Dreams of an Instrument Maker.txt

Dreams of an Instrument Maker		Essay by Edwin Rietmeijer

The article is basically a short fiction/non-fiction story based on the transition of the orthodox way of making instruments and music to a more abstract form of composition through the combination of creative design and technology. The instrument maker in the story is more than simply a maker of musical instruments, he is actually the creator of sound and the possibilities of uncomposed music in itself. He is able to realize the musical possibilities which only exist in his mind into physical instruments and is in essence the composer playing the musician.
	
The relation between the different colored texts is rather obvious. Black is objective, red is subjective and purple is the story of the instrument maker. Each part is related to each other because they all are based on the fact that the instrument being played is more than just an instrument, it is the possibilities of the composition itself. As stated before, the musician is a direct part of the composition (not the composer) because the musician is in actuality just a ‘mechanical part’ of the instrument played, not because he isn’t in control of the music he makes, but because the instrument is designed with that in mind.
	
Rokeby states that “this instrument creates new kind of problems”. What he means is that in conventional instruments the problems usually were no more complex than an out of tune string or a broken key on a piano, whereas now there were problems with realizing an idea through an instrument with limitless possibilities. The problem is no longer wondering how you can create an idea with an instrument, but creating a setting of the instrument for realizing an idea.
	
Rokeby also states that “the challenge becomes the creation of a music outside of time”. What is meant by this is that where conventional music is based on the progression of time in a composition is that with the new breed of instruments it is possible to transcend above a timeline and create multiple time progressions through multiple instances of the instrument. It is no longer necessary to hang on to the old way of proceeding through a composition as it is now possible for instance to speed up and slow down time for the listener because the instrument is created to be limitless.