composing music for the pocket orchestra

i’ve been through a long, evolutionary process of teaching myself to compose and notate music, beginning in 1980. technology has always held a central place in my work, be it as a composer and drummer for hire in the new york city of the eighties, as professor of media studies in chicago and ann arbor in the aughts, or now, as an independent composer-bandleader living in switzerland.

using tech to compose is increasingly standard, but it’s really still in its infancy. with these blog posts, i intend to talk about the creative process and how it’s helped, and at times challenged by tech.

one of the oldest, and for me still continuing challenges is what techniques and tools to use to create music most effectively. i don’t know how it is for you, but i am unable to commit effective music to paper without hearing what i’m doing. i remember being utterly fascinated when, as an eighteen-year-old passing through london on my way to new york city in 1975, i first saw a teac 3340 four-track open reel tape recorder in a music shop window near old compton street.

i was transfixed. “behold, the time machine!”, i thought. three years later, after a detour for a degree in comp lit from columbia, i bought one. (more to follow…)

---