Throughout this Creative Workshop, we explored improvisation and group collaboration as tools to develop and refine musical ideas. Working with musicians from Jazz, Pop, Classical, and Film pathways created a diverse environment where contrasting creative instincts had to coexist. This required flexibility, active listening, and negotiation—skills just as essential as instrumental technique.
From the start, I gravitated toward simple loops—short harmonic progressions or grooves that I could repeat endlessly. Playing electric bass rather than double bass gave me more control over tone and rhythm and allowed me to create grounding lines that held space for the rest of the group. I often started by cycling a two-chord pattern or repeating a phrase until something new emerged.
This approach is influenced by artists like Roger Waters and David Gilmour from Pink Floyd, and by producers like Rick Rubin. They all value repetition—not just as a structural tool, but as a way to access something deeper through patience and persistence. Waters, for example, talks about playing Em and A for hours on end (Waters, 2003). Similarly, Rubin writes, “Yet it’s through deliberate action and repetition that we gain deeper insight” (Rubin, 2023, p. 114). That mindset helped me embrace the idea that music doesn’t always have to change to move forward. Sometimes it just needs time to evolve.
But repetition also brings challenges. In the early sessions, I found myself stuck to loops not because they were the best choice, but because others in the group needed that stability to build on—making it harder to develop longer structures or surprise the listener.
The diversity of pathways in the workshop—Jazz, Classical, Pop, Film, Production—meant that everyone brought different strengths, vocabularies, and expectations. This was especially noticeable in the early sessions, where some students had limited experience. To make things accessible, we often simplified our harmonic language, staying within one scale or basic progression.
One of our most consistent collaborators was Ivan Yakutin, a student on the Film Music pathway. He was always thinking about structure, key changes, and contrast. At times, this clashed with my more loop-based, improvisational mindset. He’d push for modulation or a new section, while I preferred to dig deeper into a groove. But over time, this led to some of our most interesting outcomes.
On the 9th of May, I took part in a group discussion with two classmates, Frank Dadd and Thabani Hobongwana, where we reflected on our processes and experiences. It was surprising how many themes overlapped between us, even though our musical backgrounds differ. Frank, a guitarist who also plays bass, talked about how he often builds ideas by responding to what others are doing. Like me, he uses voice memos to capture fragments and sometimes draws from notation software when working outside of class. Thabani, on the other hand, described himself as someone who finds it hard to write from a blank page. He prefers to compose in response to something—a chord progression, a melody, or even just a rhythmic pattern. He’s recently started recording ideas more deliberately, treating his voice notes as a kind of sketchbook.
What stood out to me in that conversation was how all three of us rely on some form of repetition to get started. For me, it’s looping a bass line. For Thabani, it’s listening back to old voice memos and expanding on a previous idea. For Frank, it’s building off a melodic or harmonic fragment and seeing where it leads. We all agreed that repetition isn’t about laziness—it’s about depth. It gives us a foundation to experiment on top of, and a way to listen more carefully.
Frank mentioned a time when his group got stuck on a funky A section and struggled to transition into a more classical B section. The difference in time feel caused tension—especially between the drummer playing in strict time and the pianist used to more rubato playing. Thabani shared a similar issue: his group’s pianists, who came from a classical background, found it hard to lock into a groove. But that same pianist ended up contributing a bold idea—using Ode to Joy in a funk context—which became a surprising success. That reminded me that conflict in a group can be a source of creativity, as long as there’s trust and openness.
We also agreed that having a smaller group helped: once some members stopped attending, the dynamic improved. We had more space to explore and make decisions. This reminded me that collaboration isn’t just about musical compatibility—it’s also about showing up, being present, and staying open to others.
Reflecting on the workshop as a whole, I’ve realised that my role in these settings is often that of a stabiliser. I create the groove that others build on. I listen for the gaps and try to fill them without overplaying.
An analysis of Pink Floyd’s use of time and repetition shaped how I think about stasis in music. It shows how resisting harmonic progression in favour of texture and feel can create a trance-like experience. Cohen (2022) similarly notes that harmonic stasis and oscillation in their work can alter listeners’ perception of time. I felt a comparable effect in our workshop pieces—especially when we sustained a groove long enough for the listener to get lost in it.
The Creative Workshop gave me a clearer sense of how I function in group music-making. I’ve become more conscious of how I use repetition and when it helps or hinders the overall direction of a piece. It also helped me recognise when to step forward with ideas and when to leave space for others. These sessions didn’t change how I create music, but they sharpened my awareness of group dynamics and how to work more effectively within them.
References
Beethoven, L. van (1824) Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 [‘Ode to Joy’ – 4th movement]. Public domain.
Cohen, G. (2022) Temporal Journey through Pink Floyd’s Music [Preprint]. Available at: https://www.academia.edu/121499122/Temporal_Journey_through_Pink_Floyds_Music_Preprint_Version [Accessed: 8 May 2025].
Rubin, R. (2023) The Creative Act: A Way of Being. New York: Penguin Press.
Waters, R. (2003) Classic Albums: Pink Floyd – The Making of The Dark Side of the Moon [Video file]. Isis Productions. Available at: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7r7dx8 [Accessed: 8 May 2025].
