You know, phrases that, well, contain actual wisdom.
At its core, the quote highlights the difficulties in covering one medium in another.
It seems to say that dancing about architecture isnt easy, but if you could manage it?
Well, itd be a sight to behold.
And that sight, friends, is Estelle CaswellsEarworm.
It’s free, every week, in your inbox.
Watch this episode on repetition on music and give a shot to tell me otherwise.
Caswell began herEarwormjourney as a video producer at Vox.
Which, in her case, meant music.
This led to her pitching some ideas to Vox and, eventually, creatingEarworm.
Building blocks
The first step to successfully dancing about architecture is finding the right story.
When I spoke with her, Caswell said its a balancing act.
She has to ensure the music story she wants to tell is both interesting and visually appealing.
Now, to actually find a topic forEarworm,Caswell falls back on her own listening habits.
Then, once shes found a suitable subject, Caswell checks if its been covered before.
If not, she researches more.
She absorbs as much information as possible.
Then, she shapes the episode.
An example of this methodology is below.
Caswell kept hearing a specific sound in 80s music.
The transfer of sound into motion; the true dancing about architecture.
First, Caswell needs to be confident that her story will translate to video.
Once thats settled, her success comes down to three things: creativity, effort, and timing.
The first of these, creativity, is the hardest to quantify and formalize.
The variety of methods used when representing or playing music.
Then comes the intertwined effort and timing.
If a single word is off beat, everything comes crashing down.
But accuracy only comes with huge amounts of work.
A prime example of this isEarwormsepisode on the triplet flow in rap.
If dancing about architecture was easy, everyone would be doing it.
Speaking the same tongue
Its language thats at the heart of dancing about architecture.
This is an issue Caswell had to overcome too.
A great example of this is possibly my favoriteEarwormvideo, the one on John Coltranes Giant Steps.
And thats how you dance about architecture.
Estelle Caswell is hostinga TNW Answers sessionwith us tomorrow, May 21!Ask her ANYTHING here.
