9 Weeks is a process metaphor for churning creative ideas. In order to hone our skills we often need to work heavily on one simple task for a semi-extended duration of time. 9 Weeks provides this context.
The First Project, which is temporarily being called “from 10 to 60 seconds” will have musicians observe one sonic event and take from that event one 10 second sample with which they will recreate the full original sound experience. Kickoff date: May 1, 2006. Have at it.
If people up here enjoy this process, we can discuss future 9weeks projects from there.
Original Post from NIDMM:
I read this post today, and it reminded me of similar processes of creative thinking. I’ve had writing professors who would hand out an object at the beginning of the semester and all of the papers to be written during the course would be about that object alone, nothing else. What’s interesting is how this process tends to sharpen our abilities to define, analyze, and reform our ways of thinking and producing new objects for discussion. For instance, write a 3-5 page paper about a white, un-lined, single sheet of 8×11 paper.
So while it seems many of us are doing various projects on our own, developing new ideas–let’s all step into the dojo together on something. If people are up for this project, let me know and I’ll add a subsite to my webpage and set up accounts. Proposed rule: each of us picks one sound or sonic idea, and for the next 9 weeks (approx 3 months) we will output one minute (minimum) of audio and upload it to the site for peer review. Let’s see how this exercise affects our every day practice of sound production, ways we think about constucting a piece: what are its referents; what can be taken from how we use sound to produce affects; what are the questions, paradoxes, tensions, and contradictions we are trying to resolve–how effective are they, how can we make them moreso?