Saturday 8 March 2008

Something abstract and computers writing music on Saturday

There is barely a moment as a composer when you don't think "what am I doing?", or even "couldn't a computer do that?", or even still "couldn't my cat do that?": it's part of the territory - the feeling that you are compelled to do something that simply doesn't make sense; and yet, seems rewarding both to you as an individual (in fact it's hard to conceive of myself as an individual without music), and at the same time (sometimes) gives others pleasure too. It's then that I get a sense of the way that music is intricately tied up with the mysteries of existence, in a way that the "reason cannot perceive" (to borrow from Pascal); and not only does it shed light on itself, but on the mystery of communication in general.

We attenuate our souls with concepts because to not do so would render us incapable of survival. But in that necessary attenuation, we can lose sight of our real soul.

Doing music reconnects the circuits that I had to ignore...

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