Re: Paul Lansky pulls the plug

> On Aug 5, 2008, at 1:03 PM, Donald Craig wrote:
>
>> I had forgotten how much fun it is to have a discussion with  
>> someone with such a different viewpoint.
>> I think we are going to wind up agreeing to disagree.
>
> Yes, it is lots of fun. Disagreement is okay with me, although based  
> on your e-mail we might actually be agreeing to disengage. To me,  
> disagreement implies some understanding of the other's position, but  
> when I read something like this...
>
>> Yours somehow reminds me of American Idol (yeesh!)
>
> ... it feels like what I'm saying hasn't been understood at all.
>
> Anyway, I've been there, done the Adorno thing, bought into the  
> whole ball of wax, then looked again and found it wanting. So you  
> may jokingly suggest that one should be a disciple of Adorno or else  
> be a disciple of Simon Cowell, and that's okay with me because it  
> has nothing to do with my goals.
>
>> Throw in my general irritation with the whole notion of  
>> authenticity, which is so slippery and amorphous, and just
>> an aggravation to deal with, if one is honest about it.
>
> Here, we can agree to agree!
>
>>>> , that one measures authenticity by the number of people who show  
>>>> up.
>>>
>>> Whoa, there. I *never* said that. I think you are reading something
>>> into my post that isn't there.
>>
>> Again, this is not directed at you specifically. However, a social  
>> activity does require people to show up, no?
>> If only one person shows, is this sufficient? Is the music just as  
>> valuable, or less, or more?
>
> Broadly defined as interaction, a strange sort of disembodied  
> interaction does take place if a composer produces a recording and  
> somebody listens to it in private. Apropos this discussion, actually  
> Lansky planted some of the seeds of my thinking when he visited Duke  
> while I was in grad school to talk about Things She Carried. I  
> specifically remember him mentioning that he wanted to create an  
> electronic "opera" that would make sense to listen to in a living  
> room. That is, it was not initially meant for concert diffusion then  
> released in a compromised stereo form for home listening, but rather  
> that home listening informed the very conception of the piece. Come  
> to think of it, I didn't realize until this discussion how  
> influential that remark has been for me.
>
> Another influence is a performance (really, diffusion) of work by  
> Bernhard Gunter at a festival. The sounds themselves were not so  
> remarkable, mostly close mic'ed sounds of natural objects rustling,  
> or being rubbed or struck together, but the change in the atmosphere  
> of that space was astounding. Over the course of an hour, he had  
> everyone in the room meditating -- breathing more calmly, listening  
> carefully but without expectation or judgment, just the delight of  
> discovery. It was very clear that we weren't meant to try to  
> understand the music as structure or composition, and we weren't  
> meant to appreciate composerly skill in assembling the sounds. But  
> the sounds changed the way we sat in the room together. Everyone  
> left smiling. And this was without trying -- I mentioned the  
> meditation effect to him after the show, and he said he didn't know  
> anything about meditation or Buddhism... but there it was.
>
> In that vein, I'm trying to imagine ways of music making where it is  
> not the composer (as authority figure?), or the sonic product, or  
> the composer-performer axis that is privileged, but rather where the  
> music somehow changes the space and fosters a different way of being  
> (just being) together. That can happen with 2, 10 or 100 people in  
> the room. Quantity is not quality. (My work hasn't done a lot of  
> this yet, at least not so explicitly as a social happening, but  
> several of my pieces since grad school have been moving noticeably  
> in that direction.)
>
> But anyway, my current piece is for violin and computer and will be  
> performed in a recital hall. I'm not dogmatic about it. To me the  
> concert hall is a space to be used, but not held axiomatically as an  
> ideal.
>
>> Okay, so now who's building straw men? I don't know any composers who
>> feel this way. (Admittedly, I can't see into their heart of hearts!)
>
> Yes, that was exaggerated and I meant it to tweak some nerves. I  
> don't know any composers who would admit to feeling this way. But,  
> let's try a thought experiment. Suppose some random sampling of  
> composers are asked to produce a live set (or a CD, the live part is  
> not important) to accompany a gallery opening, with the stipulation  
> that the event is first and foremost a gallery opening and during  
> the performance/diffusion, people will be milling about, talking,  
> admiring the art, and maybe sitting down from time to time to listen  
> carefully to the music. There would be no layout with rows of chairs  
> facing the performers/speakers (though there could be chairs with  
> cafe tables in the vicinity).
>
> I expect some nontrivial percentage of those composers, especially  
> university composers, would at least be uncomfortable with the  
> arrangement, perhaps feeling that the effort of composition would be  
> wasted for so little attention. Some might even feel that this sort  
> of thing would be somehow beneath them. That was my point, that's all.
>
>>  mine is probably the well-heeled, holding a snifter of brandy, and  
>> pissing
>> and moaning about the decay of civilization!
>
> You're probably too young to have become so old so fast. :)  
> (Positioning oneself above the decay of civilization is just another  
> form of ego-stroking.)
>
> I'm also very interested in Mark's questions about the practical  
> realities of making non-traditional performance spaces happen, but  
> I'm out of time for tonight.
>
> hjh
>
>
> : H. James Harkins
> : jamshark70@...
> : http://www.dewdrop-world.net
> .::!:.:.......:.::........:..!.::.::...:..:...:.:.:.:..:
>
> "Come said the Muse,
> Sing me a song no poet has yet chanted,
> Sing me the universal."  -- Whitman
>