Friends,
I've posted my new score for 11 wind instruments and soloist to my composer's page at the American Music Center. Please use the link in my signature (below), click on the Compositions tab, and go to the "Ups And Downs" composition.
Here's my description of the piece as I wrote it for the American Music Center...
"Ups and Downs explores interplay between structure and improvisation. It is based on an 11-tone harmonic complex and permutations of effects given in a series of instructions. The composition is scored for 11 wind instruments and a soloist (any instrument). The role of the soloist is not limited to a single musician; rather, it can be, for example, a small jazz group or avant-garde rock band. The composition can be adapted to other instrumentation as long as the ensemble has 11 distinct tone colors. A conscious decision was made to use simple special effects as a way for this music to be playable by a range of musicians. However, experienced New Music musicians have freedom in the score to use more complex effects. While the score is highly structured and contains changing textures and colors, the soloist, conductor, and ensemble musicians all play a role in making the music come alive and use it to take an audience on a journey. The final note of the piece is a joke. The 11-tone harmonic complex does not contain D. So, it struck me as being obvious that I would end the piece on that note. I view this composition as being a point of departure for wherever the musicians want to take it."
Something that I did not say in the AMC description is this music came to me in a dream several weeks ago. The dream was extremely vivid and detailed. After the dream, I started to get the musical concepts down on paper as I could remember them and fill-in certain details. Even the title -- Ups And Downs -- was part of the dream.
This piece is designed to have A LOT OF FREEDOM. All of the musicians performing this music use a copy of the score. Thus, there are no individual parts.
Roger
I've posted my new score for 11 wind instruments and soloist to my composer's page at the American Music Center. Please use the link in my signature (below), click on the Compositions tab, and go to the "Ups And Downs" composition.
Here's my description of the piece as I wrote it for the American Music Center...
"Ups and Downs explores interplay between structure and improvisation. It is based on an 11-tone harmonic complex and permutations of effects given in a series of instructions. The composition is scored for 11 wind instruments and a soloist (any instrument). The role of the soloist is not limited to a single musician; rather, it can be, for example, a small jazz group or avant-garde rock band. The composition can be adapted to other instrumentation as long as the ensemble has 11 distinct tone colors. A conscious decision was made to use simple special effects as a way for this music to be playable by a range of musicians. However, experienced New Music musicians have freedom in the score to use more complex effects. While the score is highly structured and contains changing textures and colors, the soloist, conductor, and ensemble musicians all play a role in making the music come alive and use it to take an audience on a journey. The final note of the piece is a joke. The 11-tone harmonic complex does not contain D. So, it struck me as being obvious that I would end the piece on that note. I view this composition as being a point of departure for wherever the musicians want to take it."
Something that I did not say in the AMC description is this music came to me in a dream several weeks ago. The dream was extremely vivid and detailed. After the dream, I started to get the musical concepts down on paper as I could remember them and fill-in certain details. Even the title -- Ups And Downs -- was part of the dream.
This piece is designed to have A LOT OF FREEDOM. All of the musicians performing this music use a copy of the score. Thus, there are no individual parts.
Roger