Thursday, April 11, 2013

What about the Damn Music!

Well, yeah, about that.  There's a problem in the guy next-door never goes anywhere.  I gather he's in the throes of a divorce so maybe he's got an attitude on them womenfolks just now.  I'm not going to ask him why he never goes anywhere ... the cat has a gun!  (laughs)

Using the headphones works ok for the guitar even though I don't like doing it but there's no chance for the vocal.  "Hammerhead" needs to be sung rather than spoken and I'm waiting for the chance to do it.

"Angel" is my other active project and I was playing with it last night.  For some reason, Db minor seemed magnetised and I was playing from there.  It didn't really solidify but I was liking the sound and whether it solidifies or congeals remains to be heard (laughs).

Playing in different keys on a guitar is no particularly magical thing.  Move your fingers a few frets up or down and, whammo, you're playing in a different key.  Same chords, same scales, etc.  It's rather less than an exercise in Newtonian physics!

While the physical intervals between the notes remain the same, the musical intervals do not.  That does get into an exercise in physics but it's not necessary as the most important aspect is the feel.  One key is not simply a higher or lower pitch than another as the intervals between the notes in the octave are not the same.

The biggest drama in music doesn't come from playing one key or another, playing the most esoteric chords, etc, etc although there is definitely musical value in those choices.  Where the greatest interest will come is in modulation and that's going from one key to another.  Again the interval will apply as the musical difference between the keys, even though the physical distance appears the same, will vary depending upon the key in which you start.  It's something you very rarely hear and the only example of my own is "Empire."

The reason modulation is of interest right now is in how it applies to "Angel" as presumably there is a transition between this mortal plane and anything else and, in my view, the best way to portray that musically is with different keys.

So, no.  Don't think for one moment the music has stopped!

I'm playing even when I'm not and here's John Cage on that matter:


I've run this before but he's a brilliant man and this thinking applies specifically to this moment.

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