The Phoenix Bird

Definition of Music:
A complex organization of sounds that is set down by the composer, incorrectly interpreted by the conductor, who is ignored by the musicians, the result of which is misunderstood by the audience.; )

...in their playing you hear not only precision, color and balance, but thunder, lightning and the language of the heart."
Boston Globe critic description of a performance conducted by Benjamin Zander with the Boston Philharmonic.

Melody (temporarily defined as a sequence of distinguishable pitches) is often emphasized as "essential" for the making of "Music" (temporarily defined as an organization of sound for, at least partially, "esthetic" purposes). To paraphrase composer Christian Wolff, melody may even be largely "inescapable" as long as it exists conceptually because most, if not all, sequences can be imagined within its context. For Example: starting with the premise that what's perceived as a distinguishable pitch varies with the perceiver's ability to distinguish, a hypothetical listener might hear a "texturally dense" sound in which the "main" change that establishes a "sequence" may be something as subtle as the changing of 1 harmonic (only) as a "melody" (what's defined as "1 harmonic" being too much to go into for these purposes) while another listener might just conceive of the same sound as undifferentiated "noise". Therefore, if one accepts that a "distinguishable pitch" can be any sound (or, ultimately, anything), any sequence can be accepted (or heard, felt, whatever, etc..) as a Melody. Of course, some people will, "understandably" be opposed to this reduction (or expansion) of "melody" to a synonymn of "sequence" - maintaining that the word must be more specific in order to retain any value.

Topic:
STRUCTURED RANDOMNESS
How we work, how nature works, and what we can do to make electronic music fit into such a wild and natural world... or something like that.

In a computer we can model almost any element of human cognition: sight, smell, hearing, touch, lexical processing, voice and facial recognition, etc. All of these functions are modeled in the computer's perfectly symmetrical, mathematical, and logical internals. The computer performs these functions well, but we still cannot even get close to getting the computer to "create" or to infer or to reason without logic. In theory, we could build a neural network that can simulate the same number of neurons in the brain of a small mammal, such as a dog or cat, but that network would still just sit there in the computer mindlessly and logically doing what we told it without a single shred of initiative or feeling.

How can this be? If we can model neurons -the very foundation of our own minds- so perfectly and flawlessly then why doesn't our massive computer do anything but sit and drool all over itself? Many would argue that the answer lies in randomness. You see, every single neuron in a living breathing organism is just slightly different than its neighbors. Each neuron has its own specific tolerances, its own slight subtle variations, you could even say its own personality. Could it be that this randomness at the neuronal level build up to our massive differences in personality type? We each think a little differently, and we each have seemingly random experiences everyday that shape who we are. One could argue, that the very definition of the term "natural" is "randomness."

Extend the metaphor to modern music. Here we are, using logical, mathematical, and symmetrical tools to produce a product meant to be consumed by random unpredictable mammals and hey, look at this, a lot of the newest music making tools are intended to model instruments that have a certain random nature in them, like the natural harmonics in a vibrating violin string subtlety influenced by minute changes in air pressure and resistance. I think that the brain enjoys randomness, seeks randomness, and is consumed by the search for new and interesting things.

You can extend this metaphor to almost any form of art. Film, for example. How many times have you read a film review where the reviewer said the plot was formulaic? I'm sure quite a few. How many movies have you watched where you could almost predict the outcome of every plot and subplot the writers threw at you? Could you identify a problem with the production quality? Probably not. Could you identify a problem with the acting ability? Probably not. Hollywood did, after all, spend a zillion dollars to produce it. They spent every single penny making sure the acting was flawless, the sets were flawless, the special effects were as believable as possible, and the audio was spectacularly well mixed. They spent all that money and skimmed over the thing that the whole movie was put together for in the first place... the story. And your brain? It went out to get soda and go to the bathroom because the true randomness wasn't there. All that money, and the movie flops.

I think that the big secret to making music that stands out is a lack of pure tones. The music that stands out most to me, uses sounds I have never really heard before.

So there it is...It's just me, my brain, my listeners, and nature. What am I going to do with it?
I'll just to have to see what noise comes out...

Inspiration may be a form of super-consciousness, or perhaps of subconsciousness I wouldn't know. But I am sure it is the antithesis of self-consciousness.
- Aaron Copland

Aaron Copland -the pioneer of "American" music- was a composer whose works ranged in style from jazz influenced to classical modernist. Born at the beginning of the 20th century, when Americans were rarely recognized as composers by their European peers, he became widely known when he produced a series of ballets. Beginning with Billy the Kid (a ballet about a legendary western outlaw, complete with cowboy songs, commissioned in 1938 by Kirstein for Eugene Loring), and then continuing with the musically influential Rodeo (another Wild West ballet, about a cowgirl's search for a man) and Appalachian Spring (commissioned by the choreographer Martha Graham). At that point, as one of the most famous and popular American composers of all time, Copland composed A Lincoln Portrait for the Cincinnati Symphony, and then he created the noble Fanfare for the Common Man, for the same orchestra. Copland also scored for films, including documentaries and versions of plays by Wilder, Steinbeck and others, and his fine classical ear lended itself to "popularizing" full orchestra versions of cowboy songs with the Americana spirit which provided a backdrop for director Spike Lee's film He Got Game. You may be familiar with the version of Copland's Hoe Down piece which is used in commercials produced for TV.

Topic:
SNOEZELEN
Multisensory Stimulation Techniques

SNOEZELEN was originally developed in the Netherlands over twenty years ago, and through the pioneering efforts of professionals in the fields of health, education, and social-science has now been established as a sound therapeutic and educational approach to providing benefits for a variety of populations, including those with special needs, learning disabilities, dementia, or chronic pain.

Specific benefits have been identified for the following Particular Conditions:

Children with Special Needs -
In educational settings, SNOEZELEN rooms are being used as "neutral territory", where relationships can be established away from the stress of the classroom. At Addlington School in Reading, England, teaching staff find their sensory room an "invaluable resource…useful or a wide range of ages and abilities and a varied curriculum". A 1994 German study concluded, "SNOEZELEN causes an increase in motivation to succeed and an improvement in concentration and coordination."
Developmental Disability -
Multisensory stimulation has been one of the most common and successful approaches to learning disability for some time, especially since it was established that sensory work has an impact in the educational, as well as, the therapeutic arena. SNOEZELEN is being used in practice as a means of nonverbal communication as a setting for relaxation and self-healing and to provide stimulation for those who would otherwise be almost impossible to reach.
Mental Health -
The relaxed, calming atmosphere or SNOEZELEN provides an ideal situation for the development of therapeutic relationships. As they experience the deep relaxation of SNOEZELEN, people suffering from tension, depression, or anxiety can open up to discuss feelings. This effect occurs while in the SNOEZELEN environment, but also continues for the rest of the day.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder -
SNOEZELEN is used to provide a "safe place" where children traumatized by violence, sexual abuse, or the effects of war can begin to communicate, regain confidence, and rebuild trusting relationships. Additional research has shown the capacity of SNOEZELEN to induce deep relaxation and improve sleep patterns in critically ill children.
Autism -
SNOEZELEN has been found to be equally effective in working with people with autism or autistic characteristics. Research carried out in Brussels compared the behavior of nine adult clients with profound autism in both classroom and SNOEZELEN settings. Though individual results varied, the group results showed a fifty percent reduction in distress and stereotypical behavior, and seventy-five percent less aggression and self-injury in the SNOEZELEN environment.
Pain Control -
Recently, caregivers have been turning to SNOEZELEN to provide relief from acute and chronic pain, and to help women relax, remain calm and focused during labor. Early observations indicate that the SNOEZELEN environment offers distraction from pain, a "rehumanizing" effect due to deep relaxation, and all the benefits of leisure which might not otherwise be available to pain sufferers.
Stroke, and Traumatic Brain Injury -
The University Hospital of Ghent, Belgium found that the unique flexibility of SNOEZELEN produces excellent results. Here, therapists work one-on-one with young adults who have suffered severe brain damage through injury or stroke. The same SNOEZELEN equipment that stimulates passive individuals can also soothe those prone to agitation. SNOEZELEN allows the hospital to offer its patients a complete therapy package, addressing both gross-motor competencies and emotional needs, with the goal of moving each person toward the highest possible functional level. Practitioners throughout Europe have been using this multilevel approach with documented, positive results.

A Sampling of SNOEZELEN
- Interactive Sound and Light Wall
- Revolving Mirror Ball
- Aromatherapy
- Colored Light Spray

"Don't bother to look, I've composed all this already."
- Gustav Mahler, (to Bruno Walter who had stopped to admire mountain scenery in rural Austria.)

The child's view of heaven, as described in the German folk-poem Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Youth's Magic Horn) was the inspiration for much of Mahler's work, culminating in his Fourth Symphony. Mahler originally set this poem to music as an orchestral song and later toyed with the idea of adding it as the seventh movement to his Third Symphony (making it over 2 hours long!). It finally came to rest, unaltered, as the 4th movement of the Fourth Symphony, and despite it being right at the end of the work, forms the framework of the entire symphony. And it is the theme of the poem that makes this symphony different to all the other Mahler symphonies. Mahler's life was plagued by ill health, the death of a loved daughter and financial and professional woes. Dark disturbing thoughts pervade most of his symphonies, but not the Fourth. This is Mahler's sunniest, most accessible symphony. And his shortest, too. Mahler's task was to complement the naive, childlike tone of the poem, but also to convey the ethereal lightness of heaven. The orchestration is light (for Mahler) and the instrumentation unique, with bells and flutes and pianissimo strings. The soprano solo adds the final heavenly quality. If you wish to be transported to another world, choose a quiet evening when you cannot be disturbed, sit in a comfortable chair with the lights off, and listen to Mahler’s Fourth.

Topic:
WHY EXPERIMENTAL?
So maybe I need to get literal.
Scientists work by building on the work of their predecessors. They devise theories, and come up with ways of demonstrating the implications of those theories in observable situations. They then control the parameters of the system they study, as many as they can, manipulate others, and compare the results against expectations derived from their theories. In my view, experimental musicians do the same with their music. Or at least they should.

This is certainly not the same as "open the box, plug the sucker in, and record what the presets do." If knob-twiddling is experimentation at all, it is of a trivial, undisciplined and ultimately fruitless variety. Even manufacturers' product demos give the listener more than that. We've all had the misfortune of hearing what happens when this kind of noodling makes it into a recording.

So this is what I have to say about context, and where I might fit in the admittedly arbitrary genre of Experimental Music. "If you want to call yourself experimental, then experiment, don't just futz around." And as a teacher speaking to potential music students, I say, it's important to learn to play, whatever that means: sequencing, keyboard technique, nose-flute breath control, harmolodic theory, markov processes, sa-ri-ga-ma-pa-dha-ni-sa, convincing imitations of sheep bleats, or listening to the treniers fifty times. That doesn't mean that anyone else should have to put up with the audible byproducts of your learning process though. There is some benefit in having something to say before you say it. This isn't about age: there are some excellent musicians who are well under 20. It is about readiness. Some of us are never ready. And some of us have always been ready.

Clearly, this Concert Grand Piano...is in a class by itself.
The CC 213 G Transparent, designed by Nicholas Schimmel, is a 6' 10" concert-tour instrument housed in an acrylic plastic cabinet. The rich, excellent quality of its sound is brought to life by over 200 strings, vibrating with highly efficient energy that resonates with the diaphragmatic, tri-dimensionally formed and curved soundboard at its heart to reinforce specific harmonics for enhanced tonal projection, clarity, sustain, and color.

The real composer thinks about his work the whole time; he is not always conscious of this, but he is aware of it later when he suddenly knows what he will do.
- Igor Stravinsky

Born in Russia in 1882, Igor Stravinsky studied with Rimsky-Korsakov, and was influenced by Tchaikovsky, Borodin, Glazunov, Debussy and Dukas. This unusual mixture of influences lies behind The Firebird (1910), commissioned by Dyagilev for his Ballets Russes. Stravinsky went with the company to Paris in 1910 and spent much of his time in France from then onwards, continuing his association with Dyagilev in Petrushka (1911) and The Rite of Spring (1913). Stravinsky's styles are additive rather than symphonic, in that he placed blocks of material together without disguising the seams. The binding energy is much more rhythmic than harmonic, and the driving pulsations of The Rite marked a crucial change in the nature of Western music.

"In some century to come, when the school children will whistle popular tunes in quarter-tones-when the diatonic scale will be as obsolete as the pentatonic is now-perhaps then these borderland experiences may be both easily expressed and readily recognized. But maybe music was not intended to satisfy the curious definiteness of man. Maybe it is better to hope that music may always be transcendental language in the most extravagant sense" (Essays 71).
- Charles Ives

Topic:
ON THE FUTURE OF MUSIC
Rugged Americans

Partch, Ives, Nancarrow and Sessions were maverick composers who, despite minuscule or nonexistent audiences, persevered and fashioned a distinctly American music. At the age of 29, Harry Partch fed his compositions to a pot-bellied stove and undertook the most quixotic journey of any American composer. Rejecting Western temperament and the starched-shirt mores of Western music, Partch devised a unique tuning system and hand-built his own orchestra of over 30 beautiful instruments to realize his musical vision. The Letter recounts the dire times of Pablo, one of Partch's hobo pals from the 1930s. Charles Ives ranks among the most prescient composers of the century. His use of polytonality, polyrhythms, and other innovative techniques antedates the European avant-garde by decades. Three Places in New England conveys many moods, from the solemn stillness of The "Saint Gaudens" in Boston Common, to the folk songs colliding riotously throughout Putnam's Camp. Marrying Stravinsky's truculent rhythms to Schoenberg's spiky melodic arcs, Roger Sessions' Seventh Symphony is a welcome tonic for the tonal whitewash found in many contemporary works. One of Sessions' students was Conlon Nancarrow, who emigrated to Mexico to escape government harassment in the early 1940s. Nancarrow spent the remaining five decades of his composing life punching rolls of astounding polyphonic and polyrhythmic complexity for the player piano.

In a study conducted by a team of researchers at MIT...
The Conductor's Jacket was used to acquire physiological data including respiration, heart rate, temperature, skin conductance, and electromyography, as well as body movements and hand gestures used by several professional conductors and musicians during rehearsals and performances. This project is intended to answer certain fundamental questions about the nature of musical expression and how it is conveyed through gestures.

"Contrary to the general belief, an artist is never ahead of his time but most people are far behind theirs!"
- Edgar Varese

Topic:
MUSIQUE CONCRETE
There are three categories of Electronic music:
- Musique concrete
- Synthesizer music
- Computer music

Music concrete involves using the found sounds in nature, distorted in various ways, to create music. When performed Live, it becomes an exercise in mixing together unexpected sounds into some sort of musical structure. I am interested in creating a live form of Musique concrete using techniques similar to those used by one of the first composers who attempted to add noise to his compositions to break free from conventional music. I'm referring to Luigi Russolo who created an orchestra of Bruituers (noise making machines) in conjunction with Balilla Pratella. Encased in large boxes, these made a variety of grunts and hisses that became part of his 'Art of Noises' concerts in Milan, 1914. He used his bruituers to accompany traditional music and combine with it in new ways. After Russolo came Respighi, who used a phonograph playing sounds made by nightingales along with an orchestra in his Pines of Rome in 1924. In 1927, Antheil was experimenting with noise in ballet, using car horns, airplane propellers, saws, and anvils, in the performance of his Ballet Mechanique.

Using the techniques of Musique concrete will allow me to produce a unique sort of performance work that does not need to have structure in the normal forms. Though I intend to use a broad range of sounds overall, only certain categories of sounds will be used for each individual *Inclusion* (or movement). These sounds will totally relate to the "theme" of the *Inclusion*. Specific use of atmospheric background sounds will create the ambience that I intend for each of the environments that relate to each *Inclusion*. More rhythm and emotion will be added to the mix of background ambience by faster and more complex passages, using specific musical statements intended to carry the listener through a journey progressing from the various passages in each section of the main theme(s).

In a previous post I referenced the work of Edgar Varese. Because of the distinctive type of experimenting he did, his work significantly inspires my current efforts. In one of the very earliest multi-media performances ever created, his Poem Electronique used four film projectors, eight projection lanterns, six spot lights, six ultra-violet lights, fifty electric lamps to represent stars, and hundreds of fluorescent lamps in various colours.

Because of recent increases in the use of digital technology, adding the 'found' sounds of Musique concrete into publically performed works is much simpler than it was years ago. Even popular musicians have been adding various sampled sounds into their music. Musique concrete is becoming reborn again in various new forms. Beyond the previous experiments lies unventured multi-media territory. This territory will be what the Phoenix Bird Multi-Sensory Symphony explores.

The desired effect for immersive quality in the Ambience of the performance will be greatly ehanced through the use of properly cued, realistic sounds.
A common method of obtaining realistic sounds is to record or sample a real sound for later playback on demand under computer control. The rate at which sound is sampled is very important, and depending upon the application, very low rates can be acceptable; though an audiophile would like a frequency range of at least 20KHz, most human speech is below 4KHz, and intelligible speech can be distinguished from a bandwidth as low as 2.2KHz (300Hz to 2500Hz). The sample rate should be at least twice that of the highest frequency of the sound sampled; this is known as the Nyquist rate. Sampling below the Nyquist rate results in under sampling which produces lower frequency aliasing which interferes with the desired sound on playback. To support the full 20KHz human audio spectrum, sound samplers will use at least a 40KHz sampling frequency; most adults can not hear frequencies this high. As mentioned earlier, speech is predominantly below 4KHz, and though sampling at 40KHz may produce a higher quality sample, a 5KHz sampling rate is sufficient for intelligible speech and only takes 1/8th of the storage space that a 40KHz sample would require.

In my musical background, I have previously been exposed to the Alexander Technique.
F. M. Alexander, the founder of the technique, was a performer who discovered the basic principles of human coordination and evolved his technique in the quest to improve his own performance. Interestingly, the basic principle holds for all vertebrates and has been documented by scientists working with various other animals. Alexander's discovery was that optimum coordination is obtained by establishing a certain dynamic relationship between the head and the neck which then allows a certain relationship between the head, neck and torso, allowing a certain relationship between the head, neck, torso, upper and lower limbs. This he called the primary control. It sounds complicated but can be demonstrated by any good Alexander Technique teacher. This relationship, or primary control, is characterised by lightness and ease. It is working in the effortless fluidity of the cat, the alert sensitivity of the young child, and in rare cases in the masterful performances of a few adults. Heifitz and Rubenstein are good examples of this.

But for most of us the primary control is not working well and we need to learn to get it working well again. For a variety of reasons we have developed habits of interfering with this natural coordinating organization, habits which result in too much tension in some parts and too little in others, making it more and more difficult to improve in our activities no matter how hard we try. We habitually stiffen our necks which interferes with the larynx and with the singing voice. It also throws the torso and arms out of coordination making the simplest movements difficult and laboured.

All of this malcoordination is known as misuse. We misuse our arms in trying to play the piano, we misuse our jaw in trying to play the flute, we misuse ourselves as a whole. Not only does misuse limit our performance, but it also has serious consequences for our health. The prevalence of tendonitis, joint problems and repetitive strain injuries amongst musicians attests to widespread coordination problems, and gives warning of the actual dangers of making music without giving attention to coordination. It's a bit like driving with the hand brake on: eventually something's going to give. Although I am focusing primarily on musical issues here, misuse will negatively affect performance in all aspects of life and can affect all areas of health, as well. This may be a consideration for functional abilities in ANY type of physical performance and how improvements can be realized.

As in music, once gradual improvements have been made over a long period of time, these improvments will feed into all other activities. The time scale reflects the fact that habits of coordination are established over many years and take time to change. This is because wrong habits actually feel right instead of wrong, and to make an improvement involves doing something that feels wrong, unfamiliar and unnatural. The technique succeeds by teaching students to use their reasoning instead of relying on their feelings. As we are so unused to using our reasoning in this way, it takes us time to develop the skill.

In order to help overcome the nearly universal inclination to follow the sense of feeling in trying to do something, the teacher of the Alexander Technique uses hands-on guidance. This helps the student to gain a new experience in improved co-ordination and move away from established habits. At the same time the teacher is teaching reasoning skills to direct the student's coordination without guidance. The similarity of a hands-on approach to a variety of physical therapies should not be misunderstood. The Alexander Technique is not a therapy, and requires learning a skill, not just having something done to you. Success will depend on how how much attention is applied to the development of this skill. If the procedures are followed, success will be assured. For this reason, the students who are active in understanding what they are doing and how the technique works will make more progress than those who are passive or disinterested. Reading the four books written by F. M. Alexander is an essential part of studying the technique.

Finally, the technique is a general skill. Lessons typically consist of simple activities such as rising from a chair or lying on a table. There is a great deal more that could be said about the Alexander Technique. The limits of a short article however mean that the explanations are necessarily brief. Those who wish to learn more or investigate in greater detail would be well advised to read any of the books by F. M. Alexander or to get in touch with a teacher of the technique. Music is a great art, and it is a great tragedy that so much potential goes unfulfilled due to ignorance of the principles of our own coordination.

Without music, life is a journey through a desert.

Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.
--William Butler Yeats

I sometimes wish to be able to transcribe directly
the ideas in my head onto the recording medium.
Edgard Varese had much the same attitude, as shown here:

"I find myself frustrated at every moment by the poverty of the means of expression at my disposal. I myself would like, for expressing my personal conceptions, a completely new means of expression. A sound machine (and not a machine for reproducing sounds). What I compose, whatever my message is, would then be transmitted to my listener without being altered by interpretation..."

[Edgard Varese, c. 1933, in The Recording Angel, Evan Eisenberg, 1987]

This "sound machine" that Varese desired is obviously the forerunner to the modern synthesiser. Eisenberg asserts that a musical laboratory, also envisioned by Varese, was fully available only in 1977 at Pierre Boulez's IRCAM. However, Varese was given an early Ampex tape machine in the early fifties, and he began splicing (by hand) the tape portions of his piece Deserts, for winds, piano, percussion, and tape. Eisenberg further asserts that although Ussachevsky and Stockhausen had been producing electronic music experiments at this time...

...Varese, by contrast, had been making electronic music in his head for half a century; the moment the tools were put in his hands he knew what to do with them. Deserts expresses all the emptiness of those fifty years of history in a language exploding with their fullness... Stockhausen's Gesang der Junglinge of 1956 was perhaps the first worthy successor of Deserts, and Morton Subotnick's The Wild Bull of 1971... perhaps the most popular...

I think perhaps that quite a few composers at this point would love to be able to put the ideas in her or his head directly onto a recording medium. I have evidence that Frank Zappa was interested in this, but Zappa also chose not to devote himself entirely to this, as some musicians (including Todd Rundgren) also wanted to do -- Zappa wanted to be able to do the live show, and thus chose to limit himself with the capabilities of the live rock band. Although he did take those recordings and add many overdubs in the studio to produce a different kind of musical experience than the live, he was not performing musical alchemy. I think that Frank was a wonderful artist and was not restrained by the limited musical outlooks that too many modern pop artists have adopted. This process (or non-process) of musical creation may have been a refreshing change in pop music in the last 20 years or so, but it is hardly something new or unusual.

It is a fundamental practice of artists in many of the Eastern countries. The fact that principles of Zen, meditation and the like have slowly been trickling in to the West has become more evident as musicians like Kate Bush, Steve Reich and David Sylvian get recognition and understanding. Even so, I would contend that the only means of "Alchemy" as I would term it, would be through improvisation. This, of course, could be argued (probably without any decipherable outcome). While I'm way out here on a limb, I would liken The Phoenix Bird composition to a Claude Debussy piece rather than to a John Cage piece. That is, like Debussy, I will be using the sounds like a palette. (There is a nice explanation of this idea in Zen in the Art of Archery by Eugene Herrigel). These are ideas that both Debussy and Cage explored. They did not see limitations in their work. This is the feeling that I want to emulate: The artist's total indifference to the ideas of limitation in their composition.

Ferruccio Busoni said:
"Every notation is, in itself, the transcription of an abstract idea.
The instant the pen seizes it, the idea loses its original form."
[ Sketch of a New Aesthetic of Music, c. 1907]

I’m such a workaholic that the only way I can even make friends with people is by interviewing them or spending time with people in working situations. It’s how I get to know somebody on the level that I might really be interested in knowing them. Even my dialogues or correspondence with friends in foreign countries usually happens just because I have something else to get accomplished and they were originally contacted under other circumstances. Recently I have been using the process of researching for some technical white papers and articles I am authoring, in order to network and establish contacts in media related fields such as video production, audio recording, computer animation, 3D modeling, game design and music therapy. Some of the people I've been talking to have evinced quite a lot of interest in the work I'm involved in and want to hear more about it on an ongoing basis. To those who have requested to be updated on a regular basis, I've sent a link to this site and expect a lot of feedback about their reactions to the process being exposed here.
I have the idea that even though friendship is often defined as a leisure related activity, there's really something else at work — it's really about an alliance, about people who believe in the same things and therefore want to talk to each other. Building intense social relationships and enjoying those types of interactions, paying attention to lots of simultaneous details has a enormous benefit for me, I get a lot of things accomplished with this. And having "lunch" with someone often brings out ideas that are not a normal part of the working context. It's almost as if the pleasure of relaxing and enjoying being around someone like that, creates an atmosphere of adventure and discovery, where I'm finding out about things I don't know about this person and their finding things out about me as well. Immediately I realize that we have expanded the relationship, that even more is being accomplished than in the regular context of working on a project together. Common interests become a mutual foundation for furthering our work together. And what's more, we are now sharing on a much more profound level, which is where insights occur into exploring each new opportunity to accomplish things with an expanded set of skills or tools or knowledge and expertise that doesn't normally come into view under other circumstances. Once people hear that I play the piano for instance, they normally never fail to let me know that they have desires to do the same thing. It seems almost universal that artistry and creative accomplishments are things that people DO admire and respect. It isn't normal for someone to say, I'm glad I never took that up, it's a real waste of time. Instead, I immediately understand that EVERYONE wants to participate and engage with creativity. The only barrier is the lack of access. "I wish I had piano lessons as a kid" or "I wanted to be a artist, but my teachers told me that it was a tough way to make a living". Are the children of our society making choices based on misinformation? Are we letting down our descendants by NOT supporting and encouraging early interests in the Arts and Music? I am going to look at this in depth and publish the results of my research. There are already indications that people assume too much about these ideas...and what we really need to do, is make a difference in the lives of our youth culture by achieving a life-long relationship with creative problem solving, disciplined and dedicated optimization of natural talent and characteristics and above all a LOVE for the cultural aspects of either side of the performer/audience symbiosis.

Human life itself may be almost pure chaos, but the work of the artist is to take these handfuls of confusion and disparate things, things that seem to be irreconcilable, and put them together in a frame to give them some kind of shape and meaning.
--Katherine Anne Porter (1894-1980) US novelist, short-story writer

My research shows that world-wide folklore has many references to Birds, as protagonists and powerful beings...

The Legend: Many tales are told of Raven, who can be compared to Prometheus; both were credited with giving the power of fire to the people of the earth. The raven is said to have stolen the sun. The Raven is also known as a trickster that can change form to accomplish a task, in the same way that humans can have many sides to their personalities.

Other Cultures: The Raven is cross cultural and for a hundred thousand years the greatest of the Gods was the Raven or Crow. He was the dream carrier who brought civilization to the people in paleaolithic times. Mammoth ivory carvings depict a goddess with the raptor traits of a bird - talons and a beaked face but with bare breasts. The ancient greeks called this God Cronos, the god of time. Another avatar was the Norse god Odin, and to the Celts --as well as aboriginal North American nations-- this black bird carried the cosmic significance of the Great Benefactor, the Creator of the visible world. The Germanic and Siberian tribes also worshiped the Raven as an oracular healer. In China the black feathered predator was the first of the imperial emblems, representing yang. Midieval alchemists called the Raven "The Shadow of the Sun". When as humans we've gone as far as our bodies and imagination can take us, we meet the Eternal ones. The powers that built our flesh out of the mineral accidents of star dust and that are now building our individual fates out of time and the essence of our hearts, are timeless and spaceless, and the Raven emerges out of this super realm with the appetite of the Eternal Ones for the mortal incarnations of this world.

It is only by introducing the young to great literature, drama and music, and to the excitement of great science that we open to them the possibilities that lie within the human spirit -- enable them to see visions and dream dreams.
--Eric Anderson

The CAMERATA program at the University of Arizona has a published roster of professional degree students (including soloists and ensembles) that may be a resource for additional instrumental parts. I will get in touch with specific musicians and/or groups to enquire if they would be interested in performing in the Phoenix Bird Symphony. This has some exciting implications for the project!

The American Orff-Schulwerk Association is a professional organization of music and movement educators dedicated to the creative teaching approach developed by Carl Orff and Gunild Keetman. They believe that learning about music - learning to sing and play, to hear and understand, to move and create - should be an active and joyful experience.
I am doing some research and attempting to get additional information about what being a member of their organization would cost and why it would be desirable to join.

I like this line by Samuel Johnson:
"The purpose of art is to help us better to enjoy our lives, or better to endure them."