2026-04-21
this composition was made using the first paraphonic patch i made on the PRO3. funny enough, it was almost exactly a year ago (250322), which was also around the time i was working out an opening melody for what i (still) hope to turn into a full set for an album. the initial idea being to record full performances straight to tape for side A and B. and the tapes being these vintage Realistic (Radio-Shack) cassettes from the 70s. hence the working title
in this piece, i started by outlining the scale i'm trying to work within, which i thought of as E Mixolydian Blues (flat 7th, chromatic 3rd). we slowly descend by repeating inverted voicings, and once i reach the blue note, i start playing with pressure modulation that i have sent to reverb fx parameters.
to close the section there, i harped on the E-D movement, repeating it with lower roots, because i've come to understand the tension between those two is really what defines the character of what i've been doing (more on that). afterwards, i used a skipping 3rds pattern to hear the notes in a new way, and then went back to descending 2nds to lead into the final phrase, where i finlly use the motif i came up with over a year ago. the way this idea gradually descends and holds on to the low D-E once it gets there makes it feel so final. it's a strange feeling for a melody that i've been wanting to write around for so long, because now it feels like all i have to do is fill in the blanks between where i started and what i just did.
while writing, i also realized how much the relationship between E & D plays into this scale, because it also acts as DM with the sharp fourth (Lydian). DM also corresponds to E Dorian which explains why i love the sound of that blue note (G=) so much. anyways, i knew there was this interesting tension between the two keys already, given how easily it can feel like resolving to D if you're not emphasizing E somehow.
here's the abc score:
X:1 T:260409_Realistic C:enoodle L:1/1 K:E mixo bass |:[E,D] [D,E] :|: [E,C] [C,E] :|: [E,B,] [B,,E] :|: [E,A,] [A,,E] :| |:[E,=G,] [=G,,E] :|: [E,G,] [G,,E] :|: [E,F,] [F,,E] :|: [E,,D] [D,,E] "_x4":| L:1/4 E,,4 & D D B, B,| D,,4 & C C A, A, | E,,4 & B, B, =G, =G, | D,,4 & A, A, G, HG, |] E,,4 & D D C B, | D,,4 & C C B, A, | E,,4 & B, B, A, =G, | D,,4 & A, A, G, HF, |] |:D,,4 & E B, C HG, | E,,4 & D =G, A, H^G, :| D,,4 & F,4 |: !>(! ([E,,4D,4] [D,,4E,4]) !>)! "_x4":|