What can I do with a better control and understanding of notes and their connections, and how can I use that to push my creation forward, and also make something original out of this deeper understanding? That was a prominent question for me in the years 2020–2023.
Without questioning myself, I could say that, in order “to know,” I knew enough. I was already a friend of the western system of notes. But whether the weight was real or not, I felt it, and started questioning the depth of this knowledge, which led me to try to go much deeper into the bottomless pit.
First I needed to go back and listen, analyze, study, and understand the past of the western musical tradition a bit better again, differently from how I studied it when I was young.
As often happens with studies, the unexpected occurs, and above all rises the inspiration, which in my opinion is the true crown jewel of studying. After the initial dread of trying to understand logic and systems that are very well structured but not yet fully clear, comes better understanding, and then, always hiding in plain sight, comes the real thing you were searching for: the inspiration, and with it the fire to create, to build, then destroy, and then build again, and break again to build something new.
I believe (at least for myself) that in order to maximize this effect, you truly need to let go of, first of all, expectations, and second, the highly critical “music finishing” hat. Let the inspiration guide you toward it, without the feeling of the ground under your feet. In the end, either way, it will be shaped by you, as it simply cannot be otherwise.
So came music, and studies, and one of those studies was the project I released as Sequenced Studies. Today I wanted to share with you something from 2022 that was diverging a bit from that; already a small peek into new ideas that would shortly follow.
Of course, I must say: when wanting to truly go deeper into the western system, there is one name you will come back to again and again, and that is Johann Sebastian Bach. It really does not matter which piece; all of them can teach you something profound about music in general, the western system in particular, and I must say also about time, nature, and the world. And above all, it is simply very inspiring.
As you can understand from these words, he was a prominent figure for me in these studies, and therefore, like a good student, when you create things after learning, it is also fine to try to “copy” at first. In the thing I am sharing today, you will hear this, and also an attempt to do something original out of it, although it is not quite getting there yet.
And just as a small hint for the end this time, I will also share the beginning of something that came much more naturally later: the early sketches of The Wait (2025), in which I think you can see the connection to this story. The inspiration for The Wait, however, came from a completely different direction, but the language had already been acquired and was used without knowing, which is what you wish for when going on such journeys.
I hope this post will inspire you to study with joy, and to perceive future paths more clearly before you step onto them, making them feel a bit safer, and perhaps even fun.
Until next time,