Music and the unexpected

Whether you look first for patterns or for things that break a pattern, you will often find things you do not expect. Perhaps a happy surprise, perhaps a difficult one, perhaps something that is disconcerting, or maybe, joyous. Musicians consider all these things in their work, of course, and there are ways music both fits and breaks pattern, too.

While working at a classical music radio station, I was once asked to play an album by a composer whose work consisted of calling out Pythagorean theorems while playing notes and chords on the piano which he derived from these. That’s one way of thinking about the unexpected and, I’d imagine, creating unexpected experiences for those who heard his work.

His approach wouldn’t be mine. I would, however, suggest these pieces to accompany you on journeys expected and unexpected


Irish guitarist John Doyle has a lively tune called Expect the Unexpected on his album Wayward Son

Americana songwriter Carrie Newcomer looks at unexpected change from varied and at times subtle viewpoints on her album Before & After

A love song that is also a song about daybreak, and about change, Amanacer, from Mexican American songwriter Tish Hinojosa. I first heard it on her album Taos to Tennessee


The unexpected hearts on the brick wall in the photograph caught my imagination one day in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

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