ITT: Talk about your songwriting\musical process

[cork_soaker]

i start with a snippet of sound. sometimes a field recording i've made, a clip from something i've found, some old sketch, or something synthesized i've "played." being "musical" is not at all a priority for it.

from there, i chop, stretch, texturize, and experiment with any and all treatments... though overdrive and granulation are often starting points.

for me, it's about trying to leave behind any notion of what it should be, and just allow myself to go down any and all rabbit holes that present themselves-- without worrying about being able to find my way back. that abandon seems to be necessary in order for the result to be something i like, and necessary for me to get away from my own "bad" influences (falling back on things i know i like)

i've found that for me it's entirely about following a process of exploration, and the piece itself is an eventual byproduct of that process... as opposed to setting out to creating some particular thing with a particular aesthetic.

i'm not interested in achieving anything musical, melodic, ugly or pretty-- though the result may or may not i-n-clude some of those attributes. my approach tends to be much more "abstract expressionist" in the sense that it's about inner impulses leading the way. i don't think of pieces as songs or as music, really. more sound sculpture, i suppose.

but it's not at all haphazard. it's carefully considered, and entirely contrived in that i often strive for it to sound as un-contrived as possible, as though there's no one at the helm and the sound is just evolving on its own terms.

[slunken]

I was having a bad night. My apologies.

[vixnix]

go fuck yourself slunken

that's right

I called you a hermaphrodite

a goddamn mollusc

bivalve bottom feeder

[slunken]

Cool thanks

[redbreegull]

yeah get outta here yeh feckin clam!

[run2pee]

Q. Run to Me, can you identify any consistent element in the favorite songs you've done from your dirty couch?

A. I keep coming back to collaboration. Especially from a drummer. But also from a singer or another guitarist. It's rare that any of the stuff I make on a purely solo basis will keep my interest years later. Something happens when you have to accommodate another's creative visions. It's like you're ghost busters with proton packs, wrangling this thing as it flits around the room. Sometimes you cross the streams. And instead of destroying the universe, a new thing is born. Something that never would have existed otherwise.

Q. When can we expect new music?

A. I've been without a consistent drummer for a couple years now, so I've switched mostly to acoustic. As I'm sure you're aware, I haven't put an entire album of songs together in about 4 years, although I've assembled enough of the new acoustic music to start one. But I'm having trouble deciding what the lyrics should be about.

Q. What's the point, though? Why even do it? You don't like going to bars, and you aren't tryng to pick up chicks, and it takes so long and is so painful?

A. Because I've come this far and nobody else is going to finish it. Because I am not a working/eating/sleeping machine. Because these sounds came to me, and whispered something that seemed special, and they want me to birth them.

Although lately I have seriously considered giving up and just getting really, really into video games

[run2pee]

Originally Posted by Disco King

I read that new interview with in NME with Elphenor, the lead guy of my favourite post-funk band. In it, he says he's not into professional musicians and that he can play an entire scale (like, from one octave, all the way to the next one), but doesn't, because he's not into scales. It's really cool how he's so not into things that way. That's why I don't do scales anymore, either.

I also checked out that music critic Slunken's review of everything anybody's ever written on guitar in the same issue. He says that all the stuff from non-famous people were unartsy couch noodling and the world would be better if everybody would take just five seconds out of their day to listen to him call them insignificant. He says he knows from experience that being called insignificant by Slunken can really bring perspective.

There was an interview with local music teacher and church choir/wedding/funeral performer Vixnix right after that, but the last paragraph of Slunken's piece was a forceful and heartfelt plea not to read it because she isn't famous, so I didn't.

lol

DK, you're obvs smart/funny, which is why I've been spamming the Mary Tyler Moore "You're gonna make it after all" hat throw whenever you indulge in aimless self-loathing around here

[FoolofaTook]

Originally Posted by yo soy el mejor

isn't this where everyone starts?

HEY NOW!!!!

THATS WUT SHE SED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Elphenor]

Post-funk sounds like an awesome genre I wonder if that's a real thing

If it's not, it's going to be, I'm on it

[yo soy el mejor]

we do, little boy.

[redbreegull]

Originally Posted by Poots

there are some old fuckers here, but I'm not sure many will get Mary Tyler Moore references.

pretty sure everyone is familiar with the cultural cornerstone of her tossing her hat on high

[teh b0lly!!1]

Originally Posted by cork_soaker

i start with a snippet of sound. sometimes a field recording i've made, a clip from something i've found, some old sketch, or something synthesized i've "played." being "musical" is not at all a priority for it.

from there, i chop, stretch, texturize, and experiment with any and all treatments... though overdrive and granulation are often starting points.

for me, it's about trying to leave behind any notion of what it should be, and just allow myself to go down any and all rabbit holes that present themselves-- without worrying about being able to find my way back. that abandon seems to be necessary in order for the result to be something i like, and necessary for me to get away from my own "bad" influences (falling back on things i know i like)

i've found that for me it's entirely about following a process of exploration, and the piece itself is an eventual byproduct of that process... as opposed to setting out to creating some particular thing with a particular aesthetic.

i'm not interested in achieving anything musical, melodic, ugly or pretty-- though the result may or may not i-n-clude some of those attributes. my approach tends to be much more "abstract expressionist" in the sense that it's about inner impulses leading the way. i don't think of pieces as songs or as music, really. more sound sculpture, i suppose.

but it's not at all haphazard. it's carefully considered, and entirely contrived in that i often strive for it to sound as un-contrived as possible, as though there's no one at the helm and the sound is just evolving on its own terms.

see, this is the exact type of things i wanted to know about.
it's cool to read this (esp knowing your stuf) - it's the absolute polar opposite of what i do. and i mean that to a fault (mine), basically. i rarely allow myself to get totally lost in what i do, without knowing i'll be able to find my way back as you beautifully put it. i need to have meticulous, repeatable structure, and to be able to 'stand behind' every decision i make. these are choices you don't really 'choose' to make - they're just there by virtue of the person you are. and i've always wanted to be more than just me, i guess.

[vixnix]

Originally Posted by Disco King

There was an interview with local music teacher and church choir/wedding/funeral performer Vixnix right after that, but the last paragraph of Slunken's piece was a forceful and heartfelt plea not to read it because she isn't famous, so I didn't.

your loss.

clam.

[panda show]

Originally Posted by Elphenor

To be fair it does and I do suck at guitar even on a good take with the gain up in proper let it rip fashion but what I meant was that a lot guitarists in the genres I enjoy can not play a scale all the way through at all and wouldn't dream of learning one

But it should also not be taken as shitting on playing by scales either before we go down that route

why do you think that playing a scale all the way through makes a good guitarist? you think that's something worth notice, or better yet, something that should be admired in a guitarist's playing? lol

that's beginner shit, you know.. I remember being 11 years old, just starting to learn my first pentatonic scales, and playing them all the way through over some chord progression like a dumbass. it always sounds like shit, even if I tried doing the same thing today with my chops, it would sound like balls because it's totally uninspired

[Elphenor]

No you wouldn't play it from one end to the other duh

No the act of knowing a scale is not admirable

Good thing my posts suggest neither of those things

[Elphenor]

my posts even suggest the exact opposite if you actually read them

Or even just the one you quoted

[vixnix]

I've started teaching my 7 year old piano. He already knew his C major scale, right hand only, because he had a few lessons a couple of years back. But in less than a week he's mastered his left hand and now both hands in unison. He's so much more determined than his brother, it's pleasantly surprising. He goes and sits at the piano every day and practices his pieces, and nags at me to teach him more. It's actually quite tiring. Probs D major next, and then on to his brother's old Suzuki book, for new pieces to play.

[vixnix]

Soon, he's going to be another church musician who gets no airtime on Elphenor's iPod.

I heard my elder son singing a hymn he knew in church on Sunday and he has the BEST boy's soprano I've heard, in a long time. Utterly delightful. I think his pitch has become so good after playing trombone for 2.5 years and having to pitch a lot of his notes. But his tone is beautiful, too. I'm gutted that he'll never sing in a choir. He's convinced that singing as part of an organised occasion or group is for girls or really cool, cool boys whose coolness is undeniable, and being neither, it's obviously not for him. He'll stick to sports and robotics and bike riding thanks, so that his masculinity and ability to conform to the social standards of his peer group is not threatened in any way.

Gutted.

[Elphenor]

The world won't miss another church musician you can be one hundred percent certain of that

You should be happy about the robotics interest now he has the chance to contribute something of value

[vixnix]

The world is wide and varied, and notices many kinds of human absences.

I know you think church music is boring and staid, but like most things in life, there are many sides to it. Bach alone has prompted a cottage industry of scholarship and performance. There's a cool documentary presented by John Eliot Gardiner, who is probably the most popular conductor and advocate of Bach's music in this day and age. Why don't you prove us all wrong and sit through this 2 minute introduction as though you don't have the entitlement issues and limited attention span you seem to present with

[teh b0lly!!1]

that guy is such a geek he's become punk rock

[Elphenor]

the way I actually imagine it is that Vix's son is a savant that will never touch music again because his Mom made him play Bach

[vixnix]

I'm not going to make him play Bach because it's likely that he'll never have the skill to do it, much like my other son.

He'll probably just learn piano this year and then stop. He's only learning because I want him to be able to read music and identify basic scales before he begins (probably) trumpet, or some other big band instrument, next year.

[vixnix]

I mastered nothing in high school, except failing to live up to expectations. I became proficient in that, a foundation which has prepared me very well for my adult life.

[buzzard]

You wouldn't project that association with failure onto your boys, though, would you?

[vixnix]

That sounds too much like work, man. Does it involve thinking about stuff other than myself and food? Because if yes, then I think I might be too busy for that.

[slunken]

It's pretty easy to determine, early on, whether or not a child has a knack for music.

[vixnix]

It's about desire, too. My elder son, I had to give him plenty of notice when it was time to practise. "In half an hour we'll do a bit of piano practice, ok?". He dragged his feet the whole time.

But this younger one, he was put out last night because it was too late to play piano, so I told him we could have a little teaching time this morning before school. He asked me to come into his room while he was still in bed, this morning, and asked skeptically if there was still time for piano.

In 12 minutes he mastered 3/4 time and the left hand part of a new piece. He's just so feckin driven. In less than a week, he's about where my elder son was after a few months. It's bizarre. He definitely 'gets it' more than the elder one, but he really loves it, as well. Like a mini-me.

My elder son had 1.5 years of private piano tuition, and now 2 years of private trombone tuition, and he was slower to learn a piece than the younger one, earlier this week. He marched in thinking he was going to humiliate the younger one and ended up red-faced. I had to tell him quietly that it might just be one of those things where the little one is going to learn things a bit faster.

It's kinda good, cause the oldest was selected to compete in all events at the athletics carnival on wednesday, and gets sent off to art workshops by the school, and has been put in the 'gifted and talented' program. And the younger one has never had any academic success. He's never been given an A, for anything. So it will be good for him to have something where he as more natural ability.

[slunken]

Just wait until he discovers jazz and heroin.

[slunken]

at age 16