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Romy the Cat
Boston, MA
Posts 10,421
Joined on 05-27-2004
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Post #:
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102
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Post ID:
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29555
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Reply to:
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29554
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There is no conflict there.
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Paul, you are not wrong in sensing Eastern subtexts in my position on this subject. The reality is that it is not necessarily Eastern per se, but rather a complementary musical and cultural logic, one in which shame and guilt are not the primary moderating forces. Also, do not discount age here. An accommodation of, and an openness to, the specific advantages the Eastern world offers is a common inclination in the second half of life for many people.
I have absolutely zero issue with the East versus West question. To me, it is not a competition of any kind, but an organic fusion. Even musically, I tend to appreciate a restrained and intentional introduction of Middle Eastern modal practice into Western contexts. When done properly, even briefly, such an introduction adds depth precisely because it suspends the Western bias toward functional harmony and teleological resolution, allowing perception to reorganize around melodic contour, micro-inflection, and timbral emphasis rather than chordal logic. The effect is not exoticism but reorientation, a bypassing of the purely intellectual layer in favor of direct perceptual engagement. When it is done properly and tastefully, it is absolutely astonishing and beautiful.
This is not about conflict. It is about integration.It is mildly amusing that you, Paul, mention Eastern elements. Just yesterday I was listening to a remarkable recording of medieval Sephardic Jewish vocal music. In terms of melodic grammar, modal behavior, and expressive intent, it felt like a trip to Mars: a completely different musical world and a fundamentally different mechanism for communicating with consciousness. Whether one likes it or not is beside the point.
For me, the point is that while my mind functions comfortably within a familiar Western musical system, the introduction of an Eastern modality operates analogously to a Gödelian shift between formal systems. Just as Gödel demonstrated that certain truths can only be formulated and recognized within the internal logic of a given system, the encounter with an alternative musical logic briefly exposes the limits of the Western framework without negating its validity, allowing another coherent order of meaning to become perceptible. I absolutely love those moments.
"I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche
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