3. Music Although I have very little formal training and no knowledge of music theory, I do love and enjoy music and have played guitar in several bands over the years. The initial concept for my project is that I want to return to working with music but, this time, on a social networking level.
4. I really like the idea of “chance” influencing music. I’ve heard stories that John Cage used to pick notes at random for some of his compositions or how AC/DC used to shuffle a deck of cards and let the card number determine what chord they would use. My concept is to bring this idea of chance based music to a social community; to create one ongoing piece of music with the chance and participation of an entire social network.
5. Currently, I am thinking about using cell-phones and a blog or Facebook page. I will have people pick a note, any note, A through G (while also stating whether their note is sharp or flat or not) and send the information to me via a text message. I will then place the note on a timeline using some sort of sequencing program (probably GarageBand, unless I find a better one). This will be their individual contribution to the song. An unlimited amount of people can participate in the project where ever they are. They can literally be working on a song (through sending text messages) while riding the train to work, or underneath their desk during class.
6. Rules (which will probably change): - Notes received within a half hour of each other will be layered and combined into a chord. - Certain days of the week will be designated to different instruments. Monday = guitar, or Tuesday = bass, Wednesday = trumpet, etc. - The octave of the notes will be loosely based on when the texts were received during the 24 hour day. For example, if I were to receive a text at four AM, the note would be a lower octave than if I received a text at four PM. - Notes can be sustained if multiple texts of the same note are sent in a row. - Note: I still haven’t worked out a system of incorporating rhythmic elements or time signatures...and it certainly does not help that I have absolutely no background in music theory.
7. I think my audience is definitely people who have a great appreciation for music and want to contribute to the experiment and see how chance can influence music on a community scale. It might also be interesting considering certain theories of telepathy involving cell-phones. For example, everyone has had a moment where they think about someone in their life and suddenly receive a text or call from that person. A sort of technological sixth sense. Perhaps there can be something magical, or those “sixth-sense” type of magic moments, about people creating a piece of music together via phone waves. Or maybe not. Maybe it will turn out to be just random noise? Audience:
