Magic Filter
I abstained from posting any new entries in this for a period of one year, semi-purposely. I think it takes a year to digest sometimes. If you have something to say, then you find a way to say it. Till then, think about it.
Not surprisingly, the impetus to write came at the beckon of a song. There are certain times that as a music fan, you have the aesthetic experience of connecting with a piece of music that says something new to you. Maybe not something "new"- maybe just something that speaks to you.
So ive been listening to this song for two days straight now. I then did something a bit different- instead of having a look at the lyrics, or picking up a guitar, i sat down at the drum kit with my headphones on tight. What happened next I was unprepared for. I will say there is both a groove and a build to the song that thoroughly seduced me. As I was playing (the rhthym was basic enough, but was as right as rain), it aroused in me a very different connection to the song. By the third time, I wasnt thinking about what I was playing anymore as I knew the piece well enough, and started to listen intently to the other instruments (as any musician should progress to do in a song). If you dont listen to music on headphones, try it...and turn it up loud. It's as if the whole universe was echoing with this sound. Its crystal clear and engulfs you with a towering majesty- you can hear everything...all the stars and planets. The rest is...
Listening to the other instruments while playing an instrument that im not usually playing was something special. It was a very different kind of absorption- of the song I mean.
There are times when you are playing with musicians (or along to a recorded piece) and you achieve a sort of zone- a oneness. It's a brief disconnection with reality; it's euphoric and its quite emotional. It's as if the whole universe was echoing with this sound. It's as if someone took all the voices and beeps and horns and buzzes and explosions, every kind of sound imaginable, and blasted the whole thing through a magic filter...and this song is what comes out on the other side. Unfortunately, it's brief, but its purity leaves a lasting impression- not unlike the right kind of kiss.
So it is on that note that I return to posting. Ive had some time, a year in fact, to think about what next to say. It turns out there's lots to say. And so songs are being written.
They are many...and they are in various phases. Some are fragments of ideas, some structured compositions, but all are are still in some part of their infancy, that terribly delicate and exciting stage. And they're different...they seem to be taking on various other qualities we may not have discovered in previous writing phases. One discernible difference is in letting it come to us. I think for the songs that were written between 2003 and 2006- we really went after them. We worked to shape them and had some pre-determined ideas of what direction we wanted to go in.
That really doesnt seem to be the case this time around. This time it seems to be more about discovery. Yes, its still work. But it feels different...it feels more like exploration. Instead of having a set idea and building a framework around it, its more like hanging out in a zero gravity chamber for long enough to bat around and pick at morsels floating by. Maybe some of them fit together...maybe they dont need to. The point is that what needs to be said will surface.
Not surprisingly, the impetus to write came at the beckon of a song. There are certain times that as a music fan, you have the aesthetic experience of connecting with a piece of music that says something new to you. Maybe not something "new"- maybe just something that speaks to you.
So ive been listening to this song for two days straight now. I then did something a bit different- instead of having a look at the lyrics, or picking up a guitar, i sat down at the drum kit with my headphones on tight. What happened next I was unprepared for. I will say there is both a groove and a build to the song that thoroughly seduced me. As I was playing (the rhthym was basic enough, but was as right as rain), it aroused in me a very different connection to the song. By the third time, I wasnt thinking about what I was playing anymore as I knew the piece well enough, and started to listen intently to the other instruments (as any musician should progress to do in a song). If you dont listen to music on headphones, try it...and turn it up loud. It's as if the whole universe was echoing with this sound. Its crystal clear and engulfs you with a towering majesty- you can hear everything...all the stars and planets. The rest is...
Listening to the other instruments while playing an instrument that im not usually playing was something special. It was a very different kind of absorption- of the song I mean.
There are times when you are playing with musicians (or along to a recorded piece) and you achieve a sort of zone- a oneness. It's a brief disconnection with reality; it's euphoric and its quite emotional. It's as if the whole universe was echoing with this sound. It's as if someone took all the voices and beeps and horns and buzzes and explosions, every kind of sound imaginable, and blasted the whole thing through a magic filter...and this song is what comes out on the other side. Unfortunately, it's brief, but its purity leaves a lasting impression- not unlike the right kind of kiss.
So it is on that note that I return to posting. Ive had some time, a year in fact, to think about what next to say. It turns out there's lots to say. And so songs are being written.
They are many...and they are in various phases. Some are fragments of ideas, some structured compositions, but all are are still in some part of their infancy, that terribly delicate and exciting stage. And they're different...they seem to be taking on various other qualities we may not have discovered in previous writing phases. One discernible difference is in letting it come to us. I think for the songs that were written between 2003 and 2006- we really went after them. We worked to shape them and had some pre-determined ideas of what direction we wanted to go in.
That really doesnt seem to be the case this time around. This time it seems to be more about discovery. Yes, its still work. But it feels different...it feels more like exploration. Instead of having a set idea and building a framework around it, its more like hanging out in a zero gravity chamber for long enough to bat around and pick at morsels floating by. Maybe some of them fit together...maybe they dont need to. The point is that what needs to be said will surface.
posted by Arunachal at 8:28 PM
