Transcendence

Abstract

The title Transcendence was chosen as it embraces both the world of dreams (specifically Lucid Dreams), and the idea that every individual is connected to, and integrated with a Universal Consciousness. The work is both simple and complex; and is an attempt to touch on many questions regarding the nature of existence. Transcendence does not so much explore ideas, but rather, perhaps in an enigmatic way, tables them for consideration. It presents human consciousness on 2 different levels - the awake, alert form of consciousness and the dream state form of consciousness (more specifically, the lucid dream state of consciousness). A few other points in the work: - The “Jack” that is referred to is Jack Body, and there are musical quotes from his work Musik Dari Jalan. - A Therianthrope (as defined by Wikipedia) is the mythological ability of human beings to metamorphose into other animals by means of shapeshifting. It is possible that cave drawings found at Les Trois Frères, in France, depict ancient beliefs in the concept. - I have two sons, George and Bill, who trap possums and sell the fur to buy things - mainly diving gear. - One dramatic device that Shakespeare often used was a play-within-a-play. For instance, in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night's Dream, Bottom and the other craftsmen put on an unintentionally hilarious version of Pyramus and Thisbe. This device is not only useful in that the play-within-a-play can highlight the overall message of the play, but it can be useful in drawing the audience into the drama – that is, the real audience becomes part of a staged audience, both are spectators to the staged play. Transcendence uses similar devices. Firstly, lucid dreaming where one is both an active participant in a dream, as well as an external observer to it. Thus in a similar way to how an audience in gets drawn into A Midsummer Night's Dream by becoming part of the staged audience, the listener in Transcendence gets drawn into the narrative of the lucid dream by observing it along with the dreamer. Secondly, the listener is told that the birdsong and frogs will be recorded for a specific work, (‘John Coulter’s Dome Project’), the very work to which the listeners are listening, thus the work is self-referential. Transcendence is an acousmatic work that was specifically realised for the 8-metre sound dome, developed by Dr John Coulter.