偶然性 and 随机性 can be a really good way to find new 声 and 产生 new 观念 But some composers decided to go even further and hand over most of the 作曲 决定 to 偶然性


作曲 by Numbers

Composers have been using rules to help them 作曲 since the 15th Century Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and John Cage both used 随机性 and 偶然性 to 创作 樂/乐 作品 throwing a die and using the result to 直 their next 行动

In this 过程 偶然性 decided where the 作品 would go

At first this might seem like it would just 创作 one big complicated mess but the 过程 often give a lot of 控制 to the 表演者 and can lead to completely new and exciting 声波 组合


Letting The 声 Be In Charge

Cage was interested in the beauty of 声 ‘as they are’ so by handing over all of the 作曲 决定 to 偶然性 he was able to allow the 声 to 声波 all on their own

The 声 just play without any 人类 influence just like the 声 of 本质（自然）

“[…] to have no purpose at all […] puts one in accord with 本质（自然） in her manner of operation ” John Cage


Activity
Why 不 try using 偶然性 to help you 作曲 your own pieces?
•Take a 系列 of sounding 对象 or 录音 and write their names down on to individual 作品 of paper or sticky ‘post-it’ 音符
•Pop all of these strips of paper within a box or a hat
•and then draw these 声 out at 随机性
•As you take the individual 作品 of paper out place or stick them down in 序 onto a larger 作品 of paper
•You now have your 终 乐谱

Either 表演 the 作品 现场 or 用 this 乐谱 to 创作 a 作品 within the ‘Compose With Sounds’ 软件


偶然性 Advice For When You’re Stuck

In 1975 the 作曲家 Brian Eno along with his friend Perter Schmidt 创作 a stack of cards to help jog and inspire the minds of composers who were stuck The idea was that a card would be randomly chosen and that on this card would be a tip or idea that might encourage the 作曲家 to think about their problem in a new and different way

Eno called these “Oblique Strategies” There is a website that provides an online version here

作曲 Tips

We 识别 this as a great idea and 创作 our very own 作曲 窍门 偶然性 advice 工具


Extra
Click for MORE on Mozart’s Dice 樂/乐