The Four Elements: Light

Posted on August 20, 2012 by composerinthegarden

What is to give light must endure burning. ~ Victor Frankl

At last, I have finally completed the music and video of “Light,” the second piece of The Four Elements. As I did with “Breath” I am offering a free mp3 download of “Light” for the first week of release, which you can find on my Facebook Music Page or at CD Baby. (After midnight EST, Sunday, August 26, it will revert back to a $.99 download.)

Since I’ve previously written about the creation of this piece in Fire and Light: When the Idea is Too Big and At the Speed of Light, today I simply present the video, the lyrics, and a few acknowledgements. Enjoy!

A special thanks goes as always to my creative partner and husband, Bill Purse, who not only engineered and produced the audio recording, but also played bass and sang. Another thanks to two of my former students, Mike Elliott and Rob Balotsky, who played electronic percussion for the piece, no mean feat considering the odd time signatures and shifting rhythms. A final thanks to the Hubble Space Telescope Program and NASA video sources for such inspiring images of our world and our universe.

Light, Light
Solar plexus, solar flare
Fire burning through the air becomes
Light through the leaves, Light through the clouds

The edge of dawn, the hem of night
chasing shadows in the race to light.
Light, Light.

Gathered on the waters, reflected by the moon.
Even once removed, its power streams into the night, light.
Light, Light.

Lux aeterna, Lux aeterna, Lux, Lux

The Gift of Inspiration

Posted on August 7, 2012 by composerinthegarden

Inspiration ~ from the Latin inspirare “inspire, inflame, blow into,” from in- “in” + spirare “to breathe.” By 1867, meaning “one who inspires others.” ~ Adapted from the Online Etymology Dictionary

Until I researched the meaning of “inspiration” I had no idea that it came from the Latin word inspirare – to breathe, to blow into or to breathe in. From a physiological point of view, breathing consists of two phases, inspiration (breathing in) and expiration (breathing out.) One current meaning of inspiration is the “arousal of the mind, feelings, etc. to special or unusual activity or creativity.” (Collins English Dictionary) A deeper look at this familiar word has a special and unexpected meaning to me, as I released a new composition a few months ago called “Breath” and have written about it in Breathe Out, Breathe In.

And so, I was deeply touched by Margie in Italy’s nomination of my blog for “The Very Inspiring Blogger” award. Nothing could please me more than to think that what I post may inspire others, for I have also been deeply inspired by many blogs as well. I now have an opportunity to acknowledge and thank those bloggers who have touched my life and my view of the world. I must admit that for many years, I thought the blogging world was solely populated by the espousal of extreme opinions, whether political, social, or the merely petty. While this certainly exists, what I have really found in the year that I have been blogging is a large diverse community of people who generously share their insights, their reflections and perceptions, their sense of humor, and their creative vision with others. I never could have imagined such a place, with friends the world over respecting and encouraging each other and each with a unique gift to share. It continues to fascinate and inspire me.

The Very Inspiring Blogger Award asks me to thank my awarder, reveal seven facts about myself, and nominate seven others for the award. As you might guess, Margie has a deep abiding love for Italy along with family ties there and shares wonderful photos, stories, recipes, and ideas from her travels through that beautiful country. It is a wonderful blog for a personal take on Italy!

Seven facts about me:

I also have a deep love for Italy – the land of sunset colored buildings, deep green trees, a profound cultural love of music and art, and some of the best coffee, wine, and food on the planet. I spent two summers there while in college and have visited several times since. In addition to Margie’s blog, I follow Bagni di Lucca for my weekly Italy fix. Here’s a painting I made that was inspired by the house where I stayed in Barga many years ago.
I drink hot coffee year round, even during the “dog days” of summer.
Speaking of dog days, my standard poodle, Angel Eyes, picked me. I went to the breeder intending to bring home her brother, but she danced around my chair until I fell in love with her on the spot. Good choice!
I love to dance, even when I’m cooking.
My iPad is stocked with a wild mix of books, from classic fiction to quantum physics to biographies to sci fi/fantasy novels to cookbooks. Lately, I’ve been working my way through Zane Grey novels, downloaded free through Project Gutenberg, including “Riders of the Purple Sage.”
I miss the magic of the darkroom. I love Photoshop but there was something special about swirling the paper in the tray and seeing an image emerge. Here’s a B&W photo I took in Spain which was featured in some photography shows and a few newspaper reviews.
I’ve seen the movie “Avatar” four times, twice in iMax 3D. In an alternative universe, I would live in that glowing garden.

Here are four (sorry, couldn’t manage the seven) nominations for the “Very Inspiring Blogger Award” –

Catherine of The Daily Round writes one of the most thoughtful blogs I’ve ever read. She reflects on life’s big questions as well as its little details and often includes photos of her garden and her four legged friends. I am always deeply touched and inspired by her wisdom and her reflective approach to life.

Tracy of Seasons Flow consistently amazes me with her deep knowledge of birds and wildflowers, which she shares through words and photos taken on her long walks through the Ohio countryside. It is always a fascinating journey to walk along with Tracy.

Ogee of Gardens for Goldens has a unique site dedicated to the rescue of golden retriever dogs and a garden dedicated to them. Stories of happy endings and garden photos – what could be better?

CheyAnne of New Mexico Mountain Girl is a gifted painter and photographer who shares her beautiful world in colorful images of horses, birds, and even old rusted pickup trucks in the New Mexico landscape. I’ve been following CheyAnne since I began blogging and even dream about her beautiful images sometimes.

In another week or so, I have another award to acknowledge, so I will save a few nominees for that post. Want to read more about inspiration? Visit Wikipedia on “Inspiration” with many interesting links.

One more award! Jean of Cycle Write Blog generously nominated me a while back for the Versatile Blogger award. Jean has a wonderful blog about her cycling adventures around the city of Vancouver, often featuring fascinating neighborhood stores, eateries, art in the parks, and architectural standouts. If you’re a gardener, you might especially enjoy her post “Nurturing Life: In Praise of Gardeners, Keepers of the Earth.” Since I already received this award a while back, I will direct you to my response post “On Being Versatile” for a peek at my answers and the other blogs I nominated for the award.

What Lies Beneath

Posted on June 2, 2012 by composerinthegarden

Two weeks ago, I premiered the piece “Breath” on this blog, as both a music video and an mp3 download. Photographer and fellow blogger Kerry of Lightscapes Nature Photography Blog made a comment that has been circling in my mind ever since.

“I remain in awe of what it takes–the synthesis–to create something like this. It’s difficult, bordering on impossible, for me to fathom.”

Since Kerry generously posts about his approach/creative process to landscape photography, I thought I might try the same for the creation of “Breath” in a way that hopefully anyone can understand. Since I teach composition, I have had to become more aware of the compositional process – and I learn more about my own process each time I “deconstruct” a piece.

The Idea/Inspiration
For me, a musical idea is often triggered by an event or a powerful moment or insight. In this case, “Breath” is part of a larger suite of pieces making up The Four Elements. I was inspired to use the idea of breath for the element of air from three sources; one was my yoga practice and the deep breathing that it teaches. The second was watching the leaves on the trees around my house dancing in the wind, as if the earth was breathing in and out. The third was a video of experimental composer and performance artist Pamela Z, who used her breath against sheets of metal in “Metal Voice” from “Voci.” So, all I knew starting out was that there would be breath sounds and the text would explore the meaning of breath, while the music would try to capture the rhythm of leaves moving in the wind as well as the silence between breaths.

The Research
I explored many concepts and ideas about breath and was surprised to find that across most cultures and religions, a word for breath existed that meant not only the physical act of breathing but a metaphysical act of breath – “breath of life, breath of energy”- a means of connection with a greater spiritual power. Many pages of notes later, I found certain phrases and words coming up over and over again, and from those writings, a rough draft of lyrics was created. This could be compared to scouting a location for photography or exploring a historical period for a story and creating an outline from notes.

Letting It Cook

An under-rated part of the creative process is gathering all of these ideas and letting them simmer beneath the conscious mind, just like giving bread dough enough time to rise. Ideas would percolate while I was working in the garden, driving in the car, walking the dog and I began to get a sense of the rhythm of the words and music. If I move to the piano or the computer too soon, before I hear the music internally, my hands compose instead of my head, and I end up falling into automatic habits, not unlike taking the highway exit to go to work out of habit when you really are headed somewhere else. So I have learned to allow everything to slowly simmer and come together internally before I begin the actual writing process. If I wait long enough, the piece takes on a life and rhythm of its own that I then follow like a story unfolding.

Committing to Paper
If I am writing a song, lyrics almost always come first but their rhythm and inflection become quickly bonded with musical ideas. A rough sketch of lyrics and the idea that I wanted to have a “world music” sound that was inspired by gamelan music started the process and tied it to the other pieces in The Four Elements. Gamelan music is played mainly on percussion instruments and consists of many overlapping patterns of notes called ostinatos. Combining different patterns creates a floating rhythmic quality without an obvious strong beat, similar to the way an artist might layer color after color to create a complex but subtle painting. Here is a short video that explains how I created the rhythmic elements that underpin the piece.

The Final Mix
After the premiere of “Breath” by my student electronic ensemble, I returned to the original arrangement and began to customize it for my own performance and recording. Several days of experimentation in my studio produced synthesizer tracks that were then taken into the audio studio for adding voice, bass, and other tracks. Many test mixes were created for listening on many different sound systems, from the living room stereo to the car CD player to sound systems in music stores. My husband, who has golden ears, fantastic technical skills, and boundless patience, filled the role of audio engineer and producer admirably. A final upload of the piece to CD Baby completed the audio project.

I hope you enjoyed the”behind the scenes” explanation of how I compose music. Next week, I’ll talk about the video I created for “Breath” – and show you what didn’t make the cut!

Let the Music Begin

Posted on May 20, 2012 by composerinthegarden

Music in the soul can be heard by the universe. ~ Lao Tzu

Finally, I have emerged from the studio with the completed audio and video of “Breath” which will be the premiere piece for my online music store. I have already written about “Breath” in Breathe Out, Breathe In and The Space Between, so this time I will let the music and video speak for itself.

In celebration of this new project, you can download an mp3 of the music for free this week only at CD Baby or my new Facebook Music Page (after Sunday, May 27, 11 P.M., it will return to $.99) If you like the music, please feel free to share the link with others. I particularly want to thank all of you who took the time to give me feedback about your digital music use in Your Opinion, Please. The overwhelming winning response was for downloading single mp3’s, followed by a wide variety of other approaches for acquiring and listening to music. I learned so much from all of you and I appreciate your help.

A special thanks goes to my musical partner and husband Bill Purse for doing such a great job as recording engineer and producer, as well as singing and playing bass and percussion. Thanks to friend and fellow composer David Borden for lending his breath to this project and to my friend Linda for teaching me how to breathe. Enjoy the music!

Insubstantial, hard to hold
Never seen, with power unfolds
to drive the clouds and gyre the sea,
Breathe

Breathe out, breathe in, balanced in the space between
Silence, stillness, until the breath moves through again

Prana, Spiritus, Ruach, Chi
Breath of life, breath of energy
Breathe out, breathe in, carried on the wind

Insubstantial, many names
Cold as frost and hot as flame
Breath on the air, breath on the wind, Breathe

Breathe out, breathe in, balanced in the space between
Silence, stillness
SIlence, stillness, stillness
Breathe

“Like” Lynn Purse Music on Facebook

Your Opinion, Please

Posted on May 14, 2012 by composerinthegarden

Months of work are coming to a peak! I have finished the audio for the first song, Breath, and am tweaking the video for it now. I hope to premiere it in a post this coming weekend.

In the meantime, I have started a music store on CD Baby which will also appear on my Facebook music page. Here’s my plan: record and release as a digital download one piece a month of what I am calling “songs from the garden.” In a year’s time, all the songs will then be gathered into a CD and released again as a CD download and/or a physical CD.

For all of my followers and visitors, I would love your feedback and opinions before I finalize the store and premiere the first piece. I have created a short poll of your preferences for online music which will help me decide the best way to proceed with presenting my work. Every song will be featured here “in entirety” on the blog as a music video but I am still trying to determine the best way to handle the mp3 downloads.

There are no “right or wrong” answers – results (by percentage) will be listed in the next post. I would love your opinion, please!

composerinthegarden

The intersection of music and the garden as intertwined creative art forms

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