When considering what we could do for the audio documentary, there were many thought that came to mind. Chasing children and hearing them get ready for bed, hearing the process of writing a poetry slam, and hearing the process of beginning to write a song. We decided to go with the latter. We all crammed into Colby’s warm home as he and his friend Seth began to pluck away at their instruments. Initially, things felt clunky and unobserved, but it felt good as things began to take mold. It immediately became clear that a process was not only prevalent, but necessary in creating.
As we dove further into the art of documenting processes, we were able to more easily recognize the numerous characteristics of a task such as this. Through the process we recorded of two young mens’ jam session and also the assigned viewings from last week, we could see that throughout the world people participate in common processes, however, the differences lie in preferences, circumstances, and social norms. For example, when viewing The Mercandantes’ Five we follow an unsuspecting bunch of children who originate from various parts of the globe. The short film is a series of juxtaposed sequences of the five children getting ready for the day. One example of a micro-process represented in the film is breakfast time. Utensils used range from hands or bread in India to a spoon in Africa. Vastly different, yes, yet all achieve the same purpose: to eat the first meal of the day. While watching, I assumed the final product of the process would be the children at school. However, we come to find out they all end up in their respective houses of worship. A simple yet surprising process, indeed.
The process of creating something from nothing, of spontaneously working with someone in the moment to produce a work of art is wonderful. The making of an impromptu song was fun, and the solitary audio aspect offers a unique way to tell the story. This reminds of a popular YouTuber, the pianist Kyle Landry, that has gained a significant following. Kyle Landry on YouTube has done several covers of very popular songs, but he also has a series of videos where he does musical improvisation. He sits down and begins to play. He chooses a chord progression, a melody, and just has fun with it. This process can be a bit more difficult with two people instead of one. What can be uncertain and rough at first in musical improvisation, can quickly find its voice and develop into something truly original and wonderful. Following the different stages of creating and improving on a song, the process changes and progresses as one chord flows to the next.
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