ESSAYS: Music. Time. Philosophy. Ethics. Art. Science. Religion. Nonviolence...

FIELDNOTES: I report on my wilderness ecology fieldwork from the field…

For PIANO QUARTET & WOMEN'S CHOIR....

PHOTO: Cross-country trekking, High Summer, the Alps, Urnerland

INTRO to RIDGE CROSSING, w/ all performance materials, etc at:
http://bit.ly/1OqhaSe

THE IDEAL WAY to perform RIDGE CROSSING might be with a quartet of pianos, together with a women's choir of about eight to ±24 voices. The pieces may also be played separately, outside of the cycle. The poems should always be performed first, without the music.

RIDGE CROSSING, a music / poetry project, w/ INTRO

SEE webcore at: http://cs-music.com/viola/m_frame-1-va-1.html

DOWNLOAD pdf for 1st frame at: http://cs-music.com/viola/m_frame-1-va.pdf

DOWNLOAD pdf for all four frames of "m," complete: http://cs-music.com/viola/m-for-viola.pdf

DOWNLOAD the book mentioned in the introduction, THE LITTLE CLAVIER, kindle / pdf version [110Mb/630 pages] at: http://bit.ly/1AhsEwv

SEE ALSO an early version of the same "strange loop" essay, w/ examples, links, etc., on the web at: http://cs-music.com/volume1/staircase3.html

from StarCycle Project: INTRO to "Strange Loops" & m--for solo viola

PHOTO: NORTH-side / SOUTH-side Cornucopia Peak, the South WALLOWA, Oregon, where the recording was made VI.27.2008

SEE MORE at: http://picture-poems.com/photoweek/copia_north-south_6-27-08.html

FIELDNOTES: I report on difference between SOUTH- & NORTH-facing slope

SEE TEXT and more at: http://picture-poems.com/features/guru.html

PHOTO: Hackberry on Basalt rock, sagebrush steppe, Oregon

INTRO to "GURU," an experimental, "discovery" poem

READING: #essay The Little Clavier & the Idea of Sympathetic Resonance #pdf [.5Mb] http://bit.ly/1z0iNiN Key concept in the world of Nature

SOUNDS: Pharos [with ASKO Ensemble] & Violin Etude I [with Maya Bennardo]

THE LITTLE CLAVIER & the Idea of Sympathetic Resonance

FOR MORE PHOTOS & MORE ON the natural history of the Camas Lily -- one of the most beautiful and storied plants of the Northwest -- go to: http://picture-poems.com/photoweek/camassia_6-15-10d.html

FIELDNOTES: I report on a secret reserve of CAMAS LILIES

PHOTO: "Camp Lost & Found," where the text was composed, & the recording made. SEE MORE at: http://picture-poems.com/photoweek/streamside-fieldwork_7-30.html

DIABOLUS IN MUSICA? The  mystery of the tritone and the 11th partial, essay & sound

PHOTO: Corn Lily (Veratrum viridis), MAY aspect http://picture-poems.com/photoweek/veratrum_6-5-11.html

NOTE: "Native invasive" is a radically new concept, one we need with disturbance, especially if we are to understand the more subtle effects of the climate crisis. It's an interesting thought: a native species, like say, Mt. Pine Beetles, becomes thoroughly invasive once the wider context -- the climate, or grazing practices -- changes. 



FIELDNOTES: I report on the "native invasive" Corn Lily & the "Strong Man Circle"

A rambling, cold, windy meditation -- it was -15 c. -- on skis, above the picture-poems.com Office in happy EAGLE VALLEY, an isolated, rugged & wild area of Northeast Oregon. And yet, I'm looking down into a temperature inversion holding a toxic soup of particulates from an interstate highway 60 km away, as the crow flies. It's true. No place to hide. Pollution, if nothing else, brings home the oneness of the world. MORE AT: http://picture-poems.com/photoweek/eagle-valley-inversion.html



FIELDNOTES: I report from the Eagle Cap Wilderness on air pollution in the valley below

PHOTO: Snug Thanksgiving Camp, at 2300 m., between Spire Firs & Whitebark Pine, the WALLOWA, #Oregon

FiELDNOTES: Climate Crisis, Mountaineering & Rain on top of Snow

THIS IS A little recording on SOUND / SILENCE complementarity in Music, Poetry & Dance. I made it while taking a break from autumn fieldwork photo-making. I was working in an enchanting Avalanche Alder grove at 1500 m. or so. It was the end of October. Wind still. Wonderful golden yellows all around. A small creek near by. So my thought naturally turned to the rhythmic back and forth of sounds against the natural ground of silence.

It seems that a key feature of Western cultural fragmentation is the breaking apart of natural, complementary cycles of movement. Think of a circle. Think of a circle MOVING, a kind of dance around a DIFFERENCE. And now, cut the circle, the cycle, apart. What you get is a straight line. Lines going nowhere, without life, without breath, without movement. 

That's bad. Why? Because it naturally leads -- most of the time unawares -- into kind of confused state of imbalance.

See what you think!

PHOTO: Fall Alder leaf venation, or vein patternation. 


On The Fragmentation of the SOUND / SILENCE Complementarity

Composer. Writer. Photographer. Former conductor & founder of the ASKO ensemble.

On a bike/ski/hike trek of the Pacific Northwest studying native plants & climate breakdown 🌲 from sagebrush sea to whitebark pine. Composing off-grid the whole way.

#Sun2Sound 🌕 on X

THINKING LIKE A STONEPINE, a soundpoem manifesto https://vimeo.com/844665859

“LOVE & WATER, three thought poems w/ coda, PHAROS for small orchestra, “Nightwind”” https://vimeo.com/847079690 

CURRENTLY on mt bike/ski/climbing trek through Pacific Northwest, working on a photobook about WHITEBARK PINE COLLAPSE and CLIMATE CRISIS. BASES in the WALLOWAS | AMSTERDAM | ALPS. 

WEEKLY photo/poetry updates at www.picture-poems.com & THE CIRCLE IN THE SQUARE new music, poetry & dance performance project at www.cs-music.com

ALWAYS ON THE LOOKOUT for progressive, tech-savy, instrumental virtuosi interested in dialogue & collaborative undertakings.

CONTACT cliff@picture-opoems.com
Or on SKYPE or FACETIME @cliffcrego

MUSIC? The one thing humans do,
that makes the rest of nature jealous.

On The Fragmentation of the SOUND / SILENCE Complementarity

Cliff Crego