As of December 2024, the new Programs section is live on emfred.com! Read the announcement blog post here, or dive right in for a selection of articles that cover the best pieces of software I’ve written over the years.

A successor project to Recordings Without Words, intended to journal a new period of musical development.

The best place to start is the cover page, found here.

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Pg 3 (October 30th 2024 - present)

Recently (c. March 2024) I’ve been dedicating a lot of time towards improving my musicianship, and the recordings I’ve been making as part of that project have gone primarily into a collection which I’m calling Recordings Without Words (RWW). This collection began as an aside in contrast to the music I’d post in my articles on harmony (e.g. the now-on-hold Chord Progression of the Week series), but has since grown into something more substantial. Concomitant with this growth is my newfound willingness to break the rule stated in the collection’s title; comments on the latest recordings are given below.

See the full list here.

(Note that the new (as of mid-June) Sketchbook project willl likely supplant RWW. Check there for new music!)

Latest Additions:

#18: Regenfall -- May 30th, 2024
The first recording in the set involving more than one instrument, and the first to incorporate electronic production. Primarily a guitar and piano duet, with the guitar recorded live and the piano synthesized from a sample-bank and played with a MIDI keyboard. A full breakdown of the production techniques used in the piece is soon to come.

#17: Lost and Found -- April 8th, 2024
Improvised figures over a pedal point.

#16: Alo Village -- April 1st, 2024
A tune featuring a somewhat impressionistic use of block chords. Observant listeners might be able to spot what the harmony in the middle section references.

#15: Anacapri -- April 1st, 2024
A journey through some harmonic tides.