Based in Fairfield, CT, Timothy (TJ) Leonard is adjunct instructor of education and literacy education at Sacred Heart University, with more than 15 years of experience as a teacher and administrator. Outside his literary interests, Timothy Leonard also promotes local independent musicians. You can use experimental musical techniques during any step of creating a song, resulting in a dynamic listening experience.
Though digital music creation, mixing, and mastering software give people more tools to work with, they are qualitatively-different from playing a physical instrument. If you play an instrument, or have a history of doing so, use that experience to guide you. Record yourself improvising on that instrument every day, and after several weeks, listen to those recordings. Use material from those improvisations to inspire new work.
Alternatively, if you want to embrace the opportunities afforded by digital instruments and software, you can use techniques like field recording. By capturing sounds, spontaneously or planned, in a space outside a traditional recording studio, you can produce more varied work. If you wish to introduce spontaneity into a recording or live performance, use randomness to determine what notes, rhythms, or other sounds play, for how long, and so on. If performing live, you can employ these techniques to ensure that no two performances will sound exactly alike.
