Friday 5 February 2010

Looking at the same thing for a long time

I've been reflecting on what I've been doing with the improvisation/composition thing over the last few weeks. It's been a very deliberate attempt to concentrate on the same thing. The initial idea of the improvisations was simply to capture a moment and do something different every day. I think I'm moving away from that.

Concentration brings its own challenges, and in some ways it's not that different from the improvisation experience. Each time I open the same material, I find a different angle - almost like a different 'meditation'. It is a different kind of practice. With concentration comes unity as well as difference. The emerging focus as things may be gradually put together.

I write papers like this. When I was younger I wrote music like this, but lost the impetus (and the huge organisational commitment) to continue it.

What is the relationship between the meditation on a thing and the differences between those meditations, and the coordination and unity between them? This may be related to comtemplation vs action.

I heard a fascinating radio programme on Ibn khaldun. Amazing stuff.. must look more into this.

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