Lee Barry Composition (And Photo) Diary

I still haven't decided what I find interesting about AI music or if it's Art per se. Users are attempting it but it will never be art you made entirely by yourself. I write the lyrics--or appropriate other sources, but I didn't write the music or play on it. (You can say you were the "producer" to some degree) As to appropriation, you can make a lyric out of anything--in this case, a section for the book Useless Etymology. "The word and abbreviation “OK” most likely came about as a result of... well, nerds being silly. (Not that anyone reading or writing this book can judge.) Although several other theories have arisen, the predominant theory revolves around the fact that, in the 1830s, collegiate jokesters in Boston and New York came up with a series of slang abbreviations based on deliberately misspelled words." k.g. was short for “kno go” (no go) n.c. was short for “nuff ced” (enough said) k.y. was short for “know yuse” (no use) o.k. was short for “o...

An interesting diary juxtaposition as a lyric idea.  3/8/2013   Re: Picasso’s “Bull” (plates I - XI) 1945 - 46: Picasso continued his analogy by saying, “a picture used to be a sum of additions”  In my case, a picture is a sum of destruction. I do a picture, then I destroy it.. Perhaps this refers to his idea that there really is no abstract art: “You must always start with something. Afterward you can remove all traces of reality”. He wanted only emotion projected by his art. 3/8/2022  The Russian invasion of Ukraine has already destroyed a Lviv museum containing works by renowned Ukrainian painters, some with substantial cred: Picasso, Chagall. If art never got destroyed by anything, even by time, how much would there be? The population explosion made the art mountains even higher.  Watched Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom . What’s interesting about huge violent protests, or large protests of any kind, is that people show up for all kinds of reasons...

 It's interesting how AI will summarize the things that you’ve said. Here I was just dictating my thoughts on how people interpret lyrics, which can intentionally be very random, and generated from cut-up a la William Burroughs. Personally, I like this approach, but it's interesting how one can stumble on something in a book ( Superbloom ) that relates to how you've been thinking about something, and AI will synthesize those thoughts. “Lyric writing, according to the sources, is an interesting art form where the meaning might not be immediately obvious. Unlike prose, where clarity of meaning is often the primary goal, in lyric writing, words must be shaped to be singable, not necessarily to mean something specific. This suggests that the sonic and rhythmic qualities of the words are prioritized, and literal meaning can take a secondary role. The source describes lyric writing as a mechanical process that can sometimes have different interpretations. This implies that the co...

2/4/1998 Interesting interview in Computerlife with Brian Eno on the generative nature of future music where pieces are started from seed ideas and grow organically and evolve naturally, which mimics the way folk music resonates through culture. Computer programs also will have these types of characteristics whereby they are designed to develop and learn with experience, just as humans do. To me, generative music is useful in producing raw ideas from which to develop new pieces. This approach could also use the computer to solve the problems inherent in composition, for example, to design the form of the piece, dynamics, and so on. Eno also says that the most interesting connection is in the brain, so we don’t always have to associate images with sounds. He says we spend too much time syncing things together. He didn’t even compose cues when he wrote for film, he just uses existing music. And as in Hall’s observations, things can naturally synchronize regardless of whether they have an...

I set up a new LLM based on my own writings for the purpose of generating lyrics and poetry. The rhythms are all stupid with this same schema, or "shortenin' bread": Three little children, lyin' in bed, Two were sick and the other 'most dead, Sent for the doctor and the doctor said, "Give those children some short'nin' bread." I still want a macro that will assign syllables to my own rhythmic schemas, my own music for my own words, as opposed to machine-generated speech/singing patterns.         Here is a short 8-line lyric about a January morning with the "Shortenin'" vibe: The sun peeks through the frosty haze, Crisp air fills the winter days. Footsteps crunch on the icy ground, Quiet stillness all around.

When I’ve used ChatGPT to generate lyrics for pre-existing musical ideas, it generates lyrics with a completely different prosody. The A-B comparison is quite remarkable. I can tell the difference and always go with my original idea. You could take the generated lyric and use it to write another piece. The Boomy app is also interesting to generate ideas but the results are too random and require lots of editing. Editing might involve playing against the generated music, in which case you’ll have something similar but mostly different. Whether a layperson can tell the difference between two pieces of music that have been similarly produced, I think they couldn’t because of a similar production. But certainly one can tell the difference between a grainy, warbled music made from samples and something through-composed. As to classical music, it might be more difficult to tell them apart, simply by the nature of the music. For example, baroque music tends to sound like baroque music using t...

  The word "cover" is a "downbeat" word; you can't speak it on an upbeat, but in music you can use it for funky rhythmic effects. Here it sounds Latin, and "running for cover" is spoken like "oye como va". You can use all kinds of lyric variations on the same rhythm, or even just use "oye como va", which inverts the word "como" to an "upbeat" word, and sounds like "let me come over". Running For Cover (Oye Como Va?) (12-21) by meta4s

A song based on a dream: I witnessed a plane crash into a body of water in a cold northern region, as it looked like a fjord of some kind. The bearded pilot survived and swam to the shore. His doppelganger, who looked exactly like him, swam to save him. In another fragment a phone rang and I answered it and the person said, "New North". ( The Short ) New North (Song From A Dream) by meta4s

    What I still find remarkable every time I write songs is the evolution of them. This piece started in 2015 under another working title and went through many different phases. My new way of working on songs is to do them in standard notation where I can work out the song arrangement in detail, then use that as a blueprint (or a very elaborate "click track") for the recording. "Dying To Connect" was a random title that I applied to it, then wrote lyrics based on it. It's about the lengths we go to stay connected--in a time where connection is ostensibly easy yet ironically more difficult as the social media landscape changes. But the sense of urgency can remain. The found voice at the end swimming in reverb delays uses the "Amy" TTS voice: The docking station will close in 30 minutes and we will be accepting no more passengers. Say goodbye to loved ones as soon as possible.   I know that sounds like bleak, but when I was working on the track I lost s...

  Usually alternate versions occur after the song is written, but in this case a song with lyrics was derived from an instrumental. The lyrics are inspired by how downtowns are getting slathered with vinyl appliques, in which stores put their back to the street, perhaps a presage of life in the metaverse where everything will be in the uncanny valley, making the experience of being in a place flat, cold, and one-dimensional.  We now have a Wild Fork (occupying the space of a former Gap store), which I think is creepy, with everything shrink-wrapped and in freezers. In the future, perhaps the wrap will be a flexible screen or something you interact with in a VR space.

My latest "minute song". The idea would be to make an album 15 minutes long--but not all bass stuff. This is written on bass but could have lyrics added later. It's also interesting that in such a short song there is a modulation to a very rare key, C# Major. It sounds so simple, even overly simple, but there's a complexity in it.    Melange by Lee Barry

   A song of portmanteaus: "mysteronomy" (a hybrid of mystery and astronomy: "He had a deep love for mysteronomy"). Or "mysterectomy" (like hysterectomy--"she had her mystery removed"). Mysteronomy Weaving webs through history In veils of anonymity Lost in a sea of subjectivity We still mistake freedom for free A synedoche Weaving threads through you and me A way towards relativity Lost in a maze of reactivity We still mistake the two for the one Mysterectomy It's the end of our uncertainty The truth of our cosmology Lost is a space of subjectivity We still mistake the earth for the sun  Rough backing track:  Melange by Lee Barry

  I'm calling this "Western Flamenco" because it suggests nylon string rasgueado and other nylon techniques. It's the first song I've written with only one verse, topically about the mystery of the 60s music venue and Lynch's Lost Highway . The Refrain is nonsense or marginally suggestive wordplay.  The Topanga Corral (It's gonna break your heart) The Topanga Corral (You're gonna get a new start) The Topanga Corral (It's gonna break your heart) The Topanga Corral (You're gonna play a new part) In the beginning A lost highway was found In the world of the neo-noir Mystery on a VHS Took a sharp turn At the roadhouse When I went back It was burned down In a shark tank For the dark shark Took a left turn For a right start Topanga Corral by meta4s   *** Some interesting AI spins--with subtle Doors reference:   

  One of my Composition Strategies is "Accretion", and that's what happened here. As I was reading Rebecca Solnit's A Field Guide to Getting Lost, specifically paragraph in the "Blue of Distance" chapter, jumped out as particularly musical. I already had some angular guitar music that I was noodling on and I married the two. Anything with the word blue in it compels me right into cool-school jazz. Edges Of Blue by meta4s

  I know this might seem maudlin, but it's fitting for our time. The first verse was actually inspired by magnet poetry, which I used in the studio to generate lyric ideas. The genesis was random, but a deeper meaning was revealed. I found the Melville quote much later, which fit perfectly.    We cannot live for ourselves alone. Our lives are connected by a thousand invisible threads, and along these sympathetic fibers, our actions run as causes and return to us as results. - Herman Melville    Threads by meta4s I fish for answers to questions Floating in the salty seas Soon to be devoured By the hungry ocean waves Exploring the dark cloud of yesterday That hangs above my head No silver lining or gold lame Only frayed and hanging threads Threads will take me places Where every soul is strange Looking puzzled at the faces Not connected with any name Always looking through the veil Obscuring what is real What I seek I find again Such a bargain, such a stea...

  A song based on an errant phrase that I used as a lyric, which I think is Rumi, but I can't find the source. It is essentially a jazz piece and is mostly instrumental. (A song about uncertainty)  Mystery Rumi by meta4s A prior interation:    

  First track for "Central Coast". Something march-like and motivational. Determined by meta4s

This month's ditty. Inclement Decembers are the new normal. This is a good a bad thing, hence harmonic contrasts. You can end the piece either in light (C Major) or dark (F# minor).     Some December by meta4s

  Something "festive", or rather seasonal (around the solstice). I like to do these transformations in and out of pop music. This is based on the chords of One Step Ahead of the Moon . The next step might be a re-mapping of the lyric against the new arrangement for something that can be sung against. Every time you make a new version of something, others become possible.

  From Keith Haring's diary, February 18th 1989. It's also a song of 2 Dorians: B Dorian and E Dorian.