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Resonant Thoughts: Robert Atwan On Essay Aesthetics
In his forward to The Best American Essays (2015), series editor Robert Atwan suggests some stylistic attributes of the essay form. Ideally, essays: • foreground the writing process in the writing itself • allow the author to reject any authoritative posture • are an anti-systematic, anti-rhetorical method of composition • are prose with an unfinished… Continue reading
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Art About Music: Boethius’ “De institutione musica” (c. 6th century)
(This is an illustration from a 12th-century copy of Boethius’ De musica. Boethius is depicted on the top left, experimenting with a monochord. Pythagoras is depicted on the top right, experimenting with bell vibrations. On the bottom left is the philosopher Plato, and bottom right, the mathematician Nicomachus.) “A musician is one who has gained… Continue reading
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Miles Turns His Back
Miles turns his back on us because his playing isn’t to entertain but for himself on music’s own terms and tells us not to fear mistakes because there are none when you’re making something from nothing so it’s not that he doesn’t care— in playing the horn he cares so much he’s already figured… Continue reading
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Freestyle: Music Aphorisms
The louder the music, the harder it is to listen to it. • Music silences verbal thinking, offering it another medium. • Music is vibration’s grand invention. • People are like tuning forks—always catching and matching one another’s vibes. • Big data misunderstands the nature of your musical tastes. • Music playlists are covert forms… Continue reading
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Freestyle: Hearing Steve Reich’s “Mallet Quartet” As NPR Soundtrack Music
Yesterday, while driving back from buying a shower curtain and an orchid (yes, a strange mix*) I turned on NPR, just catching the tail end of Terry Gross’s Fresh Air. Underneath the news, I noticed the familiar pulsing malletwork of Steve Reich’s music. It was a recent piece from 2013 called Mallet Quartet (Part I,… Continue reading
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