Composition Strategies
Like Brian Eno's Oblique Strategy Cards, the Composition Strategy Cards are used as a creative springboard for creating new pieces of music. They are interesting in that every aspect of the process is reduced to a random event, which eliminates the need to make conscious choices about what to compose. Very often the decision making process in songwriting can be paralyzing; compounded by the fact that creative decisions have to be made democratically in a group situation, and use of the cards is a way to break those types of creative blocks.
The cards are designed like traditional playing cards and have 12 "suits": Rhythm,Tempo, Key, Mood, Abstractions, Arrangement, Melody, Style, Topic, Meter, Treatments and Harmony. In each suit are 6-12 Cards, including an "Ace".
When playing the game in a group situation, the cards are dealt to each band member, and each person rolls a pair of dice, one numbered 1-6 and the other 7-12, representing the 12 suits. For example, one might roll 4 and 9, which are, "Topic", and "Mood", and that person will play a card from those categories. The player that has the ace gets to play the card of his choice in that suit, even if a card from that category has already been played. For example, if someone has already played a "topic" card, the person that holds the ace of topic takes control of that category and can replace that card.
Sample game result:
Rhythm: Staccato 16th Notes
Tempo: Medium Fast 129-144 BPM
Key: F# Minor
Mood: Religious Darkness (Light that only appears dark)
Abstractions: Clouds
Arrangement: Work off of a riff
Melody: Use an Exotic Scale
Style: Experimental
Topic: The Future: Bleak/Hopeful
Meter:8/8 (3+3+2)
Harmony: No sevenths
Treatments:"Clicky" bass
Since composing music is a process of combining smaller elements to make larger ones, I used alchemy as a metaphor.
Since there is a loose correlation between the suits and substances, it is not necessarily the object of the game to turn abstractions (lead) into melodies (gold)--although that can be an interesting exercise.
For most of the cards, I used a Tarot metaphor, although some of the cards are more modern, sometimes using my own images and artwork. (The images in the tarot are by Hieronymus Bosch, a 15th century Dutch painter.
The twelve keys follow the twelve Keys of Basilius Valentinus, the Benedictine, which were believed to open the doors of knowledge of the Most Ancient Stone and unseal the Most Secret Fountain of Health. [Read More]
Game Rules (PDF)
Game Results (PDF)
Parallel Strategies
Index
DECKS
These are custom sets of cards that I compile to put contraints on the game results. For example in my "Jazz" set I only includes flat keys, and meter cards more appropriate to jazz characteristics. Decks are in PDF format and can be printed on letter size card stock and trimmed to 3x5.
Download Strategy Decks
Donna Smith, a music student in Hull England contacted me in June 2005 regarding possible use of the strategy cards in a music workshop she was holding. Apparently music education is being used as a strategy to address social and economic issues there. Sadly, music education is still relegated to the rote process of "reading the dots" , but fun and interesting game-based approaches to music can ultimately bring out the natural curiosities about music. She also devised some new cards and a new suit "performance", which I like. If you can add cards to a deck, then it follows that you can add suits as well, and then choose any 12. The strategy I particularly like is "Incorporate words from some literature near by."
See also Loren Wilson's Music Criticism as a Creative Tool (using computer-based content analysis of popular music reviews to guide the music-making process) He has devised custom software which statisically analyzes the content of thousands of record reviews from the Pitchfork website , and generates a set of compositional guidelines based on the musical preferences expressed by the critics. He then uses those guidelines to write and record original songs, discussing in detail the relationships between the songs and the data.
CARDS
INDEX
[Index}
PARALLEL STRATEGIES
The parallel strategies idea was inspired by Michael Michalko's excellent book "Cracking Creativity", which presents the technique of using "parallel worlds" to jump-start the creative process.
Each of the strategy categories has a card which allows the player to use 2 cards from the same suit. You can then use the parallel idea as a single strategy, and use it against other strategies. You can even take it one step further and use 2 parallel concepts against one another, such as Transparent Earth/Clouds Evolve.
Example:
ABSTRACTION: Transparent Earth
MELODY: Angular Arabic
RHYTHM: Robotic Swing
TREATMENT: Telephone Voice Delays
Clouds Evolve
Transparent Earth
Space Sex
Transparent Fire
Modern Uncertainty
Japanese Girl Band Cartoons Medieval Eno
Transparent Eno
Sour Found Voices
Sour Angular
Parallel Rhythm
Robotic Swing
Dotted Robotic
Robotic African
Parallel Style
Bubblegum Tango
Experimental Soul
60s Brit Rock Tango
Crunchy Celtic
Bubblebum Goth
Parallel Treatment
Wacky Slap Echo
Wacky Clicky Bass
Spooky Telephone Voices
The sound of jazz played backwards and slowed down to half speed
Indian Drone
Telephone Voice Delays
Since there is a loose correlation between the suits and substances, it is not necessarily the object of the game to turn abstractions (lead) into melodies (gold)--although that can be an interesting exercise.
For most of the cards, I used a Tarot metaphor, although some of the cards are more modern, sometimes using my own images and artwork. (The images in the tarot are by Hieronymus Bosch, a 15th century Dutch painter.
The twelve keys follow the twelve Keys of Basilius Valentinus, the Benedictine, which were believed to open the doors of knowledge of the Most Ancient Stone and unseal the Most Secret Fountain of Health. [Read More]
Game Rules (PDF)
Game Results (PDF)
Parallel Strategies
Index
DECKS
These are custom sets of cards that I compile to put contraints on the game results. For example in my "Jazz" set I only includes flat keys, and meter cards more appropriate to jazz characteristics. Decks are in PDF format and can be printed on letter size card stock and trimmed to 3x5.
Download Strategy Decks
Donna Smith, a music student in Hull England contacted me in June 2005 regarding possible use of the strategy cards in a music workshop she was holding. Apparently music education is being used as a strategy to address social and economic issues there. Sadly, music education is still relegated to the rote process of "reading the dots" , but fun and interesting game-based approaches to music can ultimately bring out the natural curiosities about music. She also devised some new cards and a new suit "performance", which I like. If you can add cards to a deck, then it follows that you can add suits as well, and then choose any 12. The strategy I particularly like is "Incorporate words from some literature near by."
See also Loren Wilson's Music Criticism as a Creative Tool (using computer-based content analysis of popular music reviews to guide the music-making process) He has devised custom software which statisically analyzes the content of thousands of record reviews from the Pitchfork website , and generates a set of compositional guidelines based on the musical preferences expressed by the critics. He then uses those guidelines to write and record original songs, discussing in detail the relationships between the songs and the data.
CARDS
INDEX
[Index}
PARALLEL STRATEGIES
The parallel strategies idea was inspired by Michael Michalko's excellent book "Cracking Creativity", which presents the technique of using "parallel worlds" to jump-start the creative process.
Each of the strategy categories has a card which allows the player to use 2 cards from the same suit. You can then use the parallel idea as a single strategy, and use it against other strategies. You can even take it one step further and use 2 parallel concepts against one another, such as Transparent Earth/Clouds Evolve.
Example:
ABSTRACTION: Transparent Earth
MELODY: Angular Arabic
RHYTHM: Robotic Swing
TREATMENT: Telephone Voice Delays
Parallel Abstractions
Ancient CartoonsClouds Evolve
Transparent Earth
Space Sex
Transparent Fire
Modern Uncertainty
Japanese Girl Band Cartoons Medieval Eno
Transparent Eno
Parallel Melody
Angular ArabicSour Found Voices
Sour Angular
Parallel Rhythm
Robotic Swing
Dotted Robotic
Robotic African
Parallel Style
Bubblegum Tango
Experimental Soul
60s Brit Rock Tango
Crunchy Celtic
Bubblebum Goth
Parallel Treatment
Wacky Slap Echo
Wacky Clicky Bass
Spooky Telephone Voices
The sound of jazz played backwards and slowed down to half speed
Indian Drone
Telephone Voice Delays
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