More to say (?)

FROM: mclaren
TO: The new ALternative Wanking List
SUBJECT: More to say (?)

In briefly discussing compositional methods in
non-12, John Starrett mentioned:

"I wish I had more to say about my compositional
method. As some of you know, my pieces are, apart from the
improvisations, mostly pop type music running towards comedy. How I
compose: something pops into my head, usually a vocal or instrumental
line, and it grows longer and develops in my mind's ear until it is a
whole piece, at which point I write it down as a lyric sheet with
chord changes and any instrumental riffs that are important. About
half the time the whole idea does not develop, so I write down the
fragment and put it in my files. Sometimes I can come back and look
at the fragment and finish it, sometimes not." -- John Starrett

But John there is much more to say about what you do, alebit
mayhap from a different perspective from mine.

When you say "something pops into [your] head," can you give
more detail on that? Do you start with a rhythm? Do you start
with a riff? Do you start with a guitar fingering? Do you start
with a guitar chord change, or set of changes?

For those of you not familiar, John Starrett is a person of
stupefyingly vast talents -- as well as a physicist, John Starrett
qualifies as an expert luthier as well as a virtuoso instrument
desginer (the StarrBoard) and a virtuoso fretless bass player, also
a xenharmonic guitarist.

Now, John, your wealth of experience as a luthier as well as
a fretless bassist gives you a unique perspective on microtonal
composition. Could you say a few words about composing microtonal
music using an instrument you yourself designed and built? How about
discussing briefly the issue of "finding" pitches on a fretless
bass?

As you wil have noticed, my very limited perspective (as
discussed so superficially and so inadequately in my post on
compositional methods) comes entirely from the narrow viewpoint of a
keyboard player. As we all know, keyboards are not the alpha and
omega of music, but a very minor and limited sideshow. Many other
people are bound to have very different (and valuable) perspectives
on composing microtonal music from outside the tiny little demesne of
the 7-white-5-black keyboard, and you are one of those folks. How
about it, John?
---------
--mclaren

--- In crazy_music@y..., xed@e... wrote:
> FROM: mclaren

> But John there is much more to say about what you do, alebit
> mayhap from a different perspective from mine.
>
> When you say "something pops into [your] head," can you give
> more detail on that? Do you start with a rhythm? Do you start
> with a riff? Do you start with a guitar fingering? Do you start
> with a guitar chord change, or set of changes?

Usually, for the songs I end up finishing, the whole phrase pops into
my head complete with words, melody accompanyment. Usually it is just
the first line or couple of lines, but a couple of times it was the
whole first verse. It is like having a song stuck in your head, but
you haven't heard it before. Then I just listen to it go, and if I am
lucky, more lines or verses will append themselves until there is
enough to write down and finish. Sometimes I have written words but
have no music, and a melody will come to me. When I hear a melody, it
is usually with accompanyment.

A couple of songs were composed while sitting around playing for
friends. I hardly ever compose this way, but one of them, The Cat Man,
will be on my CD.

I have a number of songs that remain unfinished since I rely so
heavily on my inspirational mode to get material. I have tried
finishing many of these by actually sitting down and working on them
like I have read real songwriters do, and it just does me no good. I
have one really cool one I would love to finish (it's about 2/3 of a
song) for my CD, but I just can't get it. I have probably worked 50 or
more hours trying, singing it around the house, listening to it in my
head, playing it on the piano, forcing Neil to play it with me, but
nothing doing.

> Now, John, your wealth of experience as a luthier as well as
> a fretless bassist gives you a unique perspective on microtonal
> composition. Could you say a few words about composing microtonal
> music using an instrument you yourself designed and built?

Well, as I noted above, I very rarely am able to compose at an
instrument, but when I have it is just by improvising and something
cool coming out. One thing that is important, I think, is for the
instrument to feel natural in my hands. If it is a struggle to play,
or feels unfamiliar, I can't play much, and can't get in the groove.

> How about discussing briefly the issue of "finding" pitches on a >
> fretless bass?

That is very interesting. I don't have perfect pitch, and I have only
moderate pitch memory. I can hold a pitch in mind for at most an hour,
I guess, but when I am playing a fretless bass or guitar, if I only
play one note, it can seem right or wrong. If it is wrong, I move a
little in the richt direction till it is right. That is really
strange. I suppose I have been hearing something unconciously, and the
instrument is somehow out of tune with that piece.

When doing free pitch improvisation, it is mostly physical feel, not
pitch that guides me. My hands know what they want to do, and if it
feels right in my hands, it sounds right to my ear.

> As you wil have noticed, my very limited perspective (as
> discussed so superficially and so inadequately in my post on
> compositional methods) comes entirely from the narrow viewpoint of a
> keyboard player. As we all know, keyboards are not the alpha and
> omega of music, but a very minor and limited sideshow. Many other
> people are bound to have very different (and valuable) perspectives
> on composing microtonal music from outside the tiny little demesne
> of
> the 7-white-5-black keyboard, and you are one of those folks. How
> about it, John?
> ---------
> --mclaren

Keyboard is quite different from strings when it comes to playing and
composing. As I noted above, I do very little composing at the
instrument, but I will make a couple of comments about actually
playing. When playing a fretless bass, you have so much control over
the pitch and nuance of the sound that there is a feedback loop going
between your inner sound and the sound you actually produce. When I am
in the studio, I am unable to play well if I don't have a good sound
in the headphones. If there are too many highs, I can hear the
variations in the string wrapping as the amount and quality of the
buzz changes from note to note, and I try to compensate at the
fretboard. No good. You shouldn't have to be continually trying to
find your sound by modifying your technique in response to the
headphone sound. The same goes for live playing, but there I have
direct control at the amp over the tone.

Gee, I hope this was useful. I found it very difficult to write about
this because I think about the process so little. Thanks for pushing
me though, Brian.

John Starrett