JAMES MULCRO DREW
      

INTENTION IN THE ARTS

Throughout the centuries, including our modern period, composers have worked mainly by studying whatever “common practice” music was available to them and, most importantly, by listening and performing.

Although the young composers and painters of our current period (2008) are almost all academically certified with degrees, and are technically competent,
they don’t appear to have the Spiritual Superstructure on which to build memorable Art. It appears that most are limited to making bad copies of whatever they think is a “saleable commodity” from the recent past or earlier. So Ransack the old guys works, is the common theme, without a clue of understanding the intention underlying what inspired those artists in the first place.

Past traditions are extremely important in order to build new ones.

They show the composer or painter how things were made at a particular time in the past; But, those same traditions also clearly instruct us as to what might NOT work now in one’s own period.

There are, of course, a number of examples of composers, painters and writers who have been successful in developing new works from previous models.

Stravinsky, Picasso, Ives, Joyce, Eliot or Pound quickly come to mind.

The problems of recent past traditions as models.

Let’s remember that what we understand as Modern Music has a relatively short history and to find recent traditions on which to build and develop one’s own new ideas may present some problems. I’m not speaking of silly appropriations (sampling, etc.).

To accomplish such a task and make a work one’s Own depends on Intentions, Imagination and skills of a composer or
painter.

A 20th Century example

Some years, ago I addressed an audience at an International Webern Society Festival, which included some well known
(composers (Ernst Krenek, George Rochberg for example) as well as scholars such as Hans Moldenhauer.

The point of my talk was that although Anton Webern was a renowned master, his influence created a DEADEND for countless academic composers who didn’t really know earlier traditions very well let alone understand Webern’s immense steps.

The ability to count to 12 was of no value whatsoever. That was Not where the music was.

I was designated a “controversial” speaker, but no one disagreed with my assessment, as far as I know. When I finished my talk there was total silence—until George Rochberg yelled out, “I think they believe you, Jimmy.”

Organization alone is not a sufficient condition to create a symphony or a painting or any kind of Art work. Somewhere behind the resonating shapes, textures and
temporal connections, exists the Music.

The TASK of any artist is to find something that has personal meaning; something to Believe in—that’s the beginning. This has nothing to do with style. It has to do with both flashes of light and contemplation.

Careerism has replaced Belief and imagination.

Beginning in the 1970s—80s, the integrity and concentration that is necessary to create High Art had been quietly discarded.

There are, of course, a few “Artists” who still Believe.

But now in the beginning of the 21st Century, our colleges and universities focus on the Arts as commodities.

Knowledge must lead to material gains and undeserved celebrity is the goal, and as Theodor Adorno points out—this leads to “conformity, mass deception
and the impoverishment of consciousness” in both artist and audience.

If you don’t hear the immense footsteps of Giants behind you, while you peer into the future, you are probably to be included in the Adorno observation.

Further Evidence:

That old devil counterpoint has been largely dropped from university music curricula nowadays, while courses such as “music industry” multiply. Pop! goes the missal. Que pasa, mon?

FROM MY DIARY

Because I began as an improvising pianist, my world has continued to be based on thought and ears.

I listen for what the sounds in my mind tell me—then I make “marks on paper” that work like a map. After tinkering with these sound-thoughts, I make a final performance score. The score will always advocate modifications that are available to the performers. Sometimes the original marks on paper turn out to be the completed performance score.

When I began composing, I used pencil and paper. Now after many years, I still use paper and pencil.

I breathe along with how the musical sounds breathe. This is very personal. It’s a kind of inner singing. I believe all sounds are Sacred.

To me music comes from within and there is very little thought coming from outside.

I listen carefully to the Space that surrounds the sounds and to how circular Space shows their directional or non-directional possibilities.

The CONNECTING of sounds is like building a central nervous system—always self—referential.

In many of my pieces the connecting is created by suspended sounds that are both inclusive and exclusive of experiencing Time. In the openness or density of my pieces, I always listen for drama.