The Enneagram: Day 1 + 2

Yesterday when I was sitting in class, I started to brainstorm possible projects I could do with the plentiful time that I had. What could I do with music?

That's when the idea popped into my head. Make a concept album based off of the Enneagram. 9 personalities. 9 songs. Perfect.

I'm just going to start by posting my fill in for the outline. I'll probably update it over the course of the project as things change. For now, these are my beginning goals.

Project: The Enneagram

Artistic Intention/Terrain of Inquiry

• Why do people act the way they do?
• How to people develop psychological defenses?
• How do our psychological defenses destroy our lives?
• How can you learn to understand others?
• Is it possible for us to tap into our full potential as a human being?

Technical Intention

• Practicing stealing from other musicians
• Making songs that are whole (that don't sound pasted together)
• Experimenting with genres and the fusion of such
• Learning more music theory to add flavor to my songs
• Working in a recording studio with technology and equipment
• Gaining confidence to perform my music live and giving good stage presence

Influences

• The Enneagram (of course)
• Freudian psychology
• Rock/Pop musicians (Cold War Kids, The Beatles, Kate Bush, Tune-Yards, St. Vincent, Gorillaz)
• Some Jazz (like the song Take 5)
• Balkan Brass (Veveritse, Slavic Soul Party)

Community

• Cheerleaders: Emily, Jessica, Anika, and all the other lovely people at the back corner lunch table
• Coaches: Luke, I suppose
• Sounding Boards: Scott, and anyone else who cares to listen
• Commiserators: My parents (they're GREAT to complain to/enthuse with because we agree on everything. I suppose that's what they raised me for).
• Me:
• Moral support (at the moment)

Process Documentation:

• Lots and lots of notes in my notebook (and other places)
• Recordings of songs (which I hope to generate)
• Outline of Enneagram system (which I hope to post with due time, perhaps when I finish the book I am reading)
• This blog

Let me start from the beginning of the project as I've worked on it so far.

I'd say the work on this project really started for me when I first listened to "Robbers and Cowards" by Cold War Kids. Even though I've been a fan of them ever since Phil Jimenez introduced me to them last year, I never listened to their first album until now. For me, it's a complete and utter game changer.

There are so many things in that album Cold War Kids does right, even though the songs often have no more than 3 chords. With the simplicity, they made great melodies, catchy rhythms, and songs that really stick with out.

My favorite songs on the album in particular are "Hang Me Out to Dry" (2 chords) and "Saint John" (maybe 3 chords?). "Saint John" in particular was the greatest game changer for me.

One problem I have with most rock music is its simple sound, simple rhythms, and general irritatingness over long periods of time. I've been frustrated with myself ever since I started making music because I couldn't help but fall into this very trap. It's made me believe that my songs are mediocre, causing me to try to create complexity that I couldn't do because I simply was not at a high level of skill.

Then, I heard this song. Almost no chord progression, same melody all the way through, but it was amazing. The chanting, the rhythm, the passion. I figured this song may even reach father approval level (he's usually my standard for real quality music).

So I showed it to my dad. He noticed something very interesting. The song had ragtime rhythm, where the beat could be counted in 2 or 3 at the same time. This simple little song is more complex than most generic pop music.

Heck, I can do something like that.

Thus I set my goal for the project: songs with complex rhythms and not complex chord progressions, great melodies, and experimentation with different genres.

As soon as I set my mind on this project, I literally could not stop thinking about possible songs. I started hearing melodic riffs in my head and noting them down via writing and audio recording on my phone. On the first day I had an idea about what 4 of my songs were going to sound like. One sounds like Cold War Kids, one sounds Balkan, one sounds 20s theatre, and one sounds cool jazz. Will I use these all? Probably not, but it's sure a good start.

I've been going crazy over this project already. Today in school, I found myself almost completely unable to focus because I had so many sounds, words, and information, moving through my head at the same time.

Reading into the enneagrams, I've even started being more perceptive of people. I feel a warmer, bluish feeling around everyone.

Now to get to what I was working on today. After reading the introduction to the enneagram system (which I will write more in depth about once I gain a greater understanding and I have more time to write), I decided to start with learning about personality #3. One of the theories of the enneagram is the way it works in threes, so that type 3, 6, and 9 are the main types, and the other numbers are variations. Type 3 is obsessed with feelings, type 6 with fear/paranoia, and type 9 with anger/frustration.

While remembering the random music riffs I though of last night, I started to hear a piano playing in 5/4 time signature for type 3. Based on my goals of learning various genres and music as well as extending music theory knowledge, I decided heck, why not give a song in 5/4 a shot. As long as I keep the chords simple, I think I can handle it.

After looking over my notes, I figured out a basic chord progression from the song. It starts with an Em7, slides into a D bar chord without the third finger for a G6. Then, I follow that with placing back down the 3rd finger for a D major.

I knew I couldn't write a song in 5/4 without listening to "Take 5" first. When I listened to it though, I realized how much I stole. I also realized, this is ok, because any jazz-like song in 5/4 is Take 5, and if I add my own variations it becomes a creature of my own.

The problem here was writing lyrics. Who thought it'd be so hard to fit words into 5/4? The English language is definitely not meant for 5/4. My mind is going between jazz like melodies and rap like chanting, as well as multiple personas in the same song. I'm trying to avoid multiple personas in my songs because that makes them confusing to perform, but I'll just see where this one leads me.

Although this 5/4 is a challenge (and probably an unnecessary one), I'm having way to much fun to quit yet. I'll just see how it grows.