{"id":1788,"date":"2010-09-17T12:00:21","date_gmt":"2010-09-17T11:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/?p=1788"},"modified":"2010-09-21T18:24:02","modified_gmt":"2010-09-21T17:24:02","slug":"a-great-deal-from-not-much","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/2010\/09\/17\/a-great-deal-from-not-much\/","title":{"rendered":"A great deal from not much: composing with small ideas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Take two tiny ideas: first, this one.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/files\/2010\/08\/extract_1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1790\" title=\"extract_1\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/files\/2010\/08\/extract_1-300x58.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"58\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/files\/2010\/08\/extract_1-300x58.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/files\/2010\/08\/extract_1.jpg 449w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Add this one.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/files\/2010\/08\/extract_2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1791  aligncenter\" title=\"extract_2\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/files\/2010\/08\/extract_2-300x64.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"64\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/files\/2010\/08\/extract_2-300x64.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/files\/2010\/08\/extract_2.jpg 445w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Not much to look at on paper, really.<\/p>\n<p>But wait. Add a driving rhythm, an insistent pulse, and you get this:<\/p>\n<div class=\"kent-video-wrapper\"><span class='embed-youtube' style='text-align:center; display: block;'><iframe class='youtube-player' type='text\/html' width='474' height='297' src='https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NHZctaLrmRc?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;fs=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;wmode=transparent' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen='true'><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<p>Well, alright, perhaps there&#8217;s a little more to it than that: choice of instrumentation, texture, articulation. But that&#8217;s all it boils down to, really: two simple ideas, from which a fantastic energy is created. And the ambiguity of the C# &#8211; C natural motion in the second idea: is the piece in A major, or A minor ?<\/p>\n<p>I remember the exact moment when I heard this for the first time: at a friend\u2019s house at university; he was playing it in the living-room of his house near the river, and was playing it <em>very<\/em> loudly on an extremely good hi-fi. (Tim Ward, wherever you are: I salute you!).<\/p>\n<p>Or how about this: a descending minor third.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1797\" title=\"extract_3\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/files\/2010\/08\/extract_3-300x54.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"54\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/files\/2010\/08\/extract_3-300x54.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/files\/2010\/08\/extract_3-e1282676530288-150x26.jpg 150w, https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/files\/2010\/08\/extract_3.jpg 491w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>OK, fairly straightforward. But to build a whole line from this, nay, a whole piece ? Begin stringing descending thirds and variants together, and you get this.<\/p>\n<div class=\"kent-video-wrapper\"><span class='embed-youtube' style='text-align:center; display: block;'><iframe class='youtube-player' type='text\/html' width='474' height='297' src='https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/MWQDA_NMECE?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;fs=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;wmode=transparent' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen='true'><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<p>One of music\u2019s great strengths is its ability to create interest from small ideas, which can be sustained over the length of an entire piece. Whether it&#8217;s a Baroque keyboard prelude, a piece of Steve Reich, or a pop song: music can unlock magic from the tiniest of blocks of material.<\/p>\n<p>Bach and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers: creative with small ideas.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"kent-social-links\"><li><a href='http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/2010\/09\/17\/a-great-deal-from-not-much\/&amp;t=A great deal from not much: composing with small ideas' target='_blank'><i class='ksocial-facebook' title='Share via Facebook'><\/i><\/a><\/li><li><a href='http:\/\/twitter.com\/home?status=A great deal from not much: composing with small ideas%20https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/2010\/09\/17\/a-great-deal-from-not-much\/' target='_blank'><i class='ksocial-twitter' title='Share via Twitter'><\/i><\/a><\/li><li><a href='https:\/\/plus.google.com\/share?url=https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/2010\/09\/17\/a-great-deal-from-not-much\/' target='_blank'><i class='ksocial-google-plus' title='Share via Google Plus'><\/i><\/a><\/li><li><a href='http:\/\/linkedin.com\/shareArticle?mini=true&amp;url=https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/2010\/09\/17\/a-great-deal-from-not-much\/&amp;title=A great deal from not much: composing with small ideas' target='_blank'><i class='ksocial-linkedin' title='Share via Linked In'><\/i><\/a><\/li><li><a href='mailto:content=https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/2010\/09\/17\/a-great-deal-from-not-much\/&amp;title=A great deal from not much: composing with small ideas' target='_blank'><i class='ksocial-email' title='Share via Email'><\/i><\/a><\/li><\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Take two tiny ideas: first, this one. Add this one. Not much to look at on paper, really. But wait. Add a driving rhythm, an insistent pulse, and you get this: Well, alright, perhaps there&#8217;s a little more to it than that: choice of instrumentation, texture, articulation. But that&#8217;s all it boils down to, really: &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/2010\/09\/17\/a-great-deal-from-not-much\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">A great deal from not much: composing with small ideas<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":620,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1110],"tags":[1354,1355],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1788"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/620"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1788"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2027,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1788\/revisions\/2027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}