Friday, November 22, 2013
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Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Vision
To me, people matter and ideas matter.
We're trying to make the Book of Job Project about people and about big ideas. Here are some that I'm thinking of, from the musical side of this experience we're trying to create for our audience.
Last week, I had the chance to sit down with composer Scott Johnson and talk about music. Among other things, he told me that he tends to think of music as either "Get up and dance" music or "Sit down and shut up" music.
Music's funny that way - you can sit very still and pay close attention to it for hours, or it can have you groovin' like there's not tomorrow, or it can fade into your mental background until you're almost not aware that it's there.
My hope is that the musical elements of the Book of Job Project will send an atypical but compelling directive to the people who experience the gallery event. I don't want them to get up and dance (probably!), but I don't wan't them to sit down and shut up, either. I want them to think, to observe, to converse, to engage, to resolve, to change. That's a tall order to be sending with musical notes!
I think that the lives of our fellow beings are a lot like music. We might spend a considerable amount of time soaking in the rich details of the great or popular ones. But more often, they slip into the position of a near-silent soundtrack, gently humming along as we go on our way.
A lot of music doesn't deserve our careful attention. I believe that every life does.
So, in part at least, the BoJ Proj is an invitation to listen to the song being sung by the voice next-door, because it's beautiful. It's full of sorrow and sublime spirit. And once you're listening, I want to encourage you to engage - whether that means adding your own voice to the mix, catching someone who's falling, or simply listening with love.
Can you hear it?
p.s. here's a short improv I did on some of Job's words on death:
We're trying to make the Book of Job Project about people and about big ideas. Here are some that I'm thinking of, from the musical side of this experience we're trying to create for our audience.
Last week, I had the chance to sit down with composer Scott Johnson and talk about music. Among other things, he told me that he tends to think of music as either "Get up and dance" music or "Sit down and shut up" music.
Music's funny that way - you can sit very still and pay close attention to it for hours, or it can have you groovin' like there's not tomorrow, or it can fade into your mental background until you're almost not aware that it's there.
My hope is that the musical elements of the Book of Job Project will send an atypical but compelling directive to the people who experience the gallery event. I don't want them to get up and dance (probably!), but I don't wan't them to sit down and shut up, either. I want them to think, to observe, to converse, to engage, to resolve, to change. That's a tall order to be sending with musical notes!
I think that the lives of our fellow beings are a lot like music. We might spend a considerable amount of time soaking in the rich details of the great or popular ones. But more often, they slip into the position of a near-silent soundtrack, gently humming along as we go on our way.
A lot of music doesn't deserve our careful attention. I believe that every life does.
So, in part at least, the BoJ Proj is an invitation to listen to the song being sung by the voice next-door, because it's beautiful. It's full of sorrow and sublime spirit. And once you're listening, I want to encourage you to engage - whether that means adding your own voice to the mix, catching someone who's falling, or simply listening with love.
Can you hear it?
p.s. here's a short improv I did on some of Job's words on death:
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