Music Composers Unite!

World's Longest Piece

Information

We are creating the world's longest "through composed" piece of music. Want to be a part of history?

Members: 49
Latest Activity: 7 hours ago

Help compose the World's Longest Piece!

The rules:

Each composer gets up to 2 minutes of one section for which he/she is resposible. The composer will deliver a stereo audio file of that section. The composer will own his section of music, but must release it under a creative commons license, allowing it to be placed within the larger composition.

The music will not be for sale or license. If any money is generated from the work, that money will be given to a charity (voted on by the contributing composers.)

This is an unending work. Our hope is to have hundreds of composers work on it, and to always be adding new ones.

Each section should flow as well as possible into the next, therefore we are creating a pattern of simple transition rules for the composer to follow as much as they can.

Let's make history, baby.

Read Before Composing.

Sign up to participate here!

(we want a player here that will allow you to input your mp3 where it goes and do the crosfades accordingly. Leaving blank spaces and silence for the empty spaces that have yet to be composed. Anyone know how to do this?)

Discussion Forum

Dropbox (Upload your files here:) 14 Replies

Started by Chris Merritt. Last reply by Rudolf Schmitt 12 hours ago.

Section Chart 88 Replies

Started by Chris Merritt. Last reply by Simon Godden Dec 22.

Read before composing! 7 Replies

Started by Chris Merritt. Last reply by AndrewG Dec 21.

Transitions 1 Reply

Started by Simon Godden. Last reply by Chris Merritt Dec 7.

The aesthetic question 4 Replies

Started by Simionescu - Panait Andrei. Last reply by Simon Godden Nov 25.

Comment Wall

Comment

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Comment by Simon Godden on December 17, 2009 at 1:26am: Great John, keep it up.

Comment by John Elliott on December 16, 2009 at 7:44pm: Just a note (maybe intended to keep myself honest / working), but I started my section (Track 6: BM/120bpm to F#M/100bpm) yesterday. I worked on the beginning of the structure yesterday and today, and am making progress. I should be able to turn my section in by Jan 10th, unless the holidays get in the way (like that would ever happen!).

--John

Comment by Simon Godden on December 16, 2009 at 6:36pm: John Cage's "Organ2/ASLAP" is one of many marathon compositions that are easily discounted, including this:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts_and_culture/8252444.stm

...which is even longer by 350 years and is already nearly 10 years since the performance began (it's scheduled duration is the length of the 3rd millenium since the year of our reckoning).

However, there are certain restrictions attached to these works. Is it really feasible to take seriously a piece of music that takes longer to play than it does compose? Any idiot could scribe 10 chords in semibreves/whole notes, give it a tempo of 10 beats per decade and write an inscription at the top saying "to be repeated 10 to the power of 10 times", and call it "Decimalism". OK, you could also argue the fact that, at least "Organ2" is being performed as we speak, but is weighting down organ pedals really performance?
This present project that you've been asked to contribute to (in the way of music), when finished, AND if we can recruit the numbers, can fall under any number of credible categories as the "World's Longest Piece", be it the largest number of composers, or the most geographically far-reaching number of contributors, or whatever. Only one thing is certain. Somehow, it WILL succeed.

Comment by Eric Fretheim on December 16, 2009 at 5:00pm: I'll be perusing the chart tonight. In the meantime, I'm curious: on what grounds have you discounted John Cage's "Organ2" (also known as "As Slowly As Possible")? Not that I'm opposed to discounting it. In fact, I'm a big fan of discounting any and all compositions by him. Just curious what the answer is.

Comment by Chris Merritt on December 6, 2009 at 7:01pm: I added a new place to upload your .mp3 and .wav files:

http://composersforum.ning.com/group/worldslongestpiece/forum/topics/dropbox-upload-your-files-here

Comment by Simon Godden on December 1, 2009 at 7:31pm: Ok, I gotcha.

Comment by Chris Merritt on December 1, 2009 at 12:32pm: No not exactly. But most composers' sections will be very close to 2 minutes, so to be fair - keep it as close as possible.

Comment by Simon Godden on December 1, 2009 at 6:26am: hi Chris! Does each contribution HAVE TO be EXACTLY no more than 2 minutes? It's just that I'm well into my slot now, but I don't have much room left for any significant development.

Comment by Chris Merritt on November 26, 2009 at 4:36pm: Any file that has been handed in is linked in the section chart, under the track number...

Comment by Simon Godden on November 25, 2009 at 4:08pm: Hey Chris! Is it true that only the composers that have handed in their files, can listen to what has been written altogether so far?