From Notebooks #2

A R T I S T ’ S A R T I C L E From Notebooks #2 Daniel Goode “From Notebooks #2” is a continuing collection gathered from music notebooks in which I have been writing from 1968 to the present. Actually, I have notebooks that date back to the ageofeight-first, music-lesson booksand, later, entriesof my early and brief compositions.I started my book, FmmNotebooks:I968-, with spiralnotebook#28, ending with entries from the year 1982 (published by Frog Peak Music, Hanover, New Hampshire). The collection of notebooks in thisarticle beginswith entrieswritten in 1982and ends with those written in 1990. “FromNotebooks”is about my creativework, allfacetsof it,includingthe unconscious,represented bydreams.These facets appear mosaic-like, in roughly chronological order (Figs1and 2). In this article,the different symbols or ikons heading each paragraph indicate a break from one facet or category of thought to another. The walls between categoriesare not ‘air-tight’,but somecentralconcern markseach. Fig. 1. Daniel Goode,“FromNotebooks#2”, 1968to present. Excerpt showingthe composer’smethodof usingfontsandtypesizes to organizeanddistinguishhisnotebook categories. Entriesin thistypeface are about my own composition,thought and process.For examplethe entry on page 1 about TUNNELFUNNEL . This type face is used for epigrams, the first of which is on page 1: “Selfgeneration ...II DREAMS appear i n t h i s typeface: only dreams about music or musicians are included. This typeface is for entries that take up music from a phenomenological point of view, or method, such as that on page 1:‘ITHEpleasures of MGA...” and on page 3 :‘Thinkingabout for m . . . ” A related area is what I call musical ARCHETYPES, such as the entry found on page 15: ” TWO MORE ARCHETYPES...” CATEGORIES AND SYMBOLS + COMPOSITION: entries about my own composition, thought and process, for example, the entry on this page about TUNNELFUNNEL. Composition is the artistic synthesisof all parameters, complexinternallyyet simpleto the naked eye, as is the shape that precedes those sections. It EPIGRAMS: (the first of which is seen on page 2 with ‘Self-generation’) An epigram has a quality of callingattention to itself, as is seen in a remark with an asterisk. *DREAMSwill alwaysappear thisway and with thissymbol, the star, since most dreams happen at night. Only dreams about music or musicians are included in this text. 9 PHENOMENOLOGYworks with background and foreground , or multiple levels of analysis, as does this symbol. It is for entries that take up music from a phenomenological point of view or method, such as those on page 2, ‘The pleasures of RAGA’ and ‘Thinkingabout form’. 0MUSICALARCHETYPES,arelated area,suchasthe entry found on page 4, ‘TWOMORE ARCHETYPES’. The circle is itself an archetype of many cultures. . )ENVIRONMENTisfor entries that report environmental sounds, either urban or rural. Its symbol is one of the most powerful of environmental sounds. c CULTURAL CRITICISM,a new categoryfor this collection , is exemplified by the entry on page 3, ‘The biggest, most painful contradiction’. In my view, cultural criticism should be peremptory, action-oriented:a finger points the way. A PSYCHOLOGICAL are the few entries that stray somewhat from composition as a method to psychological concerns , such as that on page 4, ‘On SOLO-ISM’.This symbol is used because theories of psychic reality have sometimes used trinity-likestructures. POLITICALTHOUGHT.There isa shortquotationfrom Omar Cabezas’sautobiographyon page 4, opening up anew concern that also has the peremptory quality of pointing, doing, acting as does cultural criticism. FROM NOTEBOOKS #2 + T M L - F W m L [I]:it works down to the funnel ...and nothing getsout -like a black hole, nothing escapes-the micro takes over from the macro -the ear is led. (6/9/82) TWA!EL-FCY“EL : To cross categories of logical develop 7 h l s typeface is for entries that report envlronmental sounds elther urban or rural. Daniel Goode (composer),167SpringSt.,New York,NY 10012,U S A Received 1November 1990. Manuxript solicited by Larry Polansky. 01991ISAST PergamonPressplc. Printedin Great Briain. 0961-1 215/91$3.00+0.00 LEONARD0MUSICJOURNAL, Vol.1,No. I,pp.45-50,1991 45 Thinking about form: the (multi-scalar)wavelike quality of events in certain progressant works: a suceeding wave sweeps away the preceding, envelopingit in a different scale. The non...