Class Descriptions
1. The Challenge of World Music for the Creative Musician
This is the title of an article I wrote for Arcana II, a collection of writings by musicians on music edited by John Zorn. In today’s musical environment one can study classical forms or jazz (which is increasingly being treated as a classical form) in schools. Many designs are offered for courses of instruction. However, to respond to the myriad forms of music that are neither jazz nor classical in a creative way one must often chart his/her own course. How can the western composer/improviser address philosophical, technical and aesthetic issues that arise from the consideration of foreign traditions in a way that isn’t superficial or exploitative? Is it best to cast a wide net and consider as broad a range of music as possible? Or is it better to study a particular area in depth, given that pursuits like African drumming or North Indian raga can be a life’s work in themselves? My personal journey combined exposure and study of music from around the world with intense focus on a particular pursuit, the honkyoku music of the Japanese shakuhachi. This is a kind of ‘middle path’, which is presented in such a manner as to give guidance and alternatives to young musicians seeking to navigate these deep creative waters. This class takes 2-3 hours, including listening time to relevant music.
With additional class time, discussion turns to the complimentary case – the entrance of creative musicians from other traditions into ‘western’ musical settings. I discuss musicians with whom I have had working relationships such as Tuvan vocalist Sainkho, Indian tabla master Samir Chatterjee and Korean Geomungo artist, Yoon Jeong Heo. For instance, Samirji will often translate my rhythmic designs into his system of Tala. For a successful realization of one of my compositions it is necessary both for him to expand his outlook past the normal boundaries of this system and for me to understand the relationship between what I have written and possible antecedents within Tala, which Samirji will be using as a jumping-off point. Thus, collaborating artists must engage in a relationship where the role of teacher and pupil are constantly bouncing back and forth. The pursuit of mutual growth becomes the best insurance against making a shallow pasting together of musical traditions and working towards a successful synthesis.
(I will provide a copy of the Arcana article upon request).
2. A Personal Catalogue of Extended Technique for Woodwinds Where is the Music - a Course for Performers and Composers
Western musical tradition looks at instruments largely from an orchestral model – a good technique is one that creates an even, unified sound at all dynamics from the top to the bottom ranges of the instrument. Thus, composers of large-scale works can combine instruments as a painter mixes his oils, with consistent colors no matter what the subject matter. Certainly, the ability to create this kind of focused, consistent tone quality is a necessity for students of wind instruments. The course on extended technique, however, focuses on those incredibly interesting non-linearities of instrument capability. For instance, all clarinetists work to be able to unify the notoriously uneven registers of the instrument. However, what sort of musical possibilities arise when these tonal differences are accentuated, rather than minimized? (Many of the wonders of the Turkish clarinet tradition lie within). Circular Breathing allows nonstop playing on winds, but when is this appropriate musically? Individual multiphonics are often just strange, out of tune noises. How are they created, how do you find them on your own, but, most importantly(!), what are ways they can be utilized with musical expressivity? This course focuses primarily on the clarinet and saxophone families. However, commonality and divergence with flute, oboe and bassoon will be addressed when appropriate. The following techniques will be covered:
Multiphonics: There are serious problems with existing literature for single and double-reeds. This arises from a lack of consideration of differing reeds and mouthpieces , instrument designs and the resonant biology of the player. The most successful outcomes will arise when player and composer understand the overtone framework of the instrument, which can help one discover multiphonics on one’s own. This leads to an understanding of practical ways to put these sounds into a musical context, instead of just creating lists of noises.
Tonguing, Ornamentation and Other Articulations: Western practice considers articulation and ornamentation as separate areas of study. One of the great lessons of the study on non-western wind traditions is that they are inextricably linked! A grace note can be both a melodic element and a way of attacking a note. The tongue can augment this or get out of the way. ‘Articulations’, like double and flutter-tonguing are powerful timbral motifs. How can an understanding of the vast interconnectivity of these areas create new expressive possibilities for players and composers?
Circular-breathing—its Uses and Limitations; Proper Avenues of Study: At this point, circular-breathing is no longer a radical technical variant, but a capability sought by many aspiring wind players. However, there is some confusion that it is a mode of breathing itself, or that it connotes some aesthetic viewpoint on the part of its practitioner. It is solely a means to free phrase length from the limits of breath-length. Before undertaking it, the student MUST be breathing properly. Before asking for it, the composer should have some clear musical reason for needing it. The basis of the technique itself, using the cheeks or tongue to push air through the instrument while inhaling, is coordination a bit like riding a bicycle. It comes easily to some and with great difficulty to others but finally its arrival is quite fast. Filling the mouth with water and pushing it out helps students become physically aware of the movements involved. The hardest thing is not this coordination but letting go of the embouchure and then rebuilding it with enough muscle independence that the cheeks or tongue can move in the necessary ways.
Creation of Polyphonic motifs, true polyphonic and quasi-polyphonic (for example, hocketing) techniques: This is perhaps the area for which my work as a composer/performer is most widely known. Why does one want to play, or seem to play multiple lines simultaneously? Is it simply a way to show off? In fact, it comes from a wish to extend possible orchestration, to take the musical roles played by wind instruments into areas that would normally be the province of piano and guitar. The model of the Bach Chaconne is important and will be discussed. After the motivation is made clear, various concrete ways of doing this will be discussed. Some, like hocketing, have clear antecedents in both African pygmy music and Bach. Others, such as simultaneous manipulations of overtones and fundamental frequencies are quite specific to woodwinds. Still others utilize models from the percussion world, for instance flamming of ‘normal’ and alternate fingerings to create rhymically charged drones with harmonics dancing above.
Microtonality and Its Timbral Implications on Woodwinds. Stylistic and Non-Idiomatic Implication: Many composers such as Harry Partch, James Tenney and LaMonte Young have explored alternate tuning systems. But this is usually done with string and percussion instruments, which can easily be tuned to fit different systems, like ‘just’ intonation. However, microtonal aspects of woodwinds are a more fluid affair, with similar issues that might arise in vocal music. While one singers’ variance off of the piano’s pitches might just be out of tune, another’s (like Billie Holiday) creates a special magic.
Uses and Limitations of Notation: This entails the larger discussion assessing the practical roles and interactions between composer and performer in developing a new work. Once again, basic points can be made in a 90-minute lecture/demonstration but 3 90 minute sessions on consecutive days can give students a much greater sense of the landscape of extended technique and its possible implications for their own playing and composing efforts. In a course for players a 5 – day course including time for students to practice the presented material and return for feedback is invaluable.
3. Group Improvisation– Idiomatic and ‘Non-Idiomatic’ approach
What are the goals of the ‘open’ group improvisation? Is it ‘instant composition’? Is it a social occasion? Are there stated or unstated rules about the sonic materials we can use? What are the roles of equality and leadership? Where do factors of independence, imitation and orchestration fit in? Can we use our musical training in other areas as a resource or must we ‘free’ ourselves from it? How can players with different levels of experience and training interact?I find that many musicians, especially those who are highly trained in classical and jazz forms, bring unexamined agendas to the improvisation situation. These ideas are not necessarily a bad thing at all but they should be honestly examined. By playing together and looking at both the resulting music and the thought-process which goes into it, the class will explore what we bring to the improvising situation. This understanding can help us define and achieve our musical goals.
This class can go from 2 to 5 2-hour sessions. Some of the ideas can be approached in a single class but I think its much more effective when there is time for integration of ideas.
4. Developing a Solo Program as a Composer/Performer: Solo Performance and its Discontents
In a lecture/demonstration I’ll touch on various topics of consideration in developing a solo performance. In a longer residency situation this becomes a kind of master-class with students presenting their own solo work for discussion and critique. I start with general considerations, which apply to any solo work regardless of instrument or style and move on to subjects relating more to my specific oeuvre and instruments besides the piano and guitar which are thought of as less capable in this area. This will be organized from two directions -
1) The modes of practicing both on the instrument and in listening sessions, which have particular bearing on solo performance.
2) Performance and programming considerations - how does one plan a concert? We will look at topics relating to variety, focus, sense of length and endurance.
I’ll also talk a bit about the professional benefits and pitfalls of working alone.
5. Finding Your Creative Voice as a Composer/Performer
The most common stated goal of my private students is: “I want to play my own music, not someone else’s. “How can I find my own voice?” My quick answer is “Play what you love. Do you know what that is?”. What is entailed in this?
1. Write your own exercises – a guide for expanding technical capacity in an aesthetically focused manner.
2. Find what you most value in other music and figure out what you can emulate in your own playing. This may entail study of other traditions but also translation from different families of instruments. For instance, how could musical motifs which are common on percussion instruments be applied to winds?
3. How to honestly examine one’s musical strengths and weaknesses. How it is both a good thing to work on weak points but also to realize that musical limitations can also be avenues to realize creative identity. The musician who can do anything (and who rarely exists) must still make creative choices; a major choice is what NOT to play/compose.
I can present my ideas here in as little as an 90 minutes (basically a lecture with Q &A afterwards) or up to 6 hours with musical demonstrations and some masterclass-type interaction.
6. Non-Western Music, a Subjective Listening List
This is a necessarily brief (even if its up to 6 hours of class!), utterly subjective tour of musicians/anthologies/ensembles that were important to me during my formative years of musical study. I generally limit it to ‘classic’ instrumental music from outside the African-American (jazz/blues/rock/pop/gospel,etc.) or Western European classical traditions with which many students are already familiar. Even with those limitations an authoritative overview with full information on available recordings would be an encyclopedic endeavor. So I pick out a few recordings or artists that students of music may not know. This is a kind of seminar, which can complement some of the classes listed above. Depending on the situation, students might be invited to bring their own favorite recordings for class discussion and critique.
If requested I can concentrate on my particular area of expertise - Japanese Shakuhachi Music.