I thought instead of only talking about my composition, Race, for our upcoming show on December 17th, it might be interesting to hear about how we lead up to the performance itself: the actual logistics of putting on a new music concert in New York City (I'll talk about my piece at the end!).
As the Artistic Director and overall "Grand Poobah" of this illustrious organization, I am charged with facilitating and managing many responsibilities including organizing musical projects, contracting musicians, and (most importantly) securing table space at the Coffee Pot for our meetings. At our last meeting before the summer, we decided on another performance of the Eloquent Light in December as a prelude to our IAJE performance in January, if we were accepted for the convention. So in July after being notified we would perform at IAJE, I began notifying musicians about a performance in December and January. Since Darcy and JC have performed at the Bowery Poetry Club with their own groups in the past, Darcy was in charge of securing the venue. Managing schedules of the musicians and composers has been a tall order but after numerous attempts, I was able to secure everyone needed for the right times and places. We have four rehearsals for the Eloquent Light performance at the BPC, with each composer getting about an hour over those four rehearsals to work on their composition. Not much time, but with the incredible musicians we have (see Darcy's previous post), it usually works out well. Meanwhile, as we were preparing for both winter performances, I have been working on various future projects for Pulse in the spring and fall of 2007, including the IAJE performance (and beginning to try to find the money to pay for all of it!), which I'll talk about in future posts-so check back!!!
While I gladly accept my Poobah duties, it is often difficult and frustrating leading up to any performance. There are many musical and non-musical details to think about and often many issues (or sometimes real problems) that come up, often at the last minute. But as any of the Pulse composers can tell you, despite our busy lives filled with our own projects/groups as well as family and friends, we all make the time for Pulse because we enjoy working together and enjoy what we have (and will) accomplish as a group.
Now to talk about my contribution to the upcoming performance:
My composition is called Race. A 7-8 minute composition which takes its' name from my researching and viewing historical photos of Olympic runners.
At the opening of Race, the guitar plays only three pitches (Bb-Eb-F) in an arpeggio pattern shifting between groups of three and four. This beginning is both harmonically (is it the key of Eb? F? Bb? or any number of other possibilities) and rhythmically ambiguous (the shifting pattern floats over the 3/2 metric stresses) and leads to the entrance of the keyboard playing (F-C-Bb), also in an arpeggio leading into the trumpet and horn melody a few bars later. At this point I can imagine the stretching and preparation before the start of an early morning run or runners milling around before the start of a race. As the composition progresses there are various overlapping or "chasing" patterns between instruments of differing rhythmic groupings, with the horn more melodic, often foreshadowing various intervallic permutations that are heard later in other instruments. When the trumpet solo enters, McNeil is playing on top of various "streams" of melody, moving at different rhythmic rates until the tuba and cello enter with a more "funky" bass line. A brief interlude (I call it a "second wind") picks up some of the previous material heard in the horn and, much like the final lap of a race, pushes it into a slightly different gear leading into the guitar solo. The end of the Pete's solo smoothly leads into the last section which harmonically starts like the beginning, however now more rooted in various modal configurations of Eb (although there is never an Eb in the bass); the horn and trumpet, again melodically dance around each other one last time before finally fading out, leaving the keyboard and violin as the last statements in the piece. At the last rehearsal I told the musicians this section is like running through the finish line and finally beginning to catch your breathe as you wind down.
Overall, like John Adams' Short Ride in a Fast Machine or Micheal Torke's Javelin or Run, I wanted Race to be a portrait of motion; a linear progression of movement to the end, much like an actual race. However there were no images of runners in my mind as I was composing of the piece. It was only after my composition was completed that I looked back upon it, and this sense of movement that I heard lead me to explore running as a metaphor. One of the first photos I found was the below photo of Marion Jones from the 2000 Olympics. No matter what you think of her, I just found the photo an accurate depiction of the joy running (and winning, in this case) can bring out in someone and that is one feeling I want Race to give to the listener.
Going all the way back to the 1920 Olympics it was wonderful to learn about and see photos of the great runners of the past such as Paavo Nurmi, Kip Keino, Wilma Rudolph, Jesse Owens, and Joan Beniot, all whose photos and more are used in the slide show that accompanies the performance of Race. I hope you can come out and listen (and see) Race and the other wonderful pieces from Pulse on December 17 at the Bowery Poetry Club.
Joe
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