All-Time Favorite Music Quote
Since my last post, I was in Germany for three weeks, from the end of September to the middle of October. I was back in Boston for a month, then out of town for another ten days at the end of November. All this travel has made it difficult to update this blog. But I have a ton of ideas for CD reviews and journal entries, so stay tuned.
Here's my all-time favorite music quote, from the Danish composer Carl Nielsen (1865-1931):
"A melodic third ought to be regarded as a gift from God, a fourth as an adventure, and a fifth as the highest bliss."
Sometimes when I'm playing my clarinet I think about this quote and try to play the connections between the intervals in the melody with utmost consciousness, as if they were the tools of an alchemist or magician. It's amazing how much more alive the melody instantly becomes--not just more expressive, but somehow more dimensional.
This is one of the easiest ways to breathe, bow, pluck, or press the soul into whatever music you're making.
Here's my all-time favorite music quote, from the Danish composer Carl Nielsen (1865-1931):
"A melodic third ought to be regarded as a gift from God, a fourth as an adventure, and a fifth as the highest bliss."
Sometimes when I'm playing my clarinet I think about this quote and try to play the connections between the intervals in the melody with utmost consciousness, as if they were the tools of an alchemist or magician. It's amazing how much more alive the melody instantly becomes--not just more expressive, but somehow more dimensional.
This is one of the easiest ways to breathe, bow, pluck, or press the soul into whatever music you're making.
2 Comments:
Ken Wilber wrote that Mahler's
music was essentially fourth
chakra music that resonates
deeply with the human ideas of
love and compassion. While I
admit that his music may emphasize
this chakra, I think that this viewpoint is a bit naive. Mahler's composition was as much an emotional process as it was an
intellectual process. Can you
honestly say that his 2nd Symphony
("Resurrection") doesn't resonate with qualities akin to the seventh chakra? Also, the incredible contrapuntal complexity of his music is evidence of terrific
intellectual processing. The complex structure of his music
challenges the intellectual capacity of comprehension associated with the sixth
chakra. IMHO his music runs a much wider gamut of chakric sensibilities than people may realize, and this is what makes it so special.
I am a musician and Mahlerphile
interested in any feedback on
this question.
jilan
Hi jilan--
I wrote extensively about Mahler in my book. I'm with you. Wilber's remarks about the fourth chakra seem naive.
However, he may have been using a different definition of the fourth chakra. The ancient yogic system and the new age system are quite different. In the ancient yogic system, the fourth chakra is our connection with the Absolute.
I agree with you about Mahler and the sixth and seventh chakras. In fact, in my book, I come to many of the same conclusions and offer a brief chakra analysis of several of Mahler's symphonies.
If you happen to come back and see this message, please contact me through my website: www.KurtLeland.com.
I've been busy with a new book, which is why it took me so long to get back to you. My experience with anonymous comments on my blogs is that people don't check back and the dialogue is broken. I would welcome further dialogue with you if you use the e-mail address on my website.
Kurt
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