Teaching Free Music

Sentient Music – Spontaneous Music – True Music – Personal Music – Improvised Music – Free Music – Not Really Music – Creative Music – Undisciplined Music – No Beat, No Melody

Sentient Music – music that comes directly out of the senses. I like this term because it implies listening to yourself and others, in addition to creating music unconstrained.

Spontaneous Music – true statement because it happens right now in the moment. It also poses the question: where does it come from?

True Music – perhaps, because it is the most elemental music that is possible, directly produced, and related to the subconscious as no other music can be.

Personal Music – it could not be anything else, because it comes directly out of you – personal does not mean that you need to portray any specific emotions – a musical emotion is a disembodied one – it is also possible to make a collective personal music with others.

Improvised Music – the common term for this, but unique – this is not jazz improvisation, or any other kind – we are not improvising something – we are releasing any preconception of what music has to be.

Free music – yes, this is free music – but how free can music be? We always have ourselves as a reference point, and moving beyond ourselves too.

Not Really Music – I am used to this term, being a composer of modern music – and you may think these thoughts at some point while making music. I advise you to set this speculation aside, and you will eventually realize how musical it is – in a way you never imagined before.

Creative Music – this is the basis of creativity – to create something out of nothing. For some, creativity means honing a craft over time. In this music, the honing is in the doing of it. While you are making it, you will feel the creativity of it expand. This is also true if you play music with a group of people over time. You will have a history of creativity. This does not mean creating things that are to be repeated, but rather things that are always new and unique.

Undisciplined Music – the concept that art must be rooted in technique, education and history has proven to be a useful one. But it is a mistake to believe that this is the only way to artistic expression. Artists depend on the spontaneous – where else would it come from? There is a common understanding among artists of all kinds: training has its purpose, but the real accomplishment is to leave it behind. Many great artists have had no training at all, except their experiences.

No Beat, No Melody – not to imply that you couldn’t have a beat or a melody. But a response of this kind suggests that if it doesn’t sound like popular music it isn’t legitimate. You don’t have to be able to dance to it, sing with it, or think that it is what everyone else wants to hear, for it to be music. Beats and melodies can come and go, or don’t need to be there at all. Expanding the idea of what music is, is part of the fun, part of the challenge.