The Seesar Lovecraftian Futurist Composition Card System
Narrating with Sound via the Unknown
"Parametered" Improvisation and Sounds of the Unknown
Evoking Lovecraftian Horror with Sound
The idea behind the entire Seesar project is to take Lovecraftian horror narratives and use them to map out sound art via dynamics over time, and evoke the emotions and related narrative elements through sonic displays. Basically, write soundscapes that tell the story of or remind the listening of Cosmic Doom.
To do this, I embrace that good old Lovecraftian tenet of Fear of the Unknown being the strongest fear, and the best way I can think of to evoke a sense of the unknown is to introduce sounds that are unfamiliar and perhaps add a touch of unexpected interactions with those sounds when creating a piece. (There's a lot more on this in the downloadable document below). I embrace the use of extended techniques, repurposing items to be sound-making devices, and build new instruments (often that avoid standard equal-tempered tuning) to cultivate a palette of noises that may have an origin less familiar to an avid listener.
Of course, I cannot say what a listener will know or hear in their "mind's ear," but I can use my own inner ear and experiences to give me a starting point. I can also introduce elements of unpredictability by offering various "sonic paths" improvisation can offer, yet maintain a level of overall control of a piece by outlining improv parameters and suggesting musical flag posts where sonic elements combine to strengthen form and propel the musical narrative being constructed.
In general, all of Seesar's compositions and performances embrace this line of thinking.
The Modular Card System and Constructing Lovecraftian Narratives
Using a sort of game playing approach to create new works
As a result of my working to develop a means to compose sound art pieces that evoke Lovecraftian narratives, I turned to a storytelling game-based approach that uses a series of "cards (read as graphic notated passages) that each have their own narrative elements, sonic timbres, and dynamic form with the suggestion that each of these factors has their own association with Lovecraftian tales. Effectively, a composer can use the cards to develop a piece that can be linked (at least in the composer's or performers' inner ear(s)) to a specific narrative, specific set of instrumentation and/or players, a specific performance setting or commission, or any combination thereof.
The system is inspired heavily by some of my compositional and performative heroes (as it were), introducing a modular system that can be rearranged to meet the needs of a piece/composer, a variety of improvisational opportunities, an Italian Futurist take on sound organisation that disconnects from specific instruments and leans more towards embracing sound families, and offers a range of levels with which a realisation of any given piece can be engaged.
This system is open to all composers and performers interested in attempting to evoke Lovecraftian sound art, and can be used strictly as the rules are outlined or loosely, with the rules bent significantly or even completely ignored in parts. It is flexible and encompasses a wide array of possibilities, hopefully, making composing Lovecraft-inspired works more expressive through a greater potential of interaction, and simply (more?) fun to create and play.
The card system and the instructions for using it can be downloaded for printing here:
The Seesar Lovecraftian Futurist Composition Card System
The basic legalities related to using the cards simple: the system is open to be used by anyone, but please include my name, Will Connor or William Klugh Connor III, when registering the work with a performing rights organization, listing the composer(s), or describing the composition officially or publicly. No monetary exchange is required (although any offers of monetary exchange are open to discussion), simply acknowledgement and a link back to the system (this page) (http://www.seesarmusic.com/compositions).
Detailed and legally confirmed instructions will be added here and to the document itself in future iterations of the card system document.
The current version is only the second revision of this document. There may be and probably still are typos and errors. Please report any issues or need for clarification to seesar@seesarmusic.com, and it will be addressed as soon as possible. This document will undergo periodic updating (read as approximately once every 6-9 months).
