After the marathon of Falling, I didn’t have the energy to write a song. Not that I wouldn’t have changed my mind about that if any lyrics had shown up while writing, but there’s a level of stress-relief involved when I’m starting my session with the intent of doing something instrumental or ambient. It’s not so much that writing songs is stressful, more that I’m eliminating the stress of feeling like I have to write a song.
- Flip Six Three Hole Ray Toler 4:13
This is a big… huge… massive benefit of having participated in Song-A-Day. Not only have I largely gotten rid of the preciousness of writing music,1I can’t believe some of the things I’ve written over the last ten years. There have been days where I was, quite literally, throwing my hands up and saying I just wouldn’t get anything done that day, then ended up writing something that was not only music, but good music. but I’ve also learned to be much more trusting of the creative process. If something shows up, if there’s a little tickle for lyrics, or an instant love of a groove, follow the White Rabbit, Neo.
Flip Six Three Hole is something I previously would have called a throwaway track. These are the things I’d write in the 90s, enjoying an evening making something, then just turning the computer off without saving anything. On a few occasions, Mary would ask me something like, “Hey, can you play me that thing you were doing last night? I liked it.” I’d have to just say that I hadn’t kept it because it wasn’t worth anything.
You Did What?
After a few of these, Mary insisted that I start saving everything. Everything. She probably regrets that a bit now after turning me into even more of a data hoarder than I already was but, in principle, she was right. It’s no secret that I’ve never been able to pick a musical lane. It’s a natural extension of my general aversion to anything that limits possibilities. Every decision narrows the future. Every choice diminishes the perfection that might have been.
Now, if we follow that line of thought to its logical conclusion,2Or origin? Maybe? silence is the perfect song; a blank page the perfect novel. Which is, of course, stupid.3Or it’s a million dollar idea and career arc for a performance artist or charlatan, John Cage’s 4’33” being the notable exception. No, music has to be music in order to be music. Read that again and it will make sense.4I Hope
A Little Night Music
I procrastinated a lot before starting this one. Well, that’s not entirely true. I wrote yesterday’s blog post, visited the neighbors, had a lovely dinner… but I didn’t start writing until around 9 PM. With the “I’m not worrying about lyrics tonight” decision made, I actually enjoyed just playing for awhile. I also listened to the other participants for awhile. I had a very slight idea of emulating other participants Aeion Solar and David Earl, though only in vague direction. Those two have minds that I’d love to party with some time, because they’re both talented and insanely creative. Perhaps the best thing I can say about them is that I’m often genuinely surprised (in a good way) while listening to their tracks.
The two main arpeggios were the first two sounds and set the direction for the track. The two main arpeggios were the first two sounds and set the direction for the track. Because the arps are so prevalent, I moved notes around by octaves to get the arps to do different things.
The rest was a solid exercise in pantsing. The only serious challenge was keeping things interesting and varied, without just piling things on. I’m not sure how well I did at that, but it’s a lovely piece of wallpaper music for me… I suspect I’ll really like when it comes on while I’m out walking the dog. Speaking of…
Colophon
Instruments & Samples
AAS Multiphonics, Plasmonic, M-Tron Pro IV, Hive2, Cycles, Tactic 2
Effects, Mixing & Mastering
Fabfilter, Soundtoys Phase Mistress and PanMan, Gullfoss
Notes
- 1I can’t believe some of the things I’ve written over the last ten years. There have been days where I was, quite literally, throwing my hands up and saying I just wouldn’t get anything done that day, then ended up writing something that was not only music, but good music.
- 2Or origin? Maybe?
- 3Or it’s a million dollar idea and career arc for a performance artist or charlatan, John Cage’s 4’33” being the notable exception.
- 4I Hope