Reinvent evolution.
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Tag: exercise
Composition Exercise #92
Unplug something and continue.
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Composition Exercise #91
Ask other musicians to send you sound files to use in your next performance.
(My January 2011 call for sounds and duo concert with Samuel Gfeller.)
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A year of lost paper cards: Completion of Composition Exercise #51
I’ve completed Composition Exercise #51, a meta-Exercise which goes like this:
Buy a set of 50 flashcards.
Write a Composition Exercise on each one.
Go for a walk and drop the cards in public places.
It’s taken me almost a year, and many walks – much longer than intended. There were long breaks in between where I forgot to bring cards, lost my unused ones, or even forgot that I was still doing the piece. I’ve photographed and publicly shared some of the cards in the wild. Here they are for your enjoyment:
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Composition Exercise #90
Create a set of sound files.
Upload them to your phone or tablet.
Compose a piece with in which these sounds are triggered only through singular or recurring reminders which you set in a reminder app.
The duration can be anything from several minutes to several months.
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Composition Exercise #89
Learn to create silence out of nothing.
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Composition Exercise #88
For one year, dedicate each month to a musical culture that is foreign to you. Listen to at least one piece every day. Go to a concert. Maybe even take some lessons. Observe what makes each culture sound like itself. What is rigid in this music, and what is flexible and improvised? What are the sonic and rhythmic qualities? As the year progresses, observe differences and similarities between the cultures you’ve encountered.
Two remarks:
1) Don’t get intimidated by the duration. Instead of twelve months you could also do twelve weeks, or twelve years.
2) “Musical cultures” could mean music from other ethnic cultures, but it could also mean immersing youself in Detroit techno, then German Schlager, K-Pop or your city’s flavour of Hip Hop.
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Composition Exercise #87
Take any piece with lots of breaks and fill them.
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Commission Exercise #86
Commission someone to ghostwrite a piece of music for you.
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Composition Exercise #85
Have somebody sponsor the chorus of your song.
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