Happy Anniversary, Melissa!!!

Three years ago today I married the love of my life.  I am thankful everyday that we are together.  The road ahead will be filled with challenges and potholes, but I know I can make it through with my wife by my side.

Happy Third Anniversary to my beautiful, pregnant wife.  I love you.

We are having a girl!

My wife and I found out that we will be having a baby girl in September.  For the past month I have been anxiously waiting to find out the sec of our baby.  Last Thursday we got the news: We are having a girl!  We are very excited about this news.  We can now start planning the nursery and deciding on all the things we have been waiting on.

Our baby girl is due five months from today.  We cannot wait for her to be born.

In a heartbeat

Yesterday my wife had an OB/Gyn appointment and being the supportive husband and excited father I went with her.  This was the appointment where the doctor checked the baby's heartbeat.  The doctor moved the device around my wife's belly until he found the baby's heartbeat.  We listened to it for about 20 to 30 seconds.  It was an incredible experience.  This is the moment where it really hit home for me.  Seeing my baby in an ultrasound picture is great, but being able to hear the heartbeat is a whole different level.  I now have further proof that the baby is alive.  For me it is an experience that I will never forget.  I cannot wait to find out the gender of my baby!

My cats seem to know...

It is funny how pets seem to understand the emotions of their "parents."  The past couple of days have been busy and difficult for me.  I am sure that my cats sensed it.  Stewie, my orange tabby, is not normally a lap cat.  He will lay next to me or even cuddle up against me, but often he does not sit on my lap.  Last night Stewie climbed on my lap and he laid there for about two hours.  While he was there I was trying to write last night's blog entry in my notebook.  At one point Stewie stretched out and pinned down my arm so I could not write.  It was like he was trying to say, "Just relax and watch television."

Later that night Jasper, my brown (grey) tabby, did something he does not normally do.  I laid down to go to sleep and he jumped up on the bed and curled up next to my chest.  Jasper slept there, next to me, almost all night.

I really do think that our pets are really in tune with our emotions.  They seem to understand what we are feeling and they do things to help us feel better.

A Jaded Concert Review

It is disappointing when a concert or album reviewer/critic goes into a concert or a listening of a new album expecting things to be a particular way.  When things do not go as expected the reviewer obsesses on what he or she did not like and they end up picking apart the performance.  This is what I found when the other day I read a concert review of Hilary Hahn's recital at Strathmore Hall in North Bethesda, Maryland.  The review was written by Robert Battey and published in The Washington Post.  Upon reading the review it became clear that Mr. Battey is conservative and traditional in his musical tastes.  The headline says it all: Virtuoso violinist Hilary Hahn holds her audience rapt but adds some irritants.

It seems that Mr. Battey's review is all about building up only to tear down.  He talks about being in the presence of a rare instrumental talent only to turn around and say that Ms. Hahn "exudes little star power or charisma onstage."  I do not know about you, but when I go to a classical music concert I am more concerned with great technique and playing in tune than star power.  I have seen performers with great stage presence give mediocre performances.  That is not what I want, but apparently that is what Mr. Battey wants.

The biggest "irritant" to me in this review is his critique of the program.  He called it a program that "uncomfortably juxtaposed old standards with second-tier Americans.  Charles Ives and George Antheil are the two Americans on the program.  Does Mr. Battey infer that all American composer are second-tier or lower?  I wonder because I do not consider Charles Ives as second-tier.

It is obvious that Mr. Battey had hoped for a "more traditional" recital.  He spent about one-third of the review ranting about the Ives and Antheil pieces.  He even attacks the performance of the Beethoven saying that the duo's "accents were wan and Hahn's staccatos were sticky rather than spiky" and claiming that the range of expression was narrow in the slow movement.

In the end, Mr. Battey did give high marks to Ms. Hahn's encore of the Bach B minor Partita.  He called it "simply jaw-dropping in perfection."  Yet he could not leave it there.  True to his build up and tear down form he goes on to claim that a few of the tempos seemed slow and she was inconsistent with the repeats making the piece's structure incoherent.  Though I wonder incoherent to who?  Unless you know the piece backwards and forward, you probably would not even notice the "incoherent nature" of the structure.

All of this really makes me wonder what reviewers like Robert Battey want.

Influential Pieces: Kaija Saariaho - Cendres - Part 4

After listening to Cendres I knew that this was the type of piece that I wanted to compose.  When I was finished with the piano piece I was composing, I began to think about this Cendres-influenced piece.  I checked out a copy of the score from the university library and began to study this piece.

The primary focus of Cendres is timbral.  This means that texture and tone color are as important as harmony and themes.  After figuring out some of the primary techniques Saariaho employs to create her sound world, I began to think about how I could use these techniques in my music and make it my own.  Breath tones in the flute and vertical motion of the cello bow (up and down the strings rather than just across them) were two of the techniques that really stood out to me.

The piece I composed that was inspired by Cendres was Off you go... for flute, cello and percussion.  I used a similar instrumentation to that of Cendres which was alto flute, cello and piano.  I opted to use percussion rather than piano because of the large palette of sound available with percussion instruments.  The three primary percussion instruments I chose to use were vibraphone, suspended cymbal and brake drums.  The vibraphone was a logical choice as there are a few different ways to play the instrument.  These ways include with mallets, with a bass bow on the edge of the tone bars or with the hands.  Also this instrument can sustain pitches like a piano.

Inspired by Saariaho's exploration of the instruments she used I looked at some extended techniques for some of the percussion instruments.  I found that using a bass bow on the edge of the tone bars on the vibraphone creates a thin, sustained sound which complements the flute and cello tones.

The gradual unfolding of the harmonic language is another aspect of Cendres that I wanted to explore in my piece.  This was accomplished by using the extended techniques.  By changing the way in which the tone is played the sound will be different while the pitch stays the same.

Listening to and studying this piece has given me tools that I have used in my piece Off you go... and still use today.  This is one of the pieces that has really helped me to develop my compositional voice and one that I think deserves the label: Modern Masterwork.

American Music Pioneer Milton Babbitt passes away

On Saturday, January 29, 2011 avant-garde composer Milton Babbitt passed away.  He was 96.  Babbitt, born May 10, 1916, is best known for his work in incorporating the synthesizer into contemporary classical music.  In the 1950s Babbitt was hired by RCA as a consultant to help develop the Mark II synthesizer.  He was also the founder and director of the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center where the Mark II was installed.

Milton Babbitt's most famous composition is Philomel (1964) for soprano, recorded soprano and synthesized sounds.  The text for Philomel was written by John Hollander.  This piece was commissioned by the Ford Foundation for Bethany Beardslee.  Philomel is a milestone of post-war composition.  Babbitt's intertwining of the voice with the recorded and synthesized sounds is nothing short of phenomenal.

In addition to his work as a composer, Babbitt is well-known for a controversial and thought provoking article "Who Cares If You Listen?"  This article was published in the magazine High Fidelity.  Babbitt's original title was "The Composer as Specialist."  The title was changed by an editor at the magazine without Babbitt's knowledge or consent.  In 2006 Babbittt commented, "Obviously, I care if people listen; above all I care HOW they listen."

In 1992 Princeton awarded Milton Babbitt a doctorate.  This comes 46 years after his dissertation on the 12-tone system of modern composers was rejected.  This doctorate was awarded after he was given an honorary doctorate in the previous Spring.  Babbitt received the Pulitzer citation for his life's work in 1982.  In 1988 he was awarded the Gold Medal of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.

In the 2006 book Music Downtown, Kyle Gann wrote, "You can't outdo Babbitt, you can only become a watered-down imitation."  Gann would go on in his book to judge Milton Babbitt and Pierre Boulez to be as influential in their time as Palestrina and Bach were in their time.  Babbitt felt strongly that "music should be an advanced subject that's open to study and contemplation the way philosophy and mathematics is."  Babbitt embodied that spirit in his work.

The music of Milton Babbitt is as American as that of Aaron Copland and Samuel Barber.  Though Babbitt's music bears no resemblance sonically, it is the development and ingenuity of the music that embodies the American spirit.

  
  

Click on images to purchase CDs from Amazon.com

Influential Pieces: Kaija Saariaho - Cendres - Part 3

One of the aspects of Saariaho's Cendres that really drew me in is the harmonic language.  After my initial listening it seemed to me that the harmonic language was relatively static.  I had thought that there was little to no progression in the direction of the piece.  After repeated listening and a brief study of the score I found that is not the case.

The sonic world of Cendres is one of gentle unfolding.  Saariaho starts with a solitary note, an E-flat pizzicato in the piano.  A harmonic trill in the cello on E-flat in measure two introduces a G.  This gives the listener a hint at a possible major sonority.  Then at the beginning of measure eight the F-sharp is introduced dispelling the major notion.  Finally at the end of measure eight the B-flat is brought in.  An analysis of these eight measures indicate that the opening sonority shifts between E-flat major and minor.  The minor third in this case is enharmonically spelled as F-sharp rather than G-flat.

Why do I focus on the first eight measures of the piece?  This piece starts at a slow tempo of a quarter note equals forty-four.  Therefore these measures constitute almost forty-five seconds.  Which in a ten minute piece is substantial.  Also in looking at the rest of the piece it becomes apparent that these eight measures are indicative of the sound world Saariaho intends to create.

Another identifier of Cendres is the use of timbre and effects to color the piece.  Most of the uncommon effects I have described in part two of this series.  The way in which she combines these effects really adds a different sense of motion to the piece.  In the first eight measures Saariaho combines pizzicato inside the piano with the harmonic trill in the cello.  Both of these techniques produce a thin sound and yet the base of each sound is identifiable to its respective instrument.

In measure sixty-three Saariaho provides another example of using color as forward motion.  In this measure both the alto flute and the cello play a rhythm on a single repeated note.  In this case the alto flute plays C and the cello E-flat.  While the notes are stagnant the rhythm and motion is not.  Both instruments play a similar rhythm, but a sixteenth note apart.  The interesting part is the way in which each instrument produces the tone.  The alto flute gradually changes from a normal tone to a breath tone. The cello changes from a normal tone to a harmonic.  Saariaho thins out the sound creating a shift in tone color.

Quarter-tone and half-tone glissandi are utilized for two reasons.  This first is to slightly modify the character of the piece.  Much of the playing is straightforward and either highly rhythmic or static.  The glissandi add a slippery, almost bouncy feel to the sections in which they appear.  The second reason is that they also further illustrate the gentle unfolding that I described at the onset of this part.  Rather than just mechanically changing the fingering to create the new tone, the instruments slide into the new pitches.

Influential Pieces: Kaija Saariaho - Cendres - Part 2

Prior to hearing Kaija Saariaho's Cendres for the first time I was only familiar with about three of her orchestral works and some of her electro-acoustic compositions.  Cendres was the first piece for acoustic chamber music of Saariaho's that I heard.  This piece really captivated me.  The instrumentation was, at the time, to me different: alto flute, cello and piano.

While the instrumentation seemed different, it is the way in which Saariaho uses the instruments that opened my eyes to the world of color and timbre.  The piece opens with a harmonic trill in the cello.  This technique creates a thin and airy sound that initiates the sound world that is to come.  Another technique for string instruments that Saariaho uses in many of her compositions is the application and changing of bow pressure.  Increasing the bow pressure creates a sound that is more noise than tone.  Bow pressure can be applied to the point where all sense of pitch is lost.  The inverse, less bow pressure, thins out the sound creating an eerie and airy tone.

The alto flute is also used in uncommon ways.  Saariaho composes certain passages using breath tones.  Breath tones are created by the flautist using the fingering needed to create the notated pitch, but air is blown through the instruments not producing the normal tone.  In certain passages Saariaho will alternate between breath tones and normal tones.  This creates an effect similar to that of the alternation of the harmonic and normal tone in the cello.

Another of Saariaho's favorite flute effects is the use of phonemes.  Phonemes are an elementary part of speech that distinguishes one utterance from another.  In the preface of the score Saariaho gives a list of the phonemes used in Cendres and the correct pronunciation.  Saariaho explored this technique in some detail in Laconisme de L'aile (1982) for solo flute and electronics.  In Cendres Saariaho used the phonemes as coloration which acts as another form of progression.

Another technique Saariaho used in this piece is quarter-tones.  There are most easily heard in the alto flute and cello as glissandi.  This pitch will be bent up or down a half-step in certain passages.  It is with these glissandi that the quarter-tones will be most transparent.  Saariaho will rarely use the quarter-tones as exact pitches in this piece as they can be difficult to play with accuracy.

Influential Pieces: Kaija Saariaho - Cendres - Part 1

Kaija Saariaho's Cendres for alto flute, cello and piano is for me one of the most influential pieces of chamber music.  Composed in 1998 Cendres was commissioned for the Wolpe Trio.  The word cendres is French for ashes.  The basis of the musical material was derived from Saariaho's double concerto ...a la fumée (1990) for alto flute, cello and orchestra.  The title Cendres is appropriate as the English translation of "a la fumée" is "into smoke."  ...a la fumée is part of the music diptych paired with Du Cristal (1990) for orchestra.  The whole translation of the title of the diptych is "From crystal into smoke."

Saariaho has noted that in composing Cendres special attention was paid to the balance of two extremes of musical performance.  Tension was created and controlled throughout by the instruments coming close in terms of range, rhythm, dynamics, articulation and tone color and by allowing each instrument to express the musical ideas in their own idiomatic way.  Saariaho believes that it is in these extremes where one can find infinite possibilities to create more or less homogenic musical structures.

The instrumentation of Cendres allows Saariaho the ability to explore the area between the two extremes.  Each instrument in the ensemble produces tones in different ways.  In addition these instruments have a couple of different ways in which it can produce notes.  This gives Saariaho a larger palette from which she can compose.  At the same time these instruments can blend together to make more homogenic combinations.  In the liner notes for this piece Saariaho stated, "awareness of this variety was the rope on which I was balancing when working on the piece."  Saariaho was able to brilliantly navigate this rope.

Influential Pieces

Every now and then I think about what composers influence my music.  There are pieces by these composers that I turn to time and time again.  Some of these pieces directly impact my compositional style. Others are just great pieces to which I enjoy listening.  I thought that it would be a good idea to share these pieces and write about why they are influential pieces.

I believe that doing this will give me a better understanding of this music.  Also this could not only help me to better develop my compositional voice, but to better understand my musical output.  In addition these write ups will help me in my research of color music.

This week I will make the first posting in this series.  The first piece to be presented will be Kaija Saariaho's Cendres for alto flute, cello and piano.

New Blog: Color Music

Last week I started a new blog.  This blog will focus on a certain area of interest of mine: color music.  I began doing research on this topic about five years ago when I was working towards a Ph. D in Music Composition at the University of Oregon.

I have found that there are two primary areas of color music.  The first is synaesthesia, the ability to see color in relation to sound and/or music.  The second is timbre.  Using various combinations of instruments and effects to add color to the music.

The purpose of the Color Music blog is to present my findings from my research and to help organize my thoughts on the subject.  A secondary purpose is to possibly stimulate discussion that will help further my research.  In this blog I will clearly define color music.  I will also discuss the history of color music, present musical examples and their composers.

The concept of color music is not an original one.  I do not take credit for creating the term or genre.  My purpose is to create a definition of the term and identify the components that go into creating color music.  I am also going to develop a listening list that will help to further define the genre.

I invite you over to check out the blog and feel free to contribute comments, questions or suggestions for composers and pieces to consider.  The website is colormusicandsound.blogspot.com or you can just click the Color Music Blog link on the left.

Concerning the Audience: Part 2

I have been thinking about the article I wrote about Górecki's quote about the audience.  One phrase has come to mind a few times that has some bearing on this subject.  That is: not wanting to choose is a choice. Quite simply, telling someone else to choose or refusing to make a decision is a choice.  The difference is that you are not concerned with the outcome of the decision making process.

When Górecki says, "I never write for my listeners" what he is really saying is that he is not writing what he thinks they would like.  He is composing what he wants.  Górecki further comments that, "I think about my audience, but I am not writing for them."  This statement is the key.  As composers we do think about the audience.  Our hope is that people will listen to the music we have composed.  The music should say what the composer wants and not what the composer thinks the audience wants to hear.

The point I am making here is that all composers are concerned about their audience.  We want the audience to listen.  Without them, there would be no reason to compose music.  The integrity of the music begins to be compromised when the composer concerns his or herself with what the audience may or may not want to hear.  My hope is that the audience will enjoy something new and take what they want away from the experience when they listen to my music.

Concerning the Audience

As I was doing some research on Henryk Górecki, I came across a statement made by the composer.  In a 1994 interview Górecki discussed the audience and the potential influence on his music.  He said,

I do not choose my listeners. What I mean is, I never write for my listeners. I think about my audience, but I am not writing for them. I have something to tell them, but the audience must also put a certain effort into it. But I never wrote for an audience and never will write for because you have to give the listener something and he has to make an effort in order to understand certain things. If I were thinking of my audience and one likes this, one likes that, one likes another thing, I would never know what to write. Let every listener choose that which interests him. I have nothing against one person liking Mozart or Shostakovich or Leonard Bernstein, but doesn't like Górecki. That's fine with me. I, too, like certain things.

This quotation really resonates with me.  Often colleagues of mine would comment about how they would tailor their music to the audience's supposed likes and dislikes.  They would intentionally avoid composing certain things because they want the audience to like their music.

I believe that composing for the audience could compromise the integrity of the music.  As a composer I agree with Górecki.  I know and understand that there will be people who do not like my music.  That is fine.  I do not want to get caught up in composing "music for the masses."  I want to compose music that says what I have to say.

As an audience member, I truly appreciate Górecki's comments.  I enjoy listening to music that challenges me and expands my musical horizons.  I do not want to hear music by a composer who is concerned about his or her audience.  I have heard pieces like this and you can tell that the composer is trying too hard to please the audience.  These piece tend to be predictable, because there is nothing new that the composer is saying.

I believe that Górecki is on to something when he says "the audience must also put a certain effort into it."  An exciting aspect of music is interpretation.  Interpretation comes not only from the performer, but the listener as well.  Each member of the audience can take different things away from the performance.  Even multiple performances by different performers can elicit different responses from the same audience.  This is why it would be difficult to compose for the audience.  It is also what makes music enjoyable.

New Release: Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 on Blu-ray and DVD

On Tuesday November 30, 2010 Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 will be re-released on DVD and released on Blu-ray for the first time ever.  Now you will be able to experience the intertwining of music and animation as only the Disney animators, Leopold Stokowski with the Philadelphia Orchestra and James Levine with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra can bring together.  With the new transfer to Blu-ray this timeless classic can now be experienced as Walt Disney in the brilliance of color and sound as he had originally envisioned.

As a bonus, included in the pack is Destino the 2003 Academy-Award nominated short.  Destino is an extraordinary collaboration between Walt Disney and artist Salvador Dali.  The four disc Blu-ray combo pack includes the Blu-ray and DVD versions of both movies.



Click to order from Amazon.com

Henryk Górecki dies at the age of 76

Polish-born composer Henryk Górecki passed away on November 12, 2010 at the age of 76.  Górecki died in the cardiology ward of a hospital in his home city of Katowice in southern Poland.  He died from complications due to a lung infection.

Best known for his Symphony No. 3, op. 36 "Symphony of Sorrowful Songs" (1976) Górecki composed over 80 pieces.  Most recently he was composing his Symphony No. 4.  This piece was scheduled to be premiered on April 17, 2010, but was postponed due to health issues.

Górecki's music can be categorized into two periods.  The first is his avant garde period: 1950s to late-1960s.  His music was inspired by composers like Stockhausen and Varèse and took on a Boulez-like quality.  Górecki's Symphony No. 1, op. 14 "1959" (1959) is a good example from this period.  In the late 1960s Górecki began to compose his music in a more traditional and romantic mode.  This is typified in his Symphony No. 3, op. 36.  By the mid-1970s he was regarded by some as a composer who no longer mattered.

In 1992 Elektra Nonesuch Records released a recording of Górecki's Third Symphony performed by Dawn Upshaw, soprano and the London Sinfonietta, David Zinman, conductor.  This recording was released to commemorate the memory of those lost during the holocaust.  This recording brought Górecki international fame as it has sold over one million copies worldwide.

At the center of the second movement is the text of a prayer that was inscribed on wall 3 of cell number 3 in the basement of "Palace," the Gestapo's headquarters in Zakopane.
   No, Mother, do not weep
   Most chaste Queen of Heaven
   Support me always.
   "Zdrowas Mario." (Ave Maria)
Below these words was the signature of Helena Wanda Blazusiak and the words "18 years old, imprisoned since 26 September 1944."  Helena would eventually be freed and died in 1999.

In 1998 Górecki received an honorary doctorate from Concordia University in Quebec, Canada.  Ten years later in 2008 he received another honorary doctorate.  This time from the Music Academie in Krakow (Poland).  In October 2010 about one month before he died, Górecki was awarded the Order of the White Eagle, Poland's highest honor.  Not bad for someone who was regarded as a composer who no longer mattered.

   
  

Click images above to purchase CDs from Amazon.com

Feeling Nostalgic

I do not know if it is because I am composing wind ensemble music for a high school or just reflecting, but I have been feeling a little nostalgic for my high school days.  In particular I have been going back and listening to the music I liked in those days.  I have realized that my taste in classical music has changed dramatically.  Much of the music I would listen to was by composers like Brahms, Richard Strauss or Bach.  While I still appreciate and listen to those composers I tend to listen to more modern composers like Ligeti, Messiaen and Saariaho.

My taste in popular music has changed however I still listen to some of the same artists as I did back then.  The difference is that I have allowed (more like required) myself to expand my horizons and try new things.  So while I do not listen to a lot of the music that I did in high school, I do still like it and bring it out from time to time.

I do find this sense of nostalgia amusing.  At the same time I can appreciate it.  It has, in a sense, brought me back to where I began.  It also allows me to revisit some music I have not heard in year.  All this has given me some interesting ideas for Time in Memoriam.

In spirt of the simpler times of high school, I have no desire to relive my high school days.  While my life is a struggle at times, I would not trade it for anything.

Modification

I have been struggling with what to write between the sound walls in the opening section of Time in Memoriam.  I tried a few different ideas and none of the seemed to work for me.  On Wednesday I was listening to Kaija Saariaho's Lichtbogen and it gave me some ideas.  At the time the issue with these ideas was that they would require me to rewrite the opening.  This would mean no sound walls at the beginning. I was fine with this as I would be able to move on with the piece and I thought about how to use the sound walls later in the piece.

On Thursday I listened to Saariaho's Solar and I heard something at the beginning of this piece that showed me how I could the sound walls in this new approach.  My original intent was to have a driving pulse underneath long tones.  I have eliminated the pulse and the rhythmic motion is now created through figuration in the mallet percussion.

The other primary change is in the tempo.  I have essentially cut the tempo in half from a quarter-note pulse at 96-108 to a quarter-note pulse at 54.  This new tempo is dictated by the "interlude" material I have composed to go between the sound walls.

As of right now the rest of the form and plan for this piece is still intact.  However, as always, I may nee to make some modifications as I continue to write this piece.

Kitty Decision

Things are going really well in the Bice household.  Both cats are adjusting well to their new home.  My wife and I have decided that the trial with the Brown tabby was a success.  We are going to keep both cats!  Tomorrow, I plan on posting a couple of pictures of the boys and introducing them to you.  I am extremely happy that this has worked out!

Expanding the Family

On Saturday, September 25, 2010 my wife and I expanded our family.  We adopted two cats from the from the Stockton Animal Friends Shelter.  We adopted an Orange Tabby, creatively named Oragne by the shelter and a Brown Tabby named Ray.  We first met the pair on the previous Wednesday when we visited the shelter.  We went back on Saturday to adopt Orange since he really called to both Melissa and me.  We decided to adopt Ray as well since they were both in the same cage and seemed to get along.  We adopted Ray as a trail.  We wanted to see if the two cats would get along and see if he would be happy in our home.

So far things are going well.  We are still in a transition time as we are getting used to both cats and they are getting used to us.  Melissa and I do plan on renaming the cats to something more appropriate.  We are going to observe them for another day or so to really get to know their personalities before naming them.

Melissa and I are excited about adopting both cats.  The house has felt empty since Fozzie died and the whole situation feels right.  I am hopeful that both cats will be happy in their new home and right now it seem as if everything will work out.