rumblings in reaction to the sonic (and sometimes otherwise) material that leaks in through my ears
Monday, September 29, 2008
Wade Davis
I was watching this truly remarkable video of Wade Davis the other day when I was reminded of ideals and ideas that had been of far greater importance in my life. This video is a great means of opening the ethnological question and and even better reminder of the power and importance of story telling.
Several major ideas were clarified in my mind this past summer. Perched on the verge of another academic season and gazing across the years I am struck by the profundity and simplicity of my realizations.
First and foremost I realized that any and all compositions that I have created in the past are monophonic. It occurred to me while listening to a piece I was working on and directly after a conversation with Natasha Barrett. I tend to think monophonicaly (single mindedness some might argue). In Canada (at Orford) I spent one night listening to every piece that I had ever written and oddly enough, I began to recognize that they were all solo violin pieces. By this I mean that the sound world, gestural language and the density of activity is the result of thinking as a violinist. This is my box as it were/is and knowing that (almost a month later) I am coming to the realization that there may be other ways of writing and hearing, but day in and day out, I stand in front of the proverbial mirror and there is one.
I have found an understanding of my artistic training. I spent a great deal of time contemplating how one could translate the way in which I understand photography into sound. Soon I found that I could no longer focus on this idea and I let it pass, some time later it occurred to me that reverb, sound recording and the such is way of approaching sound in the way that I approach light/photography. Photography has never been about the image, but rather how the subject matter reveals the light conditions, this is of course the magic o the moment. I began to notice that this is also what I find so interesting in recording sounds, they reveal a moment (in atmospheric pressure, in sound reflectivity in density of dispersion etc).
At the end of last summer I felt that I was entering the year with a great deal of work accomplished and ready to show off all that I had learned. Contrasting that with now I recognize (and hope that it is true) that I find myself with a greater mental state and less "work" accomplished. Indeed, I need to complete pieces and realize these ideas and notions in the realm of works, but I feel that this is simply inevitable, now that I see what it is that I am and what it is that I know.
Also and not accidentally, I got to see the waterfalls in NYC. A simple and obvious move for someone who was in the city this summer and interested in the arts. But.... there are many of these sorts of events and sights that I have missed over the years, I am only to thrilled that I made it happen (of course the company of good friends also wanting to see such things helps!)
Who knew? There is a home movie day With locations around the globe, Amsterdam, Sheboygan(the spell check thinks I mispelled Sheboygan!!), Tokyo, Berlin and more there is an opportunity for you to share your home movies! What an amazing event. I might just have to dig out "Nate the Great"
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Nate the Great, this was my childhood foray into film making. The plot line revolves around a larger than life cabbage patch kid (Nate) who creates untold destruction and chaos, prompting the US military to call in a single mig. Unfortunately the pilot is a retired Northwest captain who, crashes the mig. Luckily he crashes it into a bridge made out of Constructs, where Nate is currently reeking havoc. (This was co edited/written/produced/directed/and stared in by me, Mark Becker, Tim Jette and Jennifer Jette)
What else can I say? Movies, the stuff fantasies are made of.
