This month composer’s choice is dedicated to Lorrie Kazan – because she is a muse …or maybe all 9 of them rolled into one body ! Its a pretty big call I know but having collaborated with Lorrie during last month’s One Mind Live Guest Guide, I found myself being very deeply moved by her insights and meditations. At home I have a small ceramic shrine that my daughter Jasper made specifically to the nine ancient greek muses when she was a teenager. It’s where I burn incense and light candles and make little prayers. It will be no surprise to One Mind Live members that I think the 9 muses are there to be accessed – from a deep archetypal place, rich in culture, grace and most definately an interface between this world and the world that we are shaping from our futures. The muses are within us all to ask for help and guidance. The 9 muses are: Clio is the “Proclaimer ”- Muse of history (often holding a scroll). Euterpe the “Well Pleasing ” Muse of music or flutes (often playing flutes). Thalia the “Blooming ” or “Luxuriant ” – Muse of comedy (often holding a comic mask). MelpomeneThe 9 Muses – by Stephen Fearnley
Renewal – by Stephen Fearnley
“Renewal” is a happy piece of music. I think it’s because after weeks and weeks the rain has stopped. Where I live has a specific microclimate where the Highlands meets the coastal air currents and voila! Fog is born. Fourteen days of fog on my mountain. White-out and humid and everything sticky. Today the sun is here and the sheets can dry on the line. Simple joy. And then there is Ovid! I discovered Ovid, not via the classics or Shakespeare (I was never taught in school what a legacy The Bard owed to him) but via Ted Hughes’ book Tales From Ovid. For a view into the ancient world, this is a great window as Hughes, poet laureate, has re-woven Ovid’s stories, retold, renewed for a new generation. This is one of my favourite Ovid quotes: “As wave is driven by wave And each, pursued, pursues the wave ahead, So time flies on and follows, flies, and follows, Always, for ever and new. What was before Is left behind; what never was is now; And every passing moment is renewed.” ― Ovid, Metamorphoses Stephen Fearnley is an award-winning filmmaker, artist and composer. He composes transformational soundscapes forRenewal – by Stephen Fearnley
Spring and the Musical Body – by Stephen Fearnley
In Christian Schubart’s “Ideas for an Aesthetics of Tonkunst” ( Ideen zu einer Aesthetik der Tonkunst -1806) he lists all the musical keys and tells of its virtues and emotional values. But what on earth is tonkunst? An old German word mainly out of use meaning the art of tone. I have no idea how this method or art was developed. Maybe it a was synesthetic thing, maybe it came handed down from one musical teacher to another. But it is in keeping with today’s scientific investigations into how music and keys effect us. This Scientific America article explores yet another interesting take on how music evolved and why it moves us: “ …new research by Logeswaran and Bhattacharya adds yet more fuel to the expectation that music has been culturally selected to sound like an emotionally expressive human. While it is not easy for us to see the human ingredients in the modulations of pitch, intensity, tempo and rhythm that make music, perhaps it is obvious to our auditory homunculus.” (Mark Changizi on September 15, 2009) Music is a hologram of the human body…made by humans. It’s an invisible vibrational space we create around us and into us viaSpring and the Musical Body – by Stephen Fearnley
The Gift of Gratitude – by Stephen Fearnley
“GRATITUDE is SO VERY therapeutic .The world changes around you…” This month’s composer’s choice is called Gratitude. Im just about to start a practise-led Masters of Philosophy at Notre Dame University Sydney. A practise led masters is based on, in my case, a 50% practical component which will culminate in an exhibition of works and/or a musical performance and recording. Of course I have to come up with an idea/theme to pursue which will sustain a whole lot of investigation and nuts and bolts work. My mind has been racing : Will I investigate the negative space or the “void” in western and eastern art ? Or what about delving into the world of western and eastern mystics and how prayer and meditation have been explored ? What about cymatics, musical frequency and sacred geometry… Just a few topics out of many that are knocking on my brain door… In our live broadcast a few weeks ago ( go here to listen to the precession chat ) I discussed a dream I had where there was a little black spot on my right eye which I could not remove. Being a big Jung fan I knew that my subconscious was sending aThe Gift of Gratitude – by Stephen Fearnley