I was in a contemplative mood today.

I wanted to write something simple, just chords that change slowly. So I started with a 4-note chord and repeated it, then started changing one note at a time on successive repeats. It’s kind of like the word game where you change one letter at a time to create a new word. It’s also kind of like a chain letter… or a game of telephone…

It’s hard to know when and how to end a process like this. I decided to stop when the lowest note of the chord was an octave lower than where it started. Then I added the very first chord, only an octave lower, at the end. But I could’ve gone on for hours, à la Erik Satie or Morton Feldman…

The interesting thing is, this piece took less time to write and record than the ones from days 1 – 4, but it’s much longer — just under 3 minutes, while the previous pieces are between 1 and 2 minutes. Simplicity is productive sometimes! 🙂

Click play to listen:

Thanks for listening!