This is fascinating. "This is where listening begins to acquire some of memory’s qualities. When a piece of music revisits a gesture without developing it, or a melodic fragment recurs slightly altered — too subtle to feel like variation and too present to feel like repetition — the listener can experience a kind of familiarity. Recognition without origin. Familiarity without sequence. The sense of having been here before without being able to locate when the first time was." Going to chew on this a while. Thank you!!
Thank you, Linda. I really appreciate that. I wanted to create a compositional tool that was more than a collection of stylistic prompts. As I worked on the cards (which seemed like the natural format, sitting in front of the piano) I kept asking what was missing, and what belonged in the spaces between the ideas I already had. The visual language developed alongside it. Once the system started to take shape, drawing it became the easiest way to think about it.
Hmm this is really interesting. It reminds me of a mindfulness exercise I did when attempting to be present in the moment; where I’d play an instrument in the morning and let my hands lead me without thinking. Remember to unclench your brain when playing btw.
Thanks, that resonates. Some of my favourite ideas have come from getting out of the way a little and noticing where the music seems to want to go. Composition feels more like noticing patterns than inventing them.
I really like this piece of music. I have to like it to be able to follow your diagram. I just can't listen to music I don't enjoy. I have wide ranging tastes and strive to be able to enjoy anything but I come up against the barrier of my innate judgement. But I do like this piece and I am listening to it on repeat while I write.
I think about the types of things you write about when I am listening. I am not able to articulate them like you, I am on the receiving end not the creation end. So different. But I do think music (crafted sound) is a language and I learn from it. I really appreciate what you are articulating.
I am extremely intrigued that you created music based on this ideas. I don't know how you did that. I am very creative but I don't make music. I am excited to find you here because you are one of kind and that's up my alley!
Is any of your music available on spotify? I couldn't find you by your name. I would happy listen to more of you and that is currently the portal I use.
One of the things I'm trying to explore is whether these ideas can move beyond diagrams and essays and become musical conditions you can hear unfolding in real time.
And thank you for looking for my music! I don't have anything on Spotify under my own name at the moment. Most of what I've made has lived as demos and private projects, but I do plan on sharing a new composition essay every few weeks here on Substack. Each one documents the construction of a piece written under a different set of conditions, so there will definitely be more music to come, soon.
Thank you again for writing this. It's incredibly encouraging to know that the essays and the music are resonating together.
Thanks because of the graphs I guess I thought it was a software program to besides the method it describes. Hard to tell these days fine piano playing.
This is fascinating. "This is where listening begins to acquire some of memory’s qualities. When a piece of music revisits a gesture without developing it, or a melodic fragment recurs slightly altered — too subtle to feel like variation and too present to feel like repetition — the listener can experience a kind of familiarity. Recognition without origin. Familiarity without sequence. The sense of having been here before without being able to locate when the first time was." Going to chew on this a while. Thank you!!
I'm so curious how you came up with your visualization language. And simultaneously impressed with how you've made music visible
Thank you, Linda. I really appreciate that. I wanted to create a compositional tool that was more than a collection of stylistic prompts. As I worked on the cards (which seemed like the natural format, sitting in front of the piano) I kept asking what was missing, and what belonged in the spaces between the ideas I already had. The visual language developed alongside it. Once the system started to take shape, drawing it became the easiest way to think about it.
Hmm this is really interesting. It reminds me of a mindfulness exercise I did when attempting to be present in the moment; where I’d play an instrument in the morning and let my hands lead me without thinking. Remember to unclench your brain when playing btw.
Thanks, that resonates. Some of my favourite ideas have come from getting out of the way a little and noticing where the music seems to want to go. Composition feels more like noticing patterns than inventing them.
I really like this piece of music. I have to like it to be able to follow your diagram. I just can't listen to music I don't enjoy. I have wide ranging tastes and strive to be able to enjoy anything but I come up against the barrier of my innate judgement. But I do like this piece and I am listening to it on repeat while I write.
I think about the types of things you write about when I am listening. I am not able to articulate them like you, I am on the receiving end not the creation end. So different. But I do think music (crafted sound) is a language and I learn from it. I really appreciate what you are articulating.
I am extremely intrigued that you created music based on this ideas. I don't know how you did that. I am very creative but I don't make music. I am excited to find you here because you are one of kind and that's up my alley!
Is any of your music available on spotify? I couldn't find you by your name. I would happy listen to more of you and that is currently the portal I use.
Thank you so much.
One of the things I'm trying to explore is whether these ideas can move beyond diagrams and essays and become musical conditions you can hear unfolding in real time.
And thank you for looking for my music! I don't have anything on Spotify under my own name at the moment. Most of what I've made has lived as demos and private projects, but I do plan on sharing a new composition essay every few weeks here on Substack. Each one documents the construction of a piece written under a different set of conditions, so there will definitely be more music to come, soon.
Thank you again for writing this. It's incredibly encouraging to know that the essays and the music are resonating together.
Is this something that you played on the piano after using this program or is this AI.
No AI. There's no program either.
The essay describes a compositional method, and the piece was written and performed entirely by me using that method.
Thanks because of the graphs I guess I thought it was a software program to besides the method it describes. Hard to tell these days fine piano playing.
This is dense and I am going to come back to it when I have more time but I am extremely intrigued.
Thank you. I suspect this is one of those pieces that's better revisited than rushed through. I'd love to hear your thoughts if you come back to it.