Cookbooking - Disquiet0320 by morgulbee

Cookbooking – a composition for Disquiet Junto Project 0320 – February 2018

This is my second composition for the Disquiet Junto. The assignment this week: Choose a favorite book, then compose a piece of music with as many segments to it as there are chapters to the book. Compose each individual segment with the idea that it is loopable as background music while someone is reading the given chapter. Consider making connections between chapters through melodic themes or instrument choice and so forth.

I’m not one to read a book multiple times, so I can’t go back to one of my favorites and recall the story or tone of each chapter without spending the weekend rereading it. Therefore, my music is inspired by one of the few books I have read multiple times: The Fannie Farmer Cookbook!

The Fannie Farmer Cookbook has a gazillion chapters. I couldn’t possibly create that many segments in one weekend. So, I selected several of the major chapters and grouped others together to come up with six sections. I then composed six segments suitable to listen to while perusing recipes:

1. Appetizers and Soups
2. Fish and Shellfish
3. Meat
4. Poultry
5. Vegetables
6. Desserts

I incorporated some audio clips from freesound.org, under CC BY 3.0 licensing: Beach Waves Close by greencouch, and Rooster Crowing A by InspectorJ. The cow is a public domain sound. The clattering silverware and knife sharpening and chopping sounds I recorded myself.

I’m not sure all the segments in this piece really work as background music, but it was a fun challenge regardless.

You can read more about the Disquiet Junto at https://disquiet.com/junto/. You can listen to other submissions for this week’s project at https://disquiet.com/0320/