Monday 8 September 2008
Harmony, melody, tonality
..Are not qualities you would associate with most of my music...But I have just finished a piece, called 'Devil May Care', that was a competition entry for the audiobook of the eponymous Bond Book by Sebastian Faulks, with the winner having their theme played before the book is read. No Monty Norman rip-offs. I have no idea how it did. And it is fairly tonal. It is currently track '7' on the Music Player. Enjoy away.
Cage I
I have put 'Cage I', because the music of John Cage is one of my favourite subjects, and this will no doubt be only the first in a series of ramblings on the great man)
I admire Cage. For his innovation and for his courage. How did he manage to make it? Sheer guts and determination. And from what I've read, he was also very charismatic. Some of my pieces take Cage's ideas and mutate them, or extend them to areas where Cage might not have used them (for various reasons). I have one piece for instance, which uses chance to determine how many parts of a piece I wrote are to be distributed to a number of musicians, the number itself determined by chance.
Another piece I have leaves it to a pianist, who when he has finished playing his part in the piece, is in charge of stopping the piece by taking the music away from each musician, one by one. It is akin to an agonist in a tragedy who kills off all the remaining characters after giving a grand speech, thus bringing an inevitable end to the play.
I read this recently in an interview with Tom Darter in 1982, about Cage's time with Schoenberg:
'Schoenberg had impressed upon me the importance of tonality and harmony as a structural means to divide a whole into parts, and when I decided to make a music that would include noises, I couldn't have recourse to tonality, because the noises aren't part of it. I made a rhythmic structure which was as open to noises as it was to pitched tones'.
I found this an interesting motive for the reason to move away from tonality. But I thought of a compromise between Cage and ol' Tonality: I wondered if, using tonality, you could construct a piece where it was rhythmically proportion a la Cage, but still following classical rules of harmony - which extensions/alterations and so forth being permissible. I also thought, how about juxtaposing noise alongside the tonal music itself simultaneously - like Russoloesque sirens or White Noise itself, a 'purer' noise. It would be interesting to hear the results.
I admire Cage. For his innovation and for his courage. How did he manage to make it? Sheer guts and determination. And from what I've read, he was also very charismatic. Some of my pieces take Cage's ideas and mutate them, or extend them to areas where Cage might not have used them (for various reasons). I have one piece for instance, which uses chance to determine how many parts of a piece I wrote are to be distributed to a number of musicians, the number itself determined by chance.
Another piece I have leaves it to a pianist, who when he has finished playing his part in the piece, is in charge of stopping the piece by taking the music away from each musician, one by one. It is akin to an agonist in a tragedy who kills off all the remaining characters after giving a grand speech, thus bringing an inevitable end to the play.
I read this recently in an interview with Tom Darter in 1982, about Cage's time with Schoenberg:
'Schoenberg had impressed upon me the importance of tonality and harmony as a structural means to divide a whole into parts, and when I decided to make a music that would include noises, I couldn't have recourse to tonality, because the noises aren't part of it. I made a rhythmic structure which was as open to noises as it was to pitched tones'.
I found this an interesting motive for the reason to move away from tonality. But I thought of a compromise between Cage and ol' Tonality: I wondered if, using tonality, you could construct a piece where it was rhythmically proportion a la Cage, but still following classical rules of harmony - which extensions/alterations and so forth being permissible. I also thought, how about juxtaposing noise alongside the tonal music itself simultaneously - like Russoloesque sirens or White Noise itself, a 'purer' noise. It would be interesting to hear the results.
Monday 1 September 2008
Song Nouveau
As I write, there is a new song being uploaded to my ReverbNation page........
Ah, its done! Yes, my new piece, 'Space Age S**t', is so named because it sounds vaguely like 'space music' (think of modern Sun Ra) and also because it was one of my university friend's favourite phrases to refer to things we didn't understand. No doubt he would use that exact phrase to describe this song if he heard it!
The tune widget below should be able to play this new, weird and wonderful song. It uses basic sawtooth/square/sine waves and if you really listen to it there's some nice counterpoint going on. Ok, so that is stretching the definition of counterpoint light years beyond what Bach thought it to be, but even so, I'll be damned if this ain't part of the Western music tradition. Yeah right.
Ah, its done! Yes, my new piece, 'Space Age S**t', is so named because it sounds vaguely like 'space music' (think of modern Sun Ra) and also because it was one of my university friend's favourite phrases to refer to things we didn't understand. No doubt he would use that exact phrase to describe this song if he heard it!
The tune widget below should be able to play this new, weird and wonderful song. It uses basic sawtooth/square/sine waves and if you really listen to it there's some nice counterpoint going on. Ok, so that is stretching the definition of counterpoint light years beyond what Bach thought it to be, but even so, I'll be damned if this ain't part of the Western music tradition. Yeah right.
Local Goings On
I said I would write a blog about my obsession (not cricket, though it's close, like a thin top edge that just doesn't carry to the keeper) and that is music. And this submission concerns what happens when councillors get involved in music. Or try. In the space of two weeks, two yearly musical festivals are held in the summertime. One is WidBest, an event which features the best local rock bands of the area, who perform free of charge for the public. They have to apply to the council for a licence to perform using the open-air stage in the centre of my hometown, Withernsea. The second event the week after is called the SummerTime Special, a council funded event which gives little attention to local bands, preferring to draft in tribute bands from the U.K. They do not let local bands play. Fair enough - the two events actually compliment each other.
But this year's Widbest involved a hint of controversy as a feisty, young band called Surviving Hityiu, which to me sounds like the title of some Japanese manga film, performed their set. It didn't go down too well, as it did include some verbal profanities. Even their guitars weren't clean (Heh, what a bad pun). I thought little of this, simply seeing some musically able lads letting off some steam on stage, and thoroughly enjoying themselves, even if their patter with the audience was as assured as Derby County's defence.
Anyway, this licentious lapsus linguae caused a letter of complaint to the local newspaper from a family who were disgusted by the band and went elsewhere. The following week, Mr. Hardcastle, a councillor, wrote a letter condemning the band, commanding them to write an apology to the Gazette for their behaviour, and he threatened to pull the plug on the successful event should 'anything like this happen again'. I was as pleased at reading this misguided missive about as much as the Australians were pleased at being beaten by the Poms in the Olympics.
Anyhow, I penned a letter in response to the editorial of the Gazette, and even if they do not publish it, it will always be available to view on my blog here - it runs thus:
'Dear Gazette, I hope that Mr. Hardcastle's verdict on Widbest is not shared by other members of the town council. Mr. Hardcastle threatened to pull the plug should 'anything like this happen on stage'. He is referring of course, to Surviving Hityiu's performance.
Some, not all, of their songs did indeed include some verbal obscenity, but I do not believe that mere words are so powerful that they can corrupt you the minute you hear them. What's more, Surviving Hityiu were not representative of the other bands who played there. Their performances were clean, in every respect.
Banning a successful event such as Widfest because of the actions of one band is rather like treating dandruff with decapitation. We ought to do our best to support local events like Widbest, especially as the musicians agree to perform (and lend their valuable equipment) out of the goodness of their hearts. They are not paid unless persons agree to privately donate money. The council prefers to give its money to tribute bands from outside the local area. That is their decision. What we must not do is take ill-considered actions that would damage the local music scene by denying local bands their yearly showcase'.
I know very well, as it says in my letter, that words do not really mean a lot, but reasonable argument rather than reflexive reaxtions to things are to be preferred.
But this year's Widbest involved a hint of controversy as a feisty, young band called Surviving Hityiu, which to me sounds like the title of some Japanese manga film, performed their set. It didn't go down too well, as it did include some verbal profanities. Even their guitars weren't clean (Heh, what a bad pun). I thought little of this, simply seeing some musically able lads letting off some steam on stage, and thoroughly enjoying themselves, even if their patter with the audience was as assured as Derby County's defence.
Anyway, this licentious lapsus linguae caused a letter of complaint to the local newspaper from a family who were disgusted by the band and went elsewhere. The following week, Mr. Hardcastle, a councillor, wrote a letter condemning the band, commanding them to write an apology to the Gazette for their behaviour, and he threatened to pull the plug on the successful event should 'anything like this happen again'. I was as pleased at reading this misguided missive about as much as the Australians were pleased at being beaten by the Poms in the Olympics.
Anyhow, I penned a letter in response to the editorial of the Gazette, and even if they do not publish it, it will always be available to view on my blog here - it runs thus:
'Dear Gazette, I hope that Mr. Hardcastle's verdict on Widbest is not shared by other members of the town council. Mr. Hardcastle threatened to pull the plug should 'anything like this happen on stage'. He is referring of course, to Surviving Hityiu's performance.
Some, not all, of their songs did indeed include some verbal obscenity, but I do not believe that mere words are so powerful that they can corrupt you the minute you hear them. What's more, Surviving Hityiu were not representative of the other bands who played there. Their performances were clean, in every respect.
Banning a successful event such as Widfest because of the actions of one band is rather like treating dandruff with decapitation. We ought to do our best to support local events like Widbest, especially as the musicians agree to perform (and lend their valuable equipment) out of the goodness of their hearts. They are not paid unless persons agree to privately donate money. The council prefers to give its money to tribute bands from outside the local area. That is their decision. What we must not do is take ill-considered actions that would damage the local music scene by denying local bands their yearly showcase'.
I know very well, as it says in my letter, that words do not really mean a lot, but reasonable argument rather than reflexive reaxtions to things are to be preferred.
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