My original idea for the musical cliche project was to write a piece using computer generated chip music. For those of you who don't know, chip music is the type of music that was produced by old video game systems, like the Atari 2600, NES and Sega Master System. Outside of music, my other main passion is video games, and particularly retro gaming at that, so I jumped at the opportunity to combine the two, let alone in a school setting. I have actually been writing chip music for a good few years now, but I mostly just write really tongue in cheek style imitations of actual Nintendo music that I listened to and enjoyed growing up as a kid (and still listen to). So I figured that writing chip music in a contemporary style would be something entirely new and exciting.
For various reasons though, mostly technical, I was unable to go through with this idea. While this was not entirely tragic as I found something else that was equally as satisfying to use as my cliche, I have still not given up on my chiptune idea. Although I am unsure what the specifics of our project will be next semester, I am hoping that I can somehow incorporate chip music. I have several ideas as to how I can incorporate it. I would like the chip music ot be recorded, and to have actual players, as I don't know when else I would have the chance to experiment with that type of thing, and musical I was thinking about quoting various well known NES melodies, but transforming them in a way that they would still be recognizable, but completely recontextualized.
hopefully the assignments next semester will allow me to do this. I guess I will have to wait and see.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Serial jazz 2
So it seems what started out as a school project has turned into something that may last with me beyond just the course itself. I really enjoyed the writing process of my twelve tone jazz piece. I was originalyl hesitant whether or not I would be able to make it sounded "jazzy" but that was quickly remedied once the actual writing process had begun. I was surprised at how natural tone rows sounded in that context. It wasen't awkward at all, I honestly felt that I could have heard some of these licks and bass lines on a Coltrane or Monk tune.
But what really made it for me was when I got together with the other guys to put it together for the performance. Instead of feeling rushed trying to put together something intelligable for a performance the next day, it felt fun, like something that I would do on the weekend with some friends for fun. Dylan said that he was engaged in a similar way.
I have since been fooling around with some other ideas in a similar vein. Perhaps Twelve tone jazz will become a new thing for me. I have also been thinking of trying to blend twelve tone music with various other styles as well. I have experimented with funk, with some success, and some styles of rock music. Dylan has also expressed interest in doing a recording of the piece I have written, so that's great as well.
I guess, if anything, beyond grades, credit hours, blogs or class participation marks, the most you can hope to achieve from a composition class is something similar to what I am experiencing now. I am glad that this has opened me up to a style of music that I had not tried before, and hopefully one that will stick with me for some while.
But what really made it for me was when I got together with the other guys to put it together for the performance. Instead of feeling rushed trying to put together something intelligable for a performance the next day, it felt fun, like something that I would do on the weekend with some friends for fun. Dylan said that he was engaged in a similar way.
I have since been fooling around with some other ideas in a similar vein. Perhaps Twelve tone jazz will become a new thing for me. I have also been thinking of trying to blend twelve tone music with various other styles as well. I have experimented with funk, with some success, and some styles of rock music. Dylan has also expressed interest in doing a recording of the piece I have written, so that's great as well.
I guess, if anything, beyond grades, credit hours, blogs or class participation marks, the most you can hope to achieve from a composition class is something similar to what I am experiencing now. I am glad that this has opened me up to a style of music that I had not tried before, and hopefully one that will stick with me for some while.
So since I am not the type of person at all that takes part in social networking or internet blogging at all, I have clearly neglected the journal aspect of this course thus far. So I have decided that I will write a series of blogs tonight reflecting on the course, and what I learned and some thoughts pertaining to it.
My first musing is about our first project. Specifically the the type of musical language that we were asked to write in. That is, "atonal" music. Now, anyone that knows me knows that I hate the term atonal. If atonal is considered a legitimate term then we might as well start calling Mozart amodal. The problem I have with the term atonal is the same that Schoenberg did, and that is the fact that is does nothign to describe what the music IS, it describes what it ISN'T.
So after hearing my classmates interpretation of what they percieved to be atonal music, it got me thinking, what exactly do people mean when they say atonality? Alot of people immediately associate the term atonal with randomness, dissonance and generally chaotic textures, but surely all the music written for the class was not dissonant, nor random and chaotic. As a matter of fact, it seemed all types of different musical approaches could be considered atonal from a certain point of view. Which made me realize something, for something to be considered tonal, in the classical sense, it has to follow some pretty strict guidelines. For example, the basic building block of tonality is the fact that the tension caused by the leading tone and chord seventh resolves outwards to a tonic harmony. This is how we achieve our dominant-tonic cadence. Without this, would something rightfully be considered tonal? What if someone took some very nice sounding traidic chords, and put them together in a way that sounded nice, but didn't follow any chord flow "rules"? Is this music tonal? Look at the music of Debussy and Satie, they do exactly this, and most people, upon first hearing the music would not immediately call it atonal, because it doesn't sound like Webern or Boulez.
I think people just have a harsh association with the term atonal, when they probably have heard, and enjoyed some music which could be considered as such. I guess another problem lies in the fact that people like to label things, and not all atonal music fits into neat catergorization. Let's look at Webern, his later music is serial, therefore, there is no reason to ever call that msuic atonal, that's not describing his music, it's telling you what it isn't. It woudl be like calling a blue car a not-red car, that's just foolish. The blue car should be called blue, just like Webern's piano variations should be called serial. But look at his earlier output, the so called "free atonality". That is a bit harder to put a solid label on, as even though it clearly has much structural and harmonic unity, what could we rightfully call it? Perhaps set music? Or does it even need a label?
Basically, even though I had similar thoughts to these before, participating in this course has really made me really just how hazzy terms like atonality, and even tonality can be. There is no clear black and white, and nor does their need to be. As a matter of fact, I think it's great that there isn't.
My first musing is about our first project. Specifically the the type of musical language that we were asked to write in. That is, "atonal" music. Now, anyone that knows me knows that I hate the term atonal. If atonal is considered a legitimate term then we might as well start calling Mozart amodal. The problem I have with the term atonal is the same that Schoenberg did, and that is the fact that is does nothign to describe what the music IS, it describes what it ISN'T.
So after hearing my classmates interpretation of what they percieved to be atonal music, it got me thinking, what exactly do people mean when they say atonality? Alot of people immediately associate the term atonal with randomness, dissonance and generally chaotic textures, but surely all the music written for the class was not dissonant, nor random and chaotic. As a matter of fact, it seemed all types of different musical approaches could be considered atonal from a certain point of view. Which made me realize something, for something to be considered tonal, in the classical sense, it has to follow some pretty strict guidelines. For example, the basic building block of tonality is the fact that the tension caused by the leading tone and chord seventh resolves outwards to a tonic harmony. This is how we achieve our dominant-tonic cadence. Without this, would something rightfully be considered tonal? What if someone took some very nice sounding traidic chords, and put them together in a way that sounded nice, but didn't follow any chord flow "rules"? Is this music tonal? Look at the music of Debussy and Satie, they do exactly this, and most people, upon first hearing the music would not immediately call it atonal, because it doesn't sound like Webern or Boulez.
I think people just have a harsh association with the term atonal, when they probably have heard, and enjoyed some music which could be considered as such. I guess another problem lies in the fact that people like to label things, and not all atonal music fits into neat catergorization. Let's look at Webern, his later music is serial, therefore, there is no reason to ever call that msuic atonal, that's not describing his music, it's telling you what it isn't. It woudl be like calling a blue car a not-red car, that's just foolish. The blue car should be called blue, just like Webern's piano variations should be called serial. But look at his earlier output, the so called "free atonality". That is a bit harder to put a solid label on, as even though it clearly has much structural and harmonic unity, what could we rightfully call it? Perhaps set music? Or does it even need a label?
Basically, even though I had similar thoughts to these before, participating in this course has really made me really just how hazzy terms like atonality, and even tonality can be. There is no clear black and white, and nor does their need to be. As a matter of fact, I think it's great that there isn't.
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