touch / haptic / listen / sound http://www.alansondheim.org/touch.jpg http://www.alansondheim.org/touch.mp3 http://www.alansondheim.org/touch.jpg playing the sanshin with eyes closed, yes, well, the neck is fretless, a little over two feet long, three silk strings, have them tuned relative to fifth fourth intervals so for example cgc might do, difficult for me to finger, i'm not using a traditional pick but thumb and three fingers, all the while aware of the delicacy of the strings, the neck is all smooth so it's both an exercise of close listening, trying to play in tune, slide into tune, and to make something of the attempt itself, that is to produce music that satisfies one way or another, i can't see where i am when i jump over a foot to try to hit the octave harmonic and play slightly below there, fingering nearby but not quite, i can do this, or rather i can do this a lot easier with sight, but not hear and did i say such a smooth neck, i think i did, gliding all the time but nothing natural about stopping here and there, nothing natural but the sound itself, something like a bowed instrument but at least there, when beginning there might be markers, and one can always see somewhat, however that is defined, that somewhat, where one is, at least at first, before tacit knowledge implies a deep bond and connectivity between hand and finger, finger and neck, arm and bow, hand and bow, and so forth, and there i am but here in darkness, you must be assured, all is smooth, it's almost uncanny, a featureless landscape, rounding off by hearing alone, maybe the left-hand fingers slightly bending into the proper position and that's not always possible for me, for then there's the glide, and who knows where that's going to end up, and then working all of this naturally into the shape of the music itself, at that point, as smoothly as possible, as if just hanging on to whatever's happening that's only partly the result of your intentions, of anyone's, so that i think i have to move into a safer lower realm where it all seems to fall into place, even though that might not be possible, and so repetition might come into play, if not that then at least a momentary smooth rhythm, keeping in mind the nature of the instrument itself, the traditional music associated with it, the years of practice, the vision and visionary experience itself, and yet, with my eyes closed, in the midst of all this smoothness, the haptic sense, touch, seems to come into play, i almost wrote to kick in, but much smoother than that so that everything is bridging everything else, shorter forms either repeat or become longer, finding myself holding my breathing, unconsciously wishing it were so, that everything would hold beyond the slight omissions or poor positioning, out of tune perhaps in fact, praying that i make it beyond these longer phrases, hoping that the repetition holds at least momentarily, gliding forthwith across the chasm, slowing or speed up gratefully on the other side, smoothly loving the instrument, my fingers at least for now, for the moment, as if they were no longer part of me, beyond me, across the chasm, working some magic i could never have imagined, that could never have come to roost, here and there towards the end of the piece which seems to come naturally, everything quietly extending silence at least for a few seconds, silence or quiet, as if smoothly, beyond the end, beyond the unseen of things themselves _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list [email protected] https://lists.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
