Didactic Artistry, Socratic Artistry?

Since November of 2011, I sought to certainly create more than I consumed, and accompany any broadcastings/re-broadcastings of my own work/lesser known work with explicit writing about something that I learned from the content or the circumstances surrounding whatever it was I created (see the text accompanying my youtube videos and soundcloud clip).

Better to ask questions in the School of Athens right?

A noble endeavor perhaps, but certainly cumbersome, sometimes burdensome, and for the most part, incompatible with the amount of things I created or found/re-discovered.

In opposition to sporadic postings of things I found (for an extreme example of what I'd call hyperbroadcasting, take a look at almost anyone's tumblr account that re-blogs material sans interpretation), a didactic approach to the arts almost threatens the notion of "art for art's sake".

Yet I also believe that as a form of communication, the arts have remarkable capacity to convey explicit or implicit information, and that many pieces that we enjoy and share sometimes do benefit from pointing to worldly context to enhance our appreciation for the world, or deepen our awareness with troublesome issues.  Based on the following statement:

"Art ain't about paint. It ain't about canvas. It's about ideas. Too many people died without ever getting their mind out to the world." - Thornton Dial, SR. [a folk artist whose quote is on display at a national museum in Washington D.C.]

I believe the integrity of a good idea withstands any questions about value and utility given appropriate context.  In the arts, you need only one of the three for an idea to appeal:

1.  good idea/intention
2.  good conveyance of an idea
3.  relevant circumstances that make parts of an idea more appealing

If you conceive and successfully create something that meets all three of these conditions, it's a wonderful piece and timeless adventure for anyone who has the privilege of experiencing it.

I'm backlogged almost beyond hope with incomplete broadcasts of ideas and pieces, and especially with neat findings of music, film, or imagery chiefly due to the fact that I start to notice that share common threads with other things I've done or seen (time constraints and other obligations being the other contributing factors to this backlog).

For a time, I considered just posting these out of the blue, but doing so degrades the novelty and joy of broader thematic discoveries I had for myself.  This evening, I realized: why not lay out the individual pieces and disclose that I encourage people to find and share any bigger themes they may  come to discover in what I've shared?

A savvy educator usually uses questions to uncover inspiration, appreciation, deeper inquiry, discovery, and understanding about the world.  Yet art also elicits many of the same outcomes in ways that don't necessitate the immediate presence of an individual to ask these questions.  We can communicate and stir the imagination of another person by sharing something that speaks to us.

What happens then, when we recognize something bigger about the things we appreciate?  As in, we've gathered enough information to discover a new level of themes and content among the individual pieces we love?  Can we guide imagination?  I think so, though the process must be done with ethical cognizance.

This is a bit like the success of the Socratic Method (thus the second half of this post's title), which uses a series of questions toward an individual/ group of people to examine the soundness of their foundational beliefs.

More accurately, what I've resolved to explore is a method of sharing glimpses of insight in a way that's akin to a Japanese style of academic essay composition (at least, according to an informational video for writing consultants I saw while working at the UM-Dearborn Writing Center about English as Second Language writers circa 2008/2009).

So here we go, will you kindly share your thoughts with me?

#Started 01:37 27 IX 2012 finished 3 X 2012 0:37 at home

Dance and installation art technology today...Whoa.

Howling cow, a jackpot find in the fine arts!

I've heard about interactive digital installation pieces in art journals and I think I've been through at least one before.  Though they seemed like they could be neat, none were so compelling and convincing to me.

This series of clips is fantastic: between the music* (*I've not heard this kind of quality noise since the Homeworld soundtrack and NASA Voyager planetary recordings), sense of motion, and dance it's a mind-altering experience, it's wonderful and potentially mind-blowing for some [this phrase is frequently overused, but I believe it merits it].

The only thing that's missing is some form of educational bit, but the work is so fine I'm happy to see it as it is, and the bonus points for using C++ (programming language) and Open GL (I don't even konw what Open GL does) I'd award to them makes up for it too:

For what might be the whole thing (I only saw the above):

Okay here's another (different coreographer named Gideon Obarzanek):

Three take-aways I can surmise from seeing these clips:

1)  Technology ought to be co-creative with, not independent from, the human being(s) using them.
2)  This is really neat stuff, but what about ideal ethical energy consumption for its use?  It can be done, the creator(s) and presenter(s) eventually need to make sure it's from renewable sources (wind, water*, solar).
3)  A while back (around 2007 shortly after I saw the dance film "Amelia") I thought about dance on floors with a mirror angled at 45 degrees from above to see the performer from above.  Obarzaneks achieves it by having the audience view the performers from high up via angled floors and steep seating.

We've witnessed the "Devil Music" era of Hip Hop, and we're climbing out...

Wisdom inspired by conversations with Willie of the Wellness Center: much like the thrilling days of Rock and Roll, Hip Hop entered its "devil music" phase circa the entry of Snoop Dogg [Lion] et al.  In particular, when they set precedent with prolific profanity by degrading people as "Bs and Hs".

Yet there exists a definite counter to the industry standard which bubbles up from the ground up.  Though spread out, there certainly are groups and individuals who strive to integrate a positive message into the music, and utilize the medium for community and societal transformation.  I'll point to the Hip Hop Congress, 5E Gallery, and Rap for Food as particularly notable organizations.  I heard an employee from the East Michigan Environmental Action Council (EMEAC) lay down his verses this evening too.  These aren't necessarily religious movements in themselves, but they certainly strive to bring light to their audiences, and I think it's much needed.  Utility music (Gebrauchsmusik) is alive and well...

[Whoo!  What a bunch of links.]

Edit 18 IX 2012:

I just realized an interesting irony.  Rock and Roll, which once was labeled as "devil music", now has its own sub-genre of "Christian Rock".  I'm sure there's something out there like "Christian Rap", though I mostly appreciate witnessing the relative clarity of movements and causes emerging in hip hop at this time.

"Move in passion, rest in reason..." violin sonic sketch (original improvisation)

One tired evening in Dearborn (13 VI 2012), my brain was abuzz with unprocessed worries and I had an urge to hear/make something fairly cyclical--even abstract and exacting--on the violin.  This is certainly in the vein of early minimalist string quartets by Karl Jenkins (of Diamond Music/Palladio fame)/looping cellist Zoe Keating, and the phrase "intentional minimalism" ran through my mind as I was setting up my instrument.

Between the pauses, I decided to add harmonic squeaks and shrieks.  Since my tone production was poor and I didn't want to get stuck with the same notes, I tried to develop the pause space into a secondary motif that would [ideally] eventually overcome the repetitive initial motif [this was really challenging to keep the initial motif going and develop the second one at the same time—definitely a schizophrenic endeavor!].   I'm pretty certain there's a way to make a logical transition that lets the mechanical motif yield to a more melodic and lyrical motif [I wanted something lifting or ascending], but I couldn't quite make it happen and resorted to subtly abrupt disruption [I threw in bright-sounding things] to pull the tune into a new direction.  Though I had been playing the violin for over 11 years (now 12 years) at the time, the ability to consistently play quietly and sensibly was a newly discovered nuance from that evening.  I especially savored the dynamic changes in this play-through.

I could tell I wasn't settling into making high-quality tones in that session, so I decided I'd further play with the scratchy sounds as I brought the tune to a close.  In mind, I was thinking of the fuzzy noises of a radio or old vinyl record, and you can hear it in the decay of the last note I hold. [little known fact: even though I've mostly recorded acoustic quasi-classical tunes, I'm looking forward to the day when I can use/obtain equipment suitable for noisy electronic music making.]  This awakened my appeal for integrating focused "noise" in more tunes (none recorded yet--my recorder went through the wash and I'll probably need to replace it).

In life overall, I was trying to break out of long-standing hyper-objective/hyper-vigilant tendencies as I was worried they were paving a road to unnecessary paranoia.  The experience was captured very well by ideas from "On Reason and Passion" the Lebanese-American poet Khalil Gibran's book of poems "The Prophet" which resonated very well with me since it captured two dimensions of life that really contributed to a personal struggle for fair balance.  Though not a verbatim quote, I prefer to recall it as "move in passion, rest in reason" (I've likely reversed the quote).

Anyhow, I like the tune as a piece on personal growth.  In the few times I've been able to recall most of its elements and dynamic nuances, the tune has changed a lot since I first came up with it--caught in this recording.


Recorded in a parking structure with an Olympus VN-6200PC digital voice recorder placed inside of my car, doors open.  You can hear the buzz from the lights at the beginning.  The photographs are my own--most were taken with a Canon Powershot A20, the starting image was probably from a Nikon.  I'm running out of images that I can adapt to music...

Featured at Lawrence Street Art Gallery 24 VIII 2012

Fri. 24 Aug. 2012 ~8:00 p.m.

Featured Performer (Me!) for the Poetic Travelers open mic at the Lawrence Street Gallery, Ferndale MI

22620 Woodward Ave. Suite A Ferndale, MI 48220

Though I've played at a handful of open mics since 2006, this is the first time I can recall being the featured performer. If you're on facebook and want to share the event with friends, here's the event link:

https://www.facebook.com/events/474563675889871/

In an interesting loop of life events[1], I'll be the featured performer for the Poetic Travelers open mic at 8:00pm in the Lawrence Street Gallery of Ferndale hosted by Markita Moore.

The open mic officially starts at 6:30 and runs until 9:00pm (at which time lights go out and people are promptly ushered out of the gallery). I'll play a half hour set of dear and fresh tunes.

Markita Moore is one of the first people I met through the open mic circuit. Open mics with hosts like Markita are an important part of our communities--they're invaluable outlets for humanity. I can attest for some that they are precious opportunities to meaningfully and constructively communicate with other people in a safe environment, I've witnessed it firsthand in others and for myself in rougher times[2].

Back to the music: I plan to muster compelling music for my slot. I'll "officially debut" several of my newer tunes, add a pinch of explanation or storytelling, and plan for a dash of audience participation too.

As implied with the word "open", open mics are open to the public.

Hope to see you there!

[1] Why's it interesting to me? Find out at the open mic!

[2] There's a story behind this which you can read, though I won't be playing the meditation at this event: http://elementalmeaningmusic.blogspot.com/2011/05/meditation-on-middle-class.html

In recap:  I thought I'd try making an official premiere of a few new tunes with a dash of explanation or storytelling.  The initial working setlist (about 1/2 an hour of music):

Breathing
Stammer and Soar
Pensive Wail
Courage in Complexity
Lament of the Virtues
Guess who's keepin' it groovy?

Was shortened to about 20 minutes of music and story telling, and it was swell:

Breathing
An Feochan* (by Tommy Peoples)
Courage in Complexity
Guess who's keepin' it groovy?

[Note: the time of this post was chosen for archival purposes...]

Online musical adventures with Ian

I guess this is karaoke for Indonesian reggae?

http://youtu.be/lh3HFgVX0Ts

Hear the fleeting flavors of javanese motif in the breaks!

I actually suspect the reggae rhythm is common and easily discovered independent of other places.  It would be interesting to know if the music really was influenced by reggae though...

Wondrous musical collisions of orient and occident

So much orient in the metal, it's a punch in the primary audio cortex that even Edward Said would approve of.  Sometimes you've got to love notes that sound this "wrong" and savor the tonal and dynamic brutality.

http://youtu.be/f0UMQeLd_UU

[side note: I pretend the location says the "Battle Tree Cafe" to boost the metal-ness of the band in my imagination]

[one more side-note:  I like to imagine that Secret Chiefs 3 appear in whatever village they're supposed to perform in, and enlist most of the village's musicians to play their live concerts--two drum sets?  multiple violinist/violists?  multiple guitarists?  Let's pilfer talented people from the place we're about to perform in!]

http://youtu.be/P1p4Qa_z65g

[last side-note: Secret chiefs have wonderful music, I'm only posting the metal/oriental blends here as I enjoy the novelty of the combination]

Also, Edward Said is a fine scholar and human being in my opinion.  I'll leave it to you to find out why (hint, he pointed out the whole orientalism phenomenon in the first place!  Also, he wrote about the arts too), but here's a good place to start for those not interested in reading his books: http://youtu.be/xwCOSkXR_Cw

A wonderful global funk channel on youtube:

Koto funk:

http://youtu.be/D8S1D2OYm2w

Though it's immediately rooted in Japanese and funk, I'm pretty sure the Wu-Tang clan would have appreciated this stuff.

Shamisen funk:

http://youtu.be/eA87H-wEFV0