Perceiving Reflection

The exercise I did a few days ago on perceiving has left me thinking about how it is an important tool that affects creativity and individualistic thinking. Perceiving, to me, is interconnected with re-imaging, and is the ability to use our five senses to “study” an idea or concept that can be re-imaged with our unique perspective. Perceiving can be brief or it can be something that takes some time, depending on the individual and the subject matter; re-imaging comes next, a tool where one can use their imagination to re-create the perceived subject.

That is what I did with the “Rune of Punishment” song — for years I had listened to the song, but I had never listened to it in a way that allowed me to analyse the song. My analysis revealed to me a hidden instrument (the viola) and an interlude that emitted a hopeful mood instead of a melancholic one. I took the next step to re-image the song and thought about how the song would be if it were slower, or if the song would sound different if the instrumentation had changed. That led me to remember the second piece that featured the melody, and I also remembered that I had arranged the song on the piano a few years ago.

Rune of Punishment Midi File | Rune of Punishment Sheet Music

My arrangement is really simple because that is the level I can play at. I arranged the piece at a faster tempo because it gives the song a more frantic feel, and because it is a tempo I prefer playing at because the slower tempo would put me to sleep! When I did the perceiving exercise, I came to the realisation that my arrangement of the song is a form of “fanmix”. I also realised that fanmix should not be limited to fan-made soundtracks, but fan-made arrangements could also fall under this category. Music arrangers are taking pieces they know and are “re-creating” the pieces with new elements that make the piece familiar, yet different.

This “epiphany” of mine also reminded me of a very famous video game remix/fanmix site called OverClocked ReMix. This site and community have over 2,000 fan-made remixes from more than 500 fans. Fans who love video game music arranged and remixed their favourite songs to something of their “own” — their own tribute, so to say. For these fans, the music made an impact on them, and it helped their creative juice flow after they perceived these songs.

My own arrangement is nothing on the level of those on OC Remix. I will be the first to say that my piano skills are mediocre. However, that does not stop me from loving music, and there are just some songs that affect me to the point of wanting to learn how to play it on the piano, and figure out how to play it at my own level. My perceived notion of the song is “I love it, love it, love it — must learn it now on the piano so I can play it!”, and I then re-imaged it. Perceiving is a key to the door of creativity; if the individual feels something with their perceiving, they will unlock new ideas and concept that will contribute something similar or new to an existing idea. And that is the essence of fanworks.