ESSAY

Our Oratorio

Our defining rhythms – our oratorio. An oratorio is a life story explained musically using rhythm and emphasis. This life-beat can be of a person, relationship, or community. Suspense, climax and denouement cycle continuously to unique timing and power. Every person has a unique rhythmic pattern, or life beat.

Rhythms in fine art, music and sport.

The process of consuming entertainment, be it art, music or sport, requires that we experience suspense, followed by a climax and finally a denouement, to fully appreciate its reality. For example, take the process of listening to a piece of music, versus the process of viewing a piece of artwork. Usually people give more consideration and praise to a piece of music because they listen to the whole piece. They may not appreciate art because they do not look at it long enough to understand the whole story. When listening to music, the composer, conductor and player determine the time frame for different elements. A specific rhythm is set and certain points are emphasized. The audience gets the full story (as long as they sit through the whole piece.) When art work is looked over, the viewer sets the time frame for how the different elements are experienced. If it is a still piece, all the elements are looked over at once. The viewer may get overwhelmed and glance for only a few seconds. If the viewer stops and searches below the surface of art, s/he will find the elements of suspense, climax and denouement. To do this, the viewer must take enough time to give the art full consideration.

The process of creating and performing music follows the same cycle of suspense, climax and denouement. In a music performance, the musician starts by experiencing physical suspense or anxiety, especially when s/he first gets up in front of the audience. The climax in the performance is when the musician feels free and confident, getting totally lost in the music. Finally there is the denouement when the musician focuses on finishing the piece. The musician is tired and proud when this goal is reached. This is very similar to the experience an athlete experiences in a tournament. There is pre-competitive anxiety (suspense), which dissipates as the athlete gets absorbed in the competition (climax). Then a denouement occurs. The athlete sees the finish line and must stay disciplined to stay focused right to the end. When this goal is reached, the athlete is physically and mentally exhausted but with a deep sence of accomplishment. The creative process in art follows the same sequence. The artist experiences suspense when trying to find an idea. Once the idea is found, the artist can just go with it (climax) until the composition is finished (denouement).

This repetition of feelings of suspense, climax and denouement, gives rhythm to the musicians, artists, or athlete’s total existence. This existence is idiosyncratic, making everyone unique, and hence special. There are people who choose to develop their total existence by living vicariously through others, like artists and athletes. But no matter how it is done, everyone has his or her own life oratorio.

Different oratorios

So why do some people become doers and others become watchers? Personal rhythms are, of course, influenced by larger rhythms in family and community dynamics; but the strongest influence is the individual him/herself. All people have a fundamental capacity to create, as it is required for survival. The more that is experienced and created, the more integrated a person’s oratorio.

However, some people are indifferent to the potentially novel, and hence the creative process. A person may perceive to have all the answers already. There may be no curiosity, no alarm and no need to try to find answers. The person has succumbed, blindingly and unquestioningly, to the beat of society: a small tooth in the large system of gears moving around and around… until it wears down… and falls off. The tooth is replaced. End of story. But how can one live like that? For many people, not knowing all of life’s answers causes fear and anxiety (suspense): perhaps falling allegros, trills, and quiet daunting eddies could pull you off the beaten path altogether. The mono-rhythmic grind of societal gears provides security and comfort. These people rationalize that the maestro is capable and right; and a good musician always does as the maestro indicates -– from beginning…to the end.

"Full Circle"

My poem "Full Circle" talks of the suspense, climax and denouement our survival instinct experiences. This poem is superimposed on a fractal image. A fractal is a group of lines. Smaller fractals produce larger fractals, just as the smaller beats in our lives compose our whole life existence. A small fractal of life may be viewing a piece of artwork, listening to a piece of music, or competing in a tournament. The richer these smaller beats, or fractals, of life, the more integrated and unique we become. The more unique our building blocks, the more that can be done with them – good and bad. It is our oratorio.

Anda ‘97