I just started to learn Erik Satie’s “Sonatine bureaucratique” after working through a bunch of somewhat boring minuets and other small pieces in the past weeks. I decided to try this one because it’s funny, not too long and because it would be a step up from playing meaningless small pieces all the time that don’t feel that rewarding. The piece, by making use of annotations, ironically describes moments in the day of a bureaucrat who for example is daydreaming about a raise and a new appartment. It also incorporates well known motives from the amateur piano repertoire of the 18th and 19th century, which underscore a certain dullness and antiquatedness of early 20th century bourgeois life.
However, I’m not sure if I underestimated the piece a bit and how much time it will take me to actually learn it. Most of the techniques required are not that hard and the minuets, some of which Satie ironically quotes, have prepared me quite well for it. But I do have some problems with certain jumps and with the rapid chord changes in some sections. So I’m excited to see if I can actually do it.
For those interested, here’s a link to a particular fast interpretation of the piece with score: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kME63-dByPQ
So what are you currently playing or working on?
I’m not an instrumentalist unfortunately. My arthritis was so bad that I had to put down guitar by middle school. I’m far more into the digital production side of things. [You want a unique and high quality mix?](https://youtu.be/n_hRgfhUzX4?si=IXCAg9vFMk7D3mZ9 (My mix starts at 44:30) I’m great at it. Making sounds? Literally have a synth sound on an Ariana Grande song. Remaking sounds?. Got it (warning, 6 year old pre transition video, I made that video when I was 16 be nice). Not saying this to flex, more just saying this because digital artists get overlooked quite a bit in the “What am I doing?” discussion for two reasons.
A. Other people don’t respect what they’re doing
B. They don’t even understand that they’re doing something other than dicking around on their laptops.
With that being said, I’m actually working on trying to make simpler but more dynamic tracks than I used to. I love rap and hip-hop, but believe that nowadays it’s nearly impossible to create something new and fresh from an outsider perspective. I plan on going back to writing my mix of whatever the hell I want to write, but for now my challenge is writing without drums or bass to add excitement. I make great songs with big 808s, not quite the oppsoite I’m also working on getting reverb to sound the way I really want
I think the “digital producers/mixers/composers aren’t real musicians” mentality stems from rockism biases, that real music is done in the “four lads start a band and write/perform all their own music” mode and anything else is a perversion of the holy mid-20th century pop rock purity. Historically, plenty of great classical composers weren’t virtuosos or live performers (Debussy hated playing his pieces live), and countless successful songwriters were barely above novice level on whatever instrument they composed on.
garage bros out here sleeping on Wendy Carlos