So I wrote a new piece at someone’s request. It’s probably a good thing, too, since I hadn’t written anything in quite some time and this gave me impetus to start up again. Anyway, it’s No 5 under Doodles for Chambers in the music section.
Tag: josh’s music
Today I tracked down another piece I did last Spring for school. This was supposed to be under the theme of “world music,” which for me just meant using a few Japanese instruments and employing a pentatonic scale. I’m never really satisfied just trying to mimic a style that already exists. Most people in my class composed straight Latin music or bossa nova or something along those lines. I like making statements so I tried to warp something that starts out sounding very traditional into something else entirely. There was a point in doing this that involved my perspective on Japan’s history as well as just how I was feeling at the time, but I won’t say more than that because I’d rather the music stand on its own.
I wasn’t even gonna post this for the longest time because I was dissatisfied with the synth sounds but I’ve come to the conclusion that I will probably never get around to fixing it up so keep in mind that the whole thing is rather rough and rushed. It’s No 4 in the Doodles for Chambers section of the music section (or just click on No 4 [to the left]).
I was just trying to figure out where a particular song I was working on last year for school went so I could finish it up and I came across something with the filename “New.” “That can’t be true,” I thought. So I opened it up and found something I wrote, uh, I don’t know when. The whole thing was very mysterious. I listened to it and thought, “This person has good taste,” and decided it would be worth sharing.
But seriously, it’s kinda strange coming across work you’ve forgotten that you’ve done. I looked at the notes that I had put down–and there are many–and I can’t figure out how I decided to put just those notes down. I don’t even know what I was trying to accomplish because there wasn’t so much as a single dynamic marking let alone a title or tempo indication. It was just a bunch of notes on a page that played something sorta familiar and comforting but also strangely alien. There was probably one day when putting that music together consumed all my time and energy and focus and now it’s just this thing I discovered.
It’s No 16 in the music section (or just click on No 16 [to the left]).
It looks like I lied more than once in my last post; there were actually three pieces that I needed to upload. Luckily, one of those needed no work at all. It’s the third chamber doodle in the music section.
I uploaded a couple short pieces that I did this past year in school. They were all done in like 3-4 hours because I’m dumb enough to try to take over the maximum allowable classes and still have a job at the same time. I still liked the results of these enough to add them as “doodles”. Each one had a pedagogical requirements. The second string piece just had to be 2-4 voices. The first chamber piece was a final that… okay I lied. That piece had no requirements. And the second chamber piece is supposed to be useable as film music (you can try to guess the scene I had in mind if you want, that’s what the class did for each student’s work). Anyway, they’re all available for listening/downloading in the music section.
I have two other chamber pieces that I’ll be posting when I have time to fix ’em a bit.
As I was riding the bus a few months ago, a mentally handicapped man got on and immediately yelled, “Go Giants!” Well, this was in San Francisco, and it was also after the Giants became World Series champs, but it was also long after they became World Series champs. Needless to say, much chuckling ensued and the results were all captured on my recorder. Occasionally, the man would randomly repeat his exclamation to the further delight of his bystander audience. It seemed like something that might be useful to sample, although I don’t know exactly how I could use it, but it also made me wonder if giving a microphone to people like this is some form of exploitation. Case in point:
Talk about mixed feelings. I remember listening to this stuff years ago and getting a good laugh out of it due to how incredibly ridiculous and awkward it was and I can’t imagine that Chris Burke has been in on the joke. So is Chris Burke being exploited or is he drawing attention to down syndrome? Is this the kind of attention down syndrome needs? Would I simply be mocking a handicapped man by sampling his enthusiam for the Giants? It’s hard to say. It seems like exploitation and promotional education should be on opposite ends of a spectrum but, the more I think about it, the more it seems as though these two interpretations lie on either side of a thin line at the center of a spectrum.
In six more days I’ll be parting with my constant companion: my trusty Olympus LS-11 linear PCM recorder. The idea feels a bit stranger than I expected it to; it appears that after a year of carrying this thing around, I’ve gotten quite used to it. I’m regularly reflecting on what odd conversations I’ve stored and relishing the fact that they’re now available to me for good. It’s like an incredibly drawn out Stanley Kubrick film that only I have access to, for now (ya know, because his films progress so damn slowly). And I want more. My recorder is actually starting to die, the buttons not being very responsive anymore, but I can’t imagine that I’ll be putting it away for good after the 31st. For one, the next time I’m in New Jersey, I would really like to record my grandmother. She’s a, uh, character, to say the least, in her 80s, and has a rather unique Louisiana accent. It’s as though, if I were to capture her voice, even just through one conversation, I would somehow be saving her for posterity. I suppose that’s why people make home movies: so that those who didn’t create some grand legacy can still be preserved somewhere for the people they leave behind and their progeny.
I think there’s a weird reliance one develops with the technologies they use on a day-to-day basis. How many people feel complete when they leave their homes without their cell phones? I certainly don’t. I feel disconnected when I can’t instantly Google that odd concept I suddenly became curious about. How would I have casual conversations with friends without text messaging? How will I know what time it is or what my mom’s phone number is? I think leaving my recorder behind will have the same naked effect for me.
I’ve also come to realize that some of the most interesting things I’ve recorded would be some of the most difficult to use in songs. On the one hand, I don’t want to bar the use of anything as that would be out of the spirit of the project but, on the other hand, I don’t want to cause unnecessary problems either. I didn’t really expect the issue of privacy to become so important as I figured most of the issues with privacy would be with my own privacy, in which case I would just stomach it, but I can’t stomach it for other people, and I really have been documenting more than just my own life.
In any case, I figured this little rant was apropos considering how close to the end of the year it is. That’s all.
[Update 1/1/2012: Yup, definitely feels weird to not be recording.]
I uploaded a new piece for violin and cello today. This is my first attempt at writing something for string instruments other than guitar, and other than purposefully synthesized strings, and it turned out nice. This was written pretty quickly, an just a day, hence it’s a doodle just like most of the piano pieces posted here so far. Anyway, check it out.
I also spent a little time mixing all my classical tracks down to flac format. These are lossless, meaning the quality doesn’t diminish when the files are compressed into something that doesn’t take up an enormous amount of space. They’re still bigger than MP3s but not significantly. Seems to me that this is the way everything you find online is going to start going so I’m gonna jump on that train. They’re already widespread in torrents…..
Anyway, I’m considering making flac versions of everything I’ve done and possibly even remixing old songs that I absolutely butchered in my more ignorant days. We’ll see.
I actually planned on writing a long, serious piano piece but, after a few failed attempts, I realized that I’m probably not capable of fully realizing my concept yet. So, in the interest of having something to show for my work anyway, Doodle No 15 Indifferent Twinkle is the final attempt, written in about a day and made into another Doodle.
Er, well, in a way. It’s more like a conversation about whether we should honor people like this who can, at best, inform the id in us or whether we should start paying attention and minimizing the effect of such, uh, artists. Existing is one thing, I would say necessary even, but nominating this kind of “work” for more awards than any other musician or composer is a bit nutty. That’s where I stand at least. Anyway, check it out.
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