a little weird to look at, at first, but actually rather easy to put together.
It is an unfortunate casualty that improvisation is not normally a part of one's classical music training. It certainly was not part of mine and I often feel that it takes a great effort to make up for that loss in pedagogy. As much as I love jazz, I am bothered by the fact that it has practically become synonymous with improvisation. We classical folk of today owe a lot to the jazz innovators who kept improvisation alive in modern society, for showing the "industrial state" a key ingredient missing in their values-system. Without them, improvisation might have really died in the western world with the early-Romantic tradition (or the last church organist).Yet, what seems to happen is that classical folk feel that they can't learn to improvise unless they enroll in the school of bebop. Nothing wrong with the school of bebop, either, but that's only one of many ways of swinging, as it were. I think it's important to use what you know to get at what you don't; we classical folk have a lot of musical material and skills to bring to the improvisation table, so why not start with that instead of starting all over? This piece is an attempt to get that ball rolling.
I started looking at "variable instrumentation" pieces -- music that any instrument can play, for inspiration. Many of these pieces by John Cage, Christian Wolff, Frederic Rzewski, Karlheinz Stockhausen, to name a few, have aspects of the music that are left to chance and often involve improvising in a way unrelated to jazz. Once I had seen what they had done, I set out to write my own variable instrumentation piece that addressed the issues of improvising that I wanted to deal with: that it not be style-specific and that it could be played by absolutely anyone of any level of ability with or without an instrument. I simply set up a framework with some parameters and guidlines to follow. None of the pitches or rhythms you will hear during this piece was written by me; the performers are making that up entirely on their own.
usually runs 12-15 minutes, but can be longer or shorter.
2001.
do consider making a donation (of any amount), if you choose to perform this piece, make copies of it, use it for educational purposes, if it has improved your life in any way (otherwise, yes, it's yours for free; it is copywritten, so give credit as necessary):
performance history: 24 November 2009. HERE Arts Center (NYC). Anti-Social Music: Jeff Hudgins, alto sax soloist; Barry Seroff, flute; Hubert Chen, violin; Pat Muchmore, cello; Brad Kemp, bass. 2 April 2008. Nuyorican Poets' Café (NYC). thingNY: Jeff Young, violin soloist; Thomas Piercy, Paul Pinto, Gelsey Bell, voices; Isabel Castellvi, cello.
30 September 2007. Galapagos (Brooklyn). Anti-Social Music: Jeff Hudgins, alto sax soloist; Hubert Chen, violin, Andie Springer, violin; Maria Sonevytsky, accordion; Pat Muchmore, cello. 22 April 2007. Knitting Factory Tap Bar (NYC). Anti-Social Music: Jeff Hudgins, clarinet/alto sax soloist; Andrea La Rose, flute; Hubert Chen, violin; Pat Muchmore, cello; Maria Sonevytsky, accordion/piano/glockenspiel. (lovingly mentioned here.) 12 November 2005. Feedback Concert Series at UCAL (Philadelphia). Anti-Social Music: Erik Carlson, violin soloist; Andrea La Rose, flute; Jeff Hudgins, alto sax; Maria Sonevytsky, accordion; Pat Muchmore, cello. 8 September 2005. AS220 (Providence, RI). Anti-Social Music: Peter Hess, clarinet soloist; Andrea La Rose, flute; Maria Sonevytsky, piano; Pat Muchmore, cello. 14 March 2004. Good Shepherd Methodist Chuch, Astoria (NYC). Lost Dog New Musik Ensemble: Christine Perea, flute soloist; Laura Harrison, clarinet; Lisa Ricciuti, bassoon; Kristin Mozeiko, horn. 18 October 2003. Raw Space, Independent Georgia Festival. Atlanta, GA. Anti-Social Music: Andrea La Rose, flute soloist; Patrick Muchmore, cello; Franz Nicolay, accordion. 13 December 2002. Elebash Recital Hall, The Graduate Center CUNY. Heather Feldman, vocal soloist; Patrick Muchmore, marimba; Peter Kirn, piano/toy piano; Ben Jackle, viola/mandolin; Benjamin Bierman, trumpet. 10 December 2001. Levenson Recital Hall, Brooklyn College. Jonathan Malko, trumpet soloist; Robert Benson, vibraphone; Tracey Dixon, viola; Krasmira Borisova, violin; Jennifer Lewis, clarinet 3 December 2001. Levenson Recital Hall, Brooklyn College. Jonathan Malko, trumpet soloist; Robert Benson, vibraphone; Andrea La Rose, flute; Krasmira Borisova, violin; Jennifer Lewis, clarinet. |