lunar aspect

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

The meaning of the first 54 of 108 secret Anaphorian signs that cannot be shown to the uninitiate.

1. The extensions of ones vision beyond the horizon.
2. The name of the language of birds.
3. That which brings forth that which already existed in a different form.
4. What determines color, form and fragrances of fruits and flowers.
5. That which causes the warmth of exhaling and the coolness of inhaling.
6. The gap between two realms.
7. That which causes two to come together.
8. What causes springs to appear or to be replenished.
9. The source of breezes and winds.
10. The propulsion that opens holes in the earth.
11. A lightness that holds one in the air when flying.
12. The cultivator of clouds that imitate the shapes below.
13. The designing curvedness of the path that foils the unbending straightness of evil.
14. What give metals the power to remember their shape and determines the flow of melting wax.
15. The agitator of landslides and avalanches.
16.The password of the gateways found on the ridges of mountains
17. The abode of the spirits of laughter.
18. The glyph to the alphabets of stars.
19. The insignia woven on gloves allowing one to enter mirrors.
20. The whisperer that unbinds those universal conclusions.
21. The briefest period of time reversal accomplishable.
22. The intended locales of echoes and other resonances.
23. What is responsible for impurities to be extracted and consolidated elsewhere.
24. How the will of the puppet is revealed to the puppeteer.
25. A canopy that subdues the glare of the unfathomable.
26. The motion preserving freshness throughout an environ.
27. That which recruits supporting material to our endeavors.
28. That which nudges one toward the correct direction, which points out the overlooked, what hides as close as possible to the edge of discovery and can likewise reconstruct what is now lost.
29. Pertaining to the times of early evening and predawn.
30. That which partitions discoveries to manifest simultaneously in remote locations.
31. One of many points of inception of forewarnings and the suggestive
32. The challenger that prompts one to discard the easily attainable.
33. The messenger behind the visitation of unusual animals.
34. That which cause a sudden stillness to pass over one
35. To invoke plants to spawn in one’s garden unplanted.
36. That which informs by dreams.
37. The molder of the flowing layers in the earth and the arranger of stones formations or to tip them upright.
38. The ability to prevent things from burning and makes phosphorescent signs appear in waves
39. The distributor of constellations
40. That which fascinates the paths that others unintentionally shun
41. The imprinter in the bark and knots of trees of the image of the enlighten
42. The library of all that is knowable.
43. The giver of the signs that connect powers acquired by devotion and unselfishness.
44. The array of colors found only in auras.
45. The planter and maintainers of sacred groves.
46. That which allows the dead and living to converse and gives the ability to speak dead languages and to cause secrecies to be known.
47. The root of the powers of sacred solids and magnetism and the forger and instiller of the powers of gems.
48. The name of the assistant in the preparing of rituals and sacrifices.
49. That which can start and control fires and keeps an unshielded candle for going out in heavy winds.
50. The name of the calendar of long durations.
51. That which enables one to put together that which has been broken and reconcile opposing forces.
52. That which overcomes dispersion, dissipation and dissolve hindrances and to silence the obscene.
53. The voices of stirring brooks.
54. The craftsman of remedies

Monday, December 8, 2008

Post LA/Empty Cage Ouartet/ To blog on a blog

Here is one of the things I miss about LA. This is funny since only the bass player Ivan lives there. They started there though and is where I would see them. I was always was impressed how they could come together after months and in a few days be this tight. This small cut of this group hides what a performance of theirs would do. I remember one time feeling as if I had witnessed the entire history of the jazz quartet reemerge in front of me. Working with Kris Tiner was always a treat too. I remember one time over at my house and him tuning his trumpet to my vibraphone. Which he could do. At one point we were playing on just a pentatonic and his playing brought me to tears. I had to leave the room. Few players have ever been able to do that to me. Jason I played with only once armed with the flute you see here with myself on organ. It was phenomenal and I regret our paths did not cross more. Same with the other two I had not the pleasure. This tip of an iceberg captured one evening as rough as it is. Kris says more is coming so keep looking on his blog. Regardless I hope people will grab themselves a good chunk of their music for themselves, regardless of where they are coming from. Yes I miss this.

Friday, December 5, 2008

Experimental music communities in Los Angeles

http://csharpsdissertation.blogspot.com/
This dissertation is an excellent history of the many experimental musical movements that were spawned in Los Angeles in the latter last century. Especially those outside academic attitudes and support. Something it should be proud of. It speaks for itself and was pleased that on a personal level it captured much of my thinking/approach, lying midway between the composed and the improvisational circles. It is probably where i still find myself internally. I still can not stomach one without the other. It is the only documentation of my work as a curator page 322 or 334 of the pdf. 324 saying what i have to say on that point.

Sunday, November 30, 2008


This Dock is your easiest way of reaching the outpost. Next follows the main thoroughfare which leads past the garden. Be sure to watch out for our own Komodo like dragons. We are easy to spot as surrounded by a natural moat and a center for the birds own outpost


Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Nonogonal Music


While others have noticed that Pelog fourths form a good cycle at 9 tones, it was Wilson’s work along these lines that seem to represent it the best. There were three forms that he found had been used historically as the basis of pentatonics, made by rotating around the cycle 5 at a time. Since 2 tones are not tuned they skip to the next tone which gives us 3 different forms. These can be seen in the three rings in this diagram. If one uses all 9 tones one can characterize these as 5 fourths in a row, 4 in a row and skipping two, or the last can be seen as 3 in a row skipping two and then two more or these last 2 first. While 12 ET is a bad way to represent pelog, one can form a 9 tone cycle by using tritones in 3 places, in stead of perfect fourths for those who refuse to concede to mesotones. One will have to figure these out for oneself, and the same idea can be transferred to any other scale, of equal steps or not. I have even applied in use to the meta Slendro I use. A larger form of this diagram can be downloaded here. While not as precise geometrically as one could do, I still find it visually interesting.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

The Passing of James Gleeson 1915-2008

An Obituary. Here is Australian foremost Surrealist whose work since our arrival has been of great interest and enjoyment. Picture- "The Arrival of Implacable Gifts". Note the self-portrait of the artist on the left of the picture. Last month I saw a performance incorporating some poetry that I was quite taken with. After the performance upon asking I discovered that it was his. We were in the process of hoping to arrange a meeting in the near future. Here are three excerpts that appeared in a 2003 review The Australian of his Selected Poems.

He divides his arm and breast
among the friends of his wound,
bringing to each, a measurement of corrosion.
Under his armpit the spiders twitch
in the fires of a naked bulb
(p. 73)

In the stream of the seismic night-time
when the rage of the soul
screams its trajectory across the naked canyons
where I must make a killing from the centre,
sometimes I say, — that murder,
that murder was actual but in my head.
Who heard, you say, the red voice added to the rain?
None; that formal guard of black hats on my eye
at worst is some thick sickness of my skull
(p. 72)

Having flown so many miles
Through April’s ghost-laden light
Out of the drought’s edge,

Escaping that salty barrier
Between good and bad lands,
Murky water low in farm dams.

Here, shiningly sure-footed,
The effect is turbulence,
Blueness, snowy prescience,

As they land, scavaging visitants,
pin-pointing the mallee red-gum’s
Solitary crimson nebulas

Near the shed.
(p. 32)

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Anaphorian Anchovies finally recognized (uncovered by Terumi Narushima)


Photo from http://janandjay.info/janandjay/Anchovies!!7.jpg

Explains much of the sonic properties in our surrounding waters.
(also see previous post regarding 500 Kilos of Anchovies)

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America -- December 2001 -- Volume 110, Issue 6, pp. 2917-2923

Interpretation of the spectra of energy scattered by dispersed anchovies

Orest Diachok
Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375

(Received 6 December 2000; revised 31 July 2001; accepted 27 August 2001)

The spectra of backscattered energy by dispersed anchovies, which were reported by Holliday (1972), reveal several peaks at frequencies that correspond to theoretically calculated resonance frequencies of year classes of anchovies. Theoretical calculations are based on concurrent measurements of distributions of swim bladder dimensions and a modified form of Minnaert's (1933) equation. Differences between calculated and measured values of the mean lengths of the second-, third-, and fourth-year classes are within experimental uncertainties (±8%). The calculated mean lengths of juvenile anchovies are in good agreement with historical measurements of the bounds on this parameter (Butler, 1989). Matching of theoretical calculations and measurements of backscattered energy level versus frequency yields estimates of the total Q of the spectral line, QT, and the relative number density per year class. The resultant estimate of QT of adult anchovies is approximately 4.4. This value of QT is consistent with laboratory measurements of the Q of individual anchovies, Q0 (~7 at 15 m) and measurements of length distributions of year classes and depth distributions. Resultant estimates of relative number densities of year classes were consistent with historical measurements of the relative number densities of year classes of anchovies in the Southern California Bight. ©2001 Acoustical Society
http://scitation.aip.org/getabs/servlet/GetabsServlet?prog=normal&id=JASMAN000110000006002917000001&idtype=cvips&gifs=yes

Monday, October 6, 2008

Youngest Rothschild found attempting to enter Anaphoria, reported Deported

Last night during a semiannual fishing ritual tribesman in the western territory stumbled upon 3 river cruisers in the process of dropping over 40 individuals off. This included one of the youngest members of the Rothschild family whose actual occupation could not be determined.
By the time authorities had arrived, one of the vessels had broken free and escaped out to sea. Witnesses reported that it contained various types of gold bars, some said to have Swastikas imprinted into them. A symbol not unknown to the ancient religions in Anaphoria having different meaning yet made it easily recognized. Authorities appear that the recent rise in the worth of the Anaphorian dollar, the Anaphoros from 1=115 Euro to a new high of 276 Euros has attracted many investors looking for currency stability.
While Rothschild was said to be deported, it appeared he picked up by a plane latter identified to have shuttled Saudis off after 9/11

The following was found in their procession in which authorities are still investigating the meaning

Promis software

A red phone having direct access to the Vatican

Video equipment, graphic software for Farsi text,
Make up kit with two Osama Bin Laden Beards.

A German Lorenz cipher machine

Membership cards to
Masons
Illuminati
Skull and Crossbones
The OTO
Montessori schools

Demolition footage of WTC 7

Tapestries from E. Timor.

Large rough-cut logs of rosewood
and other hardwoods

7.5 Kilos of Thermite
5 Kilos of Cocaine.
17 kilos of organic non fair trade coffee.
500 Kilos of Anchovies
500 freshly made Olivia Newton John Bootlegs (180 gram vinyl)
1376 near completed Sudoku Puzzles

Records of all Myspace/Facebook/blogger profiles starting in 2005

Various remote control devices to unspecified planes.

What appeared to be a collection of unknown pharmaceuticals

Plans to crop circles

Computer showing location of all satellites

Nasal hair clipper

Monday, September 22, 2008

Algorithmic or Intuitive Music

The Middle is not all it might appear. It is a stance all it own as if getting one hands in mud or on the heights are to be avoided. So I do not think the solutions to things necessary lie there a priori. Analogies too have their own problems. Music is often compared to a recipe which truly captures that post experience whole. But a dish most often is the same from beginning to end while music often is not. So I am going to use the analogy of a trip or better yet a vacation. Algorithmic music would be like the planned package deal. Everything is laid out and one is guided from place to place with little surprise. The intuitive might be those who just show up with no plan at all and attempt to figure it out from there. It seems it is good to have some initial plan, but one has more fun if one can allow room to stumble into something and follow it. This might take up the whole rest of the time one has or quite often, will be a mere brief excursions. Sometimes we find out this is how people ended up moving to a new locale in the first place. It seems to be the route toward innovation.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

One of the few times you will hear me sing!
I mentioned here that I did some recording in an anechoic chamber doing harmonic singing on 9 pitches of meta mavila just as a test.
While greatly limited in range and scale, i was able to throw this together using that recording.
Armed with nothing more than my Peterson tuner, each note is me overdubbed 8 times but staggered.
It is a mini requiem for the mini genocide
a Georgian Soundbite so to speak
http://anaphoria.com/miniREQUIEM2.mp3

Monday, August 25, 2008

Pentagonal Dream



Terumi needed this photo for a presentation on Takemitsu. Toru had seen the original photo from Man Ray and had a dream that night which lead to the pitch material he used in 'A Flock descends into a Pentagonal Garden' and later "In An Autumn Garden'. It seems to have been missed that he took Cages square method of bars and applied to pitch. Anyway an accident happen scanning the picture which only took a little bit of playing to finish what the machine might have been reaching for. For all the connected here, the influence of forces from 'without' shaping our directions. Some call it guides

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

A Long Meter


Long Metrics. I like to think they might add to longer ranging thinking, who knows. I do like how they create an timescape both unified and varied. While not giving too much away, one of the pieces I am working on is in 108 and uses much of my ensemble of instruments. At times I condense my pattern but at one point (maybe more, I am not done yet) I expand it out to 175.
Picture over the first row, 8 8 5 8 5 8 5 and the pattern is simpler than might be assumed. I had put up the numbers originally when writing this but I felt it destroyed the look which i really the reason i put it up. Most of these cross patterns, these being for three voices I work out by hand. But it was quite unwieldy in this case. I resorted to pasting one to the wall and this took over a meter, and the pattern to add had to be twice this length to compare all the options. Since the choice is based on taste, it is not really 'systematic'. Other non picture factors are at play. Finally I did resort to the computer to work it out and the real reason I put it up is I find it rather pleasing to look at. The dark dot is the actual Nuclear melody, the x a marimba, the star a vibraphone. The funny thing is pieces like can be only 12-13 bars long

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Harmonic singing in an Anechoic Chamber

The University of Wollongong has installed an anechoic chamber in the Creative Arts building for various research. This was my third time in. Of Which i must thank Eva Cheng for making this possible. Yes you hear your ears and blood rather quickly. One becomes over aware of just yourself which is probably why they use it for torture. Actually the sensation reminded me of various experiments I did with Erv Wilson when his Scale-A-Tron organ was working. Because it manifest it pitches from a very high crystal driven pitch, if one picks the right key one can have chords in 'absolute' as opposed to just tunings. By absolute meaning not a beat in say 10,000 years. but i have digress, i guess to touch upon the similarity. During the second time end i tried doing some harmonic singing, not that i am a singer at all, but found afterwards, i felt quite altered on leaving. This time i went in with that purpose and had my pettersons tuner to give and allow me to see how steady my pitch was. Due to the quiet one can hear much higher harmonics in ones voice but as these get closer and closer, it gets harder to find the perfect resonant position to accent it. I found myself though for the first time moving much closer in between the harmonics and began to explore the space in between these strong points. Here were all types of subtle shifts of timbre that i hadn't been able to hear before. For today i picked Meta-Mavila to be the base pitches. In the 1/2 hour i recorded i sang only nine tones over a range of an octave and a third. i plan to put these together in the future. next i and planning to record on the subharmonic series to see how it all sounds when it is all put togethersince there will be one pitch all the harmonic series will have in common.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

P is for Pope, P is for Plastic

Having a Lebanese stepfather, descended from Catholics, of course I at the age of 9 became one. This lasted till 12 but can say I did get things out of it. Seeing how the church has changed in the half theater put on in Sydney (the first night drove the in-laws at whose place we stay when in town away, all the way to Bathurst). We went to one event cause there was supposed to be dancing, but none was happening. We did see a Jesus Store and a statue that was going to be auctioned later, painted in a fake aboriginal pointillism. An ambulance taking someone away. There was group yellings and wavings of red and white (how Masonic!) flags. A hippie tambourine at one point. We missed the passing of the Pope pass all the people who lined the streets to see him. But at 90 Km a hour, there was much disappointment we heard. All night yelling like at a football game. Obviously the church has regressed, not like what I was exposed to. It was cheap evangelism.
How come they don’t do this for the Dalai Lama?

Monday, July 14, 2008

Tokyo- for the first time

Somehow i made it to one of the places i always wanted to go, Japan. I had an introduction to Japanese music when i was just 20, but took to it like a duck to water. So yes here i am seeing Noh again (there is a previous entry here of one that came to Wollongong) and then later some Kabuki. Both by the top artist in the city. Somehow even on an entertainment level, i preferred the Noh. The Kyogen sections seem to be enough to carry the weight of the more dramatic that follows it, and despite to reading translations of Zeami's book and hoarding every recording i could through the years, here for the first time did i experience all the different layers that takes it out of just drama into a more far reaching theater combined with music and dance each on an equal level. In between this and the Kabuki a day before we left, Carl Stone took us to the favorite bar of Takemitsu. It was barely bigger than two pool tables put together. a very small crowd at at time with people turned away for lack of room. One person came in and turned out to be the lyric writer for the tune A Man and a Woman. [ Ba ba ba da ba etc. ] well it worked somehow! The Kabuki we saw was a more modern one but there was no schism with it own past. There was some projected film on a scrim along with some prerecorded Buddhist chant at the beginning. The whole play had 4 people yet one was aware that there had to be numerous ones in back of everything just to have mountains flying around as the actors traveled. It created a field in which one becomes aware of greater forces beyond ourselves always acting around us.
We were staying a block from one of the busiest station Shinjuku station. Maybe the most crowded place i have been in my life [minus some demonstrations i have been to]. But here was a never ending flow where no one bumps into each other. Yet a great calm underneath it all... maybe the whole country is that way yet one knows that the opposite exist here just as hidden.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

poem based on googling ' when pressed'

How Can you tell when pressed flowers are done?

When pressed, Paterno snaps back. Serena Williams plays coy when pressed about her relationship with Dobbs Crumbles When Pressed On His ‘NAFTA Super Highway’. When pressed about the harmful effects on the economy, proponents of higher taxes often fall back on what can be called the "Clinton defense ... such that when pressed it moved away from the user (similar to a positive-tilt keyboard), and tilted 30° such that when pressed it moved toward the user (similar to a negative-tilt keyboard). When pressed with historical counter-examples, such scholars will respond "When pressed, his memory failed," When Pressed for a Statement, produce a "bonk" noise. When pressed hard, the Ann Arbor City Council makes Facetious Remark. When pressed with logical arguments about the incoherence of grouping Indeed, when pressed by Stanley Hoffman he argued that the academic discipline as such was little more than an ideology of the powerful deployed to both masquerade and justify their continued dominance in a world of haves and have-nots. How do I make decisions when pressed? When pressed for an answer about illegal immigration in his home state, Sen. McCain throws a woman out of his town hall meeting. When pressed for clarification, Cain said that this note applied to the video review as well. (These execute an action when pressed) caught in limbo Even when pressed by the demands of inner truth, men do not easily assume the task of opposing their government's policy, especially in time of war. When pressed to clarify the “pillars” these deeds “undermined,” the Obama ... WHEN PRESSED ON ANY AMBIGUOUS ISSUE REGARDING THE OBAMATRON, NEVER CONFRONT THE ISSUE DIRECTLY; Jazz reserves carry the load when pressed into service While many people when pressed would sooner be apologists for slavery than apologize, ... When pressed, they knew nothing about it. When pressed, engage the autopilot. no scruple, when pressed, to sell the children of their serfs. .... Consumers say 'Very handy when pressed for time.' When pressed, officials also reveal, very quickly, that they rarely have any …When pressed further, Hartmann said, "It was a mistake. It's easy in hindsight to look back and say When pressed by Philippe Sands...on Bush's recent admission that he had authorized interrogation procedures widely seen as amounting to torture, ... became testy when pressed about his recent remarks that there are areas of Baghdad that were not part of the prearranged pattern remained dark, even when pressed takes it upon itself to darken when it's pressed and I don't want that. when pressed will erase the plane's track to it's current position and ... When pressed, the simulation will start. shows how far the axis will move when pressed. Instances of this class represent a selectable user interface object that issues notification when pressed and released. When pressed about the motives, the hollywood radical finally ...,. I'm genuinely fascinated by the number of people I've met who declare their cosmopolitanism/multiculturalism/love of diversity who, when pressed, can't manage to come up with anything that's enriched them (i.e. made a significant impact on their lives) other than access to the occasional takeaway (which often bear little relation to the "real thing"). Their "embracing" other cultures is nothing more than an arm's length occasional dietary treat or delicious meals when pressed for time or until the cakes spring back when pressed gently with a finger or 25-30 minutes, until puddings are firm when pressed in the centres.. When pressed, separates to a liquid fraction, oleo oil,.... An honest witness who testifies that he knows of no oil spills or discharges at a large oil storage facility may when pressed on cross-examination allow for the metaphysical possibility that such spills might have occurred or the likelihood that a drop here and there can have escaped. ... Similarly, he conceded (when pressed) When pressed in pleading, the tenants admitted that ever since Henry L's day they had been paying arbitrary reliefs that there might have been fugitive drops from the loading pipeline or from loaded trucks as they pulled away... When pressed, many shift blame onto the students who leave... which means that when pressed by fingertips.. Red Robin Spins Bullshit When Pressed To Reveal, Performs Well When Pressed Hard (Mannerisms)


These flexible characters play music when pressed, glow in the dark and are The glow when pressed carpet at Baithak... How do I make a button that will play one of four different sounds randomly when pressed?

The 4-way selector in Record mode toggles the flash mode when pressed "Right." When pressed "Up" it adjusts exposure compensation, "Left" to activate the Self-timer and press "Down" to enable Marco focus mode... Automatically Strikes a Surface with Powerful Spring Action when Pressed ... When pressed even further, His left paw has a embroidered music symbol which when pressed plays 10 ... When pressed for an exact number... squeals when pressed against the rotors. My uterus feels sore when pressed on. My son has pain right above his penis when pressed on, he is 18 .. squeal/make loud noise when pressed. When pressed for a further explanation he commented 'because it's easier to hold').
When pressed directly against bone, some trigger points feel like bruises. When pressed and help it always showed "physical" (touchable) items in red, whether or not they were otherwise visible. Look for reddened areas that, when pressed, do not turn white. bumps that expel a “white thing” when pressed. Disappears when pressed. Does not disappear when pressed.. hurts when pressed. Paining when pressed arm Lumps?". been there over a month.. any ideas? Does everybody's casing click when pressed? Cigars: Soft when pressedThis is a discussion on MedHelp about Testicle pain when pressed cause pain only when pressed 2 inches below eye on cheek but A reddened area on the skin that, when pressed, is "non-blanchable" pressed does not ...... Sorness above navel.. Tender pain in chest when pressed body pain when pressed vibration when pressed Automatically Strikes Surface When Pressed Hurts more when pressed on than when released when pressed, a user can scrub through the mediafile's timeline). WHEN PRESSED BY A CIRCULAR-CYLINDER More Pronounced When Pressed
Donald Duck pencil lights his ass when pressed ;-)When pressed for the perfect example of a modern folk musician, is more pliant than paper when pressed by a hard metal roller model dissappears when pressed,... . Light Won't Light When Pressed. Change color when pressed that, when pressed, causes the several actions ... when pressed in standby mode, . BUT the application has closed indicating an error when pressed on setting menu monitor brightness switch freezes Edgy when pressed Installation .... cool submit button switching when pressed. This is a button that, when pressed, submits the form. when pressed and turning volume. Down. a textual label and/or image, and evaluates a command when pressed. disable submit button when pressed.. » When pressed hard, the ... Arrow Keys jump two characters when pressed sticking when pressed on upper right hand corner touch screen lags when pressed Make Buttons. especially just underneath the screen where the case flexes when pressed. that when pressed resets the form's fields to their initial values as specified by the VALUE attribute. .. to a target surface when pressed there against title is a link which when pressed goes to an identical home page but with soft rubber button does not change enough when pressed. but some items (like skirts or dresses) will get a nasty "seam" when pressed flat. ... When Pressed for Details
Pressed Ashcroft
Pressed Powder..
When pressed, these keys will remain in the depressed (or "stuck") state

Friday, June 20, 2008

(Some) Gates, Windows and Doors

Harry Partch- as the founder of ideas of music being the unifying catalyst to a total unspecialized theater.
Eugenio Barba’s theatre anthropology – as a model for a musical one. Olson’s Projective verse- as the basis of intuitive music tangentially relative to Victor Turner’s concern of ‘Flow”.
Carl Jung- as the acknowledgement of history manifesting as a dynamic force and informer as opposed to unbending solidified structures.
Henri Corbin- as reintroducing the concept of “The Creative Imagination” as the mesocosm between the infinite small and large
Polytheism- as an assimilation of the inner commune (Hillman) hence a move away from the inherent predisposition of minimalism toward monotheistic parallels.
Camouflage- as disruptive pattern material
Cryptography- as indeterminacy stemming from paranoia

Friday, May 30, 2008

The Necks at the Sydney Opera House

One of the great fringe benefits of setting up our outpost in Australia was to see one of my favorite groups live for the first time. We caught the first night of a four-day run at the Studio Theatre at the Sydney Opera House. For those not familiar with them, the trio stems from a combination of jazz with an organic inclination toward minimal forms of gradual development over extended time periods. Most of their CDs feature single pieces exploring that length. These in turn vary from more traditional harmonic/melodic constructs to pure excursions into color and texture. They never fail to bring something new to wherever their interests are at the moment. There are no traces of systems though, being guided by their musical intuition
This performance definitely drew more upon their adventuresome explorations expanding more into texture and color than any conventional scheme. Yet these elements were there. From an almost Feldmanesque beginning, as it they were defining some environment we are all in, they quickly shifted to their own language and vision and built a series of waves that would slowly build and transform. There was a section of some kind of 5 beat feeling ‘ expanding out where I found myself counting a 17 in the bass. The music was not intellectually focusing on such details; these were more the outcome of a more driving force into a highly melodic texture lead from the piano. While the piano would possibly ‘lead’, it was not so much that the others followed, more like a whole wave together with maybe foam being pushed along on the top. Here cascades of weaving lines sometime blurred yet holding concise shape. The video paralleled the structure of the music, likewise coming from three locales, and like the playing, one was constantly surprised by where the next development would come from. In the second even more abstract set the video went from an individual in a pool toward more prominence of the bubbled turbulence they would create

Mesotonal

This seems to be a better term and allows a certain distance from what is known as microtonal music. 'Meso' is in between the micro and macro. Many of my other interest also are. The areas between pitch and noise (or just sound), the areas in between tempo and non tempo, tonality and non tonality, between melody and long durations and maybe most important as myself as a human being between the infinitely small and large. Perhaps it relates also to the Bardo, that island in between and the realization that this state is always with us.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Gendhing Popper

Pure form-
Imitate a swarm of gnats*. Players move in and out of being within the whole as they feel fit ( this can be physically but not limited to) . Being drawn back by some undetermined energy. It is understood that the group itself will transform, as is not a static entity

Translation A (for percussion)
'Tempo' becomes initial center of gravity. This works best outdoors where distance influences the ability to synchronize or not

Translation B (possibly for rock/jazz or other improvisers)
Let a groove (probably scale/melodic ideas as well as tempo) start the initial gravity within a group then each exploring moving away and towards as one wishes

Translation C (Microtonal)
Pitch (consonance/dissonance) becomes initial center of gravity. A grid is agreed upon before hand, although the application to Harrison’s concept of intonational ‘free style’ would be quite in keeping. Likewise, Diamonds, Lambdomas extended matrixes, combination product sets etc. all possible. Each ventures closer of further way as one wish. It might be conceivable to have central set in which is ventured from in unique individualistic ways an/or methods

Translation D ( any ensemble used to playing music based on a nuclear melody)
Keeping the above in mind. A pitch is chosen in which all player play at the same time with each recurrence being twice the length what it was the time before. In between, each player to free to play anything. Each duration or group of, or progressing sequences can be implemented or repeated in some predetermined manner. The progression should remain outward in time length and should not reduce.

Translation E (Psychological study )
Keeping the above in mind. Players move toward or away from the others by degrees of camouflage, in other words hiding their relationships with others by disruptive patterns.

Any or all of the above can be combined in any fashion even within a single performance. Other translations welcomed.

*Karl Popper used this image to describe an example of a working anarchistic system.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

The Uzawa Noh Troupe in Wollongong

It was a great pleasure to be able to represent Anaphoria Island during this groups three-day presence in Wollongong sponsored by its sister city Kawasaki. Ms Hisa Uzawa heads the troupe, maybe the most highly respected female Noh artist today. She is, I believe, the second female to have made this end road into one of the most exclusively male professions. For this visit, three other females joined her, including her daughter, Hikaru Uzawa, a very accomplished actor herself. The other two actors performed the role of the chorus. I was struck how the chorus commanded that role equal and quite fitting to any that I had heard. The musicians were male, and a very tight group that acted as one but there did not seem to be any real separation of energy between any of the sexes.
The evening performance of “Hagoromo” was to a sold out audience at the Illawarra Performing Arts Centre. This was only the second time in my life I have seen Noh Theater live and while I have many recordings, I walked away with some new understandings. One was deeper how the drama builds in a way unlike western theater. Besides the restraint of it all, any increase in musical thickness and/or stage gesture, is seldom static for much longer than needed. It struck me with the similarity it has with various shamanistic practices of circulating around some point without going at it head on or it so not for long. . It is quite remarkable about how some small detail will be removed and only then do we realize how much of a ‘pillar’ it might have been acting as. Or in an opposite case, the lowest drum, the Taiko did not enter until the it seemed the halfway point and the when it does come in, it is hidden and done lightly and immediately covered but the two others drums who stood in force. Maybe others did not notice it, but it was still very dramatic and one could immediately feel how change became immanently implied. The complexity of the music is achieved by simple means, almost like chameleon adapting to the shifting energy at hand. Nothing is repeated very much or does not appear in the same way.
I had had a conversation with the Hip drummer about the use of the vocal sounds they intone before they strike. I had understood this as being the sound of a spiritual energy descending to our material world with the actual strike being the arrival. He stated that Noh represents reality and does so by using unrealistic means. Already in the previous days I had occupied myself with the relevance of ‘camouflage’ to music. As an aside it was a word that had been imposing itself upon me for some reason I could not explain. Here it seems to be one of the higher incorporations one could have of this idea.
I still remember my other live Noh encounter that included Maki Ishii’s piece for a single masked Noh actor who had to change expression in response to two recordings on separate speakers of a person laughing and crying but alternating in volume. It showed the power and capability of an actor to use the same mask yet change the expression. The day time performance of Lady Aoi, has a demon, and miraculously Ms Hisa Uzawa manage to invoke much beyond the initial horror, to where one could see how the demon was eating itself up and became almost pathetic. Here one could see how it represented many of human weaknesses that effect so many if not all of us, and what it does to it owner.
I was able to participate in the workshop where Hisa Uzawa quickly through us into quite a bit of detail and movement. This quite put me into a trance state that I immediately recognized as what is conveyed to the audience.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Toward an Empirical Music

Music is about people listening to sound forms out of a desire to satisfy THE EAR. I prefer this hedonism to the puritanical rejection of it.
THE EAR holds the supreme place. It has it own domain independent of and thus not subservient to other mediums and disciplines. To the argument that all is Political or Philosophical, I answer that all is Musical. THE EAR has its own worldview, which might be its ‘tastes’. Yet these ‘tastes’ have nothing to do with ego. We are here finding out what it can tell us. It is not the slave to other disciplines.
What we know of the Ear is by empirical experience, not through rational means, although the two often, but not always coincide. And it is here that music has gotten itself into trouble.
As music took on more ambiguous forms, it became possible for rational methods to produce satisfactory results yet strayed from the empirical experience. In other words, ‘what worked’ had been found as a byproduct of the rational but did not rely on it. Still the rational offered the opportunity of charting ways into unexplored territory, and rational methods will always be useful in this way. Since this ‘rational’ is associated with ‘scientific’ it became an end in itself, especially in institutions. Promising falsely that this art would and could become a ‘science’ or that a ‘scientific’ approach would be a path of progress. In fact this ‘diversion’ turned its back on the perceived and the experienced. Somehow the empirical child remained locked in the cellar. This has been the result of turning against the ear in favor of upholding a ‘rational method’ at all cost. The question should always be why something works or not.
It is not that the ear is irrational, quite the contrary. Empirical approaches have led for instance to how rational numbers coincide with harmonics and in turn influence the formation of chords. Patterns in scale formations have also been discovered. Yet even here, there has been resistance in realizing that other harmonies or scales in the world are equally based on other acoustical phenomena. This has been done empirically in the field, I might add, by less “scientific” cultures. It is this arrogance and bias toward viewing these cultures as underdeveloped that marks our own dark age.

Let us look at some false assumptions that persist owing to a ‘rational’ approach:

1. Good (logical) ideas = good music.
Good (logical) ideas and syntax are no guarantee of good music. Many great and transcendental works have been based on simple or little ideas. Philosophy has been useful, yet empirically it has manifested as varied forms of sonic monotheism. The concept of total freedom has empirically produced little beyond the sonic domain already in place. With the hippies, you could do anything but you better stay in the key; atonality is a mere extension of this concept to more pitches. Like a swarm of gnats, each is free to do what they want as long as they turn back if they go too far. We need not look further than other cultures to see exactly what musical realities it does not envision. It is only by imitation that it would ever be approached. Not that we are against the free idea, but the empirical results have not led to a free music. How one would get there remains to be seen. It seems best to follow the extent of where the ear has to lead us before we get rid of it.

2. Interesting rational methods/processes = interesting/compelling music.
Interesting rational methods and processes are no guarantee of interesting or compelling music. Often very different and complex methods will produce sounds that are indistinguishable from other methods often banal in methods or sound. Some of the most engaging and mysterious examples of music and timbre we find around the world are created by some of the most simple (yet we must add refined) ways. Hence there are opposite approaches whose interest cannot be attributed to the process.

3. Complex music = developed music.
These are not synonymous. The empirical difference between the two lies in the capacity of recognition allowing an interaction with memory. Complex music (especially when ambiguous) will create divisions into sections in only the most simple and crude ways. It is only by changes in density, volume and timbre that any shape or form is realized. When these elements are static, it quickly degenerates into homogeneous fields of limited scope and expression. In a sense it is the most ‘primitive’ of music possible. In the past, complexity and development were capable of being realized empirically with the use of recognizable elements. This is due to the mere fact that the manipulation of these could be followed in more different and subtle ways. Yet we know that it is something we often can ‘sense’ or ‘feel’ more than define, and this subconscious recognition has yet to unveil its full horizon. It is this very area that the ‘rational’ is useful in giving us examples of both success and failure. It is time to assimilate what has already been done as ‘rational’ experiments, or perhaps that work will be in vain. It is without a doubt that ‘rational’ constructs have expanded the type and ways of unity in music that is possible. However, there remains a form of ‘higher unity’ that it cannot approach. This is found in the flow of one musical idea into another in an immediate way. The assumption is that it’s not possible to hear something internally that is not related to what we have heard or made before. And so be it if it is unexplainable. It is THE EAR and what it tells us, sometimes near yet sometimes far.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Arriving Instruments/Some Stray Thoughts

Our Instruments have arrived and are being put back together. When in Bali we acquired three mallets matching one we had that really brings out the tone of the Mt Meru bars. The bar themselves seem to resonate longer. I do not understand why this would be so, but there it is.
In the time that has past there have been some stray thoughts, which seem to stick that I thought I would share.

There is much criticism of a younger generation ignoring the older. Do they forget that they were the once who took an ahistorical stance. How can you expect to now become the “history” then? You threw that out.
Being the case it also put the so-called philosophies, regardless of their worth on the par with fashion. This is unfortunate. And as one who always had respect for those more experienced (maybe too much if anything) it is sad to see the constant reinvention that needn’t be. But we have different people doing music than before and this is something I will take up later.
On my rally against music being composed of 5 parameters, (which I think is a misnomer of what happens and from where it comes to let it lay) let me state that I have learned from Ayers what the relationship is. The parameters are what we need to “analyze” music and that is as far as the statement is valuable.
One comment on the roots of minimalism owing it roots to the total serialism and the freedom that allowed put forth by some. Frankly all it needed was the influences of Indian music, the capability of Tape Loops and Psychedelic Mushrooms. The former music was unneeded except as the making of so called ‘serious music’ irrelevant to the tribe of westerners. If anything all it did was create a vacuum. I still see this period as analogous to the “Ars Nova” with similar results. Brief then over and while we can still hear the noun from that time, the energy is not the same, it is merely the shell of what was, and not even done as well (which many have testified to.)

Monday, April 7, 2008

new simplicity

While it is fine to return to simpler material but must we return to the same ol' keys and related areas. What good is equal temperment if one has to return to "Mom" and the key of C. Why not use JI if you are only going to use a few keys then? If they would have started with F# as a home base i would respect them more, At least this would be expanding the use of instrumental color and our ears into ares we hear little music in. There is something "regressive" in the reluctantance to add any form of tonal expansion. god forsake we might progress in instrumental colour no matter how subtle.
Sorry music and art have no choice but to move forward regardless of the consequences.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Tatoo of Anaphorian Flag

We have been silent mainly due to traveling to the North American Embassy of Anaphoria Island. While on the street we ran across someone with a tatoo ( yes it is real) of the Anaphorian Flag. Before we left we found this person a good position in the Los Angeles Branch

Saturday, February 16, 2008

An Appeal For An Appropriate Language in Musical Papers.

In recent months, I have enjoyed the experience going through the periodicals in a Library. The pursuit? What are human beings interested in its quest for knowledge and to what extent. Who would have known that so much of Geology would be preoccupied with Sedimentology? Who would have known that Timothy Leary was writing academic papers in the 90’s that are indistinguishable from his colleagues, except perhaps by the subject matter? Many (admittedly most) of these periodicals are impenetrable and impressed upon me the impossibility of what was once referred to as a renaissance man and need to add woman. The specialized nature spawned from the depth of each subject has made the inventory beyond what any of us even if it was a full time job with the worst of long hours. One wonders if it is in the future for a cross discipline interaction of say three subjects, even if they met, might not be beyond us because of the language each uses. And if we can, what language might be sacrificed in the process. Perhaps we cannot escape this entropy, and by that I do not mean a homogenous randomness, but many irreconcilable “orders”. Can we escape such a tower of Babel?

One still learns something even if one is over their head. One is how each subject uses and develops a language that can make even the Table of Contents daunting. Often though, I would be struck by some turn of phrase, some flow of words that seemed, almost poetry. Some subjects, certain words are accented in a beautiful way and others react with the meanings in my own ‘specialization’. Perhaps in a worse case scenario, with such a gesture they might at least ‘touch’ each other. It was Joyce who said, “Gesture is the universal language”. Still science especially hopes for more.

Finally I got to familiar ground (or so I thought) with the music periodicals. To its credit, the styles and use of language varies greatly. Still there were those, or various authors whose style one cannot tell from some of your more scientific papers. You don’t find this with visual art (the worse of double talk and a subject I will spare you from going on at length), poetry, dance or theater. In fact, it is the only art where you find such things. It is true that music has its relationship with math, but to sacrifice most traces of what is one might identify, as ‘musical language’ is inappropriate. Music is closer to the other arts, and I think it should reflect that. Science perhaps sees art as one of those areas that resist it most, but if ever if it could make it territory (which I surely doubt), the subversion of art’s dialog is underhanded. It may even in the future put forth what it deems art for the mere purpose of preventing art from happening, but will find it difficult to hold this ground.

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Parameters Phenomenological

time to banish
that superficial five
gimme
essences of our experience

texture to pitch
perhaps both shape
cell, organ
not life omitted atoms

melody is motion
intact resonance
complex
held energies

as weight or depth
stays color/harmony
emotion
defines more than

logics thin surface

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

THE NONAGON Wins Architecture Award

The Anaphorian Architecture Award for the new defense center has been announced. The Design of the NONAGON won with overwhelming acclaim. Showcasing her drawings Canja Teyle also delivered a lecture at Ual Music Liberaltory on how the nine sided building was inspired by the Pentagon.
"Seven was too simple of a possibility. Nine had the right power for our people" Canje explained. Another feature in how the Pentagon played a part in the design is what many had visualized in the 60's, raising the building two inches off the ground. "It is all done with magnets and this will make the delicate things kept inside immune to earthquakes."
the winners and entries are now showcased in the online project gallery.
The Prize of 1,000 Anaphoros (11,576 Euro) was awarded at the lecture.

LOGO CHOSEN TO BE USED THROUGHOUT BUILDING

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Ideas in Their Place-Part 1

A Cabalist who recently visited our Outpost has shared, in what time allowed, some aspects of this tradition and some lesser related non traditional practices. One of these is known as Gematria, a system involving the relationships of number and letters in Hebrew. Briefly, it associates the root of an idea with a number, usually prime, then pursues the combination of ideas through the combining of numbers. Since ideas and concepts are infinite, so are the series of primes, so there is always a way for the new and unforeseen to find its locale in the numerical continuum.
Of much interest though is their sensitivity is to the 'life' of an idea , it's beginning energy and how that energy changes in the process of manifestation and use. Likewise how it interacts with the plethora of ideas that have already been expressed. The basics are symbolized in their 'Tree of Life' which arranges the first ten numbers is a particular pattern, showing a pattern of descent or ascent. hence any new idea can be followed in its first 10 steps.
Perhaps a dogma but it represents a sensitivity to something we usually don't bother to think about. i think this sensitivity is fruitful in dealing with ideas in relationship to music, especially conceptional and or philosophical ones. Possibly this same type of reflection could be focused upon exactly how these ideas manifest when acted upon, regardless of their goal. Could it be that the more extreme ideas get us lost and some of the simplest have been the vehicle for some profound works? Could experimentation be fruitless unless we evaluate whether it was successful or not when it is all over? I remember Stockhausen making the comment how the text to one of the text pieces "From the 7 days" brought out a certain ferocity in performance which one would not foresee in the concept of the text itself. This is a good example of type of sensitivity.
One general idea as an example. We witnessed a century that by the end there was no sound nor form possibility that was not allowed . In this environment of "infinite possibilities" it is interesting to see how culturally bound this music remained (and will so spawned from this idea). One compares it to other world music traditions to witness how much is left out that have blossomed out of humans without such concerns. The west can make them or get there only by appropriation. This idea leads us away, not closer to these practices. Hence we can not get there from here, not that it is the only place i want to go, but don't want to rule it out. So we must move on, leaving it behind as much as we did the concept of the ether (in the sense of true or not, it cannot be observed, therefore of not much use to include it, or exclude it) . In the end "infinite possibilities"- so what?

A concept is not thinkable without its opposite.- Paul Klee

Let us look at the negative side of "infinite possibilities" . There might be a parallel to say we push beyond the limits plants are accustomed (just because we can) resulting in hybrids that are sterile and can produce no offsprings. A Botanist might tell you there are others ways to do this, slower but more substantial. And what good are such plants beyond a show of cleverness if we only have finite land for gardens?
One Cabalist stated, "Solve half the equation, but leave the other half unsolved." Certain ideas pursued allows us little choice in the matter and the most fruitful for all involved

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Beats or Non-Beats?

beats blossom out of times balustrade called tempos
marking privileged encounters in these nested articulations
times movement has this subject

for a long distance truck driver time is suspended
non-beats gardens more space and volume
why "space" music is not an arbitrary name

At the threshold of these differences
one can move in between
such horizons are worth exploring

[today was Banaphshu's turn]

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Cage/Varese as Differing Imaginative Processes

It has struck me how and in what way the imagination can be applied to music and these two seem to quite well represent two different tendencies.
Cage concerned himself with forms and processes a priori that could be applied to any sonic material even though the goal was to liberate sound in the process. It was still a situation where the material would bend to these forms, regardless of how much or little control there was.
Varese on the other hand would accept forms as the result of working with the sound he choose. Here form bent to the material. (Historically the forms were a given and likewise neutral, but there was concern about 'how' it was going to be used, but imagination so expanded the possibilities they were no longer necessary.) In a sense Varese applied his imagination in a more traditional way for him the form was neutral as opposed to a means to an end. Scelsi appear to prefer applying imagination more in keeping with Varese. What happens happens because of what presents itself. Even a more melodically oriented composer as Sorabji likewise.
The problem of a priori applications lies in that it works outside of time, and we risk not experiencing the imagination in the moment shaping things according to an inner impulse.
Likewise the actual sound can become of secondary importance. The problem with the latter is the final post listening experience can be of little or no importance.

Perhaps the question is a Macro/Micro contrast in thinking about music.

Interesting Feldman fell in the middle of influences but seems to have sided more with Varese.

Anyway this is the concern of one persona at the outpost here. I am leaning these days away from a priori thinking.
Kraig Grady

Friday, January 18, 2008

Reposting of New Outpost



Somehow we lost this post. but we once again present the Outpost of Anaphoria Island.
This will be our base of operation working toward the Museum of Anaphoria.
As stated, we made them an offer they couldn't refused.
Report from the
TRANSCENDENTAL AND EMPIRICAL RESEARCH CENTRE AND LIBRARY
OF ANAPHORIAN CRYPTOGRAPHY

Musical Issues :
While cryptographic methods involving the use of sound have been around for a decade, more and more cryptographers have been expanding the musical/sonic layers of their work. This resulted from the great interest of a small but dedicated audience in the musical qualities of coded messages being sent abroad.
There has been official criticism fearing the unintentional possibility of unconsciously presenting partially deciphered content or syntax of the encrypted message by means that might be understood intuitively. In response, certain cryptographers pursued more and more "split" personalities in order to minimize this cross interaction but often this resulted in unacceptable conditions. Next they embraced encryption methods that obscured homological parallels that sucessfully satisfied their critics.
Papers that addressed this issue were read and presented.[Due to the
demands of security issues the authors had to remain anonymous but were designated by number and letters.]

Time and Space Distribution of Non-Annual Low Dimensional Cycles Overmapping the Downscaling of Simulated Diurnal Oscillations. Dome 3R4.

Mesotonal Array Deterioration Driven by Remote Sensing and Adjustments Toward Homogeneity. 1Trench 49

A Modern Analog of Traditional Antiscale Small Scale Fluctuations by Noncommon Tone Modulations. 35 Tiger6

Reconstruction of Experimental Tests of Auto-Suspension and Quasi-Resolution in the Extended Referencing Found in Torus Structures of N-Dimensions. Wog14Bono

The Unpatterned Underwash Processes of Synoptic Filtered Interference Waves in Recurrent Ockerian Neo-Obsessions. Fer56 bn

A Computer Assisted Model of Mutational Processes in Density Driven Deformations Upon Untreated Extensions During the Convergence of Contractional Structures Within Frequency Matrices of Semitransparent Turbulence . Kirch 78956 41.0

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Anaphoria Recognizes the Lakota Nation

http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2007/12/21/news/local/
doc476a99630633e335271152.txt

The people of Anaphoria are proud to be one of the first to acknowledge and congratulate the Lakota nation in its independence from the former United States.

Friday, January 11, 2008

So here we are

The people of Anaphoria are proud to announce the establishment of this Austronesian outpost of Anaphoria.
This Blog will keep you informed on our activities.
The present goal is to establish a "museum" of Anaphorian Culture as it presents itself.
At present, we are under the temporary patronage of an ex-Toshiba engineer smack in the very very heart of Sydney on Market Street. Tomorrow we will be investigating properties south of Wollongong as even though we are welcome here, it is unfortunately too small for us to carry out our activities.