NOTE TO TONE

When an idea will not come. When you have been thinking about one thing for too long. Something entirely unrelated — a stranger's conversation overheard — can be what unlocks it. NOTE TO TONE generates words with no connection to anything, to work the stiffness out of an over-focused mind. ■ Random words, to loosen your head What appears is a short phrase that does not quite make sense. "a dry hourglass" — "unravel the heron" — "desperate for the layover" Look at it, and force yourself to find a meaning in it. The moment you try, your head starts looking down a different road. That is the whole point. ■ Words, music, and keeping them The words are random, yet now and then one arrives that somehow shows you a scene — one you want to keep. So you can stock them. And from that word, a piece of music of its own is made, and kept alongside it. The same phrase always makes the same music. ■…