Happenstance

Happenstance: Analysis

DOWNLOADS:

Happenstance - Full Mix.mp3

Happenstance - Piano Trio Mix.mp3

Happenstance - Score.pdf

The Concept

Happenstance, as the title suggests, was composed from a few simple musical ingredients to yield a rhythmically complex and surprising score. A single scale source, namely an 8 note diminished scale formed from C, provides the tonal basis. The rhythmic organizational structure was initially determined by a technique Joseph Schillinger called fractioning. As the composition grew from this, certain aesthetic considerations were imposed to create some regularity and simplicity of overall form from the irregularity and complexity generated by the fractioning technique.

The Rhythmic Sketch

Eleven MIDI sequencer tracks were each assigned a single note from the scale source to play one quarter-note duration on beat 1. Each of these tracks was then set to loop periodically according to the following table:



These loops were then rendered by multiplying each periodicity by a factor of 150, thus creating 11 tracks of varying lengths. Track 1, for example, became 600 beats long (150 bars of 4/4 time) while Track 11 rendered to 2100 beats (14 x 150) or 525 bars of 4/4 time. In order to keep the whole piece within the specified time limit, it was decided at this stage to “double time” all the tracks – a process that halved the durations of notes and the total number of bars.

Concept Draft

Once the sketch had been created, the tracks were mixed down into one so that the rhythmic regularities and irregularities, such as accents caused by the incidence of chord clusters, could more easily be extrapolated. When played back on a piano, the piece at this stage sounded rhythmically interesting. The algorithmic nature of its creation yielded significant amounts of syncopation and rhythmic complexity within the 4/4 metric framework. This, when combined with the ambiguous tonalities of the four diminished seventh chords inherent in the scale source, proved to be aesthetically pleasing, albeit in a sterile and inorganic way. The aim from this point on was to rearrange and orchestrate the draft to make it sound more rhythmically organic.

Ironically, this was achieved by refining seemingly irrational asymmetrical elements of the draft. An 8 bar section was excerpted from bars 187 to 195 of the concept draft and used to create a bass part cell that would form the basis for the arrangement.

Imposing A Form

The method used to determine the bass line in all sections was simple and arbitrary: use the lowest notes of any section excerpted and, where chords occur, delete all notes above the lowest. Transpose to suit the range of an electric bass guitar. The bass figure mentioned above was created this way and used to form an introduction. This 8 bar cell is then repeated four times to create an “A” section. The piano part, when it enters, simply doubles the bass. The opening 16 bars lead the listener to believe there isn’t any regular pulse to the piece. The drums enter to establish the underlying pulse and even a 4/4 beat, though only briefly. This is discussed separately below.

The “B” section (beginning at bar 33) is essentially the bass part created from the beginning (bar 1) of the concept draft score. The zither and zampona parts are the same as the bass line transposed up (an octave and an octave + minor third respectively) however; their entrances have been delayed to create stratified sections like a musical round. These two parts have also been processed with an FX device that causes the zither and zampona notes to echo an 8th note delay an octave below and above respectively.

The piano part that enters at bar 33 is actually the part created for the concept draft reversed and rhythmically displaced so that it begins on the downbeat of bar 33. Specifics of this serendipitous melody will be addressed below.

The Lead Voice that enters at bar 39 was recorded live and in time with the underlying 4/4 metric structure. The durations are irregular although it is the random oscillations of the sound itself that really give it its organic rhythmic quality.

Section “C” marks a point where the periodicity of Track 1 from the original rhythmic sketch (C1 recurring on beats 1 and 3 every bar) ends. In effect, its end creates a tonal shift up a half step to C# and thus a new rhythmic texture – the fractioning of ten periodicities rather than the original eleven. Considerations of the overall length of the composition forced the abridging of this section though similar rhythmic tonal shifts would have resulted if all of the original periodicities had been allowed to play out their full cycle durations.

Section “D” is a recapitulation of the bass and drums from section “A” but with the piano, zither and zampona parts continuing unchanged from section “C”. Doing this created an overall sense of symmetry to the composition through the use of repetition of the “A” section’s rhythmic theme. All parts have been edited in bar 145 to create a definitive end to the composition.

The Drums

This part was created as a 16 bar cell, introduced at bar 17 and then repeated regularly throughout. The first 8 bars of it follow the bass part’s rhythmic displacements of the beat while the syncopated 8th notes played on the ride cymbal bell (bars 7 and 8 of the cell) create a transition to resolve the rhythmic dissonance at the beginning of bar 9 of the cell. The remainder of the drum cell is a (relatively) simple and definite 4/4 funk beat. Like the melodic rhythmic textures, this beat could have been created using fractioning techniques but it was decided to keep it simple so that an underlying sense of recurring rhythmic symmetry could be established and maintained throughout the composition.

Serendipity

The idea to add the reverse piano part came late in the composition process. It wasn’t anticipated that it might sound quite as developed as it does. It begins with a very sparse rhythmic texture in much the same way as an improvised piano solo by Thelonious Monk might sound. As it becomes denser, both rhythmically and harmonically, it develops into a type of rhythmic call-response dialog with the bass and drums that is at its most recognizable and musical in the brief exchange that occurs between bars 113 and 119 in the finished score. Happenstance - Piano Trio Mix.mp3 is the arrangement played by just the piano, bass and drums and has been included so this effect can more easily be heard.

Conclusion

The processes used to organize rhythmic texture and timbres in this composition are, in my opinion, a lot like ink blocks are for a painter. They enable a composer to very quickly generate ideas and a framework in which to work with those ideas. More than this, they are processes that can expand the rhythmic vocabulary of composer and improvising performer alike, not just for ensemble or comping rhythms, but for phrasing of bass, melody and other solo instrument lines.