THE SOUND of WHITEBARK Pine, burning . . . [ click photo for next . . . ]
THE SOUND of WHITEBARK Pine, burning . . . [ click photo for next . . . ]
A MORNING MEDITATION, on the layered sound
of dry whitebark pine burning in my campfire.
One of the basic complementarities of musical
rhythmic movement is the back and forth of
regular and irregular: Regular beats, because
they a predictable, tend to become background,
like the blue sky in a photograph, or the black
of this webpage. Irregular beats, because they
are unpredictable, tend to become foreground. As
in all perception, difference and balance are
crucial. In design, musical or otherwise, too much
of either one pushes the whole in the background
we call boredom, or at least, "not worthy of
attention." The Latin root of regular, regularis,
from regula, or 'rule,' suggests this very thing.
We all know that too much rule leads to the
rigidity of the authoritarian; and too much
of the irregular leads to the degenerative --
not generative -- chaos of anarchy. If you're
a percussionist, it's an interesting challenge
to, first, write down these irregular rhythms,
and second, have them played in ensemble. And
all that in the sound of a morning campfire!
| download mp3 [3.2 Mb] |
On the road in the American Northwest.
RANDOMNESS repeated
does not seem like CHANCE.
from 100 MINIATURES . . .
(14) Complication Cycle? Complicatedness—in
contrast to the richness of natural complexity—is
difficulty which serves no purpose and is therefore
without reason or meaning.
Complicatedness is essentially the result of a
failure of perception, leading to convoluted and
unnecessarily difficult systems of thought and
design. These, if left unchecked, go on to further
reinforce the original failed perception, which in
turn, like a dog chasing its own tail, leads to still
more difficult systems of thought and design.
Remarkably, complicatedness, because it wastes
energy, is not a feature of natural structure
or organic movement.
Featured gallery, 100 MINIATURES, a set of 100 black & white photographs. ONE image. ONE idea. ONE new way of looking . . .100 MINIATURES—online gallery
Each miniature is a kind of meditation on one idea & one image;
Each lasts 30 seconds; They play in random order;
The music is my BOREA Mix,
for hand-played ePecussion Orchestra.
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All Photographs & texts by Cliff Crego © 1999-2015 picture-poems.com
(created: X.21.2012)
