Monday, 31 December 2018

Resolution - Six Pianos By Steve Reich

Eddy Bamyasi



“From nothing to nothing is no time at all.” John Steinbeck

Midnight was still some way off and the party was dragging, so I had the idea to turn the clock forward. As The Monster Raving Loony Party had realised in their proposal to decimalise time (thereby ingeniously banishing the cold months of January and February forever!) a time and date is only a number, so in the spirit of Interstellar why not bend it?

Formalities over early, we wandered back to Dave’s flat to catch Jools Holland’s (ironically pre-recorded) Hootenanny. As Jools’ guests reviewed their year, Dave and I turned our attention to the future.

“I resolve to spend more quality time with my son,” I boldly stated.

“I’ve got some good news for you that may help,” Dave said. “This year the authorities are going to give us an extra second.”

This was true, but alarmingly nothing to do with an election year, but rather a deceleration in the Earth’s rotation!

“Outside the minds of Christopher Nolan or Stephen Hawking this extra second will pass largely unnoticed, save for a few computer programmers who will be having millennium bug flashbacks.”

Dave paused before venturing deeper into the gathering fog of Prosecco: “Time flies when you are having fun or drags when you are bored, but perception of time in our memory works the opposite way, so a year spent travelling seems longer in memory than a year at the office. Time becomes meaningless without memory and we humans have a unique consciousness that allows us to live in the past or the future, which is actually more of a curse than a useful superpower.”

“My cat has a memory – she remembers where she lives and how to work the cat flap,” I argued.

“Maybe, but cats don’t make New Year’s resolutions. They don’t even know what time it is, or how old they are. They are blissfully unaware that they have only a finite time in which to finish their ‘to do’ list.”

“Actually my cat’s New Year’s resolution is to sleep more”, I added unhelpfully.

Ignoring my flippancy Dave reached towards the CD player. As minimalist piano notes began to loop hypnotically, he asked “What do you hear?”

“Nothing?” I suggested.

“…Or everything?” Dave countered mysteriously. “Your ear expects questions and answers. But that relies on memory and expectation in our regular horizontal time frame. But here the usual waves of tension and resolution are missing. You are left with nothing upon which to hang your perception of the passing of time!”

I was starting to feel dizzy.

“Your awareness begins to focus on previously invisible details as you leave behind ordinary horizontal time and enter the magical realm of vertical time. Being fully present in the moment, that’s true quality time, that’s how you can resolve to make that extra second with your son count!” he concluded with a flourish.

I wasn’t sure about the music expanding vertical time but it was certainly having a profound effect; I had to ask Dave to turn it off – it was making me feel sick.



About The Author

Eddy Bamyasi

Eddy is a music writer from Brighton, England, named after a Can record. Each Sunday he logs and reviews the albums that happen to be in his vintage Pioneer 6-CD magazine changer, amongst other things.

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