List of today’s 15 “encore” postings

May 09,2017

List of today’s “encore” postings (edited and condensed from their original versions)

{1}   Music, The Art of Time.  The Manipulation of the Conscious Perception of Time

{2}   Magic with Time and Awareness at the Piano

{3}   Sometimes We Think We Are Listening But We Are Actually Feeling a Physical Sensation

{4}   Hearing The Middles Of The Sounds

{5}   There is a Benefit As Well To Remaining Aware of a Physical Motion From Instant to

Instant Through Time.

{6}   The Effectiveness of The Imagination In Executing Motions

{7}   Points of Articulation in the Body Can Be Real or Imaginary

{8}   The Body “Springs” To Action:

{9}   Energy: the Universal Cure

{10} My “Least” Favorite Brahms Symphony – I.E. up to now

{11} The “Mental Landscape” of the student

{12} The “Protean” Hand.

{13} The Full Ambit Of A Motion

{14} “Sonic Glue”

{15} Translation of Spatial Axes

{1} MUSIC, THE ART OF TIME.  THE MANIPULATION OF CONSCIOUS PERCEPTION TIME.

May 09,2017

{1} MUSIC, THE ART OF TIME.  THE MANIPULATION OF CONSCIOUS PERCEPTION TIME.

Many of music’s most glorious effects stem from the manipulation of time.  The past, the present, and the future are interwoven in a complex fabric in the conscious perception of music.

Time can seem to pass faster.  Time can seem to pass slower.  Something that happens at the present moment can effect how we think something was played just before now.  Memory in time can affect how we perceive something analogous that is occurring now.

Something that occurs simultaneously can be perceived as occurring sequentially.  Something that occurs sequentially can be perceived as if occurring simultaneously.

We can hear all the voices of a fugue separately by following one voice partially into a measure and then “go back” in time in our recent memory, and follow another voice from the beginning of a measure.

I hope to speak a lot about the magic relation of music and time.

{2} MAGIC WITH TIME AND AWARENESS AT THE PIANO

May 09,2017

{2} MAGIC WITH TIME AND AWARENESS AT THE PIANO

A note that lasts one second can be perceived as one conscious act.  Or it can be perceived and then re-perceived in two or more repeated acts of awareness, each one lasting only a part of a second.  Some of the most beautiful playing comes when the pianist’s conscious awareness is “updated” as often as possible, after the least amount of time.

An entire new world opens up for view as we look more deeply into the instant to instant flow of time.  It is analogous to magnifying our view of a material object until its solidity parts and reveals the vast spaces between the subatomic particles.

{3} SOMETIMES WE THINK WE ARE LISTENING BUT ARE ACTUALLY “FEELING” A PHYSICAL SENSATION

May 09,2017

{3} SOMETIMES WE THINK WE ARE LISTENING BUT ARE ACTUALLY “FEELING” A PHYSICAL SENSATION

The beginning of a note is accompanied by a specific, noticeable physical action.  When we play, we are the most aware of what we are doing at the moment of the note’s attack, and less aware of what is occurring between the beginning of one sound and the beginning of the next sound.  Often we pay little attention to the duration of the sound.  The result is that we may think we are “hearing” the piece we are playing when in fact we are “feeling” the kinesthetic sensations of our muscles contracting to cause each sound to begin.

The wonder of music exists between the attacks.  My intention is speak often about the  connection of consciousness, awareness, and the flow of time.

{4} HEARING THE MIDDLES OF THE SOUNDS

May 09,2017

{4} HEARING THE MIDDLES OF THE SOUNDS

We have just spoken about the magic of music existing in the durations between when one note starts and the next note starts (see 3).  That our physical sensations of the action of muscles leads us to concentrate more on the beginning of the sounds.

There is a simple procedure for re-directing our attention away from the beginning of the sounds and towards their “middles”.

Play one note and let it resonate for a while without feeling a physical intention of getting ready to play a second note.  About a second into the course of the sound, tell yourself “now is the time for me to listen to the note”.  If the note started loudly enough, then you can wait another second or so, and then start listening to the note again.

In a way similar to threading a number of beads together by putting a string through holes drilled through their middles, we can train ourselves to experience the shape of the necklace

of a series of sounds, by remaining aware of the string threading the middle of one sound to the middle of the next.

Ultimately one can follow the flow of the sound from instant to instant (see 2), giving life to each moment of the sound as it evolves.  This is much rekindling a flame by periodically blowing on it to add oxygen and re-illumine its brightness.