Today is first day of Spring. Here in Mount Juliet this fact is a well-kept secret from the weather. Beginning reading this morning: "Lucifer's Legacy: The meaning of asymmetry" by Frank Close (OUP 2000). And an important call to the business manager of an early Crim. DGM's current working relationship with the first Crims isn't, so we have two clear alternatives: find an honourable, straightforward working relationship, or end it completely. It's not very often that I allow myself the two clear choices of either-or, and this is one of them.
The present Crims are Crimsonising. Our first part of the day has been engaging "eleKctriKc". This combines whole-tone and symmetrical elements.
In response to the helpful list of modes which might be used in Crim writing, posted on the Guestbook by a helpful poster: if the question is "why not use these modes of which I have helpfully provided a list?" the answer is simple: they lack necessity. Crim writing is not arbitrary; it is not an exercise for me. I write in a vocabulary which speaks to me, which has a resonance. If my suggestions resonate with the Team, we move forward with everyone contributing.
In terms of a list of scales, the selection provided were not what I would call overly exotic. As exercise, in the past I have considered many different modes. To adopt a scale, or meter, simply because it is different, has a value: it interrupts mechanical thinking. This can be useful, and lead into novel areas. An example: the mode which gave rise to "Matte Kudesai".
But the value is limited in writing-writing. I don't present my exercises to the band. If the poster is suggesting that my compositional skills are limited, I agree. Fortunately, my suggestions are only part of the musical materials used by the band and (this is almost like boasting now) I'm actually making suggestions which are not only outside the two modes mentioned above, but also in 12/8! Hold me back.
My approach to choosing a mode is not usually to consult a scale encyclopedia or lexicon, but to assemble the notes which speak to me. Then, to discover what mode this might be so that my brain can then get engaged. "EleKctriKc" wasn't meant to be a combination of the whole-tone & symmetrical scales: that's what it is. Recognising & knowing that, perhaps the organic-computer can be of use. But my organic-computer doesn't generate much of original worth; actually, tends to get in the way. Reading Lendvai, for example, made sense after the event.
"The performer can hide nothing, even the attempt to hide."
