GeeksDreamgirl has an interesting take on using Dungeons & Dragon dice to stimulate your musical creativity.

Here’s her take on two of the more important dice:

d8

The d8 is perfect for learning scale degrees and practicing sight-singing.

Your first step is to grab a piece of staff paper and write out the scale you’re going to sight-sing in, numbering your scale degrees:

1. do
2. re
3. mi
4. fa
5. so
6. la
7. ti
8. do (upper)

Now, throw your d8 several times, writing down the resulting notes on the paper. You can start on do if you want. Once you’ve gotten a line of notes, sing it! Add rhythms or alternate octaves if you want to add a challenge.

d12

The d12 is Schoenberg’s dream die. Music majors, rejoice! Now the dice gods can determine your tone row for you.

The d12 is also excellent for all you wind players who have to do scale competencies in order to pass band. Pair it with the d4 for maximum torture… I mean, practice value.

1. C
2. C#/Db
3. D
4. D#/Eb
5. E
6. F
7. F#/Gb
8. G
9. G#/Ab
10. A
11. A#/Bb
12. B

Roll for your key!

Aleatoricism may have had its heyday in the 60’s, but it’s still an important tool for many electronic musicians. I like the idea of bringing more ideas from gaming into electronic music.

Image: Hugh Nelson