Composition 2a/b

MUH 1024/5

The Random Project

The Project

Some will think that composition should be the reverse of 'random' - it should be a process of organisation, of taking away the randomness of 'ordinary' events. Shouldn't it?

First of all, you might want to read some of the information included in the notes to my seminar 'Chance and aleatoricism'. There is, especially in the twentieth century, a growing interest in chance - a realisation that in any sort of music there are very large elements of chance and a sort of randomness. But be careful, the word 'random' is frequently misused and many people are not fully aware of its correct meanings. You might want to check this up, but for your information, the most generally recognised random sound is 'white noise', an approximation of which is most commonly encountered in the sound of a boiling kettle.

Good luck!