Modus Operandi (pt.3)

OK, so I've talked about how I started with an original idea totally unrelated to music (the legend of the Jugganatha), then how I broke this down into themes that were still unrelated to music, and then how these thematic ideas start to translate into musical concepts - now let's talk about how general musical concepts could become musical techniques that actually I could actually use to construct DIABOLUS EX MACHINA.

I talked about blind devotion and how, in my mind, this relates to madness or insanity. One definition of insanity is repeating the same action over and over, expecting different results - this actually translates very well to music.

My first clear experience of this in music was hearing Benjamin Britten's Nocturne for classical guitar. There's one section that keeps returning to the same phrase over and over and over and OVER AGAIN, and I remember going to a lesson with my teacher, John Holmquist, and telling him how much I didn't like the piece because that one section drove me crazy... my teacher's response was, "well, maybe that's what Britten was trying to do". A true AHA moment! I heard the piece in a totally different way after that, and it not only deepened my appreciation of Britten's work, as well as the works of many other composers, but it added another way for me to express myself musically as well. There are other composers who use this technique for an entirely different effect (Part, Gorecki, and Reich immediately come to mind), but used the right way, repetition can be like the musical embodiment of the guy in The Shining who keeps writing

ALL WORK AND NO PLAY MAKES JACK A DULL BOY
ALL WORK AND NO PLAY MAKES JACK A DULL BOY
ALL WORK AND NO PLAY MAKES JACK A DULL BOY
ALL WORK AND NO PLAY MAKES JACK A DULL BOY
ALL WORK AND NO PLAY MAKES JACK A DULL BOY

Another method of expressing madness musically is with bitonality. Bitonality is when you have two separate parts with two different tonal centers superimposed on one another. For example, imagine a person singing a melody in C Major, while someone accompanies them in B Major. Both parts "make sense" by themselves, but the combination sounds totally twisted. Prokofiev was known for this technique, and it's still used often in film scores to give you that "insane" feeling...

Modus Operandi (pt.2)

Yesterday I talked about the initial concept behind this creation. So how would I turn this into a music statement?

- Blind, unquestioning devotion can be dangerous.

To me, blind devotion is madness. I have to believe that questioning your own faith is not only human, but it's what makes having faith truly a strength, and not a mindless weakness. This meant that I had to embody "madness" in this piece - rhythmically, melodically, and harmonically.

- One must be wary of creating something greater than their control.

I wanted this piece to sound "mechanical", like the ensemble was the inner workings of some diabolical machine, and because it was a wind ensemble piece, I wanted each player to sound like a single cog that made the piece turn. That meant thinking about orchestration in terms of the individual (or the instrument, or the section), rather than as a big mushy harmonic mass.

- Momentum, however gradual, can become very, very powerful.

I wanted this piece to begin small and snowball into something HUGE, and I wanted the pulse to be relentless. This is a challenge, because by ruling out the possibility of tempo changes, I was taking one strong form of musical expression. But the limitations are also what help define the creation - the confines make creativity and resourcefulness an absolute necessity.

Modus Operandi (pt.1)

Every piece begins with a single, simple idea - in this case, it was a concept.

The initial concept that started the whole piece was the legend of the Jugganatha. In a nutshell: in India, there were these giant temples on wheels that the faithful would pull through the streets to show their devotion. Occasionally these temples would get a little too much downhill momentum and get out of control. Very sadly, people would end up getting hurt, maimed, or killed in pursuit of their faith.

(you can read about it in wikipedia)

The point wasn't to focus on these macabre, unfortunate accidents. There are truisms that I thought were resonant even in our present civilization, and worthy of artistic expression.

- Blind, unquestioning devotion can be dangerous.
- One must be wary of creating something greater than their control.
- Momentum, however gradual, can become very, very powerful.

So my aim was to create a piece of music that resonated with these qualities.

(to be continued)

A Title is Born

After much deliberation, and ignoring a lot of good advice, I've decided on a title:

DIABOLUS EX MACHINA

(at least, until someone comes up with a better idea that changes my mind!)

full metal rough draft

This is a page of my rough draft. There are many like it but this one is mine.

Click on the image to see a bigger version. A few trivial bits to notice:

- The title at the top - JUGGERNAUT. This was the original title of the piece. This also used to be the start of the piece. It is now about a minute and a half into the piece.

- the guitar part is detuned a half-step (Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, Bb, Eb). This serves two purposes: to create some "open chords" that work better with the wind ensemble, and to make the strings more slack, so they sound nastier with distortion.

- trowels?? What trowels?!

- those big weird "X's" over the top left corner of the page? Umm, yeah... my rolling chair rolled over it. Many times. Some people have coffee rings. Some people have cigarette burns. I have rolling chair tracks.

(this score is in C. Quarter note equals 168)

at school in your underwear

Hey, I've been getting some great comments back and I'm going to endeavor to respond to them - if not in the original postings, then in future blogs! Thanks for the audience participation!

I thought I'd take a moment to give you the more "personal side" of the composition experience. Namely, the neurosis. Here's a crackerjack example. The night before I finished the piece (last Saturday night), I had a dream...

It's the evening of the premiere. I'm backstage with a select group of musicians I have a tremendous amount of respect for - I remember Jerod Tate, Milt Allen, and Randall Coleman among them. We are all crowded around the score for this piece, and we are discussing the more esoteric points of my work. They haven't heard the piece yet, but they are all very complimentary of what is on paper. It is very gratifying, and I feel like a gazillion bucks.

Now it was time for the performance - time to finally HEAR this piece I've obsessed over for 6 months, and have been planning for over 5 years.

Right before I'm about to go on, Randall tells me that, as planned, they don't have shoes for me. That's the plan, right? I perform without shoes normally, right? Ummm... yeah... riiiight...

Then Steve Vai pops in - my guitar idol. He walks up and tells me he just finished his opening act for the crowd and is looking forward to hearing my piece. I have to follow Steve Vai?!

The door to the "stage" opens to the outdoors. It is very very dark, and raining. HARD. I can't see the audience, but they are all definitely out there. I walk out - barefoot - through the mud - to the stage. It is a screened-in porch. There are no lights. There is no guitar. There is no electricity. It turns out I am supposed to conduct. There is no score. I have to conduct the piece from memory.

Oh, and none of the musicians show up. The only guy there is Justin Sonnekalb, an Assistant Producer from work (nice guy, super-smart, but a full wind ensemble he is NOT!). I cue him in. He starts kinda humming the first trumpet's part. And he's dancing. I'm so disconcerted by all this, I lose track of my beat patterns. He turns his back on me, and keeps humming. And dancing. In the dark.

After a few minutes, he stops humming. Just stops. He turns to me, and says,

"You wanna talk about how this is going?"

That's when I woke up.

instrumentation

So I guess I'll start with the first page of the score (after the title) - instrumentation! Here it is, starting with a pretty standard wind ensemble:

Piccolo
Flute 1
Flute 2
Oboe
Clarinet in E-flat
Clarinet 1 in B-flat
Clarinet 2 in B-flat
Clarinet 3 in B-flat
Bass Clarinet
Contrabass Clarinet
Bassoon
Alto Saxophone 1
Alto Saxophone 2
Tenor Saxophone
Baritone Saxophone
Trumpet 1 in B-flat
Trumpet 2 in B-flat
Trumpet 3 in B-flat
Horn 1 in F
Horn 2 in F
Horn 3 in F
Horn 4 in F
Trombone 1
Trombone 2
Bass Trombone
Euphonium 1
Euphonium 2
Tuba
Timpani
Percussion*

... and then it gets a little crazy:

Electric Guitar
Bass Guitar

(* = we'll talk more about this later in the week... I've got an entirely new instrument for the percussion section)

What's in a name?

Starting Monday, I'll be blogging about my new piece, which still doesn't have a definite title...

Ah, the joy of titles. I blogged about how much I hate coming up with them a while ago. John Mackey recently blogged about them. Even the New York Times has taken the time and effort to write about them.

Nevertheless, here I am again - the piece is finished and the title is... not. Here's what you need to know: the piece is relentlessly fast and exxxtremely furious.

So now I put it to you, the unwashed masses: what do you think of this title???

DIABOLUS EX MACHINA

Here are others I've considered:

- JUGGERNAUT
- NIGHTMARE MACHINE
- DAEMON EX MACHINA
- INFINITUS INCENDIA
- THE SUFFERING
- VENGEANCE ENGINE
- STRAITJACKET SONATA
- THE RAGGED EDGE OF DESTRUCTION
- SOUND AND FURY (the double-entendre in this title is very-much intended, but will likely be misunderstood by the majority of the audience)
- RAGE AND FURY (stolen from a Reggae album, which is kosher, but still...)
- THE CALCULUS OF DISSONANCE
- ???

Thoughts? Suggestions?