Sunday, February 15, 2009

Almost Done!

Friday past I presented my, what was at the time, finished copy of "Rise of the Xaphoon." I was pleasantly surprised with how well the piece went over with everyone in class. Since they last heard it I added a completely different "B Section," that goes double time and kinda grooves, everyone loved it (me too). I had a lot of great feedback: Everyone loved the quirky nature of the piece and the Xaphoon and how I had made sections where it sounds like a tone deaf Xaphoon is trying to sing along with the Clarinet, but just can't quite get there. I also recieved comments on my carefull use of texture and contrasting sections. Dr. Ross noted that the first few meausres of the piano part are written very much like a wind instrument line and don't suit the piano very well, after class he played a couple different ideas for me that could work very well and I've since incorperated them into my piece.

Composer Robert Rival was preasent in class for this performance and he gave me a few ideas for the piece to take it from great to superb. He suggested I add a Xaphoon cadenzsa (to which Dr. Ross recomened I place when the Xaphoon first enters which I think is a great idea.) He also commneted on how programatic my piece sounded. I explained that I just write what I like with no program in mind and he said to try and write a program for it anyways. I have since tried to write a program and I couldn't come up with anything that I considered to be good enough for my piece. I don't really have much experience with programatic music, and the deadline for this project is in one day; so I think for now I'm going to forgoe the idea and maybe consider it for my next composition. He also suggested I try having the xaphoon come in in the "wrong place" in the begginning of the B section, again this was something I've since tried and just don't have the time to make it work in a way I'm happy with.

The metamorphisis this piece has gone through suprised me a little. I started off with one idea and then developed into something that sounded o.k. but was missing something. I dogged at it and eventually it paid off as I am extreemly satisfied with the way the piece has turned out. I've also had a huge amount of professional help along the way in the form of Dr. Ross, Larysa Kuzmenko, Dr. Scott Godin, and Mr. Robert Rival. I think in a large way the piece is wouldn't have turned out the way it did without their input and the input from my colleagues in class.

The concerts on the 27th of Febuary, should be a good one!
NB

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Not quite stuck, just kinda missing something

My composition is coming along pretty good so far. I had it played in class Friday past and it went o.k. Dr. Scott Godin was there and he gave me a few ideas for improving the overall look of the work. I incorperate a large crash section in the early middle of the piece where the piano, clarinet, and trombone play really loudly on material that is meant to create a lot of tension. This is followed by a soft melody in the xaphoon as it is first introduced to the piece. Dr. Godin recomended not using standard notation for the last part of the crash, instead giving dynamic markings and letting the pianst play whatever notes they wanted as long as it was in an ascending pattern. I like this idea, it would probably add more tension, which is what I am looking for, and at the same time cover the requirement of having limited alletorism (as set by the class guidelines for this project).
I've also got to go back and fix some of the notation to make it easier to read. The final suggestion was to make use of the two hands of the piano playing at the same time. This is something I've been told before and have yet to incorperate, but I'm going to do that now before the next time I present it.

As far as I'm concerned I like what I have written but theres something missing from it. That one little elusive thing that I just can't put my finger on that seems to be holding this piece back. In trying to figure out what it was I went back and looked at some of my previous compositions and I realised that Rise of the Xaphoon does not make use of any melodic space what soever. I think thats the problem and I'm going to experiment with the material to see if I can remold it into something I'm truely happy with.

Cheers!
NB

Sunday, February 1, 2009

A lesson with Larysa Kuzmenko

Yesterday I got the chance to have a lesson with Composer Larysa Kuzmenko. We spent the time working on my piece "Rise of the Xaphoon" and we re-visited her comment on phrase structure. My piece currently has a lot of ideas, each one comes in breifly and then goes away just as quick. There's no real solid themes to latch on to which is what gives the piece it's manic feel. I think this is what I had been missing, it's the reason why I'm not enjoying the work as much as I could. I have a lot of antecedent phrase's but it never gets responded to. She suggested the idea of picking a couple ideas in the piece that I want to make the focus, and then incorperate the idea of imitation to expand on the ideas and the develope them later in the piece. Also, Larysa told me that if I use fragments of the opening motifs later in the piece it will give the listen a sense of familiarity and make it easier for them to listen to how the piece works as a whole.

The idea of unity in my piece is just what I'm looking for. It was deffinitely a great lesson!

NB

Rise of the Xaphoon

My latest composition is coming along quite nicely. While it still lacks any realisation I did at least manage to come up with a title for it. The idea for "Rise of the Xaphoon" comes from the way the Xaphoon emerges after a chaotic crash in the beginning of the piece. Friday past myself and a few colleagues played my piece in class and I got a lot of feedback. The way the xaphoon comes out of the clash works quite well. The following recomendations were made: 1) Try expanding the upper and lower range of the piano to the extreems, and use 2 two hands together more often. 2) Explore the idea of using a preapared piano. 3) The trombone can go a lot lower then what I've got written.
We are required to include an alletoric element I wrote a section where the clarinet and xaphoon are improsing, but after I heard it acutally being played in class I deiced that I'm going to remove that part of the piece as it's to much freedom given and not enough control.
Because the NewFound Music Festival happened this week composer in residence Larysa Kuzmenko was also present in class and she recommended I try and outline a clearer phrase structure to get more an antecdent/consequent feel to my music.

I'm still kinda frustrated with the piece and am not really sure why. I'm sure I'll figure it out, it's just gonna take time.

NB

Composing For High School Concert Band

Continuing along with the NewFound Music Festival on Thursday I also attended Scott Godin's Prestentation "Composing For High School Concert Band." He talked about his experience working with a teacher colleague of his to write a contemporary work for their high school band. His challenge was to create a work that would serve as both a piece of music that he could be proud of and that was a pedagogical tool. To do this he met with the students and discussed different ideas that he could incorperate into the piece. He then wrote a 3 movement work, with each movement based on the works of a different composer. One of the things that Dr. Godin's colleague noticed after the work had been completed was that the students who had been involved in the colabrative process were much more advanced in the musical ability after they had participated and performeed the piece. Part of this is believed to be because the students were much more engaged in the work and so focused a lot more on listening to each other as ensem.

In C

This Thursday past I got the chance to play Terry Riley's "In C" as part of the NewFound Music Festival that happened at Memorial. The piece is unlike anything I have ever played before, it has 53 cells of music that each performer plays at their own discretion. Throughout the entire time a keyboard instrument (piano/marimba/xylophone, etc.) plays octave C's in eigth notes. The performers play repete a box as much as they want, but may not go back to a box once they move on to the next one. The performers are allowed to stop and take breaks whenever they choose and what makes the piece really cool is that when you do there are two things to be heard. If you just listen to the music as a whole and not focus on anything in particular it sounds like a band warming up, just kinda noisy. But if you listen for the individual lines you can here how the cells of music are interacting and it sounds awesome!

NB