Existing alone

Friend,

I ran into this quote the other day:

“Music is not meant to be something which exists alone.”
~ Satoshi Ashikawa

I found it in this Pitchfork review I was reading. Ashikawa also described environmental music as “music which by overlapping and shifting changes the character and the meaning of space, things, and people.”

The article was about a reissue of Hiroshi Yoshimura’s Music for Nine Post Cards. Hiroshi found inspiration looking out through the windows of a contemporary art museum. When I look out my apartment window I just see other windows. (I have been spending a lot of time inside.) To be honest, most of my windows are made up of pixels, these days.

I was inspired. I was going to send you a postcard today. Kind of old-fashioned, I know—it would be weeks before you got it. So I thought I would just send you these emails instead.

I have been thinking, recently, about the idea of a “soundtrack to your life.” I can imagine you reading on a bus, in your car, in the kitchen, or on a walk. John Cage said that there is no separation between art and life.

I have to say, that has not been my experience. Art can be so irrelevant to life; life can be so disconnected from art. But I do think that they can be bridged, and there are many ways to build one. These emails, for example. (At least, I hope so.)

If Satoshi was right, perhaps we are meant to build those bridges, whenever we can. I’m not sure if music can exist alone. But I know that I can’t.

I’m not an experienced bridge-builder, but I offer my best attempts. I hope they are enough.

Nathan