knowing the maker

These thoughts are further reflections on vicarious experience of things: trees, the sea, clothing, each other. Speculating that the aesthetic sense is in some way a regulatory process in the perceiver as it responds to coercion, disruption and exhortation leads me to think that through that regulatory process some 'knowledge' of another mind is at work, in a way which facilitates the possibility of successful communication (which is vital for the perceiver). In art, we come to know the artist because my regulating processes of perceiving their art are not that different from theirs in making it. But this throws up an interesting issue when we consider the beauty of natural phenomena. My regulating processes in perceiving natural phenomena are also an appreciation of the 'mind' that made them. But what's that to a good atheist??

ecological thinking and communication

This is rather like Hindemith... I'm wondering about medical treatment for psychological conditions. We give drugs to change what we call 'behaviour', but which is really communicative action. In other words, the action of the drugs is to tweak the connections between the psychic system and the communication system: it is to adjust the transduction between them.

figures 2

There is looking as a reaction (system 2 maybe?) and conscious looking where we might not choose to linger if not consciously making ourselves do it. Is that where the heaviness comes in? And the strength? What about looking at something shocking? What's the process where we are repulsed but cannot take our eyes of it? Complementary schizmogenesis is what Bateson would say I guess...

figures 1

There's some similarity between trees and human figures in the way that exhortation, coercion and disruption operate. The weightlessness of human form (when it's attractive?) may have something to do with this. Which raises the question about weight and lightness. Of course the issue is not what things are, but the effect they have on the perceiver. In looking, I am regulating myself. As I stand at the root and look at the branches, I am regulating myself. It is my need for coercion, disruption and exhortation... not the thing in the tree. But I find the things that address these issues. The same may be true of looking at people.

terminology, music and dance

Something's struck me with some force in the last day or so. Thinking about landscape and memory, and trees in particular has led me to think again about issues of grounding of being.

In music, we talk of 'roots', and my music frequently tries to upset roots, to subvert it - particularly with 2nd inversions. I want to explore the branches, and see where it might lead. For people, our physical roots are our legs, they carry our weight and conduct our movement. Most of the we spend rooted to the ground either by our legs or our arses!

If you subvert the role of legs, you end up with something like this:
I've never really considered dance at all seriously.

Other aspects of this subversion of legs can be seen in football and fashion (high-heel shoes?). So there's a rich vein to explore here!

Roots and Branches

Rethinking groundedness... Feet, roots and the ground are one thing; branches, leaves, hands are another. I thought that grounding (which I associated with open 5ths particularly) was fundamentally about coercing a tonality. But the feeling of groundedness is an essence; it is produced through a regulatory mechanism. I now think its about from where you sit. I can sit at the feet, and look up at the branches; or I can be in the branches and look at the feet; or I can look towards the sky. Is this still disruption, coercion and exhortation? It's about the relationship between landscape and cognition. The Vaughan Williams style improvisation is more at the feet than yesterday's...

Landscape and Memory

I've been reading Simon Schama's Landscape and Memory. This ties in with what I was writing about memory, and an ecological view which sees the mechanism of memory fundamentally tied to the environment. Fascinated by so much in the Schama book.. will have to comment on that more in the future. The music is meant to sound like a series of tangled branches. I'm quite pleased with it.. it reminds me of the Verdi-like chromaticism which I was playing with a couple of years ago (http://dailyimprovisation.blogspot.com/2008/03/thinking-about-verdi.html)

what's the point in blogging if you miss the single most significant political event for years...

Well, it's a good question! But things have been so busy (how many times have I written that recently?) This fanfare was done when the weather suddenly got nice (it's really cold today) and the election was about to happen. Since then we've had the house turned upside down, nice weekend (party in the park, south indian meal with friends, etc).