Allow A Margin
Set a band; leave whatever falls inside it; correct only what falls outside.
The no-go end does not fit, so the part is kept.
Seen in John Cage, the Number Pieces, 1987–92
Try it on your work
Mix one colour five times by eye, aiming at a swatch. Set the band before you start: one step lighter or darker on a grey scale. Keep any mix inside the band as it is; remix only those outside. Stop when all five are inside.
Write ten sentences, aiming at twelve words each. Keep any with ten to fourteen words as it is; rewrite only those outside. Stop when all ten are inside.
Five people each clap once, each starting anywhere inside a ten-second window read off a clock. Anyone outside the window claps again. Stop when all five claps fall inside.
How it has been used
Give each target a band and leave alone anything that lands inside it: the colour accepted within a stated tolerance, the line drawn by hand and kept if it falls within a millimetre of the mark, the entry that may start anywhere in a window. The move forbids correcting what is inside the band; only what falls outside is touched.
Where it leads
Grouped under Give me a useful restriction