Out of the Hole

Abstract

The form of this essay is non-linear. The little circles that break up the text indicate “in the meantime,” signaling shifts of consciousness. Ideas are united by a logic that coheres when perceived as a whole. In this way, I have taken what could be called a Gestalt approach to structure. As a composer and improvisor, this is something that I have been exploring in music as well, where the meaning of an idea or a theme is informed by what came before it and what follows, and from the totality of the work. This approach was inspired partly by David Markson’s novel of fragments, "Reader’s Block," by Nabokov’s experimentation with narrative, and, more loosely, by pianist Cecil Taylor’s technique for improvisation, “Unit Structures.” As a conclusion, I propose a theory of art-making, justified, hopefully, by the text that has preceded it.