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Sainsbury -
Approach to Composition
Firstly, Sainsbury incubates
the prospect of the work at hand. This involves time, meditations,
thinking honestly, listening for what he is hearing, improvisations
around the subject, reading, coffee, taking the children to
school, the ironing, driving, and a lot more incubation
activities - almost anything. Secondly, the pencil hits the paper
and he begins to create what he considers an aural temple. At first
it's a right mess, but after a while every note, musical term and
symbol is placed carefully and meaningfully inside that temple,
akin to the placement of flowers, candles, incense, and other
consecrated items in a place of worship. It must have a visual
order and a purpose and Sainsbury draws upon the 'hearing eye' as
much as he does the ear in the creation of the temple space.
Thirdly, via the rehearsal and performance the temple is open to
all. It becomes a common community space.
The
'Listening Grounds'
Our first 'listening grounds'
stem from our first belonging - with our mother and our immediate
family, in a place. On this ground we are 'sung' by
the sounds and the music of the home environment. This may be
through language, general activity (even cacophony) or lack
thereof, singing, playing instruments or simply listening to
recordings. To be 'sung' effectively means to have that music
recorded within your flesh and bones and soul. It is a mystical
authority that parents have, and they exercise it, for the most
part unknowingly. If one thinks about the term 'listening grounds',
you will notice the suggestion that home and song are inseparable.
Wherever one goes in life or in music, the music of your first
listening grounds will serve as a source of strength. It may be
years between 'home visits' but that singing is within
you.
Our second 'listening grounds'
stem from our next belonging - to a people, a culture and
community. The singing on these grounds is that of ceremonial
music, art music and entertainment music of the broader culture to
which we are born. Here we sing ourselves in that we exercise
choice in faith, art and entertainment, and we 'sing others' in so
far as they participate with us. It's a natural extension -
having first been sung we then sing a place of our own. Again, this
music becomes recorded within our flesh and bones and soul. Again,
home and song are inseparable.
Our third 'listening grounds'
stem from our ultimate belonging as either parent, religious (as in
belonging to an 'order'), elder, and in rare
instances our belonging as either teacher or artist. These are
the 'higher listening grounds'. From here we exercise a mystical
authority ourselves, singing the future into being, and sowing
belonging for those coming after us. In music, this is not
about paving the way forward in style or technique (which is the
territory of the second listening grounds), rather, it's a mystical
passing of 'the mantle of music' that rests upon you to those
around you. Similarly, in the case of a parent and a
child, the child has no choice. We've come full circle back to the
first listening grounds". (Chris Sainsbury)
Poems on
Music Themes
Sonata's Ruin
Thicker
than a coastal scrub
Pressing
against a prickly sky
Hedging the lake's
lame lontano
And beckoning
waters high tide
The
composer sings smanioso
Whilst rattling
cumulous keys
But today a stormy
quiet eludes him
The driftwood lies
beach-dried.
A
once simple soul fell foul
Tempting sonata's
ruin
Now he's somewhere
up the coast
Carefree, whistling
brackish tunings.
Thicker
than a coastal scrub
Is the composer
undiscerning
But wildfire burns
the bastard dry
In a
contrapuntal furnace.
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