Patrick and his friend Chris have started fooling around with some computer programs for composing music. Chris is the former guitarist for Magnolia Thunderpussy (he has devoted himself full-time to classical guitar; a bout with tendonitis has kept him from playing much in the last month or so), and Patrick has a head full of computer know-how and a whole lot of eclectic musical knowledge.
These guys have just started to play with these programs, and they have, neither one of them, never studied composition or music theory. However, they're both very talented musicians, extremely creative, and right now concentrating on figuring out how these programs work. They've taught themselves an incredible amount, and even with our limited computer audio equipment, I'm impressed with the stuff they've come up with.
Patrick and I have never worked together musically - to be honest, I'm a bit intimidated by him. He has played in punk bands and avant garde jazz bands for close to 30 years - he has much more experience than I do in creating music on the fly - he can improvise, and his standards are high. Plus, he's a drummer - that in itself is intimidating to me - and he can look at music in a totally different way than I can. He has confidence in his musical skills that I never have; I know, when I practice, that I'm pretty good myself, but I don't think he questions it. That he has skills. I've played the flute now for a very long time, but aside from my last experience at City Garage, I never really try to create my own music. I suppose I could, and certainly when I'm practicing, there have been moments when I've tried out things. But it's just noodling - no one would ever want to hear it. And to be honest, I'm not sure that the flute is the best outlet for me to get creative. I love playing other people's music, but I just don't think about it that way, that I could make something new. Maybe I should, but I don't. Some of the bands that have opened for MTP have included a flutist, and I always made fun of them - it's just not right. Could I do it "right"? I don't know. I could never allow myself to be seen making that huge of a fool of myself.
(Once, when I was in the 12th grade, my friend Jay invited me over - or maybe I invited myself over? - to work with him in his parents' garage with a guitar player friend of his. Jay, also a drummer, with interesting taste in music, encouraged me to sing, which I, and I am soo embarrassed to admit, did. I believe I requested that the lights be turned off. I guess the way it worked was, Jay and his friend would play stuff, and I chimed in whenever I had something to say, which, I hope, wasn't often. I came up with one line about "I am the Queen of salvation!" but I don't know about the rest. It was pretty cheesy. Jay, bless his heart, once gave me a shout out on my old Friendster account, and he mentioned that session all those years ago; his comment shined a rosy light on the experience, but I mostly remember feeling pretty stupid. Maybe one day I'll work up the courage to ask him if he has the tapes.)
Anyway, the other night, I sat down with Patrick and listened to something he had been working on. He had about 12 bars put together - drums, percussion, guitar, bass. The guitar was pretty rhythmic: there was no real melody. I sat down and listened, and came up with a marimba part, which was cool, because I've always wanted to play the marimba. After that, we decided to try out a melody. Patrick bought a cheap keyboard, so he's been picking things out - he doesn't really know the notes, but he has a very good ear. I can find middle C and work my way up or down from there. So it took a little while for me to play something that fit. We decided we liked the sound of the melody on muted trumpet. After that, Patrick showed me how to edit the line - so we copied it, lowered it, changed a note or two, and added the same line, on English horn. We named the file, saved it, and for the last three days I've had that song in my head.
OK, so we a lot of fun doing this, but our "song" is pretty silly (though, Chris claimed to like it. I believe he called it "our sad Caribbean melody." I don't know what's "Caribbean" about it, but OK). It's very much not anything remotely professional sounding. We're not composers. We realize this. Jack and Meg White can rest assured knowing that Patrick and Irene are not hot on their trail. It was fun, though.
Last night, Patrick took the music we created and re-arranged it a little bit - he turned about 16 seconds of music into two or three minutes. He kept all the elements that were there before, but now it's a full-on song. We listened to it before we went to bed (twice, because I liked the way he layered the marimba and the trumpet; he changed my original placement of the melody. It works really nicely) and yes, once again I have it in my head.
Maybe after we tweak it a little more, we'll upload it. Then you can have it in your head.
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