Walking the World: On Music, Poetry
and Flowing Movement

(1) Form—whether that of a musical composition or of a poem— emerges out of movement; it is the outward envelope of the pulse of life.

(2) All Art is balance in flowing movement demonstrated. At the same time,
Art is about balance in the metaphysical sense: balance within ourselves,
between ourselves, and in our relationships with the world around us. We
may begin a poem with a scream, but the scream itself instantly moves
to find its proper counterpoint in the gentleness of a whisper.


(3) A melody or the line of a poem is not built up of parts like a wall is
made of bricks. Fold into fold, the parts reflect and refer to the whole,
while the whole gives structure, order and coherence to the parts. It is the
quality of the movement of the whole, however, that is primary. Vitally
important is that this movement can only partially be seen or studied
on the printed page.

(4) We rehearse information, but perform meaning.

(5) In both music and poetry, what is important is not so much what
we think of as style or aesthetics, but rather the quality of energy which
manifests in a piece as we bring it to life in performance. What makes music
or poetry relevant or new, regardless of when it was composed, who is
playing or saying it, or from which world culture it originates, is the strength
of resonance its energy has with the repertoire of metaphysical and spiritual
urgencies of the present moment.

(Photo: Faucet Flowform;  November, late afternoon sunlight,
the Swiss Alps)