There is a purity of a single note, purposely struck with confidence, which has the power to save and the grace to speak. Clarity!
But who has the courage to play a single note? Another always follows, and one after that... Soon, you have a tune, a song, a melody. A great cacophony of sound, a wall of noise, a mess.
Then comes organization, orchestration, a planned sequence of thoughts and feelings. Sound becomes a story. The plot is written out, followed, ended with style or a flourish. Or, seeking its source, a single, last note.
This pulse, this drone. bleak dark ethereal energy. shining silver light wire. lifting wave drowning trough. sin and redemption, sine and cosine. pierce reveal naked truth. shame glory loathing gloating. fear victory continuous hold. low evil high praise. alone.
Who was brave enough to sound a single frequency? Let us name John Coltrane, Miles Davis, B. B. King, Jimi Hendrix. The piper's drone.
Tone can destroy or glorify the single note. A singularity is an aberration, including the idea of a single note. When a single note is sounded, others join in from the same source. The 4th, the 5th, the 9th, and other harmonics join in with the brave loner to produce what we think of as a single note. Whether it be a piano, saxophone or conga, the single note is accompanied by its followers.
