In my initial discussions with my collaborator, visual artist Timothy Emlyn Jones, we looked at the creative process of improvisation as a possible link between painting and music.
Taking Klee's idea of drawing being the action of 'taking a line for a walk' I tried exploring this concept through sound as a vehicle for structures for improvisation.
Several strategies for composition/ improvisation arose from this process.
These improvisation structures are inspired by my experience with North Indian Classical music and the concept of raga as well as contemporary classical music, sound art, the FLUXUS movement, ambient electronic music, minimalism and instrumental post-rock.
The list below offer various interpretations of the concept of the 'line' taken from visual art and different ways a musician may organise sound along a defined pathway.
Opposite are various recordings which explore a mixture of these composition strategies
'Taking a line for a walk: composition strategies'
# Explore a single note/ pitch or pitch of your own choosing. This note is the beginning point of a line.
Taking it for a walk means exploring all of its possibilities (timbre/dynamics/duration/tone/pitch variation/rhythmic)
How many ways can one note be played? Where does the note begin and end?
# Explore the possibilities of evolving a continuous drone of any pitch/ multiple pitches.
This could be done in changing to length of the drone loop, a change of pitch, slowly adding pitches, changing textures/ effects on the drone.
#Explore a single musical phrase or simple tune as the basis for improvisation. Try to follow the internal logic of the melody used. Take it apart, play it incredibly slowly, alter notes and/ or combine any of the above principles.
#Explore a set sequence of pitches/ notes. Follow the above principles but without a fixed melody in mind.
