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thinking through music


  • February 9, 2023

    13 Production Concepts

    Beat Fatigue Chords To Nowhere Frequency Fights Harmony Shortcomings Higher Register Copy Incremental Editing Instrumental Ambiguity Iterative Improvising Modular Arrangement Obvious Structure Post-Composing Shaping Simultaneous Variation Energies Texture Blur Continue reading

    concepts
  • February 8, 2023

    Database Update

    The Music Production Concepts Database is updated and now has almost 100 entries. Continue reading

    database., decision-making
  • February 7, 2023

    B 13

    Continue reading

    Uncategorized
  • February 6, 2023

    The Main Thing And Its Peripherals

    The main thing is the thing that needs to get done before everything else in a track—the part that every other part depends on, the part from which everything else flows. Here’s an example: for practice, I’ve been working on a series of pieces built around mid-tempo Afrobeats-style beats. Afrobeats–not to be confused with Afrobeat–is… Continue reading

    main things and peripherals
  • February 3, 2023

    Running, Tempo, and Time

    As a runner, I often think about running’s relationship to time and how we inhabit time differently while in motion. Time seems to pass more slowly—or not pass at all—when you’re running. Your mind floats: past becomes present, and future scenarios play themselves out—perhaps because you’re grounded in the tactile stepping of your stride. When… Continue reading

    running, time
  • February 2, 2023

    Resonant Thoughts: Christopher Alexander on Dynamic Structures

    “Things that are good have a certain kind of structure. You can’t get that structure except dynamically. Period. In nature you’ve got continuous very-small-feedback-loop adaptation going on, which is why things get to be harmonious. That’s why they have the qualities that we value. If it wasn’t for the time dimension, its wouldn’t happen.” Christopher… Continue reading

    Resonant Thoughts, Uncategorized
  • February 1, 2023

    Art About Music: Notes On Sample Point Locations That Sound Good (2023)

    Continue reading

    art about music
  • January 31, 2023

    Bowed 9 (remodel)

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    Uncategorized
  • January 30, 2023

    Arrows Of Attention: A Musical Phenomenology

    A musical phenomenology: a writing that sings its analysis, generates its lexicon, and blooms its concepts from the sounds it encounters. Writing that follows the paths of melodies and rhythm cycles, feels the textures of sounds, connects the substance with the style. Writing that describes, evokes, conjures, summons, and elicits music’s affective presence. Writing that… Continue reading

    musical phenomenology
  • January 27, 2023

    Curating The Week: How To Get New Ideas, Attention, 40 Useful Concepts

    • An essay about how to get new ideas. “The way to get new ideas is to notice anomalies: what seems strange, or missing, or broken?” • An article about monks and attention. “We inherited the monkish obsession with attention, and even inherited their moral judgments about the capacity, or failure, to concentrate. But most… Continue reading

    Curating The Week
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Thomas Brett is a musician and writer who holds a PhD in ethnomusicology from New York University. He is the author of Principles of Electronic Music Production and The Creative Electronic Music Producer, a book described by Sound On Sound magazine as “a deep philosophical analysis of the various creative inspirations, ideas and processes involved in producing electronic music.” His essays have appeared in the journals Popular Music and Popular Music and Society, as well as edited collections by Routledge, Oxford, and Cambridge University presses. Thomas has played percussion on Broadway since 1997 and writes about music at brettworks.com.

Recent Posts

  • Curating the Week: John Berger, Writing as Mixing, EQing Vocals
  • 14 October
  • Database: Christian Löffler on Working Quickly and Using Field Recordings
  • Curating the Week: The Additional Touch, Philip Glass’s Music, How to Write a Paper
  • Performance Practice: Lessons from Music for 18 Musicians

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