Create Extraterrestrial Music

If there was a human-like alien civilization; what could their music be like? It's nothing like in the sci-fi movies, that I can tell!

In this workshop we will create music that throws away our western preconceptions about harmony. Through an enjoyable, playful process, you will create new harmonies that (most likely) have never been available to your ears before. We will use a piece of software that I created for this purpose.

Why am I making this workshop?

There are many musical tones and harmonies that we could be using in music creation, but we are not because of a contraint so big it has become invisible to us: the 12 tones equal temperament. Almost all our music tools only offer this one particular tuning system. At some point I became curious at what I could find beyond these 12 tones of ours. When I realized how difficult it was to do so with our western instruments and software, I became frustrated.

I also became a bit concerned. Many actually existent tuning systems on earth are left out of being comprehensible on computer music. There are techniques to compose using other tuning systems, but in a way, these other tuning systems need a sort of passport to enter into electronic music, and they don't live comfortably on our DAW's (music softwares). I started resenting the piano roll and it's grid. Furthermore, what if I want to make up my own tuning system however I please?

forbidden-music-wide-shot

I decided to create a tool that would let me compose music using any tunig system that could come to mind, and offer me meaningful constraints to break out of our western ways of making harmony. It has been so fun to explore different harmonies that I wanted to share the experience with others, and see what could emerge from the shared experience. I decided to launch the workshop and also adapt my software so that it could be used intuitively, without much knowledge, and devised a small trick to get familiar with music making outside of our familiar world.