Chris Newton0:42 Religion as symbolic patterns 4:58 Does it matter that the events in the Bible really happened? 10:12 Is music a metaphor for "living in harmony" with each other? 12:47 Symbolic patterns are like fractals 18:38 Contemporary Art 25:04 Advice for composing liturgical music 27:27 Relativism disregards human nature 37:03 Samuel Andreyev: There has been no innovation in the last 50 years of contemporary music 42:01 Beauty is hard-wired into our biology 44:40 Is Modernism inevitable? 53:19 Was music created or discovered? 1:00:09 Is Christian art heretical? 1:05:15 Is there something transcendent underneath symbolism? 1:07:55 What are your thoughts on psychedelics? 1:11:48 Making art that is compatible with symbolic patterns 1:16:25 Dangers of New Age religious thinking & the necessity of dogma 1:27:12 Does orthopraxy (right action) require orthodoxy (right belief)? 1:28:46 Thoughts on "spirituality without religion"? 1:33:18 The dangers of dogma 1:49:24 Love is the Opposite of Addiction; Humility is the Opposite of Pride
Jonathan Pageau Q&A with Royal Northern College of MusicChris Newton2022-11-09 | 0:42 Religion as symbolic patterns 4:58 Does it matter that the events in the Bible really happened? 10:12 Is music a metaphor for "living in harmony" with each other? 12:47 Symbolic patterns are like fractals 18:38 Contemporary Art 25:04 Advice for composing liturgical music 27:27 Relativism disregards human nature 37:03 Samuel Andreyev: There has been no innovation in the last 50 years of contemporary music 42:01 Beauty is hard-wired into our biology 44:40 Is Modernism inevitable? 53:19 Was music created or discovered? 1:00:09 Is Christian art heretical? 1:05:15 Is there something transcendent underneath symbolism? 1:07:55 What are your thoughts on psychedelics? 1:11:48 Making art that is compatible with symbolic patterns 1:16:25 Dangers of New Age religious thinking & the necessity of dogma 1:27:12 Does orthopraxy (right action) require orthodoxy (right belief)? 1:28:46 Thoughts on "spirituality without religion"? 1:33:18 The dangers of dogma 1:49:24 Love is the Opposite of Addiction; Humility is the Opposite of PrideBrahms Piano Quintet: Movement 1 (Lunigiana Music Festival)Chris Newton2024-08-03 | A very memorable performance for me from last week's Lunigiana Music Festival in Fivvizano, Tuscany.
An amazing opportunity to perform with my wonderful teacher Yuri Torchinsky (Leader of the BBC Philharmonic, and who was the youngest ever concertmaster of the Bolshoi Ballet), the lovely Abigail Dance (who I was delighted to find out was a close friend of Tom Hammond, whose conducting inspired me to choose music as a career), the inspiring Gianluca Pirisi (whose Martinu I will never forget!) and the amazing Mischa Carr (who will be starting at the Royal College of Music with a full scholarship in September!)
Such inspiring musicians. Thank you all for an unforgettable week ❤️
(feat. some secretive phone scrolling in the front row 🤣)How Meaningful Do You Want Your Life to Be? | Henning Kraggerud & RNCM Philosophy SocietyChris Newton2024-03-18 | Henning Kraggerud is one of the most inspiring and creative musicians in the world. A Norwegian violinist and composer, Henning speaks to us at the Royal Northern College of Music about the role of improvisation and creativity in the cultivation of meaningful practice in classical music, which he also writes about in depth in the following blog posts:
Timestamps: 00:00:55 How Meaningful Do You Want Your Life To Be? 00:06:49 The Limits of Creativity; Taking Risks 00:12:48 Freedom Vs Discipline 00:17:52 Technique Vs Creativity; Learning from Mistakes 00:37:24 The Flow State 00:44:37 Iain McGilchrist, Left Vs Right Hemispheres; Perfectionism Vs Wholeness 00:54:34 What Makes an Artwork Great? 01:03:00 Is Music Rational? 01:09:23 The Importance of Good Taste 01:16:20 Love is the Most Important Thing 01:25:29 Having Fun! 01:37:13 Conclusion: John Vervaeke & The Meaning CrisisMichael Sugrue Memorial Lecture: Dialectics of Love in Platos SymposiumChris Newton2024-02-22 | A tribute to the late Michael Sugrue, Dialectics of Love in Plato's Symposium is a talk I gave at a recent conference at the Contemporary Philosophy Research Centre at the RNCM (Royal Northern College of Music), which was on the topic of Dialectics, Dialetheism and Deconstruction
I also make reference to a lecture series by @johnvervaeke called "After Socrates", which can be found here: youtu.be/bILiVpljIxw?si=aJ-gPEIa78caPFkUBach Double Violin Concerto (3rd Movement): Chris Newton & Rachel StonhamChris Newton2024-01-15 | Performers:
Chris Newton - Violin 1 Solo Rachel Stonham - Violin 2 Solo RNCM String Orchestra with Benedict Holland & Pavel FischerDonald Hoffman Q&A with Royal Northern College of MusicChris Newton2023-12-13 | Donald Hoffman is Professor of Cognitive Science at UC Irvine, and the author of several popular books including "The Case Against Reality", and "Visual Intelligence: How We Create What We See". We hope you enjoy our conversation with him!
We are also joined by members of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, one of the world's oldest learned societies (over 250 years old!) More info here: manlitphil.ac.uk
Timestamps 00:31 Introduction to Donald's ideas 09:14 How does your theory affect our understanding of daily life? 12:59 A further exploration of Donald's ideas 17:10 Is reality whatever we choose it to be? Can myths be true? 21:10 Music perception & Synesthesia 24:27 Understanding other people's perceptions 26:04 Overcoming divisions between people 32:34 Ontological Agnosticism 39:29 Paradigm Shifts & Scientific Revolutions 42:10 Problems with Empiricism & other philosophical challenges 53:50 Overlaps with Buddhist Thinking & Scientific Spirituality 1:04:02 Truth vs Heuristics 1:11:13 Is there a collective mind? Joscha Bach: "Networks of Caring" 1:17:33 Post-Hegelian Philosophy (Zizek) 1:21:07 What is Beauty? 1:24:55 What is Artistic Taste? 1:26:17 How does language affect perception? 1:32:41 Love your neighbour as yourself 1:36:37 Psychedelics 1:39:40 Do I exist? 1:44:44 A funny moment of synchronicity 1:48:23 How to put these ideas into practice 1:50:57 ConclusionDaniel Kurganov Q&A with Royal Northern College of MusicChris Newton2023-11-22 | Daniel's YouTube Channel: youtube.com/@DanielKurganov
Daniel is a violinist, educator and entrepreneur, creating videos to pass on knowledge and ideas about the craft of violin playing to passionate and curious musicians!
We hope you enjoy our discussion with him!
Timestamps 00:30 Daniel's vision for the future of music education 08:39 Problems with Online Teaching 13:38 Learning to Teach Yourself; Starting Violin as an Adult 19:40 Ivry Gitlis, The "Scratch Scale" 21:41 Abhi's journey from Doctor to Violinist; dealing with Self-Doubt 37:43 Rachmaninoff: how to be a hypnotic performer 42:10 Augustin Hadelich's humble yet hypnotic genius 48:15 The Magician vs the Mechanic 52:02 The Art of Legato 1:06:18 What is Good Taste? 1:15:15 Imitating Great Artists 1:20:32 Managing Self-Criticism 1:29:07 Confidence vs Doubt 1:31:54 Love vs Addiction (John Vervaeke); Spiraling into Freedom 1:42:37 Awkwardness in Developing New Techniques 1:48:19 Practicing with Flexibility to Develop Your Musical Toolkit 1:53:15 Approaching Opposing Ideas (Michael Sugrue); Philosophy & Music 1:58:51 Becoming an Individual Musician 2:00:33 ConclusionChris Newton: Hitlahavut for String OrchestraChris Newton2023-03-26 | Composer: Chris Newton RNCM Year 1 String Orchestra & Chris Hoyle Producer: Joshua Quinlan
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"Hitlahavut," as described by Martin Buber in The Legend of the Baal Shem, is “the burning, the ardour of ecstasy" experienced in prayer. Listen for the fiery passion of the violin solo, inspired by the compositions of Ernest Bloch, and for the famous "dies irae" (day of wrath) theme introduced by the viola.
Artwork: Jacob Wrestling with the Angel, by Gustave DoréSonu Shamdasani Q&A with RNCM: Music, Carl Jung & The Red BookChris Newton2023-02-16 | Sonu Shamdasani is professor of Jung History at University College London and editor-in-chief at the Philemon Foundation. He is well known for editing the first edition of The Red Book by Carl Jung.
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Question Timestamps: 00:18 Overview 01:36 The role of music in the translation of The Red Book 07:11 Examples of where music has affected translation 10:36 The music of John Zorn & George Gurdjieff 12:10 Interactions between Jung and Gurdjieff 13:55 Music communicating emotion 17:38 Spectating conscious states 19:19 The role of music in philosophy 21:04 Music as "Alchemy of Sound", Schopenhauer's views on music 26:38 The role of beauty 29:39 Lament of the Dead 33:31 Psychology is in a mess, "Tower of Babel" 35:44 Psychology without bias 37:58 Jung's private cosmology, visionary experiences 42:12 Tolkien & Jung 42:38 Did Jung use Psychedelics to create the Red Book? 43:28 Climate change as cosmology 46:28 The need for dogma 48:12 Jung and Meister Eckhart 49:27 Returning to Christianity, religion as a language 52:59 Dreams vs Imagination 55:12 Nietzsche, the need for art, the meaning crisis, advice for artists 1:01:12 How to Listen/ReadJoscha Bach Q&A with Royal Northern College of MusicChris Newton2022-12-21 | Joscha Bach is the Principal Artificial Intelligence Engineer at Intel Labs, with a history of research positions at AI Foundation, MIT and Harvard. He is one of the most fascinating minds in the AI community. We hope you enjoy our conversation with him! :)
Timestamps: 0:31 Overview 4:12 What is the value of art to an artificial intelligence? 7:00 Can AI think intuitively/metaphorically? 10:33 Joscha's favourite examples of AI art 13:41 As part of the Bach Family, did JS Bach's music have an influence on your intellectual development? 16:27 Is it possible to fully re-create the human mind with AI? If so, why? 19:03 Disagreement with John Vervaeke about Relevance Realisation 23:18 If an AI values music, what music would it prefer? 31:09 Embodied cognition: Does AI need a body to think? 40:39 Religion as programming for the mind 48:17 What causes variability in human minds? 55:15 Nature Vs Nurture 1:03:46 Is the self an illusion? 1:05:20 What is Infinity? 1:14:06 What makes something valuable to an AI? 1:23:43 Do archetypes have an objective existence? 1:26:34 Carl Jung: "I regard the psyche as real" 1:29:31 Death anxiety & Terror Management Theory; Non-attachment Vs Caring 1:39:08 The Future of AI; Joscha's interpretation of the Bible 1:45:34 Are we motivated by death anxiety to sexually reproduce? 1:53:26 Joscha's conception of the "AI Artist"
(Apologies for any inconsistencies in the video editing!)Love is the Opposite of Addiction | John Vervaeke & RNCM Philosophy SocietyChris Newton2022-10-29 | ...John Vervaeke Q&A with Royal Northern College of MusicChris Newton2022-10-25 | 0:18 What is the Meaning Crisis? 7:25 Ecology of Practices 11:58 Does Wisdom lead to Meaning in life? 15:54 The Flow State Cures Performance Anxiety 23:01 How does moral behavior correlate with meaning in life? 29:00 Love is not an emotion 31:57 What is meaning? Meaning OF life/meaning IN life - what's the difference? 37:22 Music as a metaphor of attention 39:28 Contemporary music 43:50 Superficiality in modern life 48:13 How does The Meaning Crisis affect everyday life? 1:04:19 Is happiness the meaning of life? 1:05:06 How does faith play a role in solving the meaning crisis? 1:22:20 What is the meaning of connectedness without purpose? 1:32:08 Why is your work so important to you? What advice would you give to those who want to do similar work? 1:36:19 What is the meaning of faith without purpose? 1:40:22 Art for Art's sake 1:47:06 Love is the Opposite of Addiction 1:50:30 The Parable of the Good Samaritan 1:51:58 How to drive exaptationChris Newton: Clarinet Quintet Puer AeternusChris Newton2022-07-07 | Puer Aeternus: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puer_aeternus
Bb Clarinet: Emily Degg Violin I: Chris Newton Violin II: Pia Bromby Viola: Ben Norris Cello: Rebekah Clarke
Recorded at the Royal Northern College of MusicMichael Sugrue Q&A with Royal Northern College of MusicChris Newton2022-06-16 | ...