Music has always been something I feel before I can explain. I’m not a musician, and for a long time that felt like a wall between me and making it. So I’m building something that meets me where I am.
It’s called the Music Workroom. I see a draft broken down in plain words, hear it with a moving playhead, and answer back in my own language.
When I want something changed, I don’t have to find the right musical word first. I pin a note on the exact moment, speak it or type it, hum the tune I hear, tap a reaction, or drag the energy curve into the shape I want. Claude picks those notes up and composes the next draft, with a change list pinned to the same moments.
What I like most is that it teaches me as I go. Every term on screen can be tapped for a short explanation and a hear-it clip cut from the piece itself. Next to the plain-words Story view, I get piano roll, sound picture, and sheet music, with words like drone, motif, swell, and Phrygian right where they belong. I’m learning the actual language of music by using it, not by studying it from the outside first.
What you see and hear in the video above is the short demo version of the title theme I’m making for the Crete game. You can play the game here: https://www.happystl.com/play/crete/
The sound I was chasing for the first piece says a lot about why: Tristram from Diablo 1, with Interstellar-style organ swells. The full theme runs 56 bars at 62 BPM, about 3.6 minutes, looping. Ariadne’s tune in D Dorian with a Phrygian turn, over a low drone, with organ swells.
The Music Workroom and its tools are GPLv3, open source. The current version is open to a small group for now. A full version will be posted on my own website later.
I also posted about it on X here: https://x.com/MrBibiBobo/status/2115683746871443949
I’ll share more as it takes shape. For now, this is the idea I’m chasing.
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