Esthetic Position

After the betrayal of their own ideals as time went by, especially the idea of continuous progress of musical material, the recent works of the old "avantgarde" composers and their adepts come down to either imitation of their own old works or to the "broken" or to the postmodern variant of classicism and expressionism. This however means that "New Music","avantgarde music" repeats itself and is therefore dead.

In order to keep this kind of music going nevertheless, in accordance with the idea of continuous progress of musical material, turning to microtonality is the next consequent step. In addition multimedial approaches are used to overcome the apparent deficiency of avantgarde music to attract audiences beyond insiders. While systematically turning to microtonality is unimaginative, multimedial approaches  are a betrayal of absolute music, the avantgarde claims to be the patron of.

 
The remedy to this state is creative thinking in the central musical domains that were nevertheless neglected by the "avantgarde". These central domains are rhythm, harmony and melody.

Creative thinking is possible only, if one first of all and vehemently frees oneself of the "Ideology of New Music", its absolutization of history, its obligation towards external progress, its tendency towards academism and arrogant exclusiveness, its coercively produced individualism, its abstruse instructive efforts, ( in postwar Germany) its critical attitude towards culture as such.

Creative thinking concerning harmony means, to disengage the triadic chords from thinking in terms of traditional harmony, so they can be used without museum-like connotation. The actual aim is to be able to use all kinds of chords, but in a context, that follows harmonic principles. 

Creative thinking with respect to rhythm means to especially learn from other music-cultures, notably from the Arabian, the Indian, the African one, and from Afroamerican music. This requires, however, the say good by to bourgeois arrogance.

Creative thinking in the domains of rhythm and chords can then set free novel melodic invention, as true melody or as symbiosis of sound and melody.

Creative thinking should above all overcome the deficiency state in music-theory caused by the breakdown of the old harmonic theory that has become inadequate already 100 years ago. Not its old fashioned stilistic rules, however, should be renewed, as Schoenberg tried, rather the theory of how music flows in time also included in it calls for replacement. One should come up with a generalized theory of the propulsive principle in music that includes all acoustic phenomena, pitches as well as all noise-sounds, and that makes use not only of chords as propulsive agents, but also of other musical properties.

An interdisciplinary approach using cybernetics can create such a theory. It also provides form-opening devices that help overcome the "momentform", sheer necessity after the break-down of the old harmonic theory rather than an ingenious idea as often claimed.

On a higher level creative thinking should focus on the transformation of musical thinking, away from motive-and-theme related music towards a more flexible approach to melody and  rhythm, and towards "sonal" music, where changing sound-caracteristics are in the center of compository concern, and where  melodic elements and rhythms are viewed as "soundcarriers ". Creative innovation in the mentioned central musical domains will lead to another, more hopeful esthetic direction than further exploiting old "avantgarde"-positions or turning to postmodernism, it will lead towards "sonal" music.

While the "avantgarde-composer" thinks along the rail of progress, in one dimension hence, a creative person makes discoveries in various dimensions. That's why the "avantgarde"-composer's music-production is uniform and predictable, while the works of the creative composer are quite varying and difficult to label.

In contrast to the "avantgarde"-composer squinting at future glory as a classic, the creative composer is above all faithful toward himself, adopts a position independent from tradition, from ideologies of newness of any kind, from the actual audience, from all sorts of music-business including the one that deals with "New Music".

In contrast to most of the relevant composers of the preceding generation and of its successors today, who adhere to the ideology of musical progress, that was inaugurated most consequently by Schoenberg, I am less devote to history and not totally obliged to occidental music-tradition.

I rather want to fuse this tradition with other musical traditions outside Europe, in such a way however, that the elements cannot be easily identified, moreover, that they get another quality through fusion.

While "New Music" tries to be exclusively original by coerciveness and intention, I want to let originality emerge more unconsciously. I emphasize the freedom of musical imagination from dictates of tradition as well as of "avantgarde"-ideologies and its immunity from moralistic constraints as well as from reproaches originating from a critical attitude towards culture as such. In times where those essential things tend to get forgotten in the turmoil of the contemporary music-scene I remember the unintentional nature of the act of composition and the aimless and integral essence of a piece of art.