Clara PONTY • Pianiste • Compositrice • Musical Imagination • L'Œil écoute, Ainsi Parlait l'Art
Musical Imagination par Clara Ponty
Note by Gérard Pocquet
Clara Ponty does not only compose music. She thinks through music. In this text she wrote herself, Clara Ponty sets into words what her fingers have been expressing on the keyboard since childhood.
What she calls musical imagination is not a theory. It is a confession. A cartography of the interior.
This text illuminates with rare precision everything we explored together in our conversation for Ainsi Parlait l'Art — the sonic colors, the meditation, the therapeutic process, the empathy. This deep conviction that music can be placed in the service of a collective harmony.
To read it is to enter Clara Ponty's studio. Before the note. Before the silence. At the exact moment where everything begins.
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Musical Imagination
par Clara Ponty
“Music is,” Sidney Lanier writes, “Love in search of a word.”
Imagination is a wondrous vehicle of this search, which invites us to breathe,
to dream, and to be fully present to the wonder of living. Joined together,
the musical imagination is revealed.
Imagination is essential to my inspiration as a musician, and undoubtedly
Imagination is essential to my inspiration as a musician, and undoubtedly
all musicians feel the same. It is that grand inner spaciousness which arises first
as a feeling. It’s not just emotions, but deeper sensations which can be perceived differently by every listener. Only later does logical thinking come into play.
So, putting this into words is a unique challenge for me because my feeling
for music goes far beyond words.
Music, as I imagine it, is a meditation, a special connection to the source
Music, as I imagine it, is a meditation, a special connection to the source
of my creative outpouring. Like a theatrical narration, musical notes are like words
to me that express a very precise, fluid, non-verbal storyline.
When I engage in the ritual of music-making, different senses interact.
I feel and see shades and spectrums of sonic colors which set the mood and narrative much like a painter who creates their visual colors with a palette.
This feeling process is like a key which allows me to hear and see the invisible perceptions that I translate into music.
Depending on the music that is coming through me, some compositions feel like
Depending on the music that is coming through me, some compositions feel like
an impressionistic painting with sparks of colors which are blurry to the logical
mind but bring us to another atmosphere or dimension, much like a journey
where I perceive the “music” that resounds in nature, in the magical woods overflowing with lush greenery and majestic trees. Other compositions bring
me in touch with and transmute difficult and painful emotions linked to events.
They trigger a therapeutic process that my listeners can resonate with as well.
This process illuminates and releases inner patterns that can be oppressive
and obscure.
I find that this meditative process, complimented by daily meditation practices,
I find that this meditative process, complimented by daily meditation practices,
is a wonderful stimulus for my imagination and intuition to bring forth my fullest conscious creativity. The scientist working in the laboratory to discover the laws
of nature is engaged in a form of meditation. Attentive care for the health and wellness of the needy is meditation. The application of our minds to the problems
of government and international relations is meditation. The themes will differ,
and so will points of emphasis, but the process is identical. Music is a timeless medium of this meditation, a condition which, according to Walter Pater,
all the arts continuously aspire towards.
Music can help us to better understand other people and develop higher levels
Music can help us to better understand other people and develop higher levels
of empathy. Our senses are a vector of contacts and exchanges. When I touch the keys of my piano, I not only generate a note, it is a subtle sensitivity that allows
me to “touch” the listener other than by placing my hand on their skin.
We ourselves have our subtle bodies which vibrate with harmonics.
Molecules vibrate at a certain frequency, and we know from the work of French researcher, Joël Sternheimer, that molecules are like melodies which vibrate
with the same harmonic laws as those present in music. As a musician,
I draw from this inner resonance, for I believe it is essential to our livelihood
and harmony on earth. Music can therefore have a higher purpose beyond enjoyment, happiness, and entertainment. This is the power of music and the musical imagination, the kind of imagination which music activates and liberates.
Once this imagination is applied to the enhancement of our lives,
Once this imagination is applied to the enhancement of our lives,
I believe it can be put in the service of a collective harmony that makes the world
a better place, a harmony that my music and my life is inspired by and devoted to.
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