I recommend listening on stereo speakers, or in headphones to experience the sonic intention.
This track originated as an exercise exploring the Dorian mode in D. For a long time I just called it Dorian D. I studied Ancient Greek as an undergraduate because I’ve always been drawn to the mythologies and I love theatrical drama (as opposed to the other kind). My father’s family is exceptionally musical and my mother’s family is populated with dedicated thespians and literalists of countless scores. I found a website that provided examples of chords in various modes and I started plugging them into my DAW to see what I could do. Once I had a basic sound garden planted, I hooked up the MIDI and started throwing lines over in different voices like a sower of seeds: oboe, clarinet, french horns, classical guitar. It was an exploration, like so many I make, but captured. As one of my first ventures into recording music, I feel satisfied by this piece I was able to craft. I purposefully let the clarinet sing out an impossibly long note (D) at the end as a musical tip of the hat to the DAW’s orchestral potential. It’s amazing what we can do with modern digital tools. I wonder what Beethoven would have done with a MIDI and a DAW.
I fantasize about an orchestra actually playing this… it probably would need two clarinetists to blend that overlong note at the end in a human production.
I switched the title to Can You See . . . ? before I knew why— this is typical for me in my creative process. I write poetry this way also. I get ideas and run with them before they make sense. I used to feel like I was somehow doing something ‘wrong’ by randomly following my instincts, but I’ve been happy to discover so many other artists— particularly here in Substack— operate the same way. Which is confirming. So, now I’m leaning into it. So what am I asking when I prompt can you see?
Deep inside of every person lies the part that no one can see. Not many people ever really do see the hidden parts of another person, but artists all attempt to show something of that hidden self through their creations. If you care to play along imaginatively, let me know what this part of my internal show allows you to see. Feel free to explore— go somewhere with me, I’m sharing my journey with you— when you hear a musician for the first time, you may see them differently than you ever did before.
Let me know where this takes you.
And I hope a little musical journey with a lifted D at the end offers you some peace and hope in these challenging days of December.
Be well, All—
If this is intriguing, please peruse the website under construction:
https://www.morpho-thebutterfly.net/
