My entry for the Sihr Halal project is entitled “Worlds Apart – Together.”
As I began thinking about this project and the unusual ensemble it entails, I struggled with how to approach this ensemble on a number of levels.
Form, pitch content/organization, shape and length are all the usual topics any composer deals with when starting a new piece but nothing came to my mind along those lines; I needed an overarching concept for the piece, perhaps even a title, which is a complete departure from my usual compositional process; I prefer to let the music tell me what the title is rather than the other way around.
I began daydreaming about the world: our world of PULSE, the world being a musician, of being a New Yorker, of being a citizen of the U.S., of being one of 3 billion unique people on the planet etc… How aware are we of those worlds outside our own? So many things happen at the same time at any given moment it’s impossible to be so aware.
I began to think it might be cool to separate the orchestra into smaller units rather than try to unify it; kinda’ like each distinct grouping of the orchestra is its own little world, hopefully coexisting peacefully with all the other worlds going on around it.
So I began thinking of goupings: violin and cello together, woodwinds together, percussion together too. (yes, I know… boringly logical – but I had a deadline!) My “free-radicals” would be the koto and the laptop.
Once I settled on the groupings I began looking for pitch material. One thing I noticed was the wideness of registral range I had at my disposal (violin & cello / soprano sax and bass clarinet) so I looked for things that sounded cool spread way out. I came up with a short 4-note motif between woodwinds, then found a few of notes for the strings that would sound surprising against the woodwinds – a favorite trick of mine.
Completely at a loss as to how to approach the koto, I used another favorite trick to get some ideas: I took the sum of the pitches I had set aside for the strings and woodwinds then looked for what was left over. Oddly enough, a simple d minor lower tetrachord and a lonely F# were all that remained. Rather than omit the F# (“one of these notes just doesn’t belong here, one of these notes just doesn’t belong” – Sesame Street anyone?) I decided to incorporate it as a foil to the d minor tetrachord.
As I began thinking about pacing and organizing the piece I decided to see how long I could wait before I brought the percussion in. I always look for a “surprise” factor in my music, so after two+ minutes of adagio “separate worlds” I thought having the percussion section bust out in a classic latin percussion groove à la Ray Barretto might be fun.
So that’s it – adagio separate worlds into a latin groove with some individual solos interacting with the computer, interspersed with references from the adagio section and you have “Worlds Apart-Together” – just add water!
For audio excerpts and more commentary on "Worlds Apart - Together," listen to Jamie's podcast. This piece will be premiered at our Sihr Halal concert at Roulette on May 5.
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