Connor Hill

Dr. Fuhrman
MUS 2020
3 March 2019
Comp 2 Response
I wouldn’t say that my piece is about anything in particular. Unlike my last composition,
I didn’t draw inspiration from anything, instead choosing to build off the audio I
created/downloaded. As far as implications are concerned, I would say one that listens to my
pieces could conclusively determine this was more of a blueprint than a masterpiece. By
blueprint, I mean it has laid the foundation for future pieces I make, as I intend to take parts of
what I created and build off of them in future projects, be it for this class or otherwise. As will be
discussed at the end of my paper, I feel the second piece I created, while not aesthetically
pleasing, is a social commentary on what is viewed as music. This commentary comes almost in
the form of a challenge, as it breaks one of the oldest rules of music: it must be played in time
with a beat. Thus, in a way, it could be considered similar to “Come Out” and “I am Sitting in a
Room” in that it is not what is typically expected of a piece of music. This challenge, while
rudimentary, is issued to the change in tempo that occurs at set points in the song.
Honestly, I didn’t go into either of my two pieces knowing exactly what I wanted to do.
For the piece that used a sample from freesound.org, I had wanted to, as random as it sounds, use
a recording of Owen Wilson saying “wow.” However, I was unable to find such a sample, and
ended up using a female voice saying “wow” instead. From there, I added samples as I saw fit,
picking ones I thought would mesh well with the audio clip (I did this after adding the “Robo
Voice” effect to the clip). Then, I added effects through trial and error, eventually finding ones I
felt sounded good with the samples I was using. Then, when I added automation, as this was the
first piece I created, I spent roughly ten minutes trying different variations of each effect,
volume, etc. before I ended up with my final version. For my other piece, I recorded myself
saying “why.” There really was no particular reason for doing so, it was just the first thing that
came to mind. I then built off that, scrolling through samples until I found something I liked. I
then laid out where I wanted each clip to play, adding effects in after. As I set the clips up, I had
the idea of having a sort of build up near the middle of my piece, using a short pause in between
“FX Hit Shut The Door” and my recorded audio. However, I remembered that it was mentioned
in the grading rubric that there couldn’t be any pauses. Thus, while I couldn’t have it exactly the
way I wanted, I kept my set up but removed the space between the sample and my recorded
audio. When I got to adding effects, I decided to try some that I haven’t used before (I’ve been
trying to make short songs in my spare time and have been applying what I learn each week),
which is how I came to use “Techsys” and “Hiss.” I then went about adding automations, after
picking, at random, two return tracks. When automating, I listened to the song once, then went
through and added the automations almost all at once. I found this to give my piece a more
genuine feel. Lastly, I purposely made my piece so that it has multiple changes in tempo, of
which I shall touch on in my next paragraph.
While I said at the beginning of my paper that my created pieces aren’t about anything in
particular, I feel my second piece, in a way, challenges what most view as music. By this, I mean
the stereotypical idea that all music must be played to and in time with a beat. Most people that
listen to or create music would say that, if played off beat or at a constantly changing tempo,
music isn’t music. I, however, disagree. As music is a form of art, which is in itself a form of
expression, who’s to say what it is and isn’t? Look at rap nowadays. Back in the days of Tupac
and Biggie, nobody that wanted to be taken seriously would have dreamed of making a song that
contained the same auto-tuned five words repeated over and over again. Skip ahead to today and
that type of music dominates the rap industry, showing that opinions change over time. In the
same way, in art, what one may see as a space that traps nothing within itself, another sees as a
black circle in a white square. Thus, if such contrasting views can exist in art, why can’t they be
applied to my piece, which is, in the end, art?