Thomas Brett
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Resonant Thoughts: Richard Sennett’s “The Craftsman” (2008)
“Going over an action again and again, by contrast, enables self-criticism. Modern education fears repetitive learning as mind-numbing. Afraid of boring children, avid to present ever-different stimulation, the enlightened teacher may avoid routine-but thus deprives children of the experience of studying their own ingrained practice and modulating it from within.” “The difficult and the incomplete Continue reading
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On Musical Yakisugi: Taylor Dupree’s “rem” (2022)
Within contemporary ambient music’s often texturally generic world, the work of Taylor Dupree carves a distinctive sound. Dupree is a master of assembling tableaus of small, delicate sounds suffused with noise to convey the aura of aged materials. The music conjures Yakisugi, the Japanese method of wood preservation through burning. The best of Dupree’s music excels Continue reading
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The Elegance Of Economy
“I really admire economy more than anything else: elegant ways of making big things happen–which is the opposite of what normally happens in a studio, where you have clumsy ways of making small things happen.” – Brian Eno “Although there is much in this world that is incomprehensible, you can nevertheless discover a meaning as Continue reading
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Art About Music: Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mechanical Drum” (c. 1490-1495)
(Original manuscript is here.) Continue reading
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Forward Engineering
If reverse engineering means examining a finished work to try to figure out how it was constructed, then forward engineering means examining a work in progress and projecting forward to imagine what it might need to be completed. In music production, having the ability to see how a track will end up would be a Continue reading
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