i think you're almost making a valid point. i've picked up a few pieces that seem to sound roughly like this, but what you're doing is mistaking bad writers for a bad method. i would agree that the problem is compounded by the "academic establishment", who for some reason tend to pick out the worst of the bunch out of some kind of a desire for shock value. there's probably an underlying psychiatric condition that causes music teachers to hate the thing they cycle their life around. whether an expression of the ultraparadoxical or a reflection of self-loathing remains an open question in my mind, but it's gotta be something like that. it's some kind of rebellion, and that's something to cherish in principle if it doesn't always work out in practice. but, let's be blunt: this is a topic for two centuries ago. if you want to create interesting music in the 21st century, you can't be dragging the corpse of music theory around with you. holding on to music theory at this late a date is really something like holding on to creationism. or causality. pitches are mathematical objects. they exist in a continuum. any attempt to order that - be it through conventional music theory or tone rows - is just meaningless, oppressive structure.
the right way to look at it is that it's really just a question of tonal freedom. it's my composition, and i'll flat diminished if i want to, flat diminished if i want to....
the better side of it has a level of artistry that goes beyond the pretension. it just reduces to tension and release when you break it down to it's most basic. does it not seem foolhardy to restrict your emotional expression to a flawed mathematical relation? i think the best conventional composers have all understood this, and it's what really makes them stand out. standing on the other side of webern and cage just means coming to terms with it, without the hubris of pretending otherwise.
which is pretty pretentious, too.
but, i hear you - it's there, especially in the universities, and, sadly, they seem intent on upholding it.
as i expected, letting my hand heal a few days was a good move. i haven't slept in a few days, and i need to eat immediately, but, eyelids permitting, i may be able to get the electric version up by the end of the night.
i need another week for my fingernails for the classical version.
i've also decided to do an expressive version when i get around to filming myself. i mean, the piece is sort of robotic. and it's sort of ironic that the only scores i've ever not run ramshackle over are my own. i don't want to put the video up under pretensions of being a guitar hero or something. first, it's not challenging enough. second, fuck that nonsense, anyways. it's a nice piece. i'm an expressive player. i should play to my strengths.
but i do feel the need to get proper versions up first. like i said, it's going to be a bit, anyways, so i'd might as well have some fun with it.
so, i've uploaded those two files one last time. the bass wasn't coming across well on low end equipment, which is sort of essential stylistically. i had to cut the parts up and resequence them all, but it bounces now...
actually, i'm fighting with the bass. grargh.
i'm going to need to print some
more sheet music before i can record the live version, but it should
actually be relatively quick - i'm just replacing five guitar tracks,
and they're all short and relatively easy. i'll probably print them as
soon as this afternoon.
but i'm going to want to work
that reprise out first, probably. it'll be in it's own space on the
single and attached to the full version on jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj, which
will go to youtube as a 6-7 minute track, if i don't add a third section
(and i'm thinking i might).
i'm putting mixes together for "singles", but, ultimately, the thru mix is one of
two mirror images i'm working on. meaning this is this version's home.
meaning it's done, now.
written in early 2001. drastically rearranged in june, 2014. this render was initially created on june 23, 2014 and updated on june 28, 2014.
this is the vst mix, which hooks up the constructed score to a series of vst instruments through the magic of midi sequencing and outputs the notes through various effects processors to create something approaching the
sound of a live band.
written in early 2001. drastically rearranged in june, 2014. this render was initially created on june 28, 2014 and updated later on that day.
this is getting close to a final mix of the renaissance guitar piece i've been orchestrating this month. it's arranged here in a heavy drum 'n' bass mix. so, play it through a subwoofer if you've got one. influences on this mix are of the warp records variety: aphex twin, autechre, squarepusher. keep in mind it was written and first imagined this way back in '01, when that sound was kind of winding down, and starting to morph into post-rock via tortoise and do make say think, which is also stylistically present in the mix. but i need to stress this is fundamentally renaissance music. i'm also trying to get a grungy guitar sound at points, which will come out clearer in the final mix with live guitars (the guitars here are played by a sample-based midi sequencer through some amp simulators - they sound good, but they're not live). the drums are also written with a heavy phil collins influence, of all things.
so, this is warp records + do make say think + phil collins + swans + renaissance music. an eclectic mix, i might say, that i'm sort of proud of. give it a listen....
written in early 2001. drastically rearranged in june, 2014. this render was initially created on june 28, 2014.
