Compose Your Words. Albany, NY: Intelligent Arts. (short eBook, 42p., 2014).

From the marketing statement: Compose Your Words is short eBook about making music with the spoken word. It’s fun. It has a history with artists through the 20th century. It’s an exciting and enjoyable way to be creative.  As Landy writes: “Think of the wide range of vocal sounds, including words, that we can use in a spoken poem. Imagine what we can do with our voice as an instrument of performance.” Landy takes you through the process of composition in a simple progressive sequence of 26 steps labelled from A to Z, some of which he created, many of which are based on works by well-known artists. He starts with simple rhythmic patterns and ends with technology and space. He writes: “I don’t want to put words in your mouths, take my words for it. I do want you to enjoy this and create.” And we, at Intelligent Arts, want everyone to enjoy and create. Send your compositions to us at cyw@intelligentarts.net. We may put them online for everyone to hear.

Table of Contents

Title
Copyright
Acknowledgements
Fore word

Section 1: Getting started
A Start with something simple
B Rhyme sequences with syncopated rhythms
C Alphabet soup
D Back to the future
E The art of repetition
F She will rock you

Section 2: Some techniques
G Interpreting words
H Expansion/contraction of texts
I Replacement
J Juggling words
K Modular approach
L Take a (musical) structure

Section 3: Looking elsewhere for materials
M Music of words
N Music of ???
O Other found objects
P Foreign languages
Q Recorded vocal samples
R The odd one out

Section 4: Onward beyond the word
S Phonemes
T Non-linguistic utterances
U The ‘mouth orchestra’
V The studio: montage
W The studio: sound
X The studio: voice synthesis

Section 5: Spacing out
Y A new dimension
Z Perform it anywhere

Back word