YOUR QUESTION:
08/12/2019 4:14:18 Samuel
I've been wondering about how you approach structure and form in your compositions and improvisations. How often do you plan a piece's global form from the outset, and when you do, what are your methods or strategies/what do you think about? Is there a common thread running through your approaches to chamber music like Nocturnes, through head/improv formats like in Trio Convulsant and through your free improvisations?
Or is the global form in your music often just an organic result of its smaller-scale structures? Maybe your approach has changed over time (e.g. earlier Bungle stuff sounds quite episodic, but pieces like Phlegmatics and Carry Stress sound quite carefully devised).
MY ANSWER:
You are not incorrect in the design of those Bungle songs. And my general answer to you is that it depends. I’ve used both design and intuition. I like classic forms as well as trying to devise new ones. The trio-convulsant book is a deliberate attempt at a different form for each piece partially to avoid a head-solo-head redundancy. Sometimes I map out a form in advance. For example “The Empty Glass Has A Name” is essentially a passacaglia. Phegmatics was mapped out as a graph score before I started writing notes. I consider that more episodic. The Nocturnes have the continuity of melody, repeated sections, often some variation of A(A)BA, etc. I also have a hard time straying from a compositional mind-set when improvising. I like themes and circularity and variation.
Often I start with random, intuitive themes and those somehow inform the rest of the piece. They might dictate certain variations or contrarily stagnation. I do find form an aspect of music that is taken for granted and try to keep my own music fresh by focusing on it. I recently realized I don’t think I’ve ever written a song that starts with the chorus or uses only two chords, so I should explore that among other things.