Oy. Whose bright idea was it to write a song a week?
For the first month, I went off of musical ideas. I figured in the second month I could do visual inspiration, and for the last month I might try thematic...ah, themes. That was the original plan, but it's changing somewhat as I look past week five.
For each song, I kept somewhat of a creative diary of my thoughts and the process, as well as a simple picture (done in MS Paint; I'm so tech savvy) for the songs where I had a formation in mind.
As for the mp3s, there's a lot of visuals that aren't going to come across, from movements to ki. Also, it's not easily clear when parts are split between two or more similar instruments, so it will just sound like one person is playing a given part. Finally, places where there would be a improvised solo will just sound like a pattern played over and over since I'm not actually writing the solos in there. If something sounds really repetitive, odds are that's where a soloist would be.
So let me review the last 4 weeks, each with a new song (or something approximating a song.)
Week one:
I wanted to explore Indian rhythms to start, inspired by our recent collaboration with Abhinaya Dance Company and a general interest in Konnakol and complex patterns for some time now. I wanted to keep it more of a "inspired by" rather than trying to take actual patterns, simply because I don't feel like I know enough about Indian music at this point.
I found some fun patterns that came together well, and as I laid out the framework, I tried out some basic movements. A few worked out, but some were a bit awkward. One idea I really liked was the idea of having the initial drum formation - a sort of swastika - move into a row downstage.
Unfortunately, I discovered that it was the end of the week and I had three unconnected sections. As my rules stated, whatever I had by Sunday at midnight was where I had to leave it. Crap. Lesson learned!
What you'll hear in "Song 01" is a few chunks where you have a couple of click tracks for four bars. Those are filler bars, just to indicate where the separation is. If I really like this song when I'm done with the three months, I'll have to figure out what to put in those gaps.
Week two:
This week, I took another genre I've always wanted to see taiko played to - Heavy Metal! I don't know a lot of taiko players that enjoy heavy metal, let alone tolerate it, but it's something I've enjoyed. But that's a topic for another post!
The first problem came in not making every pattern just a straight beat! The second issue was in trying to convey the sensibilities of Heavy Metal without mocking it (headbanging, big hair, etc.). I had to deconstruct and define what the genre sounds like and figure out a way for it to translate through a taiko song.
This was my favorite product of the first four weeks, because it feels like a complete song, is of decent length, and has some nifty elements to it. I like the potential raw energy that the music contains, as well. One thing I would change if I were to take this further is to change the formation from six players on one drum each to four players on two drums each. This would give me some tonality to play with, even though it makes for even more equipment on stage.
Week three:
The goal for this week was to create a "catchy melody" in terms of rhythm; something memorable to an audience member.
My first few attempts were just a nifty ji, a pattern that would repeat in the back row over and over...not really a melody, though. After some random note-throwing, I came up with something that I can still remember 2 weeks after last hearing it. So it's got promise in terms of accomplishing the intent!
I envision this song on mostly mobile drums and percussion, and a lot of it depends on a playful attitude that won't come out in just listening to the music. There's humor and facial expressions that will make this song come to life.
As I wrote the song, I found myself composing an ending pattern that felt perfect where it was. Normally that's a great thing, but I didn't even have three minute's worth of a song. I spent about a day trying to figure out where to add time, but everything felt artificial. Even though I still think the song needs work, it's a decent transitional piece as it is.
Note: there is no formation for Song Three because it's mostly okedo moving around.
Week four:
Me and my novel ideas. Since this was my last week of musically-inspired songs, I wanted to have some fun. I would put all my mp3s into a playlist on "random", click on "next" for a random amount of time, and I would have to make a taiko version of whatever song was playing when I stopped clicking.
This is the song I landed on: "So Whatcha Want" by the Beastie Boys. At first, I thought it was going to be fun, but then I realized I'm writing a song that has a LOT of soloing, which means it's going to sound really boring without those solos (which is what the mp3 sounds like). Plus, any song with that many solos risks being less of a song and more just a bunch of people improvising...but hey, that's not the point of why I did it! It's not a direct "translation", but it keeps a lot of the patterns intact. I chose my conditions and I had to see what I could come up with.
I couldn't decide on what percussion to use, as you can see in the formation. There's also a lot of people switching between the slant drums to the front row/pod, and I want that to have a very relaxed, groovy, "hey, you're up next bro" sort of feel to it.
Ultimately I'm not sure if I would actually do anything with this song, but there it is!
Summary of month one:
I need to work faster. I'm scrambling at the end of the week through the weekend almost every time. I definitely enjoy composing more around concrete musical ideas that are a pattern rather than a concept. I'm already feeling hampered working on visual themes in month two; it's not how I usually compose.
Downloads:
*Please note! There are 4 possible links for each song. All links require you to wait a few seconds to download for free, or limit you to one download every few minutes. If you can't download anything from one row, go to another.*
Songs: (Mirrored hosts offered so you don't have to wait to download on the same site again.)
01 02 03 04
01 02 03 04
01 02 03 04
01 02 03 04
01-04 in a zipped file (for those who can open a .zip file; 10MB; includes notes)
Formations: (Red "X" indicates a player. Rectangles with a line across are slant stands.)
01 02 04
Notes:
01-04
01-04
Please let me know if you can't download/view the files; this is the first time I've tried anything like this!
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