>On Mon, 9 Feb 1998, rasmus ekman wrote:
>
>> Then it's just a matter of cramming them together in an 
>> interesting and entertaining shape... but with such first-class
>> material the sounds almost laid themselves side by side right away.
>> 
>
>	I don't want to appear to be picking a fight....but,
>	there's something aesthetically bankrupt in the notion
>	that the compostional aspects of writing a good piece
>	of electro-acoustic music amount to nothing more
>	than coming up with good sounds and then "cramming
>	them together in an interesting and entertaining shape"...
>	In fact, I would say that this notion accounts for more
>	truly bad pieces of electro-acoustic music than I can
>	count. A new sound, a new technology or a new midi
>	controller is not in an of itself enough to make a 
>	piece of music anymore than a Beethoven sonata is
>	some "some good chords" or tunes crammed together.
>	A painter mixes his/her pallette...AND THEN THEY PAINT!
>	Anyone with me on this? (again, pardon the pugilistic
>	tone, I'm sure you didn't mean that remark litterally, 
>	(I hope), but it's a real issue...honest to God  it is..)


I agree with the both of you.  Writing computer music is much akin to 
composing a classical score (in fact it's almost exactly the same).  The 
only difference I can think of is that to compose computer music you do 
have to create your own instruments, which is something that Beethoven 
and Mozart didn't have to do.

I also believe that there is a certain "randomness" involved in putting 
it all together.  Like a painter you have to create a pallette  and then 
paint a picture.  How you go about painting that picture is all a matter 
of personal preference, some might take the brush grab a random color 
and start whipping it across the canvas in random strokes.  It may not 
resemble anything you'll see on this earth but sometimes just the 
vibrance and your imagination can make the piece seem astounding.  Some 
prefer to organize their colors and paint something they've seen before 
(either in real life, or their imaginations), this also holds a certain 
beauty that can not be rivalled.  

Although music put together at random can (a lot of the times) just 
sound like obnoxious noise, if the instruments have that certain 
vibrance a recognizable pattern will emerge and, like listening  to the 
sound of the surf at a beach, it can have quite a hypnotic/calming 
effect on the mind.

Sorry if that seemed winded but that's my 2 cents on the issue.


PLUR
G-der

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