Sound Examples for Chapter 10: Musical Composition and Recomposition

[S:128] Friend of the Devil of the Friend (FriendneirF.mp3 0:40). The first twenty seconds of the classic song by the Grateful Dead is played forwards and then backwards. Can you hear where the change is made? See Sect. 10.1.


[S:129] Devil of a Friend (DevilofaFriend.mp3 0:46). A verse and chorus of the classic song by the Grateful Dead is played backwards. The disjoint and sometimes amusing lyrics indicate a stronger sense of linearity than the instrumental sections alone. See Sect. 10.1.

[S:130] Maple Waltzes #1 and #2 (MapleWaltz1.mp3 1:06), (MapleWaltz2.mp3 1:06) By removing every fourth beat, the 4/8 time signature of the Maple Leaf Rag is transformed into 3/8. The first version removes the final beat of each measure. The second version removes the third beat of each measure. See Sect. 10.3.


[S:131] Maple Leaf Waltz (MapleLeafWaltz.mp3 2:03). The two waltzes in are merged, combined, and elaborated. See Sect. 10.3.

[S:132] Soul Waltzes (SoulWaltz1.mp3 2:18), (SoulWaltz2.mp3 2:18), (SoulWaltz3.mp3 2:18), (SoulWaltz4.mp3 2:18) By removing every fourth beat, the 4/4 time signature of Soul is transformed into 3/4. Except for vocal sections where lyrics are truncated, the change is quite smooth. The four versions remove different beats, causing different rhythmic patterns. See Sect. 10.3.

[S:133] Bond's Waltz (BondsWaltz.mp3 0:33). By removing every fourth beat, the 4/4 time signature of the James Bond Theme is transformed into 3/4. See Sect. 10.3.

[S:134] Take Four (TakeFour.mp3 1:18). By removing every fifth beat from Grover Washington's classic Take Five, the 5/4 time signature is transformed into 4/4. See Sect. 10.3.

[S:135] Julie's March (JuliesMarch.mp3 1:06). By removing every third beat from Julie's Waltz, the 3/4 time signature is transformed into 2/4. See Sect. 10.3.

[S:136] Howell in 2/4 (Howell24.mp3 0:58). By removing every third beat from Howell's Delight , the 3/4 time signature is transformed into 2/4. See Sect. 10.3.

[S:137] Half Leaf Rags (HalfLeafRag1.mp3 0:49), (HalfLeafRag2.mp3 0:49). Two out of every four beats are removed from the Maple Leaf Rag. See Sect. 10.3.

[S:138] Half a Soul (HalfSoul1.mp3 1:17), (HalfSoul2.mp3 1:17). Two out of every four beats are removed from Soul. See Sect. 10.3.

[S:139] Quarter Leaf Rag (QuarterLeafRag.mp3 0:25). Three out of every four beats are removed from the Maple Leaf Rag. See Sect. 10.3.

[S:140] Quarter Soul (QuarterSoul.mp3 0:40). Three out of every four beats are removed from Soul. The complete song "fits" into forty seconds. See Sect. 10.3.

[S:141] Magic Leaf Rag (MagicLeafRag.mp3 2:29). The Half Leaf Rags [S:137] are processed using beat-based filters and gates in conjunction with the beat-synchronous time delays. See Sects. 9.1, 9.2 and 10.3.


[S:142] Make It Brief Rag (MakeItBriefRag.mp3 2:01). The Quarter Leaf Rag [S:139] is processed using the beat-based filters and gates of Sect. 9.2. See Sect. 10.3.

[S:143] Backwards Leaf Rag (BackwardsLeafRag.mp3 1:39). The beats of the Maple Leaf Rag are played in reverse order: the song begins with the final beat interval and progresses in orderly fashion to the first beat interval. See Sect. 10.4.
[S:144] Backwards Soul (BackwardsSoul.mp3 2:16). The beats of Soul are played in reverse order: the vocals are especially interesting. See Sect. 10.4.

[S:145] Backwards Bond (BackwardsBond.mp3 0:52). The beats of the Theme from James Bond are played in reverse order. See Sect. 10.4.

[S:146] Random Leaf Rag # 1 (RandomLeafRag.mp3 1:30). The beats of the Maple Leaf Rag are played in random order. All sense of tonal progression is gone. The rhythm and flow of the piece is fundamentally disturbed. Only the timbre of the piano remains. See Sect. 10.5.


[S:147] Random Soul #1 (RandomSoul.mp3 1:27). The beats of Soul are played in random order. The rhythm of the piece is fundamentally disturbed, though some of the feel remains. The timbre of the guitars and voice remain. See Sect. 10.5.

[S:148] Permutations of the Rag The beats of the Maple Leaf Rag are permuted on a measure-by-measure basis. See Sect. 10.5.
  1. 1234 ® 1324 (Maple1324.mp3 0:43).
  2. 1234 ® 1423 (Maple1423.mp3 0:43).
  3. 1234 ® 1432 (Maple1432.mp3 0:43).
  4. 1234 ® 2413 (Maple2413.mp3 0:43).
  5. 1234 ® 4321 (Maple4321.mp3 0:43).


[S:149] Permutation Leaf Rag (PermutationLeafRag.mp3 0:43). A randomly chosen permutation is applied to each measure. See Sect. 10.5.

[S:150] Permutations of Soul (PermutationsofSoul.mp3 2:22). A randomly chosen permutation is applied to each measure. See Sect. 10.5.

[S:151] Random Leaf Rag # 2 (RandomLeafRag2.mp3 0:37). Choose beats randomly from among those that occupy the same relative location in the measure. See Sect. 10.5.

[S:152] Random Souls # 2 (RandomSouls2.mp3 2:37). Choose beats randomly from among those that occupy the same relative location in the measure. See Sect. 10.5.

[S:153] Subdividing the Beat (MapleSnippets2.mp3 0:37), (MapleSnippets3.mp3 0:37), (MapleSnippets4.mp3 0:37), (MapleSnippets8.mp3 0:37), (MapleSnippets12.mp3 0:37) As the number of subdivisions grows, the sound reflects the process of subdivision, destroying the original timbre.

[S:154] Maple Leaf Collage (MapleLeafCollage.mp3 0:37). Choose each beat randomly from different versions of the Maple Leaf Rag. Ligon says, "Made me laugh out loud." See Sect. 10.6.

[S:155] Rag Bag # 1 and Rag Bag # 2 (RagBag1.mp3 1:27) (RagBag2.mp3 1:33). Choose each beat randomly from different versions of the Maple Leaf Rag. See Sect. 10.6.

[S:156] Beat-Synchronous Cross Performances Beats are chosen sequentially from two performances of the Maple Leaf Rag and are merged using one of the methods in Sect. 10.7.

[S:157] Grab Bag Rags # 1, #2, and # 3 (GrabBagRag1.mp3 1:27), (GrabBagRag2.mp3 1:27), (GrabBagRag3.mp3 1:27) Choose each beat randomly from different versions of the beat-synchronous cross performances of [S:156]. See Sect. 10.7.
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