Memory Oracle

Sequence

Part 1 - Memory

1. Ask a loved one to send you a photo.
• Optional- tell them you love them, if it feels right, and if you want to.
2. Look through a photo album of your own.
• This could be on your phone, computer, physical - recent photos, old photos - doesn’t matter.
3. Pick the first image that sticks out to you.
• This could be the one that makes you feel some strong emotion, or memory you forgot about - positive, negative, thankful, wistful, scared - doesn’t matter.
4. Give yourself at most 3 minutes to do this.
5. When you receive the photo from your loved one- save it for the next time you run through this sequence- to use in place of a photo of your own.
• Feel free to ask them clarifying questions to help contextualize the photo and the feeling, or just invent or imagine a perspective and a context instead.

Part 2 - Music

1. Fiddle around on an instrument (physical / digital / whatever you want) of choice while looking at this photo to generate melody or progression ideas.
2. Use the Generator if you’d like to as a starting point - pick the first progression that feels right for the image.

Part 3 - Words

1. Page through the book you are reading at the moment, or a book you’ve read recently, or a book you were reading around the time the photo was taken.
2. Write down a couple of words or phrases that stand out as related to the photo / the emotion in some way.
3. What was out of the frame of the photo? If you know, write it down. If you don’t, imagine it.
4. Use what’s written down as a lyric bank.

Inspired by and borrowed from Emi’s Photo Game, and A.G Cook’s Oracle.