The use of chance within a composition acts as a floodgate; open the floodgates and the sounds come rushing in. Within the DAW this can very quickly ‘flood’ the entire piece and result in chaos. The process of sifting begins, selecting the desired echoes, bleeps, duplications, distortions, melodic patterns, and if you are lucky, exquisite harmonious chordal relationships. The sifting process can be likened to searching for pearls on an ocean bed. The artist must then navigate carefully through the chaos. Done with patience the path stays clear. If rushed and traversed heavy-handedly the soil can stir and muddy up the waters. Once clouded, a careful selective process can then bring clarity to the piece; the cloudiness is removed as the soil settles. The excessive over crowding of chance driven sound creation can result in inaudible junk and the trash bin may be the only option.
Chance, although creating multiple compositional possibilities, can only take the artist so far and it has its own restrictions. Revisiting certain formulas that initially produced interesting elements, at a later date may derive lifeless results. Tacita Dean claims once showing Collections in 1995, her process then became too self-conscious and the system shutdown (Dean 2000, p. 215). Likewise for me, once creating successful elements with ‘happening’ chance operations, I found later attempts with the same formula produced disappointing outcomes. The power in chance lies in its freshness. Lose the freshness and the work becomes stale.
