Sunday, May 19, 2013

Musical material


If we assume that our perception of the world is conditioned by primal psychological images—Jung's collective archetypes—we can infer that the perception of sound events can have a close relation with the inner world of the listener. Physical reality—exterior facts—are processed on a subjective way according to personal psychological constitution and experience, providing a conscious or unconscious reference point through which our interpretations and formulations—artistic, scientific, philosophical, or religious—are made.

The creative musical process, for instance, based on the physical realisation of the energies and impulses of the inner world through a particular arrangement of dynamic sound elements, carries a potential that can stimulate the constitutive complexes of the psyche, an area where imagination and emotions lie.


Thursday, January 24, 2013

Structure the Strangler

Structural rigidity prevents access into the very constituents of life and things. It is through intuition that we can encourage an openess that comes from perception, that is, from direct contact with our surroundings, ourselves and others.

Systems –like ideologies– replace the need for intuition with a sense of structure and order. The problem is that when structure begins to take over, it overpowers everything that can't be explained or understood in logical terms, thus turning us into incomplete beings. On the other hand, intuition –which is not at odds with logic– is our natural way of going-about in and understanding our world. Since it doesn't rely on fixed notions, ideas or habits, intuition opens us perceptualy and hightens our awareness of the moment we're in.

In terms of music making, structure can asphyxiate. It shouldn't be surprising to listen to so much neurosis in the music of our times, which is overwhelmed by structural thinking, from micro to macro levels. Sounds become units of interconnection whose relevance is that of building-blocks. Timbre then becomes just a (sometimes pretty) facade.

Intuition in music is conducive to a more direct relationship between psyche and sound, which can be in a constant state of flux. The thing with intuition is that it acts, if we can put it in those terms, based on who and how we are and what we are exposed to. I believe this is a crucial aspect, for in the end we are those sounds. Music then is an extension of a particular conscience, not the result of an abstract or even an implanted idea.