Composition Study 7 - Random Sequence

Introduction

For this week's composition we were tasked with creating a random process to be the core generative element of our composition. But the composition would have to have some kind of musical structure and develop. Or in other words, use a cageian method but producing a composition with some form. 

Research 

 Aleatoric music

 Also referred to as chance music, it is a term that refers to music that in some parts of the composition is left up to chance.

John Cage

John Cage was an American composer who is cited as one of the most influential American composers of the 20th Century. Cage's most well known composition is 4'33" which he composed in 1952. The piece consists of complete silence, the effect is meant to turn the audience into active listeners of the environment in which they are listening to the composition.

Methodology

A random method had to be created in order to generate the composition. The method I chose was to use a metal tape measure, the tape measure was thrown out and at random intervals I would clip to stop the tape measure. Whichever number it would land on would correspond to a number which I would then use as a MIDI value. I repeated this process fifty more times in order to have enough notes to generate the composition, I also used the inches on the tape measure, so the note values would range from twelve to seventy, so it would range over a few octaves. The second part was to determine the lengths of each notes, the same process was repeated but for this time I measured it in centre metres otherwise the note lengths would have been too long and the piece would have been boring. All of these results were then inputted into a table which could then be implemented into Cubase.

The recording process was pretty simple, the note values and lengths were taken from the table and inputted into Cubase via MIDI. I chose a violin and cello for the instruments which was a departure from what I would usually use as instruments for my pieces.

Final Mix

Conclusion

It was an interesting way of generating a composition, although because of how random it could be it was difficult to create something that was pleasing to listen to. However if I were to repeat the process again I would have added more variables for example, having values for rests between notes and also able to change the velocity.

References

1. TheWelleszCompany. (2011). John Cage: Fontana Mix (1958). Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roASIVIXGXY. Last accessed Sep 2014.