|
Koan In Zen Buddhism a Koan is an enigmatic and apparently illogical question which serves as a focus for the mind to concentrate on the question of essential nature. Koan also denotes 'a public document' through which the master will test the depth of the pupil's understanding. Practically, the Koan is presented as a question which must be answered and its aim is to force the student to assume an inquiring attitude. I was particularly interested in the poetic implications of such a circumstance, and have used a Haiku form containing 17-'syllable' musical verses. The association with the evocative power of the shakuhachi is deliberate. John Palmer I was born somewhere...lived elsewhere...was trained and academically 're-trained': under- post- neo-graduate studies...mastercourses... even a PhD in composition. But rather than supplying listeners with yet another 'bio-academic' distinguished blurb, I suspect that it may be more interesting to know a little about the music I write. The motive is simple: to me, music is a way towards a deeper understanding of life as I experience it within and around me. I don't hesitate saying that such a conviction springs from an instinctive questioning about the significance of existence in its human (intellectual, spiritual, social and artistic) facets which has accompanied me since I was a little child. Beyond the duality of wrong and right, light and dark, black and white, I perceive a fundamental unity where all expressions of individualities are confluent in the same reality, and where past and future co-exist by returning to the unbounded mystery of the now. I still discover that music is the most powerful expression of this evolution. Back to shortlist. |
|
