Disentanglement

Unless one stops to think methodically of 'then and now' in a variety of situations large and small, we generally act as though the past was better than the present. It is also usually accepted that 'hindsight' imposes a dimension of some consequence. The present flashes in and passes back the new experience to mingle with the rest.

Clearly the present and its actions has the advantage of immediacy, whilst the past is inevitably recalled with hindsight and some measure of objectivity. It strikes me that our constant intake of music known and unknown develops an undulating procession of experiences, of which each in its way serves the accumulation of musical material enlarging our outlook and perception. Perhaps what I write can remind us of what stirs our feelings within an art form, dependent on our stock of experience in music.

This editorial stems from talking with a good friend who puts so tight a rein on his musical experience as to slowly strangle it in favour of an easier, and therefore less arduous, route to the pleasures of listening. There are those who run a full race, and others who take a leisurely stroll round the block. I have yet to learn the art of disentanglement, and to watch people miss the jewel in the crown without sadness.