Hey there,
One of these days, as soon as he gets his songs registered with SOCAN, I'll be asking someone I know if i can post some of his songs on my profile somehow. His name is Marcel, he is an incredibly gifted piano player and musician. By far the best piano player I've ever heard. He is still young, younger than I am, but a musical genius he is. He graces the piano with numerous melodies that he himself writes, on the spot. That's right, the music he plays is completely improvised, the only way it can be reproduced faithfully is through recording it, otherwise the piece, as he played it in that exact moment, is truly lost. Never before have I ever heard an artist like this, he is simply amazing to watch and hear. His music transports you to another place and time, where emotion collides with beauty and your heart is left feeling quite content and whole, as if peace itself were the very embodiment of his melodies. It truly is incredible, and if I can help launch him into a career in music, then I would gladly do so, because to keep his beautiful polyphonic voice, and internationally reaching language, silent, would be a true horror and sin. So that is Marcel and I can only hope that I have captured the very essence of his music in these expressions. Take my word for it, once you hear his music, you will be left with an impression of the Living and Dynamic God, whose Spirit clearly rests on this music.
Soon, my friends, soon. I have faith that he will allow me to post a couple.
God Bless
Gregory
1.10.2008
Music Applied to Relationships: Expectancy of the Unexpected Revisted
I should illuminate something before people get confused with the following. The reason I ask for ideas and input is because when I post something as I did in my previous post, it's still very much a new theory, a new idea, and is pretty much untested. I like to think 'aloud' (through writing anyways) because it helps me see connections that I would otherwise miss.
So onwards, in my own thoughts as well as through the process of talking to my friend Brenan, there is one serious flaw in the idea that if we know everything that is going to happen and have a 'roadmap' of sorts to life, which in turn makes our relationships flat and stale, how then are we able to have a dynamic relationship with God who knows all things? It's a question that needs to be answered if the theory will ever hold any ground. Think about it and let me know what you come up with it. In my thoughts, I wonder if it couldn't be because He could choose to limit Himself for the sake of having a relationship with us. But what does that limiting look like and what does it entail? All very important questions. Think and pray about it, as I will be.
Greg
So onwards, in my own thoughts as well as through the process of talking to my friend Brenan, there is one serious flaw in the idea that if we know everything that is going to happen and have a 'roadmap' of sorts to life, which in turn makes our relationships flat and stale, how then are we able to have a dynamic relationship with God who knows all things? It's a question that needs to be answered if the theory will ever hold any ground. Think about it and let me know what you come up with it. In my thoughts, I wonder if it couldn't be because He could choose to limit Himself for the sake of having a relationship with us. But what does that limiting look like and what does it entail? All very important questions. Think and pray about it, as I will be.
Greg
1.08.2008
Music Applied to Relationships
Hey there,
So before I get into this I just want to say something. If I know all the up's and downs, all the trials, all the joys, and all the expereinces that I am going to go through with you, our relationship will be flat; it will be dead. Relationships are built upon the unexpected, they're built upon the companionship and the partnership of two people as they experience something. If I already know everything that is going to happen and how to steer clear of the bad stuff and know the good stuff that's coming, I won't be able to share that moment with you and our relationship becomes quite flat; instead of living life with you, I'm following a set of directions, which is nothing more than a computer or robot does. Relationships are expectancy of the unexpected. Of course, as you've seen in my other posts, that's not all there is to a good relationship with God, or with friends, family and lovers. But we don't need to go there. What inspired this post was a passage that I read in "This is Your Brain On Music", page 111 if you have the book, "I said earlier that music is organized sound, but the organization has to involve some element of the unexpected or it is emotionally flat and robotic." You see, Daniel Levitin says that through the culture we grow up in, our minds form links and memories that say "Music is supposed to sound like this" however, what distinguishes a great song that will be played for a very long time and a song that we forget rather quickly is that the good song breaks those expectations that our minds have formed, giving it an edgy unexpected air that keeps us interested and listening for more, because we naturally want to hear the music return to the pattern we expect. So without those unexpected shifts, the music won't keep us on the edge of our seats or interest us in any way shape or form. I just found it cool that music, like relationships, requires an air of the expectancy of the unexpected for it to truly work and truly be great.
What do you think?
Greg
So before I get into this I just want to say something. If I know all the up's and downs, all the trials, all the joys, and all the expereinces that I am going to go through with you, our relationship will be flat; it will be dead. Relationships are built upon the unexpected, they're built upon the companionship and the partnership of two people as they experience something. If I already know everything that is going to happen and how to steer clear of the bad stuff and know the good stuff that's coming, I won't be able to share that moment with you and our relationship becomes quite flat; instead of living life with you, I'm following a set of directions, which is nothing more than a computer or robot does. Relationships are expectancy of the unexpected. Of course, as you've seen in my other posts, that's not all there is to a good relationship with God, or with friends, family and lovers. But we don't need to go there. What inspired this post was a passage that I read in "This is Your Brain On Music", page 111 if you have the book, "I said earlier that music is organized sound, but the organization has to involve some element of the unexpected or it is emotionally flat and robotic." You see, Daniel Levitin says that through the culture we grow up in, our minds form links and memories that say "Music is supposed to sound like this" however, what distinguishes a great song that will be played for a very long time and a song that we forget rather quickly is that the good song breaks those expectations that our minds have formed, giving it an edgy unexpected air that keeps us interested and listening for more, because we naturally want to hear the music return to the pattern we expect. So without those unexpected shifts, the music won't keep us on the edge of our seats or interest us in any way shape or form. I just found it cool that music, like relationships, requires an air of the expectancy of the unexpected for it to truly work and truly be great.
What do you think?
Greg
1.05.2008
The Notions of Perception
Hey there,
So I am reading a book right now called "This Is Your Brain on Music" and it is quite interesting. I've always found the science of pyschoacoustics to be very interesting and I have always wanted to learn more about it. The idea that everything we hear is a product of how our brains percieve it is just really cool. You know the old addage "If a tree falls in the forest and nothing is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" Well before I went to school in Toronto, I was always saying yes. But that is not the case. Sure, if a tree falls in the forest, the physical properties of sound are still there; the air molecules are still vibrating at a certain rate, but here's the catch: the tree does not make a sound. Why? Because in order for 'sound' to exist as we understand it, something has to be there in it's presence to interpret what is happening to the air molecules on a physical level. Without anything there to interpret the physical disturbance then that is all it is, a disturbance in the air, a miniscule breeze, a tiny change in air pressure. I understood that before I started reading the book but the thing that made me really stop today and think is that this is the case for practically everything we expereince. Take colour for example. If there is nothing in a room to percieve colour, is the room still coloured? The answer here as well is no. Particles do not have an inherent colour, they're just particles. For something to have a colour attributed to it, there must be a set of eyeballs and a brain to interpret the waveforms that are being reflected off the surface. Indeed, the waveform itself isn't even coloured, we only attribute colour to it because that is how our minds interpret it. What really blows my mind is that to some other creature, violet could be the low end of the spectrum and red the high end. Same goes for taste, the smoked salmon in the fridge does not have a taste until we put it in our mouths and our brain interprets the signals the tongue recieves as 'salmon'. The same can be said of smell, and possibly even touch. Is something rough because it's inherently rough or is that just the way we interpret it? The Science of Perception really intrigues me. I'm of course more interested in the sound aspect of perception, but all aspects are equally as cool.
Anyways, hope you enjoy and I hope you start listening, seeing, and tasting with a new interest.
YFTCF
Gregory @(*o*)@
So I am reading a book right now called "This Is Your Brain on Music" and it is quite interesting. I've always found the science of pyschoacoustics to be very interesting and I have always wanted to learn more about it. The idea that everything we hear is a product of how our brains percieve it is just really cool. You know the old addage "If a tree falls in the forest and nothing is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" Well before I went to school in Toronto, I was always saying yes. But that is not the case. Sure, if a tree falls in the forest, the physical properties of sound are still there; the air molecules are still vibrating at a certain rate, but here's the catch: the tree does not make a sound. Why? Because in order for 'sound' to exist as we understand it, something has to be there in it's presence to interpret what is happening to the air molecules on a physical level. Without anything there to interpret the physical disturbance then that is all it is, a disturbance in the air, a miniscule breeze, a tiny change in air pressure. I understood that before I started reading the book but the thing that made me really stop today and think is that this is the case for practically everything we expereince. Take colour for example. If there is nothing in a room to percieve colour, is the room still coloured? The answer here as well is no. Particles do not have an inherent colour, they're just particles. For something to have a colour attributed to it, there must be a set of eyeballs and a brain to interpret the waveforms that are being reflected off the surface. Indeed, the waveform itself isn't even coloured, we only attribute colour to it because that is how our minds interpret it. What really blows my mind is that to some other creature, violet could be the low end of the spectrum and red the high end. Same goes for taste, the smoked salmon in the fridge does not have a taste until we put it in our mouths and our brain interprets the signals the tongue recieves as 'salmon'. The same can be said of smell, and possibly even touch. Is something rough because it's inherently rough or is that just the way we interpret it? The Science of Perception really intrigues me. I'm of course more interested in the sound aspect of perception, but all aspects are equally as cool.
Anyways, hope you enjoy and I hope you start listening, seeing, and tasting with a new interest.
YFTCF
Gregory @(*o*)@
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