palindrome zoo

I am playing with retrograde. It's a fun technique - in essence, a musical palindrome. Sometimes song-writing gets so banal. Let's face it- songs are pretty banal. Popular song form is about as cookie cutter as you can get. Not to say it doesn't take real skill to make a 'good song' within that structure. But it feels so limiting. As with most of my songs, the piano comes first. Sometimes I'll start with lyrics and a melody, and there's always such a difference - I know I need to stretch myself to do more of that, because it's counter-instinctual for me. But the real 'play' is always at the piano. So I've been working on 2 lines of counterpoint that can be played forward and then backward, so they create a mirrored phrase. And then adding the challenge of augmentation... So, say you take the left hand line and double the length of each note value. Now it takes two cycles of the right hand to play in conjunction with the right hand, and it makes new counterpoint. And also a longer phrase to put in retrograde. It's a lot of fun... most of this, I start at the piano, then work out the 'math' as it were, on paper, and come back to it, play it, and have the fun surprise of hearing how it sounds. Between you and me, a lot of it sounds like garbage! But it's a good game, and it gives me lots of ideas and lots of material that i wouldn't have just discovered otherwise. When I get something I like, then the real fun is making a vocal line that plays within and around that. Usually I end up singing what I can't manage to cover with my hands. Sometimes this is just a purely rhythmic element.. my dream set-up at the piano is to have a small kick-drum under the piano so I can add what I'm already hearing. Then I guess I'll have to have jingle bells strapped to my other leg, and a trained monkey to play the crash cymbols.
A parrot would be even better, cause then he could sing harmonies too. I'll call my band "Palindrome Zoo".

Let it be known that I would like a musical studio with the piano on adjustable legs - so that I could play it standing sometimes, so I can dance around a bit. And a drum kit incorporated into and around the piano. Live birds flying around for inspiration (open, of course, to the tropical outdoors), and a good supply of home-made percussion and instruments for visitors. This studio should have, as mentioned, walls that open right up to the outdoors. There must be a recording setup that is ludite-friendly, with one button for 'microphones on' and another button for 'record'. And so on.
Outside the studio there should be several self-contained cottages/bungalows, and a common house with a huge kitchen for communal meal-preparations and many soft surfaces for lounging.
It goes without saying that this place will be within a stone's throw of fantastic forest/jungle and ocean. And that animals will abound. The house will also be called "Palindrome Zoo".

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