Harrison Ford on success

August 16, 2010

A newspaper clipping that I cherish, from the Ocala Star Banner, Dec 26, 1988. I realized early on that success was tied to not giving up. Most people in this business gave up and went on to other things. If you simply didn’t give up, you would outlast the people who came in on the […]

Read More

Two upcoming speaking appearances

August 13, 2010

How we store time in our body, and how to use the idea of the future Keith Howes has been running a provocative program for the Theosophical Society of Sydney called ‘Toward 3012’. For the final week, he has invited me to join him to present and lead discussion based on my essay The Role […]

Read More

“Krematisten”

July 5, 2010

It’s with some amusement that I’m posting this. My article on chrematism has attracted a large number of visitors since I posted it in August 2009 on my original website. What I didn’t know in my naïvety was that I was one of very few people to use this word. Possibly one of only two: […]

Read More

Two excerpts from ‘Harp and Wind Quintet’

June 21, 2010

Like all my pieces, Harp and Wind Quintet is a single-movement open-form work. I constantly add passages, so it’s a perpetual work-in-progress. Currently it’s just under 1 hour long, but I have a feeling it’ll bloom to the length of my longest works, Solo Piano and String Quartet, each of which is over 3 hours in duration.

Read More

Nachtstück from ‘Solo Piano’

May 29, 2010

This piece is a tribute to my friend Tom and the memory of our friendship. I met him in 1986 at a Roman Catholic church called St Paul’s in Madison, Wisconsin. Tom was the organist and I was the pianist. One of the first things Tom said to me was, “I don’t consider you a […]

Read More

The role of the future

April 21, 2010

Does living fully in the present moment mean we should never think about the future? Is it possible to reconcile being fully present with future-based ideas like goal-setting or making appointments?
The question that best sums it up for me is this:
“What is the role of the future for someone who lives fully in the present moment?”
And the answer I’ve arrived at is this:
“The future is simply a tool that we can use to create a joyful experience of the present moment.”

Read More

A free forum on commissioning classical music

April 7, 2010

I am speaking at the first-ever Commissioners’ Circle meeting organized by chronology arts. This is designed to educate interested people and organizations on exactly what’s involved in the exciting process of commissioning a new piece of music. I will be joined by composer Ross Edwards, artistic director Roland Peelman and composers/entrepreneurs Andrew Batt-Rawden and Alex […]

Read More

A birthday drawing from my niece

March 31, 2010

My niece Shannon, who is 6, drew this for me on my birthday last month. She is a precocious, artistic soul. I find myself wondering, if I had children, how would I raise them? I’ve been thinking about formal education recently. As my friend Sean Rasmussen is fond of saying, we don’t stop playing because […]

Read More

Untitled #2 for solo harp

March 29, 2010

Untitled #2 for solo harp is not called such because there is an Untitled #1, but because it’s the 2nd version of the piece.

The piece was begun in November 2009 as a birthday gift for my friend, teacher and colleague Amir Zoghi. I wanted to give it to him at this beach party, but the version I had completed did not, I realized in time, ring with truth. And if there’s one thing art should do, it’s to ring with truth.

Read More

Álmos vagyok (after Bartók)

March 15, 2010

On his birthday my friend Tim called me to talk about Philip Langridge, who had just died from cancer. I was in a cheery mood and there was no reason not to stay that way; when people die, they just disappear from our reality, but nothing’s really happened to them. They’ve just become unfettered to […]

Read More

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →