RECHARGING ONESELF

POSTED : 16 MAY 20080 COMMENT(S)

Some people like to recharge themselves by listening to music.

How does a composer recharge?

Well, in a number of ways. One way which I'm extremely fond of, is to walk for a long time. Especially on the trails.

The beauty of the earth never ceases to inspire and astound me. I like the pace of walking so I can hear and take in more through the senses. Hear the counterpoint of wind, foliage, birds etc.

KJP

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DRAGONFLY

POSTED : 15 MAY 20080 COMMENT(S)

I associate dragonflies with my son's father, Mark, who is about to have a birthday. The piece Music for Mark was created for him.

It can not be overstated how much the individual people in my life influence my music, and I think that may be true more of less for composers in general.

Sometimes, I've heard poetry from friends, and I think to myself, she would never had written that had it not been for that conversation or day together, etc.

That is certainly the case for me when I compose although that fact could be easily overlooked since there may be no words, or visuals to "confess" such influence upon a creation.

Little things said in passing can be like jewels to creating, a passing glance, something un noticed, a candid gesture. There's no end.

To be in a composers life, is to influence compositions. There's no way around it, at least not for me. Even if it's only by default. i'd be influenced by something else if I wasn't sharing a moment with an individual.

The slightest decision or phrase can effect an unstoppable and permanent domino effect with multitude of ripples and layers in countless lives.

It's absolutely mind boggling to consider.

My friend Andrew used to say when he was alive, "Do everything with love."

Great advice.

KJP  

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IMPROVISATION "TODAY"

POSTED : 13 MAY 20080 COMMENT(S)

I love to improvise, hear people improvise, and to create these visual improvisations that others or I can use as springboards for improvising.

Here's one for you, it's titled "Today"

Improvising is the sound of relationship. It's the sound of love and of the dance of life. I feel that it's of primary importance for all musicians to improvise in some way shape or form and that it is most liberating and life enhancing to do so.

KJP

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MUSIC AND EMOTIONS

POSTED : 12 MAY 20080 COMMENT(S)

If you like how you feel, then enjoy it while it lasts, and if you don't then observe your feelings change.

Yesterday morning I created Abstract 6, pictured on the left for today's blog. By evening the emotional reality changed so drastically, I wouldn't have created that, and today, as I view this color I'd rarely use, I don't relate to this piece at all.

I am looking forward to returning to my detailed manuscripts in a few minutes, the meat of my work. These abstracts and aleatoric visual art musical compositions are a fun break from my intense work and keep me humble, silly, and playfully adventurous.

The work I'm returning to is very slow, centering and also expansive. I've been missing it. Creating it is transforming and liberating to my internal state of experiencing life. I deeply hope that in the future others will appreciate and benefit from it as much as I do and more. It is my desire to share. At the very least, I grow as a more compassionate and imaginative person.

So there is the dance between what is created and the emotional body, and the emotional body and what is being created. All are being created and interfaced.

KJP

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MOTHER'S DAY: CREATING LIFE

POSTED : 11 MAY 20080 COMMENT(S)

Happy Mother's Day.

The abstract art piece selected for the picture today is an aleatoric composition titled "Organization".

I select it for today because my mother is a very organized person and is highly skilled in this artform on many levels. Because of that, I sent her this image as a part of her mother's day email message in admiration of this strength of hers. It also reminds me of a bird feeder, and she loves birds.

During my very first composition lesson with Karel Husa, Karel was reluctant to accept me as a student because of my gender. He said, "What is creating a symphony compared to creating a life?" .....

Fortunately he accepted me as a student even though as a woman I'm capable of creating as well as nurturing life and musical compositions. It was quite a conversation. Also, in that conversation, he asked me if I would compose during time of war, instead of fighting along side of my friends who were putting their life on the line and sometimes losing their life. I said that absolutely I'd compose.The thought of imagining humanity with out any music created during wartime, is horrible. We wouldn't have much music. Life without music is not an option, as a composer, I must compose. I'm not a warrior. Warriors don't compose, they fight.

I think it's important and helpful to know what one is by nature, and to be what we are. Besides that, as humans, we may experience the desire, and have reason to kill another person, but I feel we have no right to take the life of another away. It's fine to arrest a person from harming another but not to kill. Clearly history shows that the most effective social change is through civil disobedience and creating change non violently. Now, in the 21st century, we must embrace this understanding if we as a species are going to survive.

I feel strongly that art is about enhancing life, and about elevating and inspiring humanity. Art is about opening up and awakening more to the beauty of life internally and externally. Absrtact art and music, which I value so highly, greatly helps people open up to finer levels of emotional well being. I believe that this is helpful on all levels. It fascilitates wisdom, humanity, humility, compassion, awareness and cultural, emotional, intellectual, spiritual evolution when done with love. Art without love, isn't art as far as I'm concerned.

I remember the first time I saw Picasso's "La Guerre" in person in N.Y.C. . It changed my life and deepened my apprectiation for 20th century art. It so clearly revealed the emotional devistation of war, and as a human being, I feel that this is crucial to illuminate and to help free people from any romanticism about war. War creates destruction and devisation. It creates problems and this depicted that fact. I believe this masterpiece couldn't have been created without love of humanity and empathy. It's the artists job to care and to be oneself through expresing what it is to be alive.

The purpose of art is to help oneself and in sharing with others, live life more fully. It's important for artists to share their work, and to respect the fact that others will have their own perceptions, tastes and judgments about everything as they are so entitled.

Again, happy mother's day.

KJP

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UNTITLED NO. 1

POSTED : 10 MAY 20080 COMMENT(S)

If you need this ( The abstract art piece, "Untitled no. 1" )explained to you, I really wouldn't worry about it but I'd suggest that you simply look at it for what it is and not try to rationalize it. I think that is an important artform in and of itself. To learn how to not rationalize something can get you out of the cellar of the left brain and into a new realm of experiencing life, so if it helps to know that there are benefits in quality of life experience in doing so, there you have it.

In addition to creating a book of Aleatoric compositions, I'm creating a book of just abstract art. This is one such composition, "Untitled no. 1"

KJP

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MAY 9, 2008

POSTED : 09 MAY 20080 COMMENT(S)

The picture today, to the left, is titled "May 9, 2008" It is an aleatoric composition which I created today while taking a break from manuscript composing.

Like "Graceful Motion", the other aleatoric composition that was previously up on the blog, this will also be included in the collection of aleatoric compositions.

It uses color, shape, counterpoint, contrast and theme and variation visually as the ingrediants to fascilitate an inviting and playable composition within this style of musical genre.

If you play it, have fun!  

KJP

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JOURNALISM VS. MASTERPIECE?

POSTED : 08 MAY 20080 COMMENT(S)

What is a masterpiece?

Writing, or composing as journalism is translating a feeling, essence, idea etc into sound. Creative play is playing with sound creatively. Improvising is another topic.

A masterpiece, by my personal definition - at this time in my life - is: "A work of art that is a balanced and integrated creation that is transcending." In order to create a masterpiece one must take rich raw juicy material, and use skill to clearly and accurately translate it into an artisitc language, imagination to make it transcending,  and intuition to make it really sing and have that extra something. A masterpiece is incomplete until it is shared and witnessed. (I think that is partly why people are on the earth which is a masterpiece, and why people fall in love. We are all masterpieces and need to be fully developed and recongnized which is done through love and appreciation.)

My required to create a masterpiece myself is to passionately translate my pure voice of "Self" and weave it with imagination, intuition, skill, and artistry into a transcending experience with that pinch of secret extra something.

KJP

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GRACEFUL MOTION

POSTED : 07 MAY 20080 COMMENT(S)

"Graceful Motion" is the title to the image right here on the left of the page. It is an aleatoric composition and is a part of a new series of work I'm creating which is a collection of aleatoric compositions.

Later this year the collection will be available on the shop page.

To perform, simply translate the effect of the visual image into sound.

You are free to choose just how you do this.

Personally, today, I'd use the color background as the determining emotional atmosphere, or landscape, then create melodic lines to interperate the yellow pilgrimage.

I may create an electronic sound sculpture to set the atmosphere and write out a linear journey for soloist.

Keep you posted.

I think it would be interesting to hear it created as a duet or even trio seeing how there is counterpoint in the composition.

KJP

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WHAT IS MUSIC?

POSTED : 06 MAY 20080 COMMENT(S)

What is music?

An entire book can be devoted to this question!  A short blog will have to suffice for the time being however.

Is it organized sound? Is it the imagination turned into sound? Is it the voice of math? Is it the sound of spirit? Is it longing’s voice? Is it a sounding soul in a deliberate form? Is it sound with the intention of being music?

What is your definition of music?

Personally, I think that it’s what love aching to be realized sounds like. It’s the voice of the beloved blooming into existence. A new born baby burping is music as far as I’m concerned, or a teenager releasing frustration with an out of tune heavy metal garage band, or the wind blowing through the pines, or a balding man snoring, a cat purring, painfully out of tune oboes – yikes! – Ocean waves crashing, a traffic jam.  

What isn’t music? What isn’t music to me is an uninspired sound or silence. BTW, I love silence. To me, silence is peace. Music is desire as in yearning and aching to exist. Music is the sound of need of some kind. It can be the need to express gratitude, affection, warmth, devotion, and all facets of the poetry of life.

So then, “What is the language of music as an art form?” What is my personal definition of a masterpiece?

To be continued…

KJP

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ON COMPOSING

POSTED : 05 MAY 20080 COMMENT(S)

Often people ask, "How do you compose?"

Sometimes I first decide upon composing something as if it were an assignment. For example, okay, now I'm going to sit down and compose a solo oboe piece within a particular skill range, and I compose it with a combination of technique, and inspiration. Both are crucial if it is to be music otherwise, I recycle the paper, or burn it if I'm annoyed with myself.

My first composition teacher, Karel Husa, made a strong point in his teaching about inspiration. "Always know what inspires you." Then he went on and on about what inspiration is. - great lecture - I cherish it.

Inspiration determines whether a composition is sound or music. But that depends on how the word music is defined.

Organized sound, is a safe definition of music in our present day culture. It is not my definition of music however. But the definition of music, and inspiration to me, are for another blog.

So, if I first mentally decide upon a composition, as in the example above, then I swim for inspiration. To do that, I open myself up to be receptive to a higher vibration seeking realization. I can not do this if I am angry or stressed or in my basic brain. I have to be using all of my brain and connected to the non material plane. My music come from where i believe light comes from. Spirit - the ultimate source of all sound, essence moving into vibration, moving into various form of material and non material planes of existence, moving in and out of matter.

I love science and hope that someday scientists will discover the natural origin of light.

So, once I catch a facet of non realized vibration seeking revelation, I stay with it, feel it, listen to it, let it settle within me. Then I bring in my imagination and intuition to match the correct rhythms and pitches to artfully bring down the vibration into an audible reality in the language of music.

It's just like writing a love letter. You know the language, you know the feeling, you have the focus, pen and paper. Ta da.

Which brings me to another point. Performing a composition is like reading a love letter to the person it is intended. I can not overstate that point!

It is to and from the beloved. Anything else is a waste of time.

That's it for today.

Kathryn

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