0801-MAN
PERSONAL
MANIFESTOS
on music,
theatre & language
two manifestos
by Zachār Laskewicz
NIGHTSHADES Press NACHTSCHIMMEN
1000
Vuren
Noordstraat
1/3
B-9000
NIGHTSHADES Press NACHTSCHIMMEN
http://www.nachtschimmen.eu
Table of ConTenTs
NOTES 2008
PREFACE 1994
MANIFESTO ONE:
Reflections on language, Culture, Art and
Science
1. Defining Language and Society
2. Language and National Identity
3. Science and Magic
4. Towards a New Reality
MANIFESTO TWO:
Language, Music and
Communication
1. Introduction
2. Language and Self
3. East/West : contrasting
musico-cultural discourses
4. Music as an expression of psychological,
social and biological
structures: towards a new theory of musical
communication?
References
NOTES 2008
I'm republishing this collection of thoughts about
language and the relationship between music and language.
It's at the very least an interesting commentary on a
time which has long passed. And at best
a document about being young, discovering the world and making sense of it as
best you can. It may be idealistic but
it does represent ideals which I still consider important.
Preface 1994
This publication is
a combination of two texts, the first completed in 1994 and the second in 1995.
They have received the name 'manifesto' primarily because the impetus for their
creation grew from an awareness of a relationship between my creative work and
a dissatisfaction with western society, and as such are accompanied by a
feeling of breaking out in order to extend traditional boundaries. These texts are important because they form
important landmarks in my personal development, and I have decided to present
them together because they help to give a clear direction to the way my work
has developed through the last few years.
This has been involved with a search for an identity as a 'composer' of
experimental music-theatre and the simultaneous personal necessity to find a
theoretical language to explore the role of music in culture, something that
seemed to me not to be encompassed by traditional theoretical discourses on
this subject.
The impetus for the
writing of both of these articles grows from intense periods of change brought
about by moving first from
These articles are
bound to a place and a time, and should not be taken as a direct reflection of
how I feel now. Their writing has been
completed with the knowledge that we never stop learning and developing, but
that certain stages are reached when it becomes important to bring all the
developments into an understandable form, so that future developments will have
a sturdy starting point. These texts are written with such a background, and
will hopefully remain useful for future reference as well as functioning as
dialogues that can help people to understand my work by getting to know their
internal context.
ManifesTo One
Reflections on language, Culture, Art and Science
1. Defining Language and SocieTy
I have
noticed at different times through the years that life seems to reach a point
of conjunction in which it becomes necessary to start to piece the fragments
together that seem at last to be forming part of a greater pattern. These periods are of particular personal
importance and seem to occur at crosspoints in my life; spans of time
signifying the end of one period and at the same time the beginning of another,
dark periods of uncertainty in which everything that I have done is brought
into question. Despite all the
difficulty and self doubt that is brought about by such a period, being forced
to question the past makes the present clearer and the structure of the future
easier to define. Having emerged from
such a period I feel that I have been able to form a steady base on which
future work can be developed. This was
made possible by being able to form my ideas into patterns, making a clear
coherence from thoughts that were previously confused and unclear. This article is a collection of these
thoughts brought into a coherent form; thoughts involved with my work and my
identity, and more particularly the empty space between myself and my society
that I bridge through my creative work.
The
relationship between my work and my
identity is something that I have until now been able to ignore; in the past it
was relatively easy for me to distance what I was creating from who I was
because in any case very little seemed to fit or make a lot of sense: I always
felt very estranged from my home environment and my creative work seemed out of
place, so connecting it all together was then simply impossible. Now however, being able to form my identity
anew in a completely different environment[1] I have discovered that my work is in every
way intricately intertwined with my identity, and the realisation of this
connection has freed me up in making other personal discoveries.
Firstly I
am actually surprised to find a correlation between the subjects that seem now
suddenly to be of extreme importance and those that I have discussed similarly
in the past;[2] subjects
I thought I had long left behind but return now in a further developed
form. In this regard the concept of 'language'
is of particular importance, something that has concerned me and
influenced my work almost from the very beginning. I have always considered that my work is
primarily a reaction against the emphasis that has been placed in our society
on spoken and written language as the only basis from which communication can
be understood, and I expressed this through reacting against traditionally
accepted conceptions of theatre language and an interest in how music is used
in other societies to provide cultural unity.
In my previous work, both theoretical and practical, I have demonstrated
a clear dissatisfaction with 'language' as I have experienced it through my
education, where words were strictly related to facts which developed a
materialistic outlook on reality; the interpretation of phenomena became
restricted to a purely scientific level.
I became very quickly
disillusioned by spoken/written language as an expressive medium, feeling that
words imposed on trains of thought, betraying the inner meaning and only saying
half of what was necessary. For me the
image was clear: if the imagination was
a river, verbal language was an unsteady stone bridge across it, and thus I searched
for other ways to tap the original source through my work. For me, the interpretation of any language
object is in fact different for every person; the definition for a word as
suggested in a dictionary can only act as a guide to an impression of
meaning. For example, a 'dog' could be
for one a carrier of love and affection
and for another one of terror and disgust, depending on the background of the
involved party. This would also count of
course for certain emotional and abstract concepts such as 'love' and
'compassion' -defined according to cultural (and not universal) norms. Verbal
language remains a transitory medium, sometimes difficult and ambiguous where
'meaning' depends more on environment and circumstance than something sure and
predetermined. In my society I was
unwillingly bonded to what I interpreted as a stiflingly invariable language
system in which it would be impossible to receive true self expression.
It is
clear then that my initial difficulties with language reflect a larger
dissatisfaction with the society in which I was taught to perceive the world in
such a materialistic and logocentric way.
This dissatisfaction[1] led me from an
interpretation of language as word-based communication to an exploration of
language in the broader context of a cultural system. Through this I have
realised the importance of language in helping to define culture. I view
language now as a complex communication system, only a degree of which is made
up of written letters or spoken vocal sounds.
Theoretically speaking I consider language as an essential
characteristic that plays an important structural role in all human
'society'. In the structural sense I
define 'society' as a complex interweaving of sign systems, systems in which
meaning is communicated and the
environment is made understandable and coherent for the inhabitants. The term 'language' in my own definition is
therefore extended to include all possible forms of human communication, and in
this regard 'society' could also be considered a language. An important factor of language for me is
its essential 'artificiality' in that it is not inborn or natural but is learnt
as a product of the surrounding society.
We are therefore bound very much to our social environment through our
language, and it would be difficult to deny that language has a lot to do with
cultural identity.
Defined
firstly through its capacity to unite a given culture, language can of course
be also considered as an important means of personal expression. In other words, in addition to finding our
identity by considering ourselves as figures in a given human society
(restricted only by the boundaries of our 'languages') we should be able to
find the means within this system to express ourselves as individuals. The very
basis of my work, however, is based on a personal dissatisfaction with my
society and a questioning of the very nature of the 'languages' with which I
was provided. I have thus denied myself
the possibility of being united with my culture or of finding self-expression
through my own society, leading to a search for a new type of language, one
based on illogical or musical concepts.
In order
to explain the new ways of experiencing language that I have attempted to
encompass in my work I can quote a friend, Carsten Wiedemann, who is similarly
interested in using the concept of language as the basis for analysing and
criticising society (through the medium of performance). He defines language as follows in a
description of his new dance project called Word Perfect:
A) Language - the desire to connect
my individual being with others
in order to become part of
something bigger than myself.
B) Language - the desire to be
different, to speak and to experience
my own voice different to
another. To be the one and only.
C) Language - which exists without
reason, aim or function.
Language is an event in itself.
This can
be related to new ways that I have found to perceive my own work by placing
myself in relation to my social environment.
I am now able to clearly see that my greatest desire was to feel
accepted into a social structure in which I could find meaning and identity,
one in which I could in every way 'fit'.
Unfortunately my quest for acceptance included an uncompromising desire
for self expression, resulting in a sort of unwitting non-conformity where I
was rejected by me peers without knowing why.
Although longing to find a 'language' in which I would be able to
communicate with those around me, I now realise that I could not accept the
restrictions imposed by being accepted into any possible social situation
offered to me at the time because it would not have allowed sufficient room for
self-expression. These two contradictory
possibilities can be related to Wiedemann's A and B language definitions
respectively. The inability to find a
compromise within the restrictions of my own social environment has resulted of
course in me stepping outside society and looking inwards, somewhat embittered,
and through my work providing on one level a commentary on this negative
reaction and on the other creating new music-language 'structures' in which I
can find my own meaning. This search for
alternative language systems, in connection with the estrangement from my own
society, has led me to the exploration of other cultures and how they
'communicate' through their performing arts, particularly music.
My
interest in 'musical' communication reflects my dissatisfaction with society
not merely through a rejection of the traditional way in which language is
perpetuated, but also my alienation from our own musical culture. From receiving a traditional 'musical'
upbringing and studying music later in university I have received the dominant
impression that one of the primary meaning-bearing functions of music in our
society is to create social divisions. We distinguish between a 'classical' and
a 'popular' music, the former which is considered by many to be superior. It is true at least that a special type of
'musical' education is necessary in order to give this music some structural
meaning, and there is no doubt that our society recognises an elitist division
of people whom we call 'musicians' and who are commonly considered to be the
only ones capable of producing music.
For many, music of any value is a talent performable only by a chosen
few, and in terms of classical music this represents the perpetuation of
musical techniques that have little or no meaning-bearing function in
contemporary society, just a limp aesthetic aftertaste of what was popular
hundreds of years ago in Europe. For
this reason I am more attracted to contemporary popular music because it is
connected more with my own culture than some sort of lost musical aesthetic,
but I have at the same time been alienated from this music because of the
cultural values represented in which I can find no personal significance. Not being able to accept either paths, my
research has been extended to other cultures with a differing way of
experiencing music. Through these
alternative paths I have been forced to question the traditional concept of a
purely 'aural' musical experience as is inherent in western musical
culture. According to John Blacking, the
evidence of ethnomusicological research suggests that "'musical intelligence'
[the way the brain understands musical experience - Z.L.]
cannot be defined in strictly acoustical terms" and that it "can be used to
organise cultural phenomena that are not usually described as 'musical'." On the same token, Gerhard Kubik observes
that in African music the western distinction between music and dance is irrelevant:
"one can define African music in one of its fundamental structural aspects as a
system of movement patterns." My own practical experience has demonstrated an
intimate connection between the experience of music and dance in Indian and
Indonesian culture, and thus in my own musical 'systems' the concept of musical
experience is extended from simply the aural so that elements of other
contrasting language discourses can be encompassed, including vocal and
movement languages.
The
concept of a music-language seems my strongest statement against traditional
society and at the same time presents the possibility for a solution to my
language enigma. We have already defined
'language' as a complex social communication system, comprised of or intimately
connected with an array of other sign systems that provide meaning for us in
our societies. Music is undoubtedly one
of these systems, and the way it provides personal meaning is worthy of further
discussion. My own experience of music can be related to my experience of
taking on a foreign language where a whole new series of symbols must be
learnt-words, sounds, mannerisms and habits-to make the behaviour of a given
community understandable. These elements
are 'artificial' in that they must be interpreted as a structure before they
can be expressed. For me the joy of the
performance of music comes firstly from the feeling that I am expressing a
system that is 'artificial', something that becomes willingly adopted but is
not a natural part of my being; a system comprised of movements, sounds and
nuances. Although I am expressing
through my playing a musical system originally envisaged by someone else, using
elements that are not 'my own', I feel that I can receive self-expression
through the music: I find musical experience especially enjoyable if I feel
like I am expressing a bit of myself within the expression of a larger cultural
whole. Finding simultaneously a personal
and a 'cultural' expression through the performance of a musical system
Wiedemann's A and B definitions are united.
This gives a firm basis for the exploration of music as a language
system, one in which the traditional conception of 'meaning' must be totally
rethought.
Definition
C relates most closely to my work in attempting to discover music as a form of
language: I have taken language as an
artifact, stripping it of all the traditional meaning-based trappings, and
created inwardly referring 'meaning' that is only significant in relation to
the musical structure inside the composition. This fascination with the exploration of
languages that actually have no 'aim' or 'function' reflects not only an
interest in musical systems, but expresses directly my dissatisfaction with the
traditional conception of language: the expression of something cogent and
understandable, the stiflingly logical world in which I sometimes feel
trapped. Through searching for an
expression of language that exists on one level without 'rational' explanation
I have adopted a stance which sets me in a historical structure, in this case
the avant-garde in art. According to
Christopher Innes there appears to be a
recurring theme that has united various avant-garde art movements through the last
hundred years:
"there appears a dominant interest in the irrational
and primitive, which has two basic and complementary facets: the exploration of dream states or the
instinctive and subconscious levels of the psyche, and the quasi-religious
focus on myth and magic, the experimentation with ritual and the ritualistic
patterning of performance."
Although
relating to a series of particularly contrasting artists, these sentences could
certainly describe the work that I have being doing over the last few years,
although this has been expressed in various different forms: horrifying dream
soundscapes, group ritual compositions and the construction of artificial
languages to name a few. On another
level, my dissatisfaction with western conceptions of language and music is
directly perceivable in my continuing desire to deconstruct traditional methods
of notating 'performance texts' (both musical and dramatic) and from the
fragments to create my own notation system; a new performance language.
Precisely what has led me to this point forms the important structural element
for this article, attempting to explain why it is that I have reacted so
savagely both against my society and language as it is generally experienced in
western society.
2. Language and NaTional IdenTiTy
This
discussion of language leads us directly to a discussion of cultural identity,
and more specifically to my difficulty in relating to the concept of national
identity in
Living in
Language when observed in this way can be seen as a
structuring/stratifying tool used by society to create divisions or unities as
is necessary in certain social/political situations. This observation has caused me to investigate
in more detail how language is used in by society to create these divisions. It
could be said that through the centralisation of education, an emphasis is
placed on creating a sense of national identity, and that this education is
binding in that it gives a common 'language' and a common way in which the
world can be experienced. This is of
course a very sensible political move to avoid falling into complete social
anarchy, but the European language purism that is still perpetuated in the
education is only affective in distancing people from any regional cultural
connections they might have had and reminds me also of particularly frightening
'language crimes' I have encountered in Russia.
Under Soviet rule many people living in central
Since
being in
My
distancing from
Elements
of Australian society that are considered essentially 'Australian' seem also to
have played a role in my estrangement. Recreation activities, particularly
sport, are considered an essential element of a healthy upbringing in
Australian society. In relation to a
definition of society, sport, especially team sport, could be interpreted as a
social tool designed to unite and bring prestige to a cultural group, be that a
football team or a nation. From a very
young age I refused to be involved in this type of recreation, especially team
sports which I considered violent, dangerous and ugly. In my personal rejection of this form of
social interaction I was not only rejecting the game itself, but in a broader
sense Australian culture in general.
Rejecting this I was forced to stand on the fringe at a distance,
searching for my own kind of cultural unity.
This desire to be distant from my peers started at a very young age, and
was to express itself later in many different ways - my sexuality being the
most decisive. I never felt that I
fitted the sort of image that was accepted as Australian, as broad and open as
that may in reality be. This was
reflected in a rejection of every single attribute that is considered
Australian: a dislike of the beach, a dislike of sports, inability to simply
relax and enjoy myself to name a few. I
now realise that this distancing was in fact from the beginning a subversive act, although my desire for
acceptance and my longing to live in a system in which I would be comfortable
did not allow me to realise that this distancing was not simply one of the
repercussions of being different (stemming from my sexuality, as I thought) but
a deliberate statement against my culture and the beginning of a search for something
new.
Now
living in
3. Science and Magic
Having
already opened this discussion into relating my investigation of language and
the role it plays in culture, I would like to move on from my reactions to
Australian society and investigate further my experience of western society in
general. As discussed to some extent in
the first chapter, I have realised since being in Europe that the very basis of
my work questions language and the connected cultural environment, and related
to this the very notion of 'reality' that was presented to me as part of my
upbringing, one in which a logical outlook forced me to observe my environment
in a particularly rational way: there were no second choices, no alternative
possibilities. Although my work begins
by questioning music and theatre as it is experienced in western culture, this
extends to a questioning of the artificial structures that we are forced to
live in; in its own way providing us with a system in which to live and
perceive reality but also limiting us to perceiving reality in a certain way,
emphasising the rational explainability of natural phenomena according to
scientific theory. This emphasis on rationality and progression is passed on in
every level of our education: we are taught to think about reality in this way
by our experience of mathematics and science.
My
dominant impression is the distance that we seem to have placed between
ourselves and the natural world, resulting from the incredible rate of
scientific and technological change through the last hundred years. In western culture we seem to rely primarily
on a logical system growing from an emphasis on progression and change,
creating an aching gap between 'culture and 'nature'. Our perception of reality seems on one level
to be fairly limited, as beings existing in limited human environments with no
scope for anything apart from what fits into our rational, explainable systems.
My own perception of the world has led me to think about this in a different
way. I have begun to doubt that
everything can simply be explained because we have scientists that tell us that
it must have happened in a certain way because it fits certain theories. It seems that I have been naturally led to
question this through my work.
I have
not reflected my dissatisfaction in an anarchistic rejection of western
culture, but rather an interest in cultural systems where a connection is
recognised between the cultural and the natural environment, clearly visible in
ritual performances. This has led me to
explore how theatre and music are experienced, helping to provide a means in
which the natural world can be encompassed, interfacing and connecting the two.
It could be said that the function of art is to help to bridge this gap,
although in western society the gap is so large that a great deal of art must
stand against traditional society rather than be fused together with it, and in
western music it is apparent to me that we have lost this connection, searching
instead for a sort of aesthetic principle - the only thing left if the music
itself has no particular significance other than an exploration of the sound as
a sound. By contrast Balinese music and
theatre connects the performers and the audience in a particularly significant
ritual function that plays a role in society, uniting the culture in a
different way to how we in the west experience art. Not that I am saying that I find this better
or more significant, but I have always been fascinated by the unexplainability
of ritual behaviour, one that recurs and has an untranslatable 'significance'
that is experiencable only by the performers, one that is closely associated
with music (and dance) -a cultural unity that comes from the adoption of
predefined musical systems that are recognisable and become connected with a
particular ritual event. The possibility
that there is also 'magical' significance, something beyond the level of traditional
notions of experience in western culture fascinates me. Despite the restrictions of my western
upbringing there is a part of me that wants to accept that there is something
that forms a structure for the reality in which I exist but am unable to perceive
in its entirety.
This
leads me to the work of Ivor Cutler, the simplicity of which has always
attracted me because it presents a way of observing elements of life in a way
in which I feel I am given a more 'real' perception, despite its apparently
'illogical' nature. In his stories and songs
he has a delightful tendency to link natural elements with humans in a way that
makes one aware of the existence of connections between people and nature, for
example his texts sometimes concern what stones are thinking on the beach, or
describe a man as he leans down to drink water from a puddle on the street, or
a girl as she urinates into a ditch. I
find Ivor's work surprisingly restful and reassuring, placing me in a sort of
absurd universe with a refreshingly simple outlook on life. From a concert of Ivor's work that I saw in
February 1994 I will try to recollect a story called 'The Book.' In this short narrative he reflected my own
rejection of western predetermined logic, using the 'book' as a more direct
symbol of our reliance on scientifically, logically accurate information to
explain our environment. He began his
story by first explaining that we, as humankind "think we're really smart. .
. because we can talk . .":
"My friend and I were walking in a field. The field was large and we were surrounded by
acres of green emptiness. My friend
looked into the sky and asked me why it was that the sky went dark and the sun
went away at night. I took a book from
my pocket and told him to read it, telling him that all his questions would be
answered. We walked further, but he
didn't ask me anymore questions because he knew I had the book. . ."
It
actually seems as if my rejection of this type of logical perspective that
seems inherent in western culture was a predestined element of my character,
and not something that developed as a reaction to my environment. I mention for example my continual escaping
into wild fantasy worlds as a child, and even later my interest in acting where
I felt free to create around me situations in which the reality was governed
only by my imagination. 'Theatrical'
reality of this type was evidently from a young age something quite graspable
and cogent. This expressed itself also
through an almost obsessive interest in the supernatural. On another level, my attraction to absurd
comedy , the clashing of events that seemed to have no logical connection is
also worthy of mention. Through this
clash, I got a sort of satisfaction that only now I am able to explain by
seeing this type of behaviour popping up in my own work. This can be explained in one respect as a
reaction against traditional culture that demands a certain type of perception
of reality, but I actually think now that it is more complicated than that. I think it as an attempt on my part to say
that absurd or illogical behaviour is not so absurd or illogical as we might at
first think, reflecting a great matrix of patterns that are simultaneously
developing around us. In my own way I
have tried to express this feeling of fuller awareness in my work, suggesting
that there is a larger entirety in which we and our actions play a role, but
one that is beyond our capacity to experience.
4. Towards a New RealiTy
I feel
now as if the circle has turned once more, and that in a way I am back at a
beginning point. Through becoming
confused in the complications that have developed in the last couple of years,
some of the major things that concerned me became drowned in other
affairs. Now, through recent
developments, I can relate back to the past and am surprised by the
correlations. The difference is that I
have since then developed a vocabulary through which these ideas can be clearly
and concisely expressed. Years ago I
read a book by Doris Lessing called Memoirs of a Survivor. This book attracted me greatly, although I
could not then explain why and even which elements of the book fascinated
me. I could only say that after
finishing the novel I felt a great sense of the joy of knowledge, of being on
the brink of something new despite the apparently apocalyptic nature of the
book. The subject was the gradual dissolution of society: a world is presented
in which people become less and less attached to notions of personal property
and move onto the streets. A woman
observing this almost impassively, as if it is a naturally occurring
development, moves into herself and begins to explore a symbolic world beyond
traditional reality. For me this was a
truly hopeful view of the future, although it involved elements that many
people would consider horrifying: the disintegration of the social systems in
which we now feel safe.
Now that
I have been in
After a
little research I have made some conclusions about my own reactions to these
developments in science. This relates
directly back to my own rejection of the logical upbringing that I have
had. Growing from the humanism of the
Renaissance man began to view himself as something distinct from the world, a
higher being that was destined to rule over everything else. Physical science as we understand it (as it
is ingrained in our education) developed from here, receiving perhaps its
It seems
to me that developments in science that went against the logical outlook
cultivated in the eighteenth century have led contemporary thought into a form
of introspection, comparable also to Doris Lessing's work. This has occurred
through the observance of new apparently unexplainable phenomena that can not
be understood through eighteenth century principles, new conceptions of science
have to be made in which larger systems seem to be taking place, systems that
are unfolding with an almost predestined flow.
These systems do not occur according to patterns that fit traditional
logic, but according to repeating patterns that take place in a predetermined
way. The random, chaotic creation of
matter has now been brought into question and it is beginning to seem not so
absurd to say that maybe there is a reason for everything that happens no
matter how meaningless it may at first have seemed. This has come through the observance of
incredibly small atomic phenomena and also incredibly great events within
galaxies and universes.
Particularly
fascinating for me was hearing scientists using the same words when discussing
quantum physics as I used when trying to explain to one of the ZAUM actresses the 'meaning' of the seemingly absurd actions
which she had to perform: "one event
(particle) can only be understood by relating it to the whole". Quantum physics recognises an essential
relatedness between particles, putting stress on the relation itself rather
than an individual particle and what it individually does. The action of a particle therefore can not be
explained by its own movements, but through its stochastic movements in a far
greater system, just as any sound or movement in ZAUM can only be
understood by viewing the composition as an entirety and placing it in the context
of the whole development. The
connections may be vague, but it is interesting to note that I had a secret
suspicion that they existed before I had made these discoveries, and the first
time I heard about these scientific developments (months after the premiere of
the performance) I felt a secret tingling of excitement, as if I had caught a
glimpse of a great secret.
It is
particularly interesting to note that Wolfgang Pauli (involved with the origin
of contemporary physics) ended up consulting on a number of occasions Dr. Carl
Jung because of the strange nature of his dreams in which archetypal symbols
were presented in combination with his most important scientific theories. He was to suggest, for the first time, an
essential relationship between quantum physics and psychology, between "matter"
and "spirit", bringing science for the first time since ancient
The
circle is now almost complete. It is
important to quote a scientist called Carl-Friedrich Von Weiszäcke who I heard
talking about quantum physics. In discussing these theories he tried to define
art as: "the awareness or perception of forms by making them." He compared this definition to mathematical
structures that were also a perception of a structure through its expression,
although he elaborated this by mentioning that in mathematics the structures
already exist, and in art they have to be created again. I have always seen my work in this way, and
to hear it discussed is now a confirmation of what I already knew. I don't accept the structures which force me
to perceive reality in a certain way, so I step outside and try to create my
own around me, which find true expression in my works for the theatre. This has also helped me to realise that ZAUM
is no end point, but a beginning point from which I have been able to define
myself and what I want to do.
ManifesTo
Two
Language, Music and Communication
1. InTroducTion
The mushrooms were busy talking among themselves . . .
"What a
beautiful existence!," they said to one another,
"To be
able to release spores is the highest purpose in life! We are so lucky to be
able to release spores all our life long!"
And with
attentive devotion the clouds of powder floated into the air.
Windekind the elf and the boy Johannes were listening:
"Are they
right, Windekind?"
"Why not?
What could be higher for them? It is lucky that they don't aim any higher
because they can't do anything else!"
In relation to my
new music-theatre work ZAUM some new ideas about language, culture,
music and meaning-and the relationships between each of these areas-have
evolved. Comparable to the accompanying Manifesto One, these developments have
had an impact on the way I see myself in relation to my work. As a result of this, a theoretical dialogue
concerning the relationship between music and language was able to develop, and
this paper contains some first thoughts for new ways at looking at a
'music-communication' model. The desire
to write this second document grows largely from a personal need to develop
some of the concepts introduced in Manifesto
One. Though in itself significant on
a personal level, I felt that it contained many points of extremity that could
only be useful as starting points from which further developments would be able
to take place, and not a final point as was initially intended. After a relatively long period of drafting
and rewriting I realised that the time that had passed since the first initial
notes and the final volume was so great that the initial paper could not be
changed in line with the new developments.
I had to realise that that paper was an expression of a time and a
period that had passed. This is also the
reality for this document.
It is important
first to return to some basic theoretical concepts first introduced in Manifesto One. We can start with an 'ideational' image
of culture in which 'sign'-systems become the essential meaning-based
unit. As human beings that must
'communicate' in order for any type of interaction to occur, we rely on these
intricately complicated communication systems made up of symbolic elements that
are accepted communally, helping to form the boundaries within which we are
able to understand the world. In this
ideational sense of culture, spoken language forms but one of a myriad series
of interlocking systems formed from a combination of cognitive processes and
practical necessities. Being able to
communicate with one another through the use of signs, we are given the tools
to perform social functions and interact with one another as well as being
provided with the basic material with which we can form an image of ourselves
in relation to those around us.
My new music-theatre
composition ZAUM is an
exploration of the roles these symbolic systems play in human society. The composition concerns the way we, as
individuals in a given social group, are restricted in our communication
possibilities by only being able to encompass what is allowed by the
'languages' we are provided with. We
must try to define the world and find our own identities in a way that is largely
provided for us in education and social life. On one level, ZAUM
communicates a degree of restriction, suggesting that our 'language' systems
bind us to particular ways of thinking and communicating. At the same time, however, this composition
expresses during its development the notion that even though we are restricted
to certain symbols and concepts, we are provided with tools with which we are
able to find some sense of our selves and are ultimately free from a perception
of bindings. On a symbolic level, the
use of sound elements to control the actors like puppets during the performance
function not only to demonstrate the restriction of language, but to suggest
that 'musical' structures hidden in the subconscious underlie human 'cultural'
behaviour and have an effect on the way we think about and experience
reality.
This is expressed
most clearly in Zaum-3 when the five characters find unity and freedom
even though the limited symbolic systems
they were provided with seemed at first restricting. In this paper these notions are discussed
through personal explorations of the dissatisfaction that I have had with my
own 'language' systems and how that has led me to explore other forms of
communication (be that vocal, musical or movement-based). The ultimate goal of this short article,
however, is to use the 'communication analogy' to try to get a little closer to
understanding the different ways music functions within culture.
2.
Language and Self
It seems remarkable
that after another period of change, involved with moving from Belgium to the
Netherlands which was accompanied by a number of necessary mental 'shifts' and
personal realisations, I have been brought into another period of
contemplation, self-questioning and realisation of change. This could have been caused by the striking
change in environment, making me more aware of the contrasts in cultures
brought about by differing ways of treating reality. It could be said that the great difference in
lifestyle between Belgium and Holland can be traced back to historical circumstances
resulting in countries ruled by systems influenced by two contrasting
religions-Catholicism in Belgium and Protestantism in Holland. As I have
experienced it, this contrast can be sensed in almost every element of life
including the education and legal systems, leading to an inevitable influence
on the general attitude of the population.
For me, the first strong contrast could be sensed in the architecture,
suggesting contrasting attitudes to the function of space and light. It seemed that in
Returning to the
language analogy introduced in Manifesto
One , it is possible to express some new ideas related to my own personal
search for contrasting communication systems.
Manifesto One concerned
largely the negating of my own language, and my desire to speak, think and feel
another language as if it was my own. My
attraction to Dutch first grew from a strong feeling of alienation from
English. I needed to find a new way of
thinking, a new way of expressing my thoughts, and Dutch-even though I do not
think it is an answer to all my questions on language-has managed to slip into
this role.
I have since discovered
that it is not simply the negation of English and the cultural system bonded to
English speaking societies that has resulted in me finding such satisfaction
through the Dutch language, but also characteristics of the language itself
that continue to interest and fascinate me.
I could actually go so far as to say that I find it a more satisfactory
communication system than English, and even a system in which I feel more
personally comfortable and free. In Manifesto One I expressed the frustration of being born
into a symbolic world that was limp and empty; a frustration brought about by
'symbolic' starvation, feeling never satisfied with the language systems with
which I was provided and at the same time not having the conceptual tools to be
able to move beyond them. This was also
characterised by an alienation from those who accepted their surroundings and
cultural 'symbolism' unquestionably, even though there were many who were
unsatisfied and were also searching for a 'way out'. This resulted in a feeling of 'anomie',
cultural alienation, and as such I ended up on a quest for a new language, a
liberation from the shackles I felt I was bonded by.
Elaborating on these
ideas, I have the feeling that my alienation from English reflects not only an
alienation from the Anglo-Saxon culture but also from the language itself which
has become so diluted with foreign words that it becomes difficult at times to
discern a precise meaning. It seems to
me to be a language filled with ambiguities and foreign terms that can be
interpreted in many different ways. At
the same time, I am always aware of the fact that when I speak English it
appears to be automatic or natural; I feel like my thoughts are directly
represented in language and that language is not simply a symbolic medium that
sits somewhere between the 'I' and the 'We'.
This symbol system is so deeply embedded in my subconscious that it
sometimes feels that I have problems commanding it entirely, moulding it into
the form that really expresses what I want to say. What makes it doubly difficult is the fact
that I have accepted language as being 'artificial' and the English language as
being 'representative of a culture which I reject'. I am not satisfied and refuse to be forced
to adopt a symbolic system that I don't understand to the degree that I find
necessary. Speaking and especially
arguing in English is sometimes accompanied by a feeling of 'helplessness', a
lack of ability to control the 'artificial' symbols I am using to express basic
communicative concepts.
This feeling of
'helplessness' is a very important image for me when discussing the English
language. There are characteristics of
the Dutch language that do really help me to overcome this 'helplessness' that
English seems to induce. Firstly, as a
composer who has an interest in symbols and the unique capability of human
beings to recognise and communicate with (sound-)symbols, I can now recognise
the satisfaction of speaking in a language that has not been too diluted by the
adoption of foreign words. Dutch words
can be easily broken up into morphemes: 'meaning-based particles', which help
to give the whole structure of the word or the sentence meaning. For example, root verbs such as staan (to stand) can be used as the
basis for other words such as verstaan,
bestaan, opstaan, rechtstaan which
use the basic notion of 'standing' to represent other concepts of meaning that
can be related in some way to the stem.
Another example is the word last
which means load or cargo. The notion
itself gives a feeling of weight or heaviness, and it can be interpreted also
as meaning a difficulty or a nuisance, something 'weighing' on the
shoulders. Developed from this, the word
belasten means to be loaded or
burdened with something, and the word belasting
can be translated as taxes or rates, a weight on the wallet. In learning this language, one can get a
'feel' for the meaning of the words by simply understanding the root notions
involved, which in this case is merely the feeling of weight. It is possible to imagine the meaning of
other words with the same stem by comparing the prefixes and the meaning-based
association connected to that root sound.
When speaking Dutch,
I feel that the impact of the word units I am using will have a stronger impact
than English words because I am strongly aware of the meaning-based function
connected to the sound. By contrast,
when speaking or especially arguing in English I feel at my most vulnerable, as
if the language itself forms no protection because I speak without really
knowing what I am saying: the ideas become directly expressed as 'words' with
little interference from me, hindered considerably by the fact that I feel that
this is not necessarily the 'natural' way for me to communicate. Dutch however gives me a real sense of
command, and I feel that I can formulate arguments much more clearly. These ideas are quite alien to almost every
person I have spoken to, people that seem to think that they are at their
strongest when speaking their mother tongue.
Some are quite shocked to hear that I feel this way about English which
they find the most 'expressive' of all European languages precisely because it
has adopted so many foreign words. For
me, this is where English loses its potency.
In order to understand the origins of this language one must study
German, Latin, Ancient Greek and French (to name a few) just to get an idea of
where the sounds and meanings originate, and the studying of these languages in
addition to English was not considered a necessary part of my own
education. This was insufficient for my
own needs, playing inevitably a role in the symbolic 'starvation' that resulted
in the search for new communication systems.
Dutch seems to
fulfil the role for the time being, although I am at the moment searching for
other communication systems, especially musical ones (as elaborated in Manifesto One). My current obsession is learning
Chinese. I am fascinated by a language
whose writing is based on a graphic expression of meaning, growing both
from sound and meaning based
concepts. I want to understand how these
people have expressed themselves, how they understand 'meaning' and how their
philosophies have affected the different ways they have interpreted meaning and
expressed it in symbols.
In Manifesto One, my primary approach to
the concept of communication resulted in the expression of an analogy: a river
was used to symbolise the communication process, where individual communication
systems provide only one stone path across the river, suggesting
ultimately that there are many different
ways to get to the other side. I would
like to take this chance to present another analogy which attempts to symbolise
the concept of finding personal identity within a particular language. This analogy presents the idea that speaking
in a different language is like pulling on a different jacket in that we may
look different (or in this case sound different) when using another
'language'-jacket, but the colour and form of the jacket does not essentially
change the identity of the person within.
In this way, a different jacket gives us an alternative way of crossing
the river, an alternative way of expressing our ideas into symbols that can be
taken in and interpreted by the listener (or even ourselves). My big discovery therefore is learning that
it is very important for me to have as many 'jackets' as possible because I now
recognise that every different language gives me a different chance to understand
how people conceive of ideas and thoughts.
Could it be that musicians or composers, or anyone involved intimately
with contrasting types of communication, are more open to this attitude to
communication that rejects tying identity strictly to the vocal sounds that one
makes? In relation to myself we could
also discuss my own position here in
From this image of
language which is extended from simply the signification of abstract sound into
an entire symbolic universe, I would like to end this section by taking the first
steps to explore theoretically this
extended concept of meaning: as human
beings we surround ourselves with different layers of 'meaning' which are
functional in that they provide us with a mental environment in which we are
able to find ourselves, as well as providing us with an apparatus which gives
us the possibility to relate ourselves to other people, objects and ideas. The ways in which these various different
meaning-layers can be interpreted range from the largely functional verbal
language which is used for practical purposes, and the less 'practical'
expression of the meaning-based structures which can be seen in ritual, music
and dance. These levels of experience
fulfil basic social and cultural needs within a society, so their 'meaning-based'
functions cannot be underestimated. At
the same time, a realisation of the contrasting type of 'meaning' discussed
when involved in this type of research makes one realise that a model for
verbal language is insufficient for the inclusion of communication systems
which are beyond expression in this type of discourse, even though verbal
language can be used as a means of access to these 'deeper' levels of
communication. A communication model
that truly encompasses 'musical' experience will have to be considerably
extended, and we will have to try and do our best to avoid being influenced by
our own 'cultural' restrictions, especially when looking at musical
communication. The rest of this paper is
involved with looking at music from a cultural perspective in order to extend
this communication model. First, we are
made aware of the difficulties of approaching music from other cultures with
our own ideals about what the notion of musical 'experience' encompasses, and
then new ideas for an extended communication model are suggested as viewed from
a sociocultural perspective.
3. EasT/WesT :
ContrasTing musico-culTural discourses
After realising the
enormous distance I had set up between myself and my own 'musical' culture
through the creation of my own musical 'languages', it was clearly time for me
to examine the traditions I was reacting against a little closer. It is also important to consider the factors
of other musical cultures which I have borrowed to form part of my own
compositional 'vocabulary'. Beginning
with my own compositions, it is clear that as a reaction to western conceptions
of music, I have been searching for new 'symbol' systems that unite the music
into a cultural whole; that help music to act as a symbolic communication
system to express structures that are entirely out of the range of verbal
communication. It could be said that my
music(-theatre) is not 'separate' from life in that it attempts to define or
outline clear symbolic structures as opposed to a western music which has grown
from a sense of an expression of the individual. Divorced from a context, western music has
connected to the notion of music such things as technique and individual
genius, all concepts which are alien to my conception of true musical
communication. Our tendency towards development and change has resulted in
music's separation from daily life, and our tendency for logicity and rational
processes has resulted in the classification of 'music' as something involved
with 'technique' or 'form', classical ideas that are to be held and
perpetuated, based on philosophical notions of time and space that seem to lack
validity in a post-colonial world. In
separating music from life we have only succeeded in making it more difficult
to gain a deeper understanding of structures that surround us and make up our
biological beings.
Is it possible to
define factors common to all 'western' music?
At this stage, it would be difficult if not impossible because of the
wide range of musical forms that are to be found in contemporary
societies. It is possible, however, to
try and discuss some of the factors that have resulted in my alienation. On a simplistic level, it could be generalised
that for the past couple of hundred years there has been an emphasis on development
and progress in western society. It
could also be generalised that such a forward motion can also be sensed in
twentieth century western 'art' music which could be associated with a similar
level of forward motion, development and change. This is represented in many
different ways in both the theoretical and practical performance of
contemporary compositions. One of the
most strikingly western musical notions is the beginning/middle/end concept of
time connected with Christian religious ideals.
Comparable directly to western linear conceptions of time and in
contrast to the cyclical conception of time originating in Hinduism, our music
must begin, have a development and finish, usually on a highly dramatic
note. Our music acts also to almost divinify
certain figures or 'individuals' - for
example a composer or a conductor. It is less about the expression of a group or
a collective and concerns more the power and command of an individual over a
mass. Before I realised that these
generalisations about western culture were forming in my subconscious, I had
already begun to turn to the music of other cultures to fill the aching gap
left by western music. My
dissatisfaction with western conceptions of music was a reflection of my
alienation from what I perceived as essentially 'western' thought and the
ideologies connected to that culture, and this was all made doubly difficult by
being brought up in Australia, a colony of England, in which these ideologies
are blindly accepted by most people despite the fact that they cover years of
colonial domination and violence.
Dissatisfied with
the larger theoretical/philosophical structures of western music I was forced
to explore other music forms, in this case Indonesian music which has largely
affected the way I compose. For me a
satisfying musical experience is one in which a feeling of unity is found
within the musical structure. In order
to be able to find a bit of one's self within music that acts to unite a person
for that brief time with the cultural 'whole' means that the listener has to be
extremely familiar with the musical structures involved. Cultural identification in music is
important, and the understanding of a musical experience involves an understanding
of the culture itself and the different ways 'music' is expressed. In Bali, as well as in a great deal of
'Indonesian' culture, the musical experience is not separated from that of
dance, so a western audience that will only 'listen' to the sounds of the
instruments could never hope to approach the music to a close enough level for
true 'musical' communication to occur.
Returning to our analogy of music as a communication system in society,
learning a musical system as I have learnt Javanese music can be compared to
learning a new language. One must,
however, be deeply familiar with the elements of a musical language to be able
to communicate with it and understand it, even more so than with normal
language. One can learn a language on a
superficial level but to really be able to understand the subtle nuances it is
necessary to be born in the country itself and to learn to deal with all the
other elements of the culture. This
presents the western danger of trying to listen to and be influenced by many
types of folk music which can only be understood in the most superficial way if
experienced outside its original environment and on which western musical
values are imposed.
A good example of
this 'western imposition' is a concert I saw not so long ago by a group playing
contemporary western music on Javanese instruments. After playing Javanese gamelan for many years
I have developed a different conception of music, especially when hearing or
playing the Javanese gamelan. I get the
feeling that for the time that I am playing their music that I am expressing
for that brief period a part of a larger cyclical pattern. Indeed, these instruments are a particular
outlet for these larger patterns, and the repeating cyclical structures give an
impression of the totality that expresses itself through the musicians. Therefore there are no individual
personalities in Javanese music. It is
based on a group, a collective that play together for the expression of something
larger than themselves. This concert of
contemporary gamelan music involved western musicians using essentially western
concepts to express western musical ideals on Javanese instruments. The single figure of a conductor stood with
all his power before the performers who were there only to submit to his
domination. Musical patterns were
expressed with a strict conception of time.
The performers had only a certain number of sounds to play and they
played those individual sounds at certain times as specified by the music-here
we see the figure of the composer who defines a personal 'structure' that can
only be felt individually by the creator.
This stands so strongly against Javanese music which is involved with
the unified expression of musical patterns that have no specified length and are
united into a constantly pulsating rhythmic pattern. The music just 'happens' and is not brought
about by the domination of a single controlling figure. For me this concert was a fragment of
absurdity, a mixture of mismatched forms and ideals that still managed to
create something more than the content of its parts. Despite the fact that I was disturbed by the
power-based western structures, some of the composers were starting to approach
these alternative conceptions of music at certain points in the performance,
which produced a strange feeling of anomaly.
My own reaction
against this type of western musical expression can be seen in works that I
have written for Javanese gamelan. In
comparison to compositions that have a strictly determined 'beginning' and
'end', these compositions are involved with cyclical repeating structures and
are therefore fluid in speed, length and time.
The contrasts extend further than simply an adoption of Javanese
'gong'-structures and into the concept of performance within the composition
itself: compositional 'change' and development within a number of these works
is determined by the individual performers who must relate their own
performance to what is happening in the collective composition. In this sense, there is no further need for
the controlling figure of the conductor, and the performers are free to
structure the composition as they feel fit.
In general, however,
a more traditional 'western' attitude to music can be sensed in twentieth
century music, expressed directly by the striving for new musical forms and
possibilities. This is represented in a
great deal of contemporary music by composers searching for new ways that
'sounds' can be made and combined, which supposedly 'frees' the composer or
performer/improviser to be able to make an open choice. These notions of musical freedom are
essentially western and for me personally do not at all represent 'freedom' but
rather 'restriction'. Being able to
communicate musically means for me that one is completely familiar with a
musical language made up of a determined number of musical symbols connected to
a complex cultural background. In
western music we have so many 'sound' choices that they become in effect
reduced of cultural significance because of their multitude. This means that it is for me no 'language' at
all, creating a feeling of absence or emptiness, and is a personal fear of mine
that is directly perceivable in my compositional work: clearly expressed in the
screams and cries of From a Gable Window and the 'empty blackness' I hoped
to fill with the driving melodies of other more minimal compositions. My fear was based on the loss of language,
that through my rejection of traditional communication systems I would be left
with nothing; this fear was accompanied by an awareness that I stood outside of
society and was threatened by the structureless chaos that could be found
there.
Personal development
through later composition work has luckily freed me from this fear: as I
familiarise myself with more 'languages' I am able to attain more communicative
freedom. As provided by the language
analogy, any sort of communication system provides us with the means to cross
the river, to express ourselves, and although it can be restricting in that the
path across the river is in many ways predetermined, at least we can make it
across. This is my bridge over the
abyss. My work recognises the negative and the positive aspect of the limits
brought about by these communication systems.
ZAUM in attempting to present language and music in this way,
recognises that music and dance are also communication systems that represent
structures which help to give form to the reality around us. I am now sure of the meaning-based origin of
musical communication and am now ready to explore exactly how it used by other
cultures in order to utilise it more completely in my own work. Musical
experience transcends the cultural context in which it is structured. The deeper level of musical communication,
that can mostly only be achieved after the cultural 'grammar' has been learnt
to a sufficient degree, is involved with the 'musical' structures that are
echoed in the subconscious; musical structures that represent a 'biological'
connection with the music.
4. Music as an expression of psychological, social
and biological sTructures: towards a new theory of musical
communication?
Comparable to
language, it is clear then that music plays an important role in culture on
many different levels. The question is,
how can this all be encompassed theoretically?
Can communication models used for language be used to encompass
music? If not, what can we use as a
basis for understanding musical experience?
In the following passages I will merely try to suggest some different
ways that such a communication model could be presented. Maybe then we can draw a few conclusions
about musical experience and understanding.
Firstly it is
important to take a closer look at some long held musical myths. According to the Oxford Dictionary music can
be defined as the "art of combining sounds of voice(s) or instrument(s) to
achieve beauty of form and expression of emotion; pleasant sound." The western avant-garde musical tradition has
successfully turned this definition inside out by saying that music is not
necessarily about 'pleasant' sounds, echoing in the theories of Adorno who
preached for a new music which would be used as a tool to represent social
dissatisfaction. This may have been a step in the right direction, although the
notion of music as a strictly aural experience remains a strong western
attribute, connected to other distinctions separating creative forms into
different categories. According to
Robert Kaufmann "the western distinction between music and dance helps but little
in understanding African music because in African musical cultures it is
irrelevant. Movement patterns transcend
these two spheres." In many non-western
cultures, including Indian and Indonesian cultures, there is simply no
distinction between music and dance, just as in the regional languages of
For me, the relationship
between language and music as a cultural structure was made very clear when my
rejection of the musical system could be extended to a rejection of the
cultural symbolic load of the music and by consequence of this the society
itself in its entirety. As was made
clear in Manifesto One, my move away
from language and towards music was not so much an attraction to musical
aesthetics but a belief that music could communicate on a level that penetrated
deeper than verbal language. The
emphasis remained, therefore, on the communicative process involved; how
meaning is transferred in a 'musical' experience. I have since realised that the sort of
structures involved with language communication contrast considerably to those
of music. Although my study of semiotics
has given me the theoretical apparatus to be able to encompass both of these
phenomena within the context of cultural structures, the question of theory now
manifests itself: can music be
encompassed in the same theoretical structures as language? Although there are areas in which music and
language can be considered as comparable discourses, I would suggest that
different or extended theoretical tools would have to be used. Although we have been looking at the concept
of music from a semiotic perspective emerging from the same school of thought
that extended the field of linguistics considerably, it is clear that any
distinctively 'language-based' models are ultimately insufficient in
encompassing music. Kristeva has already
noted that the linguistic models emerging from semiotics are useful only for
analysing "those practices which subserve such social exchange: a semiotics
that records the systematic, systematising, or informational aspect of
signifying practices." Music does
concern 'communication' but on many different levels setting it apart from
other types of communicative activity, demanding ultimately a new communication
model. Kristeva suggested that a possible way for semiotic theory to develop
would open itself to influence both from the conscious and the unconscious
world, in which 'meaning' is considered in terms of the signifying process itself rather than the more traditional
sign-system analogy, resulting in influences provided by "on the one hand
bio-physiological process", and the other hand "social constraints (family
structures, modes of production etc."
This is an important beginning point for us, suggesting a possible
relationship between 'cultural' and 'natural' structures when examining music
as a communicative vehicle.
It has been made
clear that logical systems used for analysing language are clearly insufficient
for other communicative processes, in our case music. Language however, plays a very important role
in the process of musical communication, especially a great deal of popular
music in which the text seems to play a primary role, so the relationship
between the two should be investigated.
In my opinion, the importance of text and music has been to a large
degree overestimated. In a theory of
examining music with text, especially popular music, the text itself should be
set a little into the background and the role of the music itself brought
forward. At the same time, again
important in the context of the performance of popular music, the musical act
should be interpreted in the context of the complete cultural event that brings
about the musical performance. For example, concert events can be described as
being extremely complicated events semiotically if one considers all the signs
that have to be considered: the attitude and reaction of the audience to the
music, the appearance of the performances, the sound of the performer's voice
as he/she sings, the use of lighting, in addition to the music and the text
itself. Text, then, reveals itself to be
one element in a larger series of factors that make up such a musical
performance, but how does the text help to communicate the meaning of a musical
event?
On a surface level,
we could say that the first function of text could be the way that it acts as
an aid to memory-having two major forms.
Firstly, the syllabic sounds can be used as a means to learn the
music. For very many people it is the
primary medium through which music can be learnt, where musical tones become
connected with syllables. It has been
theorised, for example, that the 'troping' that created a great deal of
elaborations on the Gregorian chants was the result of such 'memory aids'. Secondly, the music can be used in a similar
way to learn the text. The function of
the music may be simply to act as a storage vehicle for the text, as the text
may be the primary reason for the composition to have been written. This is especially true of western music
where the text becomes the primary stimulus for the composition of the
music.
In many cases,
however, the role of the music can go much deeper than immediately
perceivable. The music can be more
functional than simply acting as a culturally accepted 'memory tool' but can be
intimately involved with the subject of the text in which basic elements within
the text are expressed although in a considerably different form. A common example is texts involved with life
cycles, which are expressed musically by the circular, repeating structure of
the music. This becomes even more
complicated if we start to examine the different messages communicated
simultaneously in musical structures from different cultures and time
periods. An example from our own culture
is fourteenth century motets in which contrasting texts were adopted into a
complex polyphony of sound and meaning. This complex combination of texts was
designed to present musical 'puzzles' to bemuse the intellectuals of the time
in which political and religious texts were placed into incongruous
contexts. The relationship between
politics and religion played a role, in addition to more complicated musical
meanings: here 'musical' meanings cannot be abstracted from complex economic,
religious and political contexts.
Another example is the discourses that communicate simultaneously during
a performance of 'abhinaya' in Bharatanatyam
(A South Indian Dance form). Here, a
complex message is told through the use of sign language dance symbols, while
the text of the 'song' is seemingly involved with a different level of
communication. One could go further to
discuss 'nritta' in which syllabic sounds are used to designate an 'abstract'
dance story involved with tension and the return to balance; the direct
expression of musical structure. On this
level text in combination with its expression as dance and music moves directly
into the area of 'musical thinking' as introduced earlier, and is a level of
musical experience that has to be more closely examined. Here the concept of 'language' in relation to
music has to be rethought, suggesting that a new model should be formed based
on social, psychological and biological factors.
My own reaction to
the use of text has been particularly influential to my composition work. Because of my rejection of traditional
'language' and 'music' systems which I was provided with as a natural
consequence of my practical and social education in a society that I found
symbolically 'stifling', it was important to find a new way of adopting
language, but not from the harshly logical perspective that was forced upon me. This explains my attraction to the expression
of unconscious and mythical structures in music, and at the same time and on
the same level my interest in making a connection between these 'musical'
(biological) structures and traditional language, as this was a direct
connection with the unconscious and rationally structured systems. This was accompanied by a realisation that
music and language were closely bonded because they could assist one another in
making a communicative link with these thought processes. In my composition Songs of Incantation
the use of ancient Greek texts were highly important to the structure of the
composition, although they were used in the original ancient Greek form that
could not be 'understood' by the audience during the performance. In this case, the texts were used to help
form the larger structures which I wanted to represent musically, and therefore
formed the 'musical' material that was used to express these structures. In this sense text could be described as
being our 'rational' connection with essentially untranslatable 'musical'
structures. Bateson has suggested that
"algorithms of the unconscious are coded and organised in a manner totally
different from the algorithms of language." It has been suggested that these
'musical' structures hidden in the subconscious deal not with content but with
pattern, and that these levels of experience involved with music, metaphor and
poetry, "may lie in realms of mind and brain that are relatively inaccessible
to systematic analysis."
To continue our
discussion, we can move forward from text and music and explore a little closer
the relationship between music and language. The two 'obvious' contrasts are
(i) music does not concern the communication of individual, translatable messages
like language, and (ii) music does not use symbols that can be expressed in
different units of the same medium.
Music is, however, involved in a powerful sort of communication which is
experienced by every individual. I
would like to posit that the symbolic function of music, like in examining any
complex social function, can not be successfully examined without carefully and
completely considering the context from which it comes. Music, like language, fulfils a very
'meaningful' role in the lives of people that are involved in its expression,
which can be in any number of forms, and an attachment of symbolic or mythical
meaning to musical symbols helps to fulfil basic social and psychological
needs. Music, unlike language, is to a
large extent not a 'descriptive' discourse; its function is not to perform
direct and practical 'functions' as suggested in
Music, then, could
be described as an expression of internal symbolism that is realised in a for
that uses culturally accepted mediums-usually musical instruments, although
certainly not restricted to this medium.
The sorts of meaning these 'structures' could be said to be
communicating would involve in itself a great deal of further research and
discussion, but before we even go on to considering these things, I would like
to make a further suggestion. Music provides a form in which other cultural
systems are able to communicate: these systems provide an access to the musical
structures just as the musical structures give a form for the expression of
more practical cultural functions. This is most easily observable in complex
ceremonial rituals, but could also be extended to 'cultural' events such as
cinema or film, or even television advertisements. This image could also be extended to popular
music in which the 'music' itself actually plays a seemingly subservient role
to much more powerful communicative modes.
In these cases, like in rituals, other elements than purely sound enter
the arena. Music performs an important
role, providing a 'structure' in which other culturally directed meaning-based
vehicles can be placed. This is
especially apparent in the performance of rituals and in the theatre.
We have already seen
the implication of theory influenced by a 'sociolinguistic' communication model
where meaning-based exchanges cannot be understood purely within the context of
the language itself, but from the social context in which the event is
expressed; observable in the social force of popular music performances. By
contrast, theories involved with 'universal grammar', generally attributed to
Chomsky who suggested that language is a result of the expression of a
'biologically endowed faculty', a model for language is presented in which
universally applicable 'mathematical' structures were used to understand
linguistic expression. This was a
linguistics divorced from semantics that concentrated on the cognitive
realisation of language as thought processes, one in which "the formal,
syntactic mechanism of the recursive whole of language" is realised. According to Kristeva, "Chomsky claims to be
more of an analyst of psychological structures than a linguist" which could be
of interest to us in discussing a musical model: could it be said that the
differing expressions of musical traditions are only different on a surface
level, that the thought processes that affect the way music is perceived and
understood are essentially shared by all humans? This possibility is explored in the context
of the music-theatre composition ZAUM which uses a selection of Russian
futurist texts to create a 'music-language' that only has meaning in the
context of the composition itself. During the process of the work, elements
from traditional theatre discourse are 'illogically' recombined as dictated by
the musical structure; all of the events within the work are only 'meaningful'
in the context of this structure.
Through this adoption of musical structure it is suggested that
Blacking's 'musical intelligence' could have a greater impact on social life
than is currently recognised. Perhaps it
could be said that 'musical thinking', in its expression of internal
structures, affects the way we think, behave and interact with others. In the context of this discussion I would
like to suggest that music is an essential part of social existence, being a
cultural expression that has symbolic value both to the individual because it
is an expression of internal structures, and to the culture itself because it
can be used creatively within a cultural context to provide unity.
At this stage I
would like to return to the notion of form presented in my discussion of
Eastern music which seems to me to introduce the idea that music is an outlet
for larger structures that exist outside the everyday world of the musicians.
This concept suggests that music is constant and eternal and that the musicians
become the outlet for the musical expression on the necessary occasions. This notion is certainly exemplified in
Balinese music where the music is used in many holy rituals, sounds considered
to be direct communications from the gods themselves; sacred time in which
musical instruments are allowed to play divine patterns. Perhaps music symbols,
in whichever form they occur, are the expression of something more vital and
intrinsic, related to structures hidden within our subconscious. This relates to the language-music analogy
and also to the notion introduced earlier of the basis for these 'musical'
structures. What roles do they play in
our lives, what significance do they really have? To what extent are western composers interested
in expressing structures that are not readily interpretable in other
communication systems, and what are these structures made up of? A new
discovery for me has been the observation that many contemporary western
composers are trying to express in musical form structures that are not
communicable in other means. Examples
of these structures are DNA, or other non-socially based chemical or physical
structure which can be interpreted as being vehicles that carry 'meaning' or
sources of information that become in one way or another-be it not through
human beings-'interpreted'. In this way
these structures can be compared to the cosmological aspect of music already
suggested in relation to the cyclical patterns of Eastern music, the expression
of systems and ways of understanding that stand outside of expression in
traditional word-based communication systems.
This level of music seems to move the discussion from cultural
structures that combine different communication systems simultaneously to a deeper
exploration of biological
structures. It could be suggested that
this connection with naturally occurring structures would make it necessary for
us to rethink the biological 'affect' of music on the body. Maybe the emotions that we experience through
music are merely surface level manifestations of deeper biological
structures.
It could be said the
abstract idea we call 'music' is a phenomenon in culture that becomes agreed
upon within a given social group to express certain 'structures', which have
revealed themselves to be of a diverging nature. Many musical structures are agreed upon
within a culture and the music therefore becomes associated with certain
cultural factors: the listener is able to find his or her identity within the
music. This cultural manifestation is a
result of the expression of internal structures that are not translatable into
logical processes, and music is therefore a largely ineffable experience. We are left with a number of different levels
within which musical meaning can be viewed, spanning from the ways in which
music affects our everyday social existence to a deeper level in which music is
considered as the expression of structures within the subconscious that affect
our thought processes. It is possible to
grade these levels on four planes, beginning with the surface level and moving
on each ascending level further into the realm of 'musical' thinking:
(1) On a surface
level, music interacts with social life affecting our everyday existence in
many different ways. This spans from
uniting us with a certain cultural group or simply demonstrating that we belong
to a certain social class.
(2) Music provides a structural bed in which
other social and ritual functions can take place. This stresses the importance of viewing music
within a wider cultural discourse. On
this level, interaction between music and other discourses could be
examined. This would include the role of
musical experience in dance and ritual, as well as the ways language is used in
combination with music to help make the musical experience accessible to those
involved.
(3) The musical environment provided by our
culture surrounds us and influences our behaviour. Careful cultural crafting designs it in such
a way that it can be used both to restrict behaviour, as well as helping to
provide one with tools in which these cultural expressions help one to
encompass reality.
(4) Musical experience can be said to be a direct
cultural expression of structures within the subconscious of every individual,
forming an important tool for both self-understanding and for the understanding
of ourselves within culture.
Encompassing these
levels of music experience into a usable theoretical model is the primary goal
of my new research project. At this point
it is impossible to present any definitive statements regarding such a
music-communication model, although I would like to add at this point that new
streams of thought influencing the music of today can help point us in the
right direction. It can be sensed that
contemporary 'classical' music is being affected by two major factors:
(1) a move towards
the influence of popular music (exploration of cultural structures), and
(2) a move to
express different types of structure in music-such as DNA or quantum
theory-that are not created within the context of cultural experience
(exploration of natural structures).
These observations
help me to form two major divisions in which music can be considered:
(1) The
importance of music in relationship to other cultural structures. This involves an exploration of the
importance of music in ritual, dance and theatre. This theoretical standpoint begins with the
assumption that ritual theatrical events act largely as symbolic expressions of
cultural needs; complicated meaning-based structures in which music can be seen
as only playing a role in combination with other communication systems.
(2) The
importance of music as a biologically structured way of thinking. This area of exploration is involved with how
we 'think' musically, and is concerned with musical structures that exist in
our subconscious. It is more concerned
with music as a direct expression of biological structures than as an
expression of cultural systems. In this way, it is involved with the direct 'composition'
of music and explores which sort of biological structures could be being
represented.
The collision
between these two levels as viewed from the perspective of musical experience
will certainly be an important dimension of further research, representing a
general level of controversy in contemporary anthropological research. This duality opens up the discussion into a
number of different areas, but unfortunately leaves areas of ambiguity open to
further development, particularly areas that seem to bridge the two gaps. I would like to end this brief survey by
presenting a number of questions which will be useful beginning points for the
future:
-What is the primary
relationship between 'composer' who is responsible for expressing musical structures
in a culturally accepted form, the 'performer' who is responsible for realising
them and 'listener' who is responsible for taking them in and making them
his/her own?
-To what extent is
our musical knowledge culturally based and to what extent is it inherent and
biological?
-To what extent is
musical experience an expression of cultural values and to what extent it it a
deeper expression of 'musical' thinking?
-Where does culture
end and music begin?
References
Adorno, T. Minima Moralia (New Left
Books 1974): translation E.F.F. Jephcott.
Bateson, G. "Style, Grace and Information in
Primitive Art"
Steps to an Ecology of Mind
(Intertext: Philadelphia, 1972).
Blacking, J. "The Biology of Music-Making" Ethnomusicology:
an introduction (ed.)
Myers, H.
(MacMillan Press 1992).
Eyal, J. "Liberating
International
Herald Tribune: May 24 1994.
Innes, C.
Holy Theatre,
(Cambridge University Press 1991):
Ch.1 The Politics of Primitivism.
Kauffman, R. "Tactility as an Aesthetic
Consideration in African Music"
The
Performing Arts (ed.) Blacking, J. (Mouton Paris 1979).
Keesing, R. Cultural Anthropology
(Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1976):
Kristeva, J. Language: The Unknown
(CUP: New York, 1989).
Kristeva, J. "The
System and the Speaking Subject" The Tell-Tale Sign (ed.)
Sebeok, T. (The peter de Ridder
Press Lesse, 1975).
Kubik, G. "Pattern Perception and
Recognition in African Music"
The Performing Arts (ed.)
John Blacking (Mouton 1979).
Laskewicz, Z. Zaum: New-Music Theatre a historical, theoretical and scenic
description
(Night Shades
Press: Amsterdam, 1994).
Lessing, D. Memoirs of a Survivor
(Octagon Press: London, 1974)
ZAUM-new music-theatre for five performers and tape- was
composed by Zachar Laskewicz in 1993.
The first complete performance took place in November 1993 in
[1] Having
lived for almost two years in
[2] Most
clearly expressed in the following article:
Laskewicz, Z. "Music as an open creative
resource", New Music Articles (Australian Music Centre 1991):
issue 9, pp26-30.
[3]
Including education, manners and attitudes, media and politics.
[4] A
German performance artist/dancer.
[5] Here I
mean speaking the same languages.
[6] Blacking, J. "The Biology of
Music-Making" Ethnomusicology: An Introduction (ed.) Helen Myers
(MacMillan Press 1992): Chapter XI.
[7] Kubik, K. "Pattern Perception
and Recognition in African Music" The Performing Arts (ed.) John
Blacking (Mouton 1979).
[8] Most noticeable in my my new
music-theatre work ZAUM (see references).
[9] Innes,
C. Holy Theatre, (Cambridge University Press 1991): Ch.1 The Politics of Primitivism.
[10] A form of Dutch (Nederlands) which recognises a large number of
regional dialects.
[11] For example, through learning the history of our country it could be said
that we are being provided with role models on which to base our own identity,
meaning that a personal identity is based on an ideal 'national' identity.
[12] I have heard for example that in
[13] Eyal, J. "Liberating
[14] Patrick Eecloo, a captain in the Belgian army serving in
[15] See References.
[16] One of Ivor Cutler's texts defines two people as they sit together to
drink tea as a 'universe'. I used this
text for the Celebration compositions.
[17] This seemed particularly pertinent because of my own experience with
Europeans who are unable to accept another possibility if they have read it to
the contrary in a book.
[18] This was notated from an Ivor Cutler concert in the Beursschouwburg (
[19] For example apparently illogical sequences from the British comedy Monty Python, and later to comparable
events in absurdist drama.
[20] Lessing, D.(1974) Memoirs of a Survivor (Octagon Press:
[21] Trui Vereecke
[22] The notation in my compositions also reflects this by my disinterest in
the notation of individual sound events, but rather the creation of sound
systems in which a number of sounds are allowed to be performed at the same
time producing a sound environment that is designed to give an effect rather
than a distinct rhythmical enunciation.
[23] See Capra's The Tao of Physics or Zukav's The Dancing Wu-Li
Masters.
[24] Passions of the Soul; BBC television series concerned with the work
of Dr. Carl Jung and its significance today in relation to contemporary
scientific development.
[25]van Eeden, F. De Kleine Johannes,
(Elsevier Manteau: Antwerp).
Translation from Dutch by Z. Laskewicz, ilalicised
text from the translator.
[26] Most strongly expressed in Zaum-2.
[27] Ensemble Gending speelt nieuwe muziek voor gamelan
Saturday
12th of November 3:00 pm, in the
[28] Project-2 (1990) pelog
gamelan
Transmigration-2 (1992) ritual theatre for pelog
gamelan, voice, flute, alto flute and bassoon
[29]From a Gable Window (1990) Gothic Horror Tape Work
[30] Sykes, J. (ed.) The Concise
[31] Adorno, T. Minima Moralia (New Left Books 1974): translation E.F.F. Jephcott.
[32] Kauffman, R. "Tactility as an Aesthetic Consideration in African Music" The
Performing Arts (ed.) Blacking, J. (Mouton Paris 1979).
[33]Blacking, J. "The Biology of Music-Making" Ethnomusicology: an
introduction (ed.) Myers, H. (MacMillan Press 1992).
[34] Kristeva,
J. "The System and the Speaking Subject"
The Tell-Tale Sign (ed.) Sebeok, T. (The peter de Ridder Press Lesse
1975).
[35] Songs of Incantation (1991)
New music-theatre for 8 performers and
tape.
[36] Bateson, G. "Style, Grace and Information in Primitive Art" Steps to an
Ecology of Mind (Intertext, 1972).
[37] Keesing, R. Cultural Anthropology (Holt, Rinehart and Winston,
1976).
[38] Kristeva, J. Language: The Unknown (CUP: New York, 1989): pg. 17.
Š May 2008 Nachtschimmen
Music-Theatre-Language Night Shades,
Ghent (Belgium)*
Send mail to zachar@nachtschimmen.eu with questions or
comments about this website.
*LAST MODIFIED: September 27 2013.
Major Writings
