Etude No. 2 "Enter the Asylum"

Dear ThereminWorld,

I finally got my second Etude finished. It's been a couple of months in the making. However, I'm very satisfied with the work here. In this particular track I practiced with the Vibrato technique. For the overall track I wanted to give this a very hard drum set, and a grooving bass.

I hope you all enjoy.

I can see that this took some time to do. I really like your backgrounds (all your synth stuff is nice). At first, the theremin line had me confused until I thought about the piece. It comes across as kind of flexibly bitonal with the Theremin part. Rather "schizophrenic" sounding - which considering the title makes perfect sense. The theremin every now and then moves in tune (wonderful little moments of sanity) with the background but then alas quickly moves away back into tonal insanity. Perhaps that was the intent, perhaps not, but it's how I hear it once I consider the title of the piece. I like music that takes risks. Mine very rarely does.

Hey - just listened to some of your other music on Soundclound. Really like your ambient stuff. Shangri La - nice. I see you use some offsetting mixed key/off key stuff there too at times. Sureal is really nice too. 

It's taken me a long time to compose and then incorporate the Theremin. I used the MicroKorg on the synth patches. I was really hoping the Theremin's voice would make people wonder about the song. The tone of the voice in such a 'structured' song. In consideration to theory and style. One quote I've posted on my work station desk is by a composer I scholar from:

"Music is given to us with the sole purpose of establishing an order in things, including, and particularly, the coordination between man and time."
- Igor Stravinsky 

In essence, I've been allowing the movement of the Theremin's tones to connect me to the music. And whatever happens, happens. Kinda freeform however really feeling where the Instrument want's to go. I know I'm the variable in the situation. 

Thank you for listening to my Ambient music. I really enjoy writing in this style. Electronica is my playground and I've dabbled in Industrial/Classical/New Age crossovers too. And adding Key/Off Key notes to me are deliberate. I know composers really try to write to the extent of absolute value and structure. However, even the off tones deserve to be heard when listening to music. I like to add those values to the songs so people can mentally wake up and or re-listen to find the "notations" within a composition.

Does anyone feel the same?

Thank you for listening.

You could do a lot worse than study from Stravinsky! One of my favorite composers and perhaps my favorite 20th century composer - and certainly one of the most influential. I can see why you would like him. His music is still fresh and unique. He went back to the future before just about anyone else did and lots of people today write music that is very much beholding to him.

I like the concept of not worrying about key (though I'm now in a very tonal phase after years of writing atonal music). It's something that is really quite refreshing - though many may not find it their cup of tea having been so tonalized. After the total serial movement of the later 20th century (which even Stravinsky got caught up in for a wee bit) music had no where to go but back to tonality in one way or another. But what you are doing is not atonal, its more free tonal. What makes it sound different is that you pit it against very tonal backgrounds. The theremin is the perfect instrument to use here as its easy to take it into a totally flexible pitch domain. I like the conceptual duality of what you are doing. Its kind of like an artist who might combine techniques of Pollak and Renoir in the same painting. There are many who just won't get it.

But Hey - it's 2015 - anything is game. The important thing is to just keep on writing.