When creating this piece, I inadvertently built myself a beautiful gilded musical cage, using a seemingly benign chord sequence and a catchy rhythm. And then, still unaware of my peril, I blithely settled down inside, closed the door, and unwittingly locked it with a lovely lyrical melody. I spent several hundred pleasant measures inside that cage, chirping and cheeping cheerfully away.

Eventually, I tired of the cage and its chord structure and rhythm, and even with the pretty melody, and told them that I would like to come out now, please.

And they said Nope.

For several days, I tried to change that musical cage into something less confining — after all, it’s easy enough to change a chord sequence and a rhythm, right?

Wrong. Once established — and they were FULLY established — those gilded musical bars were practically set in stone, and any changes I made just sounded weird or downright wrong. And, that lovely lyrical melody utterly refused to unlock, and wouldn’t let me change either the chords or the rhythm. Hmm…

Once I realized that the lyrical melody was the crux of the problem, I went to work with a pair of musical wirecutters, carefully snipping and trimming until I’d pruned it down to a 4-bar motif — still recognizable, still lyrical, and much less controlling. And then, finally, I was able to change the rest of the piece, open the cage door, and blessedly stretch my wings.

And so, I give you this piece: Uncaged.

Snip, snip… Flap flap flap.


Cello, cello, and more cello: Betsy Tinney
Wall of cello: Betsy Tinney
Drum: Logic Pro’s inimitable virtual drummer Darcy
Drum programming: Betsy Tinney
Composed & recorded by Betsy Tinney; Patreon mix by Betsy
Final mix (for Into the Realm) by Jeff Bohnhoff