Sunday January 30, 2022; 11:43 AM EST
- I have been working on my first song on and off for about two months now- and having a blast. Like my first projects in architecture school, it is very sophomoric and has a lot of room for improvement. But it is uniquely mine, and the simple act of designing/writing music is making me a better musician, just as the act of designing/drawing architecture makes one a better architect; by integrating theory and craft into real world results and learning from them.#
- In architecture, we have many options to integrate the basic systems of envelope, structure, interiors and services (mechanical, electrical, plumbing etc.) In music, we have a dizzying array of options with lyrics, melody, harmony and rhythm. Where does one begin? The answer for me is everywhere all at once! Nothing is precedent and everything has to be solved together- that is what makes design so challenging, and so much fun! #
- The last two months of trial and error have taught me a lot. Software tools have enabled me to learn and try out music theory ideas that are finally taking root in my brain. My first song has evolved from just hunting for chords that seem to work, into specific keys and an order of chords with a concept in mind. At first in G Major, but then shifting to C Major for the Chorus and its relative minor for the Verses. Three months ago I had no idea why I might want to do so. (Now I am puzzling how to transition between the verse and the chorus.)#
- Interesting to me also is the relationship between what can be accomplished digitally, versus the human body. I learned that using Hookpad and GarageBand I could come up with something that was fairly interesting musically, but very difficult to sing with my voice, or play on my guitar. That in turn provides real world constraints (as in architecture) that inform the evolution of the music, making it better and something that can be performed live, with an audience as the final judge- just as in architecture, when humans finally walk inside and experience the space you have created.#
- As with any design process, you go back and forth, refining and testing ideas. The trick is knowing how to guide this process, to let it unfold in an order that results in something that is full of “life.” This is exactly what the theorist Christopher Alexander was writing and thinking about in “The Order of Nature.” And the results are all around us in the great works of Architecture and Music (and the other design Arts…)#
- While my first song is still evolving, I am already dreaming about my next song… and thinking it will be much moodier, about one of my best friends that died in a whirlpool on a river- written in the Key of G, using the Phrygian mode, searching for the Spanish Gypsy / Spaghetti Western sound. #
- I feel like a child beginning Kindergarten all over again… :) #