Music Write Now

Month

October 2011

1 post

#19: Write A Song In 60 Minutes!

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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

Oct 9, 20112 notes

June 2011

2 posts

Addendum: The Feedback Loop

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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

Jun 27, 20112 notes
#18: Writing Music On The Road - 30 Day Incentive!

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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….

Jun 27, 2011

May 2011

9 posts

#17: Copying Music - 30 Minutes

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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…

May 31, 2011
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?

May 26, 2011
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!

May 25, 2011
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.

May 25, 2011
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).

May 25, 2011
#16: Composition Study - 30 Minutes

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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.

May 22, 2011
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
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Lead parts are mainly based around semitones
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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

May 22, 20113 notes
Composition Study Results: "Music for Strings, Percussion & Celesta" by Bela Bartok

Analysis Written by Julian Lage

For my first composition study, I worked with the third movement of Bela Bartok’s “Music for Strings, Percussion, & Celesta.” What a badass piece….this movement is just shy of 7:00 minutes in length and has a unique sense of forward movement. It is always developing but at any giving point in the piece, it sounds like the music is standing still, like you’re witnessing this slowly moving musical realm revolve around an axis that is, on the surface, unknown.

here are some observations as well as questions that came up:

Technical Observations:
1. The piece begins with a clearly stated pulse that gradually speeds up and slows down. This establishes a sense of organic movement from the beginning and avoids making the piece sound too fixed or obvious from the start. Next, Bartok writes a drum roll in the timpani part that lasts for the first quarter of the piece, all the while developing melodies and counterpoint on top. The effect is a build of incredible tension that doesn’t quite get released until about 4 minutes in.
2. The melodic content seems to be very much based on an exploration of intervals. The main themes all utilize the major/minor seconds and minor thirds. In the longer melodic fragments, this allegiance to two relatively close intervals allows for a kind of loopy development where the line is constantly progressing but never repeating itself.  Upon doing some research about Bartok’s style, I learned that this relationship to intervals stems from Bartok’s deep interest and fascination with the Golden Ratio and how it relates to all areas of music, especially with intervals and form.
3. Regarding orchestration, I especially loved how whenever a theme was represented, it was similar to the themes already under way, but just different enough to let it stand in it’s own space. The feeling I got from listening to this piece was that each instrument really had it’s own independent musical path and that rather than writing for everybody to play the same harmonies, rhythms, or melodies, Bartok takes advantages of multiple musical ideas occurring simultaneously. It’s as though the instruments aren’t obligated to agree with each other…they are simply allowed to coexist.

Questions:
1. Bartok creates an entire sonic world that is at times both light and dark, aggressive and gentle, mysterious and extremely clear, yet it doesn’t seem to based in one tonal center or scale. How does he achieve this?

2. The form flows so naturally and organically, yet it doesn’t seem to be based on a set form, such as a sonata or rondo form. How does he make a form that is clearly structured but sounds almost improvised?

3. From what perspective does the piece unfold? It doesn’t seem like there is one instrument driving the composition forward, but rather like 4-5 combinations of orchestration that take turns being in the for front. For me, I’m used to writing withe the guitar as the clear leader, or perhaps cello or sax. How do you achieve this democratic style of writing while style maintaining a forward motion and edge?

May 22, 2011
#15: Composition Study - 45 minutes

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Recently, I had the pleasure of sitting down with my band and listening to a whole bunch of music, with one questions in mind: what do we like about this? At first, it seemed like a topical kind of question, however, I quickly found that I haven’t spent all that much time considering this question seriously with certain styles of music. For example, we began listening to Bela Bartok’s wonderful “Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta,” and though I had heard this piece before and loved it, I never really analyzed what make it sound so special. As we began exploring the piece, I discovered how much new and fresh and vocabulary lived within, especially within the world of tonality and form. Bartok uses techniques and approaches that, though may sound familiar, are completely foreign to me on a technical level. So, naturally, this got me excited….How can I learn to do that?

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I realized that as important as it is to compose new material, it’s also equally important to study the masters on a consistant basis. And for me right now, I’m especially fascinated by composers like Bartok, Ligeti, and Messiaen. They all have such beautiful diverse musical resources at there disposal and rather than continuing to admire them from afar, I’m ready to jump in and try to learn what they are up to.

So for today’s challenge, I’m going to spend 45 minutes with a piece of music that I admire, and take notes about what I noticed, both generally speaking and specifically, as well as any questions that may arise. I’ll post the results in the comments. 

Would anyone care to join me? All music is welcomed and I would love to hear what you discover!

May 20, 2011

April 2011

3 posts

Question: How Do You Go About Finishing Songs?

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Ok, so in my last post, I laid out a handful of songs that I liked most from my 30 day writing assignment, and have set out to flush them out and turn them into completely new set’s worth of music. However, as I’ve started this process, I feel kind of overwhelmed by all the ways these songs could be written, and am having trouble really diving in. Also, with the 30 day assignment, I had a clear goal of starting a piece every day, and limiting myself to 30 minutes which was pretty clear. I would write every day until the timer went off, and I’d be done. I suppose I didn’t dwell too long because I knew I would have time to do that later….but now the time has come, and I’m totally procrastinating. With 14 or so songs, I don’t know how to structure the time, as I feel I could easily hang out on one song for a week or so and never get through all of them in time for my original due date of May 2.

So I’m coming to you, all of my wonderful friends in the community with this question:

How would you recommend going about completing these pieces? What has worked well for you? I’d love to hear all of your ideas and sincerely looking forward to exploring this together…

Thank you all so much!

Apr 21, 20111 note
#14 Development

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Hello All,

Well, despite some severe procrastination, I am ready to take on the task of picking my favorite songs from the 30 day assignment and developing them into a new sets worth of music. My intention is to write the music with my trio (Jorge and Tupac) in mind as we have a couple of trio performances coming up and I’d love to have some new music that is designed for that particular instrumentation. Also, it is my hope that these songs will work as solo guitar pieces as well.

So the incentive for me is to pick 8-10 songs, or however many songs it takes to fill an hour long set, and develop them into fully flushed out pieces. My deadline is my trio’s show at Blues Alley in Washington, D.C. on May 2nd. Below, I’ve posted the songs I’ve decided to pursue.

Will post more soon!

Music to Develop (Top 14) by julianlage

Apr 18, 20113 notes
Month of Music #1: The results!

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Well my friends, I am so excited to share with you the complete results of my month of writing! This exercise was the best push in writing that I’ve had recently. I found it most interesting how different every day felt. Some days I was really eager to write something new, and others I would find myself kind of at a loss for any musical ideas that felt worth pursing. However, I think that is the best part about it. Though at the time I may have felt like what I was writing was totally terrible, when I listen back now, I hear the potential within each piece, and I think that is the lesson in all of this for me. Don’t let your judgements of the work stop you from throwing yourself into the process completely. You never know what might be uncovered!

How did it go for you? What worked well and what slowed you down? I’m so curious to hear other people’s thoughts and experiences with the process so please send in your comments!

Now that I have this batch of musical seeds, it’s time to compile my top 10 or so pieces sand develop them into music for my group. I’m going to work on this idea a little and then I’ll post an incentive up here real soon.

In the meantime, here are my mini-tunes.

Monthly of Music: All Songs by julianlage

Apr 12, 2011

March 2011

3 posts

Month of Music: Week #1

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Well, I am one week into the month long writing spree and it has so far been an amazing educational experience. Everyday, I feel like I discover new things about my process as a writer and what I want to strengthen and also what I went to let go.

The number one challenge this week has been how to develop a motif! I find myself writing more complex themes but then not really knowing what to do with them. So I hope that in the coming weeks, I’ll begin to explore how to start with a simple theme and develop it further. Do you think Beethoven gives lessons?

Anywho, here are my first seven writing examples as well as the pieces I’ve received from fellow musicians.

Month of Music: Week #1 by julianlage


Music From The Month Highlights by julianlage

Mar 15, 2011
#13 - A Month Of Music!

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Hello my friends!

At last, I’m posting the “official” post that I mentioned on facebook the other day. My dear friend Margaret Glaspy has proposed an incentive challenge to me that I would like to share with you. The idea is to write a song a day for a month, amounting to 30 new songs. It’s such a great idea but knowing the way I work (and by work, I mean procrastinate) I would probably not be able to keep this up unless I had certain parameters.

So here is what I’m going to go for:

1. Write a song, or at least a sketch of a song in a 30-minute time frame as soon as I wakeup each day. Since the day tends to get away from me pretty quickly, I’ve decided to make it the first thing I do.

2. After the 30 minutes is up, I want to make a recording of it and write a rough chart. 

3. At the end of the month, I will go back and choose, anywhere from 6-15 songs, enough for a new set of music, and spend another week just flushing out and developing those songs. So it’s kind of like a two-step process: write some ideas, and then develop them.

Overall, my biggest hang up lately has been that when I get together with other musicians to play, I want to bring new music but since I primarily use recording as my means of documenting my songs, I never have any charts, so I end up not playing my new music. So my goal is to get in the habit of writing everything down as I go so that it’ll be easier to share.

How does all this sound to you? Would you like to join? Margaret and I started writing a few days ago so we’re today is song #4 and our deadline is April 8th, 2011. Please feel free to start whenever works for you and send along any sketches that you especially like and I’ll post them as we go. 

This is all so exciting and I’m so grateful to get into this process together!

Thank you!

Send me your sounds

Mar 10, 2011
#12: A New Start - 30 Minutes

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Hello All,

Well, it’s been far too long since my last post, and my writing chops are getting rustier by the minute, so I thought I would update the blog with a simple, old fashion 30 minute writing exercise. I’ve been feeling pretty out of the writing loop over the last month as I have been finishing up my group’s new record but now that it is pretty much all done, I’m eager to get my practice going again, and stop making excuses!

Tomorrow, I’ll hopefully add a post that is a little more in depth and address my current desire to be more prolific, but I thought today I would try to write a song in 30 minutes in post the results.

Would you like to join? Please send your music by bedtime and I’d love to put it up! Thanks!

Send me your sounds

Julian Lage: A New Start by julianlage

Mar 7, 2011

February 2011

6 posts

#11.2: In Three Parts

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Well, my piece is starting to take shape and I’m really enjoying this process. At this stage, I feel like I have good rough structure but feel like I need to input everything into Sibelius and play with cleaning up some of the counterpoint, adjusting rhythms and pitches so they line up in a more refined way. So now I am going to embark on two final step before I bring the music to my band.

1. Listen to the recording and make notes about the overall flow. Where could sections be longer? Where could they be shorter? 

2. Then, I’ll create a Sibelius score of the parts with the added measures where I want to add music or vice versa. Then I’ll input all the notes, make any adjustments and then print out the parts for my group’s gigs later this week!

I’m finding that it’s really cool to work on a piece in three time blocks. First, spend an hour writing the song. Second, expand the piece. Third, refine the piece so it’s ready to be played. It’s kind of like the process of writing an essay where you go into it knowing you will be doing multiple drafts. Makes so much sense!

I’m heading to rehearsal now, but it’s my plan to try to complete all this in another 90 minute time block this evening.  I’ll try to post the PDF of the score if I can….

Thank you!!

Jules

p.s. the past two photos have been of the incredible artist, Myuong Ho Lee. Aren’t they amazing?

Feb 15, 2011
#11: Natural Evolution - 90 Minutes

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Hello All,

Well, I have to say the last counterpoint exercise was really so inspiring for me and it was such a pleasure listening to all the wonderful entries. It got me thinking about how many pieces I start that I kind of like that use a new technique, but then never develop. And since the counterpoint exercise got me writing in more of the style I have been wanting to explore with my group, I figure I should try to develop my 16 bars into a full piece.

So what I’d like to do is take the original 16 bars, and sketch out the shape I’d like the piece to take. Roughly how long, what kind of sections, how many sections, etc. Then I want to try to execute it. All total, I want to allow for 90 minutes. After that, I’ll post whatever development I have.

Would you like to join me?

Deadline is tomorrow, Wednesday, by bedtime.

Send me your sounds

Feb 14, 2011
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