Doodle, n. - An aimless scrawl made by a person while his mind is more or less otherwise applied.[1]
In music, doodling is generally used amongst musicians to describe the act of playing a certain group or series of notes whilst trying out one’s instrument. This can be related to the more expanded notion of noodling, attributed to the act of unorganized or mindless practice.
In my research project “(Re)Phrasing—Shaping Music with Modern Instruments” I am using both modern and baroque instruments as tools for research on phrasing. It is my aim in this reflection to investigate the affordances of these instruments through doodling and see this activity relative to phrasing. When looking at what an instrument invites you to play, it is interesting to note how instruments and their affordances differ depending on their era of origin and the construction methods, keywork systems (or lack thereof), and materials used. This in turn has a large influence on what the doodle(s) become.
I have observed that many musicians, consciously or subconsciously have their own “signature” doodle that they play every time they get their instrument out before the actual practice or performance starts. I have tried to identify my own set of doodles on a modern instrument and, looking back towards the beginning of the history of the clarinet, using a baroque instrument. My doodles are different in the different era of instruments and there are no similarities between them. Trying to isolate and recreate a doodle by concentration was a challenge since just thinking about one inherently made it reluctant to emerge naturally at all.
The modern clarinet I am using is in Bb and has 19 keys and 6 rings. Doodling on the modern instrument is mainly focused in the keys of C- and F-major. Chromaticism is also prevalent, especially around the middle register. My “signature” doodle is in e-minor starting at the lowest note of the instrument going up a fifth to the B and then another fourth before going diatonic to the third and then chromatically to the fifth (which is the same fingering as the first note but now using the register key - a 12th above low E). For articulation, I use a downward F-major scale in the first register. C7 triads starting from the lowest E going 2 ½ octaves up and down resolving to F also appear. Lastly, I frequent an F-major triad with leading tones going 3 octaves up to the altissimo F´´´.
The baroque clarinet I am using is in C and has 2 keys. It is limited in its capabilities and most of the doodling is in C-major and focused on the 2nd register. The use of thirds is prevalent but most doodling is diatonic. Going down a fourth or up a fifth from C´´ to G/G´´ is also frequently visited with the downward notion testing articulation. Sometimes also a trill, from E´´ to D´´ resolving to C´´ makes an appearance.
As an exercise, I tried to play the baroque clarinet doodles on the modern instrument and vice versa. This was immediately not intuitive. Playing the baroque doodles on the modern instrument was technically possible and easily done. It felt, however, characterless attributing to the rather uniform shape of each note on the modern instrument. Playing modern doodles on the baroque instrument showed the limitations of having very few keys and the fact that many special fingerings for intonation are used, especially in the lower register. A lot of thought had to be used to mimic these doodles and they were neither comfortable to play nor sounded particularly good on the instrument. This can be explained by the difficulty of complex cross-fingering combinations attributing to the lack of keys, special fingerings for intonation, differences in resistance of many notes, and the fact that certain notes don’t exist (low E, F#, C#´´) forming an uneven shape to the different modern doodles.
How does a doodle emerge? Is it a set of influences from scales, exercises, etudes, pieces, colleagues, teachers, soloists, or the affordances of the instrument? I believe it is a combination of all of the above. As an example, I have “borrowed” a previous teacher’s doodle that I found particularly fascinating and use it from time to time together with my own “signature” doodle and other variants. The fact that most doodling is subconscious suggests that all influences combined with the affordances of the instrument and one’s creativity form the doodle(s) that are unique to yourself.
What can doodling tell us about phrasing? It can potentially show which register a phrase naturally wants to lie in, which sequence of notes are most easily combined, what articulation works best given the fingering sequence, what dynamic is best used in the various registers, which fingerings would break up a phrase, what tempo a passage works best in, or how the unevenness built into the instrument influences phrasing. Shaping music will inherently be influenced by the affordance of a particular instrument, to a certain level, since most musicians aim to make music naturally. This is only possible in cooperation with the instrument and thus, like how a doodle forms differently on different era instruments, will be affected by the instrument of choice and how it invites you to make music.
[1] Oxford English Dictionary