The greatest tribute I know to rock ' n' roll will take place at the Aesthetic Realism Foundation on August 24 and September 28: It is Rock and Roll, the Opposites, & Our Greatest Hopes -- A Celebration!
Why do people love rock 'n' roll? Why has it lasted? What makes a song beautiful? What does it have to do with me? That's what you'll learn, and more, while classic, moving, rip-roaring hits from the 1950's to this very millennium are performed.
This show, which I'm thrilled to take part in, is based on a lesson Eli Siegel, founder of Aesthetic Realism, gave to a rock musician in the 1960's. I heard notes of that lesson years later in The Opposites in Music class, and I knew what he said explained why I loved groups like The Beatles, Hollies, Herman's Hermits, Buddy Holly and the Crickets, Elvis Presley, and later Pink Floyd, the Rolling Stones, Van Morrison and so many others. In the lesson he asked, among other things, "Is there [in rock and roll] the utmost pain and the utmost assertion? Is it the blare of agony?" Personal feelings, things generally kept private by people, are made public, sometimes with beautiful form, turned into what Mr. Siegel referred to as a "train-call"! This satisfies our desire to have the opposites of inside and outside make sense, instead of hiding what we are and feeling forever that there is a part of us we can never show to the world. (Read the announcement at the link above and you'll find out more of what Mr. Siegel said in that lesson).
One of the greatest thrills of my life is learning in the Opposites in Music, taught by Barbara Allen, Anne Fielding, and Edward Green, why music stirs people; what is it, technically, that notes on a page (or not on a page!) -- played on guitar, keyboard, or sax, put to words and sung by one singer or many singers -- do to us? For years I had no idea -- I just liked it! Now I'm studying why, and the asking and finding out adds so much to my feeling. I feel like I'm in heaven during every class, but with comprehension and rigor that satisfies my mind because it's based on principles that are TRUE! "All beauty," Eli Siegel stated, "is a making one of opposites, and the making one of opposites is what we are going after in ourselves."
Next time you listen to music -- any music -- ask yourself, "Am I hearing emotion together with a structure? Is there something definite -- perhaps rhythm -- at the same time as there is change -- perhaps, but not necessarily, melody? And does the rhythm itself has change even while it is steady? Does the melody have steadiness even as it rises and falls? Does this satisfy my desire to see reality as exciting, in motion, but also reassuring, to-be-counted-on?" In my fortunate experience, the answer is Yes.
