There are two observations that I often make when speaking about my work that tend to leave audiences scratching their heads:
“It is the musicality that matters in any work of art,” and, “a work of art is never just about what it is about.”
I seldom find myself in a situation where I can dig into these rather opaque observations, so I usually leave them just hanging out there for folks to either ponder or ignore, before going on to talk about the book at hand or the subject of the day.
But there is something in them worth considering if you are a serious writer, or hope to be.
I’d like to offer you something that explains this eloquently. But, be warned — you have to be patient — listen to at least the first 27 minutes of this — and you have to be willing to stretch yourself to think in terms of metaphor, not simply in terms of information.
It is not too much to say that I think most of the truth we need to live a worthy life can be found in music and in dogs.
We’ll leave dogs for another day.
Right now, sit back and open your mind and heart to a half hour of brilliance that, if you have ears to hear, will teach you much about what my writing is and why it works, and the deeper issues that should concern you as you try to raise your own writing from simple narrative to something with a deeper spiritual resonance.
Thank you! This was a gift. It encouraged me to think that art is about its freedom of interpretation after its creator lets it go.
I just discovered your writings while recovering from knee surgery this summer. You’re now my new favorite author. The way you describe the openness of the Dakotas and how the Lakota are so intertwined with the land is so descriptive. I was greatly inspired about your description of the medicine pipe in Lone Dog Road. I am a member of a Denver chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Many years (long story) ago we were gifted with a medicine pipe which we believe came from the Sioux people. In today’s enlightened society, we knew this was not meant for us to keep so my Regent and I, working with the NAGPRA folks at History Colorado, found that this belonged to the Standing Rock nation. This past March we were honored to join a repatriation ceremony with members of the tribe, returning the lost pipe to its home. It was one of the most beautiful, moving things I’ve ever experienced. Thank you for using your talents to bring the lost voices of the indigenous community to life.
Horses, dogs, nature in particular and in detail communicate to me in a more recognizable form than music. Not to say music can’t or doesn’t reach me, but animals communicate more directly and sincerely to me personally.
Finished Lone Dog Road. There is SO much there. I’ll be happily sorting it out for quite some time. Love all the characters, but those boys are really something special. Thank you.
I recall my piano teacher trying to convey the feeling and emotion of the music -its musicality- while I toiled to get the fingering and the timing right. we might recognize the musicality, the message of the art form, but it takes some intuition to convey that message spiritually or soulfully. perhaps that is what is behind so many misunderstandings and hurt feelings and alienations. Thank you for this video.
Kent I’m in the middle of listening to this instructional concert and one of my first thoughts is the same one I had while reading LDR, ie, “what a gift you give us”. And, of course, this goes along with your teaching umbrella. Yes, it takes some effort to listen and think about what Berstein is trying to get across as it was with LDR, and there is a reward for this effort . Secondly, nuance. In my elder years, I’m a big fan of nuance but I feel like a voice in the desert, who’s listening. What the hell am I talking about? I’ve been a flight instructor and have flown for a small airline in northern Alaska. I’ve been an accomplished journeyman carpenter. I’ve driven OTR and have owned a small trucking company. In these and other accomplishments, I’ve noticed that once the basics are embedded within myself, I start to find and discover little nuances that, on the surface, make small differences, but to myself they are much more. They are the oil on steel skids that let the container slide up onto the truck bed etc. And, now and then, I find other like minded professionals that write about “nuances” that I assume the layman glosses over but I find, “Ah ah!” , eg, Sully the hero pilot. Part of that is pride in what one does, I think. And for you as a teacher and writer, I would bet you have some pet nuances that enhance your effectiveness and notoriety. I think this is connected to what I am trying to express, but not sure. Years ago, I hear of Leonard (or someone of his statue in NY) stop in the middle of a rehersal and call out the third violinist. He noted she was off a 1/2 note in the 4th measure etc. Obviously, this was a display of his other worldly musical talent. It’s also a display of nuances (who in the hell is going to notice or care what the third violinist is doing?). Anyway, just some thoughts as I’m listening to Leonard. chuck amrhien
This is the beauty of your work Kent, like a musical piece that resonates inside us, and always will, if we watch for the rational, reductive thoughts that can diminish it, usually out of fear of the unknown, or ineffable.
Same with our dreams, which are symbolic and metaphorical, where we can feel the supernatural spirit world in most everything with the full range of emotions, if one can take the time, and “Be Still,” as in Psalm 46:10.
I feel this as I make my way on Lone Dog Road, where it takes me inside me, as with all your books.
It helps me to read what others say here, who convey a certain spirit you’ve given us, opening our hearts, but especially our mind, in the spiritual or psychical sense, which can also manifest somatically in the chakras of our hearts, spine and solar plexus, such as, fire in the belly, or heart.
There are no words of course, to describe the presence of ineffable divinity.
St. Peter and a few others babbled out of fear as any of us can to reduce it.
But if dogs could talk. . . .wouldn’t they too, speak in metaphors?
Few have recognized indigenous people for their art “In Word and Image.”
(Jung)
Most anthropologists have reduced it to “primitive art,” as if it were inferior.
Cf Cave of Forgotten Dreams (film by Werner Herzon on petroglyphs in France)
The haunting Ghost Dance of the Lakota Sioux is “art in motion,” of what is to come.
Your books are giving us a chance Kent, to feel and embrace what is really taking place.