These cards evolved from our separate observations of the principles underlying what we were doing. Sometimes they were recognized in retrospect (intellect catching up with intuition), sometimes they were formulated. They can be used as a pack (a set of possibilities being continuously reviewed in the mind) or by drawing a single card from the shuffled pack when a dilemma occurs in a working situation. In this case the card is trusted even if its appropriateness is quite unclear. They are not final,as new ideas will present themselves, and others will become self-evident.
[First published 1975, slightly revised edition 1978. Unauthorized transcription by Rob Stanzel 1985 of unauthorized transcription by M. Skoner 9/79 (hi, Mark)]
Don't be frightened of cliches
What is the reality of the situation?
Are there sections? Consider transitions
Turn it upside down
Think of the radio
Allow an easement (an easement is the abandonment of a stricture)
Simple subtraction
Be dirty
Go slowly all the way round the outside
A line has two sides
Make an exhaustive list of everything you might do & do the last thing on it
Into the impossible
Towards the insignificant
Ask people to work against their better judgement
Take away the elements in order of apparent non-importance
Infinitesimal gradations
Change instrument roles
Accretion
Disconnect from desire
Emphasize repetitions
Faced with a choice, do both (given by Dieter Rot)
Children -speaking -singing
Lost in useless territory
A very small object
Its center
Don't be afraid of things because they're easy to do
Don't be frightened to display your talents
Breathe more deeply
Honor thy error as a hidden intention
What are the sections sections of? Imagine a caterpillar moving
Only one element of each kind
Is there something missing?
Use 'unqualified' people
How would you have done it?
Emphasize differences
Do nothing for as long as possible
Bridges -build -burn
Always give yourself credit for having more than personality (given by Arto Lindsay)
You don't have to be ashamed of using your own ideas
Tidy up
Do the words need changing?
Ask your body
Tape your mouth (given by Ritva Saarikko)
Water
Simply a matter of work
Make a sudden, destructive unpredictable action; incorporate
Consult other sources -promising -unpromising
Use an unacceptable color
Humanize something free of error
Use filters
Fill every beat with something
Discard an axiom
Not building a wall but making a brick
What wouldn't you do?
Lowest common denominator
Decorate, decorate
Balance the consistency principle with the inconsistency principle
Get your neck massaged
Listen to the quiet voice
Do the washing up
Is it finished?
Put in earplugs
Reevaluation (a warm feeling)
Give the name away
Intentions -nobility of -humility of -credibility of
Abandon normal instruments
Use fewer notes
Repetition is a form of change
Give way to your worst impulse
Reverse
Trust in the you of now
Imagine the piece as a set of disconnected events
What would your closest friend do?
Distorting time
Make a blank valuable by putting it in an exquisite frame
Feed the recording back out of the medium
Convert a melodic element into a rhythmic element
The most important thing is the thing most easily forgotten
[blank white card]
Ghost echoes
You can only make one dot at a time
Just carry on
(Organic) machinery
The inconsistency principle
Don't break the silence
Idiot glee (?)
Discover the recipes you are using and abandon them
Cascades
Courage!
Spectrum analysis
What mistakes did you make last time?
Consider different fading systems
Mute and continue
Be extravagant
It is quite possible (after all)
What are you really thinking about just now?
Don't stress on thing more than another [sic]
State the problem in words as clearly as possible
Assemble some of the elements in a group and treat the group
You are an engineer
Remove ambiguities and convert to specifics
Look at the order in which you do things
Go outside. Shut the door.
Disciplined self-indulgence
Do we need holes?
Cluster analysis
Always first steps
Cut a vital connection
Do something boring
Define an area as 'safe' and use it as an anchor
Is the information correct?
Overtly resist change
Question the heroic approach
Accept advice
Twist the spine
Work at a different speed
Look closely at the most embarrassing details & amplify them
Mechanicalize something idiosyncratic
Emphasize the flaws
Remember those quiet evenings
Take a break
Short circuit (example; a man eating peas with the idea that they will improve his virility shovels them straight into his lap)
Left channel, right channel, center channel
Use an old idea
Destroy nothing - the most important thing
Change nothing and continue with immaculate consistency
The tape is now the music