How to Play Experimental Music

For some academics, experimental music means the realm of composers like John Cage and a specific "school" of composing, but in popular usage, the term just refers to the burgeoning scene of independent, low-fi home composers. Experimental musicians meet to play tunes for each other, attend festivals, and put their sounds on the web for others to hear, but they rarely codify their music by belonging to an academic group of composers. Here are some general tips for creating in a genre whose very name implies a testing of boundaries and conventions.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

1. Involve ambient sound. Lots of experimental musicians rely on "non-tone" sounds to create impressions in the minds of listeners. These can be as passive as ocean or wildlife sound or as explosive as sirens and, well, explosions. Sound art aficionados will point out specific ambient sounds as they listen to their favorite tracks.
2. Utilize musicality. A great temptation of experimental musicians is to "devolve" into completely toneless sound. Part of this results from sound artists who don't know how to play any instruments, but no one is immune. Try to find ways to include note-driven music in your compositions, it makes the sound much more accessible to listeners.
3. Add complexity to your process. Rather than just recording guitar, bass and drum tracks, most experimental musicians like to push the envelope of what is included in the sound menu. To this end, they also like to create new machines and equipment for producing their sounds. Experimental musicians make digital instruments out of almost anything to add to the creative process of getting new sounds down on digital tracks.
4. Master transitions. Another problem with a lot of experimental music involves repetition. It almost seems as if there's a skills gap with many sound artists. It's easy to create a one-groove, one-rhythm track, but it's a lot more difficult to create a track where keys and rhythms change. As that may be, your music will become brighter, bolder and more interesting when transitions are added. Work with the idea of transitioning in tracks to make your music superior to a lot of what's out there.
5. Work toward cohesion. In the same vein, lots of experimental artists are good at creating great sounds, but the full-lengths albums, when released or played, lack direction. Draw out "road maps" for your tunes to make sure you are looking at the big picture.
6. Make experimental music with other musicians. With the Internet getting into almost every aspect of human life, now there's RiffWorld, a platform where musicians can meet each other and collaborate to record music online. If you're tired of the solo act, check out collaboration portals online and get more feedback from other musicians.