[Craic] The Man Who Listened To The Stars…Another great poem by Rae Crossman.

[Rob and Nora Anderson]

Gentlemen,

See below for a beautiful poem for Christmas Day.  Light from Light.

Rae Crossman recently wrote one of his greatest poems to honour his friend and mentor, the Canadian composer, Murray Schafer.  See below for Rae’s tribute poem, “The Man Who Listened to the Stars,” a poem that divined Schafer’s spirit.

Bob

Raymond Murray Schafer CC<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Canada> FRCMT(hon)<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Royal_Conservatory_of_Music> (18 July 1933 – 14 August 2021) was a Canadian composer, writer, music educator, and environmentalist perhaps best known for his World Soundscape Project<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Soundscape_Project>, concern for acoustic ecology<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_ecology>, and his book The Tuning of the World(1977). He was the first recipient of the Jules Léger Prize<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_L%C3%A9ger_Prize> in 1978.[1]<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Murray_Schafer#cite_note-1>[2]<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Murray_Schafer#cite_note-2>

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<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Murray_Schafer#Biography>
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<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Murray_Schafer#Selected_works>
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<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Murray_Schafer#Compositions>
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<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Murray_Schafer#Written_works>
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<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Murray_Schafer#See_also>
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<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Murray_Schafer#References>
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<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Murray_Schafer#Further_reading>
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[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4e/Tanker_Windsolite_in_the_Welland_Canal%2C_1938_04_01_-a.jpg/220px-Tanker_Windsolite_in_the_Welland_Canal%2C_1938_04_01_-a.jpg]<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tanker_Windsolite_in_the_Welland_Canal,_1938_04_01_-a.jpg>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tanker_Windsolite_in_the_Welland_Canal,_1938_04_01_-a.jpg>
In his memoirs, My Life on Earth and Elsewhere, Schafer described serving as a novice deckhand aboard the oil tanker<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_tanker> Imperial Windsor<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Windsor> in 1955.[3]<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Murray_Schafer#cite_note-3>

Born in Sarnia<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarnia>, Ontario, Schafer studied at the Royal Schools of Music<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Schools_of_Music> in London, the Royal Conservatory of Music<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Conservatory_of_Music_(Toronto)> (in Toronto), and the University of Toronto<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Toronto>. At the last institution he was a pupil of Richard Johnston<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Johnston_(composer)>.

His music education theories are followed around the world. He started soundscape<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soundscape> studies at Simon Fraser University<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Fraser_University> in the 1960s.

Starting in 2010 a World Listening Day<https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=World_Listening_Day&action=edit&redlink=1> organised by the World Listening Project<https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=World_Listening_Project&action=edit&redlink=1> has taken place annually on 18 July, with the date chosen in honour of Schafer's birthday.[11]<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Murray_Schafer#cite_note-11>[12]<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Murray_Schafer#cite_note-12>[13]<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Murray_Schafer#cite_note-13>  H


His most famous work is Patria<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patria_(theatre)>: Princess of the Stars (1966—)[14<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Murray_Schafer#cite_note-14>



The Man Who Listened to the Stars
A Tribute to R. Murray Schafer
by Rae Crossman

Listen to the music of the stars, he said
A hundred billon billion notes of light
Resonant spiral galaxies
Astral arpeggios
A luminous cosmic composition
Proclaiming
Miracle
Miracle
Miracle

Follow the thread of star-music, he said
Give back reverence for radiance
Give back light for light

Drumming at the edge of magic
Riding thunder across the sky

Chanting a pathway to holiness
Learning the language of wind

Dancing the body past fervour
Partnering with prayer

Give back reverence for radiance
Give back light for light

Call it mystery
Call it sacred mystery
Call it Patria
Call it home

But midst the marvel discord sounds
There’s anguish in the forest
The trees are falling fast to the blade
The rivers are writhing with toxins
And animals lost with the loss of the wild
Desolation sings descant over the world

Hold fast to the thread of star-music, he said
Hold fast to the star-song of wonder
The melody of healing

Be a voice for the trees... exuberance in your lungs
Be a voice for the rivers... rapids in your bloodstream
Be a voice for the animals... wild with the animal in you

The miracle is not lost
Tune your senses to the world around you

To the east
           Dawn unfurls a scroll of golden calligraphy
To the south
            Blackberries astonish the mouth with the taste of sun

To the west
           Twilight pours molten sky into lake reflection
To the north
           Balsam enchants the air with a fragrant spell
As above so below
           A luminous cosmic composition

The miracle is not lost
Listen to the music of the stars, he said

Ecstatic listening
That can change your life

Ecstatic living
On earth
And elsewhere

Give back reverence for radiance
Give back light for light

Call it mystery
Call it sacred mystery Call it Patria
Call it home

Rae Crossman August 2022

"if only for one ruby-throated moment
 you could drink
 from the chalice of the sun"

https://raecrossman.com<https://raecrossman.com/>

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