Musical Blueprints

 

I really like the idea that I continue to notate music and I find that it's become the blueprint for things that I'm doing now. If you have the blueprint and in the future something is destroyed, it can be rebuilt from the blueprint.

A couple weeks ago I asked a question on Quora whether there was a Frank Lloyd Wright building that was destroyed by a tornado or other natural disaster (not a fire) and whether it was rebuilt. Apparently, there was only one house that was reconstructed from the plans which I found quite remarkable because he built a lot of structures and there was only one that was affected. For all the buildings that are built in Tornado Alley, none of them have been hit by tornadoes. But the potential is there. But an accessible blueprint will make it possible to repair or reconstruct it if/when it happens.

The analogy with music is that if you have the digital notation "blueprint" you can reconstruct it in different ways and not necessarily do a precise restoration. It can be a new starting point, albeit one where there is a pre-existing grid or framework. Musical staves are that grid, but even memory fragments can serve as a grid.

In terms of manuscript paper, historically composers used blank sheets of paper and a 5-point staff pen to draw them freely. In any case, they began with something, even if it's a memory of an original that was lost or otherwise compromised. Sometimes having the blueprint can perhaps foil the potential for making something new or better. But in terms of the Wright analogy, the reconstruction would be done by the letter--the Wright way.

9/8/2022 (Edited)