GG- Re: On musical abilities...

[Josh Randall <joshr@glyff.com>]

>>Joseph Podlesnik writes: "...I am a visual artist who wishes he was a
>>musician..."

An interesting post that corresponds to my experience. I too am a visual
artist, a professional graphic designer for twenty years, & have identified
myself as an "artist" for most of my life. I don't exactly wish I was a
musician, although I have tried (unsuccessfully) to get beyond C-F-G on
guitar, & wish I could.

>>"...I have been studying paintings seriously for 14 years, and I have yet
>>to cry at the sight of a powerful work of visual art..."

Me neither, although music as diverse as John Prine's "Hello In There", the
slow movement of Bach's double violin concerto, and Bill Evans' "Peace
Piece" will move me to tears. I think music's power to do that has
something to do with its presence in time as a "living" thing, i.e., as
something that changes or travels from one place to another over the course
of the listener's experience. It also requires a different, less
concentrated attention than reading or contemplating a visual piece or
watching a film, which enables music to occupy a more subjective role, like
the very air itself, or like a thought or emotion in one's own head. Music
seems to be a more pervasive, less conciously-experienced, form of
communication, & it seems to derive some of its power from that subtlety.

>>"...Instead, I experience what seems to be a deep feeling of organization
>>and completeness (could this be the inner "ecstasy" which GG spoke
>>about?)"

If I'm reading you correctly, you're referring to visual art here, yes?
This has also been my experience. I think appreciating a visual piece's
"organization & completeness" comes, at least in my case, from having a
professional appreciation of the techniques of constructing it. Although my
intuition tells me that even if I didn't have that backstage graphics
knowledge to distract me, I still would respond more immediately to music
than to other forms of art.

regards, Josh Randall

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