Composing

Bill just said something about his thoughts on composition, made me think about mine, here's a few ideas...
I've been composing for many years, and have written a lot of pieces; I have 5 CD's out, and they barely scratch the surface of what I've written....I have big plans to do a lot of recording in the upcoming future, we'll see if I can actually get a lot of my pieces (micro and 12 eq) onto CD, I want to document my work. A lot of it is time and $$$, I'm busy paying the bills, which does indeed take a lot of my time.
When I got the 34 tone electric bass in the mail some years ago, I had the bassline for "Microseconds" in a few minutes...after that, the rest of the tune came pretty quickly. On the other hand, "Silver Woman," my first piece in pure tuning, is still a work in progress, after at least 7-8 years. Yes, I have an 18 minute version which is playable in concert, but I am wanting to change, add onto it, every time I play it. And, for the first few years of it's existance, all I had was a couple of teensy fragments of riffs...then, one day, the dam burst, and riff after riff came out, from where I don't know, but I was able to get the piece in playable shape pretty easily after that. It was/is one of the most difficult pieces I've ever composed, maybe cause it's on fretless, in a tuning I made up, and I had to learn a whole new system, which I was making up as I went.
I also wrote my jazz tune "Blues With No Name" in about 5 minutes...I like it a lot, and I think it's substantial...it just appeared. I am now recording a 7 movement, 12 and 19 tone piece, from about 18 years ago, and I cannot remember how I got the motifs, chord changes together. I also have another 7 movement solo guitar work, and I remember taking the original theme and figuring out ways to expand on it, I still have some of the original work sheets with a lot of scribbling on them...I always save all of that stuff, you never know when you'll find some worthwhile ideas that you overlooked the first time.
I can get ideas for a piece from a title, or a simple riff, and once I have that seed, there's a piece in there, and sometimes it takes years. I had the title "Breakfast Squids" maybe 35 years ago, and it finally got attached to a 19 tone piece in the early 1990's...when I found the right riff, I knew it, and it works.
Basically, I write from a very intuitive place, but am not against calling in my theory knowledge if I get stuck. Funny though, almost everything I've ever written has come from some place inside my mind/spirit, I "hear" something, and then start finding a way to bring it into the physical plane. And many musicians have said that. And many artists have said that ideas exist already, somewhere in the Universe, and we just happen upon them and do something with them. I agree with that...art is about the furthest thing from a scientific viewpoint that I could imagine, it defies logic, and is beyond rational concepts.
So, I would say to anybody who wants to compose...just DO it, don't over analyze it, and don't try to make it fit any sort of preconceived ideas/concepts of what a piece SHOULD be. There are absolutely no rules in art...expressing what comes to you is the name of the game. Yes, we can study, practice, and prepare ourselves to deal with the mystery of art, in fact we must do that, so we have the physical capacity to actually play an instrument, to bring into the physical world the things we hear in that unknown realm. But, imagination is one of the greatest gifts an artist can have, and again, there are no rules in that world. The artists who hear things the rest of us don't are priceless to me, they take my spirit to unknown realms, and they challenge me to do the same, to avoid cliches in my work, and to seek new trails to follow. It's a rare gift, and I've always wanted to be LIKE Charlie Parker or Bartok or Jeff Beck, not imitate them. It's the most rewarding path I can imagine, and after 40 years, I'm still trying to do something meaningful..and I will till they wheel me into the rest home....gogogo....best...HHH
microstick.net

WOW! :) Thanks for the very beautiful and revealing post, Neil! :)

The only thing I can say is that I'm very interested in
musical "objectivity", so I couldn't really get much satisfaction
from anything other than composing with MIDI. That's why I'm so
interested in exploruing pre-compositional structures.

Bill Flavell

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "Neil Haverstick" <microstick@...>
wrote:
>
> Bill just said something about his thoughts on composition, made
me think
> about mine, here's a few ideas...
> I've been composing for many years, and have written a lot of
pieces; I
> have 5 CD's out, and they barely scratch the surface of what I've
> written....I have big plans to do a lot of recording in the
upcoming future,
> we'll see if I can actually get a lot of my pieces (micro and 12
eq) onto
> CD, I want to document my work. A lot of it is time and $$$, I'm
busy paying
> the bills, which does indeed take a lot of my time.
> When I got the 34 tone electric bass in the mail some years ago,
I had
> the bassline for "Microseconds" in a few minutes...after that, the
rest of
> the tune came pretty quickly. On the other hand, "Silver Woman," my
first
> piece in pure tuning, is still a work in progress, after at least 7-
8 years.
> Yes, I have an 18 minute version which is playable in concert, but
I am
> wanting to change, add onto it, every time I play it. And, for the
first few
> years of it's existance, all I had was a couple of teensy fragments
of
> riffs...then, one day, the dam burst, and riff after riff came out,
from
> where I don't know, but I was able to get the piece in playable
shape pretty
> easily after that. It was/is one of the most difficult pieces I've
ever
> composed, maybe cause it's on fretless, in a tuning I made up, and
I had to
> learn a whole new system, which I was making up as I went.
> I also wrote my jazz tune "Blues With No Name" in about 5
minutes...I
> like it a lot, and I think it's substantial...it just appeared. I
am now
> recording a 7 movement, 12 and 19 tone piece, from about 18 years
ago, and I
> cannot remember how I got the motifs, chord changes together. I
also have
> another 7 movement solo guitar work, and I remember taking the
original
> theme and figuring out ways to expand on it, I still have some of
the
> original work sheets with a lot of scribbling on them...I always
save all of
> that stuff, you never know when you'll find some worthwhile ideas
that you
> overlooked the first time.
> I can get ideas for a piece from a title, or a simple riff, and
once I
> have that seed, there's a piece in there, and sometimes it takes
years. I
> had the title "Breakfast Squids" maybe 35 years ago, and it finally
got
> attached to a 19 tone piece in the early 1990's...when I found the
right
> riff, I knew it, and it works.
> Basically, I write from a very intuitive place, but am not against
calling
> in my theory knowledge if I get stuck. Funny though, almost
everything I've
> ever written has come from some place inside my mind/spirit,
I "hear"
> something, and then start finding a way to bring it into the
physical plane.
> And many musicians have said that. And many artists have said that
ideas
> exist already, somewhere in the Universe, and we just happen upon
them and
> do something with them. I agree with that...art is about the
furthest thing
> from a scientific viewpoint that I could imagine, it defies logic,
and is
> beyond rational concepts.
> So, I would say to anybody who wants to compose...just DO it,
don't over
> analyze it, and don't try to make it fit any sort of preconceived
> ideas/concepts of what a piece SHOULD be. There are absolutely no
rules in
> art...expressing what comes to you is the name of the game. Yes, we
can
> study, practice, and prepare ourselves to deal with the mystery of
art, in
> fact we must do that, so we have the physical capacity to actually
play an
> instrument, to bring into the physical world the things we hear in
that
> unknown realm. But, imagination is one of the greatest gifts an
artist can
> have, and again, there are no rules in that world. The artists who
hear
> things the rest of us don't are priceless to me, they take my
spirit to
> unknown realms, and they challenge me to do the same, to avoid
cliches in my
> work, and to seek new trails to follow. It's a rare gift, and I've
always
> wanted to be LIKE Charlie Parker or Bartok or Jeff Beck, not
imitate them.
> It's the most rewarding path I can imagine, and after 40 years, I'm
still
> trying to do something meaningful..and I will till they wheel me
into the
> rest home....gogogo....best...HHH
> microstick.net
>

Bill Flavell escreveu:
> The only thing I can say is that I'm very interested in > musical "objectivity", so I couldn't really get much satisfaction > from anything other than composing with MIDI. That's why I'm so > interested in exploruing pre-compositional structures.

I am wondering...
Why MIDI?
Why not sound synthesis instead?
I find MIDI is musically too poor when compared with real acoustic instruments or electroacoutic music made with its own resources and possibilities.

Cheers,
Hudson

P.S.: I have not heard your music yet, however. This is just a generic opinion.

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> I am wondering...
> Why MIDI?
> Why not sound synthesis instead?

To hear MIDI, there must be sound synthesis going on.

-Carl

Carl Lumma escreveu:
> To hear MIDI, there must be sound synthesis going on.

Of course, but only in an indirect way, with a ridiculously poor control on the final result (if any). Even with General Standard one can just guess how the music will really sound after all.

MIDI is good for music played in real time, however (here I mean MIDI interfaces, not MIDI files).

Cheers,
Hudson

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