On Improvisation

"...composition is improvisation, given the benefit of time to reconsider and refine the product."

-John Duarte

I placed this quote in the music page of my website, because it represents well my approach to composition, in music and other things. In improvisation, you can create wonderful things, as long as you relax, and let the music flow. There is a great method for learning to play an instrument called Improvi-Taping. A friend mine named Win Wenger originated the method, and describes it on his website. I was house-sitting last week, and had a lot of free time on my hands. I found that the homeowners had a nice 88 key MIDI keyboard with weighted keys, velocity sensitivity, and even a pedal. I've wanted to learn to play piano for a long time, and I saw this as a good opportunity to practice a bit. We have a small cheap keyboard at home, but it's no fun to play. I used it a bit when I was studying some music theory, for constructing chords and such, but it just sounds so... electronic. Their keyboard sounded very nice, and I found one instrument on it that I especially liked. The harpsichord with pedals sounded almost like a hammered dulcimer. I found a few of their lesson books, and started working on them a bit, but found it rather tedious.

I played around and found several chords which had a sound that evoked a strong feeling in me. I wrote them down and memorized the position of all the keys. I then remembered that my camera could be used to make high quality stereo sound recordings. I had all the ingredients ready to do some improvitaping. I did a fifteen minute session one day, and I liked it so much that I did a 30 minute session the next day. I figured out how to make a better quality recording after the first session, so the second one turned out very well. I experimented mostly with rhythms, since I had already found all the notes to use. As I got into a flow state, I shifted between the various chords every so often, and found bass lines that complemented them. It was great to see new melodies emerge from this fairly simple set-up, similar to the minimalist music of Philip Glass.

I took a snippet from several minutes into the second session and posted it on my webpage so you can listen to it if you like. I put the music on my iPod shuffle to listen to while walking their dogs after dark. It went along amazingly well with the mood of the cool full moon-lit night. I showed my dad the chords I had found and he said that they were very Asian sounding. I'd have to agree. It is interesting to find another place where memories of a past life may have come through in this current incarnation.

On Dreams

There are two main kinds of dreams; ones formed while one is asleep, and ones formed when when one is awake. But how many of the dreams we form with our conscious mind were actually inspired by things we dreamt of while asleep, and unconscious?

Is a dream that makes you happy while you are in it, but sad after you awaken from it still a good one? I rarely have nightmares, because I know that I have control over my dreams, and thus, I seldom lose control of them. But there is still a lot going on in my subconscious mind that I don't always pay attention to. When I dream, these things are often shown to me. They can be difficult to see sometimes, but I am willing to see them, because I know it can help me grow.

Is it a sin to dream without taking action? We all have a right to dream what we will. It becomes a different matter entirely when we share those dreams with others. The bigger the dream, the greater the strength of will it takes to manifest those dreams in this physical world. Where do these dreams come from anyways? What is the motivation? That is what I would need to know before helping anyone else to make their dreams into reality. Is it a beautiful dream inspired by love for the world and everyone in it? Or is it a dream that sounds fair but feels foul, arising from a selfish desire? It is fairly easy to tell when a dream is truly pure and the dreamer benevolent, or when it is truly nightmarish and the dreamer malevolent. But things are seldom so white and black. I and all the people I have met have been living in the variety of shades of gray between. And I and Many of my closest friends and allies look to that pure white light that is the source of all good dreams. I think it is not selfish at all to pray for good dreams, for these dreams are what guide us all towards peace.

I stood waiting in a parking lot, wondering if she would ever show up. People came and went, and still I waited. I sat down and waited more. Then suddenly she was there in front of me. Her straight deep dark brown hair swayed gently. I could see every strand separate for an instant and come together again. We walked towards each other. I heard someone in the distance say, "She really is gorgeous." Maybe I said it myself. We were a foot apart, and then we both started lifting our arms at the same instant, and embraced. We pulled each other together as gently as two hands coming together to pray. I could feel that she had missed me by how she squeezed me firmly like she had rarely done before. I looked straight into her deep dark brown eyes, and she looked back unwaveringly, like she had rarely done before, and then I knew I wouldn't have to worry about anything again.

I cried a bit after I awoke and realized it was a dream. But it was a beautiful dream, and it was nice while it lasted.

Cool Things

I read recently that it will be the editors, not the authors that will have the most power on the internet in the future, if they don't already. It makes a lot of sense to me. In my mind, the internet is like a landscape covered with pyramids. At ground level are the content creators. The next level up are the small blogs which link to several of those content creators. Higher, you see the bigger blogs, which link to content featured on the best of the smaller blogs. When they become popular enough, content creators will start to send news directly to them. At the top of each pyramid is a media group such as Gawker Media, which links all of the best blogs related to a certain topic or area of interest.

While I would rather be an author than an editor, I still like to inform others of cool things that I've found online. Some of which recently has included:

A site where images of odd signs from around the world are collected, and publibly mocked, SwankSigns.org.

An awards ceremony for webcomics, hosted by webcomics characters. There are a lot of great webcomics out there, many of which are featured here.

Google Earth! Where were you when I was studying geography in middle school? I collected a few interesting finds from my explorations of Minnesota, Africa, and China. This one program combines features of so many other programs, allowing you to find directions to wherever you want, to explore places near and far, to fly through the grand canyon or in-between skyscrapers as if you were in a helicopter, and much more. It did bother me that Tibet was hidden, and I had to look hard just to find Lhasa. It felt like I was back playing Final Fantasy, flying in my airship searching for a tiny hidden city in the mountains, like I did long ago.

A Memory of The Morning

There are times when things just come together. There are also times when things fall apart. What is there that is different in the time leading up to these two situations? Not very often is there some easily observable cause-effect relationship, and even then, it is subject to interpretation. Is it luck, will, preparation, fate, faith, feng shui, or serendipity? Maybe all, maybe none, maybe some, maybe one. Too much thought about these things late at night can't be good, I suppose. It helps to remember the bright morning that was, and by induction, will surely come again.