What is micro-compositional playing?

[Manwithvan]

On another thread Boodang wrote about Nick Blacka from Gogo Penguin and their approach to micro-compositional playing. Rather than divert that thread about best bass players of 2021, I’ll ask here: what do people understand by micro-compositional playing? Because I’m not sure.

 

[Trueno]

It’s what happens when you’re playing fretless and can’t get your fingers in the right place.

[Leonard Smalls]

41 minutes ago, Trueno said:

fretless and can’t get your fingers in the right place.

 

That's micro-tonal, i.e. all the other frequencies that aren't actual notes. See David Fiucynszki and his ilk. So, say your A above middle C is 440 Hz, G# will be 421.67Hz. In micro-tonal music you can also use (if you can find 'em!) all the frequencies between those 2...

Micro-composition is specifically, short pieces - such as those premiered in the Indianapolis Micro-composition Challenge, which hoped to subvert traditional classical music by producing only "short" compositions. Though their idea of short isn't quite the same as Napalm Death think it is!

[Trueno]

I stand corrected… My fault for trying to make light-hearted quip on a Sunday afternoon.

[dclaassen]

Picking nits…

“compositional” (having to do with composing) and “playing” are really not terms to be used together, unless you are talking about improv, even then it’s a stretch. 

 

Not a really useful term to me….

[BreadBin]

One of my favourite local bands- Hell Death Fury (who really are excellent btw) like to describe their songs as 'Sh*t but short'

I'm not sure, but this sounds similar.

[Hellzero]

Microtonal is also linked to the temperament used.

 

For example, a lot of Turkish music doesn't use the same equal temperament as Bach decided.

 

In Indian music, the traditional music is microtonal music using Shruti, which is the smallest interval a human can ear and it can vary widely depending, of course, of the human being.

 

Microtonal music can sound out of pitch for Bach conditioned ears, but is not when it's your culture or you've immersed yourself in that musical culture and learn to listen differently.

 

There's is this YouTube channel dedicated to (Turkish) microtonal music and is worth a listening :

 

https://youtube.com/c/TolgahanCogulu

[Boodang]

So, in an interview with Gogo Penguin's they stated that William Russo's book 'composing music; a new approach' was a big influence on them. 

The new approach is about composing in small 'cells' with limited scope ie. micro-compositions. It's an interesting approach that makes you think hard about melody, harmony and rhythm. 

Gogo Penguin have taken this approach where they repeatedly play a cell then over the course of the song subtly change it to produce nuances on a theme. 

Edited December 5, 2021 by Boodang

[Boodang]

2 minutes ago, Hellzero said:

Microtonal is also linked to the temperament used.

 

For example, a lot of Turkish music doesn't use the same equal temperament as Bach decided.

 

In Indian music, the traditional music is microtonal music using Shruti, which is the smallest interval a human can ear and it can vary widely depending, of course, of the human being.

 

Microtonal music can sound out of pitch for Bach conditioned ears, but is not when it's your culture or you've immersed yourself in that musical culture and learn to listen differently.

 

There's is this YouTube channel dedicated to (Turkish) microtonal music and is worth a listening :

 

https://youtube.com/c/TolgahanCogulu

By comparison with Gogo Penguin music we're talking about a micro-compositional approach rather that a micro-tonal.

The pianist and bassist are not breaking out of western scale tones. 

[Boodang]

Some of the rules Russo gives for micro 'cell' composition;

Melodies with no harmony or accompaniment should start and end on the first tone of the scale and in the same octave.

Use 2nds and 3rds freely, take care with augs and dims (use as an expression of the human voice), & do not exceed the total range of a major 10th.

Don't alter tempo with ritardandos, accelerandos or fermatas as they get in the way of clear rhythmic motion.

 

The idea behind these restrictions is apparently to give focus and clarity to achieve rhythmic balance and melody that maintains momentum. 

Edited December 5, 2021 by Boodang

[Boodang]

2 hours ago, Manwithvan said:

On another thread Boodang wrote about Nick Blacka from Gogo Penguin and their approach to micro-compositional playing. Rather than divert that thread about best bass players of 2021, I’ll ask here: what do people understand by micro-compositional playing? Because I’m not sure.

 

Also, this is a fair question as mostly we don't use this approach when writing popular music and is something more associated with classical. 

Having said that, it's another way of thinking about music and I've found it quite valuable when approaching a song that requires me to write a bass line. 

[Boodang]

51 minutes ago, dclaassen said:

Picking nits…

“compositional” (having to do with composing) and “playing” are really not terms to be used together, unless you are talking about improv, even then it’s a stretch. 

 

Not a really useful term to me….

I guess in this instance, as I'm the one who used phrase rather than the op, I'm being rather lazy and combining micro-compositions and the playing of them into one phrase for the sake of convenience. 

[Boodang]

 

For those interested and fancying a new year challenge. 

[EMG456]

Sounds a bit like looping or pattern based composition?

[Jus Lukin]

-

Edited March 16, 2022 by Jus Lukin

[Boodang]

Yep, more or less (to both pattern and the 'arbitrary' comments). In the book there's a lot of rules and challenges to focus on certain areas of composition but once outside the exercises it can easily end up as pattern based compositions. As I said in an earlier post the idea is to achieve rhythmic balance and melodic momentum and develop compositional skills by stripping it down to some basic rules. It's not designed to a straight jacket more just a way of focusing the mind.

Without wishing to blow Gogo Penguin's trumpet for them, they are a good example of how this ends up.

Edited December 5, 2021 by Boodang

[Manwithvan]

17 minutes ago, Boodang said:

guess in this instance, as I'm the one who used phrase rather than the op, I'm being rather lazy and combining micro-compositions and the playing of them into one phrase for the sake of convenience. 

I’m glad you did use that phrase and found your explanations very interesting. I have an improvising band going atm and it sounds like there’s some good exercises to work with based on these ideas. I’ll try it out next session tomorrow! Our sound is clean and acoustic, and most of the players (viola, bassoon, clarinet) have classical backgrounds, so prog or fusion noodle-fests aren’t their thing. 

[Boodang]

6 minutes ago, Jus Lukin said:

Seems like a pretty arbitrary notion wrapped up in an official sounding phrase.

You're not wrong! But as it says on the book cover, the philosophy behind this approach is for musicians with no formal training but who want to aspire to composing.

As Russo was the director of the contemporary American music program at Columbia College, Chicago he knew something about the subject!

[Boodang]

18 minutes ago, Jus Lukin said:

Seems like a pretty arbitrary notion wrapped up in an official sounding phrase.

In fairness I don't think Russo ever used the term 'micro-composition' it's just something that's been coined to encompass the notion of small 'cells' in compositions. It was just his approach to teaching the subject. I'm probably more guilty of using the phrase than most!

[Boodang]

11 minutes ago, Manwithvan said:

I’m glad you did use that phrase and found your explanations very interesting. I have an improvising band going atm and it sounds like there’s some good exercises to work with based on these ideas. I’ll try it out next session tomorrow! Our sound is clean and acoustic, and most of the players (viola, bassoon, clarinet) have classical backgrounds, so prog or fusion noodle-fests aren’t their thing. 

Glad you found it interesting. It was something I came across by accident but as I like the Gogo Penguin's it sort of became an obsession of sorts. By the sound of the lineup in your group the concept could be right up their street! 

The book is interesting and you get straight into composing exercises... it's a bit of a commitment though, and I've not finished it all yet as I reckon for the novice aspiring composer there's a few years worth of work, but it is rewarding. 

[Boodang]

 

At the risk of breaching copyright (if Chicago press are reading I promise not to post any more pages) and as a taster, this is chapter 1, page 1. 

There's 215 more pages of exercises. 

[skidder652003]

Gogo Penguin.

 

The only gig I've been to where I fell asleep standing up....

[Boodang]

7 minutes ago, skidder652003 said:

Gogo Penguin.

 

The only gig I've been to where I fell asleep standing up....

... were you on incubation duty?!

[Hellzero]

So, let's start with the start : Henry Purcell used this approach first, if I'm not wrong.

 

Then almost 300 years later, the serial and minimalistic music composers used this cell composing to outrance and introduced the principle of added moving layers in their own cells.

 

And Michael Nyman digested all this to become a master at it.

 

Sadly Esböjrn Svensson passed away, but he surpassed everyone.

 

A bit of a fast summary for the kind of music I love a lot, I admit, but going fast can help, sometimes.

 

Love this from Gogo Penguin :

 

 

And worth listening to this uncut version of Brandt Brauer Frick, Bop :

 

 

[Boodang]

EST... what an amazing trio. Such a shame Svensson died when he did (always a shame when someone dies at such an early age).

Tuesday Wonderland is a must listen album.