Disquiet Junto Project 0693: Melody Sorted
Dear Members of the Disquiet Junto,
We’re seven weeks from the 700th consecutive weekly Disquiet Junto project, which makes for a pretty great feeling. This week’s project — the 693rd — is extra abstract, and occasionally they go that way. It’s good to mix it up. I wanted to mention two related things to participants who sometimes may sense that a given project doesn’t “sound” like them — people say this to me privately, and also express it on the discussion boards, so this encouragement isn’t aimed at anyone in particular. First, if you are concerned some of your Junto projects are distinct from your work, you might set up a separate account when posting the results. Second, I like to paraphrase a writing exercise I believe I read in something Douglas Coupland (Generation X, Microserfs) published a long time ago, which is to try to write a character in a story as unlike you as possible and put it in an envelope for six months. Then open the envelope, and see how much of yourself you actually do see in that character.
Separately, we’ll be doing the trio project we do each year pretty soon. I may start it just before the 700th project, so the trios are complete coincident with that milestone, but I may take a different route. We’ll see.
OK, that covers it for this week. I am back from New York, where I got to see my mom, and some extended family, and walk up and down Manhattan, and get a semblance of a break.
Thanks for your generosity with your time, creativity, and curiosity.
Best from San Francisco, where we’re having a minor heat spell, though much of the world wouldn’t recognize as hot what we here think of as hot,
Marc Weidenbaum
marc@disquiet.com
. . .
Disquiet Junto Project 0693: Melody Sorted
The Assignment: Reorganize a familiar song note by note.
Step 1: Choose a familiar song for which you have access to the sheet music.
Step 2: Select a segment of the song, perhaps one round of the chorus and the verse — perhaps more, or less, after you finish reading these instructions.
Step 3: Write down all the notes (and their lengths) in the main melodic line.
Step 4: Alphabetize the notes, and also sort them by length, in ascending order, so an Ab goes before an A, and a quarter note goes before a whole note, and so forth. (You might also adjust for where the note falls relative to middle C, starting low and proceeding up.)
Step 5: Record results when all those notes are played in the sequence that was derived during Step 4.
Bonus round: Also consider appending to Step 5 what it sounds like when that same set of notes is played randomly.
Tasks Upon Completion:
Label: Include “disquiet0693” (no spaces/quotes) in the name of your track.
Upload: Post your track to a public account (SoundCloud preferred but by no means required). It’s best to focus on one track, but if you post more than one, clarify which is the “main” rendition.
Share: Post your track and a description/explanation at https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0693-melody-sorted/
Discuss: Listen to and comment on the other tracks.
Additional Details:
Length: The length is up to you. How much time do you have to sort?
Deadline: Monday, April 14, 2024, 11:59pm (that is: just before midnight) wherever you are.
About: https://disquiet.com/junto/
Newsletter: https://juntoletter.disquiet.com/
License: It’s preferred (but not required) to set your track as downloadable and allowing for attributed remixing (i.e., an attribution Creative Commons license).
Please Include When Posting Your Track:
More on the 693rd weekly Disquiet Junto project, Melody Sorted — The Assignment: Reorganize a familiar song note by note — at https://disquiet.com/0693/