Thomas Brett
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Freestyle: Sampling A Thought
Put an idea into the Grid sampler to hear what happens: Happens….Happens…Happens…Happens… It’s a two-part sound, a high tone followed by a lower one: ha—ppens. The ha sustains a pitch, while the ppens falls off after the plosive with a slight downward pitch bend. Isolate the ha and assign it to a pad. Drum it:… Continue reading
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Details At The End
Starting a piece of music is easy enough: you count it off (one, two, three, four!), or the conductor gives the cue, or you simply dive head first into the sound waters. It’s exciting because here you are—again (!)—and also, you’re not entirely sure how it’s going to go, which is what makes performing always… Continue reading
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Quietudes
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music, and CD Baby. Continue reading
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On Making Beautiful Things
‘We make beautiful things’ he thinks, thinking about it means to be a musical maker. ‘The point is not to think but to arrest thinking’ as he fiddles with a sound on a string. ‘Beauty is ever-open to reconfiguration’ the idea accompanying a plucked note. ‘Beauty thrives on analogies’ while listening to the pattern, connecting… Continue reading
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Resonant Thoughts: Agnes Martin On Living By Perception
Agnes Martin, Friendship (1963) “You see, if you live by perception, as all artists must, then you sometimes have to wait for a long time for your mind to tell you the next step to take.” (“‘What We Make, Is What We Feel’: Agnes Martin on Her Meditative Practice, in 1976” available at artnews) Continue reading
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Brett’s Sound Picks: Paulstretching A-Ha’s “Take On Me”
(Paulstretch is software that slows down music to a fraction of its original speed, turning a pop song into a glacial soundscape.) Continue reading
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Resonant Thoughts: Ray Dalio On Radical Transparency
“Radical open-mindedness and radical transparency are invaluable for rapid learning and effective change. Learning is the product of a continuous real-time feedback loop in which we make decisions, see their outcomes, and improve our understanding of reality as a result. Being radically open-minded enhances the efficiency of those feedback loops, because it makes what… Continue reading
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Working Knowledge: A Composer’s Thinking
Play for a while— nothing sounds good, this isn’t working (despair). Try again, play for a while— a few moments sounds ok, but this still isn’t working (despair). Realize you’re not listening to what you’re doing— so play again, this time listening to what is, not what isn’t: now you head in a different direction… Continue reading
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