Before the Sound

Walking, Clouds, and Silence

Overview

Before sound became music, there was listening.

This entry documents the experiential origin that precedes composition, structure, and musical form. It explores the state of perception from which the earliest sonic impulses emerged, rooted in walking, silence, open landscapes, and sustained attention to natural phenomena.

Rather than presenting a technical or musical beginning, this text addresses a pre-musical phase in which sound was perceived as presence rather than artifact.


The Practice of Walking

Long walks formed a foundational ritual. Movement through open land created a rhythm independent of intention or goal. Walking was not exercise, nor destination-based activity, but a way of loosening the mind and aligning perception with the surrounding environment.

As steps repeated, attention widened. Thoughts thinned. Awareness shifted from internal narration to external continuity. This movement created a receptive state where listening occurred without effort.


Clouds as Moving Language

Clouds became a recurring point of focus.

Their slow transformations across the sky revealed a language without syntax. Shapes formed and dissolved without urgency, carrying a sense of continuity that did not rely on meaning. Watching clouds cultivated patience and attunement to subtle change.

This observation trained perception to recognize motion without intervention — a quality later mirrored in musical flow.


Silence and the Absence of Noise

Silence here does not imply absence of sound.

It refers to the absence of mental noise: external voices, imposed ideas, and interpretive pressure. In this silence, natural sound layers emerged clearly — wind through leaves, distant birds, shifting air density.

These sounds were not isolated events but part of a living field. Listening occurred without attempting to extract material from it.


Light, Horizon, and Time

Sunsets played a significant role in shaping temporal perception. The gradual descent of light, filtered through foliage and landscape, altered the sense of time from linear progression to presence-based duration.

In these moments, time ceased to function as sequence and became experience. Past memory and future anticipation dissolved into a singular state of awareness.

This altered relationship with time later informed the pacing and atmosphere of musical works.


Listening Before Sound

In this phase, no music existed yet.

There were no melodies, no structures, no instruments. What existed was listening without expectation. Sound was not sought. It arrived on its own.

This listening established the conditions under which later musical transmission would occur. Music emerged not as creation, but as translation of states already present.


Relevance to Later Works

This pre-musical state forms the experiential foundation for later projects, including:

Understanding this phase clarifies why these works emphasize atmosphere, continuity, and inner resonance over technical display or genre classification.


See Also



Notes

This entry does not describe a metaphorical or fictional origin. It documents lived perceptual states that preceded formal musical activity and continue to inform later creative processes.