# Developing Form From a Non-Musical Source: Recording and Score (Work In Progress)



## 38157 (Jul 4, 2014)

I've been busy bringing my playing up to speed along with other stuff unrelated to music, so I've not done as much writing as I'd like recently. As a bit of a warm-up exercise, I used some criteria from a composition "challenge" on Reddit as a starting point, using the form of a short poem linked to on the thread as the basis for the rhythmic writing and initial form.





(the rest of the video is a somewhat self-indulgent reflection on the process - I largely just made it to practice editing and as a way to think critically about what direction to move the piece in, but also because I sometimes find it useful to see others document their process, even if it doesn't resemble how I prefer to work, and even if I'm not a big fan of the outcome - Ben Levin does this well).

I started developing it a bit more last night. I think I actually quite like what has been recorded so far, so rather than revising it right now, I'm working on developing it into a larger format, and I've started by drafting a contrasting section that relies on more of a canonic texture, letting variations of the main motifs carry it (a little like Zappa's handling of "Legend of the Golden Arches"). I've organised where I want motifs to enter, exit, and coincide, but haven't decided on the exact rhythms yet - I think I want to explore the irrational idea meter more by implementing it into each line to cause unusual displacements. It's still early, so this might change or just get scrapped...


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

It does sound a lot like Zappa, I thought that before hearing or reading any reference to it. Just relistened to Uncle Meat yesterday.


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## 38157 (Jul 4, 2014)

Phil loves classical said:


> It does sound a lot like Zappa, I thought that before hearing or reading any reference to it. Just relistened to Uncle Meat yesterday.


I can't seem to write without there being a slight Zappa flavour to the treatment of melody and rhythm - I just binged that whole repertoire for far too many consecutive years, it's too ingrained in my subconscious now! I love Uncle Meat - on a superficial level, some of the synthesizer material (I think in Zolar Czakl and Project X) reminds me very slightly of Messiaen's "Fête des belles eaux"


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