December 11ths

12/11/1999

Interesting article in the Tribune about colors used in films. Before filming ever begins many tests are run to see how the colors will work against costumes, etc. I think this is how music should be done as well, where the stage is carefully set before the actual work even begins. In film, you have a visual narrative, in music and the sound narrative. (I want to do sound narratives that imply images).

[12/11/2024: What I’m doing with the Music For Photographs series. Working on visuals (or just thinking visually) while working on music actually makes the music better--and probably vice-versa].

12/11/2016

Musical Slang: 12-bar blues is a perfect example of slang in music. That chord progression has existed in some form for 400 years. In the 17th century, tonic-subdominant-dominant progressions were the apex of codified musical grammar. Another “slang” or metaphor of blues is that it is “open source”, meaning you have the code freely available, from which you can make variations, and remix it with other material. The process evolves new forms, up until it runs out of energy. Blues ran out of slang energy decades ago after the British invasion. After that, it was Prog (Classical fusion), and Jazz (Jazz fusion).

12/11/2023

On way back from grocery shopping, a church nearby was playing Christmas music on the church bells. “First Noel” (twice) in different keys, then other less identifiable pieces. It was quite nice but probably on the edge of annoying for lots of people. It was probably a modern chromatic bell system. The problem with that is that the seconds are muddy.