woody

some stravinsky

this is to remind myself of some sound advice from a master, and perhaps pass it on for the general good. from "the Composition of Music" in Poetics in Music.

on creative impetus -

It is afterwards, and only afterwards, that the emotive disturbance which is at the root of inspiration may arise - an emotive disturbance about which people talk so indelicately by conferring upon it a meaning that is shocking to us and that compromises the term itself. Is it not clear that this emotion is merely a reaction on the part of the creator grappling with that unknown entity which is still only the object of his creating and which is to become a work of art? Step by step, link by link, it will be granted him to discover the work. It is this chain of discoveries, as well as each individual discovery, that gives rise to the emotion - an almost physiological reflex, like that of the appetite causing a flow of saliva - this emotion which invariably follows closely the passes of the creative focus.

All creation presupposes at its origin a sort of appetite that is brought on by the foretaste of discover. This foretaste of the creative act accompanies the intuitive grasp of an unknown entity already possessed but not yet intelligible, an entity that will not take definite shape except by the action of a constantly vigilant technique.

This appetite that is aroused in me at the mere thought of putting in order musical elements that have attracted my attention is not at all a fortuitous thing like inspiration, but as habitual and periodic, if not as constant, as a natural need.

some comforting words -

As for myself, I experience a sort of terror when, at the moment of setting to work and finding myself before the infinitude of possibilities that present themselves, I have the feeling that everything is permissible to me. If everything is permissible to me, the best and the worst; if nothing offers me any resistance, then any effort is inconceivable, and I cannot use anything as a basis, and consequently every undertaking becomes futile.

my good friend dave kosmyna put this second statement in his doctoral thesis on lead/trumpet playing in the New Orleans jazz style. wonderful thoughts, and good for seemingly any pursuit -

My freedom thus consists in my moving about within the narrow frame that I have assigned myself for each one of my undertakings.

I shall go even farther: my freedom will be so much the greater and more meaningful the more narrowly I limit my field of action and the more I surround myself with obstacles. Whatever diminishes constraint diminishes strength. The more constraints one imposes, the more one frees one's self of the chains that shackle the spirit.

i'm being eaten by a ...

i dont often receive fan mail, so i figured i would encourage those out there who are gunshy to write in. a Mr. Sloan recently penciled and crayoned this message to me. he was in my mother's first grade class, and from his excellent penmanship and knack with phonetics, i feel it safe to assume that he has ascended to my own favorite grade, second. here, Mr. Sloan refers to a recording jeff long and myself made of the song "boa constrictor". thank you, Taylor, and best of luck with your studies.

mother sucker

kickingrass

Lauren, Could you relay this message to Ellis?

Ellis,

http://www.kickingrass.com/

This is the band that sings the song "backroads", in fact..the whole album is called backroads...and it's FREE online. They give out all their mp3s no charge. Check it out.

Good to meet you!
Ryan Clover


see...you are a social creature.

breakdown