A mid-week reflection on the class

Here's my perspective on how we're doing at mid-week with our question(s) of the week --namely "What is composition in general, what are the differences and common features of various types of composition, and what is unique about new-media composition specifically"? 

As I see it, the solo and ensemble conversational work/play continues to move and morph in interesting directions in response to the "what is composition in general?" It seems to me we are in good shape with this part of the question. From what I see, a pattern is emerging, or (if you like complexity theory) a strange-attractor is emerging, that continues to add nuance to the initial and general definition of composition as "a complex, holistic form of construction." It seems to me we are adding insightful dimensions or fractal flourishes. For example, there has been interesting mentions of the concept of scale, and/or scale-shifting, in relation to composition in different arenas. In perhaps the largest arena we are all "composing our lives", and in somewhat smaller arenas we may be composing music, characters, scenes, suppers, and so forth --depending on the composition of our lives at given points in time. We're covering and uncovering this part of the material really well IMO.

BTW (and by the way IMO and BTW are pretty much the only chat acronyms I use regularly) there is a nice word, derived from complexity theory, for noting consistency in form across differences in size/ scale. This concept is 'self-similarity.' It seems from our conversations that composition could be thought of and described as self-similar in scale. Whether one is composing an attitude (neural composing, done with very tiny materials indeed!) or a meal, or an excursion, or a vacation, or a piece of music, or a piece of writing, or a summer, or a year, or a career, or a life, the act of composition --and/or its basic elements-- remains similar. Again this type of thing can be described as self-similar.

To some extent our searchings and stumblings yesterday to gather resources on composition yielded a complex and intriguing array of results, and this again seemed to me to underscore the idea of composition as a complex, pervasive part of everything we do --including what we are doing when we make our way through the 'everything' that is the internet. Composing is "just what we do" --in some ways that seems to be how the answer to "what is composition in general" is shaping up. 

To become better composers (which is the overarching goal of this course) in this sense may mean simply becoming more aware or mindful of the composing process as it is happening, so that this awareness and mindfulness can infuse and improve our composing in whatever arenas we are in.

While some have touched on the second part of the question --namely "what are the differences and common features of various types of conversation"-- I don't think we are in quite as good shape in our collective response to it. Let me clarify that just a bit. I think we have a few of the specific pieces nailed down, and we have pretty much nailed the "common features" part because that part kind of tags-along with the first part of the question, but I don't think we are there yet with understanding the "differences" between compositional venues. And this is why I think this matters: if we understand the differences we then have the potential to cross-pollinate. Our palette as composers becomes more versatile as a result.

So I think we need to collect some additional resources on how musical composition (composing pieces of music), dramatic composition (composing a character or a play), film composition (composing a scene, a shot, a sequence, etc.), design composition (2D or 3D), dance composition (choreography) differ from one another in the details. We need to close this gap in our knowledge I think. One way to do it would be to collect personal narratives by interviewing someone who does one of these activities on a regular basis. Be thinking of someone you might interview (could be a phone or Skype interview, or a Facebook video chat interview --and we can discuss ways to record such interviews as well). This could well end up being a Friday assignment, so give it some thought in advance.

The third part of the question --what is unique about new-media composition specifically-- is just beginning to be answered at this point in the week. Reading Manovich is a good place to start, and there has been some good explication and critique of his ideas going on. Today's work includes reading something by Marshall McLuhan, who takes quite a different approach to getting at the key aspects of new-media. So we'll let this one play out a bit and see where we end up in a couple of days.


Because composition is complex, it may make sense to introduce complexity theory as a foreground item in the course? Something I will think about.