Gry and the State of Philippine Music (Conclusion)

The human brain perceives an object to be white when the object perceived reflects all colors of the spectrum: ROYGBIV. As such, white is not a color. It is the presence of all colors.

Part III. Music. Root word: muse

The point of contention is to apply the rules of etymology in our current context. That is, relating the word music to a catalyst (for lack of a better term) that musicians and artists in general would refer to as the muse. Attaching the suffix -ic to a noun produces an adjective, the meaning of which is an allusion to the root word by way of composition, property, or attribute. Below are three examples:

acid + ic = acidic. composed of acid; acid-forming
Imelda + (if) ic = Imeldific. possessing a compulsive habit of owning shoes
formula + ic = formulaic. performed according to a certain formula

Applying the same formula of juxtaposition, music would mean composed or created of (not by) a muse. Inspiration. Artists say: "When it hits you, it hits you." Thus too, do all works of art become music by definition. Paintings, sculptures, poems, essays, even business models. Inspiration comes in various forms, from the poignant to the mundane. A catchphrase, a smile, a vehicular accident, an expletive, a pop radio jingle, money, drugs, sex.

It is interesting to note that the very definition that produces the adjective is a verb, an action phrase. An Imeldific person has to have shoes. He or she can not have to have shoes and thus cease to be one. A band soundcast to be formulaic will cease to be one if they stopped conforming to formulae. Does the same rule in syntax apply to music? Does music cease to BE the moment it is created in the absence of a muse? An enterprising layman will definitely refute the notion, citing the bulge in his wallet to be as inspiring as the muse that inspired Pacquiao and the Khaos. Money is, after all, the ultimate denominator. In a world of US (and other Western) influence, affluence is the end rather than the means. Many a corporate executive is hailed hero or role model on account of designer suits. Fur coat, crocodile skin, ivory insignia, kill a man while you're at it. The Republic of the Philippines will send a Russian roulette pistol on your 37th birthday. With human lifespans shortening, midlife crises erupt at an earlier age.

To quote Claude DeBussy, "Music is the space between the notes." Technically, that would be composed of Time, Air, or in rare occasions, even Emotion. Notes stand for landmarks in a seeming progression. High to low, soft to loud, fast to slow may all characterize the manner of moving from one landmark to the other. Variance (or Δ) in particular, plays a crucial sonically aesthetic function. Δ (as measured by the amount of Time, Air, Emotion) is enhanced, not just increased, depending on the start and end points, i.e. notes.

Suppose we superimpose the model of measuring Δ to a larger plane, i.e. human development stages: childhood, adolescence, adulthood, old age. Or even a canvas (plane) as large as Life itself (in all its cyclic, metaphysical splendor). Suppose further that there was no start point or point of origin. From nil to matter, or conversely what is referred as "making something out of thin air". Mathematically, variance (Δ) is infinite (∞), as such:


Δ = (X2 - X1) /X1
Δ = (1 - 0) /0
Δ = 1 /0
Δ = ∞

where: X1 = start point; X2 = end point


Trip (illustration)
Consider three people: Rogelio, Antonio, Juancho with starting points at Main Avenue (Cubao) and end points at Quezon Avenue (ABS-CBN vicinity). Rogelio pulls out of the driveway in a Mitsubishi Pajero en route to ABS-CBN for his primetime spoof newscast. It takes him 23 minutes. Antonio takes a jeepney to Farmer's and takes the MRT from Cubao station. He's a McDonald's pantry crew. It takes him 31 minutes. Juancho is a squidball vendor on a trisikad. He picks up the day's inventory and pedals to the Mother Ignacia entrance of Building "A" where he can sell mid-evening snacks to down-to-earth celebrities. It takes him 76 minutes.

By way of combining DeBussy's insight (using approximate Time, Air, and Emotion metrics) and the superimposition of landmarks to a particular event or happening, i.e. trip, Juancho's experience is observed to be more musical.

They say: "Where there's fire, there's smoke." Here and now, we can smell the bittersweet burn and hear the crackle of ember. There's a story that needs to be sung. A song that needs to be told.



Postscript

1 Corinthians 13: 1-2
"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing."

In a world of emotional insulation and political privitization, one should remember to take a step back and ask oneself: "How do I love?" It's no longer a mere question of monogamy and sexual orientation. Contemporary psychology and pop culture tend to dismiss emotion in the love agenda. Feelings of love is merely caused by a secretion of the hypothalamus. Even one's closest friends would advise to use the head instead of the heart because "God put the head higher than where the heart is for a reason".

In the "Bourne Identity", Jason Bourne operates on pure instinct. He reads the signs and acts without thinking. Waking up after an episode of severe trauma, he lost all memory of who he is. He had to rely on "gut feel" to survive, in order to know who he was. In a lot of ways, our birth to the physical world resembles Bourne's traumatic episode causing amnesia. We forget who we are. And thus, begins every human person's quest for identity.

Instinct is a function of emotion. When one says: "I have a bad feeling about this", it's a demonstration of emotion in its primal form, i.e. a means to self-preservation. Jeff Bebe, in the movie "Almost Famous" explains the omniscience of instinct. But as fast as people say: "Trust and follow your instincts" will people also tell you to "think before you act". Businessmen and politicians, for example, are cautioned to make decisions of a certain magnitude when under severe emotional stress. Reason and logic are therefore of equal, if not greater, significance as feeling or emotion in any given decision-making process.

"The brain should be a softening influence on the instincts, but the instincts should drive. Trying to reconcile the brain with urges that come out of millions of years ago...the way the brain interprets these instincts, is a heavy trip," illustrates an earnest Jason Lee in character as the outshined singer of Still Water. People tend to associate emotion with disastrous consequences like rage turning into violence, or lust resulting to herpes. How about the last time people planted trees because they felt responsible for the environment? Or the time one returned an envelope full of money and actually felt good?

Artists paint emotion in a canvas. Constantly in tune, they seize the instrument (pen, brush, camera) and dive into the emotional experience (or simply emotion or experience because for artists, emotion is also the canvas). Colors have always stood for particular emotions. The color yellow is one of joy, as red stood for lust which should not be confused with its popular sexual connotation. Lust is obsession, a constant desire for life which is not a bad thing at all.

And what about Love, the Greatest Emotion of all? How do we become certain that love is that which we feel? Our elders say: "You just know" like the way we know that we love our mothers. But a relationship with a mother is never "always happy". There are hurts, resentment, or even anger for some, as far as relationships with mothers are concerned. The strange thing is one realizes the immensity of that love to grow proportionally with the so-called "emotional valleys".

White roses signify a love that is pure. How can we tell if something is pure? In chemistry, pure water is H2O in its elemental state. A pure breed is not tainted with other bloodlines. Purity denotes a state of being wholly intact, which also implies the presence of parts or components. Applying the same definition to color, white then is essentially pure, as it is the presence of all colors.

When every strand of emotion has been felt and experienced, is love considered pure and thereby, love truly indeed? So then, does love cease to be an emotion because it is the presence of all emotions? If emotion is the guide and love is the canvas, are we then inescapably saved?