The Lifehouse Method
Encyclopedia
The Lifehouse Method was an Internet site where applicants could sit for an electronic musical portrait made up from data they enter into the website. This website was the result of a collaboration between The Who
's principal songwriter and composer Pete Townshend
, composer Lawrence Ball
and software developer Dave Snowdon. The website was operated by Eel Pie Recording Production, Limited, a company set up in 1970 by Pete Townshend.
, difficulties in funding and implementing the project led to its release as The Who's highly successful album Who's Next
instead. Although some of the key Lifehouse songs were left off Who's Next, the basic concept of the opus is still recognizable within the album.
In Lifehouse Townshend predicted a future wherein the population was forced inside by heavy pollution and connected in their homes to an Internet
-like "Grid" through which media moguls provided programmed entertainment. Rebels escaped this situation and gathered together to perform a live musical concert which generated a nirvana like state of universal unity.
Townshend hoped to link the audience in a way that would reflect the personalities of the audience members. To do this, he adapted VCS3 and ARP synthesizers and a quadraphonic PA to create a machine capable of generating and combining personal music themes written from computerized biographical data. He expected these thematic components would merge to form a "One Note" or "universal chord" representing the audience, and by extrapolation, all of humanity.
Although the original project proved too ambitious for the technology available in 1971, Townshend revisited the Lifehouse concept in The Who's album Who Are You
and in his radio play and recording Psychoderelict
. He continued discussion of these themes in his later opus The Boy Who Heard Music
.
This last work somewhat followed the Lifehouse interactive format, starting life as a novella on Townshend's Internet blog site in 2005 and 2006, where he opened an interactive discussion with readers. Material from the novella then went into songs for The Who's album Endless Wire
and into a full length rock musical which premiered July 13, 2007, as part of Vassar College
's Powerhouse Summer Theater workshop series. Townshend also intended this story to become an animated film.
The Lifehouse Method website was discontinued in July 2008, having generated over 10,000 pieces of unique, customized music.
In January 2012 Method Music
by Lawrence Ball, consisting of music created by Ball with assistance from Townshend using the Lifehouse Method, will be released by Navona Records
.
The website musical team expected to choose some of these portraits for further development into larger compositions or songs that will be presented in a concert or concert series, with the applicant receiving a portion of any income generated. However, to date no concert has been arranged.
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
's principal songwriter and composer Pete Townshend
Pete Townshend
Peter Dennis Blandford "Pete" Townshend is an English rock guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and author, known principally as the guitarist and songwriter for the rock group The Who, as well as for his own solo career...
, composer Lawrence Ball
Lawrence Ball
Lawrence Ball is an English musician and composer who currently lives in North London. He produces multi-media compositions, performs in concert, and also works as a private tutor in mathematics, music theory and physics....
and software developer Dave Snowdon. The website was operated by Eel Pie Recording Production, Limited, a company set up in 1970 by Pete Townshend.
History
The Lifehouse Method grew out of Pete Townshend's ground-breaking 1971 futuristic composition Lifehouse. Although Townshend originally intended Lifehouse as a multi-media, audience-participation musical production to follow The Who's TommyTommy (rock opera)
Tommy is the fourth album by English rock band The Who, released by Track Records and Polydor Records in the United Kingdom and Decca Records/MCA in the United States. A double album telling a loose story about a "deaf, dumb and blind boy" who becomes the leader of a messianic movement, Tommy was...
, difficulties in funding and implementing the project led to its release as The Who's highly successful album Who's Next
Who's Next
Who's Next is the fifth studio album by English rock band The Who, released in August 1971. The album has origins in a rock opera conceived by Pete Townshend called Lifehouse. The ambitious, complex project did not come to fruition at the time and instead, many of the songs written for the project...
instead. Although some of the key Lifehouse songs were left off Who's Next, the basic concept of the opus is still recognizable within the album.
In Lifehouse Townshend predicted a future wherein the population was forced inside by heavy pollution and connected in their homes to an Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
-like "Grid" through which media moguls provided programmed entertainment. Rebels escaped this situation and gathered together to perform a live musical concert which generated a nirvana like state of universal unity.
Townshend hoped to link the audience in a way that would reflect the personalities of the audience members. To do this, he adapted VCS3 and ARP synthesizers and a quadraphonic PA to create a machine capable of generating and combining personal music themes written from computerized biographical data. He expected these thematic components would merge to form a "One Note" or "universal chord" representing the audience, and by extrapolation, all of humanity.
Although the original project proved too ambitious for the technology available in 1971, Townshend revisited the Lifehouse concept in The Who's album Who Are You
Who Are You
Who Are You is the eighth studio album by English rock band The Who. It was released on 18 August 1978, through Polydor Records in the United Kingdom and MCA Records in the United States. It peaked at #2 on the US charts and #6 on the UK charts...
and in his radio play and recording Psychoderelict
Psychoderelict
Psychoderelict is a concept album written, produced and engineered by Pete Townshend. Some characters and issues presented in this work were continued in Townshend's later opus The Boy Who Heard Music, first presented on The Who's album Endless Wire and then adapted as a rock musical.This is...
. He continued discussion of these themes in his later opus The Boy Who Heard Music
The Boy Who Heard Music
The Boy Who Heard Music is a rock opus that began life as an Internet novella written by musician and songwriter Pete Townshend. Townshend wrote in the foreword to the novella that he typically sketches out his opera in this way to lay out the plots and storylines, but in this case he published the...
.
This last work somewhat followed the Lifehouse interactive format, starting life as a novella on Townshend's Internet blog site in 2005 and 2006, where he opened an interactive discussion with readers. Material from the novella then went into songs for The Who's album Endless Wire
Endless Wire (The Who album)
Endless Wire is the eleventh album by the English rock band The Who released on 30 October 2006, through Polydor Records and the following day in the United States by Universal Republic. It was their first new album of original material in twenty-four years following the release of It's Hard in 1982...
and into a full length rock musical which premiered July 13, 2007, as part of Vassar College
Vassar College
Vassar College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York, in the United States. The Vassar campus comprises over and more than 100 buildings, including four National Historic Landmarks, ranging in style from Collegiate Gothic to International,...
's Powerhouse Summer Theater workshop series. Townshend also intended this story to become an animated film.
The Lifehouse Method website was discontinued in July 2008, having generated over 10,000 pieces of unique, customized music.
In January 2012 Method Music
Method Music
Method Music is a double-album of electronic music by the English composer and mathematician Lawrence Ball created using the compositional system that would become The Lifehouse Method, an online-based compositional project conceived by Pete Townshend of The Who to compose customized...
by Lawrence Ball, consisting of music created by Ball with assistance from Townshend using the Lifehouse Method, will be released by Navona Records
Navona Records
Navona Records is an American independent record label based in the Seacoast region of New Hampshire owned by PARMA Recordings. Navona's sister companies via PARMA include the Ravello, Big Round, MMC, and Capstone Records label imprints, and the label is distributed by Naxos...
.
The Method
The Lifehouse Method is a software that will create a musical portrait. The applicants registered at the website and received a password which allowed them to create a composition.The website musical team expected to choose some of these portraits for further development into larger compositions or songs that will be presented in a concert or concert series, with the applicant receiving a portion of any income generated. However, to date no concert has been arranged.