Grass Roots 2nd Movement

Last night I had a dream that I was writing a clarinet concerto and the entire piece was there in my mind just waiting for me to write it down. I just wanted to get to my computer and get it all notated. In my dream, I commented to my wife that this is such a rare occurrence for me as composing is usually having a general idea of what I'm trying to achieve and then lots of perspiration figuring out how to make it work. Of course, when I woke up from this dream, I didn't remember any of the piece that was so clear to me while sleeping. This dream reminded me that some composers may receive such inspiration, but it has rarely ever happened to me. The closest I have come is when I was writing a piece for the Euphouria Quartet called "In Remembrance, September 11, 2001". The ideas for this piece just flowed so easily and served as an emotional release from that tragic time.

So back to reality and the beginning of the 2nd movement of Grass Roots. This movement is called "Conflict" and very generally depicts opposing forces in the debate to conserve our country's beauty and history for all to enjoy. My initial idea came very easily but it has taken me about two hours to write the first 10 measures. I have decided to blog today because of the contrast between my dream and reality. After working some this morning, I am now temporarily stuck. When I get stuck, it is usually time for me to take a break from the piece and come back to it with fresh ears. Hopefully tomorrow or the next day, I'll figure out what comes next. Sometimes that happens when I'm not even composing, like when I lie in bed waking up in the morning or taking a walk. A lot of times the problem gets solved by listening to what I have written over and over again. Occasionally I need to experiment with using some material from earlier in the piece, but I try not to construct my music. I prefer to let my ear tell me where the piece needs to go. On rare occasions, I discover that the what I have written actually works better later in the piece and I need to write a new beginning. My next blog will report how I solved this problem.

To see and hear what I have composed thus far, go to http://www.cooppress.hostrack.net/grass_roots_blog.html
Dr. B

Grass Roots 1st Movement

I have completed the first movement for now. The reason I say "for now" is that I'm not sure that it is complete until I finish the other movements.

The movement is very free in form although there is some repetition of material from time to time. But even those repetitions are varied. Since the movement is titled " A Voice in the Wilderness", there are certainly sections that evoke a sense of being a lone voice trying to accomplish a monumental task. Adding to the the uncertainty are several chromatic sections the evoke a sense of doubt. Lastly, there are sections of lyrical and harmonic beauty that try to depict the beauty of the land that is trying to be saved.

One challenge I was facing in this movement was to obtain rhythmic variety. Except for a few meter changes, the movement is mostly written in 4/4. However, one does not sense a strong metrical pulse because the phrases begin and end on different beats of the measure. I also changed tempo often to further disguise the regular pulse. a good example of both of these coming together is in measure 17 where the Ritard and the phrase end after beat 2 and the new phrase and tempo start on beat 3. The other part of the rhythmic challenge was the divisions of the beats as most everything was duple. Over the course of several revisions, I broke up the constant duple feel with the insertion of triplets and a quintuplet.

To see and hear what I have composed thus far, go to http://www.cooppress.hostrack.net/grass_roots_blog.html

Dr. B

New Piece for Tuba and Piano

I have been commissioned by Steven Maxwell, tuba professor at Kansas State University, to write a piece for tuba and piano. Recently, I was inspired by watching Ken Burns film on the National Parks broadcast on PBS. What really inspired me was the ability of individuals to garner support and preserve our natural wonders for future generations. This gave me an idea for the piece. I'm calling it "Grass Roots" and I'm thinking of three movements: "A Voice in the Wilderness" which we be slow and introspective, "Opposition" which will be fast, contrapuntal and more dissonant, and "Joining Forces" which will begin quietly and become triumphant.

I have begun the first movement and I am very pleased with how it is going. It begins very rubato with tuba being to lone voice in the wilderness with the piano serving as punctuations. When the tempo becomes steadier at measure 9, the beauty of the wilderness is reflected in both the lyrical line and the rich harmony. Measures 12 and 13 have some wandering chromaticism that hints at the uncertainty that lies ahead.

To see and hear what I have composed thus far, go to http://www.cooppress.hostrack.net/grass_roots_blog.html

Dr. B

Concertino Completed

I have now completed the "Concertino" as I also borrowed parts of the fast movement from the 1978 work for saxophone and piano. This movement was more difficult to work with than the slow movement because it had more extended sections featuring the piano. I decided to omit those sections and it balances the other movements very well. I also inserted a saxophone cadenza which was not present in the original work. Once again, I softened some of the dissonances, however, this movement is more dissonant than the other two movements. The staccato eighth notes often are more percussive than truly harmonic and adds rhythmic excitement to the movement.

There are once again, two main themes in this movement, the staccato idea, and the more sustained and lyrical idea. There is a development section in the middle. After the cadenza the opening material returns, but the sustained theme is varied quite a bit by giving parts of it to the saxophone over a triplet accompaniment.

To see and hear what I have composed thus far, go to http://www.cooppress.hostrack.net/concertino_blog.html

Dr. B

Legacy for Quartet

I promised that I would write about my re-scoring my orchestral composition "Legacy" for a quartet of clarinet, violin, cello and piano and the challenges I faced in order to accomplish this, so I'm finally getting around to it. "Legacy" is one of best compositions and it deserves to be heard more often than its first performance. It is extremely difficult to get additional performances by orchestras as most orchestras like to have the honor of the premiere and unless both the composer and/or the work becomes so well known, the work is likely to languish in the file cabinet. When I had the opportunity to compose a piece for the chamber ensemble "enhaké", I immediately thought of re-scoring this work for this excellent group of musicians.

Before I begin to discuss the challenges I faced, the reader may wish to visit my earlier blog on this work to gain insight into my thinking while composing this piece.
Here is the link http://composinginsights.blogspot.com/2007/09/legacy-general-description.html

The challenges fell into two main categories; what to do with the solo percussion parts and how do I cover all the important lines. When there were timpani solos, these were put in the cello or the left hand of the piano. Since fast repeated notes are difficult on piano, I often made the line more melodic. Non-pitched percussion solos like the ones in the toms were again given to either of these instruments. I created pitched lines for these.

Most of the time I was able to cover all the important lines. The greatest challenge was the loss of timbral variation that I had in the orchestral version. For example if I had a quartet of woodwinds playing a line in harmony, I needed to give it to all three monophonic instruments plus the right hand of the piano. I was able to use occasional double stops in the strings so the piano could do something else. In order to create some variety in timbre, sometimes the clarinet has the lead part and other times the violin. The extremely contrapuntal sections caused the most problem as I had to leave some lines out like in the Raga section at the end of the first movement, but I think the effect is still there. The musicians will also find themselves jumping rapidly back and forth between melodic material and background material as I needed all four instruments to play together very often just to cover the important parts of the orchestral piece.

I have some questions about bowings and articulations that are needed to have the group sound homogenious when require and to create the needed contrast when required. I have sent the score and parts to "enhaké" for their comments and I look forward to receiving their remarks.

To see and hear both versions, go to http://www.cooppress.hostrack.net/legacy_blog.html

Dr. B

Concertino 2nd Movement

For the second movement of Concertino, I decided to adapt a 1978 composition of mine that was composed for the Bilger Duo with orchestra. It was a two movement work, beginning with a slow movement followed by a fast movement. The idea of recycling some of my music is very appealing to me. With over 250 compositions to my name, it is not always easy to come up with original works. I have an interesting story to relate regarding this.

A few years ago, I was a visiting composer at Mansfield University where Dr. Joe Murphy was performing several of my pieces. Just before the concert, he was rehearsing my Four Spanish Dances for saxophone and marimba and the concert began with my Sonata for saxophone and piano. When the concert began, I thought he left the music to my Spanish Dances on the stand and started playing that piece instead of the Sonata. It turned out both pieces began almost the same way and I was unaware of this until I heard them back to back. I wonder how many other composers borrow unconsciously from themselves.

In the case of the Concertino, I am borrowing consciously. The original work has had one performance in 30 years! Since it just sits in my file cabinet, why not give it new life? There are some good ideas in this piece, but I am struck by two observations as I adapt it. First is the amount of dissonance that I found acceptable in 1978. In my adaptation, I removed a lot of the dissonance. The second observation is the immaturity of developing my ideas and my instrumentation. As a result, I removed the former concerto from my catalog and I'm using the material in this new setting. I will probably do the same with the fast part for the last movement.

The second movement has two main sections, a very slow and rubato section and a slightly faster contrapuntal section. At M 43, I removed a lot of the dissonant counterpoint and replaced it with some syncopated chords in the trombones and tuba that is echoed by the timpani. At M. 48, I used some of the counterpoint from the previous work and linked it together with shorter syncopated sections in the trombones and tuba and shorter answering in the timpani. This sections builds nicely to a climax. The movement returns to the free tempo and ends with a suspended resolution as it will go directly into the fast last movement.

To see and hear what I have composed thus far, go to http://www.cooppress.hostrack.net/concertino_blog.html

Dr. B

Concertino First Movement Completed

I have had some solid work sessions over the past few days and I have completed the first movement of my Concertino. I was correct when I said the vision for the structure would become clear when I completed the lyrical section. The lyrical section ends at m. 100 and I went into a short development of the four syncopated measures of the lyrical theme. The development is a short trio for saxophone, euphonium and percussion. After stating the four measures, I slip into a syncopated background figure that first occurs at m. 17. Following this interplay between instruments, a return to the full band playing material from M 16 fit nicely. I expanded the instrumentation and altered the solo saxophone part slightly during this recapitulation. I did not recapitulate the lyrical theme. Instead I brought the movement to a close with a three measure coda.

I plan to adapt a movement from and earlier composition for saxophone, piano and orchestra for the second movement. I'll begin working on that next week.

I have also completed two of the three movements of my adaptation of my orchestral piece Legacy for the enhaké quartet. This is going well and I'll blog on it and put up samples soon.

To see and hear what I have composed thus far, go to http://www.cooppress.hostrack.net/concertino_blog.html

Dr. B