home and music

until very recently in human history music was an activity
that took place largely in the home
it was considered an essential aspect of
what it meant to be cultivated
and it also transcended social class
even while I think it safe to say that wealthy people had more leisure time
to pursue the sonic beauty which is man made musical sound
poorer people when given the chance took the time to entertain themselves
with song and dance and simply listening to musical artistry
that existed in many homes


I'm thinking of the Bach Cello Suites but also most guitar music before the 20th century
and the countless trios and sonatas which weren't necessarily meant for the stage
they were written on and for the aficiandos of music which existed
plentifully in European towns from the middle ages onward n the homes
and in celtic society the existence of fiddle music and song and dance
has long been considered an essential part of daily living




the stage-- the concert hall--- recorded performance
these are all rather modern social arrangements
and I wish only to address the dark negative aspects
of such activity....they exist as means of distortion
while one could argue that the modern orchestra is the brainchild of stage performance
and practically inseparable from the notion of social music making for the last 300 years
it is safe to say that only in very wealth driven circumstances has the orchestra been able to sustain
any sort of prominence

while the solo guitar or the solo fiddle can exist quite well in utter poverty




what we know as folk music is the fundamental music of home life


now we know there's train songs and rambling songs and mining songs
tragedy songs all of which point to the realities of humans living in the world as we know it
yet the performance and the sustaining of the performances of these songs
is something that happens primarily in the home
and home is the proper place for these songs
I would even go so far as to argue that the stage is a means of taking the folksong
out of its typical place and stretching it beyond its aesthetic limits
that's why you had all those opera trained singers doing folk music in the 50s and 60s
trying to make them sound like stage songs...which they were not


this overemphasis on commercial music making has driven someone like pascal quignard to proclaim his utter hatred of music


now you could argue that the nightclub is a place for the music of the people
and for certain the nightclub has its place
but most of those songs and that music defies the principle of folk music anyway
it is music designed to have some commercial appeal and one could even say some monetary value


but folk music is not meant to make money


it is true that very few homes are conducive to music making as an essential part of every day life
and this is a tragedy of great proportion
for somehow the emphasis of music has been yanked out of domestic life and into the market place
and has left most homes rather sterile and places unadorned with beautiful sound


and one could argue that the phonograph and the sound system in general have taken over the role
of providing for musical life in the home but this is a terrible illusion for recorded music is not music at all and the fact that the contraptions of electrical musical propulsion have completely overrun our daily lives it has resulted in the most abhorrent depletion of aesthetic values and thus an undermining of cultivated values which are necessary for human survival...well at least we have strong pharmaceuticals as antidotes to the horrid state of affairs


there is no reason whatsoever to think that music has only a personal formation or merely educational aspect to it...that a person must aspire to the symphony or a perfect recital or a recording date...when it is even more true that real music can and should happen on almost any given day in any given home...for it is in the home where the primitive intuition for music making can be protected and cultivated...and it is in the home where the songs we need to hear should be easily sung and in the home where dance might have a rather natural expression


of course this should then translate to a wider social importance
music being the stuff of which happy people really pull together and weave
the demands of civilization with one another...these days it seems more likely to be sports
or exaggerated expressions of popular art rather than the humble sounds cultivated in homes that is given social priority
and that is rather pathetic


music is the medium of refinement for the finest sensibilities known to mankind
and these sensibilities find their clearest and dearest expression In the strong values
that tie families together and hold the walls of home inevitably up












....

home and freedom

now I've been meaning to write on this very topic for some time
it's amazing how lazy I can get
I play the role of the deep thinker but then have to acknowledge
that all my meditation and rumination is but near idle time-wasting


which i do declare I think has a place in the world


and this leads directly to my next topic


where is a man free to do nothing?


our unspoken and cultivated quiet understanding of home is
colored by the principle that we all need a place that is warm
a place where we're welcome and a place where we can kick back
and do absolutely nothing if we so choose
without having to endure the harsh consequences of a social perception
of idleness...a slacker
a slackard


I will even go so far as to say that unless a person experiences the
quality of time which has no constraints or presuppositions...in  a  place called home...
he will spend the rest of  his life quietly but frantically
searching out such possibilities


so this is a fundamental and vital inclination amongst human beings
one which does not get talked about much
perhaps it is too universal to merit anything by way of critique


somehow the portion of freedom we are all offered
is connected to the extent to which we might sacrifice
or extend our very selves in procuring and assuring ourselves
of an actual place whereby we can be certain of security and
self-contentment self-definition and exercise the efforts we must
in assuring that others with whom we live might be assured of the same freedom


perhaps a person is more free in a place called home
than anywhere else in the world


and even while a person must expend energy time and resources
to maintain home
it is understood as a mere obligatory requirement in the life process
of knowing where one lives...where do I live?.... then takes on a heightened sense of meaning


where do I thrive
where is my hive
how am I alive


of course the world has a certain hominess about it
it is possible to travel in the world and find sustenance and shelter and distraction
of any sort...with enough financial backing a person could literally live in and out of hotels
eat at restaurants use public transportation and be as perfectly content as anyone else...I am struck immediately with wondering whether this is a true statement or not 


one might even argue that it is somewhat more difficult to engage deeply
with ones need for home for it lacks the excitement of the world
...but this is the very issue is it not


one maintains home as a place where one is free to partake in life's warmth
in such a way as to be outside the general scrutiny of mankind
a place to sleep
a place to share food
a place to enjoy conversation
a place to plan
a place to sit quietly
and do nothing
or read
a place to care for natures' ubiquitous demands


we are free to be bored of course


somehow we're inclined to do something
unless sleep is the preferred conscious disposition


at some point home obliges us to exert energy
in holding forth with the possibility of
hospitality
and the freedom to be a source of charitable receptivity
not simply a secure refuge against danger
or a fence against the less attractive qualities of society at large
but a place that carries about it a warm openness to
preparing the possibility for optimal enjoyment of life
be that with food
be that with reflective quiet
be that with festive humor
be that with physical intimacy
be that with learned wit
be that an understood moments' retreat
a time of freedom
in order that life's meaning might grab hold


we hunger for freedom
and everyone seems to know without saying
that whatever freedom we will be granted in this life
will be contingent upon the place we dare to call home


we are free to either cultivate or neglect our places
we call home






...I want to explore more keenly
the case for hospitality and the sustaining of home life




















...

types of home

though it's rather easy to recognize the fundamental elements which go into making a home a home it is also necessary to recognize that there are different types of living a variety of ways people appropriate their connection to home


let's  start with the homeless
a homeless person is disciplined by his own unfetteredness
he is tied to various exigencies that provide what minimal comfort he can derive from the world
he may not have the luxury of a roof over his head
he may resign himself to living in a state of relative stench and filth
home takes on a merely geographical component
he is where he is


some folks make lives work from shacks
with a water source and a stove perhaps a cot
a few pans they make life work
with minimal tools


then there is institutional living
the sharing of space with many others
in prisons
in military compounds
in religious houses
educational facilities dorms for instance


somehow the ideal is a private home
a place where space the demands and the joys
of life weave themselves out into the tapestry of
lives
shared under one roof fed and noted at one table


there are millions of people who essentially live by moving about by flying great distances and streaming in and out of hotels and restaurants and business haunts


what's it going to be


the planet
the map
the pinpoint
the general neighborhood
the piece of ground
the mailbox
the network of acquaintances


you decide for yourself


where is home








...

discontented civilization

when did the  'stay at home'  mother
become a social class
a social class with strong suggestion
that it is an undesirable role
a misfortune of sorts????


it seems the crisis to which I indirectly point
is the crisis of perception
perception regarding the very understanding of the idea
of home


someone informed women in north America in the mid20th
century that there was no real redeeming  value in being held prisoner of a house
in focusing ones complete attention on the well-being of
the very youngest members of the human race
within the trap then understood as the home
so the purpose of the women's movement had in it
an explicit social criticism which sought to liberate
women from the perceived trap
when in fact women had been in the most powerful position in the world
for centuries the place of power in the home the predominance over the kitchen
over the whole domain if you will


they were liberated into a demented social involvement
to the debilitating misfortune of everyone


there has been a horrible and pathetic social misunderstanding


this however does help to explain how the fundamental value
previously almost universally held
which places the home in a place of nearly invaluable recognition
slowly but surely was transformed into a mere pragmatic function
and the notion of family was then regarded as a disruptive social institution
the home then a sort of prison one pays for one way or another


it is in this very sense that I have heard it said
by mothers who devoted their lives to their children
that perhaps they have missed out on something
they didn't aspire to some place in the world of business or culture
and therefore were relegated to an existence of domestic banality


and herein lies the problem
it is the contention of this project
the raison d'etre of sorts
to foster with unabashed enthusiasm
the essential nobility of the role of mother
specifically
and parent in general
 for fatherhood is in fact
every bit as important
but another topic altogether


you can find youtubes by'
Stefan molyneux
which are good and interesting resources of
instantaneous philosophy
and this is one of his most intriguing topics
the mommy wars the breakdowns of
mommydom
which for some odd reason now needs to be justified as a credible social possibility
for godz sake


it is because I care about homes that I care enough to be harsh and critical about the notion of home and what it takes to make to keep to cultivate home and why once a person sets out to make a place a home there should be serious thought and energy put into making the project as warm and happy as possible and this takes a lot of work it is the work of a lifetime it is the complete giving of grace and possibility in the cultivation of love in a home where it can't be cultivated very well anywhere else


somehow someone got drunk on the notion of dream home and people started imagining these monstrosities of architecture and design which were nice to look at but had nothing of strength and durability what a pathetic mess it's all been


we each maintain a secret commitment to offset the pull of chaos
we each are driven toward the trust and security of being in a place of peace


I wish to restore the idea that 
stay at home moms are the norm
and they live out a societal role ennobled with its own treasury of wisdom
anything else is a wretched and unfortunate aberration
to presume that a professional career is of a higher order than this
is the greatest of modern travesties


maternity is of the highest human order
and contends for that status with nothing else
except perhaps the religious vocation
which will always have its merits


it can be asked fairly
what about homes where a man and woman have no children
where the cultivation of love is held at the distance of two
fatherhood and motherhood are not lived out
in any immediate and tangible way
this is not to say there is no care
no fundamental necessity for life
for there is truly something miraculous in the effort of two people to
stay together for no other reason than to love one another


and the role of the hermit as well
a dedicated a loving person could commit to live alone
and be a witness to god's grace and love
in a solitary state...or in sheer existential stoicism


this is not to say that women should not read
or draw or compose music or weave baskets
or find places of generous creativity...the home in its ideal form
should be a place of the cultivation of all the great human attributes
god's grace often being detected in the creative impulses of siblings
or the nurturing of unique talents


the home should be a place where the creative
grace of god
is both sensed and engaged


grace builds upon nature






































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.....

keeping it basic

ok then
let us talk of sexual intimacy

it is somewhat interesting to note that
our western civilization has tended toward
the individual concern with pursuing
what it might take to establish a physical context
which then might well lead to the establishment of a family

however let us be honest
the preoccupation with individuality has translated itself
into the creation of vast networks of apartments
where single persons can assure themselves
of at least the physical utilitarian aspects of home
if only for a short time
places that are not that much more complicated than
a hotel room...save perhaps for the existence of a kitchen

sexual intimacy is the one human activity
which demands privacy
other activities like eating reading
conversation... playing games ,,,making art...etc.
...these things all seem to possess both public and private
aspects and can function within a complete open context

sex however...even while we've tried to make it as open
and conversational as possible in our times...does require
and even, one could say,  lends itself most naturally to
a private expression...and again if we want to speak of
consequences...only seems to take on a public character
when the natural development reveals itself in the manner
of signs of success...pregnancy has about it a rather overt
public quality...I stop to ponder the obvious freedom of expression
that lovers might exhibit...yet when it comes down to actually being
open to the ultimate human physical expression of sexual union
a man and a woman quite naturally give themselves over to the
security of a place where they can be intimate beyond the
perceptions of other humans

in a perfect world or a world perfected by values and virtues
which would hold sexual intimacy between a man and woman
in exalted terms of sanctity
there would be no pornography no debasement of the seriousness
of sexuality to mere indecent distraction
would somehow relegate this aspect of human interaction
to the accepted status of privacy and sanctity
this of course is the ideal of Christian morality
concerning this most intense human proclivity

it is the objective of this blog to pursue to some sort of
reasonable conclusion the notion of home
as a place where family happens
and family being a sacrament ( with a small s )
both a visible sign and a means by which grace
is bestowed and experienced

it occurs to me that the elements which go into
establishing the physical reality of a church
are correlative to the basic elements of home...
...the table...
...the bath...
...the need for hope...
...a place of security...
...a place of sustenance...
...a place of honesty...
...a place of rest...
...a place of easy recognition...
...a place of union...

a young couple can sustain their love for one another
for awhile without thinking about natural demands
but eventually there comes a time when they both realize
that in order to sustain their love they need shelter they need privacy
they need a place for their fleshy union to enjoy both freedom
and responsibility
and this has resulted in a consistency amongst all the peoples of the world
albeit the contingencies have been worked out in different ways
and this has resulted in the character of home being
the basis for what we might call cultural distinctions

another thematic piece might draw the line between those
cultures which tend toward utilitarian preoccupations
and those which maintain awarenesses which reflect
a closer connection to the demands of the natural world
of vegetation and meat and water
the understanding of home being quite different for
people who must acquire fresh water each day
in contrast to those who simply assume that
the faucet will come forth with water at the turn of a
key

for home to be understood as a sacrament
it will be essential to develop ways of understanding
the natural and healthy acquisition of life-sustaining
and life-enhancing modes of human interaction

home is where the heart is








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