Take a look at that waveform for a moment. Note the way it changes as it makes the steady transition from left to right. Understand that the waveform is a visual representation of sound. Hold off before proceeding to read the following explanation, and first just spent a little time looking at the image.
Now, what that image depicts is not just a melody, but a melody as it slowly evaporates. The piece itself is simple, the same melody over and over — well, almost. Each time the melody repeats, you see, a note is removed. This process of repetition and reduction continues until there is no melody left — except, that is, to the extent that melodies involve silence as much as they do notes. Which is to say, even the absence of notes is, in effect, a melody, all the more so since the ear hears the notes that go missing. Which, in turn, means that at the end of a piece such as this, perhaps we still “hear” the melody, just with our inner ear.
This is a track submitted by one of the participants, who goes simply by lp, in this week’s Disquiet Junto project. You can listen to it here, and read more about the project, and listen to a playlist of all the tracks people are contributing.
Wow…thanks for mentioning my song. It is a privilege to be involved with the Junto.
LP
Thank you, Paul, for joining in. Much appreciated.