Ways & Sounds

Arteidolia Press 2021

What transforms sounds into music? Composer & improviser patrick brennan asks us in this series of essays to put aside what we ordinarily think music is and to reimagine a more inclusive, relational framework, an ecology of composing.. When people, especially musicians, talk about musical structure, they usually mean how sounds are organized, but there are other forces at play. Have you ever wondered what these might be?How do the textural weaves of human activity fit into all of this? If we are inseparable from musical sound, then what do we hear?What does it mean to compose from the inside out or the outside in? Do recordings reshape our conceptions? And, most compellingly, how can we, as listeners, listen?

"brennan has thought deeply about the topics, has done his research, deftly quotes what prominent voices have said in the past, and explains his thinking behind what music is and means. " - Paul Acquaro, The Free Jazz Collective

Contents

Part 1 THE STUFF

What is it to Listen?
A Paradox around Identifying What Music is
What is it that Musicians Do?
Musician in Three Attitudes
Structure, Composition and Sociality
Anthropogenic Sound
Personics

Part 2 STRUCTURES

Composing from the Inside Out
Composing from the Outside In
Interactive Structure: Monological & Dialogical Organization
Notation
Metacomposition
Metacomposition in Eurological Practice & 4'33"
The Jam Session's Metacomposed Interactions
The Garden of Free Improvisation
Hybrid Strategies: Composing for Improvisers
The Conduction Synthesis

Part 3 OTHER THOUGHTS

The Electronic Trickster
The Sociality of Rhythm
Hearing
& Some Coda Considerations