zen and music

I recently read an article about a zen buddhist practitioner whose teacher would often ecourage to reflect on sound. He would strike a bell, be mindful of the creation of a noise, and mindful as it faded out, and eventually into nothing. "Do you hear the no-sound?" To many, this sounds like merely a throw away question, a useless Koan. I was reminded of this listening to Reich last night, and also found it an appropriate analogy for our lives. We are created by conditions, cultivated, grow, and eventually fade into nothing, with only the residual effects of our interactions living on in the emerging 'sound' of others. A piece will begin with only a pulse, seemingly randomly, but slowly evolves and grows. Reich's work, as suggested by a critic, holds up a mirror, showing us our thoughts, experiences, lives, indeed our very way of being. It causes us to be aware of listening, engaged in a way few pieces of art can do. Most music is passive, background music. Listening to Reich, on the contrary, is like reading a book. The experience becomes subjective; depending on where one's attention lies, the sculpture of sound shifts, as we become aware (and simultaneously unaware of other) phases and overlying harmonies.

This year has been full of amazing experiences for me; graduating, traveling Europe, visiting world-class museums, hearing Janet Cardiff's "40 part motet," seeing Explosions in the Sky Broken Social Scene, Mogwai, Mono, and others. The Carnegie Hall show is easily on par with any of those. I really can't overstate how revealing Reich's music is.