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Colgrass
Journal
Page
2
CREATION
OF THE COMPOSITION TEAM
Thursday,
11 November 99. 8:50-9:30
Today
I met with the kids who seemed to be the most
interested in composing. I called the Composition
Team, 9 in all. I told them they would
be creating three short compositions for the band
to record and that I would add a fourth, completing
the suite. I emphasized the importance
of utilizing contrast in the movements to provide
interest. I put a graphic piece on the
board that used an ostinato with solo instrument
alternating with doodling winds and low trombone
chord. This was a demonstration of contrast
within a section of a piece. Then I mentioned
ABA form. With this first section as A,
what might be a good B, for contrast? Since
we had alternating events from different instruments,
I suggested the B section be the whole band playing
together something we didn't hear in the A section,
like all fast notes, first loud then soft then
loud, with pauses, maybe crescendos, etc.—make
a section of it. When finished return to
A, and maybe even combine A and B for a finish.
I
mentioned major and minor and, again, that they
should learn the semi-tones on their instruments.
For
next time I asked them to bring their instruments
so they could play each other's pieces.
Notes
for next time:
•
Emphasize the term “what works.” Ask yourself,
“Do I know this is going to work with the resources
I have? Will it be easy?”
•
Give them a deadline? At least a time frame.
•
Ask them to think about who their strong players
are.
•
Which instruments (people) do they want to combine?
•
Do they want a solo, or solos?
Monday,
15 November 1999, 1:50 in band room for two periods.
Today
I met with the comp group (seven kids).
They brought their instruments and played each
other's pieces. (Especially the strong
players are Abbie on bassoon, Wendy on clar.)
Who else?
Although
the pieces were graphic some of them are tending
toward writing melodies with specific pitches,
which I had suggested as part of the overall idea.
Several
basic principles showed up as strong in this kind
combined pitch and graphic writing:
Jill
(baritone) wrote one with repeated note dots overlapping;
Laura
used simple scale passages overlapping.
John used a low long tone underpinning clarinet
curved lines, going up higher and higher and higher.
Loren
wrote a complex graphic piece which required more
players than those present to be effective.
She also wrote a melody in F (Bb, g, f, g, Bb,
c, d, Eb) Loren is imaginative but has trouble
communicating verbally how she wants her music
played, (it was also ambiguous on paper and faintly
drawn) and time was wasted. I emphasized
the importance of making their notation totally
understandable and their presentations of it clear,
and also to write clearly and darkly on the paper
so we could all read it. (We are reading
directly from the paper now, not the blackboard.)
Thursday,
18 November 2 periods (8:50 to 10:10 in Louis'
room).
I
introduced the idea that every major key has a
minor key in it, and showed them the effect of
using minor (I used the bells to demonstrate).
I had them play dots and lines on the triads
of a minor key to show them how that improvisatory
effect would sound. Chris (sax) was present
and I saw again that he is particularly in strong
in note control of his instrument, more than anyone
else.
We
looked at several of the pieces already written
and then at Jill's “Brother Sister” piece.
I asked which one they'd like to work on and they
said Jill's, so I assigned four of the kids to
work on Jill's piece, to develop it into a longer
work using various events to fill out the “story”
for next time.
Note:
Louis says he needs something from the comp team
to rehearse while I'm in Tennessee and New York,
something to play with the band. WE MUST
KEEP THE BAND BUSY WITH THE GRAPHIC NOTATION IDEA.
I
need to give the comp group an assignment while
I'm gone. Maybe they could use these principles
that “work” and make their own collective piece
to give to Louis by next week.
Ask
them what they would like to do for Louis.
Assign someone to take responsibility in my absence.
Loren?
Note:
I think I need to start meeting one-on-one with
comp team members.
Ask
about meeting in school or in one of their homes
WITH A PIANO on an off day. Saturday?
TO
KNOXVILLE…
Thursday,
25 November (2 hours)
Met
with the comp team. Loren had finished
copying the “Brother Sister” piece we finalized
as a foursome on Nov. 19. Louis had not
played it yet, because there was a schedule change
in the school. He did show it to about
12 kids on Tuesday, but found he needed one of
the composers present to answer questions and
generate the performance (because the notation
was not clear enough!!). They will play
it on Tuesday. Nov. 30 (I'll be in NYC).
Laura
brought an idea for a percussion piece today which
the group played, using tapping on tabletops,
clicking pencils, stomping feet. It was
simple and effective. Then we did it with
me playing a few chords on the piano to show how
a band might be involved, and I asked Even to
write a version of it for full band.
Loren
brought in a little melody and I showed the group
how her melody could be expanded and developed.
I used the term “economizing” with your
material. I expanded her eighth note-rhythm
melody into longer notes, ringing sounds, etc.,
then suggested that all this might be an intro
to the next section that might be a march, since
the melody suggests a march. Abbie and
Jill had their own ideas for drafts, and Loren
will continue developing her version.
Note: Loren is trying to write everything out—rhythm,
pitches, clefs, etc., and is running into the
predictable difficulty of not having the developed
skills as a composer to fully compose in that
way. I'm trying to suggest the idea of
mixing written notes with graphics, because graphics
abbreviates the notation and gets a faster result
that's easier for amateurs to understand and to
play.
Here
we are hitting the beginning of a dilemma: Loren
felt graphic notation wasn't going to get what
she wanted. She wanted to write notes.
Abbie agreed that the graphics weren't
sounding very good when the band played them,
because they didn't have enough control of their
instruments to render the graphics imaginatively.
What
should I do? They can't learn to compose
and orchestrate and harmonize, et al, using notation.
Some of them can barely read music.
But I started all this and I want to do the most
natural thing, not tell them what they can and
can't do.
TO
NEW YORK…
Friday,
3 December. (Two hours)
Today
Laura presented her “drum piece” again, this time
at my suggestion with instruments playing the
rhythms mixed in with drums. (She had one
instrument come in first, then all of the band).
She had trouble communicating to the group
exactly what she wanted and time was lost.
When we ran this idea last time she simply had
everyone play the collective rhythm and it was
quite effective, even powerful, and seemed to
call for a next compositional step, but what she
offered today didn't work well, partly because
she needed larger numbers than just the eight
of us to get the effect she wanted. Also,
partly because of her own unsureness about what
to do. The session took a half hour.
Then
we looked at Jill's “Brother and Sister” piece,
which Louis had played several days before when
I was in New York. They pointed out what
had sounded good (group improvs, crowd talking,
the tutti additive crescendo) and what was weak
(trumpet and trombone solos, weak hand claps).
My efforts to have them compose an improved
version collectively failed, because composing
by committee is hard to pull off even with adults.
One-on-One
So
I decided from now on I will meet one-on-one with
Laura, Jill, John, and Loren and guide them through
the creation of their pieces, which are using
primarily standard notation. I think this
will give us a much faster and musically satisfying
result. Then we will present what each
does to the comp team for comment. (Abbie
and Julie, bassoonists, are very good at the editorial
process—always seeking practicality and workability.
John is a good editor creatively.)
Today
Louis told me I could work with any of the composer
at any time without appointment. Just come
to the school and tell the office who I want to
meet with and they will pull them out of class.
I
could even have on individual for a while and
then call the team out of class to hear what we
had done—right on the spot!
Monday
(5 December) at 8 am I will hear Jill's piece
with the band, then Jill and I will carry the
piece to the next level.
Monday,
5 December. (two hours)
Met
with Jill at 8:50 and discussed changes in “Brother
Sister” noting what was strong and weak and playing
on those things. For example, solo trumpet
and trombone were weak and I suggested she support
them with soft trills in the flutes and clarinets,
respectively. Jill explained her “visualization”
of a camera zooming in on the house in the morning,
birds singing, door opening, we hear voices from
inside, then the brother and sister, then response
from the parents, etc.
Met
with Loren (in staff room) and suggested possible
uses for her theme. But she seemed distracted
and I felt she didn't understand what I was suggesting.
So I went home and made an extended draft
of the theme and wrote it out in variations for
each section of the band (knowing she would not
be able to transpose into Bb, F, etc.).
Wednesday,
7 December (one hour)
Met
with Jill to see what she had done on “Brother
Sister.” She didn't have the new version
finished and what she had was so faintly written
in pencil that it would not xerox. She
seemed bored, or tired, or suffering from low
blood sugar. I couldn't figure out which.
She spoke so faintly I could hardly hear
her and never made eye contact with me.
I even asked her if she really wanted to do this.
She only muttered “yeah.” (I later
learned she has MS)
I
met with Loren and showed her how I'd written
out the theme for band and told her the band would
read it tomorrow. She was excited, although
she had the impression it was “too hard” for the
band.
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