Mathematical Music

 

Materiale: intervju, Chronicles

Hva sier han?

Hva snakker han om? Hva består systemet i?

Den teoretiske bakgrunnen: tall og musikk

Teoretisk bakgrunn 2: rytmeteori

Den praktiske koblingen

 

He's been talking about this before, in recent interviews (and, possibly, in the Burling interview from 1966, where he goes on about "mathematical music"). I think - to be honest - that a lot of it is less clear-cut as a method than what he presents it as, and all this stuff about even and odd numbers - well, I don't think it makes sense as a consistent system, but that may not matter, if it has worked for him. Judging from the points he makes that are more or less clear, and that can be applied and compared to what he does on stage, it seems fairly clear that he's talking about the peculiar guitar style that he has developed during the Never Ending Tour years: the little two-three-note figure solos that he has kept churning out and that at times has driven most of us crazy, but which also — in a strange way and to a surprisingly high degree — work, musically. Outgrowths of this is probably also the sing-song/"up-singing" style of the recent years: it all fits his description fairly well, of a system of infinite permutations of very simple formulas, nothing to do with improvisation or inspiration, but a schematical approach to the basic chords and melodic shapes, which can be applied to just about any song — which is what he does. That said, I don't think it is a system that someone else can learn to use — it is hardly insignificant that there are twenty years of touring and music making between the time he first learned it and when he understood how to put it to use. It has taken him those years to gain the musicianship (and perhaps also the need for routine which persistent touring must bring with it) which he then could cross-fertilize with what Lonnie Johnson had told him, to produce his new method. In other words: I think Dylan should receive more of the credit for it than Lonnie.