There is a particular Bach fugue that I like to practice (I am a keyboard artist) to the mental rhythm of “I love you, (wife’s name)”. It works for me, as a kind of meditation. I leave out the exact identifications here, of both the fugue and my wife, as that sort of thing is different for every musician/husband, artist/wife, plumber/partner, et al.
David Salminen, pianist, in concert ~ Sunday, Feb. 24, 2019, 1:30 pm ~ at a new venue (for him): Michelle’s Piano Company ~ 600 SE Stark St. Portland, Oregon 97214 ~ admission free (donations welcome to cover costs and support the artist) ~ program: cosmic improvisations and toning with tones ~ email david@wholeworks.net for more info ~ more about the location: https://www.michellespiano.com/about/
It may well be that Western music’s “major scale” is a musical metaphor: do is the moment of commitment. re is establishing contact with the work you’re doing, the process. mi is when you start to feel the process taking on a life of its own. mi-fa is a crisis point, wherein you suffer some disillusionment with certain presumptions and expectations. sol is when the power returns… you’re more than halfway there! But also here is temptation, the temptation to “coast”. la is when you re-commit, on a deeper level, knowing that in following the process, you have a chance to enter into the truly creative – something unforeseeable. si-do is the transition to letting go of the “push” and just allowing the result to manifest itself! ~ David Salminen’s re-working of a very old tradition, inspired by J.G. Bennett’s explanation of Gurdjieff’s mysterious law of heptaparaparshinokh, found in Bennett’s book: “Talks on Beelzebub’s Tales”.
David’s next concert, in Portland, Oregon, on Oct. 28, 2017, 1 pm, is inspired by thinking about “The Relative Brightness of the Stars”. It will happen at the Recital Hall inside of Classic Pianos, 3003 SE Milwaukie Ave, Portland, OR, USA 97202.
It turns out that stars, just like us humans, have life cycles… most stars can be found in what astronomers call “the main sequence”… but there are many outliers, as well. The stars are similar to us, or – as we are each and all made of star dust – we are similar to the stars. (No admission charge; donations to help cover expenses and support David’s efforts are welcome.) Please share this announcement with your friends as you see fit.
image: NASA – Hubble telescope – outer space… stars & galaxies
DUE TO PROBLEMATIC CONTINUING WEATHER CONDITIONS IN PORTLAND AND THE SURROUNDING AREAS, THE JANUARY 15, 2017 CONCERT HAS BEEN CANCELLED – IT WILL BE RE-SCHEDULED, BUT WE DON’T HAVE A NEW DATE, AS OF YET.
David Salminen’s improvisational concerts, in addition to being live demonstrations of the pleasures and surprises of the spontaneous moment, are vehicles for communicating ways in which listening to music can foster creativity in anyone, in any area a person has a need for it… these events are not simply about music. Really, so much in our lives could be improved, made better, etc. with a little bit more creativity, and we all possess unlimited potential for it – fresh ideas & new ways of seeing, hearing, and doing things. Dedication: In appreciation of Pauline Oliveros 1932-2016, an American composer and the champion of “deep listening”.
At David’s concerts “We, the listeners, become the music.” Cheryl Kolander – Aurora Silk
For more information: https://davidsalminen.com
Email: david@wholeworks.net
Phone: 503-762-6387
NASA image – public domainDavid Salminen’s concerts over the past few years start from an idea or a feeling generated by a Cosmic perspective about our place in the Universe, or our understanding of some aspect of the Universe. The July 10, 2016 “EARTH – YOU ARE HERE” concert comes more from a feeling than an idea – a feeling for our home planet, a place so rare – unique really, to the best of our certain knowledge – that we cannot overemphasize its importance to us, in terms of place and time.While I am not closed to the idea of life on other worlds – even on many planets throughout the Universe, what we know for sure at this point is that our home planet, Earth, is the place, in the whole of the Universe, that we know is hospitable to life forms such as us. In this sense, the oneness of life here on Earth, as well as our individual lives as we each experience life, is central – the very center – of the Universe. “Each of us – whoever and wherever he may be – is then the center, and within him, whether he knows it or not, is that Mind at Large, the laws of which are the laws not only of all minds but of all space as well. For as I have already pointed out, we are the children of this beautiful planet that we have lately seen photographed from the moon. We were not delivered into it by some god. but have come forth from it.” page 274 of Joseph Campbell’s book “Myths to Live By”. http://www.portlandmercury.com/events/18292535/earth-you-are-here
(photo credit – NASA image – public domain)
“Earth – You Are Here”
David Salminen, piano improvisations
July 10, 2016, 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Portland Piano Company, 711 SW 14th Ave, Portland, OR 97205 – phone 503.775.2480
free admission and open to the public – donations welcome
The idea behind this “Earth – You Are Here” concert is suggested by the NASA images of Earth from space, beginning from the time of the Apollo missions of the late 1960’s and continuing. These images remind us of the unity of humanity and the wholeness of life as we know it – from a cosmic perspective. David’s improvisations build intuitively and spontaneously on the extraordinary resonances that are possible with the modern grand piano, via the 88 keys as entry points, in activating the sounding board as a vehicle for a holistic experience of endlessly evolving complexes of harmony and harmonics.
BY THE WAY – If you can’t attend in person – please check this out, for the fun of it:
David Salminen 