Word 79 (Composition Lesson)

Sometimes you think you want a little bit of silence, but that isn’t what you actually want. You don’t really want silence.

Evidently Louis Andriessen would tell his students not to measure a grand pause by seconds in notated ensemble music. Keep in time: metered rests only. This maintains the tension.

A pickup is not the same as a silence.

An inhalation is not the same as a silence.

Sometimes you think you’re hearing silence, only to be surprised by the disappearance of a very quiet texture you didn’t realize was there. Now, you think, now surely I am listening to silence. But you still aren’t.

•••

I was delighted to participate in Infinite Futures, a two-cassette compilation out today on Full Spectrum Records. The releases celebrates the label’s tenth anniversary. It’s a lovely concatenation of weirdos, placed together in collaborative pairings. I played some piano with Shaun Sandor, aka Promute. We booked out Keller Hall on a Monday morning and he brought a prepared guitar, a bass, and a zither board. Full Spectrum is good music and it’s good people. Give it a listen next time you’re on a bus, train, or airplane.