To the Max!

A screenshot of my first Max patch, called BJEOEHTNHCOAVGEEN. For a slightly higher resolution, click here.

Just as this spring semester was starting, I wrote a blog post previewing the classes I would be taking. The image I included at the top of the post was a screenshot from Max/MSP (also known simply as "Max") and was accompanied by a caption that read "By the end of the semester, this image—a screenshot from Max/MSP—might make sense to me."

It has been a few weeks, and while I don't think I can make total sense of that image, I am well on my way. I have already put together a few "patches" (that is Max-specific programs); I cannot profess to be an expert at this point, but I have learned enough both to do some basic but entertaining things and also to realize that I am just beginning to scratch the surface.

In this post I will write about the first patch I created in Max, which I have called "BJEOEHTNHCOAVGEEN" (more on that title a little later). The assignment given to the class was intentionally vague: "Make a patch that does something." Like a number of other people in the class, in interpreting that directive I decided to have some fun.

Why I Write Music

When I recount to others how I have ended up studying music composition at the Hartt School after spending my undergraduate years at MIT, they often ask me "How?" or "Why?" (or in some cases, "Why!?!?!?!?!"). To be sure, these are valid questions, and I am always happy to oblige in answering them. Simple as it may seem, writing music was what made me the happiest at MIT. It certainly wasn't the only thing that made me happy there, and it would hardly be the only area I would study if I had four more years to spend there.

Still, writing music was—and continues to be—what gives me the greatest satisfaction. The gratification that comes with finishing a piece of music and—better yet—the thrill that accompanies hearing my music come to life as it is played for the first time, are feelings not quite like any others I have experienced.

But there is far more in writing music for me than the glamor that (hopefully) comes with a premiere (should I be lucky enough to get one). And while having other people perform my work is something of a power trip—especially for pieces written for larger ensembles—it's certainly not that, either. (That is a dangerous train of thought to follow too closely: while musicians are inevitably following your "orders" of what notes to play and what sounds to make, music would be appreciably more difficult to come by without them.)

Blizzard!

The description for my blog includes the phrase "anecdotal, tangential goodies," and I am aware that thus far the content has focused on the more serious and academic side of things (not that that can't be fun in its own right). But with an historic blizzard having just made its mark on Hartford and the rest of the Northeast, I figured it would be fun to share some pictures.

The city of Hartford woke up this morning with 27 (yes, that's twenty-seven) inches of snow on the ground.  Not quite as much as Hamden, CT (40 inches), but it's up there, even topping my hometown of Jamaica Plain, MA (25.5 inches).

So here are some photographic highlights, with captions included: