nate with the first sunrise of the summer, and then it ' s just this crescendo of light that you can ' t really duplicate with a light show. It ' s pretty hard to imitate nature in that way …. What I like is the fact that we have this faculty of accepting what ' s happening in nature that we don ' t use indoors. For example, if we take a walk in the woods, you ' re hearing a lot of things. You ' re hearing the brush underfoot, you ' re hearing the wind in the trees, you’ re hearing some birds, a plane. And have you ever heard anybody say,“ Oh, I wish that bird had not sung at that point. That was a terrible place. Why didn ' t he wait?” No, we join it all. We accept it all. Take a dog, and the dog is accepting everything now, now, now. Everything ' s fine in the present. It ' s just what ' s happening. We go inside and we ' re taught no, no, music has to be this way. These are the rules, and you have to play like this. And you ' re going to take lessons for the next seven years. Then you ' re going to get a chance to play with somebody and maybe have some fun. Until then, do this.
Anastasia: You wish that would change?
Paul: To educate diverse group of people in an institution, you have to have structure. The thing about school is you can learn a lot of structure, but you can ' t learn freedom. You’ ve got to find out on your own, which is why I encourage people to make their own groups, create their own music.
Anastasia: What do you see as your purpose in this world, Paul?
Paul: It’ s first to create the most sublime music that I can and to share it with people however I can. My favorite music is living polyphony, ensemble music that ' s created collectively.
David: Do you hear living polyphony in nature?
Paul: God, yes. Each thing holding forth according to their nature, but in consort. What better definition of democracy could there be? Where the good of the whole is the prime value, yet equally, it’ s the expression of each of the individuals. So, we can ' t really say which is more important, but they ' re equally important, and they coexist. That ' s the idea of a thriving life. Anastasia, you asked me my goals. That ' s one of them, to encourage people— even benevolently trick them— into where their listening will come alive. Here ' s something that ' s completely natural, healthy, inexpensive that we don ' t access. We’ ve become total visual people. Now, I realize that the visual faculty is in our evolution more predominant than the aural. We ' re not called upon to use our listening in the ways that we live. I certainly do have pointed comments about what I feel mass media has done to our self-dependence or our own intelligence. We ' ve given over and become sheep. But it ' s just the way technology has raced ahead so far, so fast.
Anastasia: What do we do?
Paul: With my albums, I often encourage people to just please listen, lying down in the dark. Even just lying down is a totally different
Step into a World of Wonder
November 21 – January 3
Inspired by the natural world, NightWood combines cinematic music, theatrical lighting, and scenic elements to evoke delight and awaken the imagination.
Tickets & Passes at EdithWharton. org Kids 12 & under are free!
2 Plunkett Street, Lenox MA
Holiday 2025 2023 BERKSHIRE MAGAZINE // 41