I wanted to explore the idea that we spend a tremendous amount of time seeking meaning out in the world, when what matters most often happens closest to home. This value in combination with the shared context of the assignment provided the initial framework for the experience. With this in place I worked out my score fairly quickly. The experience would present two options where audience members could try to pick apart the meaning of the story being told (which would be devoid of any direct meaning). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
My experience began in the ACCAD Hallway. My introduction to the experience was tightly scripted and carefully crafted to avoid any explicit imperative instructions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWelcome home. You may choose to go through the door to the motion lab. You may choose to go through the door to the classroom. Each space contains a different experience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the performance, one classmate asked if they could go between rooms. I hadn\u2019t anticipated this question, which was a fairly obvious one in hindsight. I replied that they were free to make their own decisions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Each room had a non-sensical musical composition that I had created. I like to run through a process with music where I start with a dumb idea and pour effort into it. Aside from being a fun exercise, it allows me to compose music without the stress of trying to make meaning.\u00a0I developed this practice after becoming disenchanted with trying to make meaningful music or music with a message. I make music for fun, but I would cringe years later when I’d listen to a younger iteration of myself trying to be profound or expressive or whatever it was that I was trying to accomplish. The author had died and I was making up my own meaning when listening to it anyway, so I reasoned that this approach was just as good as any other I was trying out. And oddly – because my effort shifted to the construction and away from being self-conscious or self-involved, I enjoyed listening to the songs more. How could I not, when it gave us such tracks as the pandemic era Appletini with my Homeboys? (I actually would have preferred to use this song over the second song below, but there is an actual story to be derived from it, and I wanted to use tracks that were completely devoid of meaning to capture the spirit of this project). <\/p>\n\n\n\n