essays
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Fine-Tuning
Jost Amman, Der Lautenmacher (1568) “Everyone knows what attention is. It is the taking possession by the mind, in clear and vivid form, of one out of what seem several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought. Focalization, concentration, of consciousness are of its essence.”William James, The Principles of Psychology (1890) “Reality has a surprising… Continue reading
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Musical Materials
Pieter Gerritsz. van Roestraten, Still Life with Musical Instruments (c. 1650) A question pops up when I make music: What are my materials? It often feels like I’m lacking the sonic stuff that others surely have. Questions about materials multiply: What sounds am I using? Where are these sounds from? Are these the right sounds?… Continue reading
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Music’s Complex Problem
Édouard Vuillard, Morning Concert (1937-38) Why do we turn to music when there are so many other artistic, physical, social, trivial, and spiritual pursuits claiming our attention? One reason is that music is a multimodal experience that is already meaningfully integrated into our lives. Music is everywhere as a tacit shared language, a perpetual underscore… Continue reading
