Music for the Mind

Five songs,
all written in a row,
each being interconnected
with the one before it
and the one after.

Whether to combine the five into one,
and exactly which to use
or not
was a difficult decision for me,
because while each song can stand
on it's own,
it does not take long to realize
that there is a most definite interconnectedness,
which can only really happen
when the songs are written
one right after the other
while under the influence or spell
 of just whatever it is that is
going on at that time period,
and in no other.

These primal emotions
will most certainly come through
in the music,
whether one likes it or not,
while composing the way that I do.




In the spirit of Domenico Scarlatti,
and Bach,
and others,
I really enjoy writing multiple songs,
which belong together,
are conceived together,
and
which are arising
from within and
from without
one to the other.

It is like several instrumental players and vocalists
all pushing one another on
harder and harder
until they are playiing
with a degree of power and authority
which they could not even have
dared to imagine.

One screams out to push the limits yet further,
while another cries out for constraint,
and appropriate decorum and gravitas.

Now a dynamic tension is being formed
which MUST twist and morph
by it's very nature.

Dissonance to consonance.

Cacophany/disorder to order.

Complex to simple.

All contrasting with one another.



You can hear the medieval roots
and the chant roots,
especially,
in the vocals and organ.

The strings are used
to add very intense dynamic tension.

The pipes are using a lot of diapasons,
but they are also using various string stops,
while the real strings cry out
to be heard
in all of their ferocity
and strength of character.

The strings,
which usually supply "the mellow",
are now not content to do so,
because pipes are just simply not strings,
and the strings are instistent
at letting that be known,
as the two contrast with one another,
hopefully bringing out the best
in one another.

And so it is with the vocals.

Pure vocals.

Pure melody.

NO INSTRUMENTS
contending with or reshaping
or distorting
the pure sounds of the human voice.



As an aside,
as you probably may notice,
I am very partial to sopranoes.

Definitely my favorite voice to write for.

I am not really sure why.

Although, I do know that
In terms of purity of sound,
there is simply nothing
like a women's choir.



Each instrument
(voice, strings, organ)
has been forced to stand on it's own,
without the others confusing or interrupting.

A borrowed technique from ancient church music.

While I do find it just a little bit disruptive at first,
I soon enough got used to it
and have liked it very much
the more I have listened.



Finally,
just a quick note regarding
the first of the five songs.

It seems entirely out of place.

But, in fact, it is very much not so.

For it was the first song to be written
after months of silence,
immediately followed by
the others, as the dates show:
091212a; 091912a; 0922112a; 101612a; 111412b.

It is loaded with "musical references"
to my trip to Greece recently,
especially notable in some of the main melodies,
which have strong overtones of middle eastern music
(think Byzantium, which is where I was).

I did not do this on purpose
or in imitation.

It actually was just inside of me,
waiting to come out,
after I had spent time listening
to a lot
of this type of music
over the years,
while traveling in strange and foreign lands,
and a real extra heavy dose
for one and one-half months,
just prior to writing this.

It was just natural.



I will now tell you
what it is that I see
when I put this series of songs together.

It's a little bit weird,
but fun.

I see the first song as
a huge ship
crossing the sea
with the water
smashing against the bow
relentlessly
as it crosses from west into east.

Then it lands
in an entirely different world from ours.

That is the pipes,
which come on
after the ship "lands".

We now know that we have
entered another place.

A medieval place.

Finally as we continue on,
we come to realize
that we are sitting
in the great white room,
and listening to a series
of melodious refrains.

Or, YOU could be sitting in a cathedral,
if that makes YOU more comfortable.

I really like the melodic development
with many references
to the ancient chants
and early choral polyphony.

Listen to some of the songs
on the "Plainchant" page,
(which were recorded as storm surf
pounded against me
under one of the most beautiful
full moons I have ever seen),
and you will get the idea.

Hope you enjoy.


w/much love and affection

vw

12-20-12
7:55 a.m.
Thursday
Ventura, California, USA