Tuesday, July 26, 2011

13254

The older I get the simpler my music becomes. I am continuously finding ways to make the process of creating and recording music easier. I think part of this goes back to a photo I saw 20 years ago when I was interested in slack-key guitar. In one of the cd jackets was a photo of the artist reclining on his couch with two mics in front of him. I remember thinking, " I never want to work harder than that at playing music." It's not just that I'm lazy, it's that I know if you are not relaxed the music you play isn't relaxed either. To me, good music sounds simple and effortless. I am no longer impressed with flash and technique; there's too much effort, too much clamoring for attention. I would rather my music waft over you like an evening breeze as you watch the sun go down. It's there, and you'd miss it if it weren't, but it doesn't demand you notice or leave no room for the world to get in.

I made this piece last night by improvising 5 shortish movements on a set of gamelon chimes, then used a number generator to determine what order to put them in. The delay was added afterwards so the way it interacts with what I played is haphazard and random too. This piece is nothing special... but it has that relaxed, easy feel I longed for back when I saw that photo, and so I have hope that I am perhaps getting there.

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