The last movement that I composed for this suite is called "Harlem River Funk". Before I talk specifically about this movement, I'd like to discuss the order of the movements and their titles.
For me, the creative process is not just conceiving something and then writing it down. I start with a general idea of what I want to do and the details come as the composition progresses. The same is true with the order of the movements. But often when a piece is completed, I find that it can be strengthened by making some changes. In this case, the realization came while composing the last movement.
An important element of my music is balance and proportion. I am also sensitive to not overstating my welcome, meaning that I don't just keep composing because there is still potential in the musical material. I try to be sensitive from a listener standpoint, which is not always easy to do. It often takes me several hours to compose a minute's worth of music and in doing so, I am thoroughly acquainted with it, much more so than a listener would be. I often need to detach myself from the piece and try to put on a new set of ears. In doing this, I realized that the order of the movements was not the best and that their titles could be more descriptive. Therefore the order of the movements and titles are now I. Pecos River Barn Dance, II. Mississippi River Blues, III. Harlem River Funk, and IV. Pee Dee River Revival.
The "funk" style has a lot of intricate syncopation, a minor blues tonality, some harsh dissonances, and a lot of repetition. All these elements are present in this movement. It begins with the saxophone playing the main syncopated theme with the pizzicato violin providing punctuation. At M. 5, the piano left hand provides a bass line and the right hand provides punctuation. It vamps by itself for two measures before the saxophone and violin come back in with their opening material. At M. 11, the violin introduces a seductive minor blues melody while the piano continues its role. At M. 16, measures 7-10 are essentially repeated. M. 20 introduces a new syncopated chordal idea in the right hand of the piano and saxophone joins the left hand of the piano providing punctuation whenever the chords sustain. This idea modulates up a half step that creates excitement. At M. 28, the excitement is interrupted with a return to the piano vamp before the saxophone takes over the seductive minor blues melody with the violin providing an intricate counter melody that serves as both punctuation and a line of its own. At M. 35, the main melody returns but this time in the violin. M. 39 brings back the piano chordal section with its half step modulation. Things are building now and I let it go this time by shortening the piano chordal figure into a two note riff that creates a 3/4 hemiola within the 4/4. Both the saxophone and the violin alternate by answering the piano with technical flourishes. This three measure section goes through three modulations, first up a whole step then up a half step. During the last modulations, the violin plays the first part of the seductive melody. The movement ends with a FF multi-octave statement of the main theme with an abrupt ending. This abrupt ending is one of the reasons why I felt this movement was not good for the finale of the piece.
I am now using flip pdf technology for the musical examples that go
along with my posts. It uses Flash Player that most browsers come
with. You will be hearing an mp3 of sampled sounds playing the music
and you will see the score at the same time. You will need to turn
the pages by clicking on the arrows at the appropriate time. To see
and hear what I have discussed, go to http://www.cooppress.net/river_suite_blog.html. This page now has the movements in the correct order although the titles and movement numbers have not been corrected on the pdf files you are viewing.
As always, your comments are appreciated.
Dr. B
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Saturday, March 24, 2012
River Suite Movement 3
The third movement is called Mississippi and is influenced by the blues. Because this is a slow blues, I selected a triple meter of 12/8 to get the triplet feel instead of using a duple meter with swung eighth notes. All the material in this movement is original unlike the first two movements where existing folk songs were used. The melodic material is created from a derivative of the blues scale. The harmonic material comes from a mixture of triads and 7th chords that hint at polytonality, and 9th and 11th chords, along with an occasional chord in 4ths.
I had some good ideas in this movement, but struggled with balance and proportion. The first 8 measures were added after measures 8-28 were created. I had difficulty moving forward from measure 28 and I discovered that the reason was because things were out of balance before then. After I added M. 1-8, things fell into place.
The form is an arch form (ABCBA). The A section begins moodily with a bass line in the piano left hand. At M. 5, the violin and saxophone introduce a motif (motif a) that will be enlarged in the B section. The piano finishes out the phrase with another motif (motif b) that will also be used in section B. Section B begins at M. 9 with the melody in the saxophone (motif a) and a response in the violin using quadruplets. The violin then does motif b and the saxophone has the response at the end of the phrase. The roles are reversed at M 16 before a cannon between violin and saxophone using motif b finishes this section.
M 23 ushers in section C with the use of lush harmony in the piano and the melody mainly in the left hand. At M. 27 the violin and sax take over this melodic idea and expand it before bringing the B section back. I like to vary my material slightly when ideas return. The most notable is the triplet feel eighths in the piano right hand, but there are also subtle differences including a tonality shift from the original statement. M. 48 brings back the A section and the movement ends quietly and mysteriously.
I added a lot of tempo changes and tweaked some of the ideas to help the transitions between sections flow seamlessly. These little details add a more artistic touch.
I am now using flip pdf technology for the musical examples that go along with my posts. It uses Flash Player that most browsers come with. You will be hearing an mp3 of sampled sounds playing the music and you will see the score at the same time. You will need to turn the pages by clicking on the arrows at the appropriate time. To see and hear what I have discussed, go to http://www.cooppress.net/river_suite_blog.html.
As always, your comments are appreciated.
Dr. B
I had some good ideas in this movement, but struggled with balance and proportion. The first 8 measures were added after measures 8-28 were created. I had difficulty moving forward from measure 28 and I discovered that the reason was because things were out of balance before then. After I added M. 1-8, things fell into place.
The form is an arch form (ABCBA). The A section begins moodily with a bass line in the piano left hand. At M. 5, the violin and saxophone introduce a motif (motif a) that will be enlarged in the B section. The piano finishes out the phrase with another motif (motif b) that will also be used in section B. Section B begins at M. 9 with the melody in the saxophone (motif a) and a response in the violin using quadruplets. The violin then does motif b and the saxophone has the response at the end of the phrase. The roles are reversed at M 16 before a cannon between violin and saxophone using motif b finishes this section.
M 23 ushers in section C with the use of lush harmony in the piano and the melody mainly in the left hand. At M. 27 the violin and sax take over this melodic idea and expand it before bringing the B section back. I like to vary my material slightly when ideas return. The most notable is the triplet feel eighths in the piano right hand, but there are also subtle differences including a tonality shift from the original statement. M. 48 brings back the A section and the movement ends quietly and mysteriously.
I added a lot of tempo changes and tweaked some of the ideas to help the transitions between sections flow seamlessly. These little details add a more artistic touch.
I am now using flip pdf technology for the musical examples that go along with my posts. It uses Flash Player that most browsers come with. You will be hearing an mp3 of sampled sounds playing the music and you will see the score at the same time. You will need to turn the pages by clicking on the arrows at the appropriate time. To see and hear what I have discussed, go to http://www.cooppress.net/river_suite_blog.html.
As always, your comments are appreciated.
Dr. B
Friday, March 16, 2012
River Suite Movement 2
The second movement of River Suite is called Pee Dee. The Pee Dee River runs through North and South Carolina and the movement is inspired by spirituals. The two spirituals I used as the basis of this movement are "Keep in the Middle of the Road" and "Little David, Play on Your Harp."
Like the previous movement, I was challenged by trying to preserve the integrity of the spirituals and at the same time giving them my own individual treatment. I started with a slow, rubato version of the chorus of the first spiritual. Each phrase is interrupted by an arpeggiated figure in the piano right hand that is constructed from characteristics of a blues scale, namely 3 and b3, and 5 and b5 in close proximity, as well as using the b7. M. 17 ushers in the Allegro section with the verse of "Middle of the Road." I use a little octave displacement to add interest to the melody, incorporate call and response, and introduce a running scale in the piano. At. M 27, the phrases are divided among the instruments and the running scale takes on more of a presence. M 34 and 35 introduces a hemiola rhythm that will have more of a presence as the movement develops. The verse is used again at M 36 but this time with modulations up a half step on each phrase. M 54 is a two part canon using the chorus. The canon switches to the piano at 62 and the violin and sax play a counter melody.
M. 71 has a vamp in the piano that uses borrowed chords, therefore disguising the modality and tonality while sax and violin alternate phrases of the verse of "Little David." M. 89 uses the chorus of "Little David" and has call and response. M 102 uses hemiola to modulate up a step to the new key (D to E). M 116 & 117 expand the hemiola to modulate from E to Gb. M. 130 begins another series of modulations and the piano is syncopated behind them. Scales (blues variant), syncopation, and borrowed chords are all used for the ending of the movement.
I am now using flip pdf technology for the musical examples that go along with my posts. It uses Flash Player that most browsers come with. You will be hearing an mp3 of sampled sounds playing the music and you will see the score at the same time. You will need to turn the pages by clicking on the arrows at the appropriate time. To see and hear what I have discussed, go to http://www.cooppress.net/river_suite_blog.html.
As always, your comments are appreciated.
Dr. B
Like the previous movement, I was challenged by trying to preserve the integrity of the spirituals and at the same time giving them my own individual treatment. I started with a slow, rubato version of the chorus of the first spiritual. Each phrase is interrupted by an arpeggiated figure in the piano right hand that is constructed from characteristics of a blues scale, namely 3 and b3, and 5 and b5 in close proximity, as well as using the b7. M. 17 ushers in the Allegro section with the verse of "Middle of the Road." I use a little octave displacement to add interest to the melody, incorporate call and response, and introduce a running scale in the piano. At. M 27, the phrases are divided among the instruments and the running scale takes on more of a presence. M 34 and 35 introduces a hemiola rhythm that will have more of a presence as the movement develops. The verse is used again at M 36 but this time with modulations up a half step on each phrase. M 54 is a two part canon using the chorus. The canon switches to the piano at 62 and the violin and sax play a counter melody.
M. 71 has a vamp in the piano that uses borrowed chords, therefore disguising the modality and tonality while sax and violin alternate phrases of the verse of "Little David." M. 89 uses the chorus of "Little David" and has call and response. M 102 uses hemiola to modulate up a step to the new key (D to E). M 116 & 117 expand the hemiola to modulate from E to Gb. M. 130 begins another series of modulations and the piano is syncopated behind them. Scales (blues variant), syncopation, and borrowed chords are all used for the ending of the movement.
I am now using flip pdf technology for the musical examples that go along with my posts. It uses Flash Player that most browsers come with. You will be hearing an mp3 of sampled sounds playing the music and you will see the score at the same time. You will need to turn the pages by clicking on the arrows at the appropriate time. To see and hear what I have discussed, go to http://www.cooppress.net/river_suite_blog.html.
As always, your comments are appreciated.
Dr. B
Monday, March 12, 2012
River Suite Movement 1
My newest composition is written for one of Co-op Press' Performing Partners, Jason T. Laczkowski. Jason is a wonderful saxophonist who frequently performs with Anna Draper, violin and Joshua Russell, piano. This marvelous trio can be heard on Jason's Emeritus Recordings CD "Come Down Heavy." They asked me to write a piece for them in a crossover style, similar to Yo Yo Ma's "Goat Rodeo" release.
I have recently been watching episodes of the History Channel's "How the States Got Their Shapes" and became aware of the importance of rivers. This led me to and idea of doing a piece called "River Suite" which will have four movements, each named after a different river. The selected river would reflect a different segment of cultural life in the United States. For example, the first movement is called "Pecos" and reflects a Saturday night social event common in farming and ranching communities, namely the barn dance. Subsequent movements will be called "Peedee", Mississippi", and "Harlem" and reflect spirituals, the blues, and funk respectively.
"Pecos" incorporates three fiddlin' tunes, "Hop Up, My Ladies", "Golden Slippers", and "Blue Tail Fly." My challenge in this movement was to make these tunes sound fresh. By fresh I mean adding some ambiguity. Ambiguity is an important characteristic of art and adds to its expressiveness. Folk songs are very simplistic and therefore contain little ambiguity. Some of the techniques I used to accomplish this was obscuring tonality, adding rhythmic asymmetry, adding melodic variation, and adding counterpoint.
Ambiguity of meter occurs in the very first measure with the use of syncopation in a 5/4 measure before settling into a 4/4 meter where ambiguity of tonality takes over. The verse of "Hop Up My Ladies" will enter on measure 4 in the key of C, but measures 2 & 3 have a D as the bass note and chords built in 4ths as the rhythmic harmony in the piano right hand. The 4th beat of each measure consists of E and Bb, a melodic rendering of the tritone to further obscure tonality. At measure 4 when the tune comes in, the only change is that the bass note goes down to C. This basic concept of ambiguity continues to measure 22 with octave and instrumentation changes adding interest to each phrase and counterpoint adding interest at measure 19. Measure 23 ushers in a key change and a variation of "Hop Up My Ladies" still keeping the harmony obscure through the use of 4ths. Pedal point drones are added in spots as well as combining the verse variation with the chorus of the tune, thus creating contrapuntal ambiguity.
M. 42 relaxes the tension a bit by slowing down the rhythmic values, but still has tonality tension as there is an abrupt modulation to Db for one measure then d minor for the next before settling into D major for the verse of "Golden Slippers". At measure 42, I create a fiddlin' tune variant of the verse for the violin and add chromaticism in the piano. M. 52 ushers in another abrupt modulation and offsets the chorus of the tune by one beat giving this section rhythmic ambiguity. At M. 56, the chorus is back to its original rhythmic placement. At M 61, I use a lot of rhythmic asymmetry to create interest to the "Blue Tail Fly" tune.
M. 85 brings back sections from earlier in the work at every increasing tempos to bring the movement to a rousing close.
In the fiddlin' tune sections of this movement I left the sixteenth notes as single bows. I'm am uncertain as to what note groupings are common in playing fiddlin' tunes. On Saturday night, I went to a concert by Celtic Spring, a very talented family of musicians and dancers, an tried to figure out the bowing pattern on the fiddlin' tunes they played. It appeared to be a combination of alternating bow direction on every note, and grouping 2, 3, and 4 notes together into one bow direction. The decision seemed to be based upon whether the line was going up or down and what part of the beat the up or down began on. Rather that me ( a non-violinist) trying to figure out the bow direction, I decided to leave the notes without bow direction markings and let the violinist figure out what is comfortable for he/she. I want all the notes to be cleanly articulated except for where I have specifically marked slurs.
I am now using flip pdf technology for the musical examples that go along with my posts. It uses Flash Player that most browsers come with. You will be hearing an mp3 of sampled sounds playing the music and you will see the score at the same time. You will need to turn the pages by clicking on the arrows at the appropriate time. To see and hear what I have discussed, go to http://www.cooppress.net/river_suite_blog.html.
As always, your comments are appreciated.
Dr. B
I have recently been watching episodes of the History Channel's "How the States Got Their Shapes" and became aware of the importance of rivers. This led me to and idea of doing a piece called "River Suite" which will have four movements, each named after a different river. The selected river would reflect a different segment of cultural life in the United States. For example, the first movement is called "Pecos" and reflects a Saturday night social event common in farming and ranching communities, namely the barn dance. Subsequent movements will be called "Peedee", Mississippi", and "Harlem" and reflect spirituals, the blues, and funk respectively.
"Pecos" incorporates three fiddlin' tunes, "Hop Up, My Ladies", "Golden Slippers", and "Blue Tail Fly." My challenge in this movement was to make these tunes sound fresh. By fresh I mean adding some ambiguity. Ambiguity is an important characteristic of art and adds to its expressiveness. Folk songs are very simplistic and therefore contain little ambiguity. Some of the techniques I used to accomplish this was obscuring tonality, adding rhythmic asymmetry, adding melodic variation, and adding counterpoint.
Ambiguity of meter occurs in the very first measure with the use of syncopation in a 5/4 measure before settling into a 4/4 meter where ambiguity of tonality takes over. The verse of "Hop Up My Ladies" will enter on measure 4 in the key of C, but measures 2 & 3 have a D as the bass note and chords built in 4ths as the rhythmic harmony in the piano right hand. The 4th beat of each measure consists of E and Bb, a melodic rendering of the tritone to further obscure tonality. At measure 4 when the tune comes in, the only change is that the bass note goes down to C. This basic concept of ambiguity continues to measure 22 with octave and instrumentation changes adding interest to each phrase and counterpoint adding interest at measure 19. Measure 23 ushers in a key change and a variation of "Hop Up My Ladies" still keeping the harmony obscure through the use of 4ths. Pedal point drones are added in spots as well as combining the verse variation with the chorus of the tune, thus creating contrapuntal ambiguity.
M. 42 relaxes the tension a bit by slowing down the rhythmic values, but still has tonality tension as there is an abrupt modulation to Db for one measure then d minor for the next before settling into D major for the verse of "Golden Slippers". At measure 42, I create a fiddlin' tune variant of the verse for the violin and add chromaticism in the piano. M. 52 ushers in another abrupt modulation and offsets the chorus of the tune by one beat giving this section rhythmic ambiguity. At M. 56, the chorus is back to its original rhythmic placement. At M 61, I use a lot of rhythmic asymmetry to create interest to the "Blue Tail Fly" tune.
M. 85 brings back sections from earlier in the work at every increasing tempos to bring the movement to a rousing close.
In the fiddlin' tune sections of this movement I left the sixteenth notes as single bows. I'm am uncertain as to what note groupings are common in playing fiddlin' tunes. On Saturday night, I went to a concert by Celtic Spring, a very talented family of musicians and dancers, an tried to figure out the bowing pattern on the fiddlin' tunes they played. It appeared to be a combination of alternating bow direction on every note, and grouping 2, 3, and 4 notes together into one bow direction. The decision seemed to be based upon whether the line was going up or down and what part of the beat the up or down began on. Rather that me ( a non-violinist) trying to figure out the bow direction, I decided to leave the notes without bow direction markings and let the violinist figure out what is comfortable for he/she. I want all the notes to be cleanly articulated except for where I have specifically marked slurs.
I am now using flip pdf technology for the musical examples that go along with my posts. It uses Flash Player that most browsers come with. You will be hearing an mp3 of sampled sounds playing the music and you will see the score at the same time. You will need to turn the pages by clicking on the arrows at the appropriate time. To see and hear what I have discussed, go to http://www.cooppress.net/river_suite_blog.html.
As always, your comments are appreciated.
Dr. B
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