[NewMusic] Phillip's questions/animal farm

[John Ingle]

Phillip said:
 Call me a
> "post-modern, lowercase musician
> with non-idiomatic concerns" if you want (I love you
> Ingle!). Just call
> me to play some music!

Hey, I certainly wasn't  trying to call anyone
anything. I attempted to analize (roughly and in
general) what was going on in Marco's music in my
too-long post. My comment above was in the context of
a general plea for us to attempt to look at someone's
music for its own concerns (ok you de-cons and
post-structs... do your worst!), rather than look for
our own concerns and say "ah-hah!... this isn't 
happening in this music."

I try to deal with the most practical terms myself
when organizing any ensemble piece.

 1. who is available, willing (and HAPPY!!!) to
rehearse. 
 2. Does that grouping of intsruments have a sonic
chance of "working" together? Is the harmonic spectrum
range small or large, is the dynamic range flexible or
confined? In other words, orchestration.
3. When writing for improvisers, let them improvise!
If there are any
melodic/rhythmic/harmonic/textural/dynamic/formal
constraints, make sure that they are both clear and
achievable for the players.
DON"T ASK A PLAYER TO PLAY IN TUNE OR IN TIME IF THEY
DON"T HAVE THAT SKILL! Use their strenghts, especially
with non-traditional musicians. Wadada Leo Smith is a
Master of this. I've seen/heard him use players that I
thought were useless and then get amazing results from
them... though this is achieved in his rehearsal
process, not neccesarily in the score.
4. When dealing with "traditional" players have ample
material for them to play. Don't ask them to improvise
completely free unless they are willing,able and
adept... narrow their choices
5. FIND A WAY TO HAVE A CLEAR WAY OF ON/OFF. i.e play
here.. don't play here and most importantly PLEASE
STOP THAT NOW...
6. If your score has clear sections, use the simplest
way of cueing possible, both for rehearsing (REALLY
IMPORTANT AND TIME-SAVING) and on the gig. If you are
using aural cues, make sure they can be heard. I like
the simple 1-5 finger cues with one hand, starting
over after 5, for groups larger than a sextet or so.

ok, my natural ability to make a long story short is
taking over here (thanks MOM!)
that's all simple stuff.. why bother even writing
it... I guess I mean that the simple stuff is the most
important really.

About the rehearsal/performance space issue, wow, big
in the Bay Area. I'd love to have a rehearsal space
for myself as well as a place big enough for large
ensembles (I guess I better start playing the
lottery). In Memphis I had a cafe where all my
musician friends played, though I never had the time
'cause I was always trying to make rent, and it was
only $300 a month! Anyone got a building to donate?
(Gotta be grateful for 21 Grand and the Luggage Store
even without ideal acoustics or a piano.)


later folks,
John Ingle





 
> But to hell with all of that! Here are the questions
> I want to address,
> if anyone is still awake:
> 
> 1) What are the various compositional tools we have
> for writing for
> large ensemble?
> 2) How does a musician's time commitment affect
> those tools or results?
> 3) What is a reasonable amount of time to spend
> rehearsing a
> composition?
> 4) Why don't we see more large ensembles that stay
> together over a long
> period of time? (the bay area is actually way ahead
> of many other scenes
> in this regard...it's unfair to point the finger at
> any of us - so just
> know I'm not pointing any fingers, but asking a
> question).
> 5) How does a musician take what s/he knows about a
> group and develop a
> compositional language based on that knowledge?
> 6) Who are some of the local composers that have
> dealt with that
> knowledge successfully (in terms of both composition
> styles/practices
> and results), or non-successfully?
> 7) What are the compositional tools available today
> other than
> traditional notation, graphic scores, text scores,
> and Marco's system?
> 8) How is writing for improvisers different than
> writing for musicians
> with more "traditional" musical skills?
> 9) What compositional tools can be developed when
> your group has both
> kinds of players?
> 10) Why are people so afraid of constructive and
> thoughtful criticism
> that is so obviously focused on the evolution of
> this music?
> 11) What performance spaces are ideally suited for
> large ensemble shows?
> 12) What rehearsal spaces are ideally suited for
> large ensembles?
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Bay Area New Music Discussion Group
> NewMusic at music.mills.edu
> http://music.mills.edu/mailman/listinfo/newmusic
> 



 
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