I already told you about this suite for melodica and Warr guitar entitled Größenordnungen, which comes in three parts (and the second part has already been written and sent out to the artists).
Last Saturday, while sitting in the noisy pub of my choice [1] with some manuscript paper in front of me, the first part got conceived:
It’s slow, almost ambient – a lento tempo (more specifically: 57bpm). From the very beginning, I always had some very heavily effects-ladden processing in mind for that track – think Eventide through Lexicon – but right now, I’m not so sure anymore. Although not primarily intended, the track as developed some hidden complexity.
We start off in D dorian, and with a D79 chord – or is it really that? after all, the second half of measure 4 could be seen as it resolving into an A69 – or, the chord was an Am11 all along, only to receive its root some beats later.
The second line would move on to sound really dissonant – at least, if we played it on justly (meaning: non-tempered) tuned instruments. We start with something like a Gm#79, that is, until the lower voice continues its chromatic motion to Gb, nicely clashing (or not clashing) with the F# in the melodica. The oddness continues, until we have a sequence of ending chords – and it seems it was a D key after all, albeit with some phrygian ideas put in at the ending.
So…I’m really looking forward to getting Raul’s recording of this so I can have a look which effects (if any) to use…mhmmm, a good thing I still keep that Lexicon Vortex in my rack.
Rainer
Größenordnungen: 30K
- I’m not pulling your leg here – it’s true! While sitting, say, in your quiet home, that “quiet” means that there are noises, and those are sparse, loud in comparison to the background, and very unpredictable. They are bound to draw your attention away from the music you’re writing. Compare that to a noisy pub (and in my case, it’s Abseits): there’s music playing, not soft, but not overtly loud, either, and the PA isn’t made in a way that some rhythmic things would clearly punch through the (oldskool heavy metal) music. There’s a talking crowd, and because none of them is shouting loudly, but none is whispering, either, this turns into some high-level kinda-white-noise, which neatly drowns out all disturbing and unforeseeable noise events. Perfect!