Ansel Adams on Art 9 August, 2008
Posted by D in Art & Creativity.Tags: art, ansel adams
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Art is both love and friendship and understanding: the desire to give. It is not charity, which is the giving of things. It is more than kindness, which is the giving of self. It is both the taking and giving of beauty, the turning out to the light of the inner folds of the awareness of the spirit. It is a recreation on another plane of the realities of the world; the tragic and wonderful realities of earth and men, and of all the interrelations of these.
– Ansel Adams, in a letter to Cedric Wright
Hat tip to Amy Lesko at the Beauty Dialogues
More On Science & Spirituality 21 May, 2008
Posted by D in Inspiring.Tags: myticism, science, spirituality
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In my last post, I wrote “One of the many interesting things about being alive in this particular day and age is watching the gap between science and spirituality grow smaller.” That seems to be turning into a theme - here are two more articles on the subject that I stumbled upon in the last couple of days:
- this article from the University of Wisconsin-Madison summarizes a study about the effect of meditation on the brain:
- [T]he study was the first to use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to indicate that positive emotions such as loving-kindness and compassion can be learned in the same way as playing a musical instrument or being proficient in a sport. The scans revealed that brain circuits used to detect emotions and feelings were dramatically changed in subjects who had extensive experience practicing compassion meditation.
- this article by David Brooks takes a more wide-angle look at trends in neurological research that are pointing to the physiological bases of mystical experience:
- In unexpected ways, science and mysticism are joining hands and reinforcing each other. That’s bound to lead to new movements that emphasize self-transcendence but put little stock in divine law or revelation. Orthodox believers are going to have to defend particular doctrines and particular biblical teachings. They’re going to have to defend the idea of a personal God, and explain why specific theologies are true guides for behavior day to day.
A Stroke Of Insight 13 May, 2008
Posted by D in Inspiring.Tags: brain, consciousness, jill bolte taylor, stroke, ted
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One of the many interesting things about being alive in this particular day and age is watching the gap between science and spirituality grow smaller. As scientific inquiry begins to probe the nature of the mind and consciousness, it’s starting to stumble upon concepts and ideas that hitherto had only found voice in spiritual teachings, particulary those from the east.
I won’t try to say much more than that, as this video of Jill Bolte Taylor speaking at the TED conference says far more than I ever could - and much more eloquently. Taylor is a neuroanatomist who had the rather startling experience of studying what was happening in her brain while she was having a stroke. It’s about 19 minutes long, and well worth it.
UPDATE: I’ve had to turn on comment moderation for this post due to astroturfing. I have profound respect for Dr. Taylor and her work — I can’t say the same for the marketing folks working for her publisher.
Dance Lessons From The Godfather 27 March, 2008
Posted by D in Art & Creativity.add a comment
Too good not to share…
The Artist’s Workout 28 September, 2007
Posted by D in Art & Creativity.Tags: art, creativity, genn
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If you were to think of the creative process as being akin to athletic training, what might a typical workout routine look like? Robert Genn offers an idea in the latest edition of his Twice Weekly Letter (well worth subscribing to, if you don’t already):
- Find a sanctuary where you can comfortably work.
- Dedicate at least two hours a day to your art.
- Have more than enough equipment and supplies.
- Set short- and long-term goals and keep track of progress.
- Think of your work as exercise, not championship play.
- Explore series development and exhaust personal themes.
- Work alone with the benefit of books and perhaps tapes.
- Replace passive consumption with creative production.
- Use your own intuition and master your technology.
- Feel the joy of personal, self-generated sweat.
- Fall in love with your own working processes.
- Be forever on the lookout for the advent of style.
- Try to be your own person and claim your rights.
- Don’t bother setting yourself up for rejection.
- Don’t swing too wildly and damage the well-being of others.
- Don’t jump into the ring until you’re feeling fit.
Of course, workout routines are not one-size-fits-all, but this strikes me as a pretty good way to start.
Stretchin’ Out 18 July, 2007
Posted by D in Making Music.add a comment
I’ve been practicing more classical music lately, specifically the piano music of Maurice Ravel of which I have long been a fan (in fact, it was nearly the topic of my master’s thesis in college). I’ve been starting with Le Tombeau de Couperin and Jeux d’Eau, both of which are probably a bit too ambitious for me at this point (especially the last movement of Tombeau - forget it!), but I’ve been in love with these pieces for years, and it’s nice to finally get my fingers into them and see how they work.
It’s also been very encouraging because up until now, I couldn’t even begin to play these pieces; now I can start to get through them and I’ve been surprised at how quickly I’ve been able to make sense of some passages that seemed impossible at first. The first movement of Tombeau (pictured here) is a good example. I remember taking a look at it some years ago, and I couldn’t make it happen at all, even at a slow tempo. My left hand just wasn’t agile enough to play the 16ths, and the fourth and fifth fingers on my right hand weren’t strong enough to handle the grace notes in the second and fourth bars. Now, it’s challenging but definitely do-able. I’m certain all the work I’ve been doing with Hanon has helped a great deal - the first few exercises focus heavily on building strength in the fourth and fifth fingers (one more vote for Hanon!).
With Jeux d’Eau, the title of this post is especially apropos. There are some passages that are forcing my hand to stretch out farther than I would have thought was reasonable for someone to expect of a pianist. My hands are pretty big, so maybe I’m missing something here. I doubt I’ll be able to get this up to tempo anytime soon, but the sounds and textures of this piece are really amazing, even when played painfully slowly as I currently do, and it’s nice to get an inside look at the guts of something I’ve been listening to and admiring for years.
This is turning out to be a good complement to my Hanon work. It’s getting my fingers into unfamiliar positions, which can only improve strength and agility, and it’s having the effect of making my jazz playing feel easier. After spending a bunch of time trying to execute the notes Msr Ravel wrote, I get to take off the straight jacket and play the notes that I want to play. It’s very freeing.
It’s not clear to me whether this is just a passing phase, or if I’ll continue to delve deeper into the classical realm, but I’m just going with the flow for now. I’ve loved this music for years, so it’s gratifying to know that I might be within reach of actually playing it for myself, and not just listening.
Moving On To #5 2 May, 2007
Posted by D in Marching Through Hanon.add a comment
Note: this is part of a series of posts chronicling my efforts to play through Hanon’s The Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises. The series begins here.
After a pretty long haul, I’m finished working on exercise #4, and I’m moving on to #5. This is not to say that I can play #4 absolutely perfectly — that’s more of a lifetime goal — but I can play it cleanly enough at the maximum recommended tempo that I think I’m ready for the next challenge.
Besides, I really need to let this one go. #4 leaned heavily a 4-note figure that seemed deliberately to emphasize the weakest fingers in my left hand (the 4th, 5th, and to a lesser extent, 3rd). I sometimes feel like these exercises were written to mess with my own personal deficiencies.
The Lure Of Perfectionism 15 April, 2007
Posted by D in Art & Creativity.add a comment
There’s a good discussion going on over at the Propellerheads user forum (it’s password-protected so unfortunately I can’t link to it). It began with one person describing how he was having difficulty completing a piece of music he was working on because he was “obsessing over the tiny details”. The responses varied widely - some argued that when you’re stuck, it’s best to let go and move on; others said that details were the most important part so they must be obsessed over; one person even confessed an inability to complete anything because he gets too hung up on the fine points.
For anyone who’s ever embarked on any kind of creative endeavor, this probably sounds pretty familiar. It points to a fundamental problem that all artists have to grapple with at some point:
How do you know when you’re done?
Damned Machines 5 April, 2007
Posted by D in Music Technology.add a comment
Like many musicians with home studios, I’ve gradually been making a shift in recent years to software-based recording tools. Gone are my 8-track reel-to-reel, 16-track mixing console, racks of outboard effects, and various keyboards and sound modules; most of that same functionality is provided by the small laptop computer that I’m typing on right now.
The shift to this new way of working has not been entirely smooth. I’ve spent a good deal of time learning and configuring the new tools to create what (to me) feels like an optimal workflow, and I can’t say I’ve been entirely successful. As much I love the tools that I work with regularly (primarily Ableton Live and Propellerhead Reason), I still find working with them to be a little on the clumsy side.
I had been assuming that the problem was that I wasn’t used to the system, or hadn’t yet discovered the right configuration of the tools I was using. But after reading this white paper from the Project Bar-B-Q group, I’ve come to realize that I’m not alone:
It is the considered opinion of group participants that the instruments and programs for making digital music universally suck.
And that’s the just the opening sentence.
Something That Won’t Help Your Piano Playing 28 March, 2007
Posted by D in Making Music.add a comment
For those of you working on your piano playing, here’s something that definitely won’t help: shutting the bathroom door on your right pinky finger.
That seems like it should be obvious, but apparently I needed a reminder…
