[Dixielandjazz] Space as feeling in music

[Gary Kiser]

Strikes me odd that only a week ago, many were complaining of musos that 
played too many notes.

I do disagree, to an extent, that silence is the absence of noise.  
Perhaps, in some contexts, however, in music we call silence rests.  
There is a formal group of symbols representing rests of different 
lengths.  Composers use rests to 'turn on' and to 'turn off' instruments 
thus varying the color of a piece of music.

With Sac à Pulses, Marc (drums) and I (tuba) will drop out a chorus 
leaving Jules (alto guitar) by himself on the rhythmic chores.  To say 
that our 'not producing noise' is 'not musical' is total hogwash.  In 
truth, the entire texture of the ensemble changes radically.  Our 
'rests' are a valid and effective musical effect or they wouldn't be 
arranged into our tunes.

In solos too, rests are valid musical entities.  Even top bop players 
will leave pauses in their note flurries not just to take a breath, but 
to express something.  Where the rest is places and its duration is as 
emotional as when and for how long he/she plays a high G...or, for me, a 
double low D.

I too am a fan of John Cage reserving that I don't care for everything 
he has done.  His 4:33 by itself out of the context of a two hour 
concert may seem thin.  Yet, I'm sure to see it live within a concert 
full of mind wrenching harmonies and avant garde musical expression 
would be an entirely different animal.  No, I won't go buy the CD to 
listen to that track.  But, seeing 4:33 on the program of a concert of 
his work would not keep me from going to the concert.

Again, as with the 'note count' thread, we are talking differences of 
tastes and sensibilities.

Humbly, Gary

Gary Kiser
www.sacapulses.com
www.mojobrassband.com



Bill Gunter wrote:

> Hi listmates,
>
> Charles Suhor writes (regarding "silence" and "music"):
>
>> In a sense, everything we hear is perceived against a backdrop of 
>> silence.
>
>
> This is way of saying "silence is something" as opposed to "silence is 
> nothing."
>
> I could restate the issue by saying ". . . everything we hear is the 
> absence of silence."
>
> There is nothing mystical about silence - it's just the absence of noise.
>
> Music, in any sense of the word, must have that element of noise. 
> Without it there is no music. Such idiocies as 4'33" do not strike me 
> as profound as much as they strike me as absurd and hence, at best, 
> funny!
>
> I used to think that 4'33" was deep and that Cage was promoting deep 
> cerebral convulsions in the listeners grey matter.  Today I find the 
> notion puerile and without merit.
>
> Charles goes on to say:
>
>> In the Buddhist tradition, attention to this spacious source is 
>> blissful, and sense impressions of all kinds move through it like 
>> clouds drifting in a clear sky. John Cage was saying something like 
>> this, I believe, when he said we can experience everything as music . 
>> . .
>
>
> When you say that "everything is music" then you are truly saying 
> "nothing is music."
>
> Music is "special" and if you try to aver that everything is "special" 
> then "special" has no meaning.
>
> There is the story about the Buddhist monk who, when he became 
> "enlightened," found that all his perceptions of the world were false. 
> When he realized the true nature of the universe birds sang special 
> songs for him and all the woodland animals came to him and ate from 
> his hand.
>
> But finally one day he became "fully enlightened" and he discovered 
> that trees were just trees and the birds no longer sang for him and 
> the woodland animals simply ignored him.
>
> Cage was trying to make music something that it isn't and, in the 
> process, produced nothing. 4'33" is the ultimate expression of this 
> folly.
>
> Other than that, Cage was a genius.
>
> Respectfully submitted,
>
> Bill "Running for cover" Gunter
> jazzboard at hotmail.com
>
>
> Musicologist Bennett Reimer says,
>
>> "when we approach the transcendent quality of experience, the breadth 
>> we feel is more like silence than sound (even when musical), more 
>> like quietude than action." In the Buddhist tradition, attention to 
>> this spacious source is blissful, and sense impressions of all kinds 
>> move through it like clouds drifting in a clear sky. John Cage was 
>> saying something like this, I believe, when he said we can experience 
>> everything as music, letting all sound play itself to our ears and 
>> into our open consciousness. I don't see this as high-blown puff 
>> talk--I think it describes the way most of us feel in moments of deep 
>> appreciation of anything, and it's accessible on an everyday basis 
>> through cultivation of awareness.
>>
>> Charlie Suhor
>