of emotions and their place in our spiritual journey<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> -- </span><!--[endif]-->Rhythmic complexity<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> -- </span><!--[endif]-->And, formal elements such as ALAP, “ragmala”, various sections of a raga
performance</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
PoetLariathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04695604489899446146noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8188970797129411257.post-81648548132735045842015-02-24T15:08:00.001-08:002015-02-24T16:03:52.028-08:00i. Prelude to an American Raga: Why I Am (and Am Not) an American Primitive Guitarist<div align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: center; text-indent: -.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The music business
doesn’t know what to do with these flocks of fingerstyle guitarists (including
me) exploring new ways to play the acoustic steelstring guitar. Our recordings get thrown into a “New Age”
pigeonhole by program directors and marketers, which is not as demeaning as it
sounds because in the music biz that category is also used for any type of
world fusion or non-traditional instrumental music. Maybe that particular categorization was begun
by the Windham Hill phenomenon that virtually created the new category of “new
age” music, beginning with Will Ackerman, Alex DiGrassi, et al. I was warned of this pigeon-holing by my
friend Joe Weed, a nationally known fiddle player and guitarist who found his
own wonderful album “The Waltz of the Whippoorwill” being promoted as “New Age”: no singing?
Not old timey, traditional, roots or folk? Must be New Age!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Once you get a
little more focused on what new guitarists are doing, the niche is then
generally referred to as “American Primitive Guitar”. This is a term that apparently trailblazer
John Fahey came up with. If so, even at
its inception the term must have been more than a little ironic, since Fahey’s
influences included not only old blues masters whom he helped to rediscover but
also masters of modern western classical music.
Maybe he felt the term enthroned a movement in which musicians are
mostly self-taught, a true folk movement.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Whatever the
reasoning, the term has stuck. It’s of
further historical interest that the vast majority of young and old guitarists
who are exploring fingerstyle playing play in a style that is directly derived
from Fahey himself. Most obviously this
is evidenced by the continued use of bluegrass style “double thumbing” (the “Travis pick”) which was so prominent in
Fahey’s signature style.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In my view, there
are three main streams of fingerstyle playing in this general niche of
exploration. My college pal Will
Ackerman (founder of Windham Hill) refers to them as “platforms”. The real trailblazers from the early 1960’s
were John Fahey (so the “Fahey Platform” which is based on double-thumbing and
flows out of American folk and blues), Robbie Basho (so the “Basho Platform”,
which is a rhythmically free, melody-driven style derived mostly from Eastern
music, especially Indian classical ragas), and about 15-20 years later the
innovations of Michael Hedges (the “Hedges Platform”, which features especially
his creation of the “tapping” style of play along with percussive effects).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />This is not to
minimize the great guitar work of guitarists who are highly schooled, skilled,
and allied with more traditional streams of musical exploration. Here are the whole great school of British
and Scottish folk musicians (John Renbourn, Bert Jansch, etc), Celtic guitar,
jazz and folk fusions (Chet Atkins, Tommy Emmanuel, Pierre Bensusan, etc), and
the more classically oriented free explorations of innovators like Ralph
Towner. The distinction I am making is
that the movement of guitarists I am speaking of is more of a folk movement,
although not allied to traditional music genres (like jazz, blues, roots,
Celtic, etc), mostly self-taught, and seeking new expressions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />I think there can
be little doubt that the field is dominated by “Fahey Platform” guitarists, and
almost no exponents of the Basho or raga-style platform, (Steffen
Basho-Junghans in Germany is one of the few). Which brings
us to my own explorations. I have always
preferred the term “free raga style” as being a much more accurate indication
of what it is I am up to, in musical
roots, in methodology, and in terms of deeper connections (meaning here: to a view of man’s being in the universe and
the place of music in our journey).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />The Fahey Platform
is dominated by double-thumbing technique and is therefore tied down typically
to 4/4 rhythms, and easily becomes mere “pattern picking”, especially when
coupled (as it usually is) with open tunings.
As a young guitarist, I came under the sway of Fahey myself, but never
found any freedom in Fahey’s style. This
was probably reflective of personal limitations, but I basically just learned
to play everything Fahey had created. Then,
having already myself been a passionate fan of Hindustani classical music since
1964, , when I first heard Robbie Basho in concert in 1968, I immediately
recognized the promise of expressive liberation contained in Basho’s new raga
style. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />The hallmarks of
the Basho Platform raga style are: being rhythmically
free (untied to folk fingerpicking patterns or 4/4 rhythms) and often highly
syncopated, with attention paid to its emotional/spiritual content, melodically driven and improvisatory. This last aspect is of special importance to
me, as being an improviser is what keeps one’s explorations free, fresh, and
authentic. Although I always refer to
this as a “raga style” of playing, once one has liberated oneself from the
rhythmic constraints of double-thumbing and those of harmonic structure, the
techniques used can actually incorporate and move in any direction
whatsoever. Thus, you may hear in my own
explorations strong echoes of Bach or Beethoven, Japanese koto or Celtic
resonances, Santoor or oud…..<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />You may still lump
me together with all other “American primitive guitarists”; it’s good company that I keep. I ask only that you spell my name correctly! But for accuracy’s sake, terms like “raga
style” or “folk composer” feel like a better fit.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
PoetLariathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04695604489899446146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8188970797129411257.post-3738252675754928532012-03-29T08:54:00.002-07:002012-04-02T13:48:16.620-07:00Origins and Ends: Keeping Focused<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">In Zen one is invited to meditate on one’s “original face”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> In the New Testament, St. Paul even mocks those who look into the Word of God (which "in the beginning" was God) , see what they really look like, and then wander off, forgetting that experience and get lost in everyday existence. </span>Whether one looks to the East or the West, this is an important exercise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The same is true in music.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">And whether Eastern or Western in outlook, keeping one’s goals and the end of any particular process or exercise in mind is equally important. We do this all the time with reflections on our own Constitution and Bill of Rights, and with the political process of assessing what our vision for our country is.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">My previous post involved a recollection of those first primal experiences that grabbed me by the hair and dragged me into the lair of the Muse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, one is much more likely to have those kinds of thunderbolt experiences in childhood and adolescence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> That doesn't make them any less valid (see my previous post about the inspiration for "The Glance"). </span>This is the musical equivalent of First Love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have likened it to having the top of one’s head cut open, and then rising up to a totally new and unsuspected view of a mysterious landscape, one that speaks directly of feelings and understandings at the root of reality that one never even knew one had.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think it’s important for all artists and musicians to keep in mind, to cherish and meditate on these powerful seminal events, all along the way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is so easy to not follow a path requiring great effort, discipline, and sacrifice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then it is almost as easy to get immersed in the pursuit of craft, of technical excellence for their own sake. My first mentor, Robbie Basho, always used to say, "Vision first; technique later." And my own experience has been that often, vision creates technique, by its demands that one stretch to express the new thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">And having remembered that original First Love inspiration, one can then cherish the blind hope that one's own fumblings in the dark, by staying true to the night vision, may lead to further connections with this deeper reality, so that one might be a channel for others to experience that rising.....</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">Never forget your original face.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the thunderbolt experience of music is a falling in love, we must never forget the Beloved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In pursuit of that hope, of that crazy dream, one has to learn to listen to one’s own heart and the most subtle movements of sound and silence:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>we cannot arrive at the goal by re-creating someone else’s path. My constant guide in the studio is a saying that my first classical guitar instructor from the 1970's (Fred Gibson) used to repeat:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;"> "You can play as good as you can hear!"</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">Attention!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Attention!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or as the old Christian hymn sings, “Wake!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Awake!”</span></div>PoetLariathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04695604489899446146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8188970797129411257.post-57869243378260755242012-03-22T09:29:00.001-07:002012-03-29T08:39:54.851-07:00Warning: What music is meant to do....<pre><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I<span style="font-size: small;"> just watched a documentary about Glenn Gould, one of my favorite people, "Genius Within: the Inner Life of Glenn Gould". </span></span></pre><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This put me in touch with my earliest encounters with the music of Bach, and its lifelong effects on me. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Then, synchronicity being, well, synchronous, this morning I ran across this short poem that I improvised seven years ago (the internet community The Well has a "topic" for writers called "More 2-minute Poetry"), and thought it appropriate to share here:</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">like it was yesterday</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">the memory of Bach first ravishing me</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">so many years ago</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">flayed wide open</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">brain unfurled and nailed thin</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">to black velvet night with star points,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">a living specimen,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">left hanging as a warning</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">to any who would heed </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">the whisperings of the heart</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>--<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>8.17.05</span></div>PoetLariathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04695604489899446146noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8188970797129411257.post-84408555860559176162012-03-13T14:00:00.000-07:002012-03-13T14:00:28.960-07:00CONCLUSION: 8. Hard Time<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">As we neared the end of recording (and I was figuratively crawling on hands and knees to try to reach the finish line), I realized that the album really needed to have one tune that was under 3 minutes, 30 seconds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is a time limit that apparently defines the outer limit of attention for radio DJ’s and is an industry standard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One PR firm I spoke to had suggested including three “radio edits” of my pieces on the album, but I didn’t like the idea of being represented by something that gets your attention and then fades out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To make things worse, since Bev passed away last April, I found it extremely difficult to improvise in the studio (the only exception being “A Song of New Beginnings”:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>go figure.)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I had one little melody fragment that, like other discoveries in the studio improvising, was going to open up into a new “fragrance”, a new landscape.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hadn’t gone back to it yet, because it is so dark, but I decided that since it’s all I had, I would move it forward.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the rest of the piece quickly developed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It would have been nice to close the album on a bright note (for instance, I could have put “A Song….” at the end).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, despite it’s gravity, this little piece seemed perfect for the end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thematically, it relates to several of the other pieces: I always like to have motifs being echoed back and forth through a piece or a larger opus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then, just as the opening invocation piece had ended on a note rising to a high 5<sup>th</sup> or dominant of the scale with a note of promise, “Hard Time” ends with a figure descending to a low 5<sup>th</sup>/dominant note, and thus also not really closing off or ending the music.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Contradicting my earlier statement (about having a distaste for symmetry), in this case, I do like the symmetry, maybe because it’s not a mirror reflection perfect symmetry, but a “handed” symmetry, more like a call-response.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Anyway, there you have it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some more notes on all eight tunes on the CD.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hope they are of some interest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let me know if you have any thoughts about these commentaries or any questions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>PoetLariathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04695604489899446146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8188970797129411257.post-29261978606437805602012-03-13T10:19:00.000-07:002012-03-13T10:19:21.333-07:007. A Song of New Beginnings<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">This is the only piece on the album NOT performed on my wonderful old acoustic steel-string made by Vincenzo DeLuccia in 1915, (and restored at Jon Lundberg’s wonderful shop in <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Berkeley</place></city>).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Last year, I got a National resophonic steel guitar (O-14).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For years, I had treated these instruments in the traditional way:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>blues, with or without slide.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Frankly, I am not the greatest blues guitarist, and so I never really clicked with the instrument.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But two years ago, I was in a shop having luthier Trevor Healey do some work on the DeLuccia, and they happened to have a National on consignment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Having nothing to do, I tuned it in the way I tune my guitars for raga style explorations (variations of open C), instead of either standard tuning or the typical open G.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Admittedly, this was also a very good quality National.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But suddenly, bringing the instrument into the Indian raga realm suddenly made perfect sense:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it has a timbre closer to my favorite instrument, the sarode, even than a steel-string guitar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I knew then that some day I was going to have to get one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that “some day” happened last summer (2011), in one of my visits to the wonderful Gryphon Stringed Instruments in <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Palo Alto</place></city>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had three brand new Nationals just in, and this one had the perfect balance I am always looking for in an instrument. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">As I say on the album “A Song of New Beginnings” is “a straight-ahead raga, exploring the rasas (emotions) of hope, courage and the joy of unfettered voyaging on the high seas.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> A typical Hindustani raga will begin with an initial free-form exploration (everything is improvised, BTW) of the notes and melody of the piece, before the drummer enters; this is called the "Alap". Well, actually, technically, there is no "beginning" of a raga: an instrument called a tambura sets up a repeated background drone that establishes the connection with the cosmic "Om" of all creation. That drone continues throughout the entire piece. Out of this cosmic sound, the Alap then emerges. When this free-form meditation is done, the drummer (player of the two drums called the tabla) begins the "gat" or main body of the raga by establishing the rhythmic cycle, just as the soloist plays the melody of the raga. Both melody and rhythmic cycle are always in the background of the rest of the piece, although the improvisations and variations take it all over the place. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">This is</span> the only song on the album played on the National steel resophonic guitar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although at the time I was deeply struck with grief following the death of my lovely wife Bev, this song kind of dropped down out of somewhere, piercing the gloom to let me know of what lies ahead some day when the dark clouds clear up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the context, it was surprising, to say the least, and that is where the title came from.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another joyous piece that I love to play</span></div>PoetLariathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04695604489899446146noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8188970797129411257.post-90937704191213085042012-03-13T10:11:00.000-07:002012-03-13T10:11:28.326-07:006. Knights of the Interior Castle<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Dedicated to the great Carmelite saint, St. Teresa of <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Avila</place></city>, one of whose master works is “The Interior Castle”, a description of the inner journey to union with God.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">On the album, I wrote “They appear mysteriously in the upper keep of the interior castle, fan the songs of the blessed into flame, wheel around like chariots of fire, and disappear back into the night.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Clearly there is a “Bolero”-like arc to the piece, except I didn’t want this to end with a big orgasmic explosion, but rather to let the melodic elements play out and evolve, the “songs of the blessed” to be heard as a background chorus, the steeds to open up their gait and burn brightly through an expanding interior space, and then have the knights just vanish as mysteriously as they had appeared.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">A lot of Moorish overtones on this one, naturally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a nice “framework” for improvisation, and I have performed it several times as a duo improv with the talented Mari Aranoff on flute.</span></div>PoetLariathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04695604489899446146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8188970797129411257.post-62601914805897705812012-03-13T10:09:00.000-07:002012-03-13T10:09:47.514-07:005. The View from San Damiano, with Rain<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">The album mentions the Franciscan retreat house San Damiano in <place w:st="on"><city w:st="on">Danville</city>, <state w:st="on">California</state></place>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And clearly the piece recreates a rain storm gradually approaching, pouring down, and leaving.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">The title of, and idea for, this piece </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">came from a composition by the great Cuban composer Leo Brouwer, "Cuban Landscape with Rain." I played this composition with a classical guitar quartet I belonged to about 10 years ago. At the time, I kept trying to convince the other guitarists to treat each of the little themes that we each had for each section of the developing rain storm as a matrix for improvisation, but no one was going for it. Ironically, the composer himself was very interested in such ideas, and had incorporated "aleatoric" (i.e. randomness) techniques into instructions for some of his other works.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a result, the performances of Brouwer’s piece, even the recording by the LAGQ, always sound mechanical and way too regular to my ear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am hoping some day to get one or two other guitarists to play with me my own version of a rain storm, in this free and improvised way:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think the results could be astounding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And fun:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>we are meant to PLAY the guitar, not to WORK it.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">For the active guitarist, the approach used here opens up a lot of possibilities for exploration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The use of randomness and allowing uncontrolled happenings opens one back up the mystery of the real world:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>this is how events happen, and interact all together in the real world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only in recent times has there arisen an actual way to study this phenomenon, generally referred to as “chaos theory”. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Part of this new mathematics involves the notions of “Mandelbrot sets”:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the creation of large organic-looking structures (whose elements are scalable:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>tiny leaves are arranged in patterns that create self-similar larger leaves), and the discovery that relatively simple procedures of iterations can create complex systems.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another interesting aspect of chaos theory involves the discovery of, and attempts to describe, “strange attractors”:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>apparently random events nonetheless strangely seem to keep appearing in particular places that have a certain order to them, creating these shapes called strange attractors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Traditional science has confined itself to carefully controlled experiments in the lab: all parameters except the one being studied are eliminated. This clearly separates the phenomena being studied from the natural, real world, where all things co-exist and interact, and are even co-creating (as the Buddhists say) and co-dependent (well, not in the abusive way of alcoholic families!) Chaos theory arose out of the perception that despite the complex irregularity of patterns in nature, we intuitively feel that there is order in them:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>they are pleasing to us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And in some ways, the irregular “chaotic” order of natural processes (waves, and clouds, and leaves, patterns of plants, and rocks and all things interacting….) are more deeply satisfying than highly regular, predictable, symmetrical representations of order, “classical order.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is important territory for me because I have always been driven crazy by hard-edged, symmetrical, overly regular, starkly defined things and environments (and people, for that matter!)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I prefer oak trees to pines, plants and animals to man-made structures, and maintain a LARGE distance from artificial environments like malls.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">If we can learn to be in tune with these complex rhythms of nature, they may become great assistants in generating new and interesting musical ideas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is not a new idea, by the way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Leonardo Da Vinci once said that all he needed for inspiration was to see an old wall with moss and discolorations running every which way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">There are a lot more significant things to be said for this realm of investigation, but I hope I have spelled out my own interest in it to illuminate the ideas for the listener, and made a good case for its relevance for the active musician.</span></div>PoetLariathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04695604489899446146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8188970797129411257.post-71106748015258920232012-03-12T17:40:00.000-07:002012-03-12T17:40:47.694-07:004. The Glance<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">On the album, I wrote:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">“A single glance from the beloved is enough to inspire a lifetime.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For my wife Bev.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">The genesis of the piece lies really in the heart and origin of Dante’s “Divine Comedy”!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This masterpiece of spirituality (and literature) was written by the Florentine in the latter part of his life, therefore in the 13<sup>th</sup> Century.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Its basic premise is that the narrator “awakes midway through this life in a savage wood”, discovering he has unconsciously wandered off the true path.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He can see the highway through the woods up above, but when he tries to go there directly, he is prevented by three savage beasts (symbols of his own lower nature).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Soon, he encounters a guide, sent to him through the prayers of one in heaven who is watching out for him, Beatrice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He learns that the only way back to the true path is to travel an entire journey through hell and purgatory and heaven itself, to see what the results of all of one’s actions are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">One of the most astounding things about this great work is that it is not directly through the Blessed Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, but through an actual earthly woman connected to Dante whose love will guide him all the way (albeit through the power of the Blessed Virgin Mary).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus, Dante establishes a complete and total continuum of love, creating a highway from the earthly to the divine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although the Church has always taught the sacramental nature of the love relationship, this goes light years further than mere theology, and really connects with our own personal experiences of a real life lived here and now.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">Now, the second astounding thing about the genesis of this master work is that Dante fell in love with Beatrice at the age of 9, after seeing her once on the streets of Florence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, although he saw her again a few times, their families were not close, and eventually he grew up, married someone else, had children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But when it came time to symbolize the great mystery of the journey of redemption, he went back to this primal, seminal mind-blowing event that had clearly stayed quite bright and living all through his life.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">At this point, my own personal story joins the stream.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had been working on the piece at the time my wife Bev was suddenly and taken ill, (totally out of the blue and without any antecedent conditions).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Within six weeks, she succumbed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, at the very last minute, we were somehow granted, totally unexpectedly and against all medical odds, to share a glance together for about two minutes just before she passed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that was when the musical piece was completed, as I added the final tolling of a bell at the end, and the lingering farewell of the conclusion.</span></div>PoetLariathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04695604489899446146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8188970797129411257.post-77761111709445737522012-03-12T17:34:00.000-07:002012-03-12T17:34:56.087-07:003. Joelle's Song<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">3.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>Joelle’s Song</u></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">This was music composed for the wedding of a daughter of a friend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The theme kind of appeared all at once, and then worked itself out so easily that I was convinced for the longest time that it must be someone else’s song.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The wedding occurred in a small historic building in <place w:st="on"><city w:st="on">Aptos</city>, <state w:st="on">California</state></place>.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">Basically, the song is in two sections:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a Processional called “To the Brink”, and the Recessional called “Setting Sail”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I first discussed the music with Joelle and her mom, I told her that my sense of a marriage is of a very powerful and meaningful first experience for the bride and groom in their lifes, an awesome moment filled with anticipation, hope, anxiety, deep feelings and thoughts of all kinds.....<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wanted the music to be minimal and unobtrusive, a kind of very light high-register setting for the very real and meaningful human events unfolding in a sacramental space.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> It seemed to me to be wrong to intrude musically on those few moments the bride and groom have as they physically and mentally approached the event. </span>Joelle’s mom was hoping for something grander and magnificent (and yet she was the one who asked me to play for the wedding, and therefore knew it would just be solo guitar).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But Joelle herself liked the approach I was taking.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">In the actual event, the bride was at least 30 minutes late, and so the music before the Processional became a full-blown raga (that was mostly ignored by the room full of celebrants, all of whom were talking at once).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then, as so often happens with the “plans of men”, the Recessional was by-passed and shuttled off to the side by the minister who spontaneously changed how the exit of married couple and celebrants would proceed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a result, Joelle never heard the song in its entirety until last year!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">For me, it's piece filled with joy, expansion, hopes, dreams, expansion.</span></span></div>PoetLariathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04695604489899446146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8188970797129411257.post-18635138466796839282012-03-11T23:19:00.000-07:002012-03-11T23:19:49.220-07:00"Giving Voice": Cut 2: The Meeting Pool at Moonrise<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">2.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>The Meeting Pool at Moonrise</u></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">This is a very dream-like piece, with figures that weave through the middle and upper voices.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I said on the album, we really become human as we share our stories with each other, as we take each other’s stories into our own hearts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Through hundreds of thousands of years, we have been doing this, often around a campfire, a gathering at the end of the day: an exciting hunt, a scary encounter, a funny stumble, a heart-felt connection or an old memory..... each is recounted, re-enacted and shared. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was also the common meeting pool where people come together, to get water, to play, to wash, sometimes just to watch the water flow by and the dragon flies hover and dart, and more stories are shared.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But at night, when people come to be by the meeting pool, and the moon rises, an entirely different order of story is being shared, something deeper and harder to express, something too delicate to be brought out in full sunlight.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">Sharing stories, to use a term coined by an older metaphysical novelist and writer, Charles Williams, we “in-other” each other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is, we take each other in and partake of each other, and in a sacramental way even become each other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Have you noticed that I tend to talk about these things with images and stories and concepts and thoughts, instead of some kind of abstract musical terms?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The aspect of story-telling, the music as “statement” and journey are an important part of the process for me. I do not think in literal terms, or at least rarely do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I follow the journey of the heart and it often feels very concrete. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">For the performer, it is easy to get lost in sheer pattern on a piece like this, because it is very trancelike.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The trick is to keep looking up, continuing to let new moonbeams illumine new parts of the theme in different places.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">The creation of the piece was more like suddenly discovering a new kind of space, a new horizon, and felt very akin to being suddenly penetrated with a new and very complex fragrance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It made me remember that in the last conversations I had with Robbie Basho before he died, he had said that he saw his main strength as being a purveyor of fragrances.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, knowing that he was a Sufi, I also understood this as a spiritual metaphor as well, and a reference to the famous13th century Sufi saint who took the name Attar, who was a pharmacist also.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another aspect of this term “fragrance” is that it is an English equivalent perhaps of that Indian term “rasa”, or the emotional essences that define each raga.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the time Robbie said this to me, I felt that it underplayed one of his great strengths, that of melodic invention and forming.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But now, years later, when I stumbled into a new kind of musical space myself, the experience was powerful, even primal, in a way that smelling is the oldest of our five senses and connects to the deepest and oldest part of the brain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, it felt exactly like discovering a new world through a fragrance.</span></div>PoetLariathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04695604489899446146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8188970797129411257.post-18052826995952893842012-03-08T09:41:00.000-08:002012-03-08T09:41:22.150-08:00Beginning a Commentary on the Songs on "Giving Voice"<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Because my first solo CD, "Giving Voice: Guitar Explorations", has just been released, I thought I would start a series of commentaries on each of the tunes. I hope this is illuminating....</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">1.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>Into the <place w:st="on"><placename w:st="on">Silent</placename> <placetype w:st="on">Land</placetype></place></u></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">The title comes from a wonderful little treatise on the practice of Christian contemplation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I chose both the piece and the title to open the album as an invocation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is in the style of the formless meditative exploration called an “alap” that usually begins an Indian raga.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wanted the listener to have an immediate strong sense of my particular musical voice and vision, to throw open the door on this particular musical horizon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is meant also to establish from the outset the importance of silence in music, both as underlying matrix and as the powerful “negative space” (a term from the world of art) in and around the notes.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">The traditional Indian raga begins with an unstructured free exploration of the notes and melody of the raga called an “alap”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The soloist meditates on the essence of the raga before the drummer (“tabla” player) enters and establishes the strict rhythmic cycle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It could be said that in one sense ragas don’t actually begin at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first one hears is always the sound of the “tambura”, the drone, which plays throughout the piece:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it connects the time-space to the universal cosmic ground out of which the raga, the play of incarnate life, arises.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So even the meditative alap is perceived to emerge out of this cosmic consciousness.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">Each traditional raga is associated with a time of the day, with a season, with particular gods and goddesses, and also with particular emotional essences called “rasas”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The clear and conscious focus on emotional essences and the place of these fragrances or aural landscapes in the spectrum of human feeling and consciousness is part of the great achievement of Indian classical music.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For my part, I also try to keep this focus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This particular piece, then, is focused on the rasas of deep yearning and reverence.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">Just in passing, I also wanted to note the echoes of certain themes of Rachmaninov that arose in the piece.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This kind of thing often happens in my explorations.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;">The piece was a pure improvisation, recorded in one take.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As an opener for the album, I liked that it “ends” (or rather rejoins the Silence!) in a rising movement at the close instead of a cadential falling motion, thus ascending to the dominant (5<sup>th</sup> of the scale) rather than the tonic (home base).</span></div>PoetLariathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04695604489899446146noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8188970797129411257.post-63790404026083142262012-02-28T16:27:00.000-08:002012-02-28T16:27:07.978-08:00Orientation<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">It's always good to start a journey with an orientation, isn't it? A "facing-the-orient" brings us into an expectant relationship with the rising sun. Another way to say orientation is an explanation of the framework and perspective of a system of experience and thought, an outline of what's ahead. So I will say from the outset that I personally am most deeply oriented to MELODY, to lyrical statement that arises from the center of the soul. Melody is both the expression of the whole person and soul, and the vehicle by which the soul moves and journeys. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I thought a beautiful way to get oriented (and by this, I also mean to be consciously pointed in the ways that I think about and experience music) would be with a few quotes I ran across on an album by the master clarinetist and mandolin player, Andy Statman. I really wasn't aware of Statman until my close friend, artist Claude Smith, turned me on to him. These are quotes from some great Chasidic masters:</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">“Words are the pen of the heart, but music is the pen of the soul.”<br />
-- <span style="font-family: Arial;">Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">“Deveykus (cleaving to God) is primarily attained through melody.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A holy melody can even bring one to a state of prophecy.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> -- <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Rabbi Nachman of Breslev</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">“All spiritual transformations from one level to the next are attained through melody.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this way, the form of a thing becomes nullified, and a new creation comes into being.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> -- <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">There are more of these quotes, but that's a good start. I have to say that my heart leapt when I read these wonderful sayings from Jewish mystics. Doesn't it always feel like that, when we run across something that expresses our own inmost cherished beliefs and yearnings?</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I will have more to say about melody, lyric, the journey, but that's a good start for now.</span></span></span></div></span></span></span></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div>PoetLariathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04695604489899446146noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8188970797129411257.post-66820359538201795452012-02-28T14:56:00.000-08:002012-02-28T14:56:01.930-08:00Now that I've launched my CD, I'll try blogging tooI am new to the blogosphere. But in March 2012, my solo CD "Giving Voice: Guitar Explorations" is finally launched. Perhaps if anyone takes notice, they might also be interested in a blog about the creative process and improvising on the guitar. <br />
<br />
We shall see.PoetLariathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04695604489899446146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8188970797129411257.post-4347297081144129932010-10-03T15:37:00.000-07:002010-10-03T15:37:54.629-07:00How in the hell did it come to this?I was trying to log into an Australian website, Sideways Through Sound, to hear their streaming acoustic guitar broadcast, and somehow I got sidetracked into creating my own blog.<br />
<br />
Maybe it is time.<br />
<br />
I am a guitarist, in my early 60's. I studied with Robbie Basho back in the late 1960's and then performed with him a couple of times in the early 1970's. Then everything went dark and/or hidden. I couldn't play the guitar for over 15 years (long story), and then as I neared retirement age, discovered that I had the strength to play the guitar again. We're talking improvisation in a "free raga style" on the acoustic steel string here.<br />
<br />
The fact that I am emerging into public view for the first time in about 40 years is strange and miraculous. Through the associativity of the network, I was recently invited to record a cut on the new compilation album "Beyond Berkeley Guitar" on Tompkins Square Records. A few short months later, and now I am planning on recording my own solo debut album on Strange Attractors.<br />
<br />
Where did this come from? Where is it going? Does anyone give a shit?PoetLariathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04695604489899446146noreply@blogger.com0