Desktop Stilllife

In the early days of 30 Second Spots, back when I composed mostly on a laptop at Starbucks, I would use "found titles" for my pieces. These were usually snippets of conversation overheard sometime before or during the composing time. I needed a title before the first save of the computer file. No attempt was made to find titles relevant to the content of the music.

These days I'm composing at home on my iMac, not at Starbucks. Mozart watches from the wall.  Cats lounge about.  Snippets of overheard conversation are scarce.

So I've hit on a new title picking scheme: I've been naming my spots after objects sitting on one of my desks. 

There are lots of things on my desks.  Clutter rules.  The items I selected for names are mostly paperweights. These are made from various minerals.  Some have simple geometric shapes; others have animalian form. One was a wedding gift to Leslie and myself. One was actually a found object. As in the coffee-shop old days, the title/object and the music itself bear absolutely no relationship to one another.

I've elected to combine five 30 Second Spots (average length: about 90 seconds) into a single larger work.  Multiple short musical movements might suggest historical forms such as a suite to the classically inclined.  Instead, I've used a visual metaphor - the still life.

Once I completed the five musical pieces and selected an order for them I then created a video which introduces each object together with the music it names.  Just like a painted still life, nothing much happens in the video.  To find out what the objects are and eventually see/hear the complete still life, you'll have to watch the entire video.  Here it is:

Desktop Stilllife © 2010 by David Ocker - 407 seconds.  (I've opted to write "still life" as a single word in the title because I like seeing three ells in a row.)

Here's a photo I took in 2004.  I called it "Still Life in our Kitchen".  I could write more 30 Second  Spots and call them after fruits and vegetables. 

You can watch other 30 Second Spots which come with video:

• (Sometimes I Feel Like) A Newspaper in Traffic
• Flashing (for Kraig Grady)
• Water With Ducks
• Blobs
• The Chowder Jump
• Flap
• Rain Random
• Squawk!
• Birds Who Don't Know the Words
• Flag Day

Desktop Tags: 30 Second Spots. . . David Ocker. . . Desktop. . . Still Life