Wegmarken

Phalanx 3, Quire 2, Number 8

This is a piece with birds, with references to birds, with representations of particular birds and their particular songs. It has the names of birds right in the score. And yet, I will say here that it is not a piece 'about' birds, but more, it is around birds, about the-nature-of-being-around birds.

Six years ago, I came here to the Blue Ridge for a chance to escape the collapse of the demos and recover some health and energy. This change reconnected me with some simple joys, like walking my dog, with family, and also on my own (well, just the two of us), and has also reminded me that joys are never all that simple. Their complexity is what enables them to be joyful.

As I have explored various neighborhoods, parks, and vistas with my fierce, 7-pound companion, I'm finally coming to understand something of the fascination of ascended masters, of Messiaen, of Bartok, and in particular, of Lee Hyla; Lee was a good friend and a mentor of sorts.

Though my experience so far is far less studied; as I said, this is piece is not about birds, but is about the experience of being surrounded, and overcome by the environment. While the fascination of Messiaen and the others make sense, I take issue with the term 'song' in this context - the avian activity is varied and intense, from the territorial negotiations and renegotiations, as described in Deleuze and Guatarri's' ritornello', the amorous pursuits described in Uexkull, and the yet to be successfully named meditative stance of birds in the crepuscular and auroral walks.

To the birds, these may be events or just the workings of their quotidian experience. To me and my companions, they are the markers of our paths through their domain. Wegmarken is a term from Heidegger, and it is, as you say, pretty much equivalent to Wegzeichen, but for Heidegger, his coinage let him consider the multiplicity of the paths marked, and of the multiple layers and significances, the personal, the historical, the emotional, the scientific. A walk through the forest full of comments and altercations and romances, all barely glimpsed, only partially understood, but glorious in the respondent divergence.