J. David Matthews

LISTEN + LOOK - SOUND 

Utilize music/sound as a moment of transformation. Investigate the process by which contemporary
music is challenging the conventional parameters of generating and notating sound. 

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Ideas can come from outside influences including related art forms. Similar aesthetic values and concepts are found across expressive mediums. 
• Transformation as a design method for exploration and ideation. 
• Have Exposure to Minimal Compositions in Music (See addendum at the end of the document for 
• links to music performances.) 
• See John Cage music notations for graphic influences: https://archive.org/details/JohnCageNotations1969

PART A

STUDY CONTEMPORARY MUSIC NOTATION

See John Cage music notations for graphic influences: 

• https://archive.org/details/JohnCageNotations1969

Study the work of Emma Mcnally

Links to more examples from Emma McNally

• https://www.flickr.com/photos/emmamcnally/
• http://socks-studio.com/2012/03/15/emma-mcnallys-fields-charts-soundings-cartographies/

PART B: LISTEN + DIAGRAM

Generate a diagram that represents your interpretation of rhythm, sequence, and pattern(s) 
inspired/informed by a piece of music by Stephen Michael Reich or others in the music addendum
at the end of the document. Diagram a 30-60 second sequence of the music. 

• Format: 14”X7” 
• Drawn Elements:
  • continuous lines, varies in thickens and  must be extend across the entire page
  • points (1/16” dots made with a circle template) Use as many lines and dots as needed for your composition. 
  • free linear element repeated in exact size, shape, and line thickness 
• Medium: Trace Paper, Bristol Board and Graphite 
• Process: Select a 30-60 second sequence of music from the addendum, begin by using trace paper to make your composition. Repeat the listening and build layers by layering trace drawings (5 pieces minimum) to create composition ideas and development. Create a final well crafted composition on a pice of bristol board in pencil. 
• Final Submission: Exquisite hand drafted hard line version using drawing instruments. 

MUSIC ADDENDUM

Recommendations by Turner Matthews (my son) who is MFA Composition Student at Rutgers University  

So Percussion performing Music for Wood and Strings by Bryce Dessner. Watch the video on the site too! Lots of interesting info about getting the most texture out of the least materials. The composer is in a band called The National. I would bet a lot of your students have at least heard of The National. Bryce Dessner also built the instruments they use.

https://brycedessner.bandcamp.com/album/music-for-wood-and-strings-performed-by-so-percussion

Colin Stetson performing Fear of the Unknown and the Blazing Sun. This guy is one of the most incredible performers i’ve seen in the past year. He circular breathes (meaning he can take a breath while blowing air out his mouth so he can play almost forever). He uses a contact microphone on his throat so he can hum melodies while he plays. Truly athletic and technical playing, some of his pieces are like 12min long. Stetson has played in more popular groups like Arcade Fire, Bell Orchestre and Bon Iver (your students will FOR SURE have listened to at least on of these artists). His playing truly a combination of minimalism with more popular songwriting influence. You can find his entire catalogue on spotify. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qu29X7_MAb8

This is cheating Lying, stealing by David Lang. Lang is one of the most important post-minimalist composers (meaning he is like a post-modem minimalist) who is currently composing. He has become more popular over the past 20 years or so. His writing has a lot of influence on my music. He JUST wrote a percussion concerto for So-Percussion and Orchestra called Man Made. His use of compositional technique, plus the specific timbre of instruments, makes his writing interesting to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VqMyqGNrNw

This group is called Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and this album is their most recent. The are one of my favorite bands, writing purely instrumental (no singing) minimalist, drone, rock music. They inspire my writing A TON. Listen to how repetitive they are, yet there are small details that make each repetition different. They remind me a lot of Led Zeppelin… but in a more minimalist inspired era. The guitarists will use a violin bow on their guitar to make more unique sounds. They also do not use typical song form (like verse, chorus, bridge combinations) but rather seem to have moments that they build up to. This is how my band Triangulus operates. We don’t have form, there is a lot of improvising, and we build up to more formal moments that give definition to the songs. Their entire discography is on spotify. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMgDyd2E6_8

This guy’s goes under the alias of Binkbeats and he is doing a cover of a song called Lost and Found by Amon Tobin. He has a bunch of videos like this. His performance skills are incredible. It shows you how you can use technology to your advantage. He is truly a one man band. But what makes him unique is his choice of instruments or sounds (he squeezes a plastic cup!) and his ability to play almost anything. He does covers of Aphex Twin too! I think this shows the importance of the era we live in and how much we can do as individuals with technology. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4uiNadzcME

As you can notice… there is a lot of percussion. This is because of how contemporary percussion has become because it doesn’t have hundreds of years of performance practice (just think about how much has been written for solo violin.. and as a performer there is an intense pressure to keep that music alive!) Percussion also can mean anything, including never before seen instruments, or found instruments, like the break drum of a car.

Here is my favorite Steve Reich piece. If things don’t sound right sometimes it’s because one player is speeding up while the other is playing steady. Imagine I am playing a pattern of 8 notes in unison with another player… THEN I speed up. Eventually we will line up again, but I will be playing the pattern one note later. This is the structure of the piece except Reich writes so that the patterns eventually line up in unison again( this process takes the whole piece). The 2 players that walk on and off are highlighting melodies that occur during the changing patterns of the 2 players that are playing constantly. very very important piece of music!!!! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEJtf0uvHfI