Extensive vs. intensive expression
+ ++ The study of phsyics contrasts physical properties as either extensive or intensive. An extensive property is dependent on magnitude (of either a material or a system), whereas an intensive property is not. An example would be a sample of water: the volume (say, 1 gallon) is extensive, and its density (about 1 g/mL) is intensive. If you add another gallon, the volume of the sample would change, but its density would not. +
+ I like the terms extensive and intensive. + I find them useful for describing situations where you have two related concepts, but one faces outward and the other inward. + A good example of this would be two contrasting types of expression that occur in the process of writing music. +
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+ The first type is how the music makes use of the space of possibilities available. + This includes: +
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- the approach to rhythm & pitch +
- the style or genre +
- the choice of instrumentation +
- the specific ways in which instruments could be used (their ranges, extended techniques) +
- recording & production techniques +
- &c., many other things +
+ From this point of view, expression is reaching into this possibility space to discover novelty and project it onto a blank canvas. + This is what I would call extensive expression. + I think of it as being more aligned with the early stages of writing music: brainstorming and digging around for good ideas to grow. +
+ Intensive expression, on the other hand, is focused on understanding the nature of the music which is taking shape. + You zero in on the specific musical statement you are making, and help the music to become more itself, more of “what it is”, so to speak. + The wider space of possibilities gets progressively pruned off as your gut leads you to a distilled form. + If extensive expression is about exploration, intensive expression is about receptivity. +
+ Do you notice a parallel to these types of expression in your creative process?
+ Do you think this interpretation of these terms is a stretch, given their meaning in physics?
+ Do you have an alternative way of looking at musical expression that I don’t touch on here?
+ Let me know your thoughts at my Ctrl-C email: <my username>@<domain name>.
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