Music Write Now

#19: Write A Song In 60 Minutes!

I’m heading out the door to a gig and was just thinking how weird I feel not having written a song in a while. It’s been ages since i’ve written anything and it’s starting to drive me crazy…

So tonight’s the night…after my gig i’m going to write something in 60 minutes. Wanna join? 

Deadline is bedtime…

J

Send me your sounds

The Results:

Incentive #19 by julianlage

I thought I was full and then I saw you… (demo) by azsamad

Addendum: The Feedback Loop

Hello All,

This week, I am heading out on tour with Gary Burton’s Quartet and I’m really excited to delve completely into his music and get my jazz chops back into shape. I haven’t played consistantly like this with Gary in quite some years, and it’s also been a while since I’ve played in this particular orchestration, with  Vibes, Guitar, Bass, and Drums. So needless to say, I’m already preparing myself for some of the potential challenges ahead and eagerly looking forward to learning as much  from each gig as possible.

So, one of the things I often tell students, but don’t do nearly enough, is to record all of your performances, and actually listen back. I used to record everything and then maybe listen back to 1 in 5 shows, and usually only the guitar solos at that. If the solos on the hard tunes sounded ok, I would relax a little bit and then resume my lazy demeanor. Totally lame. So this time, I want to try it for real. My intention is to record every performance, and  listen to them in a timely fashion. In my experiences, however, listening to shows during the same period that you are performing can get a little confusing at times. If your playing doesn’t sound the way you want, it can be easy to get super critical and bring that energy to the stage, and if you are especially happy with your playing, it can be easy to start expecting that you will sound that way every night, and when you don’t live up to your expections, well, you know where that leads: epic failure.

So given these observations, I’m curious what you think would be a good approach to fulfilling the feedback loop. I know I’ll learn so much from hearing what I sound like if I’m able to do it without judgement or taking the results personally, but I’m not sure I know the best way to approach this on a regular basis. 

What do you think? All ideas are greatly appreicated!

Big thank you, Julian

#18: Writing Music On The Road - 30 Day Incentive!

Hello My Friends,

I am on a plane, flying home to NYC right now after a couple weeks of touring with my group as well as Gary Burton’s new quartet. We had a wonderful time and met so many amazing people and saw some beautiful new places. And though I had a blast and loved performing, I am coming home feeling a little empty on the creative front, as though I have been removed for too long from writing music. It’s a really interesting experience because when you’re playing and performing a lot, it can be so satisfying but often I end up feeling like I’m getting better at doing one particular thing, such as playing a specific set of songs, each night, at the expense of developing my overall relationship with music. Sometimes I wonder if this is actually ok, maybe when you are travelling and have to consider a new set of logistics each night and what not, it’s helpful to view the act of performance as a kind of skill set that you tap into as needed, rather than feeling like your well-being is entirely intermeshed with the the quality of last night’s performance. But on the other hand, I feel a longing to compose again and it feels like something that I hope will happen in the future. But why not now? Why can’t I maintain a connection to the musical laboratory through composition and practicing, and allow performances to be what they are? How does one keep exploring composition on a regular basis in the face of a steady performance schedule? 

The first issue that comes to mind is: when? When I’m  on tour, most of the down time we have is on an airplane (like now) or at the hotel at night after the gig. Occasionally, we’ll have a day off as well. I’ve heard stories of Duke Ellington writing music on the bus as his band would travel from gig to gig. Once they’d arrive, he would rehearse the band on the new material, perform it that night, and then get on the bus and write as they traveled to the next destination. That sounds like the most badass thing I’ve ever heard. Duke, also apparently ate a steak for breakfast every morning, which also stands in the ranks of superhuman behavior, but of the less healthy variety.

I would love to have writing be such an integral part of my days, especially on the road.

From a physical point of view, writing away from the guitar would also be a healthy choice. In recent time, I’ve experienced some fatigue and tendonitis from playing too much without proper rest and balance,  So writing away from an instrument is essential, so as to not diminish the resources necessary for performance, but rather to strengthen them.

From a logistics point of view, having a way to share the music with the band as you travel is also essential. I have several friends who write with a small keyboard and laptop, creating music in GarageBand or Logic when they travel, which seems like a great way to hear everything without having an instrument.  Another option is Duke’s way, of writing music straight onto paper. This is harder for me because it feels like it’s harder to experiment when writing, because it is as though every written note is finalized, unlike writing on the guitar, where you can explore and try stuff until you find what you’re looking for. But perhaps that’s because I’ve spent more time playing guitar than writing on paper. Is it possible to improvise on manuscript paper? My guess is that with enough experience, it could start to feel like that. From there, if I wanted to hear what something sounds like, I can plug it into Sibelius or Garage Band, or bring it directly to the band. As I write these options, I can see that this latter option, though the hardest at this point for me, seems like it might turn out to be the most productive.

So the next step becomes how to get better. Practice Practice Practice, right? When writing without an instrument, it seems essential to have a sort of feedback loop to see what the music your writing actually sounds like. Also, being as fluid with the actual act of writing music is essential and I know from past studies that copying scores can greatly help to develop this muscle. So what is an incentive I can set in motion over the next few weeks of touring that would help me get better at all this? Something I could do daily? 

My dream would be to have a partner in this so that I could write a song per day, and have someone else record it so I could see what translates. Kind of take myself out of the performer role and see what it’s like to only express myself through pencil and paper. How about I’ll play your songs if you play mine?

Maybe copy a score for 15-30 minutes per day and then, immediately after if possible, write a song with just paper and pencil for 30 minutes? To avoid the technical issue of scanning scores, which would be a challenge on the road, what if we send our scores, or copies, in the mail to our partner once a week for a month. So this would mean, every 7 days, you send your partner an envelop filled with your newest compositions and upon receiving them, the partner will record a rough take of your songs, nothing that takes too much time, and then send you a recording via email or SoundCloud. In order to pull this off, it means picking a partner and sharing your mailing address. If there isn’t someone you know of off hand you’d like to have join you, you can post a request for a partner on in the comments section and I’m sure people will we want to collaborate.

I think this could be a really awesome incentive and would love to hear any and all of your ideas! Please let me what you think and in the meantime, let’s shoot for July 1st as the start date.

Here we go….

#17: Copying Music - 30 Minutes

Recently, I had the great pleasure of working with my friend Anthony Wilson. Anthony is a magnificant guitarist, composer, and arranger, and one of my favorite individuls. We were talking about the importance and value of being able to compose music away from an instrument, more specifically with just a pencil and manuscript paper. This has so many applications, especially as you travel and want to keep up your composing chops. So in response to the question of how to get better at this, Anthony encouraged me to begin copying scores, note for note. Something about writing a piece of music that you’ve heard and love, in your own hand, will you help you see what it feels like to be on the composer’s end of the process and also increase the fluidity with which you can transfer ideas to paper.

So today, as I am feeling kind of lethargic and trying not to play too much guitar at the moment in order to rest my hands, so I want to jump in and start copying some scores! First I’ll pick a composition that I have a score of or is available on www.imslp.org. Then I’ll copy as much as I can in a 30 minute window and report back.

Would anyone like to join? Let’s say after we’ve done it, we’ll post a couple obervations/questions that arose and if possible, a photo of your hand written score. I think musical hand writing can be so fascinating!

Deadline is bedtime…

Composition Study Results: “Piano Etude #4” by Gyorgy Ligeti

For the second composition study, I choose to take a look at one of my favorite piano etudes by one of my favorite composers, Gyorgy Ligeti. 

Observations:

1. The piece begins with an 8 note ascending scale (C-D-E-F-Gb-Ab-Bb-B) that is repeated as an ostinato. Rhythmically, the performance I listened to, sounded as though the scale was phrased in groupings of 3+5 which contributes to it’s lopsided nature. What strikes me as so powerful is that the scale begins sounding like a pure major scale but continues using what could be considered a flat 5th, 6th and 7th, as well as the major seventh. I love the simlutaneous familiar/unfamiliar nature of this. While the ostinato continues at a fast pace, chords are set to it in the higher range of the piano. Mostly small clusters of intervals, sounding in groups of 4. Though I haven’t seen the score for this, it seems to the ear that the chords and ostinato are being payed in two different time signatures, which helps to give it this rub, and tension, without sacrificing the integrity of each part.

2. Over the course of the piece, the 8 note ostinato persists, often drifting between higher and lower registers of the keyboard. Meanwhile, the harmonic clusters increasingly become denser rhythmically, and at times, break off into single note lines that weave in and out of the ostinato. 

3. Though the ostinato and chords remain the primary themes throughout the 3 1/2 minute piece, I was really aware how much Ligeti employs dynamics, registers, and directions of lines and phrases as means of keeping the piece interesting and varied. By playing the ostinato extremely soft, two octaves below it’s original register at times, it sound like completely new material. One analogy that came to mind while listening to this was that Ligeti, much like the Bartok in “Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celeste” begins with minimal musical material, meaning maybe two or so melodic, harmonic, or rhythmic motifs, and then proceed to let the orchestration, almost “digest” the material over the course of an expanded time frame. In other words, the same material moves around the whole orchestra, or piano, and with each new exposition of the material, a new insight is offered to the listener.

Questions:

-What is the basis for Ligeti’s harmonic sense? Is it based more on intervallic relationships or does it stem from a more scaler approach?

-How does he conceive of the rhythmic contrasts he creates between the two hands/parts?

-How does he conceive of form?

Composition Study Results: “Mi querido Buenos Aires” by Carlos Gardel

Written by Jabf123

When i was  child my dad used to listen to Carlos Gardel a lot and his music(Carlos Gardel) attracted me and still attracting me a lot for his very strong sense of  rhythm and interpretation 
about this piece i like how the intro is so soft  the middle of the piece is so strong rhythm and it ends with soft intro

The piece is on 4 /4  

The orchestration is very close to the harmony, it is not a “Outside” orchestration

Gardel respected the rhythm so well he can sing acapella and u can still listen the rhythm and harmony!
 
U can hear the end of each section very clearly 

what else? how  tango composers can write a song called Mi querido Buenos Aires(my lovely Buenos Aires) and sounded so dark, strong  and sentimental but almost like a dream a fairy tale!

if someone got more ideas about this piece pliz tell me because i got no more!

Composition Study Results: “Inca Roads” by Frank Zappa

Written by Ethan Sherman

Inca Roads by Frank Zappa starts with a pretty constant tempo & meter, the first pattern is a unison with marimba and bass (!)
the vocal melody starts over that and it feels really off-kilter rhythmically but it somehow fits.
the pulse through all of this is constant
there’s a quick spoken word section where it’s a number of voices going off at the same time and blending together really well, it sounds contrapuntal in terms of melody and rhythm but none of it is actually sung, just said

the key center is very much constant, but the vocal doesn’t seem focus on any particular scale within that key center. 
lots of unisons everywhere
the guitar solo has a lot of odd rhythmic groupings but again,they fit really well within the groove. mostly lydian.

each section is clearly defined and flows to the next one well… so far
back to weird, I-know-it’s-tonal-and-not-diatonic-but-I’m-not-sure-how-it’s-not-diatonic vocal melodies. 

unisons really stick out again

later sections have some meter changes under the unisons
electric piano/synth solo near the end sounds like it’s part of another song

chordal and rhythmic stabs punctuate the middle and end of sections a lot

vocals from the middle come back, meter changes under them

I haven’t actually figured out most of the harmony and meter changes are, I think it would be a fun project to maybe sit down for a couple hours and dissect this song a little more.

Composition Study Results: “Pruit Igoe” by Philip Glass

Written by Ben Kammerer

Something totally different (or maybe not so much?) tonight: “Pruit Igoe” from Koyaanisqatsi by Philip Glass.

I took a different approach this time, choosing something much shorter so that I could listen multiple times through the piece instead just once.

As the title might suggest, this piece is a little dark and set in a minor key.  The work it’s taken from is the soundtrack from an art film about modern life (Koyaanisqatsi means “life out of balance”).

I chose this movement in particular because something has always struck me about and I was never sure what, and now I at least have a good guess: Glass’s excellent use of mixed meters that feel real smooth until the end of each phrase where you’re thrown by the unevenness if you’ve been tapping your foot or nodding in time.  The pattern starts as 9/8 for three bars, then two bars of 4/4 , then a bar 4/4 and two of 6/8 . It changes more throughout the piece, add and subtracting bars, but I elected to direct my listening elsewhere for the short time I had to work with.

The harmonies are pretty static and repetitive, generally drawn out across multiple bars, and all focused around one tonal center.

The texture grows slowly with repetitions of the form and each sections plays a specific role:
- first strings, playing the melody and slow arpeggios
- then winds, playing very fast arpeggios (sixteenth-note triplets) and horns, filling out harmonies and occasionally playing hits for rhythmic emphasis
- lastly a choir (singing only ahs) singing offbeat rhythms to provide some syncopation, and occasionally singing drawn out chords
After the bridge the horns and winds drop out and it is essentially just like the beginning, but with the choir singing a chord across each bar. The dense rhythmic environments Glass creates are just fascinating to me.

Overall this piece has a sort of verse/chorus (times a bunch)/bridge/verse form.  The verses are slow arpeggios and the choruses are beautiful, but still a little haunting, descending figures.  The bridge keeps the upper harmony (minor V) constant over a descending bass line  (bVII, bVI, V) played by trombones which creates the effect of new harmonies with each new note (something I’m totally a sucker for).

#16: Composition Study - 30 Minutes

Hello friends,

Well, I have to say, after spending some time with Bartok’s beautiful “Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta,” I am more inspired than ever to do some musical homework. This process of looking at the mechanics of music and instant reminder of how beautifully scientific a great piece music can be, in addition to being visceral and emotional experience.

So this evening, I’d like to set out to study another piece of music. Not sure yet what it’ll be exactly, but wanted to share the idea with you, and as always, encourage everyone who’d like to join in, to submit their discoveries! Deadline is bedtime.

Composition Study Results: “Catch Thirty-Three” by Meshuggah

Analysis Written by Ben Kammerer

General Thoughts:
- Tempo stays constant throughout, and is pretty much the only thing that does

- Though harmonic directions briefly appear at times, it definitely is waaay too chromatic to be any sort of tonal

- Lots of semitones, octaves, tritones, sevenths, seconds, ninths, etc.

- Meter is usually very unclear, even though there is lots of repetition it’s too irregular (most everything is in 4/4 overall, it’s just impossible to count it like that)

- Lack of meter leaves the listener lost in whatever sort of form there is, but it’s ok because
you’re just waiting for what’s next without knowing when it’s coming

- Riffs develop very systematically:

- Increasing range, focusing on a very short rhythmic cell, becoming (sort of) straighter when
vocals enter

- Sometimes extremely simplified down to one pitch, one rhythmic idea and much straighter drum grooves, and meter becomes clearer
-
Lead parts are mainly based around semitones
-
The same lead part recurs over almost every riff

- Whenever
clearer harmonies show up it sounds very cool, they come up with great chords
and their jazz influence is clear

- Solos are just random noise, but it still has a way of sounding “right”

- In smaller sections (within each track) there’s some formal repetition, but overall everything is through-composed

Specific Thoughts:
- Nasty depressed whammy buzz in “Mind’s Mirrors” just makes you feel dirty, then with autotuned vocals we hear real chords for the first time

- Still not functional,but it does end distinctly unresolved

-Awesome clean break in “In Death – Is Death”

- Microtonal stuff going on with very dissonant harmonization, but they have a way of making it sound really good, not even harsh, at least to my ear
-The best part of the whole album is “Sum” after 1:00
- The riff at 1:00 has some awesome
intervals and a sort of harmonic direction, but is still very chromatic

 - Meter also is clear 4/4, but the inner rhythms are all over the place

- Even better then is the cut to simple, slow, clean chords
- So slow and repetitive that meter and form are lost
- Adds a really pretty chord melody, then breaks into more crazy dissonance and fades out