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I dont know how many of you have read the book "the
Glenn Gould Reader,"
but I bought it recently, and today I realized how helpful and
useful his "advice
about advice to a graduation" is to someone who may have
a creative block.
I'm a designer, and sometimes I strain to think of new ideas
when I have this
block, and I really don't know how to make it go away. It just
seems to sneak up on
it's own or when my mind is in a lazy mode. His ideas in this article would also
help out a composer in need for some inspiration. I'm going to
type up a little bit
of this article that Glenn wrote, because I think it proves to
be extremely helpful
in triggering a spark to create an immense fire of ideas
for one's composition.
I think it might also help explain how some "blocks" come
about. It has to do
with forgetting an important fact...
In Glenn's words:
"You are about to enter - as they say on these fearsome
occasions - the world of
music. And music, as you know, is a most unscientific science,
a most unsubstantial
substance. No one has ever really explained to us many of the
primevally obvious
things about music. No one has really explained to us why we
call high "high" and
low "low." Anyone can manage to explain to us what we call
high and what we
call low; but to articulate the reasons why this most
unscientific, unsubstantial thing
that we call music moves us as it does, and affects us as
deeply as it can, is something
that no one has ever acheived. And the more one thinks about
the percfectly
astonishing phenomenon that music is, the more one realizes
how much of its operation
is the product of purely artificial construction of systematic
thought. Don't misunderstand
me when I say "artificial" I don't mean it is bad. I mean
simply that it is not necessarily
natural.
The problem begins when one forgets the artificiality of it
all, when one neglects
to pay homage to those designations that to our minds-to our
reflex sense, perhaps
- makes music an analyzable commodity. The trouble begins when
we start to be
so impressed by the strategies of our systemized thought that
we forget that it does
relate to an obverse, that it is hewn from negation, that
it is but very small security
against the void of negation which surrounds it. And when that
happens, when we
forget these things, all sorts of mechanical failures begin to
disrupt the function of
human personality.
When people who practice an art like music become captives of
those positive
assumptions (he explains earlier in a part, which I did not
type, his views on negatives
and positives and why thinking positively isn't the best way)
when they forget to
credit that happening against negation which system
is, and they they become disrespectful
of the immensity of negation compared to system - then
they put themselves out of
reach of that replenishment of invention upon which
creative ideas depend, because
invention is, in fact, a cautious dipping into the negation
that lies outside system from a position
firmly ensconced in system.
(Later on he says) You must try to discover how high your
tolerance is for the questions you ask of
yourself. You must try to recognize that point beyond which
the creative exploration -
questions that extend your vision of the world - extends
beyond the point of
tolerance and paralyzes the imagination by confronting it with
too much possibility,
too much speculative oppurtunity. To keep the practical issues
of systematized thought
and the speculative oppurtunities for the creative instinct in
balance will be the most
difficult and most important undertaking of your lives in
music.
Then he goes on to talk about his incident with the vaccum
cleaner and Mozart
song, also mentioning that one must:
- remain deeply involved with the process
of his own imagination - but not as alternative to what seems
to be the reality of outward
observation. What it can do is to serve as a sort of no man's
land between that foreground
of system and dogma, to which you must never forget to pay
homage as the source
from which all creative ideas come. "
What I Think:
Basically he's trying to say, dont lose sight between magic
and the science of things.
If you begin to think that everything incredible and
mysterious, especially music,
then you'll never be able to create your own "magic" because
you'll be too busy
thinking that is for a higher mind of musical(or
whatever) intellect to think of. When people listen to
Beethoven, they usually think, "this is so wonderful; how can
one possibly
create such beauty?" It does take an intelligent mind, but
like Glenn said, it's
systematic. Anyone can invent brilliant ideas if they are in
tune to the right reason of
thoughts. Don't forget that inventions aren't miracles.
Has anyone else read this article? I've read it so many times
so I'm not sure if I
cut it up in a way where one reading it for the first time
couldn't grasp the full
concept. But let me know what you think or if you know of any
other brilliant
passages from Glenn's writings you have analyzed.
from Zeldah
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