The Music of David Salminen

Posts tagged ‘piano’

Portland, Oregon concert, Sunday 3 pm March 12, 2017

“The Call of the Cosmos” …come join me for the unveiling of new piano improvisations linking spontaneity with classical impulses… a relaxing tribute to  multi-sensory imagination… learn how to listen to the Cosmos with X-ray vision!

David Salminen in concert, 3 pm Sunday, March 12, 2017 (Please remember that our clocks “spring forward” at 2 a.m. that Sunday morning.)

open to the public – supported by donations

CLASSIC PIANOS Recital Hall (503) 239-9969

3003 SE Milwaukie Ave, Portland, OR 97202

Website & map: http://portland.classicpianos.net/contact

for more information please email: david@wholeworks.netngc6357-winter-wonderland

NGC 6357 – located in our galaxy – about 5,500 light years from Earth – Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/PSU/L. Townsley et al; Optical: UKIRT;  Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/cosmic-winter-wonderland.html

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The Jan 15, 2017 “Cosmos” concert has been cancelled

outer-space-stars-galaxies-nasa-hubble_www-wall321-com_31

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

other inspirations behind David Salminen’s July 10, 2016 concert – Portland, Oregon

Vardas Pictures 1 083

photo by Christopher Vardas

An ancient idea occurring across many cultures is the notion that being in harmony with oneself is related to being in harmony with the world at large. Whether or not the brain waves, of a relaxed human being, vibrate at the same frequency as the earth (said to be 8 cycles per second and known as the Schumann Resonance) – composers such as myself aspire to intuitively find a music that helps people get back into a harmonic balance… this has been noted by many people. Please join us if you can, for this free concert at the Portland Piano Company on July 10, 2016, 3 to 4:30 p.m. – There is a comprehensive announcement in the Portland Mercury: http://www.portlandmercury.com/events/18292535/earth-you-are-here
If you can’t make it to the concert, or just want to hear an example of David’s music, there’s a concert excerpt on YouTube from this past January, recorded by John-Henry Dale, using a special 360 degree camera (interactive) and a new kind of microphone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xBxrRAsgPE

David’s summer concert – Portland, Oregon

earth by NASA

(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:

The Sun and the Air – winter concert – Portland, Oregon, USA

black hat photo by C Vardas

David Salminen in concert – solo piano

3 p.m. Sunday, January 31, 2016 – open to the public – no tickets necessary – donations to support the artist and the work are welcome.

Portland Piano Company

711 SW 14th Avenue, Portland Oregon

http://portlandpianocompany.com

There’s something special about the sun and the air at this time of year, different from the warmer seasons. Whether the day is gray or rainy or sunny, it is… winter… nature is resting, somewhat. While many of us are looking forward toward Spring, and the return of longer days, and the rush of greenery as it comes out of hiding, the special quality of winter days and nights is not something to be taken for granted. Contemplating any particular season is an avenue into a deeper relationship with all the seasons – and life in general.

Salminen’s concerts are a kind of guided tour toward finding wholeness and oneness for the individual, in larger and larger contexts – thus the tag “cosmic”. The poetic themes, images, and ideas of any one concert represent particular facets of a deepening human awareness, and the healing of any sense of isolation or alienation from life & nature, the solar system & the galaxy, oneself, and other people. Music, being a time-based art form, offers the opportunity to play with transformational impulses in process, as on-going moments that have both continuity and non-continuity. Non-continuity is when something new breaks into the stream of consciousness that is of a different kind, even while being an integral part of the whole “piece”. It is that dynamic quality of music which gives us a different way of understanding our lives – different from things like  philosophy (words) or imagery (pictures). Of course, philosophy and imagery and all the arts each have their place, but music is something else, and David, in his concerts, strives to realize that “something else” explicitly.

“Music is the only language that can give voice to the ineffable. The feelings that arise listening to David’s work share a kinship with the witness and awe many of us feel when seeing the interstellar wonders scoped by Hubble. But the greater gift in his music is the invitation to explore those inner worlds that saints and sages have been messaging us about for ages. This is the music of the spheres of the highest order, a taste of the wine-dark endlessness that embraces our origins and our destiny.” James Farrelly, Caretaker of Sheep at Asteroid B-612

Examples of David’s concert music are available on his website – things like “The Efficiency of Black Holes” and “Andromeda”, and more.

 

David Salminen’s summer piano concert, Portland, Oregon

THE NATURE OF WATER – Sunday, August 17, 2014 –  3 pm

Portland Piano Company, 711 SW 14th Ave, Portland Oregon

http://www.portlandpianocompany.com

There is no admission charge for this event, but donations to support more presentations of this kind are gratefully received.

Water itself is the inspiration behind the August 17 set of improvisations. Water is a major symbol running through cultures worldwide; but it is useful as such only when we are able to open up to its signals. Luckily, clues are everywhere! From the I Ching (Wilhelm/Baynes translation, Hexagram #29): “Water… flows on and on, and merely fills up all the places through which it flows; it does not shrink from any dangerous spot nor from any plunge, and nothing can make it lose its own essential nature. It remains true to itself under all conditions.”

For Salminen and many of his fans, it has become axiomatic that the subtle and enjoyable discipline of real listening is what actually makes a musical event come alive.  David will introduce this concert with a short talk providing useful hints about listening, and on how new music can be an inspiration toward new forms of understanding. His general philosophy about inspiration is that it is a plural medium – thus the “media” – from which we all draw nourishment. It is not something possessed by individuals.

The “doing” of improvisation has been David’s primary music teacher since he had an “opening” experience in 1979 while working as an accompanist with dozens of dance-teachers-in-training. However, that “opening” as well as Salminen’s ongoing presentations of “cosmic improvisation” was and is grounded in classical training. He took his first piano lessons in 1959 and continued for nine years at the David Hochstein Memorial Music School in Rochester, New York. These years were followed by studies in psychology, music theory, non-Western music, and avant-garde music at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, 1969-74. The academic years were joyfully interrupted by a year of consciousness studies at the International Academy for Continuous Education at Sherborne, England, with the philosopher John G. Bennett. Subsequently, while living in Alaska in the late 1970’s, David’s development as a pianist was greatly accelerated under the tutelage of the French-born piano virtuoso Jean-Paul Billaud, who connected him with the Leschetitzky and other European traditions of music practice, technique, and interpretation.

Examples of David’s concert music can be found at:

https://davidsalminen.com/music/   – as well as –    http://vimeo.com/52173622

For more information, call 503-762-6387 or email david@wholeworks.net

 

 

synchronicities – where “time is not explicit” (as in memories)

DAVID SALMINEN – in concert Sunday, March 30, 2014, 3 pm

Portland Piano Company, 711 SW 14th Ave. Portland, OR 97205
http://www.portlandpianocompany.com

cosmic piano improvisations exploring…
Experiences in Synchronicity
Donations to help make additional events more feasible are gratefully accepted.
For more information, call 503.762.6387 or visit https://davidsalminen.com/music/
“Unconstrained by concepts of necessary harmony, repetitions or fixed rhythms, the music swells into the space, forming a matrix for an intense experience of group meditation. We, the listeners, become the music.” Cheryl Kolander, author/artist, Aurora Silk

related ideas and resonance: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/imagine/201004/cosmic-convergences-einstein-talks-about-music-improvisation-rabindranath-tagore

3/20/2014 Apropos equinox, earlier today a friend of mine reminded me of the now “classic” electronic music album “Equinoxe” – released in 1978 by the French musician Jean Michel Jarre… and I found myself remembering the first time I had heard the album… I hope you don’t mind a little anecdote… When I was studying classical piano performance up in Alaska in the 1970’s with the French-born maestro Jean-Paul Billaud, he would sometimes invited the piano “master class” up to his house in the foothills of the Chugach Mountains to listen to music on a good stereo – and to help us develop our musical friendships, I suppose. Sometimes he would have us play a game of “drop the needle”, where he would put some obscure piano concerto or sonata on the record player, and then “drop the needle” somewhere in the middle… and have us guess at the composer and work… it was a fun musical “detective” game. And it was a great way to begin to be able to identify “markers” of the different stylistic eras, composers, and even the life phases of a particular composer. And in terms of Equinoxe – at the end of one of these sessions, Jean-Paul introduced us to the music of the then young Jarre, and the brand-new-at-that-time Equinoxe recording. I had to run out to the record store later and get my own copy. I still have it, and it’s still one of my favorites! Who doesn’t love “the seasons” of our changes, individually, collectively, and cosmically!

announcement: the Portland “Synchronicity” concert 3/30/2014

The Second Law of Synchronicity – David Salminen – live in concert – exploratory piano improvisations

Sunday, March 30, 2014, 3 pm
Portland Piano Company, 711 SW 14th Ave. Portland, OR 97205 http://www.portlandpianocompany.com

This concert is a chance to listen to music under special conditions which may facilitate the perception of synchronicities (before, during, and after the event). There is little needed in the way of explanation, but some explanation is in order:

The First Law of Synchronicity is the principle of Common Presence – the feeling of simply being here together in this moment, not somewhere else, and not later than… this moment! Being is the operative word.

The Second Law of Synchronicity is the phenomenon of Mutual Adjustment – without the necessity of a before and after process in time. We’ve all seen or heard this kind of thing somewhere, as in the synchronized flight of a flock of birds (especially murmuration) and in really “tight” performances by musical groups.

With a little bit of luck, this unique concert will facilitate special individual experiences within the heart-mind – one’s own personal meaning factory – of what is going on both within us and around us, synchronistically. Connections and insights arise out of music spontaneously, when time & space have been set aside for such experiences.

Diving into the sound stream, as in a concert of this kind, and catching and releasing various things along the way, is done by way of analogy to the cosmic process. This process, like the famous I Ching of the Chinese people, is a “book of changes” – gradual, sudden, recurrent, unique, and so on – and all of it merely part of the flow. The ideas inspiring this concert come in part out of the Wilhelm/Baynes translation of the I Ching, a book which has been a friend of the performer’s for over forty years. The 1949 forward to the book, by C. G. Jung, aptly describes the mystery of synchronicity in contemporary terms, as in the following on page xxiv. “The ancient Chinese mind contemplates the cosmos in a way comparable to that of the modern physicist, who cannot deny that his model of the world is a decidedly psychophysical structure.”

My brief notes re “The Laws of Synchronicity” (actually six in number) are adapted from The Dramatic Universe, a four-volume work by J. G. Bennett, section 10.26.3. He cites Jung’s I Ching forward, in this choice bit clarifying synchronicity as denoting:  “a peculiar interdependence of objective events among themselves, as well as with the subjective (psychic) state of the observer or observers.”

Donations to help make additional events like this more feasible are gratefully accepted. For more information, please call 503.762.6387 or visit https://davidsalminen.com/

Portland, Oregon – concert – November 16, 2013

COSMIC SYMMETRIES – free fall concert – piano improvisations

David Salminen

Saturday, 3 pm – November 16, 2013

Portland Piano Company, 711 SW 14th Ave.  Portland, OR 97205

Among the benefits of music especially associated with this type of concert are:

1) the facilitation of flights of fancy without a defining program or form, 2) an escape from our society’s constant reminders of who we are conditioned to be (an escape which can, paradoxically, improve our memories), and 3) the evocation of a sense of wholeness, that emerges in the cosmic musical experience like a healing balm, against the ubiquitous modern complaint of feeling scattered.

Salminen’s music “contains the very spark of life, and the listeners catch that spark.”     Julia Sopalski, For The Times

for more information, phone 503.762.6387, or visit

https://davidsalminen.com/music/  (includes recordings)

https://www.facebook.com/pages/David-Salminen-cosmic-improvisations/125096377595660?ref=hl

http://www.portlandpianocompany.com

post-manifestation note re: the Zone of Avoidance

Many and heartfelt thanks to all the folks who came out to the concert yesterday, to listen for the echoes of an intuition of the tunes and harmonies and rhythms of the imaginal world beyond habitual or customary patterns of avoidance… And much gratitude also to the Portland Piano Company, who provided a Fazioli concert grand piano for the occasion that was wildly fabulous beyond any reasonable expectations one might have about pianos. The tonal responsiveness of the instrument was out of this world, which helped to enhance the experience we were going for… 

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