12-Tone
Music part one:
To understand this music we will start at the beginning. You
may not realize that 12-tone music has been around for a very
long time (1923?), and still continues today. 12-tone music is a
way of organizing atonal music in a more consistent fashion.
Many early atonal works dwell on the sensuous qualities of the
non-harmonic formations themselves and utilize non-standard
forms. Though Schoenberg composed atonal works in traditional
forms, he was unsatisfied with the results feeling that atonal
music was not suited for traditional forms. Schoenberg felt that
atonal music needed a vocal text for formal deliniation.
Perhaps he felt that atonal music was more Wagnarian (text
based), 12-tone music more Brahmsian (absolute music). Books to
study Schoenberg’s essays in Style and Idea, Part V,
12-tone composition, and George Perle’s Serial composition
and atonality.
Questions about 12 tone music:
Is it math?
True Schoenberg had a thing about numbers, especially number
13, look at Erwartung, measure 313! However Schoenberg’s
row charts are pitch charts not number charts.
Is it all rules?
There are many rules but you can chose which rules to follow.
Does it replace inspiration?
Negatory on that.
Hasn’t this music ruined it for the rest of us?
The continued popularity of any work depends on its quality.
Since personal politics tends to die with the composer, of what
are you afraid?
Is there only one method of 12-tone music?
No. There is a wide variety as seen in the work of Alban
Berg, Anton Webern, and Luigi Dallapiccola among others.
Assignment : Look up these composers.
I don’t like it do I have too?
No, but a composer needs to understand even the music they
don’t like.
Are there any limitations with 12-tone music?
It has been pointed out that you have the limitation of only
12 notes at a time, if you feel that is a limitation.
Many 12-tone composers have changed their styles recently,
what does this mean?
This question would be better answered in 12-tone part too,
but anyway…
Some composers create trends and others follow them, and
trends tend to change. Remember what Roger Sessions said:
"composers are doers of deeds." That is,
judge composers compositions on their quality not their style.
Consider that Schoenberg created masterworks in 4 styles: tonal,
late romantic, atonal, 12-tone.
Assignment:
From Style and Idea page 233, example 13, create a
short composition.
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Kid stuff Composition
for kids:
Think of an image, for example; daylight, ice cream, water,
rain, etc. and create a composition from it.
Materials needed: an instrument, voice, or
instruments, and a means of notation (paper and pencil, video
camera, sound recorder, etc.)
Work on your ideas first, then try to create a plan for your
composition. For example; morning- sunshine-rain-sunshine.
Contrast creates an interesting composition. Then perfect the
composition. Practice your composition until you think it is
finished—it has a form, and you can play it exactly (or
close to) the same way every time.
This is different from improvisation, which is
composing while you perform. Improvisation is an important
skill, just as important as composition. One fun improvisation
is to have several kids have musical "conversations"
using instruments and sounds instead of talking. Improvisation
is much more then a compositional scratch pad (but it can be
that too).
A Philosophical point:
Anyone can be creative in any number of contexts. A composer
takes ownership of their talent through their work. More work
more ownership and the great feelings that go with it. Less work
less ownership.
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If you want to teach
composition to children using this website, I pose the following
questions:
Why do you want to teach composition?
Have you studied
composition and want to share your knowledge?
Have you been
told by the "State" that music composition is a
requirement?
What is your experience as a composer? What is
your knowledge of the public or private world of
composition?
Are you prepared, or qualified, to give an
authentic child centered music composition experience to your
students?
How much ownership will you allow your students as
individuals to have? Any? None?
If you are using technology
assisted composition are you willing to let the computer program
define the compositional results for your students?
How much
artistic freedom are you willing to give your students, and how
much technical guidance are you able to give?
Can you
improve the content of your students work?
How much time do
you have for your project?
What is the top of
your compositional food chain? Symphony, Opera,
Jazz, Ethnic music, or the popular song in its many
incarnations. Be honest because the difference is critical.
In
the real world, with some exceptions, composing classical music
is an individual activity, creating a popular song music a
collaborative activity.
Jazz requires not only composition
but can require improvisation and group performance as well —can
you do this?
The creation of a popular song from its lead
sheet, to its final musical arrangement may have dozens of
people adding and changing the final product and the composer
may not even have the final say.
On the other hand
professional singer/songwriters and popular musicians in general
tend to have very little formal training.
If you are a
songwriter, do you feel qualified to teach classical music?
For
example: do you like experimental or dissonant music?
Would
you find dissonant or experimental music unacceptable as a
student's project?. Why?
As a teacher please remember that
many popular songs are commercial products some of which exist
not for a child's well being but to exploit them for profit.
From 12-Tone to Serial-Rhythm
The difference between 12-tone and serial music is that in
12-tone music only the pitch is given a row. In serial music all
musical elements (rhythm, register, dynamics, etc.) can be, or
will be govern by a row. That is, non-tonal approaches can be
adapted to all aspects of a musical composition not just the
pitch.
Rhythm and meter:
What is tonal rhythm?
Tonal meter implies downbeats and upbeats, strong and weak
beats that are discernible, as well as metric regularity. Tonal
rhythm dwells in this metric landscape. Tonal rhythm can be
stretched, but not broken. Even if a down beat is
only implied its still creates tonal rhythm. Composers can
get around this by creating formal designs that never seem to
arrive. For example, the down beat, or main point of
arrival, can never reached (Sibelius, Debussy) or reached only
once at an unexpected point.
Breaking down tonal rhythm:
Motor rhythm addresses this problem by creating constant
accent—no weak beats. Parts of Stravinsky’s
Rite Of Spring is all down beats. Everything an unnotated 1/8
measure. The move from constantly changing meter groups of
changing 2’s and 3’s stretch tonal rhythm but rely
on tonal rhythm for their effect. Or, if a work
has no point of arrival it can have no strong beats.
Messiaen with his use of bird song and Indian ragas creates
consecutive uneven subdivision which also obscures meter. Rather
then motor rhythms Messiaen would create uneven durations. For
example, changing groups of even quarters to uneven 16ths
and back—this will also disrupt tonal rhythm as the
changing accents would then fall in between the metric beats.
What next?
The move into rhythmic serialization comes from the
above two directions; from motor rhythms (i.e. meter-or letting
the rhythm define the meter), a prominent feature of modern
music of the Neoclassical school. This is the constant
reiterated groupings of steady pulse or a single note type
eighth quarter etc. Examples would be found in the music of
Babbitt in his "time point system", and Carter in his
"tempo modulations", or from the direct manipulation
of durations (i.e rhythm-rhythm disrupts or disintegrates the
meter), as in the music of Messiaen and Boulez.
The constant reiteration of a single note (duration) also
implies a tempo, Ives composed orchestral works where 2 or more
different tempos(related or not) exist at once.
Carter, who worked for Ives, tends to assign a particular
note type(duration) to each individual part. A composition can
then have any number of different parts with different note
types or tempos for each part. This creates an cumulative effect
obscuring pulsation.
Babbitt, in his time point system uses 12 as a way to
subdivide measures into equal units of time points(attacks-he
does not define the durations). These equal units are related to
motor rhythms as they are uniform just like motor
rhythms are-but their effect is completely different.
Time points push rhythm past the concept of tonal
rhythm. Since Babbitt’s music unfolds at a
constant- rate, the change in measures has a drastic effect on
the surface density of his music. a 6/4 measure would feature
eighth notes (Calm) a 2/4 measure 16 note triplets (intense) .
(These audible changes in surface density was the subject
of a paper of mine on Babbitt's String Quartet No. 3).
If serial music is a refinement of 12-tone technique,
where does rhythmic serial technique fit in?
Total serialization, of which rhythmic serialization is a
part, was not necessarily a natural outgrowth of 12-tone music,
but rather part of a accelerated nationalistic musical "arms
race" after WW2. It was a matter of getting there
first-and for art, first is not always best—Remember that
Hauer came up the combinatorial row before Schoenberg. The
most successful compositional techniques are those that mature
over time.
Early attempts at rhythmic serialization are numerical
groupings of motor rhythms, or durations--this causes strange
musical effects in some works. Otherwise sophisticated
works are saddled with a simplistic rhythmic element that
seems foreign to the rest of the composition. This is not
the case with the music of modernist pioneer Ruth
Crawford-Seeger.
Other methods of rhythmic precomposition include; creating
rhythmic relations; durations, meter, tempos, derived from the
12-tone interval set, or from a special interval series or chord
(see Hemholtz), or from any rhythmic/metric design of the
composers imagination.
What is an irrational measure?
Ok, folks lets stop making
sense! In music there is usually more than one way to notate
anything but if we focus on uneven durations it seems
only likely that uneven measures will surely follow. "2 and
3/5 quarter" "3 and 3/32 eighths" etc. These
measures by their very nature obscure tonal rhythm. Tonal points
of arrival are constantly reset.
An irrational measure is a way
to facilitate many of the techniques mentioned above. They can
be a compositional element, they can also be used to notate
precise tempo changes, or to graft different rhythmic elements
together. For example a "7 triplet" or a "2 and
1/3" quarter measure might work better than a 4/4 plus 3/4
or a 7/8 measure with a different tempo than the proceeding
music in a given situation. They can also be used as an ossia,
an alternative notation to make some notational problem easier
and more clear. True, they can also be more fussy and time
consuming. I would suggest that irrational measures work best in
smaller groups compositions,
Henry Weinberg in his Cantus
Commemberabils 1, sets a single tempo then uses his row
intervals to create durations and irrational measures into a
varied and intricate surface.
What is a nested measure?
Unlike the irrational measure
which is a a rhythmic innovation, the nested measure is a metric
innovation. A nested measure is where a 4/4 measure is divided
and subdivided into triplets within triplets within triplets
within triplets etc. In a sense it is placing measures within
measures. This technique can, like the irrational measure,
create very precise and rapid changes of tempo with in a
measure. Nesting is also a way to precisely notate several
different and contrasting tempos going on simultaneously with
losing control of their relationships. Though Nesting does not
necessarily obscure tonal rhythm as tonal meter is still the
reference though that reference could be just that. Nesting is a
feature of Ralph Shapey's music.
Many serial and 12-tone works already have analyses
available for study, why not consult these instead of copying
these out by hand?
The irony of recent theoretical approaches is that they are
not about theory at all but about certainty. The accurate
retelling of a works precompositional material is a fine thing
but it is not an analysis of a work any more than a blueprint is
an analysis of a building. A blueprint does not describe the
experience of a structure in time and space only its dimensions.
Many works which use rows and or serial techniques have very
similar blueprints, but their compositional effect is completely
different. The question to ask is not how closely the composer
follows their "system," but what are the results and
the musical effect?
Assignments:
Find the spot in the "Rite Of Spring" where
everything is accented as a down beat.
Find the Symphony of Sibelius where there seems to be no down
beat.
Read Messiaen’s "Technique De Mon Language
Musical"
Create your own rhythmic "set", then use it.
Think about how you would serialize "dynamics", and
what would be the effect.
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Phil’s Style-A-Matic
2000!
There are a plurality of musical styles. Many of these styles
are created by blending elements of different historical,
foreign, and popular styles together. In analyzing all these
properties of different styles, we see that we have unlimited
resources for creating compositions.
Let’s take a look at a few Western historical styles
and consider just four important stylistic elements: MELODY,
HARMONY, FORM, and RHYTHM. (Of course there are many more
elements to experiment with: orchestration, scales and tunings,
improvisation, theatrical effects to name a few.)
Medieval, Renaissance, Classical, Romantic, Late Romantic,
Atonal, Modern Tonal, Rock n’ Roll.
Let’s slice and dice:
Medieval Melody + Classical Harmony + Atonal
Form + Rock n’ Roll Rhythm.
What would that sound like?
Rock n’ Roll Melody + Romantic Harmony +
Medieval Form + Modern Tonal Rhythm.
What would that sound like?
OK! Let’s now add Eastern sounds into the mix (Asian
systems’ sounds)
Classical melody + Chinese (opera) Harmony +
Indian (subcontinent) Form + Atonal Rhythm.
What would this sound like??
Well there you are!!!!!
You can substitute any preferred popular or esoteric styles
you wish for the ones above and you don’t have to use
these 4 different elements either, just one or two, and on and
on. The possibilities for exploration are endless. For those
electronically inclined, gather or create the midi files
you want and cut and paste as desired.
Try it out NOW! I only ask that you credit my
method in your score/recording. Please feel free to send
me your results!
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Extended vocal
techniques in avant-garde
20-21st century classical music
Look at the vocal music of: Schoenberg, Berio,
Crumb, Nono, Ligeti, Cage, Monk, and many others. Singers:
Lucy Shelton, Cathy Berbarian many others.
You might divide these techniques into the following
categories:
Theatrical-- adding motions, non vocal sounds,
creating different characters, rituals, speaking, sprechstimme.
Visual techniques where sounds are not heard, only
mouthed or seen, or signed--or supertitled--I use this in my
song "Rain Chant" the final line "Far as man can
see comes the rain, comes the rain with me" is only
mouthed.
Sound effects ---body percussion-mouth sounds-screams-
slurs, extreme registers etc.
Transfer--singers play the violin--cello players
singing etc.
Electronics—vocoders, tapes, samples etc.
Crossover techniques –Multicultural: Tibetan
Monks etc.
Mix-me-ups: Pop singers singing opera, Opera singers
singing pop.
Motion Music -(minimalism) find a place to breathe!
Micro-tonal --John Eaton's 32 notes octave operas.
And of course, wide leaps between notes.. Perhaps I
left some out?
Assignment: Create a song, or take a song already
created, and develop 2 different scenarios for the song using
ideas from the list above, invent some extended techniques to go
with it. Don’t be afraid to completely deconstruct the
musical materials.
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Phil’s Method of composing vocal music.
The addition of text to music of course changes
everything.
I already mentioned how a purely instrumental composition can
have textural elements added, as in Berlioz’s Fantastic
Symphony or any "tone poem".. In that case a textural
plot, or subtext is added to an instrumental composition in
addition to its instrumental form, in this case a symphony. Even
without a sung text, this text technique adds a second dimension
to the music. Creating a song to a poem or any text adds a third
dimension to composition because a text not only implies its own
particular meaning but also implies a form as well. That is,
songs can also be "tone poems". So using a sung text
to compose a song as a single entity implies three musical
dimensions.
There are two kinds of song cycles. In one type of cycle, or
collection, a composer sets the work of a particular poet or
poets, as individual songs and so does not intend a particular
order to the performance. The songs can be sung in any
combination or combined with other songs. This is a common
performance practice. In the integrated song cycle the order of
the songs must be maintained and unbroken, or the meaning is
altered. The integrated song cycle, where a group or related
songs created to be performed as a totality, in a particular
order(or disorder), could then enter the fourth dimension of
music. This is closely related to opera, yet staging an opera
creates even more dimensions.
Consider the layers of meaning that can be addresses in an
integrated song cycle. It is possible to be true to every text
and every song setting, yet create a totality that has a
completely different meaning from the original texts. I can
build an indirect story form the poems themselves. For example,
in my song cycle on a selection of H.D.’s poems Sea
Garden—Sea Flowers . I create the story of Eddie Flowers
continued survival from HIV. I also construct the order of the
poems from morning to night. There is also a quotation of a cat
walking on the piano as my cat Thisby liked to do. How is this
different then the "ironic" concept? Well that too
adds layers of meaning. For example a song about loving Mom and
Dad—sung by Lizzie Borden! Irony works on your
expectations----no expectations no irony Anyway ….
Practice: Find a series of poems to set to music about
water then place the songs in an order by the size of the body
of water; puddle, pond, lake, ocean etc. That is from small to
large. Reverse the process.
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Geometry
and Math
Geometric shapes have been in music since it was first
notated, and perhaps even before, in the guise of tone
painting. For example; waves, the sign of the cross,
high/low, etc. are all pictures that can be drawn in music.
Interest in mathematical approaches to music has been around for
some time. The Schillinger Method of Music Composition of the
early/middle 20th century takes this point of view in a
traditional tonal melody and harmony context. After WWII, with
its focus on pre-compositional, and/or non-tonal material, it
became possible for more literal projection of geometry in
music. For example, to hold a single note, or cluster, for 3
hours would project a straight line. European interest in
compositional possibilities of timbre and density over melody
and harmony create a perfect platform to use geometry, or shapes
to create formal design. Consider your compositional space by
registers (top high, bottom low) as a large blank rectangular
page, pick a shape within; say a side view of a volkswagon bug.
Consider that timbre and density can be thematic objects.
Timbre; by making all other musical aspects indistinct except
for timbre. For example, an orchestra's violin section can be
divided into single parts, each playing its lowest 4 notes in a
slightly different heterophonic rhythmic formation so only the
timbre stands out. Density; by increasing the register coverage
or altering the speed of the above formations (faster more
dense), or by thinning , fewer notes say 3 or 2, or by
thickening that is adding more notes, or by switching from
chromatic to diatonic formations. Articulation and bowings can
also create contrasting timbre.
Practice: Now using timbre densities and register draw
a triangle three different ways; create the walls (connect the
dotes) fill in the triangle itself, then combine the two. Try
music painting a car your "bug" —it probable
will be most dense in the center then gradually fade away
(though the wheels will project into the lower registers).
Melody and
the anti-romantic revolt the 1920's
We think of melody as –the leading part of a
composition-, as the single top line of an instrumental
composition, or the vocal line of a vocal work, supported by the
accompaniment and the bass. The lack of melody -- the
anti-romantic revolt is an important aspect of modernism of the
1920's. In Stravinsky’s early atonal style we find the use
of discrete motive formations that retain their identities
(imagine different birds singing at once, their individual songs
retain their identity) even as the whole creates its own sound
picture. Stravinsky's melodies do not lead as much as they seem
to accumulate and then explode. This tendency continued in the
work of Varese and Shapey. True, melody can be construed as a
tonal technique, yet non tonal works can have melody as well.
A Radical approach -- ditch the Melody.
Some of Stravinsky’s techniques can be found in the
early work of George Antheil. His first violin sonata is an
entry into modernism by a work which omits melody (as well as
tonal harmony). Don’t I mean omits traditional or tonal
melody? No I don’t. Melody the leading part of a
composition is omitted, and why not? Does a composition need
melody to be successful? Generally, melodies are made up from
small motives. These motives can remain as a unifier if the
melody is removed. Why then, are these new angular formations
not a new kind of melody? I would argue that the lack of
contrast between the countrapuntal parts interferes with the
idea that it becomes a new kind of melody. The parts here are
interchangeable. Perhaps they are not contrapuntal parts at all,
but what we now call layers. The nature of melody is that it is
not restricted to any register but it is always contrasted
against the other parts. A simple rule is if it sounds like a
melody it probably is. Shenker argues for a two-part main
texture, a bass and a melody with the difference between them
being that the bass leaps and the melody moves stepwise.
Instead of melody in Antheil's “Sonata No. 1 for
Violin” we find motor rhythm/ostinati, which are an
expansion of the accompaniment figures. The ostinato (ground
bass) is a contrapuntal variation technique however, it is not
used in this manner by Antheil but is rather a discrete element
that that keeps their identities and are combined and repeated
“a la Stravinsky.” Of course motives can still
operate as a unifying feature. By placing ostinoti with motor
rhythms into all parts the melodic formations are denied.
Our notion of melody is from the Romantic era it is no wonder
composers looked to older contrapuntal music to find a new way.
Without melody for delineation, parts can be defined by
timbal differences, that is by the use of different instruments.
A violin will sound different from a piano even if the materials
are the same. This works well for instrumental music but always
not always for the voice especially where textual understanding
is important. Mr. Antheil's opera “Transatlantic”
shows these weaknesses. The use of motor rhythms in the vocal
parts limits the possibility of expression, and the poor
scansion (mostly syllabic) not only makes the words impossible
to understand but also sounds silly. (It makes one wonder why an
opera company would commission a work from a composer with no
vocal experience). Other composers such as Bach and Handel who
use similar melodic formations for both vocal and instrument
music do not have this problem. They carefully craft text
settings incorporating melismas and the use of recitative for
action.
Antheil's text setting in "Translantic" make the
story incomprehensible. Is this what he intended?
Lessons: find five recent composers who don't use melody.
Compare L’histoire with Antheil's Violin Sonata No. 1.
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Of
Opera and Musicals and New Music theater
The general definitions are these; opera is a sung
story, and musicals are a plays (book) with songs. (Test
yourself operas have musical interludes that can stand on their
own, musicals have underscoring that heightens the spoken
drama).
We might ask this; why does the most popular living “opera”
composer, Philip Glass, compose neither of the above yet is
acclaimed for writing opera? Mr. Glass's works, as well as
Robert Wilson's, seem to be tableau with music rather than
opera. In their works visually stunning imagery is featured
rather than character interaction or understandable sung text.
These stage pieces are similar to his work as a movie composer
where Mr. Glass showed his ability to enhance visual images.
“Let's go to the tableau” would seem an excellent
marketing phrase. Why not call their works tableau? Why does
Yanni claim his concerts represent the “new classical
music”. It must be remembered that Mr. Glass himself calls
his theater works operas and went to the trouble of renting the
Metropolitan Opera in New York for his first production! Well,
is there any advantage to calling something an “opera”?
Lets see.
Opera, the magic word
Sgt. Peppers Beatles and George Martin was considered the
first rock concept album. Though the concept was unclear and
unstated, it featured the some of the best rock music at the
time. Others imitated -- Spirit's 12 Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus
and many others including the Who. The Who's Tommy preceded by
their own “a quick one while he's away” was billed
as the first rock “opera” (though I believe there
was a rock n' roll Carmen that preceded it). Tommy featured the
Who at the top of their game and some great songs and was very
successful. Its true that Tommy had something of a story line
but it was constrained by the conventions of rock music. (Rock
music conventional? Did I say that?) If the operatic nature of
Tommy was not particularly clear from the music or song lyrics
the LINER NOTES EXPLAINED IT ALL!! This is the benchmark of what
is opera. In the world of visual art, in museums today you will
find recent works of art that seem to be afterthoughts to their
written explanations by their curators. These explanations,
liner notes, give the work of art its meaning and are far more
important than the art itself. Any work of art is merely an
example of something far more important -- the editorial. The
stranger and more unintelligible the work is the more straight
forward the editorial will be. For this reason the motion music
composers are much closer in language to rock music than
classical music.
The point??
Ok. The question is this; did the Who gain any cultural
significance by calling Tommy an opera rather than a musical
(which it eventually became) or a concept album? You bet they
did!!! The term “opera” gave the Who a degree of
serious credibility among music critics that art rock bands with
classical training like ELP never had. Opera is a magic word --
tableau and concept album are not. Opera has history,
institutions, fans, money, and an artistic cachet that tableau,
concept album, or even music theater lack. back
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Who composes opera??
One problem with music theater today is that career paths for
composers have been institutionalized. A Ph.D. in composition
from Yale does not compose musicals, they compose opera.
(Apologies to former theorist Maury Yeston, and I suppose that
Ph.D.'s in literature don't write trashy novels either?) So
composers who are on the academic track and might have a talent
for musicals don't try or wouldn't consider it. This is strange
thinking because I for one can't think of any significant
American operas composed recently, but I can think of many
important and interesting musicals. Of course there is a great
deal of difference compositionally between opera and “Broadway”.
Its also true that the French, Les Six combined popular and
serious styles before many of us were born. Sphor the serious
composer is forgotten while Sir Arthur Sullivan's light comedies
live on ( Sullivan's serious music is also gone).
OK opera composers are supported by different institutions
(university, non profit) than theater composers (Broadway
—profit) and at least for appearances opera composers are
more high class than theater composers. Really??? Well for one
thing its not true – for example has any recent American
opera come close to Sondheim?
So what is up? It is this: you must be true to your style. As
Menotti is. Ambition does not imply ability, and the knack of
getting performances does not necessarily create artistic
achievement. On the other hand, so called lighter music needs no
apology.
We continue to live in a time with a plurality of musical
styles, and in music nothing, in theory, is impossible. That
said, unless the theater composers find the right medium of
expression their works are destined to fail. Schoenberg and Berg
have both entered the operatic repertory so even if you despise
their music they can't be ignored. That is, their innovations of
character and music can't be displaced. Younger composers ignore
this to their peril. Yet many composers are commissioned to
write operas precisely because they don't know or understand
Schoenberg or Berg.
This answers another question: Why do so many recent operas
sound like musicals, (bad musicals at that)? None of these kinds
of works would exist if it were not for gate keepers and music
directors who keep commissioning them. All of these half baked
musicals marketed as operas would never survive a day on
Broadway and they only exist because the public does not
directly pay for their commission,creation, and inception. At
best, these administrators and composers believe that their job
is too bring in the audiences, not to challenge them -- “make
'em happy.” Familiar is what they desire, even at BAM
where the same pieces and composers are played year after year.
At worst, they create and dispense power, reward friends, and
create alliances so mediocrity is ensured. Great opera would be
beyond their control.
New Music theater
Many folks these days also draw a distinction between Opera,
Musical Theater and New Music Theater. Generally,
Opera is tradition based ( meaning based on other Operas)
and is performed in Opera Houses. Music theater is performed on
Broadway and off, and off-off Broadway. For New Music Theater it
ain't necessarily so. Anything can go and be performed
anywhere. Composers and creators of NMT can come from any style
or tradition not just musical. See my musicus simplisticus
lesson. It can also be a reaction to the difficulty of
getting an “opera” performed. Look up the Once
Group and the early days of the Minnesota Opera. Many
people who compose New Music Theater call them operas.
This is either because they are not familiar with the
terminology or for marketing purposes.
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Harmony and Content
Or why recent tonal operas
fail
Opera is not for the facile anymore. If your harmonic
language is based on popular music and your presentation is
melody and (ostinoto) accompaniment, your attempts at opera will
fail. The work will sound like a musical with an excuse.
Dramatic content requires more then a lot of “melody”
with a little dissonance to spice up the tense parts. These half
baked musicals would never survive a day on Broadway. You say,
“What about Richard Strauss?” Though most composers
write one work at a time it is a fallacy to say only the last
compositions count. Strauss had knowledge of Schoenberg and Berg
and he made his own choices. Without Electra there is no Four
Last Songs and not without Mahler either). You can argue the
importance of Bernstein's “serious” works but which
of his music is most loved? Or performed? The exception to this
is George Gershwin. A pop musician who composed “serious”
music as well. His opera, Porgy and Bess, had the kind of
failure (124 performances) for which every composer I know would
die. It was called a failure at the time, by Virgil Thomson and
others, but it still gets quite a lot of performances (more then
Mr. Thomson). Gershwin was on to something but the work is at
its heart a musical as the songs overwhelm everything else. Then
again why can't a musical can be just as important as an opera
anyway ? So, if your musical language is based on Rodgers and
Hammerstein, musicals are your best bet.
10 rules for being a successful opera composers
1)get the commission
2) get the commission
3)get the commission
4)get the commission
5)get the commission
6)get the commission
7)get the commission
8,get the commission
9) get the commission
10) get another commission
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It seems on the above paragraphs that I'm getting to some
point or other. Perhaps it is this. It is very likely that
operas judged artistic failures will still be seen as successes.
How can this be? Today it is so difficult to get a work produced
and presented to the public by a major or minor company that the
performance in itself is a success. That is undeniably true.
Further, once you are part of the system, your name will come up
again, failure or not. So it's easier to get your second work
done then your first even if the first one fails. Of course who
judges the work a failure is important too.
Also, something else comes to mind. In many of the operas out
today the music comes last. It is the least important part of
the show. The job of the music is not to get in the way of the
text, author, or concept. Or to recycle the familiar, the
popular, or the trite.
On Opera
Librettos:
Literature
is too big a subject for this page so I offer the following
information. The opera libretto is a form of literature that has
fallen from its once (revered) position in the art world. At one
time Wagner publish his librettos separately form his music and
they had public readings to great acclaim (though they are not
so prized today) . Many poets of past also wrote opera
librettos. The stage play and the opera libretto were very
similar entities but most are forgotten. It is only through the
music that most operas are remembered, with the exception of
Faust. Opera was created, or reinvented by a group of Italian
music lovers, the Florentine Cameratta, who knew that Ancient
Greek drama was sung, not spoken. They developed a new style of
singing (sing-speech) called parlando, what later became
recitative. The parlando would allow singers to become
characters who would act while they sang.
• On the practical
side a libretto has 2 parts the scenario and the text.
• A libretto can be
original though they are mostly adaptations of other works or
based on fairy tales, folklore, etc.
• The scenario is
about the scenes, characters and what will happen in each scene.
• The text is what
the characters and the chorus will actually sing.
• "Senarization"
is common to all literature including plays, screenplays and
musicals. There are film directors who only work with scenarios
as they have their actors improvise the actual text. (i.e.
Topsey Turvy). This could work in opera as well it worked on
Broadway with a Chorus Line.
• The traditional
operatic text rhymes just as the poetry of that time did and as
our popular music still does.
The
conventional approach to opera is to adapt a well known story,
keep some of the plot, add or condense as needed. The scenario
can stay close to the original but the singing text is usually
altered.- as it must rhyme -tends to change a lot. Wagner
changed the end of Lohengrin. He has Elisabeth die for dramatic
effect and to create closure. Stories are often adapted for
opera. Many of these stories and plays are mere trifles so we
hardly care if they are changed. Usually the change and the
addition of music is for the better. We consider a libretto good
when it keeps the spark of the original story alive. Consider
the many operatic versions of Faust and Shakespeare. There was a
time, and a style, of opera when their wasn't much interest in
the story at all, just in the Olympic nature of the power and
coloratura of the singers. In this case the Opera just had to
have Arias express a single strong emotion and have plenty of
open vowels. Modernist writers: Joyce, Pound, Hemingway,
Steinbeck, to name a few, create new challenges for opera
creation. Their text is so important and individual that to
adapt it in a convention way does violence to the writers art.
The Grapes of Wrath made a fine film yet all of the prose was
cut out, the essence that made it unique as a work of art.
How to Change Minds
Many think that if you want to change minds in a positive way
you need familiar music with a strong accompanying message. To
me thats just preaching to the choir. If you want to change
peoples minds change their ears too. Prejudice must also be
confronted sonicly.
Self criticism or how do I make myself a better
composer ?
A
question of accompaniment
One of the problems we face as
composers is that sometimes our technical ability as performers
too strongly informs our composition. In the realm of song
writing todays accompaniments tend to be very uniform in nature
that is very similar. This is because song writers, even
successful ones, are not encouraged to create anything more then
a melody and a simple chord accompaniment. One reason for this
is that advent of the professional studio musicians and
producers who can transform bare bones lead sheets into a fully
arranged and accompanied songs. It is the studio musicians job
is to improvise, read charts (or some of both) to create a
finished musical accompaniment to a song in the desired style.
The producer picks the musicians or creates the arrangement or
remix themselves using electronic instruments and computers etc.
In the theater, there is a
precedence for the composer not composing their own
accompaniments That is, being separate from the arranger.
Because of time, composers rarely orchestrated their own works
for the stage (even Bernstein), so accompaniments were to some
extent the work of others. This used to be the job of
orchestrators and arrangers. As this is no longer the case it
should not be surprising that song accompaniments have become
much less interesting, especially if one does not have access to
studio musicians.
Counter melody and
the “fill”
Besides basic style production
which includes Instrumentation, vocals and backup vocals,
counter melodies and fills are what arrangements are all about.
Popular music at this time doesn't use counter melodies all that
often except for classical, some Broadway, and the so called
“art rock” 1970's 1980's. A counter melody can also
be a strong riff or ostinoto, separate from the bass or melody
that repeats throughout a song. The guitar part in the Stones
“Satisfaction” for example. All songs have fills of
one kind or another, bass, drum, keyboard, guitar etc. Fills
usually lead to downbeats and go with the rhythm. If a fill is
too constant and breaks the rhythm it is too busy. The
classic example of the too busy bass is the bass line of
Melonie's “Candles in the rain.” On the other hand
one might ask can a hit song be wrong? Listen for the minor bass
fills against major chords in Bette Midlers Friends.
Anyway, Jack Bruce and Paul McCartney were experts at filling,
placing major 9nths and 6ths just right. Ringo Starr's drum
fills are widely imitated and sampled. Florid melizmas are the
character of vocal fills. Too many fills of the same type can
get dull in a hurry. Listen widely, chose well.
The
Transition
Nothing is
more the purview of a composer then the transition.
Though
melody and accompaniment or common to all musical styles, the
transition is not. It does not lend itself easily to inspiration
even though Brahms transitions can be the most beautiful
sounding part of his work. A transition is a musical
construction that is designed to fit between sections so that
the change between them is smooth. They can be very short or a
section to itself.
Songwriters
don't need them, music theater types tend to make them very
short and use harmony almost exclusively. In theater stage
action effects time so sometimes a transposition or key change
will do.
Since most
compositions are different each transition will also depend on
the materials at hand. The simplest way would be to use some of
the old section's musical materials, transformed, to overlap
into the transition and then into the new section. This creates
continuity. In vocal music transitions can also depend on the
text or the vocal form; aria, song, ABA etc. In instrumental
music it is all design.
How
are fills and transitions different?
One can
certainly hear some “fills” in Mozart. It is not a
new idea to embellish a composition with attractive details.
These ideas are related in that both the fill and the
transition are composed, both are used between sections.
But the fill only effects an instrument or two and the
transition effects everything. Also, the fill is usually created
by somebody other then you.
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Creative or
resourceful?
Again and again I read
and hear about the need for more “creativity.” How
to teach it etc.
Yet on closer look I
find that it is not creativity that is desired at all (as
creative answers are always difficult or seemingly wrong) but
merely resourcefulness. Being resourceful is to be able to
synthesize a correct understandable answer to a problem from
knowledge and experience. To be creative is to answer correctly,
or partially, a problem that has not yet been asked and may not
as of yet not be understood. Its no wonder that creative people
are not valued. For example, it was creative for the McDonald
brothers to invent their fast food restaurant. They were
despised by Ray Kroc, who with resourcefulnesses created an
empire through them. Creative marketing is not creativity.
Creative people invent institutions resourceful people run them.
Since we live in a capitalist society a few words on the subject
of business may be revealing.
Investors
(curators, impresarios) can make the rules.
Since all artists must
market themselves one way or another projecting personal
“creativity” is a good thing. Yet, being
artistically creative can be bad for business because creativity
doesn't always fit the desired profile. Since Vincent Van Gogh
is the most valuable artist around, Investors go looking for
anyone who might fit his artistic profile. Since his art did not
sell in own his day and he was self destructive and acted out,
this also becomes part of the required profile. Do we judge
books by their cover or what? Ironically, this search tends to
kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. It creates a lot of
career pressure that Van Gogh never had. Art take time to
develop and nurture.
For some, creativity
in business seems to be nothing more than finding new ways to
game the system. For example; Enron. So it seems odd then that
business people still persist in forcing a business model on the
public schools (which are never used in the private schools that
their own children attend).
Resourcefulnesses
is by its very nature safe, creativity can be dangerous.
Its just as true for
the arts and the so called “creative” fields. Much
work is now being done to remove creativity from the teaching
profession, and in the name of creativity itself! Consider the
arts. The fact that a profession is “creative” does
not automatically make its practitioners so. One would think
that all professional composers were creative people. Actually,
it depends on the question that a particular composition is
supposed to answer. A commission is a question. A composition is
the answer to that question. What is the answer? Is it
resourceful or creative? Creative visionaries like Varese and
Shapey are idolized and then ignored. Resourcefulnesses becomes
the currency of the day when familiar answers are the only ones
requested and familiar answers the only ones given. You can be
artistically unique as long as your part of the team and you
don't interfere with comfort zones. That is, as long as your not
unique. Join the club people! As Emily Peck once wrote;
“Everyone parrots be yourself be yourself, what is this
precious self anyway?”
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The
inner game of Orchestration
First:
Read Berlioz's book --but with his
own examples not Strauss.
For a general study any recent
orchestration book will do.
If you want to know about today's
general outlook about the whys and wherefores read Adam Carse's
book. Mr. Carse gives you all the orchestrational old wifes
tales; Brahms bad, Wagner good, the French, bizarre etc. etc. It
never occurs to him that orchestrating for opera might be
different then for symphony.
The
rhetoric of orchestral writing is different than others genres
First compare how accompaniments
are notated (orchestrated) in the piano sonatas, string quartets
and symphonies, by the same composers. Mozart for example
frequently uses Alberti bass in his piano sonatas but very
infrequently, if ever in his symphonies. Also examine different
musical eras to see the changes in instrument techniques.
Consider the differences between
heterophany and doubling. Especially true if you are interested
in spectral composition. Some times one must construct discreet
parts out of contrapuntal lines to create fullness and texture.
This is also a good way to avoid the hard edge caused by too
many unision doublings.
Instruments
and their Persona
The use and techniques of
instruments have changed over time but what remains is this:
Instruments also represent persona--a
trumpet is not just an instrument but also a character that
plays a role of trumpet in the orchestra. The trumpet is always
in the lead and is always a solo even when it does harmony. For
the trumpet, as in all the instruments, you can orchestrate for
type or against type but the "type" is there no matter
what. All players and instruments have a slightly different
history and a tradition. Learn this. Would a first violin
naturally be more musically assertive than a second violin or a
viola? OK, before I feed you too many stereotypes that might be
wrong remember --these are things you must discover on your
own through listening ans study so you can develop your own
approach.
Register
can have a strong effect on an instruments persona. Extreme
notes on any instrument change its character and its strength.
The flute can be more pervasive as it get higher in pitch, not
the oboe. Some instruments have more than one persona. The
piano, for example, is the instrument with the most persona, it
can accompany, be a soloist, or blend with other instruments in
many different ways. I will discuss the laptop a little
later.
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Art
and Technology
The problem with
great art is that it is sometimes hard to understand and not
widely advertised, if at all. On the other hand technology
is
ubiquitous. It is constantly making news and
becoming part of our lives.
To be technical; it is the bus
and the signal as well, that is, it
advertises itself. The
problem is that many people mistake a technological
advance
for an artistic one. Similar to my ideas about language
and music
(fewer people understand music then understand
texts for example. Everyone
is familiar with technology
and if they don't exactly understand every
aspect of it, they
still use it as tools. As a culture we are obsessed
with
technology to give an edge to keep up with the Joneses etc. So
it
seems that art and technology is a natural combination.
Of course if we consider
the cell phone-its tendency to
disrupt live concerts and invade other
peoples spaces (that's
half the fun I think),. It promises instant contact, shows that
we
are never alone and we don't have to plan. To shop without
a cell phone is
so 20th century. The cell phone is so
wonderful that we forget that you can't
understand your bill.
Also, having an ipod is cool and all that, but it
does not
imply taste. We can now create virtual albums of music but then
is
all popular music just made of hits?
Technowise
popular music has been concerned with the new sound since
the
1950's . Thats also when popular music started to push classical
music off the map.
In this case the new sound also made
commercial music cheaper to produce.
Was this a goal or a
by-product? Talent is expensive (as are orchestras) so generic
performers who can be made to sound great are cheaper and easy
to replace.
Technology has a dirty secret; that its ease
of use has a cost and those
costs remain hidden. Its
not just the implied lowering of standards. Hi tech
can
win a war but not the peace. That takes people.
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Musicus Simplisticus
Represents
a kind of composition that requires an avoidance of any standard
musical compositional materials. The word "traditional"
musical materials is the preferred term used by these composers
themselves and is in general use, but it is not quite correct.
This is because major elements of traditional composition
remain. It is based on an interpenetration of arts techniques.
In this case theater and dance into music. It is related to
music concrete-- an early electronic tape technique where
different natural sounds are accumulated (recorded and spliced)
to create a composition, rather then just notes and pitches.
Notes and pitches are not excluded. Simple consonance is
preferred but dissonance, mostly as sound effects, is not
excluded. One kind find these and related techniques in
“performance art” and also in “noncom”
rock music.
Materials
Compositions
are generally created from simple created sounds and vocal
improvisations on a topic or buzz word. Love, happy, sad,
morning etc. -- Though unusual for musicians, this is a standard
theater school technique for opening up. Movement can be used
exactly the same way. It typically involves group
collaborations. Specifically, this is because a single person
can only come up with maybe 5 or six different ways to express a
single idea, use say 10 people and you have 60 ideas to chose
from. Time is also an issue on when putting a collaboration
together for performance.
There
may be text or not, but the words do not have to make sense, in
fact the phonemes are better released from any context other
then their sounds. That way the sounds can be connected to any
concept. It is the sounds or vocalizations that must be shaped
to describe feelings or an idea. It is easier to mold the
incomprehensible otherwise its a “reading” of
material. If a real text is used it is usually rendered down to
short catch phrases to make it subservient to the overall
concept. Similar to my concept of textual context.
Programs
This
can be combined with sound processing, loops etc. via a laptop
using various programs such as Ableton live (check out the free
demo): It could be commercial dance beats or just sonic
explorations.
Live:
http://www.ableton.com/index.php?main=downloads
Reason:
http://www.propellerheads.se/
or many listing:
http://www.freebyte.com/music/#free_notation
The site below has
to too many different programs to count (but watch out for the
very annoying ads and pop ups) -
http://www.hitsquad.com/smm/
What
does the composer(s) do?
The
composer puts the collaborations together and in a form. They
map out the topics and decide what realized ideas will be used
and in what order to place them. Who they pick to be their
performers is also important, as this can set the style of the
music. In the performance, it is
possible to have collaborations and not use any performer at all
on stage by using prerecording, or video. For example, you could
“sample” sounds beforehand and then the performance
is the mix in “real time”. You can also let your
collaborators provide the material and then you can perform the
composition yourself. Or you can just direct the performers. It
is important that the proper contracts be signed etc. Since many
performers want experience it will be easy to find collaborators
who will let you run the show and use their ideas.
In
some way this kind of composition is most controlling of all. It
requires performers not just to give their time and talent but
their inner selves as well. Also, this kind of performance
requires extensive rehearsals as they must be choreographed down
to the last detail (and in real time) usually without any
supporting performance notations.
In
musicus simplisticus the simplicity is strength and the weakness
Since collaborators tend to constantly change the material is
always the first and the freshest concepts--a certain sameness
will occur that is why topics must change all the time. On the
other hand as we all have shared ideas about certain feelings- a
lack of professionalism or a lack of skill is no barrier to
providing material to make successful compositions.
Since
these compositions represent a first step into the unknown,
these materials though abstract are also very easy to
understand. Once one moves into incomprehensibility, where its
just a matter of soft or hard sounds, what they mean as an
experience is dependent on the composer and the experience of
the listener. If one starts with incomprehensibility its meaning
is also just a matter of the composers definition. I do worry
about the tendency to so strongly identify a composition with a
political idea or concept that one does not know whether the
political idea or the composition is being experienced or
responded too.
This
kind of activity can have several different results. For
example; the creation of theater groups, performance groups, or
bands. This is where the collaborators build on their
experiences. However, some chose to go it alone. In this case
the leader (the sound wrangler) builds up their
own personal portfolio of others experiences. In that case there
must be high turnover of corroborators and frequent travel since
since freshness requires new people every time. I suppose some
folks might object to being “used”. Here increased
musical knowledge does not help the “wrangler,” but
expertise, as in all arts, is still the point. Rather, they are
experts at: production, organization, editing, directing,
stagecraft, choreography, eliciting,controlling, choosing, and
sometimes entrepreneurship.
Practice
Get
some friends together; using sound and movement describe “the
worlds
most boring music teacher”--take turns (each
friend must be in charge of the design once) putting together
the vignettes. If you feel you must add political content make
it; “the worlds most boring fascist music teacher.”
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Gesture
composition
A
precursor to Musicus Simplisticus is gesture Composition.
Gesture composition is a subset of
the Cageian world, which uses alternative notations to create
musical works. This type of composition is a cross-over
technique borrowing from theatrical stage directions and
visuals, dance choreography and timing, visual arts etc.
Gesture
composers confront the "tyranny" of music notation and
seek new ways to interpret the main building blocks of music -
harmony, rhythm and melody. This explains their interest in
extended techniques. They also question the implied relationship
of "composer" to "performer" where the
"force" of notation tells the performer exactly what
to do. This leads to a music, though still notated, that is
"improvisational."
There is a type of gesture
composition I call “sound wrangling” where
the composer arranges sound samples, either from a created
pallet or improvised, live and/or recorded, created by the
performers. Even in visual art the “curator” is now
given equal billing with the “artist” whose works
they arrange around a space.
Gesture
composition and free improvisation
Much of this notated, composed
music focuses on extended techniques, which oddly enough is also
the focus of “free jazz.” (please note: I will call
this music free jazz, or free improvisation for this article. I
am a player not an academician so my language may be out of
date. This page is for all to read and the use of specific
jargon would be counter-productive ) The difference: free jazz
is improvised, and gesture composition is composed. Overlaps
between these two different types of music frequently occur. For
example, even in free jazz there are composed compositions, not
all of free jazz is improvised. Gesture music has a wide range
of composer-player relationships, that is the amount of control
bestowed by the composer on the performers. This can leave a lot
of music up to the performers.
Improvisation, is of the moment,
composition is of reflection. Gesture composers try to have both
by giving up some control as composers. Free
jazz comes to its gestures by emotion and listening, and by its
history. For me, great free improvisation has the
same effect as a great combo or chamber music, orchestra or jazz
band without a text. It also questions the various roles and
personas of the instruments and the players themselves. As you
see both points of view have very similar aims but different
departure points. “Jazz” builds on its history,
“Gesture”, though now old enough to have its own
traditions, is a re-invention.
How did gesture
composers become free improvisers?
Perhaps it happened like this;
noticing the vitality of the free jazz scene it did not take
long for gesture composers to discover their similarity with
free jazz. This led them to codify their gestures. Using their
own gestures and others they created teaching methods and
curriculum so that a “free improviser” could be
created with training without any experience with the outside
world of improvised music.
In a sense “free jazz”
is reversed engineered by gesture composers.
Perhaps it was just part of the
so-called uptown/downtown split, since both free jazz and
gesture music would be labeled “downtown”. (Thats
where I played "free jazz", but I did not meet any
gesture composers during my active years in NYC).
Differences remain. The most
important difference between gesture composition and free
improvisation is in the form of the works. “Free
Improvisation” uses a beginning, middle, and end, an “Arch
form, or an “Aural” form,” gesture composition
may or may not. Also in free improvisation the music comes
first, in gesture music anything goes. Music may be part of a
multimedia presentation and not the center of the experience.
From a purely musical point of
view, Gesture composition’s avoidance of formal concepts
invariably creates a weaker musical tapestry. This can be
augmented by visuals and other multimedia, but it also relegates
music to a small cog in the wheel of something more important:
“concept”.
In a purely musical terms these
works, unlike improvisations, will tend to go on too long. Not
because they are bad or slow works, but because a composed
gesture that would seem aurally calling for, or, creating
closure is ignored as specified by the composer, or concept, and
we lose interest in the music. In "free improvisation"
a gesture for closure is usually followed by all.
For some gesture composers the
concept is primary as the music is only a means to an end.
Oopsey a problem,
and a question of authenticity.
A certain resentment occurs when
“jazz” folks who have worked all their lives at a
technique suddenly find that their sound has been duplicated by
“gesture” folks with whom they have not associated.
Questions of race and also privilege occur because of color and
the advantage of being part of the “academy.” At
this point in time the academic study of music can encompass so
many different possibilities that almost any stylistic approach
could be called as a pejorative; academic.
There is also the issue of gender
as many gesture composers are women. On that point the academy
has been much more supportive, to my knowledge, than the public
music world. There is also questions of Nationalism, interest
and self interest, and “outside,” non-musical
interests. There are also those who see music as a basis for
social reform. Then we must ask who's reform are we speaking of?
The following is also true: most
gesture composers are associated with academia, and most
improvisers are not. (Perhaps I should say were not). In
a University setting one also eliminates the risk or rewards of
discovery, rejection and its social implications. There are
those who wonder whether the academy is preserving a style of
music or replacing it with something | 
