brettworks

Along the spectrum of possible musics the musician-composer-producer can make, two types are most important: that which casts a spell, and that which sounds cliché. Music that casts a spell has power: it creates a state of enchantment through its sounds and what they do. Enchanting music enchants by many means: through orchestration and timbre-textures, by way of harmonies, remarkable rhythms, or a new spin on an old form. Enchanting music is a waving wand for summoning a structure of feeling that feels alive, dynamic, and attuned to our experiences.

In contrast, music that’s cliché has no power to cast a spell because its sounds and the way they’re used are hackneyed. Unenchanting because it’s predictable–we know what happens next will be more of the same–cliché music recycles signs and traffics in already overused sonics and structures. It lacks affective power because its borrowed moves no longer mean what they once meant, making it feel painted-by-numbers, undynamic, and therefore indifferent to our experiences.

In sum, music as spell and music as cliché are two extremes along music’s possibility spectrum, with an ocean of middling stuff (advertising jingles, top of the charts, generic soundtracks) in between. So take aim, avoid the middle, make your sounds count, and connect to your listeners. A musician-composer-producer’s Quest is to cast audio spells and innovate instrumental incantations while avoiding cliché’s empty gestures.