Hypnagogia: Simeon Ten Holt
In “Simulacs and Simulation”, Baudrillard speaks of a high-resolution obsession, according to him, this obsession manifests itself in modern listeners equipped with stereo consoles, amplifiers, and speakers. Baudrillard poses the question “Is it still music that we listen to”, even if we have to master all the parameters, store music in multiple forms, and carry out all of this finely crafted music universe with great fluidity as we wish? In this problem, Baudrillard openly argues that as a result of the techniques used to improve the sense of music and the creation of a hyper-realist rest, music no longer exists. He signals the effects of the used hardware and software techniques on us. (Baudrillard, 1994:5). This is one of the greatest of Baudrillard’s undeniable hyperrealism problems. When considered, all the subtle technical paradigms used for music production have become more detailed than the performance of music itself in the composing process. In this case, attaching importance to the point which Baudrillard designates with his finger will open a big wound to the philosophical view of the modern listener. Because now we awaken our emotions thanks to production techniques, not the music itself. These techniques knead the so-called music in its simplest and inexplicable state, resulting in a completely different and listenable auditory material. More than one expert producer agrees that music is no longer exists on paper but on what values it outputs from the speakers. It is precisely this mechanical universe that Baudrillard gave to the modern audience a show of sad reality in this small paragraph. “Is this still music we are listening to? Or are we just experiencing crises, drifting into euphoria, or arousing our much more diverse emotions through modified electrical signals? This is a controversial issue in the philosophy of music and its details are dizzying. Therefore, the subject of this text is not the universe of these astronomical thoughts. The subject of this text is a modern genius, composer Simeon Ten Holt, who has created his music universe flawlessly. The inspiration that Baudrillard’s ideas manifested in the aforementioned paragraph has given us clues to better understand Simeon Ten Holt’s work and to percept what is going on inside his head. Thus, it is possible to reflect upon it, perhaps by looking a little more closely at the heavy sadness in his devious composition style.
It is an undisputed fact that the Netherlands has recently become a geography where both the creative technique and the performance potential are tested and high-level phonetic experiments are conducted to create contemporary classical Western music. Some of these experiments have not received attention from the listener, some have created new concepts and others have succeeded, at least in real-time, and created Simeon Ten Holt. Of course, no authority distinguishes and compares high composers like Matty Niel, Louis Andriessen, and Otto Ketting. These three names and more, have existed with interesting works. However, Simeon Ten Holt, compared to his contemporaries, introduced a musical articulation known as an ostinato to all music senses, using a minimal composition method, and this composition method coincidentally integrated with the nascent minimalism movement that had been born about twenty years before his death. More simply, Simeon Ten Holt’s musical insight and method successfully coincided with the rising trend of his era, minimalism, and became universal in that form. In this case, if we are going to study Holt, it is important to put aside other musical articulations to take a closer look at ostinato articulation — understand how ostinato creates a minimal phonetic.
In the first place, the concept of articulation refers to the condition of the human being to make it more effective and understandable in his native language with the help of lips, tongue, palate, cheeks, chin, and throat. The concept of articulation for Western music refers to several instrument methods that are varied in the sense of Western music to touch the human ear with finer details. Thus, any musical motif in an instrument, when articulately interpreted, achieves a more phonetically satisfactory saturation, and becomes more descriptive and narrative. As Western Music modernized, various articulations used only as a spice in composition have now become a whole composition. One of the most obvious examples of this is the “generalized” staccatos in any composition of Mari Samuelsen.
Looking at the development of Western music, since the Baroque period, the use of various known articulations (vibrato, staccato, crescendo, decrescendo, spiccato, pizzicato, legato) has become more widespread over time. So much so that the use of vibrato articulation, one of the building blocks of today’s music, is rarely found in Baroque music. In the Baroque period, various techniques that did not accept articulation became widespread as time went on and were preferred to strengthen expression. In this context, the ostinato articulation that we are focusing on has emerged as one of the melodic articulations in Western music. Ostinato expresses the existence of a pattern that is repeated continuously on the same screen. Therefore, if the presence of ostinato technique is found in a composition, it can be inferred that there is a motif that constantly renews and refreshes itself in motion.
Simeon Ten Holt, first of all, instead of feeding this articulation in his music, has adopted the whole musical structure as a method to form a single ostinato. Therefore, it was typical of Holt to hear that the same motif resonated in very different colors throughout his works, which could last for about two hours. This composer’s fascinating attitude, which for the first time opened the gates of modern insight by reducing articulation into one, found itself in a variety of creative techniques rather than merely using this articulation as a key.
It is possible to elaborate and briefly illustrate these creative techniques. On the whole, the progressive and variable nature of Canto Ostinato, Simeon Ten Holt’s most decisive work, is a perfect experience for this understanding. Roughly, Canto Ostinato (Ostinato Melody) was re-arranged by musicians such as Jeroen Van Veen, sometimes with two pianos and sometimes with four pianos. Canto Ostinato is a musical experience. It is possible to examine this experience for more than an hour with four different turning points: The first is to hear the most basic motif, the main element of the knot of all these ostentatious motifs, originally introduced to the listener. In the continuation of the experience, it is seen that this motif is skillfully harmonized gradually. This harmonized motif is diversified by continuous feeding. Throughout the work, Holt will continue this demonstration, feeding back, and giving the audience long opportunities to capture this fast-changing motif. Because in Holt’s music, the question-and-answer technique in classical melody theory is extremely flexible. Holt repeats the same question at length in the form of a motif. This question is sometimes heard violently and sometimes naively. The melodic answer immediately following this question is not at all predictable, and the answer itself becomes a kind of question while answering at least the previous question at length. Then there is a motif that turns from an answer to a question and another motif that turns from an answer to a question. All the fluidity of Holt is hidden in these transformations. The composer’s mastery is also evident in the blending of the same motif with such different emotions. Canto Ostinato progresses, fluctuates, compresses, multiplies, decreases, and ultimately breaks all of this fluid variability, which is undoubtedly the romantic progression of Holt. The romantic progression shudders out of the crowd. This intense emotional motivation makes the audience into a trance until the ostinato motif, which has already existed in this new melody, reveals itself again. Re-hearing of the main motif, the fact that multiple independent motifs are in a loop together causes the listener to make a real journey. Holt’s technique, which is mentioned in only one dimension, aims to take the listener from a starting point to a destination, as opposed to compositions created solely for mood. Thus, rather than being trapped in a state of emotion, the listener glides from place to place within a musical universe that is accustomed to the existence of variables. Holt is a sorcerer with this and a lot more impressive subtle touches. It creates suspense with a single key change, and with a single chord extension, he can present its catharsis to its listeners in the middle of the work. Of course, for Canto Ostinato, this is such a limited analysis is inadequate. Holt’s universe is great. But Canto Ostinato is a good start to taste his exquisite technique. Perhaps the first way to understand Holt’s more complex and experimental works is to digest Canto Ostinato first. Palimpsest and Meandres, which he wrote for the strings are also universes worth visiting.
The definition of “hypnotic” has been used by different audiences, for example, by Philip Glass because he adopted the technique of ostinato in principle and this technique puts the listener in a funnel. It seems that in certain aspects, this description is much better matched with Holt’s music. Even when Holt’s music is presented, it is known that arrangements are made to provide an atmosphere that will trigger this situation. In particular, during any of the Canto Ostinato performances of Jeroen Van Veen, it can be seen that the listener lies around the pianos and dozens of strangers intertwine irregularly in the same space and listen to the entire work in sleep.
For Simeon Ten Holt’s music, it is not known how accurate it is to define consciousness, but if this perspective is to be adopted, there are more specific states of consciousness that need to be mentioned here: hypnopomia and hypnagogia. Hypnagogia is simply used to describe a state of consciousness that a person experiences during the sleep-entry phase. This sleep-entry phase was called hypnagogic condition. On the contrary, a person’s state of consciousness during sleep-out is called hypnopomia. So hypnagogic senses can be defined as the experiences of the person. At the same time, he/she falls asleep and awakens and can be grasped at the level of consciousness and thus are quite memorable dream experiences. Every sense experienced and perceived in the hypnagogic phase, albeit abstract, can integrate the brain with reality and create it in concrete form. It is known that the introduction and experience of this phase is a technique used by several leading artists, especially among experimentalists, to put aside certain practical ideas and call upon abstract and creative ideas to the level of consciousness.
When Simeon Ten Holt’s music is experienced, it will not be wrong to say that it is more a “hypnagogic experience” than a “hypnotic experience”. His music is quite long with motifs that open each other and grow linearly and walk to climax. However, when it is finished, the listener may feel that this long structure is perceived as an extremely short experience. Who knows perhaps the listener’s experience of lying at length around four grand pianos to realize a concept can be examined as a result of his desire to reach the state of hypnagogia, unlike hypnosis. In any case, even in the presence of an audience lying in a classical Western music concert, Holt proves that his music can cause an extraordinary effect.
In this case, it may be necessary to talk about the transition to sleep, and perhaps the state of sleep (and therefore the music itself), and instead of focusing on that part of the analogy, it may be necessary to focus on a different point, how a Simeon Ten Holt performance is ritualized. While Andre Gide says that “even the most beautiful sleep cannot reach the value of the awakened moment”, perhaps he speaks of such an awakening, even a desire to remain awake. The concerts in which Holt’s works are performed are often reminiscent of an “in-look” ceremony, which is often difficult to meet with the listener, who is not often organized and turned into a cult. Considering the existence of various rules in a possible classical Western music concert, it can be perceived that these rules are simply ignored and given a new listening habit in concerts given after the composer’s death. In a Canto Ostinato concert, it is not very noticeable how the fingers of the pianists move, how the postures are, and how the personal interpretation is displayed. This minimal music, which is already performed in a complex way, ultimately leads to the pointing of the gaze of the audience towards another place, precisely within themselves. It would seem to be an inadequate attraction to Holt’s music, to make rigorous musicological studies, to further clarify the subtle nuances already in mind, and in a way to create an obsessive “academic openness”. Rather than discovering his music, it might be a more reasonable way of thinking to “be there” with his music, slow down the time, and go for sentimental discoveries. Because in Rollo Mays’s words, Holt is not a composer who “worships technique” in art. May saw the lack of passion, despite the abundance of talent, as a problem of creativity and presented it as a reason for approaching creativity by skipping the encounter. According to him, the modern artist worships technique as a way of avoiding the anxiety of direct encounters with creativity. (May, 2015:104) This is an important consideration for grasping the issue because composers like Holt have been able to embrace the crises he has brought without being afraid of experiencing creativity.
After all, it is evident that Holt, from an interesting point of view, created the motive method of the repetitive motif and created a series of works that still have this effect. However, it is a shallow point of view to transform his music into a kind of trance instrument, as various people in the aforementioned concerts do. Holt, for example, excludes the drug as a trigger, a guide observed in Rave culture; It also fights the understanding of music as a drug observed in Sufi culture. How he does this is clear.
Believing that the technical subtleties of a musical work are created to develop a more profound experience for the audience is a consistent view of his music. Holt adopted a lifestyle that attracted attention to the ostinato universe, which he created only with pleasant workmanship without being mistaken for the “mystification” of present-day illness while calculating all the turns he had written on the staff, he was aware of the compulsion which the audience could not possibly comprehend. Holt’s music distracts his passion and technique from arrogance and glory. Holt places his audience at the centre of his music. It is this virtuous attitude that means that the technique is used for the pure existence of music without mystification.
Otto Ketting vanished while creating his highly complex and confusing yet passion and freedom at his desk in his small room. Simeon Ten Holt has vanished in the dark leaving a fascinating cloud of dust behind him with similar silence.
- Baudrillard, Jean, Simulacra and Simulation, USA: University of Michigan Press, 1994
- May, Rollo, Yaratma Cesareti, İstanbul: Metis, 2015
