Symmetry in Music

Here's a question, "What characteristics are appropriate for a contemporary piece of music?" I know that anything goes, depending on time and circumstance, but I want to think through and identify what, in the context of today, can rightfully go into a new piece of music. For someone listening to a piece that I've written for the first time, I'd like them first to recognise it as new, that is, realise that it couldn't have been written in any earlier time, but also be responsive to what is in the music and feel comfortable with it.

Performance Nerves

Every performer has to deal with nerves to one degree or another. There are a couple of myths that I've learnt about through experience. The first of these is that nerves reduce as you get older. The second is that the problem of nerves has a solution. Realising the first myth is simply a matter of experience and many performers find that, rather than abating, the opposite happens and nerves become worse with age. That's a simple fact; the second myth is more complex.

Music, Memory and the Mind

Eine Kleine LP Music

I've arrived at the time in life when memory becomes an issue, namely the point when for some occasional, inexplicable reason, names of people, particularly celebs., just disappear from mind. I can sense the required information tucked away just out of sight, but for the life of me I can't get at it, until, bingo, when my mental back is turned it pops back into view like a naughtly little hobgoblin, having a laugh. Memory becomes for most people a compelling subject. On a mundane level, that's perhaps why Eggheads is such a smash hit TV show - how can they remember so much and seemingly recall it at will?

On a more sublime level, memory plays a huge roll in making music. Not only for every rehearsal and concert do you have to remember to take music stand, music, instrument, loose change, route map, remember timing and what to wear (and, nota bene, hand your music in again after the show), but there is all that musical notation to remember, too. When reading a piece of music that has been well practised, the process is of using the written notations as memory prompts enabling recall of all that musical information from the unconscious mind.

Reading Ahead

In  my youth, I had a great liking for super-hero comics. My favourites were those Marvel Comic staples of Stan Lee, "The Fantastic Four" and "The Silver Surfer". I still have one or two early editions of these, now classics. On Saturday evening, I couldn't resist watching a film on TV, "The Rise of the Silver Surfer", if only for the spine-chilling moment when The Surfer reappeared on earth. Naturally, my wife made some disparaging remarks about failing to grow up and I guiltily knew she was quite right. Can you feel a "however" coming?  Here it is: however, I am currently reading a book by James Naughtie called, "The Making of Music" (thanks for the loan, John). Now, I thought this would not really add to the numerous books I've absorbed on the history of western music, but James Naughtie adds a flavour of his own brilliant journalistic and political awareness to create a bit of a musical page turner. Oh, and of course you can hear inwardly his mesmerising Radio-4 voice while reading it. The point is that in his discussion about Richard Wagner he makes clear the mythological power in which Wagner's music is rooted, music which brings those hidden powers to light in the form of operatic gods and goddesses. Wagner's operas are not that far distant from the super-hero adventures of my Silver Surfer, The Human Torch, The Hulk, Stretcho and the Invisible Woman.