Some Concept Notes

This is the first installment of what will hopefully be an new series of posts, offering a series of exciting new concepts for film and music, few of which will ever be realized. Every post in this series is open source; we encourage all who read to feel free to challenge the world by bringing these dreams to fruition. Follow on, if you might be so inclined.


A MUSICAL JOURNEY THROUGH CHAIRS

As much as music has often been discussed as a social art form, a performance medium that exists, especially in popular genres, as a kind of barometer for the movement of societies and cultures, I have to say that there has been another, perhaps less romantic fact apparent about the use music in this century. A fact more derived from anecdotal evidence than anything else, but still one I cannot imagine many people contending. Which is that most people listen to music, recorded or performed, while sitting in chairs.

Think about it. When is the last time you decided to listen to music in some fashion, and ended up hearing it while not sitting in a chair? A chair at a concert, your computer chair, the seats on the subway or your car, an arm chair, even the living room couch, which functions as a surrogate chair in many families all over the American nation. I am listening to music while I write this post, and although I am technically sitting on an ottoman, I happen to be sitting on the ottoman almost exactly as one would otherwise sit on a chair.

In light of this, I have found myself wondering, often several times in the course of one day, if it would be possible to record an album in tribute to this fact, a kind of musical journey through the chairs of our life time.

While there are several notable contributions to the literature of chair-centric pop music, I believe the scope of this album would very much need to go further. What if, for example, the music for each song would be made to resemble the chair being honored? This could be done via Matmos like sampling techniques, or through more abstract gestures. In the case of chairs that date to very specific historical periods, or those that suggest very specific social/cultural tendencies, the music could reflect these very particular tendencies within the chair itself. A Bauhaus style chair might reference the classical music of early 1930s Germany , the 1980s goth band Bauhaus, or merely reflect the experience of the chair in a more pragmatic fashion. Every single disposable item at Ikea would have its own musical identity; every one who has ever spent considerable time in a car can find significance in the feel of its cushions.

Even looking past the possibilities in terms of installation art and licensed advertising, the performance possibilities opened up by this project are considerable. Imagine an enormous theatrical performance, the history of civilization as seen through its chairs, every chair scored with the perfect composition, accompanied by the actual chair itself, which the performers would proudly sit upon. Perhaps some lucky audience members would be able to sit in these chairs alongside the performers; the chairs would be paraded through the crowd for a victory lap following their musical selection. Just think of it, the way the music would tumble through your mind as you sit on the subway going home, as you sit on the toilet before going to bed, as you sit at your computer and e-mail your friends about the experience. Just think!

So, those of you sitting down right now could take this as a challenge. Are there any chairs you think particularly deserving of the musical treatment? Anyone writing a short piece of music inspired by this post will certainly have their efforts featured proudly on this blog.