On June 9, the Turning Point Ensemble hosted a concert in North Vancouver at which they premiered dozens of new compositions completed by young composers from Seycove Secondary School and Sherwood Park Elementary School. This is part of their "Creating Composers: Nurturing Life-long Musical Expression Through Composition" program, a partnership with Vancouver-area schools that provides opportunities for children to express themselves through composition. Each year, the TPE partners young composers with professional composers to mentor their aspirations and work, and they provide a series of workshops with the musicians of the ensemble to teach effective writing techniques.
This year, they commissioned a short work from me to include on the concert. The professional challenge I faced was to create a work that could be rehearsed and successfully performed with only one short rehearsal. The educational challenge before me was to create a work that displayed new approaches to composition with which the young composers would be less familiar, and to demonstrate how a piece can be conceived of with very simple means and be developed within the constraints of the initial idea. The result was Contemplating Motion for violin, cello, trombone, clarinet, and harp.
I found myself returning to deep-listening-based composition and proportional notation. This manner of scoring music focusses the musicians' attention on the evolving sounds they are making: on the sonic-energy relationship of their own sounds to the sounds that came before and that will come next. In the case of my own score, all of the notes are written out, and there are specific durations that need to be counted, but there is flexibility in the actual timing that each musician chooses in the execution of their notes, except later when a rhythm emerges. You can download the first two pages of the score here.
As you will see from the beginning of the musical score, the music explores the resonance of a low C. Movement is created by "timbral transformation," that is, selective focus on various parts of the spectrum (or overtone series) of the note C. There are only two "chords" in the piece, when the resonance focus shifts to the note D. So there is no traditional harmony or melody in the music, only the exploration of sound. (The music student may notice that a secondary harmonic area is explored in the harp part at the tritone, where the major 3rd and dominant 7th are "common tones" in equal temperament; here the natural and tempered versions of the notes collide. See the second to last bar in the score. Buy the score here.)
When I presented the finished score to the high school class, most were perplexed at what I had created and wondered how to play such music. Many were just putting together their first chord progressions, improvising at their instruments with the familiar materials of music. Some had "sound idea" concepts that were more abstract. But I sensed that proportional notation was entirely new. I did my best to explain how all sound is motion, and that "contemplating motion" could refer not only to rhythm, but to "harmony" – or in my case "resonance" – as well. Certainly a quantum leap for many. To Rob McLeod's credit (their music teacher and leader of the collaboration with TPE), they were already exposed to the concepts through brief encounters of the scores John Cage, and, I sensed, discussions of sound object and musique concrete, though I didn't get a sense that the scores of Penderecki, Lutoslawski, Boulez and Stockhausen had been explored in any depth. But these kids were just getting started!
Working with the Turning Point Ensemble on this music was very rewarding. I found it an interesting exercise to work under the same conditions as the school-aged composers. Most rewarding for me though, was to hear, at the concert, a piece that had clearly been conceived of using my piece as a model. Sure enough, the composer, whom I had not previously met (i.e. she was not one of the students I had tutored), came to me after the dress rehearsal and thanked me for my presentation, saying that, once she saw my score and heard me talk about it, she saw "a way to write down my own piece."
The Turning Point Ensemble and the North Vancouver School District have together created an incredibly rich cultural program for young people in this program, connecting creativity, self-expression, self-confidence, and the thirst for knowledge and new experience in a way that raises a generation of societal leaders. The flexibility of mind and of personality that this kind of program engenders is of great benefit to society, regardless of the final role that any of these young people may play in our society. If we want a society of innovators and high-functioning people, then this sort of program should not only be supported in our public schools, but be considered an essential offering for the high-functioning and/or highly-motivated young person. Instead, the North Vancouver School District has cancelled the program for this coming year, citing lack of funds.
Please consider writing a letter to John Lewis, the "Superintendent of Schools and CEO" for the North Vancouver School District.
Showing posts with label Turning Point Ensemble. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Turning Point Ensemble. Show all posts
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Five-ring Concerto recordings (excerpts) now available
I listened to the recording of the first performance of my Five-ring Concerto last night. Nice recording by Andrew Smith of Vancouver Live Sound captured the excitement of the concert.
You can hear the recordings here:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/John-Oliver/17803448646
Look down the left column for "My Band"
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/johnolivermusic
Reverbnation: http://reverbnation.com/johnolivermusic
CTV was the "official broadcaster" of the Olympics and, as far as I know, did not record any concerts other than those that were part of the official ceremonies. CBC bid for the broadcast rights and lost. CBC is a broadcaster with vast experience recording and broadcasting to both TV and radio, whereas CTV is a television network only. As a consequence, the Cultural Olympiad went essentially unnoticed and unreported by CTV. I watched the Olympics extensively and did not see a single news cast that included reporting about the Cultural Olympiad.
It seems inconsistent and a lost opportunity that the BC and federal governments would invest in all of these cultural activities for the Olympics, and then sit on their hands when these investments do not get properly disseminated by the chosen broadcaster. The Olympics was the moment to show the world the great wealth of culture we offer, not only the famous entertainers at the opening and closing ceremonies, but throughout the entire society. It is in the public interest for the governments of BC and Canada to ensure that such an investment doesn't go to waste. Surely if private enterprise can't do the job properly, then a publicly-accountable entity (like the CBC) should be charged with making our country proud by broadcasting the numerous excellent events of the Cultural Olympiad. There's no question that CTV does sports well, but it makes me wonder what were the criteria for the bid to be the official broadcaster. If the bid criteria excluded a requirement to broadcast the Cultural Olympiad, then we can guess what members of the Olympic Organizing Committee and VANOC actually think about this aspect of the games.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Turning Point Ensemble workshop and the concept of community
Just back from Turning Point Ensemble workshop where they read what I've written so far for the Olympic commission. What a great team! A number of issues emerged to do with notation of microtones in purely-tuned music and controlled improvisation. Warning: this discussion is highly musically technical until the last two paragraphs title GRATITUDE, CONTINUITY AND MENTORSHIP.
I had written several passages using low tonic notes over which the natural harmonics are played, sometimes melodically, and at other times in closed-spaced diatonic clusters. The notion is that one can play just intonation music by ear naturally, by simply playing intervals without beating, that is to say the natural sounds of open vibrating strings and pipes. In fact, most musicians do this naturally when they are playing renaissance music or other modal music. I had oversignified the pure intervals by adding two notations to "altered" notes: an encircled number for the number of the natural interval, as well as an altered accidental (altered sharp and flat signs).
It was recommended that only one sign be used and that the numbers are preferable to the altered accidentals. I did raise the point that musicians are used to seeing accidentals in front of notes and so a circled number placed above the stem of a note might be missed, whereas the altered accidental goes right in front of the note. Still the consensus was to go for the encircled numbers.
After some discussion several things became clear:
1] that musicians can play these well-tuned intervals without extra notation in front of the notes when the harmony is clear and there is no question in the mind of the musicians playing, that they must play the major third and just minor seventh, for example;
2] in music with close harmony composed of neighbouring harmonics, e.g. the 8th through 12th harmonics, and where there is chromatic movement between one chord and the next with shifting root resonance (tonic), indications of exactly which tuning is required, in relation to equal temperement, is desireable. This becomes ever more pertinent when the root note is altered by a quarter-tone;
3] that the ear is the best guide as a general rule;
4] that making intervals sound pure takes only a very minor adjustment in relation to equal temperment, and that sometimes the musician may find that they have already made the adjustment naturally in the musical context.
An absence or paucity of information will raise too many questions among musicians. So I tend to provide as much information as possible. In this case, I learned that once the concept is understood, and the intention of the music is clear, that efficient communication is the most important consideration in the writing of the score, the actual notation used to communicate to the performer.
CONTROLLED IMPROVISATION & TEXTURAL DEVELOPMENT
Professional workshops of this kind are invaluable to the creative process. I was able to work with the musicians on a certain section of the piece that I had simply stopped writing. I had arrived at a point in the music where I wanted a dense undulating mass of low growling sound over which the high winds play very rapid passages that whip around in circular patterns. I composed controlled chaos and then asked the conductor to stop conducting the beat, but asked the musicians to continue playing. The written music is what I call my textural canonic technique, whereby large lava-like sound masses behave in a way that is superficially chaotic, but with an underlying self-similarity of material that allows movement between complete compositional control and improvisation. The objective of this kind of music is to get the listener to listen into the details of the sound composition: the interaction of small changes in sound qualities among the instruments, and new gestural relationships between instrument groups (e.g. snap pizz on strings and random strokes on the drum); and at another perceptual level, a kind of "everybody-talking-at-once-saying-the-same-thing phenomenon.
This kind of music comes out of my experience working directly with sounds in my electroacoustic music studio, where the behaviour of sound, as observed in different types of recorded sounds, is the source for inspiration (i.e. the energy and colour of sound itself). In this way, when the right sonic "situation" is set up in the composed music, it is possible to leave the written music as is and simply ask the musicians to change their way of playing from time to time, e.g. now play the same passage but sometimes attack the first note in an exaggerated way, say, with snap pizz, sul ponticello, loud staccato, etc.
GRATITUDE, CONTINUITY AND MENTORSHIP
One last thing about continuity in the arts: this group of musicians has played together now for many years for the love of the music and exploration of The New. The working situation that I enjoyed today is the result of community building in the arts. This sense of community and a desire to communicate with an audience is what culture is all about. The human spirit shines through these experiences because the situation is made right. My gratitude goes to all of the musicians and to conductor Owen Underhill, who all worked hard, asked tough questions, and helped us all to understand how to put this music together. This has helped me to see how I might continue to write the rest of the piece. And my heartfelt thanks to Rob McLeod and the students of Seycove Community School in North Vancouver for hosting the event, to Jeremy Berkman for his inspired administration of the event, and to composer Linda Catlin Smith – whose beautiful work for voice and orchestra Cut Flowers was workshopped before mine – for staying to listen to my music and for being a second set of ears to hear, to comment, and especially to discuss the effectiveness of the writing (not to forget the reminders at the end of the improvisation/composition section of my "lava music")!
All of this is only possible because of an artistic continuity and comradery that occurs through mentorship. Mentorship ensures continuity and community. Once this concept is embraced, mentorship works in all directions: young artists admire more senior or seasoned artists and learn from them. And they, in turn inspire not only the next generation, but then they become mentors to their own mentors, who see in the younger generation experiences that they themselves now want to embrace. In this way a whole culture is built up and a great flowering takes place. This celebration of the human spirit is what is torn down by suited men who ask to see your bottom line, rather than attend your concert series.
I had written several passages using low tonic notes over which the natural harmonics are played, sometimes melodically, and at other times in closed-spaced diatonic clusters. The notion is that one can play just intonation music by ear naturally, by simply playing intervals without beating, that is to say the natural sounds of open vibrating strings and pipes. In fact, most musicians do this naturally when they are playing renaissance music or other modal music. I had oversignified the pure intervals by adding two notations to "altered" notes: an encircled number for the number of the natural interval, as well as an altered accidental (altered sharp and flat signs).
After some discussion several things became clear:
1] that musicians can play these well-tuned intervals without extra notation in front of the notes when the harmony is clear and there is no question in the mind of the musicians playing, that they must play the major third and just minor seventh, for example;
2] in music with close harmony composed of neighbouring harmonics, e.g. the 8th through 12th harmonics, and where there is chromatic movement between one chord and the next with shifting root resonance (tonic), indications of exactly which tuning is required, in relation to equal temperement, is desireable. This becomes ever more pertinent when the root note is altered by a quarter-tone;
3] that the ear is the best guide as a general rule;
4] that making intervals sound pure takes only a very minor adjustment in relation to equal temperment, and that sometimes the musician may find that they have already made the adjustment naturally in the musical context.
An absence or paucity of information will raise too many questions among musicians. So I tend to provide as much information as possible. In this case, I learned that once the concept is understood, and the intention of the music is clear, that efficient communication is the most important consideration in the writing of the score, the actual notation used to communicate to the performer.
CONTROLLED IMPROVISATION & TEXTURAL DEVELOPMENT
Professional workshops of this kind are invaluable to the creative process. I was able to work with the musicians on a certain section of the piece that I had simply stopped writing. I had arrived at a point in the music where I wanted a dense undulating mass of low growling sound over which the high winds play very rapid passages that whip around in circular patterns. I composed controlled chaos and then asked the conductor to stop conducting the beat, but asked the musicians to continue playing. The written music is what I call my textural canonic technique, whereby large lava-like sound masses behave in a way that is superficially chaotic, but with an underlying self-similarity of material that allows movement between complete compositional control and improvisation. The objective of this kind of music is to get the listener to listen into the details of the sound composition: the interaction of small changes in sound qualities among the instruments, and new gestural relationships between instrument groups (e.g. snap pizz on strings and random strokes on the drum); and at another perceptual level, a kind of "everybody-talking-at-once-saying-the-same-thing phenomenon.
This kind of music comes out of my experience working directly with sounds in my electroacoustic music studio, where the behaviour of sound, as observed in different types of recorded sounds, is the source for inspiration (i.e. the energy and colour of sound itself). In this way, when the right sonic "situation" is set up in the composed music, it is possible to leave the written music as is and simply ask the musicians to change their way of playing from time to time, e.g. now play the same passage but sometimes attack the first note in an exaggerated way, say, with snap pizz, sul ponticello, loud staccato, etc.
GRATITUDE, CONTINUITY AND MENTORSHIP
One last thing about continuity in the arts: this group of musicians has played together now for many years for the love of the music and exploration of The New. The working situation that I enjoyed today is the result of community building in the arts. This sense of community and a desire to communicate with an audience is what culture is all about. The human spirit shines through these experiences because the situation is made right. My gratitude goes to all of the musicians and to conductor Owen Underhill, who all worked hard, asked tough questions, and helped us all to understand how to put this music together. This has helped me to see how I might continue to write the rest of the piece. And my heartfelt thanks to Rob McLeod and the students of Seycove Community School in North Vancouver for hosting the event, to Jeremy Berkman for his inspired administration of the event, and to composer Linda Catlin Smith – whose beautiful work for voice and orchestra Cut Flowers was workshopped before mine – for staying to listen to my music and for being a second set of ears to hear, to comment, and especially to discuss the effectiveness of the writing (not to forget the reminders at the end of the improvisation/composition section of my "lava music")!
All of this is only possible because of an artistic continuity and comradery that occurs through mentorship. Mentorship ensures continuity and community. Once this concept is embraced, mentorship works in all directions: young artists admire more senior or seasoned artists and learn from them. And they, in turn inspire not only the next generation, but then they become mentors to their own mentors, who see in the younger generation experiences that they themselves now want to embrace. In this way a whole culture is built up and a great flowering takes place. This celebration of the human spirit is what is torn down by suited men who ask to see your bottom line, rather than attend your concert series.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Turning Point Ensemble commissions Oliver for 2010 Olympics Cultural Olympiad
Although news of this commission was announced almost a year ago, my work on this project is now in full swing. As is so often the case, my process began with the exploration of ideas about the commission that are quite broad, encompassing everything from the specific instrumentation, to the theme of the concert, to "extra-musical" inspirations.
This post is an invitation to follow my musings on this topic – "the Olympic Chamber Concerto" – in this blog. This work will be the focus of my creative work for much of the remainder of 2009. the premiere is scheduled for the Queen Elisabeth Playhouse Theatre in Vancouver Canada on Febrary 24, 2010. See the Turning Point web page for more details.
Meanwhile, visit often for other updates about projects for ARS NOVA of Sweden, Canadian flutist Chenoa Anderson, the Vancouver Intercultural Orchestra and others, as well my latest recording project.
This post is an invitation to follow my musings on this topic – "the Olympic Chamber Concerto" – in this blog. This work will be the focus of my creative work for much of the remainder of 2009. the premiere is scheduled for the Queen Elisabeth Playhouse Theatre in Vancouver Canada on Febrary 24, 2010. See the Turning Point web page for more details.
Meanwhile, visit often for other updates about projects for ARS NOVA of Sweden, Canadian flutist Chenoa Anderson, the Vancouver Intercultural Orchestra and others, as well my latest recording project.
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