Whenever someone shows you music that excites them, try not to tell them what it reminds you of.
Once or twice each month I share more thoughts, essays and materials related to the blog on my newsletter, which you can subscribe to here.
Tag: empathic listening
Composition Exercise #187
Think of a way you haven’t listened before, then listen that way.
[I’m giving an afternoon class on “Kann man Hören lernen? (Can we learn to listen?)” at the Swiss Chamber Music Festival Adelboden. The course takes place in Kandersteg, Switzerland on September 15th, 2-5pm. Info and registration here.]
Once or twice each month I share more thoughts, essays and materials related to the blog on my newsletter, which you can subscribe to here.
Moving to the pulse of impossible bodies
You could say that in electronic music, something is lost. It used to be that music was the result of body movement, but often it is no longer evident how sounds and structures are created, and to what extent they are even created in real time.
You could also say that electronic music frees us from having to understand. No longer is there an easy explanation for every musical sound, nor is it needed. But still: there is sound, affecting us physically and emotionally.
You could even say that our evolved instinct to hear moving bodies behind sounds makes us resonate with unknown bodies, impossible movements, unimaginable instruments.
Without putting anyone at risk, you could let yourself rub shoulders with otherness, sway in the dark to the pulse of unknown entities, and dance on a hundred quirky legs. You could learn to be at ease with the unknown, experience alien ways of being, and new ways of coexisting with the Other. Empathic listening.
Image credit: The Deep by Paul Stainthorp (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Sign up for the a100ql newsletter where I share news, thoughts, essays and materials related to the blog once or twice per month.