tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66304345989883095332024-02-20T12:05:04.325-05:00Matt's Music BlogThis is the old (pre 2017) blog of Matt Roberts, a bassist/composer/bandleader/music teacher. For the latest updates, check out mattroberts.caChromatticismhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293651732454610155noreply@blogger.comBlogger35125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630434598988309533.post-84436719678548789992017-06-24T16:22:00.003-04:002017-06-24T16:22:45.214-04:00Movin' Over To WordpressWell, I finally got with the times and set up one of those Wordpress blogs all the kids have been talking about. I'm going to keep this blog up for anyone who wants to view my old posts, but for the latest and greatest, head over to <a href="http://mattroberts.ca/">mattroberts.ca</a>.Chromatticismhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293651732454610155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630434598988309533.post-20022440724428744972013-03-24T23:45:00.000-04:002013-03-28T11:15:53.876-04:00Things To Do When You Have A Creative BlockHere are a list of things that may help "unblock" you if you have a creative block.<br />
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<b>1. Actually Take A Minute (or 10) To Think About Your Problem Carefully</b><br />
When we're in a panic, we want solutions to come right away, and we get anxious when they don't. We think very quickly, but only going around in circles, getting nowhere. Slow down and actually think the problem through clearly. Clearly define the problem in your head - perhaps write it down. Consider (and perhaps write down) any important details or hunches you may have. Make a list of plausible solutions. If you can't think of any plausible solutions, make a list of implausible solutions. There's always something.<br />
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<b>2. Talk It Through With Someone Else</b><br />
Beyond the fact that a different person will offer a fresh perspective, this is another way of accomplishing (1).<br />
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<b>3. Go For A Walk, or Get Some Exercise</b><br />
Bring a notepad and pen with you.<br />
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<b>4. Let Yourself Play</b><br />
Forget about whatever anxieties you have around this creative act. That's all silliness. Embrace <a href="http://mattrobertsmusic.blogspot.ca/2012/06/i-saw-this-on-facebook-and-i-thought-it.html">John Cage's sixth rule</a>: "Nothing is a mistake. There's no win and no fail, there's only make." Just make some stuff, and have fun! Have a sense of humor about it. Perhaps allow yourself a designated amount of time to play with any idea that comes to you. Even if what you're creating doesn't end up being used in your final product, it will get you in a creative mode, and it will help you explore your problem and work with the materials involved.<br />
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<b>5. Watch This Video Of John Cleese Talking About Creativity</b><br />
It's great. <a href="http://youtu.be/f9rtmxJrKwc">http://youtu.be/f9rtmxJrKwc</a> Or <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability.html">this TED talk</a>. Or, (less so, in my opinion) <a href="http://youtu.be/86x-u-tz0MA">this TED talk</a>. Actually, here is a <a href="http://blog.ted.com/2012/11/12/10-talks-about-the-beauty-and-difficulty-of-being-creative/">list of 10 TED talks about creativity</a>.<br />
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<b>6. Have Some Faith In Your Unconscious Mind</b><br />
When we're stressed, we want to control everything and know all the answers, but our unconscious mind can only start working on a problem when we allow ourselves to relax, and learn to tolerate the discomfort of not knowing. Keep your mind gently around the problem, but don't push or strain. If you can, sleep on it or allow the problem to mull around in the back of your mind for several days.<br />
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<b>7. Leave a Record</b><br />
As you come up with ideas, record them in some way - perhaps by jotting them down in a notebook - even if they seem like bad or unhelpful ideas. This helps in a lot of ways: it slows down and helps you work through your thinking process; it makes you feel like you're doing something; and it the ideas may end up being useful at some point down the road, often in unexpected ways.<br />
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<b>8. Just Get To Work</b><br />
I once asked Dave Holland how to overcome composer's block. He told me "Just get to work." If we're honest with ourselves, a creative block is often not actually about not having any ideas - it's about procrastination. If you have an idea that works, and nothing else is coming to you, go with that idea and get 'er done.<br />
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<a href="http://www.mattroberts.ca/" target="_parent">Back to MattRoberts.ca.</a>Chromatticismhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293651732454610155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630434598988309533.post-80679636254612402472013-02-21T17:06:00.001-05:002013-02-21T17:10:04.980-05:00Have Your Voice Heard in The Spectrum Concert "What Is Toronto"!I'm producing a concert for <a href="http://www.spectrummusic.ca/" target="_blank">Spectrum Music</a> which will take place April 5th, 2013 at the <a href="http://www.algreentheatre.ca/" target="_blank">Al Green Theatre at Bloor and Spadina</a>. Rntitled "<a href="http://www.spectrummusic.ca/pages/spectrum-season.html#april5" target="_blank">What is Toronto?</a>", it will explore Toronto's identity through music. <a href="http://spectrummusic.ca/blog/2013/02/april-5th-what-is-toronto-concert-and-what-im-writing-for-it/" target="_blank">Check out my post on the Spectrum Music Blog for more info.</a><br />
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But, I need your help! Here's an excerpt from my post to the <a href="http://www.spectrummusic.ca/blog.html" target="_blank">Spectrum Music Blog</a><br />
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I need Torontonians to send me recordings of themselves talking about their feelings about Toronto, in their mother tongues. A few sentences is fine; non-English languages are preferred, but I’ll take English speakers too! As long as there isn’t too much background noise, it doesn’t have to be super high-quality. You could record it on your laptop or smartphone. Or, send me a message, and we can arrange to meet up so that I can record it on my portable recording device. Send your recordings to <a href="mailto:matt@spectrummusic.ca">matt@spectrummusic.ca</a>, and then don’t forget to come to the Al Green Theatre at 7:30pm on April 5th to hear your voice as part of a new work of art!</blockquote>
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<a href="http://www.mattroberts.ca/" target="_parent">Back to MattRoberts.ca.</a>Chromatticismhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293651732454610155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630434598988309533.post-6945552016821400832012-11-21T20:13:00.004-05:002012-11-21T20:20:47.043-05:00Gigging With Car2Go<a href="http://www.car2go.com/" target="_blank">Car2Go</a> is a new kind of car-sharing program that just arrived in Toronto. The idea is that there are hundreds of SmartCars parked in city-operated parking lots all over Toronto. Pressing your membership card to a sensor on the windshield of any car will unlock the vehicle, allowing you to rent it for 38 cents/minute, $13.99/hour, or $72.99/day (plus tax) - the longer you drive, the better value you get. The unique thing about Car2Go (as opposed to ZipCar or AutoShare) is that you don't have to return the car to the spot you picked it up from - you can leave it in any municipal parking lot. This makes it economical for me to take a Car2Go to a gig, park it in a nearby municipal lot, and not be charged for renting the car while I'm playing. (You might think it would be a worry that someone would drive the car away during the gig and I'd have no way of getting home, but in practice there has always be a surplus of nearby Car2Gos to choose from.)<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">But Can You Actually Fit A Double Bass and An Amp In A SmartCar?</span></b><br />
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Usually, yes! I think most basses would probably fit in very easily, as in <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWvI3QVjlv8" target="_blank">this video</a>. Unfortunately my bass is a bit bigger then most, so I discovered it was very awkward to fit into a SmartCar - I had to put it in diagonally, with the driver's seat way forward, which made it very uncomfortable and probably unsafe to drive. But did I let that stop me? Never! I decided that I would have my bass' scroll modified so that it was removable. I figured that if the bass was just a bit shorter, I wouldn't have to put it diagonally, and everything would fit in much more comfortably and easily.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Off With Its Head!</b></span><br />
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Inexplicably, when I called some local string-instrument repair shops to ask them how much it would cost to modify my scroll so that it was removable, they seemed to think I was crazy! One shop in particular actually seemed angry with me that I would even consider chopping up an instrument like that. Undiscouraged, I found a luthier on the Danforth named Philip Davis who was willing to do the modification. We copied the design of the <a href="http://www.czech-ease.com/" target="_blank">David Gage Czech-Ease</a>, using a super-strong "rare-earth" magnet and three wooden dowels to connect the scroll to the bass.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuzdEUkav2GXdyHMUjjnboBh-YJLp1ZAXmb_HptTGM7Wpns5ZQYSQm0mYm5CayZW_mFVYpFeY5Ksr4upjHKFrIljn95TUZ7dE8N0-dIjq8NPct9BCpw7R0uDYallrX7rrwCkwfgwEAsYkW/s1600/20121121_171524.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuzdEUkav2GXdyHMUjjnboBh-YJLp1ZAXmb_HptTGM7Wpns5ZQYSQm0mYm5CayZW_mFVYpFeY5Ksr4upjHKFrIljn95TUZ7dE8N0-dIjq8NPct9BCpw7R0uDYallrX7rrwCkwfgwEAsYkW/s320/20121121_171524.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bass side</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGN9a4xXRxFLPrTX-BadX-sJROGRcairAMfJLQz13AL_EQ5z-sqLpF67Dnh_tVK1tlVaeK3LTR2rdNH1w8MxeBkcBi4nZ3mWfbnYtYeNq2EL-EtgQmuExuGYJpgYbC7wzKaf6DLFUgyi9Y/s1600/20121121_171644.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGN9a4xXRxFLPrTX-BadX-sJROGRcairAMfJLQz13AL_EQ5z-sqLpF67Dnh_tVK1tlVaeK3LTR2rdNH1w8MxeBkcBi4nZ3mWfbnYtYeNq2EL-EtgQmuExuGYJpgYbC7wzKaf6DLFUgyi9Y/s320/20121121_171644.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Scroll side</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRGSaCfcRLPY5d8sjqBNVwTloNnOh05_6JZtwTndJHHDn27MNssRKKqDENKYQ7Hys9fYZHLHiQ6NTcTxi9XXA_i6Uf9D57BiW9u12y20X67WOaYrWW9pPnh0OVvP7QUWZG-ge6f8zeZn76/s1600/20121121_171826.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRGSaCfcRLPY5d8sjqBNVwTloNnOh05_6JZtwTndJHHDn27MNssRKKqDENKYQ7Hys9fYZHLHiQ6NTcTxi9XXA_i6Uf9D57BiW9u12y20X67WOaYrWW9pPnh0OVvP7QUWZG-ge6f8zeZn76/s320/20121121_171826.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From even a few feet away, it is almost impossible to notice that the scroll has been modified.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIiUnRKzVHoKU_mu_iOQfyeK9tF6-fMJvBAsX357sq-wYaGmrDdIvIF9tWv3gRWf5OvlMMNFRU53wgdKfDU8uoY5hbWq1vQp9q2gACTqHVSU0n6jxR4OfKpIeqa8ClYM5Hxrkn54rJicPc/s1600/20121121_171837.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIiUnRKzVHoKU_mu_iOQfyeK9tF6-fMJvBAsX357sq-wYaGmrDdIvIF9tWv3gRWf5OvlMMNFRU53wgdKfDU8uoY5hbWq1vQp9q2gACTqHVSU0n6jxR4OfKpIeqa8ClYM5Hxrkn54rJicPc/s320/20121121_171837.jpg" width="191" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You have to get fairly close before you can notice the cut line.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Crazy Am I? Crazy Like A Fox!!</b></span><br />
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It took Philip a few days to do the modification and if was fairly inexpensive. It looks great, and I'm happy to say the bass sounds just as good as it did before the scroll was modified. But does the bass now easily fit in to a SmartCar? Why yes, yes it does!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivvrGFh59wsCqXzMKLZPm-RLBs6IHIBYVOjYhe86-1TxSvX1oiu22EfMF-pH1XmsEcuWdWEuJuiALZV-w3PPCbzO5FvdLt694e64qM8R58dpVBUOIcw6ORkfxCfhI9YkhxNNzBtKXKj5gL/s1600/20121121_143323.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivvrGFh59wsCqXzMKLZPm-RLBs6IHIBYVOjYhe86-1TxSvX1oiu22EfMF-pH1XmsEcuWdWEuJuiALZV-w3PPCbzO5FvdLt694e64qM8R58dpVBUOIcw6ORkfxCfhI9YkhxNNzBtKXKj5gL/s320/20121121_143323.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I can now easily fit both my bass and amp into a Car2Go SmartCar.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMX507LohsuXXFmn16c7Phx6hSYYFjUNs5Nhw99DC_t0Gbhn2cklM89vdVc7fTXk52A8ECJ_5tPBBG21E-dwanVhX5aiZb2vKLUN0Z78ZljXPhBJXPpafT9sjC7PnCPcWNvosD0NOekXyO/s1600/20121121_143432.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMX507LohsuXXFmn16c7Phx6hSYYFjUNs5Nhw99DC_t0Gbhn2cklM89vdVc7fTXk52A8ECJ_5tPBBG21E-dwanVhX5aiZb2vKLUN0Z78ZljXPhBJXPpafT9sjC7PnCPcWNvosD0NOekXyO/s320/20121121_143432.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I even have a reasonably good view of the right side-view mirror while driving.<br />
Shoulder checking might be a bit of a problem... I'll try to be careful!!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Don't forget I still have the option of using the <a href="http://mattrobertsmusic.blogspot.ca/2011/07/bicycle-trailer-for-bass-amp.html" target="_blank">trailer that I made to pull behind my bike</a>. I feel like I'm really breaking ground in environmentally friendly double-bass transportation! I'll only use Car2Go when there is bad weather, or the gig is really far away and/or uphill.<br />
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<a href="http://www.mattroberts.ca/" target="_parent">Back to MattRoberts.ca.</a>Chromatticismhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293651732454610155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630434598988309533.post-55996768502196079382012-08-01T12:24:00.001-04:002012-08-04T02:47:47.026-04:00Some Links To Great Minds Talking About Creativity<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Nsnh21ae6YI" width="420"></iframe><br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/VShmtsLhkQg" width="420"></iframe><br />
<a href="http://slought.org/content/11161/" target="_blank">1958 Interview with John Coltrane</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.mattroberts.ca/" target="_parent">Back to MattRoberts.ca.</a>Chromatticismhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293651732454610155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630434598988309533.post-46408123601362094282012-06-21T22:00:00.000-04:002012-06-25T13:15:58.031-04:00How To Convert Two Images Into One PDFAfter my <a href="http://mattrobertsmusic.blogspot.ca/2012/06/going-paperless.html">Going Paperless - Reading Music Off A Computer</a> post, I've had some request for a more detailed explination of how to create PDFs. This tutorial will assume that you are using Windows 7 and have installed the free <a href="http://www.nitroreader.com/">Nitro PDF Reader</a>. This example is going to involve combining two image files, but more or less the same approach would work with any program that has the option to print, such as Sibelius or Finale.<br />
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Okay, so let's say I have scanned a two-page chart, creating two separate image files. I want to convert these two seperate files into a single two-page PDF file so that I can read the music easily on my computer. Here is how I do it. For this example, I will be combining two pages of a chart called "Airport Ghost".<br />
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Since there are some unnecessarily margins around the images I want to use, I need to crop that out so that the music will be as large as possible on my computer screen. If your images do not have any unnecessary margins, or if you already cropped out the margins when you scanned them, you can skip these steps.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Steps to crop unnecessary margins:</span><br />
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Step 1. Right click on the first image and select Open with/Paint<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUFCwbnY4Jf9DIJrfnMVPpOb9RSZdnfX-s05gnDXgREJ1zpALU6mJxvHywBMs_CY0F6ztTqDbEWLqqTNuw6IvxIJZjgRZ7lcp4RYQaIG1BT8a3KemqXGBlfzjKyJart150O15ge8T149aO/s1600/open+with+paint.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUFCwbnY4Jf9DIJrfnMVPpOb9RSZdnfX-s05gnDXgREJ1zpALU6mJxvHywBMs_CY0F6ztTqDbEWLqqTNuw6IvxIJZjgRZ7lcp4RYQaIG1BT8a3KemqXGBlfzjKyJart150O15ge8T149aO/s320/open+with+paint.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Step 2. Hit Ctrl-PgDn until you can see the entire image. (Ctrl-PgDn is the shortkey for zooming out.)<br />
Step 3. Click on select and select only the neccesairy part of the image.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD_-DWDP-KWPJHfgnMBRPRhCB7xQedTcmeZw4YEPU7rM3TU8DfkZ2pvMZpwF_KwqWg5IPAu-49ZKQhxSZ66CF5jwTeThDD2rJElgLBTis4rn6t1heIyDUB90L8-OT6JuCYRgpYmSt6mhMn/s1600/select.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD_-DWDP-KWPJHfgnMBRPRhCB7xQedTcmeZw4YEPU7rM3TU8DfkZ2pvMZpwF_KwqWg5IPAu-49ZKQhxSZ66CF5jwTeThDD2rJElgLBTis4rn6t1heIyDUB90L8-OT6JuCYRgpYmSt6mhMn/s320/select.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>
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Step 4. Hit Ctrl-Shift-X which will crop the file to only what you selected.<br />
Step 5. Hit Ctrl-S, which will save the file. Exit Paint.<br />
Repeat steps 1-5 for each image with unneccesairy white space around its border.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Steps to make two images into a single PDF:</span><br />
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Step 1. Find the file for the first page. Right click on it and select Open with/Windows Photo Viewer.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMEspEnin0B8YM_nAUnZoqcEOX6ZU2uYgWytf-4W9SOQsaYmvUNdiicWgX5uEB0TxIs5er45e0CcwS9-4f1WpJmjPa9nNdENCnKLBRUHE5RiqkzHJkf-4sLv6lT4AYxLQQJMS3BDM9-UCD/s1600/open+with+windows+photo+viewer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMEspEnin0B8YM_nAUnZoqcEOX6ZU2uYgWytf-4W9SOQsaYmvUNdiicWgX5uEB0TxIs5er45e0CcwS9-4f1WpJmjPa9nNdENCnKLBRUHE5RiqkzHJkf-4sLv6lT4AYxLQQJMS3BDM9-UCD/s320/open+with+windows+photo+viewer.jpg" width="314" /></a></div>
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Step 2. Hit Ctrl-P. This will bring up the print window. Set the printer to "Nitro PDF Creator 2 (Reader)" and make sure "Fit Picture to frame" is not chceked, but "Full page photo" is selected. If you are planning on viewing the PDF on a 10.1" screen (such as an Acer Aspire One netbook) then you will want to set the page size to "legal" so that it matches the aspect ratio of the screen better.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM5VoHqxzVmTaeLbgal5aeGZ3AEnyrgGUmg9EbFMrQKX3-kpgrVLBXTL5QkrAIdtRE1Wl2SRxl-1bXCqxBYc-fLbA19pyi2HlAiKKJf6ghXqEYbPlhScLm9iUSXCxzd17mdloHGgVSyYol/s1600/print+window.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM5VoHqxzVmTaeLbgal5aeGZ3AEnyrgGUmg9EbFMrQKX3-kpgrVLBXTL5QkrAIdtRE1Wl2SRxl-1bXCqxBYc-fLbA19pyi2HlAiKKJf6ghXqEYbPlhScLm9iUSXCxzd17mdloHGgVSyYol/s320/print+window.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Step 3. Click "Print"<br />
Step 4. The "Create PDF" window will appear. Choose a directory and File name for your PDF. In this example I am going to make a PDF called "Airport Ghost - Concert.pdf". Click on "Create".<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzSpZXygFqZqF0rfxx_SM0naZoe-HzpP4132VU30s5DYpdWjAyIKJPbYOAs2VfZwddn-KAo9n4dh9-E9dlpL1cJmwrZQYArbVG1mTEUrydKRWzNcqQFvEtMyBp7xEyrGYW5mzUxMTTfuhE/s1600/name.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzSpZXygFqZqF0rfxx_SM0naZoe-HzpP4132VU30s5DYpdWjAyIKJPbYOAs2VfZwddn-KAo9n4dh9-E9dlpL1cJmwrZQYArbVG1mTEUrydKRWzNcqQFvEtMyBp7xEyrGYW5mzUxMTTfuhE/s320/name.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Step 5. Nitro Reader will automatically open, showing the PDF you just created. Close this window (<b>very important</b>).<br />
Step 6. Repeat steps 1-3 for the next page.<br />
Step 7. When the "Create PDF" window will appears, double click on the file you created in step 4. A dialogue box will appear warning you that the file already exists, and asking you if you want to Append, Overwrite, or Cancel. Choose Append.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCkuAys-FO4CpIMHIMfZJ1S9Kyr0yDpZQD_9Z0z8pmkBGBvgTtBUwjloQx57vUQx5Bz2H1woFBvWbGx0jMtwGK9s5U7Le2T-XAYLmveaYKcTMhgetiBwNzK0FVvboUqQzIQt6C8mJuWTwl/s1600/append.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCkuAys-FO4CpIMHIMfZJ1S9Kyr0yDpZQD_9Z0z8pmkBGBvgTtBUwjloQx57vUQx5Bz2H1woFBvWbGx0jMtwGK9s5U7Le2T-XAYLmveaYKcTMhgetiBwNzK0FVvboUqQzIQt6C8mJuWTwl/s320/append.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Step 8. Nitro PDF will open showing the image files have now been converted into a single PDF file. If you want to add more pages, close Nitro PDF and repeat steps 6 and 7 as needed for additional pages.<br />
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Update: A friend has informed me that this whole process is simpler on a Mac:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
To join two or more pdf files together using Preview (the standard pdf viewer in OS X) simply open the first pdf file in preview, open the thumbnail view (Shift-⌘-D), and then drag a second pdf file ON TOP OF an existing page thumbnail. The two documents will merge into one. A little grey double border appears indicating the documents will be merged. Then save the new combined file. Read on for step-by-step instructions. </blockquote>
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<a href="http://www.mattroberts.ca/" target="_parent">Back to MattRoberts.ca.</a>Chromatticismhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293651732454610155noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630434598988309533.post-79031293498603082232012-06-13T15:31:00.000-04:002012-06-15T13:05:14.273-04:00Going Paperless - Reading Music Off A ComputerYou may have read my earlier post where I detailed how <a href="http://mattrobertsmusic.blogspot.ca/2011/07/bicycle-trailer-for-bass-amp.html">I constructed a trailer to transport my double bass and amp via bicycle</a>. Now I'm continuing this geeky green revolution by moving away from printed music, towards reading music off of my laptop. In this post I'm going to explain some of the technical side of how to do that, and discuss the pros and cons of going paperless.<br />
<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">
Hardware</span></h2>
The first question is what you are going to read off of. I was originally considering purchasing a tablet computer such as an Android tablet, a tablet PC, or an iPad (probably the most desirable option). The lure of a tablet computer would be that they lie flat, they have touch-sensitive screens (making it easy to make notes during rehearsals), and they are generally very portable. However, once I realized that I could just turn my little "notebook" computer that I already owned sideways, I decided that worked fine and it wasn't worth it to me to purchase a tablet computer. (Incidentally, these "notebooks" are really cheap. Mine is an Acer "Aspire One" which is currently selling at FutureShop for $269.)<br />
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<span id="goog_614363257"></span><span id="goog_614363258"></span><br />
One important tip: be sure to modify your power settings so that your computer doesn't go to "sleep" during your performances. While I was at it, I also edited some of the advanced power settings to make my computer work better as a music reader. This screenshot shows how to do that on my netbook with Windows 7 Starter (sorry Mac people, everything that follows about software is going to be pretty Windows-centered):<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwnumdiv-ex7BYUgzIPs8_tRsaCeFe8F0O913wS8HoymYFnFll97ZpC2m8SowDF7P1HHyvMDzbQKsF9rtGt_iNJQjVLrqQ-Q79w7Nb-2LF6uUTVV4UePrT8f-QZl1f3I55TdGp7FcnCQN8/s1600/powersettings.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwnumdiv-ex7BYUgzIPs8_tRsaCeFe8F0O913wS8HoymYFnFll97ZpC2m8SowDF7P1HHyvMDzbQKsF9rtGt_iNJQjVLrqQ-Q79w7Nb-2LF6uUTVV4UePrT8f-QZl1f3I55TdGp7FcnCQN8/s320/powersettings.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The next piece of hardware I needed was a foot-pedal to allow me to turn pages. I found three on the market: the <a href="http://kellysmusic.ca/productinfo~id~402721357.htm">AirTurn</a> ($129), the <a href="http://kellysmusic.ca/productinfo~id~-1520770336.htm">PageFlip</a> ($79.95), and the <a href="http://kellysmusic.ca/productinfo~id~-1989671715.htm">Foot Page Turner</a> ($59). They all seem like they would work fine. The Foot Page Turner works via USB and I'm unsure if it would work with iPads or Android tablets. The AirTurn and the PageFlip both work via Bluetooth. The Pageflip comes with a USB Bluetooth antenna in case you want to use it with a computer that does not have Bluetooth (such as my Aspire One). I decided to go with the PageFlip. It is working fine so far. It seems a little on the flimsy side; I'm concerned that it could break after a year or so if I'm not careful with it. Also, it isn't 100% silent; in extremely quiet passages in very intimate settings, the audience might hear it (the AirTurn advertises that it is totally silent). The bluetooth takes a bit of fiddling around with at first to get it working, but I think it is worth it to avoid having unsightly wires going from the pedal to the computer. I haven't had any problems with the connection since I got it working. All in all, I'm pretty happy with my purchase. All these pedals are available from <a href="http://kellysmusic.ca/">Kelly's Music</a>, which has a Canadian shipping center in Mississauga. My pedal arrived in two days. Here is what my whole set up looks like:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjfu7LODFpogY7aEgAf42F7EhnorCCD6-3RwoFWx08Y1eb5AzhKd6zyZ4SK5jJM_GEGblPXYEfqo38jPupTFH22ZtjI3-NNw0v5G6R2ANVxAyQq3y9KxJlYFiTew31JdNoZgOu2i9BrNSl/s1600/2012-06-13+14.55.27.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjfu7LODFpogY7aEgAf42F7EhnorCCD6-3RwoFWx08Y1eb5AzhKd6zyZ4SK5jJM_GEGblPXYEfqo38jPupTFH22ZtjI3-NNw0v5G6R2ANVxAyQq3y9KxJlYFiTew31JdNoZgOu2i9BrNSl/s320/2012-06-13+14.55.27.jpg" width="251" /></a></div>
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<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">
Software - Viewing The Music</span></h2>
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The next question was what software I was going to use to view the music with. There is a program specifically designed for reading music on your computer - <a href="http://www.musicreader.net/">MusicReader</a> ($59). It has some cool features, but I didn't go for it. My main complaint is that MusicReader wouldn't allow me to rotate the screen (this wouldn't be a problem on tablet-style computers that have screen rotation built in). Instead I found a free solution the: <a href="http://www.nitroreader.com/">Nitro PDF Reader</a>. One tip with it: if you are going to load a full set of music at a time, it is good to use shorter file names, so that they can all fit in Nitro's sidebar while in full screen mode, making it easy to switch from one song to the next. Here's a screen shot from my <a href="http://mattrobertsmusic.blogspot.ca/2012/06/thoughts-on-performing-focus-zen-and.html">recent gig with Circles</a>:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT5FOkx3b2rgg5p3LiDTd2-TSCZZ3zXL7Ho-aXIitQ-CzM4fZVwyffj5A6yM3m5HGPx20QAwuAHfyJ3_9I1gJXxeekO8cKyxYDyt7K9nWj2itsDfdN7I8IIIKaF08Dagd_o1unilrlBjA1/s1600/screen+shot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT5FOkx3b2rgg5p3LiDTd2-TSCZZ3zXL7Ho-aXIitQ-CzM4fZVwyffj5A6yM3m5HGPx20QAwuAHfyJ3_9I1gJXxeekO8cKyxYDyt7K9nWj2itsDfdN7I8IIIKaF08Dagd_o1unilrlBjA1/s320/screen+shot.jpg" width="187" /></a></div>
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Nitro reader allows me not only to view PDF files, but also to easily make notes on them if I need to, for example in a rehearsal. Nitro also has "QuickSign" feature designed to allow you to stamp an image of your signature on to legal documents. I hijacked this feature to allow me to easily add musical symbols if need be. All I did was import a collection of images of musical symbols as "signatures". <a href="http://monolith.dnsalias.com/~matt/musical_symbols.zip">Click here to download a zip file containing the images I used.</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAqlQB2TixtIHb5Ow8HNp1rk5zwDbYo_uUtrocRqnlPLCyDTiCEORnxc5HuP6sL7SaHsjkkr78D573T3ddIOWelvZYf_lR6xTwzoUFS2yTQNW_354CjtBNtJNCZ_dh49jePI6ip4t-rTg6/s1600/musical+symbols.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAqlQB2TixtIHb5Ow8HNp1rk5zwDbYo_uUtrocRqnlPLCyDTiCEORnxc5HuP6sL7SaHsjkkr78D573T3ddIOWelvZYf_lR6xTwzoUFS2yTQNW_354CjtBNtJNCZ_dh49jePI6ip4t-rTg6/s320/musical+symbols.jpg" width="250" /></a></div>
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<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">
Software - Formatting the Music For Reading On Computer</span></h2>
Finally, I had to think about how to prepare some music to be read on computer. How this is done depends on what the source of the music is - a program such as Sibelius, an existing PDF on my computer, or a physical piece of sheet music I need to scan.<br />
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<h3>
Using a program such as Sibelius</h3>
One of the drawbacks of using my particular notebook was that the aspect ratio of the screen (my notbook has a 10.1" screen) doesn't match closely with a standard 8.5x11 sheet of paper (I think the iPad screen dimensions would be better in this way). So, to take best advantage of my screen, in Sibelius I go to "Document Setup" (under the Layout menu) and change the paper size to "Legal (8.5x14")". While I'm there I also set all the margins to 3, except for the left margin, which can be zero. I also make sure the staff size is at least 7. Here is a screen shot showing this:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYtDuCwMZr1moMGcPZ4WUvRWcv_3U_v8lwjMifRthJyZ-JySsiycN75SQ_EQInqXGVbb7Nfmu2UiCiKuO6R4AZoaBvydyIame6zsYgDfCwPY6LoxRbLqEnMC9LPEhcAX5oFV1jsCaywujw/s1600/documentsetup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYtDuCwMZr1moMGcPZ4WUvRWcv_3U_v8lwjMifRthJyZ-JySsiycN75SQ_EQInqXGVbb7Nfmu2UiCiKuO6R4AZoaBvydyIame6zsYgDfCwPY6LoxRbLqEnMC9LPEhcAX5oFV1jsCaywujw/s400/documentsetup.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Before I print it, I also set the chord symbols to at least size 15. (Easy to do by simply clicking Edit->Filter->Chord Symbols.) Sometimes I may also check for repeats that cross pages and reformat the layout accordingly. When you are reading music off of a computer, page turns stop being a problem, but repeats across pages become a drag, because then you have to keep flipping back and then forward again.
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Then, I just click print and set the printer to "Nitro PDF Creator 2 (Reader)". This "PDF printer" came along automatically with the Nitro PDF Reader when I installed it (see above under "Software - viewing the music"). Be sure to click on the "Properties..." box next to the printer name and then click on the "Pages" tab, and set the "Page size" to "Legal".<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigNHosIs-2-GedJHdFQ9XFqevp2a9UJzU7FwIaJ86N8UvsjvSkZKOlbYcxdXf0KuPyXCNvoJ7u8x0wn530tNZYpICeVqEYn9S8hp_0FP2dm1tiSZxz7ZhyIQ1DqhaI3GvCSl8eigGTjff_/s1600/nitroreaderproperties.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigNHosIs-2-GedJHdFQ9XFqevp2a9UJzU7FwIaJ86N8UvsjvSkZKOlbYcxdXf0KuPyXCNvoJ7u8x0wn530tNZYpICeVqEYn9S8hp_0FP2dm1tiSZxz7ZhyIQ1DqhaI3GvCSl8eigGTjff_/s320/nitroreaderproperties.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<h3>
Formatting a file that is already a PDF</h3>
I can read any old PDF file on my notebook, but I sometimes want to remove the margins, which makes the music bigger and thus easier to read on my screen. I found a handy free app to do this with called <a href="http://www.pdfill.com/pdf_tools_free.html">PDFill Free PDF Tools</a>. Just use the crop function to remove the margins. This tool also allows me to rotate the PDFs, which saves me having to do that each time I load them into Nitro PDF to read them.<br />
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<h3>
Scanning music into the computer</h3>
When I'm scanning the files, I'm careful to crop out all the margins. I also may change the settings to increase the contrast a bit to make it easier to read. Then, take each resulting image file, and print it using the Nitro PDF Creator 2 PDF printer using the process mentioned above for Sibelius (again, in my case, I'm sure to set the paper size to legal to match my screen dimensions). In order to incorporate several image files in to one PDF (such as with a multi-page chart), just "print" to the same file name again for each additional page. You will be prompted to append, overwrite, or cancel. Select "append" to make the image you are currently printing the next page of that PDF file. (Note: some scanners come with software that allows you to scan multiple pages into a single PDF file all it one step.)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1PaYjEMrrTzbGWhgcmcQ7VlN4ZgCp2nJFnF9D3aDY_bJNmUIVcomAKvzkXlgNgctPCoMYRNBU2Uo8MHy4ftZ2uNTcQ9_FquqJ7iB6L3-SYg3JFUreDIR6gJNAR9PcQRuZaMJMg_j9vyBg/s1600/append.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1PaYjEMrrTzbGWhgcmcQ7VlN4ZgCp2nJFnF9D3aDY_bJNmUIVcomAKvzkXlgNgctPCoMYRNBU2Uo8MHy4ftZ2uNTcQ9_FquqJ7iB6L3-SYg3JFUreDIR6gJNAR9PcQRuZaMJMg_j9vyBg/s320/append.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">
Pros and Cons</span></h2>
So! After that is all done, was it worth it? Well, there are pros and cons. Here is how I see it:<br />
<br />
Pros:<br />
<ul>
<li>Page turns are no longer a problem - never again miss a bar because you had to stop playing to turn the page.</li>
<li>Easily keep charts organized - no more sorting through a stack of messy paper to find the chart you need, only to realize it is an old version in the wrong key. It is easy to keep stuff organized inside a computer.</li>
<li>Have a library of all your charts on your laptop at all times. Easily send any chart using e-mail - along with any notations you may have made at the rehearsal.</li>
<li>You can have a library of PDF fakebooks at your finger tips at all times, in case you get requests. (Be sure to buy hardcopies as well to support those music publishers!)</li>
<li>Notes on charts are more neat, in full color, and you can easily delete re-edit them, rather then having charts covered in scrawl from different versions and arrangements. Easily create multiple copies of a chart to record notes about different arrangements. </li>
<li>Extremely easy to read in the dark - with no need to bring a stand light.</li>
<li>Never worry about the wind, vibrations, people, etc. knocking your music off the stand.</li>
<li>Uses no paper - better for the environment.</li>
</ul>
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Cons:<br />
<ul>
<li>You have to scan and/or format all your music for the computer- time consuming.</li>
<li>Music is smaller (on my screen anyway) and therefore harder to read.</li>
<li>Adds more potential technical problems to your gig - e.g. laptop running out of battery power.</li>
<li>My screen sometimes reflects glare from lights, requiring me to adjust the angle.</li>
<li>Screen may be difficult to read in direct sunlight.</li>
<li>If you had to sub out to someone who didn't have a set up to read music electronically, you would have to make a paper copy of all the charts (or loan them your set up?).</li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Final Assessment</span><br />
<br />
Making page turns easier is a huge advantage. I recently did a big band recording of Cherokee that was eight pages long with virtually no breaks. I'm not sure how I would have done it without my new set up - I guess I just would have had to memorize the whole chart. Having my charts organized is also a huge plus. It saves me from being the guy at the rehearsal with his charts all mixed up, crumpled, and/or lost. The biggest con is just the time investment of processing and formatting all the music. However, printing and taping music can also be a hassle. The music being smaller on the screen vs. paper is a slight concern, but it hasn't really been a problem. Overall I'm extremely happy I made the switch and I think it is a improvement.<br />
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Let me know if you try going paperless as well, or if you have any questions about anything mentioned here!<br />
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<a href="http://www.mattroberts.ca/" target="_parent">Back to MattRoberts.ca.</a>Chromatticismhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293651732454610155noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630434598988309533.post-20667062464897766462012-06-08T14:30:00.001-04:002012-06-08T14:30:26.427-04:00John Cage's 10 Rules<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqaAE57eVfbXcLJxGK_0TIWfuaYFuEKqKQ9RtGGdOHF3ivHt5wFflQBftry6HuUAGBsL6oEDyPda8aUI1YirAAAIzgYKHKIAgAXOHUvK3mJ1y2vBxc_-oxF16fpxvAkGk4FeQqqk6xQokF/s1600/522946_10151130402073677_873023858_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqaAE57eVfbXcLJxGK_0TIWfuaYFuEKqKQ9RtGGdOHF3ivHt5wFflQBftry6HuUAGBsL6oEDyPda8aUI1YirAAAIzgYKHKIAgAXOHUvK3mJ1y2vBxc_-oxF16fpxvAkGk4FeQqqk6xQokF/s1600/522946_10151130402073677_873023858_n.jpg" /></a></div>
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I saw this on Facebook and I thought it related to some of the themes in this blog. Not sure I agree with everything... but then rule #10 sort of makes it all work out, doesn't it?</div>
<a href="http://www.mattroberts.ca/" target="_parent">Back to MattRoberts.ca.</a>Chromatticismhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293651732454610155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630434598988309533.post-66328738888104757202012-06-05T17:54:00.001-04:002012-06-05T19:35:37.296-04:00Thoughts On Performing, Focus, Zen, and Hayoun LeavingLast night I played a great gig with <a href="http://www.circlesmusic.com/">Circles</a> at the Annex Live, with <a href="http://multiplechordmusic.com/parc-x-trio/">Parc-X Trio</a> opening for us. This morning I had some thoughts about what might be the best way to direct one's mind while playing the sort of music Circles plays - music that is sometimes tricky technically, but is also very improvisational. On the one hand, you are looking to be creative and play something new, but on the other hand, it isn't totally free - there are certain guidelines and things you need to get right. So there are two challenges. (Or at least two challenges, anyway!) So where do you direct your attention? How do you use your mind so that you can accept inspiration and hopefully make the music better in a subjective sense (e.g. more expressive, interesting, inspiring, etc.) while still keeping it of a high quality in an objective sense (e.g. playing the right notes, playing with good rhythm, playing in tune, etc.). <br />
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There are lots of things you could think about in trying to make a piece of music more expressive. Sometimes I think about something which is emotionally evocative to me that I think connects with the feeling of the music somehow. For example, if it is a love song, I could think about someone I love and how I feel about them. Or, for example last night was the last gig Circles will play with our piano player Hayoun Lee before he moves to Korea, so I was thinking about that sometimes. But that sort of thinking is kind of dangerous - it is easy (for me anyway) to get off on some train of thought, and before you know it, I've missed a shot or a chord or something. On the other hand, it can be helpful - it can give a little inspiring boost of emotional intensity. I think it is best if kept very abstract, for example, just calling a person or situation to mind, without thinking about any specific issues or ideas that relate.<br />
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Another thing you can think about is planning ahead in the song. Like at one point last night when we were playing the song <a href="http://circles.bandcamp.com/album/i-understand">Little Candles</a> Hayoun was on his third chorus, and I had expected him to take only two (although I was glad he took an extra one because it was sounding great) so I was thinking "I really doubt he will take a fourth chorus, so that means the melody is almost certainly coming up after this chorus, and in rehearsal he built his solo up a lot at the end which sounded great going into the melody, so I'm going to try to build this even more and see if we can do something similar this time, but even better." This type of thinking is necessary to a certain extent, but again, it is easy for me to think too much, and then it takes me away from the music, and I'm liable to make a mistake.<br />
<br />
<br />
I think the best way to focus your mind, especially with this kind of music, but it would probably apply to other types of music as well, is to <b><i>listen</i></b> to yourself and the other musicians. Focusing on listening solves many problems. First of all, only by listening carefully can you play in tune and with good rhythm. Secondly, it becomes like a meditation, and it clears the mind. You aren't thinking about ideas, so you don't get lost in a train of thought. You stay focused. Thirdly, you experience what your fellow musicians are playing, and instead of just having your own ideas about what should happen next, you can pick up on theirs. You become a team. Also you get energy and inspiration from them. Whoever seems most inspired at any given moment, you can listen to what they are playing and draw from that. Then later on at some other point, maybe you will lend them some of your energy. Fourth, by listening, you focus on the present moment, rather then creating expectations about what will happen next. Of course, unless you are playing totally "free" music, you always have some plan or expectation of what will happen next - e.g., we're going to follow this chord progression, this form, etc. - but if you sort of leave thinking about that up to the periphery of your mind, and focus on the present moment, then you have the possibility of being very spontaneous. It can seem like magic. For example, the band suddenly becomes quiet, or loud, or you realize that in one beat, the drums are going to decide to drop out, so you drop out with them. Of course this type of "magic" comes not only from being very focused in the moment but also from playing together a lot, so that you develop a group intuition.<br />
<br />
<br />
I see this all as relating sort of to my meditation practice (I've done Zen meditation with varying degrees of regularity over the past fourteen years). I know other jazz musicians have been inspired by Zen, for example Bill Evans and bass players Scott LaFaro and Gary Peacock, both idols of mine. I've noticed that on the rare and precious occasions when through meditation I manage to achieve a fairly clear mind, everything I experience becomes beauty. Sights, sounds, tastes - even the most "mundane" - everything is wonderfully beautiful. I've come to suspect that the experience of what we call "beauty" is a byproduct of all perception, but usually our perception is somewhat dull, and the lessened beauty-experience is covered up by our distracted and cluttered mind. When the mind becomes clear, perception is enhanced because more mental resources can be directed to it, and the clutter is removed, so you notice the beauty-experience, which is more powerful. I'm reminded of the quote by Henry David Thoreau: "You cannot perceive beauty, but with a serene mind." Just as I've found that a clear mind precipitates beauty, I've also found it goes the other way - that strong aesthetic experiences create a clear mind. I'm sure many people have experienced this - we see or hear a beautiful work of art, and we're awestruck, and our mind just empties of its own accord.<br />
<br />
On an even deeper level, I think that you have to trust that even without thinking about meaning, it is there. In the present moment, everything that makes me who I am is there. So if I'm playing a ballad or a love song, I don't have to deliberately decide "okay, I'm going to think about my girlfriend now" for my relationship and my experiences with my girlfriend to inspire my playing. Those neuro-connections are there no matter what I do. If I try to deliberately express something, perhaps that is less honest then if I just focus on the moment and "allow" something to be expressed - even if I never really know what it is. It all happens on a level below (or beyond?) conscious thought. If you have this kind of trust, either as a performer or a listener, the music takes on a depth of meaning beyond what you can put into words, or even understand with your thinking mind.<br />
<br />
I think those two things - the possibility of real spontaneity, especially as a group, and the trust that everything that I've ever thought or felt is present in each moment somehow - is what is most exciting for me about this approach of focusing on listening combined with performing improvisational music. If I'm open and receptive, amazing and unexpected things could happen! And I don't mean just musically, but emotionally and spiritually as well. That makes me excited, and before long I'm drawn into a creative flow. Also, the whole "beauty-experience" is very inspiring for me.<br />
<br />
But sometimes things don't feel inspiring. If things aren't "happening", then I think it is best to just focus on listening and do your job, which for me as a bass player means keep the form, play the roots, play with good rhythm, play in tune, etc. If you clear your mind and focus on listening, maybe you will tap into the sources of inspiration mentioned above - maybe not. At any rate, you need to do your job. Because that's the other side of the whole experience - even though it is so amazing and profound, at the same time it is very ordinary and mundane. Perhaps this is expressed by this Chinese poem:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Rozan famous for its misty mountains;<br />
Sekko for its water.<br />
When I could not see them,<br />
never was I free from the pain of longing!</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I went and I returned.<br />
It was nothing special:<br />
Rozan famous for its misty mountains;<br />
Sekko for its water.</blockquote>
<div>
Or by a famous Zen saying: “Before enlightenment: Chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment: Chop wood, carry water.” Or, to quote a more contemporary, western voice:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<br />
There's nothing you can do that can't be done.<br />
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung.<br />
<br />
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time - it's easy.</blockquote>
I once asked Hayoun what he thought about while he played, and he told me that he sort of meditated on the sound of the ensemble. Maybe that is when I first started thinking about these ideas. I've always been very inspired by Hayoun's approach to playing music because it seems to me that he's always been very dedicated to making music from a space of being present and open to possibilities, and I think that makes the whole experience of his art richly meaningful and exciting. That's my impression anyway - Hayoun is a man of many thoughts and few words (unlike me, as this blog post evidences!). Hayoun certainly plays unexpected things sometimes, which keeps me on my toes. Check out <a href="http://www.myspace.com/hayounlee/blog">his blog</a> to gain some insight into his thinking. I'm certainly going to miss him when he moves to Korea in a few days. I'll look forward to the next time we play together - whenever and wherever the universe decides that will be!<br />
<br />
P.S. I'd love to hear what other artists or art lovers thought about this subject. Post a comment!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.mattroberts.ca/" target="_parent">Back to MattRoberts.ca.</a></div>Chromatticismhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293651732454610155noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630434598988309533.post-53787068470746698492012-01-13T18:15:00.004-05:002012-01-13T18:21:29.441-05:00Creativity in Music Composition (U of T Masterclass)I just got back from doing a master class for the jazz department at U of T. I think it went pretty well! The presentation was about creativity in music composition, and how fears and anxiety can get it the way of that. Here is a link to download the <a href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5110274/Creativity%20in%20Music%20Composition%20by%20Matthew%20Roberts%20-%20Slides.pdf" target="_blank">slides that I used</a>. <br />
<br />
<br />
Here are links to the two videos I played clips from:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.creativitypost.com/create/elizabeth_gilbert_on_nurturing_creativity" target="_blank">A TED Talk by Elizabeth Gilbert on nurturing creativity by externalizing inspiration.</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R37zkizucPU" target="_blank">Louis CK speaking at a memorial for George Carlin, expressing how he was inspired by George's prolificness.</a></li>
</ul>
<br />
These are the posts on my blog that contributed to the presentation in some way. I'd recommend the "Wrap Up and Analysis" as a good place to start if you aren't looking for anything specific. It includes a list of all the books that were recommended to me during the interviews.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://mattrobertsmusic.blogspot.com/2011/09/composers-process-project-wrap-up-and.html">Composers' Process Project: Wrap Up and Analysis</a></li>
<li><a href="http://mattrobertsmusic.blogspot.com/2011/08/interview-with-composer-christine.html">Interview with Composer Christine Bougie</a></li>
<li><a href="http://mattrobertsmusic.blogspot.com/2011/08/interview-with-composer-allan-gililand.html">Interview with Composer Allan Gilliland</a></li>
<li><a href="http://mattrobertsmusic.blogspot.com/2011/08/interview-with-composer-david-binney.html">Interview with Composer David Binney</a></li>
<li><a href="http://mattrobertsmusic.blogspot.com/2011/08/interview-with-composer-andrew-downing.html">Interview with Composer Andrew Downing</a></li>
<li><a href="http://mattrobertsmusic.blogspot.com/2011/07/interview-with-composer-dave-wall.html">Interview with Composer Dave Wall</a></li>
<li><a href="http://mattrobertsmusic.blogspot.com/2011/04/writers-block-and-song-of-ice-and-fire.html">Writer's Block and "A Song of Ice and Fire"</a></li>
<li><a href="http://mattrobertsmusic.blogspot.com/2011/03/interview-with-myself-about-composition.html">An Interview With Myself About Composition</a></li>
<li><a href="http://mattrobertsmusic.blogspot.com/2011/03/books-about-creativity-that-i-love-or.html">Books About Creativity That I Love (or at least own)</a></li>
<li><a href="http://mattrobertsmusic.blogspot.com/2011/02/rest-and-play-enjoying-getting-stuff.html">Rest and Play: Enjoying Getting Stuff Done</a></li>
</ul>
<br />
If anyone has any feedback or other ideas or resources about composition or creativity, I'd love to hear about it - post a comment!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.mattroberts.ca/" style="font-size: x-large;" target="_parent">Back to MattRoberts.ca.</a>Chromatticismhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293651732454610155noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630434598988309533.post-50724981777199229062011-09-06T16:02:00.000-04:002011-09-06T16:36:43.379-04:00Composers' Process Project: Wrap Up and Analysis<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.monsalvat.no/gill1869.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.monsalvat.no/gill1869.jpg" /></a></div>
For those of you just tuning in, the Composers' Process Project is an assignment I'm doing as part of my masters in jazz at U of T. I've interviewed five composers (six if you count the interview with myself), transcribed the interviews, and posted them on this blog (<a href="http://mattrobertsmusic.blogspot.com/search/label/Composers%27%20Process%20Project">click here to see all the related posts</a>). This post will formally conclude the project (and all my course work for my masters!), although I may post interviews with artists on this blog in the future. I've learned a lot - sometimes about unexpected things. For example, I learned a lot about how to conduct an interview! I really enjoyed doing this project, and I found the whole process very beneficial - even the part where I was just typing out the dialogue, which was what I spent most of my time doing, as it turned out. Despite being time consuming, it gave me an opportunity to reflect on what had been said. It amazed me how much I missed in normal conversation - people were trying to tell me things that I totally didn't pick up on until I listened back to the recording and wrote down every word!<br />
<br />
That was what I got out of the process... what did I actually learn from what people said? There is a lot to summarize - the interviews together take up 51 single-spaced typed pages, and that is just the edited-down versions! I'll start with the most concrete observations and progress to more abstract conclusions.<br />
<br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Word-Frequency Analysis</span></b><br />
<br />
Here is an analysis of the frequency that various words appeared in the conversations. I picked words that appeared in more than one interview:<br />
<br />
112 music<br />
59 idea(s)<br />
46 jazz<br />
39 listen/listening<br />
36 sound<br />
32 piano<br />
25 chord<br />
17 love<br />
15 enjoy<br />
14 language<br />
14 voice<br />
12 classical<br />
12 mind<br />
10 pretty<br />
9 clarity<br />
9 weird<br />
8 beautiful<br />
7 Stravinsky<br />
6 Ellington<br />
5 Bartok<br />
5 Wayne<br />
5 Metheny<br />
<br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Recommended Books</span></b><br />
<br />
<b>Me:</b> The Gifts of Imperfection, The Creative Habit<br />
<b>Dave Wall:</b> Techniques of the Contemporary Composer, Theory of Harmony (Schoenberg), My Musical Language<br />
<b>Andrew Downing:</b> The Shaping Forces In Music<br />
<b>Alan Gilliland:</b> Jazz Arranging and Composition: A Linear Approach, What To Listen For In Music, The Study of Orchestration, Inside The Score, Composer to Composer, Charles Ives: A Life With Music, Gil Evans: Out of The Cool: A Life With Music, Hallelujah Junction, Bela Bartok: An Analysis of His Music<br />
<b>Christine Bougie: </b>The Creative Habit, On Writing (Steven King), Songwriters on Songwriting<br />
<br />
David Binney was the only one who didn't recommend any books, saying only "I've never studied any of it."<br />
<br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Admired Composers</span></b><br />
<br />
Here is a list of the composers that people said they admire:<br />
<br />
<b>Matt:</b> David Binney, John Coltrane<br />
<b>Dave Wall:</b> György Ligeti, Steve Reich, Arvo Pärt, Xenakis, Alfred Schnittke, Todd Sickafoose<br />
<b>Andrew Downing:</b> Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Bill Frisell, Alfred Schnittke<br />
<b>Dave Binney:</b> Wayne Shorter, Stravinsky, Aaron Copland, Pat Metheny, Joni Mitchell<br />
<b>Alan Gilliland:</b> Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Shostakovitch, Debussy, Richard Strauss, Mauler, John Corigliano, John Adams, John Williams, Korngold, Bernard Herrmann, Art Herman, Michael Giaccino, Ellington/Strayhorn, Gershwin, Bernstein, Metheny<br />
<b>Christine Bougie:</b> Joni Mitchell, Ry Cooder<br />
<br />
As we saw earlier from the word-frequency analysis, Stravinsky is a popular composer - his name was the first word out of Andrew Downing & Alan Gilliland's mouth, and the second composer mentioned by Dave Binney. Ellington/Strayhorn, and Wayne Shorter were also spoken of with reverence. Shostakovich, Schnittke, Prokofiev, Metheny, and Joni Mitchell all got repeat mentions as well. I'm a little surprised Bartok didn't figure more prominently - I always thought he was the Mt. Everest of 20th century composition. Of course, as Dave Binney pointed out, it is a "mind-boggling" question; it is impossible to list all the composers that one's been influenced by. For example, I know from her blog Christine Bougie is a big fan of <a href="http://www.christinebougie.com/best-of-09-workshop/" target="_parent">Bill Frisell</a>.<br />
<br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Routine/Compositional Phases</span></b><br />
<br />
David Binney was the odd one out here. He didn't admit to following any routine - he said he used to write very late at night until the early morning, but now he may write at any time of the day - and he also insisted, despite me prodding him with repeated questions, that his compositional process does not follow any phases - "I basically put my hands on the keyboard and I just start writing."<br />
<br />
Everyone else said that phases like research, planning, brainstorming, editing, proofreading, etc. are a part of their process. Alan Gilliland had an elegant way of putting it - "The Three C's of Composition" - Creativity, Craft, and Copying.<br />
<br />
A common thread among those whole follow a routine is that the morning is an important time for creativity. Alan Gilliland has had a habit of composing from 5-7 am for over a decade. Christine Bougie avoids checking e-mail until the afternoon so that her mind can be clear for creativity. Dave Wall says "I just get up and I start writing." I liked what Dave Wall said about not forcing himself to compose for an extended period - instead, he composes only as long as he feels like it, and strings together many sessions that might range in length from 5 minutes to 2 hours. David Binney and Christine both alluded to similar approaches. I've tried to practice Dave Wall's technique since the interview, and it's worked well for me so far. For those of us who lack the discipline to follow a routine like Alan's - for example, me - Dave Wall's approach might a workable solution.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>What do you consider the most important principle(s) of good composition?</b></span><br />
<br />
This was a difficult question, but it was one that I ask myself a lot. When something is good, why is it good? That's the mystery. I really do believe that there is something similar going on with all my favorite compositions - from "Blackbird" by the Beatles to Cello Prelude #1. Defining what that is, however, turns out to be a difficult task.<br />
<br />
<b>Me:</b> Elegance<br />
<b>Dave Wall:</b> Clarity<br />
<b>Andrew Downing:</b> Consistency (details of a composition that makes it feel like itself)<br />
<b>Dave Binney:</b> "just whether I enjoy it or not"<br />
<b>Alan Gilliland:</b> Clarity<br />
<br />
It seems somewhat remarkable that both Alan and Dave Wall chose "clarity" out of all the available words in the English language. Does it have something to do with the fact that they are the two "classical" composers? In a broader sense, there did seem to be a theme of clearly communicating something to the audience, with Dave Binney again being the odd one out. He insisted "I'm seriously not ever judging music other than if I like it or not."<br />
<br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Have you experienced composers block? How did you deal with it?</span></b><br />
<br />
The thing that got this whole project started was my struggle to overcome composer's block, so I was pretty surprised that the general response to this question was to shrug and say "not really." However, I still got some useful advice when people explained what they felt was the reason for them not experiencing it.<br />
<br />
<b>Me:</b> yes. acknowledge your fears and decide to proceed anyway<br />
<b>Dave Wall:</b> no, ideas are a dime a dozen<br />
<b>Andrew Downing:</b> no, even if you end up throwing things away, that's still part of the process<br />
<b>Dave Binney:</b> no, it is just easy for me, it is my natural language<br />
<b>Alan Gilliland:</b> no, even if you end up throwing things away, that's still part of the process<br />
<br />
As you can see Andrew and Alan both had similar things to say. I think their point of view could help me avoid becoming negative during my process. Also Dave Wall's point that the important thing is how you develop your material, not what you start with, seems a good bit of perspective. Overall, I was struck by how nonchalantly everyone answered "no". It changed how I thought about the creative process. I may have felt like suffering a bit was an important part of it, but it seems more like good music comes from enjoying yourself. Dave Binney in particular - one of my favorite composers - talked about how much he enjoyed the entire process, from composition to performing to recording to listening - and how he was driven by his love and excitement for music.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>What mistakes do inexperienced composers make?</b></span><br />
<br />
This one surprised me because of how little agreement there was. I guess there are a lot of mistakes to make! However, there did seem to be a common theme that inexperienced composers do not develop themes and use repetition enough, and end up putting too much stuff in.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Me:</b> "over-doing things"<br />
<b>Dave Wall:</b> too much material, not respecting the use of repetition<br />
<b>Andrew Downing: </b>don't think about the total sound, don't think about the instrument<br />
<b>Alan Gilliland:</b> don't stick with a theme/idea; lack notation skills<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>What do you find to be the greatest challenge of composition?</b></span><br />
<br />
There was little agreement on this one as well - even more so. It seems everyone finds composition challenging in a different way.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Me:</b> overcoming my fears and anxieties<br />
<b>Dave W:</b> "To never be boring. To keep it unified, but always changing."<br />
<b>Andrew Downing:</b> to let go of a piece and stop revising it; to not be derivative<br />
<b>Alan Gilliland:</b> keeping the business side of things going<br />
<b>Christine Bougie:</b> writing from the place that I am yet not to repeat myself<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>Why compose?</b></span><br />
<br />
<br />
There were a lot of answers for this one. They included (in order of my subjective judgement of popularity): the joy of having created something uniquely your own, enjoying the act of composing, expressing something you couldn't otherwise, and curiosity about music.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>How do you want to develop as a composer in the future?</b></span><br />
<br />
Again there were a lot of different answers for this one.<br />
<br />
<b>Me:</b> connecting to audience through mastering form<br />
<b>Dave Wall:</b> have a tangible effect on audience<br />
<b>Andrew Downing:</b> be better about thinking about forms<br />
<b>Dave Binney:</b> "I don't have any goals with it, I just want to keep kind of moving forward."<br />
<b>Alan Gilliland:</b> explore jazz & classical music<br />
<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>Themes and General Impressions</b></span><br />
<br />
<br />
Each interview made an impression on me and left me with many things to think about. For example, with Christine, the word I left with was "honest", which she used several times in our conversation. I'd never really thought about whether or not my compositions were honest - just whether they did what I wanted them to do! (Dave Wall also used the word "honest".) I think the most exciting interview for me was Dave Binney, because I'm such a big fan of his music, and I do want to emulate some of his style, and I have actually spent a lot of time wondering "How does he make this stuff? What is he thinking? What is his process?" I feel like I have a better understanding on that, although it seems like it is a bit of a mystery to Binney as well - which may be key to why his compositions are so fascinating to me, as I also find they have a sense of mystery to them.<br />
<br />
There were also several themes that I noticed over all the conversations. One was the debate of writing for the instrument - i.e. with the instrument in mind first, coming up with something that is easy to play on that instrument - vs. writing for the sound - i.e. thinking of what sound you want first, and then thinking about how to make instrument(s) produce that sound. Other issues that had to be considered included:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>trying to be yourself or to not overdo things vs. trying to push yourself or discover new possibilities</li>
<li>imitating or emulating other composers vs. trying to be original</li>
<li>writing for yourself vs. writing for the audience</li>
<li>experiencing the piece moment to moment vs. experiencing the piece as a whole</li>
<li>the language, values, and traditions of jazz vs. the language, values, and traditions of classical music</li>
</ul>
<br />One thing that unified everyone was the idea of finding an original voice. Which reminds me of something I said to Alan in what seems to be, looking back, a moment of clarity for me: "I'm more interested in just getting the courage to check out those twelve notes on my own. I've been to school for ten years, I know tonnes of theory, I just need to inspire myself to find my own ways." This assignment concludes my Masters Degree in Jazz Performance. On to new adventures!<br />
<a href="http://www.mattroberts.ca/" target="_parent"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Back to MattRoberts.ca.</span></a>Chromatticismhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293651732454610155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630434598988309533.post-39379785111913442722011-08-26T17:32:00.000-04:002011-08-29T18:21:28.647-04:00Interview with Composer Christine Bougie<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.christinebougie.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/DSC_3610.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.christinebougie.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/DSC_3610.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>Christine Bougie is a guitarist, lap-steal player, and a composer music that defies genre categorization - blending jazz, rock, and pop into intricate, catchy and very approachable instrumental tunes. She's made three albums of original music – <a href="http://christinebougie.bandcamp.com/album/hammys-secret-life" target="_blank">Hammy's Secret Life</a>, <a href="http://christinebougiedafyddhughes.bandcamp.com/album/this-is-awesome" target="_blank">This is Awesome</a> (a collaboration with Dafydd Hughes) and <a href="http://christinebougie.bandcamp.com/album/aloha-supreme" target="_blank">Aloha Supreme</a>. Besides the fact that I'm a big fan of her music, I was particularly interested in interviewing Christine because she is a fellow blogger, and a fellow process geek. Like me, she frequently blogs about her creative process, and also like me, she often invents somewhat elaborate systems in relation to that – for example, <a href="http://letsfreckle.com/blog/2010/04/profile-shes-got-the-beat/" target="_blank">she's a poster-girl for the online time-tracking website, Freckle</a>.<br />
<br />
This was actually the first interview I did as part of my <a href="http://mattrobertsmusic.blogspot.com/search/label/Composers%27%20Process%20Project">composer's process project</a> (the interview took place back in early April), and I was a little shy about stepping into the interviewer's role. As a result, it has a more conversational tone than the other interviews. Which I think is kind of nice in a way. You tell me.<br />
<br />
Check out these two Southern Souls videos that just happen to be of my two favorite songs by Christine. To learn more about her or follow her blog (highly recommended), visit <a href="http://www.christinebougie.com/" target="_blank">www.christinebougie.com</a>.<br />
<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" height="225" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/22064572?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0&color=ffffff" width="400"></iframe><br />
"Me Her" (from Aloha Supreme)<br />
<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" height="225" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/22077115?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0&color=ffffff" width="400"></iframe><br />
"Hammy's Secret Life" (from Hammy's Secret Life)<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Christine Bougie: The Twyla Tharp book [The Creative Habit] is good – did you read the Steven King book – <u>On Writing</u>? It's great. It gave me a lot of ideas. At the beginning of this writing period I was re-reading both of those books and underlining. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Matt Roberts: It's cool that those are both books by people who are in different art forms than music.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">CB: Totally. But I noticed a lot of similarities. Like there's a part where Tharp talks about what her process is – just in a couple of pages – and it was exactly what I do, weirdly. She says she goes in a room, and just starts dancing to nothing, and video tapes herself, and then reviews that and picks stuff to work with afterwards.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The Steven King book is really great too because he's so no-bullshit. Just blue-collar.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: Steven King is very prolific.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">CB: Yeah, he's just constantly writing. In the book, he explains his schedule: “I wake up, I spend three hours on the current project, then the afternoon is for naps and letters, and night time is for watching T.V. and hanging out with the family.”</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: I just got this book, <u>The Art Spirit</u> by Robert Henri. He was a modernist painter in the early 20<sup>th</sup> century. The book is a collection of letters he wrote to his students. He has a kind of romantic notion of art that I find inspiring. For example, at one point he says that he went to the Paris Conservatory, and people were there who were practising copying paintings who had been there for ten years, only learning to become better copyists. But he believes a true artist seeks to have some kind of original voice that can convey some sense of truth.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">CB: That's good, you have to get past that imitating phase at some point. What do you think about the Kenny Werner stuff?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: I first met him at [The] Banff [Jazz Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music], and I attended his week-long workshop on his “Effortless Mastery” concepts.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">CB: How was it? I just read his book.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: I think the things he talked about are really cool, and everyone should think about them, but I question the exact methods he expounds to achieve those ideals – “the steps”, I think he calls them.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">CB: Right, you also have to work really hard. That's what I think is missing from that whole picture.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: Well, when I first got into it, I was in first year, and I was very eager and maybe a little naive, and I started doing his thing where you practice going into a relaxed state, playing one note, and putting down your instrument if you felt you had gone out of that state. After a few weeks of picking my bass up and putting it down, I thought “This is silly!” I think it might be better to do something like setting a timer for 5 minutes, and making it your main priority to play in a relaxed manner until the timer goes off. However, I think the book is certainly worth reading.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">CB: I had the same experience with it. I was still in school. I appreciated the story of it, at the beginning – he talks about being at school and getting wrapped up in the stress of it, and the ego. But the application of it seemed off.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: I think the problem for me when I sit down to write something is that I become too self-critical and too worried about what people are going to think about it, and I have a really blown up idea in my head about how great I want it to be. So when I come up with an idea, I'll reject it unless it seems like it carries a seed of something incredibly great. Which is maybe not how it works, maybe the greatness comes by taking something somewhat ordinary and working with it. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">CB: I notice that too. That's the struggle. I notice that the stuff that you write that comes out naturally [is best]. You want to write so much further ahead then you are. You hear an idea of something that's more complex and developed then you are actually at. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Another thing that I notice is that I'll often be writing the same song again. I'll write something and notice that I've kind of written that before. People will say “Oh so-and-so only writes three tunes.” Like to me, Tower of Power has only two or three tunes. Their ballady thing, their crazy syncopated thing, and they just write those tunes. I'll notice myself defaulting to something. I'll be at the end of the tune, and I'll do what come out naturally, and then I'll say “Oh that's kind of like the end of these three other tunes that I've written.” </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: I find that especially if I'm are trying to produce a lot of material, like writing a tune a week. That's the danger with trying to force yourself to produce more - that you'll just recycle.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">CB: But I find that's good, just to get them all out. If I write twelve tunes in a few weeks I might use five or six of them.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: Yeah, you still come up with some new things each time. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">CB: Exactly. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: I noticed that the third movement of <i>The Little Prince Suite</i> is sort of like the sixth movement of <i>The Buddha Suite</i>. But I kind of like that.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">CB: Because it's your sound.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: Yeah, it's my signature.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">CB: And you're just discovering that. It's cool to listen to stuff you came up with years ago, and you can hear, even though it is less developed, that there is something there that is kind of “you”. I hear all the stuff around it that is pretentious – trying to be something – but I also hear what is me in it. The influences are in there from the beginning. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Sometimes I'll hear something I like that is inspiring to me by somebody else, and then that will make me want to write something like that, but it never turns out like that at all. With a lot of my tunes – the ones that turned out well – I can hear where the idea came from, and I can remember that it was inspired by something else but it just became something completely different in the end. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: I've had that experience as well – it's nice!</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">CB: It's great, because you can just steal things from things you like, and there's no danger that you're copying because it just won't turn out like that.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: Robert Henri said something like “Don't worry about being unique, because you can't help but be unique.”</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">CB: I was writing something the other day which came out really quick. I played it for Ali and she said “This sounds like something...” It turned out it was “<i>For Once In My Life</i>” by Stevie Wonder. It was a bit different – it was slower, and there were a few changes, but basically that was it.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: Yeah, the fourth movement of the Little Prince Suite starts with a melody that is exactly <i>Blue in Green</i>. Same key and everything. I'm a little uncomfortable with that! [laughs]</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">CB: Just change one thing. I'm going to go back to that tune and change a couple things.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">So do you write everyday?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: Well, yes, I have this calendar on my wall which I put a mark on each day if I composed that day, and I try to have a mark on each day. But it hasn't been very hard lately, because I've sort of entered a crisis phase with <i>The Little Prince Suite </i>– we're going to perform it in two weeks. The amount of writing I've produced has increased exponentially over the last two years as the deadline approaches. Which is interesting, because for the most part I still like what I'm coming up with almost as much. Although the recent stuff is tending to be less intricate and complicated. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">I went to the Dave Holland Clinic at Humber just this past week, and asked him what he did when he had writers block. He said “Just get on with it - at a certain point fear takes over.” If you come up with an idea at the start of the process, you think “I'll have a better idea later.” But as the deadline approaches that becomes “I have an idea – good enough, let's go with this!”</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">CB: I read an interview with Paul Simon once, and his view was that writer's block comes from trying to write beyond where you are. I think it was in that “<u>Songwriters on Songwriting</u>” book – have you seen that? It's a great, fat book of mostly singer-songwriter people, and the interviewer is really good - he does a lot of research for each person, and their writing process.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: That sounds great, I'll get that book for sure! I just read this book called <u>The Jazz Composers Companion</u>. The last chapter is all interviews with composers. They all have very different things to say about composition – for example Chick Corea talks about “spiritual games”, while Pat Metheny is more technical, he talks about writing things so he can enjoy improvising over them.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">CB: I think for me making a physical space to sit down and write is very important. I didn't have a room to write in. We had instruments scattered in different rooms. Once I managed to set up a space and decided “This is what I'm going to do everyday – I'm going to practise in this chair, this room, with this stuff, here is my loop station, my music stand...” Then the habit part of it became much easier. Also not going online until a certain time of the day.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: Right – you don't go online until 1 o'clock or noon, because you'll get sucked into it?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">CB: If I wake up at 10 and I'm checking my email at 10:15, and like yesterday there was e-mails with some mixes of some songs I did on somebody's album, and I have to listen to them and make notes, and then there is a gig coming up on Friday, and how am I going to get there...</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: That takes a lot of energy.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">CB: Yeah, if I would wake up in the morning and put that in my brain, I wouldn't be able to concentrate on writing music. Your brain needs to be a little bit empty for that. Also with practising. I was never very good at daily practising, but I've been doing that for the last couple months. I've been enjoying it, and find that it has to be the first thing I do in a day for me to get into it. I think it is a little like meditation – because even though it is different in the sense that you're very busy trying to do something, it is similar in that you notice when your thoughts are interrupting you. I've been going through the second Berkley guitar book [<u>A Modern Method for Guitar</u>] where it is just a couple pages of scales – like a C major scale in five positions, ascending and descending, it takes like eight minutes to read through a few pages straight. If I screw up something simple, I find it is because I'm thinking about something else – say an e-mail I have to send. The later in the day I leave that work until, the worse it gets. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: I'm studying classical music right now. I find it more therapeutic to practise classical music, because is more technical.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">CB: Yes, I'm just doing scales – for 15 minutes or something, and I love it, because it is kind of brainless in a way.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: I have trouble keeping track of time. Recently my girlfriend was sitting on my bed while I was composing, and she said to me afterwards “You spend about half your time on Facebook and YouTube. It finally makes sense to me how much trouble you have composing.” </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">CB: Yeah, I usually have to turn the computer off. Or, if I'm doing something on the computer, I have a timer program. I usually set things for either 45 minutes or 15 minutes. 15 minutes if it is something that I've really been procrastinating on – 15 minutes at least gets me started. I learned that from Rob McBride – he's my practising roll model. He does 45 minute chunks with 15 minute breaks – real breaks – he says he goes and waters his plants, or if it is nice he'll go outside. Because the 15 minute Facebook break – I do that too, but I noticed that it's not a real break. But it is hard to do that, if you are doing something in Sibelius that is hard, tedious work, and all the entertainment is one click away.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: I find I have this base-level of anxiety when I'm composing, and if I anything causes a spike in that I'm like “I'm going to see what's on Facebook...”</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">You know, I used to be very strict with scheduling. I had a Palm Pilot and I used to set alarms - 10am: practice scales. 10:45 take a break. 11 am: practice arpeggios. But right now I'm thinking of it in a more personal/emotional way – what is it that is causing me stress about this? I'm not sure how well it is working for me though...</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">CB: Yeah, I've given up on the idea of practising for a huge amount of time – you hear stories of people practising 8 hours a day. But I don't think that is really possible, if you're eating and doing all the things you have to do in a day. As a society we think of people working 8 hours a day – like “nine to five” – but when I've had real jobs, I've found you're not actually working for 8 solid hours. So when you're on your own being creative, you realize 3 hours is probably what you're really doing in an 8 hour work day. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: If I can get a consistent hour of practise in everyday, I feel really good about that. I can get a lot done in an hour. I think I can be a bass player worth listening to with an hour of practise each day.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">CB: It is weird to put a time on writing too. I do kind of start a clock when I'm writing, but more than any other activity, writing is something that I don't religiously measure the time of. Because I find that sometimes I may be doing something else, like practising scales, and I'll just get into writing. Or I might be watching a movie and I'll just grab the guitar and play something I was working on. I can't really say: “I'll write from 10 to 11. That's it.” You're always kind of writing if you're in the middle of something. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: Yeah, one of my interview questions was going to be “Where do your ideas come from?” But I asked myself that, and I thought - “Well, I guess from every moment of my life...”</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">CB: Did you ever answer the questionnaire in the Twyla Tharp book? It like that. It's about your creative autobiography or something. Like on question was “What was the first creative idea you remember having?” I remember writing a story in grade 1, and I remember how my teacher liked it, and the feeling I got from people noticing that and saying that I was creative. That's a big deal – getting a reward for something that is easy or natural. Or “What's the best idea you've had?” or “What's the worst idea you've had?” </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: Yeah it is interesting how writing about something can help clarify your thoughts on it. I feel that way about my blog.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">CB: For sure. I've started blogging less lately – I was writing three times a week and I went down to once a week because I'm doing so much other stuff. It's good to take a break from telling the world what you're doing so often. But it did help me focus, and it made projects out of just rough ideas. If I had ideas and I started writing about it, it became like a real thing. It helped me get my last album together. Especially with the fundraising thing, because then other people's money was involved, so I thought “Now I've got to get it done!”</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: What do you find to be the greatest challenge of composition?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">CB: Writing from the place that I am.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: Because that causes a block, or because that causes bad compositions?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">CB: Both I guess, because it <i>will</i> end up causing a block, but in the short term you start grasping at things that you're not there yet. For me, it could be harmonically maybe – I might want to write something that's more dense than I can actually hear, because I appreciate that when I listen to other writers. But it's not natural for me to do that. If I hear something that's in my head and I play it on the instrument and I realize that it is just a plain “G” chord, I shouldn't try to make it weird by adding this and that. It's strange, because you have to push yourself at the same time.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Also, like we were talking about, not writing the same tune over and over. I feel like I can default to certain structures. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: I found Twyla Tharp's thing where she makes people come up with 50 different ways to do a particular motion is very helpful with that. If you force yourself to come up with many ways of doing something simple, the first few are going to be your usual way of thinking, but then you are going to have to become inventive. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">CB: Yeah, and they come out of your head too, right? I guess it is a challenge not to grasp beyond where you are, but then it is also a challenge not to repeat yourself. You've got to find some middle ground.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">I was talking to my friend Mike Holt – he's a songwriter. He is very pure about how he writes his tunes. He never sounds like he is grasping for something that's not natural to him, yet the harmony's interesting, and it isn't over-simplified or anything. He says he only writes in his head first, before he goes to any instrument. He says he dreams his songs a lot of the time, and he'll wake up and hum them in his head for a while before he gets to the keyboard. So that way you're only playing the things that you're actually hearing. On the guitar, my fingers can do things that my brain is not really hearing. Which is cool because it can break you out of your usual thinking. But you're not actually hearing that, honestly. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">So in my last chunk of writing tunes I sat at a keyboard – because that's a little bit less familiar to me. I had a wurlitzer in my house for a while. Usually what I do is as soon as I have something I like, I turn on the loop station and record that. Rather then that, I spent a week on the wurlitzer, trying to play what I was hearing, and not recording anything or writing it down, and then the next day I would try to play what I played the day before. So only what would stay in my brain is worth sticking to.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: Yes, I've done that to – I have all my ideas written down in a book, but often I will start out by trying to remember what is in the book without opening it. And I realized that I naturally remember only what had the most emotional connection for me. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">CB: It's a way of finding the real honest stuff in it, and taking away the “trying to be clever” stuff.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">So I did that for a week, and I came up with a tune at the end of it, and then I recorded it. That was good, but it was a harder process. Now I'm using the guitar again. But I might try that again, like for a week. Just to do something different. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: Have you seen those song-a-day blogs?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">CB: Yeah, I researched that before I started doing this song-a-week thing, which was near the beginning of the year, coinciding with blogging less. I had the urge to make a blog thing about it. But I decided that I didn't want to show what I was doing during doing it, for the same reason I didn't want to show Ali my ideas before they were done to me. Even though that way you can get feedback.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: What composers or compositions do you admire?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">CB: I've been listening a lot again to Joni Mitchell. I started listening to Joni when I was 15 or something, getting into the 70's stuff. And I've just been getting into her earlier stuff – the super folk-y stuff, I was more into the jazz period. I've been into <i>Blue</i> and going backwards. I recently learned a bunch of her tunes for a Joni Mitchell tribute show. I'd always kept her music a mystery to me, because of the weird tunings. When I learned the tunes I realized that the song structures weren't that weird, it was just the voicings of the chords, because she had all weird tunings.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: I find her compositions are so unique, but not in a showy way – it always seems to serve the meaning and the effect of the song. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">CB: I'm not writing lyrics or anything, and there's not much melody to a lot of her songs – but the music always fits the mood of what she's talking about so well. That gets me the most.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">I kind of got into Ry Cooder's latest album to the point where it is an album that I would put on everyday. But for what reason I don't know. It's bluesy, and it's songwriting. It's weird – I don't listen to music that reminds me of the kind of music that I write. I used to listen to a lot more guitar players – Metheny and Scofield – and now I can't really listen to them.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: One last question: Why compose?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">CB: As opposed to just recording other people's stuff? I did record a Beach Boy's cover on my last album. I feel like composing is the best way to leave your mark. I have a desire to actually make something tangible that will last. Making an album is a work of art. It's the work I want to do as a musician - I want to have a body of work. I used to focus more on improvising. That was what excited me about music. But composing is improvising – when you compose something you're making it up, you just spend a bit more time crafting it.</div><a href="http://vimeo.com/22077115"> <br />
</a><a href="http://www.mattroberts.ca/" target="_parent"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">To the MattRoberts.ca homepage.</span></a>Chromatticismhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293651732454610155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630434598988309533.post-71028747092126804282011-08-21T19:14:00.000-04:002011-08-26T16:25:35.013-04:00Interview with Composer Allan Gilliland<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWMl5RP39q3aqCmbB2o6Jc3zq2uohIHdS8832LjwC5RFic5o4j1dgvhOlnq1d5MOEGHUoo3MaLaJfA2lbgbvk6r8C1rz7M7tJ3E3PLdUZUXqAaPAhD9vzFp9ABpsPM1YejJWN1ZNLH08GX/s1600/AllanAudienceMed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWMl5RP39q3aqCmbB2o6Jc3zq2uohIHdS8832LjwC5RFic5o4j1dgvhOlnq1d5MOEGHUoo3MaLaJfA2lbgbvk6r8C1rz7M7tJ3E3PLdUZUXqAaPAhD9vzFp9ABpsPM1YejJWN1ZNLH08GX/s320/AllanAudienceMed.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>(This interview is part of an <a href="http://mattrobertsmusic.blogspot.com/search/label/Composers%27%20Process%20Project">ongoing series of interviews I'm doing with compsers about their creative process.</a>) <br />
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Edmonton-based composer Allan Gilliland is one of Canada's busiest composers, and one of the most comissioned and performed. He's written music a huge body of music, including pieces for chamber ensemble, film, jazz band, keyboard, musical theatre, opera, orchestra, and wind ensembles. He did has a diploma in jazz studied from Humber, a bachelors of perofrmance and a masters in composition from the University of Alberta, and is currently wraping up a PhD in composition from the University of Edinburgh. He's received many prestigious awards, including winning First Prize at the prestigious Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra’s Centara New Music Festival Composers Competition with <i>On the Shoulders of Giants.</i> <br />
<br />
Check out these samples of his music:<br />
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Section II of "<a href="http://www.allangilliland.com/audio/Shoulders-secII.mp3" target="_blank">On The Shoulders of Giants</a>" (2000/01)<br />
<embed autostart="false" height="15" loop="false" src="http://www.allangilliland.com/audio/Shoulders-secII.mp3" type="”audio/mpeg”" width="300"></embed><br />
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"<a href="http://www.allangilliland.com/audio/Shadows_Light-edit.mp3" target="_blank">Shadows and Light</a>" (2000)<br />
<embed autostart="false" height="15" loop="false" src="http://www.allangilliland.com/audio/Shadows_Light-edit.mp3" type="”audio/mpeg”" width="300"></embed><br />
<br />
Matthew Roberts: What mistakes do inexperienced composers make?<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Allan Gilliland: I got into composition at the masters level, but never took a single undergraduate course in composition, so I made a lot of mistakes just out of ignorance. The one that drives me crazy with my students is that some of them, basically just due to insecurity, never want to finish anything. Drawing the double bar line is a big deal for some young composers. The way they get around that is, instead of taking the idea that they've been working on for two or three weeks and following it through, they throw it away the night before the deadline, and just do something really quick, so that if it does fail, they can just say “Oh I just did it last night.” They can just blow it off because they did it in a rush. I think drawing the double bar line – getting and idea, living with it, forcing it to exist is a really big thing.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The other things that I notice a lot of is just notational stuff - being able to write their ideas in a clear an concise way, that is sometimes a big stretch. Sometimes in my classes I might get a drummer, and they could be really creative, but you ask them to write a string quartet, and it's just out of this world for them to do that.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: How have you grown as a composer since you've started? Why have you grown?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">AG: I think I've become more confident in my own language. Especially since I started at a masters level and I did a fairly traditional composition route – which means that for a while, I was writing music that I didn't particularly love, because I felt like I had to write “New Music”. I'm not slamming New Music – there are people who write that stuff great.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: You felt that you had to write New Music because that was what your teachers were interested in?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">AG: Yeah, they wouldn't let you get away with a jazz piece at U of A in a Masters Program. And I think it is important when you're studying to explore all those languages in an attempt to find your voice, but I felt that when I got out of there I still felt like I had to write New Music – stay away from recognizable chords and melodies and all that stuff. So definitely one of the big ways I've grown, even since leaving the symphony is to be like “This is what I do, this is my voice, and that's it.” and a spin off of that is “And if you don't like it, I don't really care.” As a young composer you spend a lot of time worrying about what other composers think of your music, and ultimately it doesn't really matter. Because I'm not going to change a single note if someone says “that's too inside” or “that's too this or too that.” I just don't care.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The other thing is – I just got back from Banff ['s Center for The Arts] this weekend because I was there for the opening of the new amphitheater and I had a couple pieces played, and I've really learned to foster relationships with players rather then the new music scene or conductors, etc. Because the most luck I've had with having pieces commissioned, played, and replayed is by striking up relationships with players who have performance careers. So now if I'm going to generate a commission, it's going to be because I go up to someone who's said to me “Hey man, I really like your stuff.” and I say “Great, let's do something, let's make this happen.” Rather than waiting for an orchestra to get a hold of me, or entering a competition, or whatever.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: Where there any important ideas, pieces, teachers, etc. that affected your development?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">AG: I think the first important piece was my first trumpet concerto, which I wrote in the early 90's . I did the Humber [diploma in Jazz Performance] thing, and then I did [a bachelors degree studying classical music] performance at the U of A, and it was during that time that I started hanging out with Malcolm [Forsyth, composer/conductor] taking orchestration courses, and got really into writing, kinda through studying orchestration rather than through composition. So, when I graduated from U of A I basically started freelancing, and got some teaching work at [Grant] MacEwan [College], and took private lessons with Violet Archer, and I wrote a suite for trumpet and piano as part of my studies with her. And I had Jens [Lindemann] read it one time, and he said “Man, this is fantastic, you should make this more substantial and call it a sonata.” So then it became a sonata. And then he was competing for a Canadian concerto competition. And he said “If we just change the name of this to concerto...” because the first round of the competition was just the supposed piano reduction and trumpet, and then the winner would get to play it with the Edmonton Symphony. So then we went ahead with that, and we figured if he happened to win, I would have to orchestrate it. So he won the competition and I got a premier with the ESO, which was great, because that was the first year I was studying composition, and in that year, that piece got premiered, which was outrageous. What was great is that it started a relationship with the ESO, and it started a professional relationship with Jens where he tucked this thing under his arm and played it a bunch of different places. I think that piece was important, because when they were opening the Winspear, they needed a fanfare to open it and [former ESO composer-in-residence] John Estacio called me and said “Hey I heard this trumpet concerto, and you seem to know how to write for brass, do you want to do the fanfare that opens the Winspear.” And so I wrote that one, and that was successful, and I think between the two of those, that was what got me the residency there.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: What about more conceptually, like things that changed how you thought about music?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">AG: When I studied with Malcolm, he introduced me to this approach to composition. I was always struggling with the idea of all this New Music – it seemed to me like it was all just bullshit: people who didn't understand melody or harmony just throwing it all out the windows, and it was the emperors new clothes, nobody was going to call them on this shit. So I was always struggling with finding a language that wasn't tonal but still satisfied me as having a certain kind of rigor that made sense. So he introduced me to this cellular approach to composition where you come up with a three or four note structure where you like the potential of it both harmonically and melodically. Then, through variations, transpositions, and inversions you spell a language that goes both ways from the middle of the piano. So you build a language for a piece around a certain structure that you like. So no matter what happens, there's a certain intervalic cohesion to the language.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">When I wrote the fanfare for the Winspear the cell was down a major second, up a major sixth, which gave me a structure I liked melodically, and when I started stacking up all the chords that come out of it, it gave me a really lush language. It's still kind of quasi-tonal, but it moves in ways that are unexpected, because you're following your scheme rather then any traditional root motion. I really liked that, and I still use that now and again – not as much as I used to – but it was a real eye-opener, because it made me think of harmonies spelling out from the middle rather then worrying what the root is. Because you know, as a jazz guy, you're always worrying “What's the root? What's the root?” It also freed me from worrying about whether the chord added up to anything or not. If I liked the structure, it was great. In my mind I was happy because it was all generated from this one thing, so I felt there was a certain integrity to the language, that it wasn't all random. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: What do you consider the most important principle(s) of good composition?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">AG: If my career is successful, then I think it is successful because I'm very good at satisfying the people who commissioned me. I always say to people that if a piece is played, and I'm happy, the players are happy, and the audience is happy, then I've done my job. If I drop the ball on any one of those three things, then I'm not doing my job. Because I think there are three participants in composition. I think there are too many composers who only compose for themselves and really don't care if the players find it easy or hard to play, and really don't care what the audience thinks. I think that's a mistake. There are teachers who actually teach their students that the piece exists as long as you've written it, and it doesn't matter if it gets played or not. I totally don't agree with that at all, I think if it doesn't get played it doesn't exist. So for me the most important principle is for me to do my homework and to find out who I'm writing for, and to write the best possible piece I can for those people I can within the aesthetic of whatever it is I want to write. But more than anything, make it work for them. Make it work for everyone. Make sure the audience gets something out of it. Even if it is meant to make them angry, then make sure it makes them angry. But make sure there is something – that it doesn't just leave them scratching their heads thinking “What the hell's going on?”</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: What I meant was more like “Is there a certain characteristic that all good compositions share?”</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">AG: I don't know, that's tough. Is there something in “The Rite of Spring” and “Take the A Train” that make them both successful?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: Is there something you think about when you're writing - “It's got to have this.”?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">AG: I'm kind of a programmatic guy so usually I kind of have an idea first of what it is, an it is usually some sort of vague texture idea like, it's going to be fast or slow, or sustained or busy, or punctuated, and then I spend most of the time just trying to find that sound that I'm hearing. So I think it really depends on a lot of things, I don't really know. Because I've got some commissions coming up – I've got a commission for saxophone quartet, and my first instinct [snaps fingers] is I want to do something with sheets of sound, a la Coltrane. So I have this image of massively fast scales running through the ensemble. I don't know what that is, I don't know what the scales are going to be, but that is my first “click”. And probably when I write it that's where I'll start – I may not end there – but that's where I'll start because that's something I'm hearing. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: My answer to this question is that good compositions have a sense of elegance. There's some central idea - and this is totally in the mind of the beholder – and everything and every moment of the composition relates to expressing that central idea. Even if it is being totally crazy, everything relates to this idea of being crazy.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">AG: That's good. I think I a successful piece has clarity. Like you said - a clear intent or an elegance. If this is what you're going to do, you do it, and it's clear, and everybody gets it. I think that is where a lot of pieces fail – again going back to my students – they don't want to hang on to the idea. They just either want to get rid of it because it isn't panning out, or they want to move on to something else too soon. When I studied with Violet, she was great about that. Going back to that trumpet sonata that I wrote, she was looking through my sketches, and I had pages and pages of stuff, and it was all over the map, and she pointed at one thing and said “That is the first movement right there – the whole first movement needs to be about that little phrase there.” So I went back and re-wrote. And it was about that kind of clarity of thought. “Okay, if this is the gesture, how am I going to get three movements out of this gesture?”</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: Maybe it relates to how you were saying people can be angry, but you don't want them to just leave confused. If it lacks clarity, people can just walk out being like “I don't know what happened.”</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">AG: Yeah, there are some pieces that make people angry, like <i>The Rite of Spring</i> and stuff like that, where you're meant to come away feeling assaulted by the music. But do it in a smart way so that everybody gets it. That's my view, anyway.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: Have you ever experienced composers block?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">AG: No, I don't think I do. Part of the reason is that I haven't written anything that hasn't been a commission in about 13 or 14 years. So I'm always working with a deadline, and I'm very proud of the fact that I've never missed a deadline. So if I get a glimmer of something, I'm off and running. Now I'm only 46 now, so it may yet happen. But again, it goes back to the kind of commissions that I'm getting. All the commissions I'm getting are really specific. It takes away a lot of the decision making process. I don't get a lot of orchestras saying write a ten movement overture, and I get to do whatever I want. I get someone saying “Well this piece is going to be on this lighter classics, and it is going to be paired with these other pieces, so you've got to do this and you've got to do that at least, and make sure...” There's a lot of stuff like that lately. I've been working with Jens [Lindemann] and also this clarinet player named Jim Campbell. And he'll come to me and say “Okay, this piece is named Spirit 20 and it's on a concert of composers from the 1920's, and we need a piece that is written for this instrumentation, it needs to be this amount of time, and so far we don't have anything that has the jazz side of the 1920s, so could you write something that's...” So suddenly my priorities are much more narrow. I get to do whatever I want within that, but it's a pretty specific commission. Generally what I do now is “Okay I'm writing for this amount of time for high-school men's choir...” so suddenly your tonal range, your complexity – all this stuff makes decisions for you. And usually some point, like I said, early on, I have a glimmer [snaps fingers] of what it's going to be, and I usually stay on that, and I don't bail, like my students do, I say “I'm going to make this work. This little glimmer is probably the right idea.”</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: Do you enjoy that challenge?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">AG: I love it! I prefer it to just kind of being wide open. There are a tonne of 10-minute Canadian overtures that have been written, and I'd rather write stuff that is going to get <i>played</i>. They're going to play the 1920's piece I wrote around this time last summer again – and it has already been played about 15 times. Because it was written for a specific ensemble, and they went out and did a whole bunch of chamber music concerts between last year and now, so it has been played 15 times. For me, that's what it is all about. I just wrote Jens [Lindemann] a new concerto last September, and again it was a very specific thing – because I was writing these concertos that are called “Dreaming of The Masters” which are concertos for specific instruments, which are inspired by the jazz masters of those specific instruments. So I wrote him one, and he's played it a half dozen times, he's already recorded it, and we're going to go to Carnegie Hall with it next year. All because I wrote for a guy who's got a career. And it is a piece that he can use in a variety of different things. I think in many ways my composition career is very much based in my former life as a freelance trumpet player. It's all about just making people happy, and making sure the gig is good, everything works, people don't have to work too hard, because there is very little rehearsal time. In orchestras, if you write a ten minute piece, you've probably got a half an hour to rehearse that damn thing, you've got to be on top of your game. You can't have a lot of people going “huh, what does this mean?” because they'll just turn off of you like that [snaps fingers]. So my approach is very practical, very down to earth.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: It's sort of funny - the whole reason I started this project was because I was writing this piece for my recital, and so many times I would be just sitting in front of a blank page for hours, and then just give up and go to bed or whatever. But everybody to whom I've asked “Do you experience composers block?” has just been like “No, not really.”!</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">AG: That's not to say that I don't spend a whole lot of time with something and then at the end have no more music then I started. But I think that's part of the process – you get all those bad notes out of the way before you discover the true essence of something. So, it's not like I'm just firing out music all the time – you've just got to work through it. And because I don't have the luxury all the time of taking three years to write a piece – I've got three months or three weeks – you just grab a thing and make the best of it, and then you move on to the next one.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: Yeah, maybe I was too hard on myself – that I felt if I wasn't going to use something, it was wasted time.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">AG: Yeah, but it's not, because it's part of the process, of getting rid of all the bad notes, that will get to the essence of the notes. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: What is (are) the greatest challenge(s) of composition?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">AG: I seem to focus more on the business side of things rather then the notes side of things, but in this day and age, there is no publishing any more, getting something recorded really doesn't mean much anymore – because everything's self-produced and sold on the internet – so I think the real challenge, once you get to a certain point in your career where it is starting to go, is that if you're going to keep it going it's all you. I mean, there was a time when if Shostakovitch wrote a new symphony, every symphony in the world would play that. I'm good friends with John Estacio, who has written three full-length, fully staged operas, and none of them will ever get done again. And each one took three years of his life. And each one was a huge success. But they'll never get done again. Because no opera company wants the second performance. They either want the first performance or the hits, that's the only thing they're going to do. They're not going to do a Canadian piece that doesn't mean anything to Ontario but meant a lot to Alberta. That's the hardest thing, and I find I spend a lot of my energy [on that]. If I want commissions, I keep a list of people who've said “Oh yeah, I'd love something.” It's my job to find them, hunt them down, find out who is going to play it, where I'm going to get the money, make the grant applications. If I want to get my music out there, it is my job to put it on iTunes, put it on all this stuff, build a website. I wish some of that stuff was more self-generating. And maybe in the States there is a larger population so there's more of a potential for that – like if you get something played by the San Francisco Symphony there's a chance that other symphonies with do it just because it was on their program. That to me is one of the biggest challenges. The actual writing part for me is not a huge challenge. The deadlines and all that stuff is not a huge challenge. I've done it long enough that I know how to get stuff done. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: Maybe the writing is the vacation from all that other stuff?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">AG: Yeah, I've got this thing where I write in the mornings. When my kids were young and I was still doing a lot of freelancing, I would go to Grant MacEwan [College] and teach classes as a sessional, and go play a gig and blah blah blah, and my kids would be up late, and there was no time. By the time it got to the night when I was supposed to write, I was exhausted. Every musical impulse in my body [was exhausted]. So I turned my schedule around. I got up at 5 o'clock in the morning, and I write for two hours every morning, and then everyone else gets up and has a shower and goes to school, and that's my regular day. And if I do that two hours every morning, pieces will get done. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: And you still do that?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">AG: Still do that, to this day. Even though I don't have to as much, because the kids are older. But when I'm in school, from September through April, and I have to teach a nine o'clock class, that's the only way it's going to get done, because I'm not going to do it at night. I'm going to resent it if I do it at night. But in the morning, those two hours I'm fresh, no one's bugging me, the phone's not going to ring, I turn off the internet – I just write. And it works for me.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">At some point when it becomes less blank-page composition, I can do it elsewhere. Like orchestration I can do at night or in the afternoon or something. But I find that really precious germination stage really hard to do any other time. Even if I have the time, I find I can't do it. Because I've done it now for about ten years, I've trained my brain to be creative in those two hours in the morning. I'm really efficient, and I get a lot of stuff done. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: I can relate to that, in that it is the germination stage that is so special. Later on, it can sometimes become almost like working out arithmetic, just filling in the rest of the notes.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">AG: Well sometimes that's the way I get, I wonder “Can't I get something to just plug this in, just make notes spew out on the page, because I know what this sounds like.” Often I'll write time graphs of my pieces. They don't have any notes. I'll get a ten-minute commission and I'll go “Here's zero, here's ten minutes, and this is kind of what I want to do.” It may change, but often it has that kind of a shape. I went to a workshop with John Corigliano, and he does exactly the same thing – he writes sound blocks, and his piece sort of follows that.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: So does your process have distinct phases – planning, brainstorming, editing, and so on?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">AG: Yeah, for sure. Now if it is just a regular kind of orchestral piece, there's not a lot of research or planning, it's just “Okay, what do I want to write?” But I've done a couple compositions for the Alberta Baroque Ensemble, the first was an oboe concerto, and the second was just a straight concerto grosso. For the first one, if I'm going to write for oboe for the first time as a solo instrument, then I plug all the baroque oboe music I can into an iPod, and anytime when I'm sitting, whether I'm paying attention to it or not, I'm listening to oboe music. I want to know what that instrument sounds like – I want to get a feel for it “Up here it sounds like this, down here it sounds like that, etc.” I'm just programming my ear – even though I know the oboe, kind of – but it is different when you're writing for a solo instrument. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">It depends on what the commission is – for example that Spirit 20 piece I wrote about the 1920's, I did a good couple of weeks of research. Because my jazz is sort of 40s through 70s. 1920's I don't really know. So I dug up all this Fletcher Henderson, Jellyroll Morton, because I wanted to get outside of the usual Dixie tunes that everybody knows, and I just started listening to textures, picking ideas.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">So some pieces take a lot of time [in the research/planning phase], some don't take any time.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: You might have a long research phase, and then there is a brainstorming phase where you'll just get ideas out and put them down?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">AG: Yup. And it is usually me sitting at the piano, coming up with <i><u>a</u></i><i> motif</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, or </span><i><u>a</u></i><span style="font-style: normal;"> chord, or </span><i><u>a</u></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"> rhythm. It's always just like one thing. Like I wrote a piece for a trumpet player friend of mine from Saskatchewan named Dean MacNeil, for band and trumpet, and it was just a three note motif. For some reason when I hit it I said “Oh that sounds interesting, I could do something with that.” And the whole piece spun out of it. Or sometimes it just spins out from a simple set of chords. I'm a big chord guy so I'll come up with a progression, and then I'll find the line that goes over the progression. I'm really big on harmony. </span></span> </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">I think of it as “The Three Cs of Composition” - Creativity, Craft, and Copying. So the creativity is me coming up with that little motif, and the bulk of composition is that middle C, the crafting, where you're just saying “How do I get six minutes out of this little thing?” So you sit and you spin it around and you do it in retrograde and you find out things, you do it forward and backwards. And then the end is just writing it in a clear and concise way. </span></span> </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">MR: Do you have any helpful stratagems that you could share? Like caring around a take recorder or whatever...</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">AG: I've done the tape thing a couple of times. I've done the improv thing as well. One thing that scares me is I'm not a piano player and everything I write is on piano. So sometimes I think “I'm letting the piano get in the way of my imagination, since I can't play it.” So sometimes I might put on something like this [motions to my MP3 recorder] or a sequencer or something, and just improvise on a trumpet with whatever sounds I have in mind. And then go back and listen to it and say “Oh there's something that's interesting.” But I must admit I did that earlier on, and now-a-days I just sit down at a piano and say “What do I want to write, who do I want to write for?” And I try to narrow my parameters. I might say “This is the slow movement, what does it mean to feel slow.” And it suddenly kinds to start to sort of reveal itself, if you just do it. For me, if I find that one two-bar motif that is really song, that sounds like the piece, I know I'm done. I mean, I have a lot of work ahead of me, but after that I'm just figuring out what to do with it. </span></span> </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">MR: What composers do you admire, and why?</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">AG: In the concert music world of things, I always liked the 20th century composers who could walk the line between tonality and atonality. So early Stravinsky, because he could be really ruckus, but also Russian folk songs. Prokofiev and Shostakovitch for the same reason. Debussy, because he kind of invented his own language, but it was still a language that was accessible and rich harmonically for me. Richard Strauss was another one. Mauler. Because if they needed to be angry, they could be angry, if they needed to be beautiful they had no problem being beautiful. So for the first kind of 30 or 40 years of the 20th century, those are the guys I like.<br />
<br />
More recently, it is the same kind of thing. John Corigliano is one. Again, he walks that line really really well. John Adams was also a really big deal to me. I listened to him a lot when I was in residency [with the ESO]. There was a couple of pieces... the big orchestral piece was <i>Harmonielehre</i> because he was just bathing himself in tonality, it was just fantastic. And his orchestration... because one of the things I dislike is jazz guys trying to write concert music, and concert music guys trying to write jazz when they don't actually understand the form. To me, Adams is able to find the rhythmic energy of jazz and rock-and-roll, and find a way to make it work for concert music instrumentation. So the music actually rocks, but in a proper way that those guys can play it.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: Is it just your speculation that he was influenced by jazz and rock and roll?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">AG: No, I've read a book on him and Steve Reich, and Glass, Terry Riley. And most of them came from a jazz background. Late Coltrane was actually one of their main inspirations. This idea that you could play over one chord for 20 minutes was one of the inspirations for minimalism. That and African drumming and gamelan, that kind of stuff all goes into it. But it was all driven by the fact that they were living in the 50's and 60's, and there was all this great rock and roll, this psychedelic rock going on. And they were trying to figure out how to bring that in. And they were trying to get as far away from serialism as possible. Because they all went to school, they all had to do it, and they all hated it. So they just found their own way. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">And those guys are great because people hated that stuff. Hated it! If you were a composer in the '60s, that stuff was like coping out. And now if you look back, it was the most influencial music of the last 50 years. More so than serialism or any of that kind of stuff. If you think about house music and rave music, all this stuff that was influenced by house music, it's fantastic. Just because these guys had the guts to say “You know, I'm just going to vamp this chord for 20 minutes.”</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: Yeah, I've always heard a relationship between minimalism and a lot of electronic music, but is there actually any direct historical connection?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">AG: I'm just guessing. But I remember I wrote a musical a while ago, and they wanted house music for one scene. So they gave me some stuff to listen to. And as soon as I put it on I thought – wow, this is minimalism! Seems that way to me anyway. Or I saw U2 when they came to town last month, and same thing with them. You listen to the Brian Eno influence on U2 and you think “That's all just sonic scapes, that's all minimalism, that's all 60's psychedelic...” I just think minimalism has been very influential on a lot of musics.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">So those are the 20<sup>th</sup> century guys. I'm also a big film scoring buff, so I like John Williams, Korngold, <span class="fn">Bernard Herrmann</span>, and Art Herman. And some of the new guys – Michael Giaccino, he does all the Pixar films. And then I've always been a big jazz guy, so Ellington/Strayhorn for sure, Gershwin, Bernstein I love, again because of that ability to cross over, and bring to jazz a truly unique approach to concert writing. Metheny I love. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: This is next question is very related: What compositions do you admire? Sometimes I have compositions in mind when I'm writing. And sometimes it might not be the harmony, or the sounds or anything, it might just be the sense of balance.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">AG: Yeah, I mentioned Adams' <i> Harmonielehre</i>, also his <i>Violin Concerto</i> was a big one. I remember having <i> Harmonielehre </i>on my stand when I was writing this piece for the ESO when I was in residence. I had my ideas and I knew I wanted to wrap them in a minimalist energy. So I was looking “Okay, what do the woodwinds do?” So it's my melody, my chords, but I definitely used his orchestration as a way to realizing my ideas. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Another piece was Corigliano's first symphony, which is called <i>Of Rage and Remembrance</i>, it's a fantastic work. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: What was it that you liked about it?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">AG: There was a couple of things. I was also looking at that piece while I was writing another orchestral piece. It was his ability to combine traditional and non-traditional notation in a very clear and easy to understand way. He's very good at doing that. He's also very good at writing beautiful melodic moments that juxtapose with really angry ones. The other thing I liked about that piece was that every single part of that piece is so personal. Basically the piece is about friends that died from AIDS. So he had this beautiful cello melody that he had found on a cassette he had recorded while jamming with one of his cellist friends who had died of AIDS. There's a tarantella – the tarantella is [a traditional Italian dace form based on the idea of] going crazy because she's been bit by a tarantula – his analogy is that people are going crazy because they're dieing of AIDS. Everything had a really personal feel to it. I really got into that idea - "If I'm going to write something, it should really speak to me and really mean something to me." And so the piece I wrote was very personal.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Recently, when I was finishing my opera, I was really struggling with aria and recitative. Recitative is just so hard to write. When I looked at the operas that I liked – Puccini and Strauss and stuff – they have this kind of through-composed thing going on, where there is this constant really busy orchestration underneath, and I just couldn't get my head around doing that. So Benjamin Britten made me think “Oh I can do that!” Because he has this old-school way of doing it. When you get to the recitative, you just go chord – dialogue – chord... and the opera I was writing had a lot of dialogue that you just couldn't constantly write underneath it. So I took his opera <i> Rape of Lucretia</i> as a template. Not only was he giving me that solution, but he was also writing for the same instrumentation as me, so I was checking out his orchestration – how big of a sound did he get out of this ensemble, what does he do with them.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">When I wrote my piano concerto, even though it was jazz inspired, I had Rachmaninoff Two on my stand because I'm not a piano player and I wanted to be virtuosic, so I was looking at the virtuosic writing of Rachmaninoff. “Okay I've got my harmony, I want to do one of those up and down the piano things, what does that look like?”</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">So I sometimes zero-in on a piece. Sometimes it changes – sometimes I hear another piece, and I'm like “Oh that's really cool I'll incorporate that...”</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: What do you get out of composition? What drew you to composition? Do you enjoy the composing, or do you enjoy hearing the piece more, or...</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">AG: I think I like doing it more. Usually listening to the piece is painful. I'm usually in a quasi-fetal position listening to my own premiere. Not because it isn't working, but because I'm going “Come on, you've done that before, oh not that theme again, oh come on, move on...” </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The reason I did it... I had a pretty good career up until my late 20s. I was teaching sessionally at the U of A, sessionally at Grant MacEwan, I was freelancing as a trumpet player, doing some teaching, doing some copying. I was doing alright, and I could still be doing that. But I got more and more interested in the whole picture. I thought “I don't want to be the trumpet player, I want to be the guy who wrote this!” Because you sit in an ensemble and you'd play some great piece of music and you'd think “That's so amazing!” I wanted to be they guy who wrote this thing that everyone was enjoying playing, everyone was enjoying listening to. So I thought in my mind “How are they doing this? How does this work?” And I think it was my interest in that - “There's got to be a way to figure this out.” As amazing as some pieces sound, and as incomprehensible they look when you look at the score. In my undergrad I took orchestration, and a big part of orchestration is making piano reductions. Sometimes you realize that it is just foreground, middle-ground, and background. Just three elements going on. All this craziness that is going on is just orchestrational slight of hand. So you start thinking “You know, this is not that complex. I could do this. By taking little steps and getting better and better.” So it was definitely about that – about wanting to do it.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: Curiosity?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">AG: Yeah, curiosity. And everything else is a bonus – people like to play it, you get good vibes from people, you get to stand up and take a vow. That's all great, but really I just wanted to figure out how to do it. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Even when I used to play in Tommy [Banks]'s band – he was a master arranger – I would wonder “How does he do it? How does he write it so that you don't even have to play it – you just look at the part and go 'Yeah, this is going to work.'?” I always admired that – it just works.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: Do you look forward to that two hours in the morning?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">AG: Usually. When I'm on the thing and I've got a good commission. Lately I've been taking too much on, partially just because I'm getting really good requests and it is hard to say no when a really good player or ensemble asks you. So you say yes, but you don't have the time to get it really well– you're just writing fast. And I'm doing the PhD at the same time. I need to step back a little bit. When I look at the pieces I'm really proud of, it is the ones where I had six months to write this piece properly, or I had two months to orchestrate this piece, not two weeks. I want to give myself the time to enjoy writing the piece, and to be able to go back on it a few times.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: Which of your own compositions are you most proud of and why?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">AG: I've got a couple orchestra pieces I'm really proud of – one is called “<i>On The Shoulders of Giants</i>”. That's the one that I was using the Corigliano piece as inspiration. I love that piece because orchestrationally it's really cool. It's really personal because it's about my folks. I also really like another orchestra piece called “<i>Of Shadows and Light</i>”. I also really like it orchestrationally. It's a ten minute piece and it just holds up well. The other orchestral piece I really like is<i> Loch na Beiste</i> which is about the Loch Ness Monster. It's just a fun piece, and it is one of those pieces that when I was writing for the orchestra that I didn't feel afraid about writing a really catchy melody. And I think from that point onwards I moved towards writing a much more tonal language. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">So those are the orchestra ones I like. I have a bunch of “tunes” I'm pretty proud of, jazz stuff. They come out of the “<i>Dreaming of The Masters</i>” concertos I've been writing. I have three of them now – the first was a clarinet concerto, the second was a piano concerto, the third one was a trumpet concerto. And each one of them was basically a tune. And there were some tunes in there I really liked. The second is one I really liked – again I had a long time to work on it, because I took that with me during my year in Scotland, and that was all I had to work on, and I didn't have to teach or anything. When I listen to it I can hear that I had time. It's long – probably about six minutes too long, probably because I had too much time! [laughs] But when I listen to it I think “I had time to think about orchestration, and development, and structure, and form.”</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: So those tunes that came out if it, do you play those in like a small jazz group?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">AG: All the time. The two tunes that I've used out of the first one – the first is a ballad called “<i>Stranger On The Prairie</i>”, sort of an Ellington-type ballad – I've used it a lot. I've used it as a big band chart, I recently did a brass quartet version. I just like the tune – it's a nice tune. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: What about it makes it a nice tune? Can you say?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">AG: It's just a pretty tune! I don't know what to say... It's my thing... It's harmonically dense; I hardly let a quartet note go by without a chord change, which is my thing. It's a catchy tune, it's memorable. It sounds like something Ellington or Gershwin might have written. It just seems to translate – it works great for big band, string orchestra, brass quartet.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">I've got about a half-dozen of those tunes I'm really proud of. Two years ago I wrote a suite for the Dave Young Septet. There was a couple things in that that I really liked. I wrote this piece called “<i>Zigzag</i>” that has metric modulation in it. I'd never really done that kind of stuff. I find when I do have a reason to write jazz, I write really hard jazz. I wrote another tune recently that is a 7/4 shuffle. Just stuff like that. I think it is my concert music bleeding into my jazz writing and making it very rhythmically complex, contrapuntal, and quite busy. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">I'm proud of those tunes. I think they bode well for any future jazz writing I might do. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: Can you recommend any books, DVDs, anything I can look up, that has been or is important to you?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">AG: There's so few composition books. I didn't use any. But perhaps that is because I didn't do an undergrad in composition so whatever the textbooks were, I skipped that part. There was a book by Bill Dobbins called <u>Jazz Arranging and Composition: A Linear Approach</u>. That was a real eye-opener for me because he was about “You're on this moment/chord, you've got to get this moment/chord, turns out you can pretty much do anything to connect the two of these as long as the line is strong.” Because when I started writing I'd been so beaten to death with chord-scale relationships and avoid notes, that you become scared to death when you're writing a line: “Oh my God, I'm hitting the avoid note, what's it going to do?!” His whole thing is “Just write an interesting line and you can get away with anything, as long as it has a strong starting point and a strong arrival point.” So that was the first time I thought about linear writing – you know, writing horizontally rather than vertically. So that was cool. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: You mentioned the Copland book already... [Here I had actually meant to refer to John Adam's autobiographical book <i>Hallelujah Junction</i>, which Alan had mentioned during his discussion of minimalism.]</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">AG: The Copland book I liked was <u>What To Listen For In Music</u>, because he just talks to laymen about composition, which is really kind of cool.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">There's a couple of orchestration books, like the Adler book [<u>The Study of Orchestration</u> by Samuel Adler] is my bible when I'm writing for orchestra. When I first started to write big band charts there was a book called <u>Inside The Score</u> [by Rayburn Wright] which is six big band charts, two Nestico, two Thad Jones, and two Bob Brookmeyer, all done in reductions, and it was the first time I was like “Oh I get how you voice this...”</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">I like to read interviews with people. Even though they're not saying anything specific, I get lots out of what they're saying about struggles. I've read a lot of biographies. There's a book called <u>Composer to Composer</u>, by an Australian guy [Andrew Ford] who just interviewed a bunch of composers. I find those as useful as anything else. I remember reading a couple of books on minimalism and getting a real understanding of where it came from, what they were trying to do. It just kind of filters through me and I decide if I want to incorporate it or not. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: What was your favorite biography?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">AG: I've read a couple of really good ones. The one on Charles Ives [Charles Ives: A Life With Music] was really fantastic, I can't remember who wrote it. The one on Gil Evans [Gil Evans: Out of The Cool: A Life With Music] was really good. There is actually a new book out of Berkeley that has some of those <i>Miles Ahead</i> charts analyzed. I've been going through that, that's been good. Adams' book [<i>Hallelujah Junction</i>] I really enjoyed. A read a couple of Miles' biographies, I read his autobiography. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">I've got a few composition books, but they always seem like they're trying to be really new, or they're too conservative. It seems like there should be something better out there. There probably is. It seems like we're all talking about the same twelve notes so why can't you analyze a theme from Beethoven, and then <i>My Funny Valentine</i>, and then a Beatles tunes. That would be a great book. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: I'm more interested in just getting the courage to check out those twelve notes on my own. I've been to school for ten years, I know tonnes of theory, I just need to inspire myself to find my own ways.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">AG: There is also a book on Bartok [<u>Bela Bartok: An Analysis of His Music</u> by Erno Lendvai], it's the book that revealed all the golden mean stuff, and the tonal axises. I found that really interesting. I never actually used it, but I found it interesting. I think Bartok is fantastic – his string quartets, <i>Concerto for Orchestra</i>. When he starts to looking at all the Golden Mean proportions, it just blows my mind – the level of rigor that he must have been thinking on to make that music sound as beautiful as it does but also have that stuff going on underneath it.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: I'm noticing when I talk to people that the jazz thing vs. the classical thing is coming up a lot. You, Andrew Downing and Dave Wall all seem to have one foot in each tradition.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">AG: Both traditions have a lot of meat in them. Pop music – there are a lot of great pop writers as well – but there is a certain stripped-down aesthetic where you don't have to worry as much in pop music – you can get away with just three chords. But jazz is a very complex music harmonically; rhythmically it is at an incredibly high level, higher than classical music. So both are really valid disciplines. Considering the people you interviewed, we've all come through that at some point. Most of my background is in jazz. I would have laughed in your face if you told me in high-school that I was going to be an orchestral writer. No way on earth I thought I'd ever do that. So I'm bringing that into my orchestral music, trying to make my voice unique without it sounding like I'm just writing [a jazz piece]. I'm really struggling with that – not struggling – I'm really interested in that. Because for me there's a point where you can listen to an Alban Berg piano sonata and an unaccompanied Bill Evans piano solo, and they're almost exactly the same. There's an interesting moment that goes on. One of the things my teacher did during my PhD was with the middle, slow section of this jazz-inspired piano concerto I wrote, which is very much kind of one of those Ellington chromatic tunes. He started to analyze it not as I would, as a jazz guy, but in terms of motifs, like a legit guy. He could validate everything – he was looking at motivic movement, and I was like “Well, it's just two-five, tri-sub.” But he's not looking at it that way at all. And one thing I'd like to do in the future is to take those languages and see what happens when you butt them up against each other. If you look at Bill Evans as a legit guy, and you look at Alban Berg piano sonatas... Someone did an Alban Berg piano sonata as an audition piece to Grant MacEwan and I was just blown away with it because it all sounded like upper-structure dominant harmonies.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">So definitely the jazz thing is a big thing, and it is such a part of me, that even when I'm writing concert music, I'm trying to find a way to bring the two of them together. A lot of what I'm writing lately, despite being fully notated and highly contrapuntal, can on some level be understood as a jazz piece, or as a concert piece. A lot of them, despite being completely notated, have sections where if you wanted to and you were able to, you could blow. I kinda like that. I'm really fooling around with that right now. I think that is why my jazz music is getting really complex, because I'm trying to bring [classical influences] in there, and at the same time my concert music is getting more jazzy. And both of those things are good to me; I think my voice lies somewhere in there. When it does work – like the middle movement of this trumpet concerto I just wrote, which is jazz-influenced, the opening and the closing are a bunch of fugal horn cadenzas, but I've got bowed vibraphone, I've got strings bending up and below the pitch, I've got these 20<sup>th</sup> century techniques wrapped around jazz stuff. To me I think “That's where it's at.” </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">I remember just before Brecker died he did this album with what he called the deca-quintet, which is a quintet with a chamber ensemble. And the writing – I don't know if it was his writing – it was so great. I just think – somewhere in there is some kind of hybrid ensemble that I could write for, made up of people that can improvise, and people that can really read notes well... some kind of 15-20 piece ensemble where you can really write something, some important note-y stuff, and then you can open it up and people can blow. I think when that happens it's just fantastic. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">MR: That brings us to our last question: How do you want to develop as a composer in the future?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">AG: That would definitely be it.<br />
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Lately what I'm finding is I've written so much music in about the last ten years, and a lot of it is getting repeat performances. There's a momentum building. Remember at the beginning where I said things only happened if I made them happen? Well, things are starting to happen a little bit without me doing them. So one of the things I hope for the future is things start to generate themselves out of stuff I've done. I've been trying to get stuff recorded, and I've been trying to get the rights to them, so that I can license that music, I can get it played in as many places as possible. I'd love to give film scoring a try, but I'm not going to do it from Edmonton unless somebody comes to me - unless someone hears something and says “I want you”, I'm not going to get it unless I move, and I'm not going to move right now.<br />
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The other thing is just exploring this jazz thing. I'd like to explore that in some of my future commissions: the saxophone quartet I talked about, this piece for the guy in the Dallas symphony, P.J. [Perry, Canadian jazz alto saxophonist] wants a concerto from me as well. I want to keep trying to hone that voice in so that it sounds like me, but is something I like doing. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.mattroberts.ca/" target="_parent">Back to MattRoberts.ca. </a></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"></div>Chromatticismhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293651732454610155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630434598988309533.post-89817231711896145092011-08-19T01:14:00.000-04:002011-08-19T11:45:02.671-04:00Interview with Composer David Binney<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.spinner.com/media/2011/03/1-david-binney-456-030411.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.spinner.com/media/2011/03/1-david-binney-456-030411.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>(This post is part of an <a href="http://mattrobertsmusic.blogspot.com/search/label/Composers%27%20Process%20Project">ongoing series where I interview composers about their process</a>.)<br />
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Most would agree David Binney is one of the most original and prolific composers of small-ensemble jazz music working today. He's released at least one album a year since 1998 (perhaps not coincidentally, the year he started his own label, Mythology Records). He performs and records regularly with many of the most creative and virtuosic musicians on the New York scene. As AllAboutJazz.com puts it "For more than two decades, this exhilarating alto saxophonist has made a string of absorbing recordings as leader that have cemented his reputation as one of the most exciting and original musicians/composers in New York." (The same article went on to call his recent album <i>Graylen Epicenter</i> a "classic of our time" - six months after it had been released!) On a more personal note, <a href="http://mattrobertsmusic.blogspot.com/2011/03/interview-with-myself-about-composition.html">when I interviewed myself</a>, David Binney was the composer who I stated I most admired. So I was very excited when I got the chance a few days ago to interrogate him over Skype. He was a little pressed for time - he had just flown to L.A. to begin recording another album. But I'm very happy with what I managed to squeeze out of him in a limited amount of time, and very grateful that he made time for the interview in his busy schedule.<br />
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</div><div>Check out his track "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xRNXxXfeCg" target="_blank">All Of Time</a>" which opens <i>Graylen Epicenter</i>.<br />
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Matt Roberts: Your music seems very spontaneous in some respects, but when I look at your charts, they are very specific. How do you decide what is spontaneous, and what is pre-determined? How much does the music change after you bring it to the band, and how important is what the band does with it after you bring them the charts? <br />
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David Binney: Well, I'm pretty specific about the writing part. You know, I write out the voicings for the pianist usually, so when the written parts are played, they are usually played pretty close to exactly what I've written. After that, in the improvising sections, I leave it up to whatever the musicians want to do. If it is a chordal section, they can voice it however they want. I try to balance a very composed thing with a very open, free, or non-controlled environment. That's been my thing. I don't want to control the improvisation at all. <br />
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MR: What about the forms? I noticed with the charts on your website that the heads are all there, but the forms aren't, and sometimes your tunes have sort of complicated forms. Do those forms evolve when you bring the charts to the bands, or do you have them in mind already? <br />
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DB: With the stuff you downloaded, sometimes I leave the forms out, because the basic information is there, so I figure it encourages people to do what they want with the information. <br />
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With the band I have the arrangement all figured out. I usually know exactly what I'm going to do when I bring it into rehearsal. There are times when we play it, and I hear something and realize something needs to be changed, or that something doesn't work the way I thought it would, or whatever, but usually I have it all mapped out: “This is what we do, this is the tune.” - and at least we try it that way. With the band, I know what I'm doing, it's very controlled – except for the improvisation. <br />
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MR: What is your compositional process? Do you have a routine? Do you do it everyday? Do you have phases – for example, do you brainstorm and then edit? <br />
<br />
DB: It's changed over the years. I used to write just to write, because I enjoyed it and I wanted to write music, but then I became busier, and now I find that I write when I have something to write for. I really only write now when I have a project – a gig, or most of the time it is a record. I was supposed to do that tonight - I'm actually out here working on a record. I'll just start writing because I'm writing for a record, and it usually flows pretty easily. But I don't go “Oh I have nothing to do, I guess I'll write some music.” <br />
<br />
MR: So you don't write at a certain time or anything – just whenever you can fit it in? <br />
<br />
DB: Kind of. For years I wrote late at night – like after midnight until six in the morning or something. It seems like now I write more often in the daytime. It isn't a specific time. <br />
<br />
MR: And if you have an album that you're going to write for, would your first step be to brainstorm – come up with a bunch of themes and ideas – and then after you have a bunch of material thin it down, or do you just have an idea and go with it and write the whole thing... you know, is there any kind of sequence of stages in your composition? <br />
<br />
DB: I usually start something and I finish it, and then I move on to the next thing. And then I get a bunch of those, and I weed out the ones I don't want to use. But the actually composition – I start something and then I finish it. <br />
<br />
MR: I heard you are writing some stuff for string orchestra with saxophone and piano – is that any different? That would be a lot more notes on the page. <br />
<br />
DB: Yeah, the stuff I've written for that is through-composed, so far – there is like 40 minutes of music with no improvisation and it is completely through-composed – it's like classical music basically. <br />
<br />
MR: So do you need to have a more complex process to come up with that much material? Or does that happen the same way – you just write and it comes out? <br />
<br />
DB: It's exactly the same process, it just takes longer because there is so much more writing. When I'm working on that stuff, sometimes I will write for eight hours and get maybe 30 seconds of music. <br />
<br />
MR: So obviously for a lot of that you must be playing with things – there must be some brainstorming in that? <br />
<br />
DB: Hmm... maybe a little. I basically put my hands on the keyboard and I just start writing. It just kind of flows. And when I feel like I'm done for the day, I stop. The next day I pick it up where I left off and continue. Within that, sometimes I might go “Oh, I need to bring this theme back in here, oh this would be good, let me take this thing and now put it in the cello part and speed it up or use a thread...” That's all part of the process. <br />
<br />
MR: Do you believe in any essential principle of a good composition? Some quality that every good composition has? <br />
<br />
DB: That's a hard one. I like every kind of music. I don't know. It's like that old Duke Ellington thing – you either like it or you don't. If you like it... cool. I don't have any kind of parameters on anything. I'm not sure if I have any rules for it – I seriously just think whether I enjoy it or not – if I like listening to it or not. I don't think of music in that way. I'm seriously not ever judging music other than if I like it or not. <br />
<br />
MR: What composers do you most admire? <br />
<br />
DB: Man, there are so many... <br />
<br />
MR: It's a big question; what are the first that come to mind? <br />
<br />
DB: Well, I guess Wayne Shorter for me, for jazz. Stravinsky, Aaron Copland... Pat Metheny, I always liked old records of his. <br />
<br />
MR: Wayne was the first person you said – can you say what it is about Wayne that you admire as a composer? <br />
<br />
DB: It just appeals to me somehow. I like the beautiful melodies and chords, and it's unique and memorable... you know, as everyone probably feels in jazz, I mean he's obviously a great composer. <br />
<br />
There are so many... it's just beyond... Joni Mitchell, I love her tunes... I can't... it's just mind-boggling. <br />
<br />
MR: What do you get out of composing – you've recorded almost entirely original music – why are you so focused on composing? <br />
<br />
DB: There are a few records where I have some Wayne tunes, a Sam Rivers tune, a Monk tune, a couple Duke Ellington tunes... but, it's rare. I'm not against it – I was thinking about maybe doing a standards record in the next couple of years. But I like to compose, and the music that has been appealing to me usually has been new composition. I'm always looking for stuff that appeals to me and is sort of new in some way to me. So I guess I've always wanted to be that. <br />
<br />
MR: Do you enjoy the act of composing, or do you get more pleasure over playing over your tunes, or do you get the most pleasure out of having the album done, or all of the above? What do you get out of composing? <br />
<br />
DB: It would definitely be all of the above, but the ultimate thing for me is to create an album. When you have it, and it's done, and it's like “I made this thing that everybody listens to.” That's sort of the biggest thrill in music to me. But of course, live playing, which I do all the time, is so intense, and I love that too, it's just a different thing. But I think the most important thing to me is the albums. <br />
<br />
MR: But do you enjoy the process of actually sitting down and coming up with stuff? Because for me, sometimes I don't enjoy that at all – I enjoy when it is over! <br />
<br />
DB: I really like it, if it is flowing well, which most of the time it is now. Yeah, I really like it. When it is flowing well, the thrill of that is fantastic, because you get so excited about what you're hearing, what you're writing. I guess I really like it. But it's not that hard for me, composition has never been really hard. <br />
<br />
MR: Why has it never been hard for you? Have you ever had a block? <br />
<br />
DB: Maybe a couple of times, but nothing major. I don't know, it's just what I do, it's just what I love and what I do. It just happens. I don't have to force it, it's just me. Music is my whole life. It is the language I speak the best, so it's not that hard. <br />
<br />
MR: Can you recommend any books or videos, anything I could go out and get, that's affected you as a composer? <br />
<br />
DB: Well you know, I never studied any of it. I've never studied composition, I've never studied piano. I don't know how to play piano. I'm weird in that way. I just sit down – I know how to get what I want out of the piano, but I don't know how to play piano. Like if you put a standard in front of me, and say “play this tune” I couldn't do it. I could figure it out really slowly, and if you come back in five days I could probably slowly play though it. I mean when I'm writing I'm not thinking about key, or even time signature a lot of the time, or what the harmony relates to, or what the harmony is, or how the melody relates – I'm not thinking about any of that stuff. I don't know. I don't write down what the chords are. I'm just purely writing what I'm hearing. And then after the fact I figure it all out. <br />
<br />
MR: So do you mostly write sitting at the piano with a piece of score paper? <br />
<br />
DB: I used to do it that way, but once all those programs came along I started just writing into the computer because it allowed me to do so much more, since I'm not a piano player. Actually, I come up with the most ideas on the piano, because it just feels and sounds great to me. But, I don't have the facility to play something and then remember it and play it again, because I don't really know what I'm doing. So it was a really slow process when I did it with just piano and paper. Although I did it for years; like some of my early records – I guess my first three or four records - were written with just piano. But once the computer stuff came along, that just opened up everything for me. Because it would allow me to play something, like it, and immediately put it in, so I didn't have to know how to play it again. <br />
<br />
MR: So you compose with a piano and computer now, right next to each other? <br />
<br />
DB: No, I just have a midi computer into Sibelius or ProTools. So that it is all there instantly, so I don't have to remember how to play it. Otherwise it would be really hard for me. <br />
<br />
MR: Are there any composition or compositions that you are most proud of, and why? <br />
<br />
DB: Yeah, there's some that stand out a bit to me, just because I like them. Sometimes when you write something good and you feel good about it, I like it like a listener would like it. I can put it on and go “Oh, this is a good tune.” I can kind of detach myself from it. And that's probably because I don't know what I did in the first place until after the fact and I don't remember what it actually is, so I'm actually listening to my records, in a way, like a listener would. Except for the solos. But the actual composition, I really don't know what's going on. Because after I do it, I write it out, that's it. I don't remember what it is after the fact. I guess I can listen that way. And if I listen that way, I guess there are a few tunes that stand out. I mean, I like a lot of them, I don't put anything out I don't like. But, there are a couple tunes on my newest album – Graylen Epicenter – that I felt really good about. There are a few tunes that I've written that I haven't recorded yet, that I've written recently, that I really really like. <br />
<br />
MR: So which tunes on the new record? <br />
<br />
DB: I don't really remember the order... track four? <br />
<br />
MR: Everglow? <br />
<br />
DB: Everglow, yeah I really like that. I like the title track. I like All Of Time. I got into a certain kind of thing during this recent period that moves around a lot harmonically. Almost like in the sense of a modern Giant Steps vibe – I mean this stuff is going all over the place. When I'm soloing over that stuff, it probably sounds pretty easy to the listener, because it's kind of relaxed, but it's actually really hard! There's a lot of harmonic motion and it's through-composed. I think with track four – I think it's that track – it is four and a half minutes before anything repeats. <br />
<br />
And then there is a tune of mine that I like, but it seems like everyone else always asks me about it. It is the most downloaded one. It's on a record called South, and it is called Out Beyond Ideas. <br />
<br />
MR: Yeah, I love that tune! <br />
<br />
DB: Everybody asks me about that tune. You know, I like it a lot, I don't think it's even close to [skype lost audio for a moment] now, but for some reason that tune resonates with people. There are a lot of other tunes I like. There's stuff on Third Occasion. But you know, I'm always trying to push it forward, so I guess some of my favourite writing I haven't recorded yet. It's been written in the last few months. <br />
<br />
MR: You said you are getting into a thing where you are moving around a lot harmonically – do you enjoy that as a listener, or do you enjoy it as a soloist, having the challenge of playing over those tunes? <br />
<br />
DB: Both. I like listening to music that moves around a lot. I'm out here [in L.A.] now doing a record that's completely different than anything I've ever done. People with either hate it or really love it – or they'll just be surprised probably. Because it is very electric, and very synth oriented and vocals, and all that stuff. We're just starting it. But some of the material has a lot of harmonic motion, even within this electronic, groove world. Which I like, and this guy I'm working with – Louis Cole – really likes too. We have similar tastes with kind of making groove or something more accessible in some way, yet still with a lot of harmonic motion. And it's really fun to play over, and listen to too. It doesn't always have to be that way for me, at all, but in this period I'm liking that a lot. I'm liking a lot of harmonic motion, and it is really fun to play over for me. <br />
<br />
MR: Were there any really important moments, teachers, bands, or pieces of music that affected how you developed as a composer? <br />
<br />
DB: There are certain people that I listen to that I think probably. Well teachers no, because I didn't study composition. But yeah, music that I listen to. That goes back to that other question. It would be almost the same thing. But I remember listening to Metheny records, a lot of ECM stuff back in the day, Jan Garbarek records, Bill Frisell, obviously Wayne, a lot of Brazilian music has influenced me really heavily - Ivan Lins, Jobim, Milton Nascimento. <br />
<br />
MR: Did Brazilian music change your course? Was there anything like that – where you heard something and you were suddenly like “That's it!” <br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span">DB: I don't think it changed any course, it just added to the course I was on. And again, because I haven't studied the music, whatever it was – a lot of classical music - again classical music – Copland, Charles Ives, Stravinsky, Messiae</span><span class="Apple-style-span">n, Lutoslawski, Detellyou (sp?) – they really influenced me. L.A. Pop from the 70's and 80's. When I say influential, it is just the sound of it, because I never figured out anything. Sometimes when I hear stuff, I can kinda get that vibe without knowing what that is. </span><br />
<br />
MR: You've said you didn't have any composition teachers, but did you study as a jazz performer – most of us study, like, harmony - your standard jazz harmony education. <br />
<br />
DB: Yeah, I studied all the harmonic thing, and a lot of classical music, and did a lot of technical stuff. But the difference with me in that area is that I've never transcribed a solo. Or I've never memorized a solo. Not once in my life have I ever done that. I never memorized a lick, I never memorized anything to play through a two-five-one. Nothing like that. I just learn the harmony, and got technique. And my whole theory about that is that if you have technique and you know the harmony, there's no reason you can't play through changes without ever learning one solo. <br />
<br />
MR: Just learning scales and arpeggios and stuff like that? <br />
<br />
DB: Yeah, if you know the scales that you're supposed to play over any given chord, and you have technique on the instrument, you should be able to play through anything. That's the way I've thought about music, that's what I've done. So that's why people go “What are you playing?” They don't really know. Well, it's not anything that I've copied, because I don't know that stuff. I could listen to it and imitate it, in a way. If someone puts on a bebop tune and says “just cop a bebop vibe” I can get that, but it's not anything that I've learned or memorized. It's just assimilated, that sound in my head. But at the same time it's not playing by ear, I'm definitely dealing with all the harmonic structure. So it is kind of this in between kind of zone. I think it's very unusual, from just about everyone I've ever talked to. The way they've learned is just a different thing. <br />
<br />
But it's never affected my composition because I don't think ever once – I've played tones of standards – but I don't think I've ever written a two-five-one in a tune. If I did it was accidental. But I don't really know how to play it on the piano so I don't think I've ever written anything like that. <br />
<br />
MR: Do you have any goals as far as how you want to develop your composition and your music in the future? <br />
<br />
DB: No, I don't have any goals with it, I just want to keep kind of moving forward. And everything I do, I want it to be forward motion. Something new, something I haven't done before. <br />
<br />
MR: Just sort of following the next foot, whatever comes after what you just did? <br />
<br />
DB: Yeah, and developing what I just did. If I'm really happy with what I just did, I might use the same instrumentation, but I still always want it to be a development of that. And sometimes, I just go completely left of what I've done. Like, I'm half-way done with this string record, which will probably be done in a year or so, now I'm recording this electric record, there will be other records with some of the same groups - you know, I think there will be another record with Blade and all those guys, at some point in the next year or so. So you know, I just keep my hand in a lot of areas. And that's what interests me, because I listen to so much different music. I don't want to just make the so-called “jazz record”. And yet I'm a player and I love to play, so I'm trying to bridge some of the more groove and electric and pop elements up to the way I write and the way I play with this new record. It's going to be drastically different, but I think – I know – I 'll be really into it. Maybe everyone else won't be, but I will. <br />
<br />
MR: I've read in interviews how it is important for you that your music can be appreciated both by someone who's an expert in jazz and someone who is coming to it ignorant of all that – everyone can get something. <br />
<br />
DB: Yeah, that's a goal. That's important to me. When I'm writing, I do think about that. I think about “It's not just for me, I'm doing this for other people.” I want people to like it. <br />
<br />
MR: Not just jazzbos. <br />
<br />
DB: Yeah, I want everybody to like it. I'm not compromising to do that, but I'm thinking about it. If I like it and it makes me feel good as a listener, I know that other people will like it. I can kind of tell when I'm writing what people will like and what people won't like as much. That's an important thing for me, I want as many people as possible to like the music. That's the whole point.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.mattroberts.ca/" target="_parent">Back to www.mattroberts.ca</a></div></div>Chromatticismhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293651732454610155noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630434598988309533.post-21434876881022113972011-08-05T17:35:00.000-04:002011-08-05T17:48:00.029-04:00Interview with Composer Andrew Downing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.barnyardrecords.com/images/img991425453.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.barnyardrecords.com/images/img991425453.JPG" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal">Andrew Downing is a double bass/cello player, composer and bandleader living in Toronto. He graduated with a Bachelors in Music (Jazz Performance) from the University of Toronto in 1996, and more recently graduated from U of T's Masters in Music (again in jazz) program as well. </div><div class="MsoNormal">Andrew plays primarily in the creative jazz scene in Canada, but also performs classical chamber music, improvised music, folk and roots music and world music. He received a Juno Award, a West Coast Music Award and The Grand Prix de Jazz with his former band <i>The Great Uncles of the Revolution</i>, as well as another Juno Award, a SOCAN award and a West Coast Music Award with Vancouver collaborators <i>Zubot and Dawson</i>. </div><div class="MsoNormal">As a composer, he has written pieces for <i>Ensemble Meduse</i>, <i>Toca Loca</i>, <i>Runcible Spoon</i> and the <i>Urban Arts Brass Ensemble</i> as well as many works for his own groups. Lately he has become interested in writing music for silent films in a "chamber-jazz" style. This music is featured on his most recent CD, <a href="http://www.blackhenmusic.com/album/silents" target="_blank"><i>Silents</i></a>.</div><br />
To learn more about Andrew, and to hear samples of his most recent music, visit his website <a href="http://andrewdowning.com/" target="_blank">AndrewDowning.com</a>. You might also want to check out the page for <a href="http://www.blackhenmusic.com/artist/great-uncles-revolution" target="_blank">The Great Uncles of The Revolution</a>.<br />
<br />
<br />
The following is an interview I did with Andrew, as part of my ongoing "Composers' Process Project", where I interview a variety of composers about how they do what they do.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Matt Roberts: What mistakes do inexperienced composers make?<br />
<br />
Andrew Downing: There are a couple of things. They don't think about the total sound, in that they think about a particular melody, set of chords, or rhythm, without thinking about how they're all going to fit together. Further to that, they don't necessarily think about the instruments involved. Writing a melody that fits on a horn, or feels a certain way on an instrument is really important, and I think a lot of people go at it from the other direction, where they write something and then try to sort of shoe-horn it into what a certain instrument can play. It doesn't always make it easy for the instrumentalist, and ultimately the composition might not be as successful as it could be because of that.<br />
<br />
MR: Obviously it takes a lot of experience to be familiar with so many instruments.<br />
<br />
AD: That's very true. But there are a ton of books out there, and a ton of recordings, and a ton of people to ask, and an inquisitive person is always the better for it. The best way to learn is to talk to someone who plays an instrument.<br />
<br />
Another thing that inexperienced composers do is they throw out a lot of stuff without fully checking it out. If they write something and it doesn't seem to work at first, they don't necessarily check it out to its fullest extent before moving on. If something comes out of your brain and your musical mind, there's a reason for it, and if you don't really check it out to as far as it could go, then you might have missed an opportunity to have something really sound like yourself.<br />
<br />
MR: How have you grown as a composer?<br />
<br />
AD: I once had a discussion about seven years ago about what the role of a working, band-leading jazz musician is. We all say "We're composers!", but really, if you talk to a classical composer and compare what a typical jazz composer and a typical classical composer does, they're very different things. At one point I decided "Well, I'm more of a 'writer of music' than a composer." I know it's just a semantic discussion but there is a lot that goes into the word composer.<br />
<br />
One way that I've grown is in really thinking about instruments and making stuff for the instruments that work for the instruments and have a particular sound. Knowing different chord voicings on a piano is a really important thing, but if you voice it out for a bunch of instruments, the timbre of each note is going to make the colour of the chord different. Learning how to manipulate that has been a big thing.<br />
<br />
Another thing is checking out different styles of music. Not necessarily that I'm going to write something that sounds like Turkish music, or Country music, but I think checking out the aspects of a style of music and trying to take what I like from it and incorporate it into my own sound has been a big learning thing. <br />
<br />
MR: What do you consider the most important principle(s) of good composition?<br />
<br />
AD: Consistency. By that I mean thought that goes into the details of a composition that makes it feels like itself. Consistency could even be inconsistency. John Zorn, for example, has done a bunch of stuff where he will flip from one style to another, but the consistency with which he does that makes for a good composition. Even in people like Schnittke, who very obviously incorporates a bunch of styles into the music, what ends up happening is that there is a something in that music that feels consistent while he does that. I think thinking about consistency in every aspect of the music is important - how a form works, how chord colours work, and intervals, and all that kind of stuff, it all plays into how consistent a piece of music feels. <br />
<br />
MR: Not that you need to always use the same voicing, but just that you have to consider how everything relates?<br />
<br />
AD: Yeah, and if you're going to move from one chord to another, you realize that that move should be compensated for in some way. <br />
<br />
MR: My answer to this question was "elegance" which maybe I mean in the same way as you mean "consistency". To me elegance means there is a central unifying idea, and even if the work of art may be on some level complex, in some way it is also the simplest way of conveying that idea.<br />
<br />
AD: Yeah, you're right. With jazz composers, I think of Duke Ellington as someone who was like that. His tunes sound like themselves. In most of his and Billy Strayhorn's tunes there is something going on that defines them, even if you might hear them in the midst of improvising. It's noticeable. When you stand back when you're listening to something and experience it as a whole, I think that kind of consistency is noticeable.<br />
<br />
MR: Have you ever experienced composer's block, if so, how did you deal with it, what do you think causes it?<br />
<br />
AD: I'm not sure if I've really experienced that. There are times when I've had a tough time dealing with certain things that I want to finish. I think if you power through and try to work and get yourself frustrated, when you leave and then come back, all the things you were frustrated with before serve to make the composition come out. Even all the frustrating work you do on something is still going to be there when you come back to it. And even if it means that you discredited a bunch of things that you worked on, at least that what's you've done, and so when you come back you know what you don't like. I think it helps to get things rolling to keep working, just to keep doing it and realize that not every day's worth of composition is going to be used, but it all serves the big purpose of getting something done. <br />
<br />
AD: Another thing is leaving things blank. Once with the silent film thing I had six minutes to fill, and I had a few stabs at it and it just wasn't working out, so I left it and moved on to the next part, and the stuff in the next part gave me some ideas for the part I was stuck on. So if you sort of have a map of what you're doing, you can move on and do what is after it, and that may give you a better perspective on the part you are having difficulty with.<br />
<br />
MR: What do you find to be the greatest challenge of composition?<br />
<br />
AD: Finishing a piece of music. There are two aspects of that that are difficult. One is letting it go. Every time I hear something I write, I want to change some things. But finishing it, letting it go, and realizing that it is okay not to change the mistakes I've made, or the mistakes I believe I've made in my mind, allows me to move on and write something knew.<br />
<br />
The other thing is to not be derivative. We compose music because we love music. I'm guilty of this - I write things in the style of other people. I don't consciously or academically try to do it, but I know that unconsciously I often have some composer in mind who informs everything that I do. And I think everybody does. Someone said "Good composers borrow, great composers steal." [ed. note: Stravinsky] And it totally makes sense. These days, Stravinsky is the big one that I listen to and in the last piece I wrote I thought "This sounds so much like a section from A Soldier's Tale." So I just put in a quote from it - "I may as well just admit it!" I do that the same with titling tunes - I title after the person from whom I've gotten the inspiration in some kind of cryptic way, but I like to admit "This is where this comes from." But that's a challenge to like what you're doing but know that it's based on someone else's thing.<br />
<br />
MR: What is your compositional process? Does it have distinct phases? Do you follow a routine?<br />
<br />
AD: The nuts-and-bolts are that I sit a piano, or in my case at home I have a Hohner Electra-piano and a pump organ. The Electra-piano is a little more percussive than the pump organ, so if I'm thinking of something that might be for strings, I might use the pump organ, because it has that quality. Usually I write on paper, so I sketch out a bunch of ideas, and then I work them in computer. I'll have different voices on the paper. I write it all on a double staff, and I'll put little arrows to show where the voice leading is going to go. And then I enter it into the computer, and sometimes I edit it in the computer. The thing I don't like to do too much is listen to things in the computer, because I think it gets deceptive, or at least it hinders my ability to use my imagination as much as I'd like to.<br />
<br />
At the beginning of the process I like to think about form. If it is a tune, I think about the form of the tune, and what the improvising is going to be, and how the tune can have completeness in itself. If I'm writing a longer piece of music, I think in a longer form. I think about how I'm going to plan out an exposition, etc. I don't always stick to it; sometimes the ideas warrant a different thing. But I feel like if I have a map laid out that I can kind of plug things into, I get it done more easily. Which is also why I like doing the silent film thing so much, because the form is laid out for you.<br />
<br />
MR: Do you have a daily routine?<br />
<br />
AD: No. The only thing is that I get my best work done when I have a whole day with nothing to do in front of me. If I know I have a rehearsal at two o'clock in the afternoon, I find it hard to write music from ten until two. I feel like my mind isn't clear enough. But if I don't have anything until the next day, then I can work completely contentedly.<br />
<br />
MR: Do you have any stratagems for composition?<br />
<br />
AD: If I write something that I like, I will look at it from all angles. I will dissect and analyze, even if it is just a three-note motif. I'll find out everything I possibly can about it; I'll find out why I like it. It may be the intervals, it may be the rhythm, it may be the texture, it may be the stylistic stuff. Usually, other things will jump out if I just keep at it. If I just play a three-note motif backwards, forwards, all together, really slowly, really quickly, in different octaves - if I just play it a whole bunch of times - I'm going to find some other stuff about it that I like. And that also deals with the consistency thing - if something comes from something else, then it has a thread. Even if the listener doesn't quite hear it, the thread is there.<br />
<br />
MR: Where do your ideas come from, how do you generate new ideas?<br />
<br />
AD: A lot of them come from other composers. A lot of my melodic ideas come from text - a poem, a line in a movie, or something someone says that has a certain rhythm and melody to it. Often I'll develop a new piece of melodic material with the idea of singing the thing the person said. Not in a complicated way, just naturally. For example in the my most recent silent film composition, Maciste In Hell, most of the melodies come from the text in the film. For example. there were two main themes. One of them was just "Bar-ba-ricc-i-a" [the name of the main antagonist]. The other one is from a line where our hero sees the prince and he says "Think of your innocent child." Both of these themes are everywhere.<br />
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MR: What composers do you admire and why?<br />
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AD: Stravinsky is my number one at the moment. There is a great deal of style in what he does. He wrote a ragtime, he wrote a jazz piece - they all sound like him. He takes little things from styles and put them in his own way. I really admire that. I think it's funny and I think it's quirky and weird, and it is also beautiful. I like his ideology of putting stuff together, and it is so well crafted, and it is also humorous, heavy and light at the same time. There's something about it. <br />
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MR: I feel the same way about Bartok - his music comes across as being very serious, but I feel like really he is was just playing.<br />
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AD: I think Bartok's humor is in a different way. It might also be an Eastern European thing. Shostakovich is very serious music, but I think a lot of his melodies and the ways he deals with them are quite playful. I enjoy laughing while I'm listening to his music. And I don't think it is wrong! Prokofiev is another good example - he has tonnes of fun, weird stuff in his music. <br />
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MR: Are there any particular pieces of Stravinsky's that you admire?<br />
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AD: Solider's tale is my favourite one. There's so much I like about it, stylistically and compositionally. It was written for something else - a story - which is something I really like. Also, the instrumentation is so odd and cool. I like the themes. <br />
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Another composer I really like is Bill Frisell. It's on a different level, but I sometimes get the same feeling listen to Bill Frisell's music. Stylistically it really comes from a certain place. It's humorous. He has such serious craft and serious way of playing behind everything he does - I don't mean serious as in somber, but it is very studied. But it is so much fun, there is so much humor behind what he does.<br />
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MR: I sort of already jumped ahead to this, but what compositions do you admire, and why?<br />
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AD: Schnittke's third string quartet has a bunch of stuff in that is also derived from taking styles and thinking about styles.<br />
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MR: Why compose, what is the reward of composition? Is it pleasurable? What is the most pleasurable part?<br />
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AD: One of the big rewards is making something. Like, you know when you were a kid, you liked making stuff - with clay or play-doh or whatever. That's one of the things about writing a piece I really love. When I hear a piece I wrote, I have pleasure from having made something, having constructed this thing out of just tools, things that I know. <br />
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I also really like the problem solving aspect of it. If I have to get from one place to another in a composition, to think about the tools that I have and finding a way to do it using my ear, and using theory, and other people's ideas to get from one place to another in a way that I like. <br />
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MR: Can you recommend any books, DVDs, etc?<br />
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AD: The Ernst Toch book [The Shaping Forces In Music] is kind of interesting. He just talks about musical ideas as a composer. It's sort of about blowing apart the rules, or at least using the rules to find your own way to do things. It just talks about music in a very beautiful and open way.<br />
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MR: What composition are you most proud of and why?<br />
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AD: Well, currently, I'm most proud about my most recent composition! [A score for 7-piece chamber-jazz ensemble for the silent film, <i>Maciste In Hell</i>.] Because it has all the stuff I'm most excited about recently.<br />
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MR: I feel the same way - my abilities are always increasing, so I always feel like my most impressive composition is one that I've done fairly recently. But is there any composition you can think back to where even though it might be more simple, you feel you just miraculously got it right some how?<br />
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AD: Yeah, there is one called "<a href="http://www.blackhenmusic.com/album/blow-house-down" target="_blank">The King of America</a>". It's a really simple tune. <br />
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MR: I like the title already!<br />
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AD: Well, I stole it from Elvis Costello. There is a rhythmic thing that happens in it that I stole from a tune from his record "The King of America."<br />
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MR: How would you like to develop as a composer in the future?<br />
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AD: I would like to be better about thinking about forms.<br />
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MR: Do you mean like having a sense of balance in the forms?<br />
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AD: Yeah, or at least letting things play out with a sense of patience. I feel like I'm good at writing things that are short, and things that are a vibe. I feel like I'm good at writing a moment that feels like something, but if I were to work on doing something better, it would be to consider things better over the long form.<br />
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<a href="http://www.mattroberts.ca/" target="_parent">Back to main blog page.</a>Chromatticismhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293651732454610155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630434598988309533.post-62851115732866220872011-07-30T01:18:00.000-04:002011-08-01T18:22:51.973-04:00Interview with Composer Dave Wall<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.davewall.org/images/daveBio.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.davewall.org/images/daveBio.jpg" /></a></div>Dave Wall is an Edmonton based composer/performer. He did the jazz guitar program at Grant MacEwan College in Edmonton, got an undergrad in composition, which led to a composer-in- residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts, which led to a Masters in composition at UBC. He is currently a composition PhD student at the University of Alberta. He has written for documentary films, dancers, theatre types, various classical ensembles from solo trombone to full orchestra, rock bands and jazz musicians. He has received numerous commissions and awards, and made several recordings. <a href="http://www.davewall.org/biography.php" target="_blank">See his full bio here.</a><br />
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Here are some examples of his music:<br />
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<a href="http://www.davewall.org/downloads/in_medias_res.mp3" target="_blank">In Medias Res (string quartet)</a><br />
<a href="http://www.davewall.org/downloads/01_compensation.mp3" target="_blank">Compensation (saxophone quartet)</a><br />
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As part of my "Composers' Process Project", where I am interviewing a variety of composers about exactly how they do what they do, I recently spoke with him at The Blue Plate Diner in Edmonton.<br />
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Matt Roberts: What mistakes do inexperienced composers make?<br />
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Dave Wall: Writing too much. Not respecting the use of repetition. Too much material all at once, and not allowing stuff to breathe, and the lack of clarity that that leads to.<br />
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MR: Do you think you've grown as a composer, and how?<br />
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DW: I've worked on overcoming the problem I described in the first question.<br />
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Also, I acquired as many ideas and approaches as I could find and used them all. When I was 17 my plan was to learn to play every single style of music there is, so I could write music and have all of that to draw from.<br />
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When I first started I was writing really simple stuff. Then I found out about Schoenberg, and I fell in love with Elliott Carter. So I started writing stuff that's really complex. I tried really hard not to repeat anything. Then I started working back to making in simpler and simpler, but having it seem really complex. And now I'm moving back to somewhere in the middle, so it is complex and not that easy to play, but it doesn't sound uninviting. When you finish listening to a piece of music you should be able to replay the whole thing in your head in a spit second and get an image of it. If you don't write to that, it's not going to happen. People will leave the hall not knowing what just happened - and not wanting to come back!<br />
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MR: What are the most important factors that contributed to your development as a composer?<br />
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DW: Not quitting. That's about it!<br />
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MR: Well, for example, did learning about 12-tone techniques really affect you, or a certain teacher, or a certain composition?<br />
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DW: Going to UBC. I got exposed to a lot of things. Before that the most out thing I'd heard was Ornette Coleman. At UBC, it was Brian Ferneyhough, Elliott Carter, Edgard Varèse... people doing stuff that was really interesting. I thought "Oh, this means I can do anything I want..." So I tried to do everything. But I forgot that I had to have some formal principles. There was one piece where I kept pushing myself and pushing myself. It was a vocal piece - SATB - and I was working with different vocal sounds. I listed all the things that could possibly be done with voice, and I tried to do them all.<br />
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MR: What do you consider the most important principle(s) of good composition?<br />
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DW: Clarity... and clarity... and clarity!<br />
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MR: That's sort of what I said when I interviewed myself, except I said "elegance". When a piece of music has some central idea, and every part of it seems to relate to that central idea, then it becomes elegant, and I think that is a good composition.<br />
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DW: Exactly. Clarity for me encompasses elegance. Also, I think a sense of voice - a sense that you're trying to say something that hasn't been said. Which isn't really possible. But all I try to think about is clarity, and everything else follows.<br />
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MR: The way I feel about this idea of developing my own voice is: I'll just write, and it can't not be my own voice.<br />
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DW: Oh sure it can. It can, if you're thinking about anything else. If you're thinking "I hope so-and-so likes this." or "It sucked last time I did that." You have to think while you compose, but in a sense, you don't. I think a lot less than I used to while I compose. If you spend 15 years, spending weeks with every piece, planning what you are going to do, and then doing it, after a while you develop technique. At some point you just go "okay", and you write it all down, and then you tweak it, erasing stuff. And you wind up with something that's pretty honest - although it isn't always that good! I've tried to get to with composing where most people are at with performing - you don't think about it, you just do it. It is obvious that with performing, if you over-think it, it isn't going to work. If you're thinking about where you're placing your fingers, you're doomed. Or if you're thinking "Well I went from D to Eb four bars ago, maybe I should do that again." you could be in trouble.<br />
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MR: What do you consider to be the greatest challenge of composition?<br />
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DW: To never be boring. To keep it unified, but always changing.<br />
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MR: What is your compositional process? Do you follow a routine?<br />
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DW: My wife's nickname for me is "routine boy"! I just get up and I start writing. There's no question that I'm going to do it. Composing is just something that happens every day. I do the things I don't want to do first, like working with a programming language. I usually work until I don't feel like working any more; that could be anywhere from 15 minutes to a couple hours. Then I do something else, and come back to it. I might do multiple sessions; they might be as short as 5 minutes. But I don't do it until I feel like "this isn't working".<br />
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Part of what makes it easy for me to write is that I know that ideas are a dime a dozen. You can have the worst ideas - actually there are no "worst ideas". It's what you do with them after the first bar. Someone asked Bach "Where do you get your ideas?" He said "I have a hard time not tripping over them when I get up in the morning." Look [holds up the salt shaker] there's the form for your next piece. It's round here and square at the end, it starts out with all these little holes. [makes little-hole-like-noises] Everywhere you look.<br />
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Mr: Are there phases to your compositional process? For example, planning, writing, editing?<br />
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DW: Yeah, I'll write two or three minutes of music really quickly, and then I'll edit it, and often it will become about 5 minutes, because I realize there is more to it. Then I'll start writing some new material, and then revise again.<br />
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MR: Do you have any stratagems for composing?<br />
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DW: I don't do this anymore, but I used to start by writing down all the possibilities. For example, for a string quartet, I'd start by writing down all the possible ways each instrument can make sounds, then I'd make a list of each possible combination of instruments. Then I'd make a structure; and then I'll meditate on that, and then I'll start writing. I don't do that anymore, but that really helps, especially beginning composers, because they don't think of all the possibilities. You think of all the possibilities, and then you might pick three, and then you start writing. It's really more craft. The art is really something you can't talk about. All we've been talking about is craft.<br />
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MR: A quote I like is "The work of art is the mediator of the inexpressible."<br />
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DW: There you go. I tell my students: "Musicians are people who want to communicate something they can't communicate with language."<br />
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MR: What composers do you admire and why?<br />
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DW: The ones that are still doing it! (laughs) But actually, I mean it. I really like György Ligeti. He has a very intricate way of writing that comes out sounding very unified. He's quite adventurous but not crazy. Avant garde but still accessible. He's got a very textural way of thinking which I'm very into. I like Steve Reich, Arvo Pärt. Xenakis, but more for his process then how it actually sounds. Alfred Schnittke - he'll use whatever he needs to use in order to communicate what he wants to communicate, as opposed to all the guys in the 60's who said "I'm a 12-tone composer and everything else is shit." There's a lot of guys, I can't think of them all right now. Todd Sickafoose. He's more of a jazz guy.<br />
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MR: Why compose? What is the reward of composing?<br />
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DW: I've got nothing better to do! You might be asking me this question at the wrong point in my life. There are so many people out there doing it. I don't understand, anymore, why I need to compose. I don't see how me composing helps anyone except for me.<br />
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MR: That's a reason!<br />
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DW: Yeah, it makes me a better person, and then when I go out into the world, I'm a better person, so it helps that way. But there are a lot of ways I could become a better person besides writing music.<br />
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MR: Do you enjoy composing?<br />
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DW: Yeah, that's why I do it. I really enjoy it.<br />
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MR: Are there any books, CDs, DVDs, etc., that you would recommend?<br />
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DW: Techniques of the Contemporary Composer by David Cope. Arnold Schoenberg's book [Theory of Harmony]. Messiaen's book [My Musical Language]. I used the Cope book for teaching, because it is really clear.<br />
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MR: Which of your own compositions are you most proud of, and why?<br />
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DW: I like the first string quartet I ever wrote, "<a href="http://www.davewall.org/downloads/in_medias_res.mp3" target="_blank">In Medias Res</a>". It is really direct and clear. I like this saxophone quartet I wrote more recently, "<a href="http://www.davewall.org/downloads/01_compensation.mp3" target="_blank">Compensation</a>". I like the way it opens. There is a narrative to it, there is a reason that everything happens. The narrative is described on <a href="http://www.davewall.org/compositionDownload.php?page=2" target="_blank">my website</a>.<br />
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If you're interested in learning more about Dave Wall or his music, visit <a href="http://www.davewall.org/" target="_blank">www.davewall.org</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://www.mattroberts.ca/" target="_parent">Back to main blog page.</a>Chromatticismhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293651732454610155noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630434598988309533.post-17494058630311462832011-07-15T14:47:00.000-04:002013-03-29T13:42:47.054-04:00Bicycle Trailer for Double Bass & Amp<i>Update March 2013: This has become by far the most popular post on my blog (1229 views to date), so I edited it a bit, and added some new information, since I've now been using the trailer for almost two years. I and my trailer were recently featured on the <a href="http://dandyhorsemagazine.com/blog/2013/03/29/matt-roberts-amazing-diy-bass-trailer/" target="_blank">Dandy Horse Magazine Blog</a>. </i><br />
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<h2>
First I Had To Get The Nerve To Try It...</h2>
The idea of transporting my double bass and amp by bicycle was first proposed to me by my older brother Malcolm. Everyone in my family is very pro-bike, believing it to be the solution to many of our society's most pressing problems: air pollution, global warming, lack of exercise, depleting oil reserves, traffic congestion, depression, etc. Additionally, there are many other, more self-interested reasons for biking, such as avoiding traffic & parking hassles (especially abundant here in Toronto) and the <a href="http://www.bikesatwork.com/carfree/cost-of-car-ownership.html">cost of car ownership</a>. However, my brother sticks out as a bicycle fanatic even among a family of bicycle fanatics, having spent <a href="http://squidgyheads.diaryland.com/older.html">two years biking around Eurasia</a> pulling all his worldly possessions behind him in a <a href="http://www.bobgear.com/bike-trailers">"Bob" trailer</a>. Perhaps because of this, I remained wary of hauling my beloved instrument around Toronto's streets by pedal power.<br />
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However, about a month ago I was jamming with my buddy <a href="http://www.chrisbutchermusic.com/">Chris Butcher</a>, and he told me there was already another bass player doing this in Toronto. I later heard about a second. Once I realized that it was working for someone else, determined to give it a try.<br />
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<h2>
Then I Did Some Internet Research...</h2>
I began searching the internet to see if there were examples of bike-based bass transportation that I could study before designing my own. Indeed there were! Check out <a href="https://vimeo.com/2975715">this Portland band who did an entire west coast tour transporting themselves and all their gear - including a double bass - by bike</a>. Apparently in Copenhagen, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_8dGodhGtI">where bikes are much more supported by city bylaws and civic planning, and have therefore become much more a part of the culture</a>, it is the <a href="http://www.doublebassguide.com/?p=456">norm for bassists to get around using cargo tricycle style bikes</a>. (Of course here in Toronto, thanks to our astonishingly and infuriatingly stupid new mayor, Rob Ford, <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2011/07/13/jarvis-bike-lane.html">we have just decided to actually remove several bike lanes, at a cost of over $200 000.</a>)<br />
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My main concern in the trailer design was the safety of my instrument; also, I wanted a trailer that would haul my amp and any other gear I might need for a gig. Those cargo-tricycles start at well over $1000 here in Canada, and go up from there. For these reasons, I ruled out the cargo-tricycle idea. My search turned up some <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kraskland/2901761056/in/set-72157606831970773/">other</a> unsuitable <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/stacy-bird/2760572863/">designs</a>. (Searching for "bike bass trailer" turned up a lot of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVNrUx1Ole4&feature=related">bikes rigged to pull huge sub-woofers</a>.) Notable was John Teske's <a href="http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.418173587821.194191.80335362821">"Haulin' Bass Project</a>". A bassist/composer out of Seattle, he used a <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/116082667/haulin-bass">Kickstarter campaign to raise $1000 to have a bass trailer custom built for him</a>, attracting considerable media attention along the way. <a href="http://bicycletruck.blogspot.com/2010/08/lindseys-bass-trailer.html">I found another design I thought might work</a>, but I felt I could do better still. I decided I would buy a flatbed trailer and then customize it to suit my bass. <br />
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I was originally going to buy the <a href="http://www.surlybikes.com/frames/surly_trailer/">Surly Bill Trailer</a>, but decided against it when I found this would cost something like $1500 in Canada. Then I thought I would get the <a href="http://www.bikesatwork.com/bike-trailers/model-64aw-bike-trailer.html">Bikes at Work 64A</a>, which would cost something like $650 after shipping. Finally I found a company from Guelph Ontario - Wicycles - which sells a <a href="http://www.wicycle.com/cargo_diy_kit_bicycle_trailer.php">DIY custom trailer kit</a> for only $129, with $10 shipping in Canada. If you are going to make a WIKE DIY trailer, I would also recommend checking out <a href="http://valdodge.com/2009/07/04/custom-bike-trailer/">this post</a> and <a href="http://www.bikeshophub.com/diamond-plated-beauty/">this post</a>, both WIKE trailers built by other bloggers.<br />
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<h2>
Then I Came Up With A Design, Ordered Some Stuff Online, and Started Building!</h2>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-7akT0oWk7nzKg7b0iU_lwJmiSbeiygrWobhSK0Ck74AhSq4QLlwPeBF7D7c3B50hQWJDenoIy8MSpXXS4txcw0oBkK04-CA5tdurLY6scAP-9QVDXw9HS8jE_Gr-rKvXgxRaPpikWTnK/s1600/bass+trailer+design+final.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="397" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-7akT0oWk7nzKg7b0iU_lwJmiSbeiygrWobhSK0Ck74AhSq4QLlwPeBF7D7c3B50hQWJDenoIy8MSpXXS4txcw0oBkK04-CA5tdurLY6scAP-9QVDXw9HS8jE_Gr-rKvXgxRaPpikWTnK/s400/bass+trailer+design+final.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Above is my "blueprint" design. The amp fits snugly into a wood frame, and is secured by a strap. The bass is held on three sides by aluminum poles. The neck lies on top of the amp. Two more straps secure the bass at the body and the neck. (I wish I had made the strap for the neck closer to the point where the neck contacts the amp; I think this would put less strain on the neck.) <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIZAmhguHtNMumxJDNXPXYBivCOUxHT4gELQnQFUa4YNRNU24GdvKsGeCCdNEJPwWHbsb814wdPGunW7EbPRTrmziK9HmrMtsOys7A6pTlGYjqodN55Fbzm3QUNg9ZYGFyX0DoA-3JVSBX/s1600/2011-07-13_14-24-16_336_Toronto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIZAmhguHtNMumxJDNXPXYBivCOUxHT4gELQnQFUa4YNRNU24GdvKsGeCCdNEJPwWHbsb814wdPGunW7EbPRTrmziK9HmrMtsOys7A6pTlGYjqodN55Fbzm3QUNg9ZYGFyX0DoA-3JVSBX/s320/2011-07-13_14-24-16_336_Toronto.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small; text-align: start;">This image shows in more detail how the amp is secured. You can also see a bit of the 1"-thick foam padding for the bass in the bottom right-hand corner.</span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3DRKdd2ADmjEhM8roDCxjGMmw9ogtM0ua3YGkw1aIrpZ1GL_iNF5uLkJ8X4XIEzwwgKUVK3eGrAh1B_zVD_6_LBWWENYnB9bMMUGWryW0j4K8sl1YM51EXvfBYAzFV__qxaa0kVmGwFBG/s1600/2011-07-13_14-36-36_722_Toronto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a>The kit shipped to me in one business day. It was actually extremely easy to put together. Their YouTube video shows the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d__Qve0hW_g">entire assembly in under 11 minutes</a>, and it didn't take me much longer. (Although their website states the contrary, my kit included all the 1/4" x 1 3/4" bolts and lock nuts.) I was able to purchase some of the 1" square aluminum tubing from Home Depot, but they only carry tubing up to 4 feet long. For this trailer I needed up to 6 feet. So, I ordered the longer pieces from <a href="http://www.metalsupermarkets.com/">Metal Supermarket</a>, a chain across North America. They cut everything to my specifications for free, and had next-day delivery for only $10. If you can, get tubing with 1/16" thick walls. 1/8" is excessive and will only add weight to your trailer. I also ordered a large sheet of 1/8" thick aluminum for the base. I wanted something stiff to attach things to, but again this was probably excessive and definitely added weight. 1/16" aluminum or 1/2" plywood would probably have been fine. At first I put the wheels at the balance point, which is near the front of the trailer. However, this caused the back of the trailer to scrape along the ground, so I had to move the wheels further back.<br />
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After several afternoons pondering, sawing, drilling, and making trips to the hardware store, here what I created!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikOg_Cvs79N8DKDaawuPnRhQotX39YeL0AJNa-fIBiBbEu8K4HpLoEEXkCfse6phz5-vh_zmmgM8if_T4T2NJqC36nh_q1IJYVYFVf3zueCOLta8MopK1T86Hhs9gf9NqQZMAsIU8j6CAh/s1600/2011-07-13_14-12-01_416_Toronto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikOg_Cvs79N8DKDaawuPnRhQotX39YeL0AJNa-fIBiBbEu8K4HpLoEEXkCfse6phz5-vh_zmmgM8if_T4T2NJqC36nh_q1IJYVYFVf3zueCOLta8MopK1T86Hhs9gf9NqQZMAsIU8j6CAh/s640/2011-07-13_14-12-01_416_Toronto.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Here is an approximate tally of the costs involved in building the trailer:<br />
<table>
<tbody>
<tr><td>Wike DIY Trailer Kit:</td> <td>$140</td></tr>
<tr><td>Metal from Metal Supermarkets:</td> <td>$220</td></tr>
<tr><td>Reflectors & flags from MEC:</td> <td>$35</td></tr>
<tr><td>Misc stuff from hardware store<br />
(bolts, handles, short tubing, lumber, replacing broken drill bit...):</td> <td><u>$80</u></td></tr>
<tr><td>Approximate total:</td> <td>$475</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br />
<h3>
A Few Tweaks and Notes...</h3>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3DRKdd2ADmjEhM8roDCxjGMmw9ogtM0ua3YGkw1aIrpZ1GL_iNF5uLkJ8X4XIEzwwgKUVK3eGrAh1B_zVD_6_LBWWENYnB9bMMUGWryW0j4K8sl1YM51EXvfBYAzFV__qxaa0kVmGwFBG/s1600/2011-07-13_14-36-36_722_Toronto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3DRKdd2ADmjEhM8roDCxjGMmw9ogtM0ua3YGkw1aIrpZ1GL_iNF5uLkJ8X4XIEzwwgKUVK3eGrAh1B_zVD_6_LBWWENYnB9bMMUGWryW0j4K8sl1YM51EXvfBYAzFV__qxaa0kVmGwFBG/s320/2011-07-13_14-36-36_722_Toronto.jpg" width="320" /></a>At first I thought the hitch was a weak point of the Wike Trailer. Both the Surly and Bikes-At-Work trailers had tougher-looking hitches. I added a safety to the hitch (I think a safety was supposed to be included, but wasn't in my kit), so that if it breaks in traffic, I should be able to ride the whole thing long enough to get out of trouble. However, after two years of use, the hitch is holding up well and I am much more confident in it. I have wiped out while towing this trailer on one occasion (slipped on streetcar tracks in the rain) and the flexible hitch kept the trailer upright and my gear safe, even as I hit the pavement.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Is8hvc2lAvAegYYAB36UwpA0tZ2gGYUilbFXx1qg3p1LPw-XnOIxhrI9oPi02G0GAWyAr8G9rUnH60Nm6DEUdzcWf11crUE5u_EnUhuAvUyVZO57WrFunkMxr62tZGU5aNvGdEfMdiKR/s1600/attach.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Is8hvc2lAvAegYYAB36UwpA0tZ2gGYUilbFXx1qg3p1LPw-XnOIxhrI9oPi02G0GAWyAr8G9rUnH60Nm6DEUdzcWf11crUE5u_EnUhuAvUyVZO57WrFunkMxr62tZGU5aNvGdEfMdiKR/s320/attach.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This shows how I attached the flags by drilling a hole at the <br />
bottom of each side pole for the bottom of the flag pole to go<br />
into, and then drilling two holes at the top of the side poles,<br />
passing a zip tie through those holes, and then making a loop <br />
that the flag poles can slide through.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The only real way I think I my bass could be damaged while transporting it by bike is if it were hit by a car, so I added reflective stickers, a flashing light, and a flag. A few months later I added two more flags (for a total of three) as well as lights on either side. However some drivers just don't look out for bicyclists, even bicyclists hauling trailers with a million flashing lights, so I make sure to keep my head up and look out for cars, especially at night.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidxZfUAcMAS2pbbjpfe3h1947ezhLoyFrO9QVGDYUZTFAYKxPjRnyPb_tKe5iKndilF6k4-aBvIe6JmO_FtO4qMozCrc4mXxbJZJLx2vE6XGlGQXrysdEtP3AmxlqCc3QahQNyl1Dbu036/s1600/20130317_133537.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidxZfUAcMAS2pbbjpfe3h1947ezhLoyFrO9QVGDYUZTFAYKxPjRnyPb_tKe5iKndilF6k4-aBvIe6JmO_FtO4qMozCrc4mXxbJZJLx2vE6XGlGQXrysdEtP3AmxlqCc3QahQNyl1Dbu036/s320/20130317_133537.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This shows the anchors and spring-loaded clip-ons. I colour-coded<br />
the anchors and clips so I know which straps go where.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I decided to use cambuckle straps; if you use these, it is important to get ones with spring-loaded clips on the end, to ensure they don't giggle free of the anchors en route. However, even when I have forgotten to tighten the straps before leaving, the aluminum poles have still kept it firmly in the trailer.<br />
<br />
Initially I thought that if it rained, I would cover the bass and amp with a blue tarp. In practice I found the tarp very cumbersome to work with while loading/unloading the gear in the rain. I have since purchased a heavy-duty snowmobile cover at Walmart for $60, which has a drawstring to draw it tight around the bass, and packs easily into an included stuff bag. The amp would be covered with a garbage bag. I haven't had the opportunity to try this, but I'm optimistic that it should be pretty manageable, and sufficiently protect the bass in mild weather. If the roads are wet at all, it is also important to have a rear fender, otherwise you get the bass case all dirty because your back wheel sprays it with mud.<br />
<br />
I would estimate that the trailer, amp, and bass, weigh about 80 pounds combined. When I'm going on flat ground, it isn't too hard - I've gotten up to speeds of 25 kph. However, going up hill is a tough slog, especially if it goes on for more then a block. Of course, downhill is a treat! <br />
<br />
<br />
<h2>
Using The Trailer - Two Years and Counting!</h2>
<br />
I've now been using this trailer for almost two years. I've used it year round in Toronto, Canada - which means I've even hauled it through the snow. It has become my preferred mode of transporting my bass (although I do still use public transport or <a href="http://mattrobertsmusic.blogspot.ca/2012/11/how-to-fit-my-bass-in-smart-car.html" target="_blank">car sharing</a> when they are more practical). I feel very confident that my bass is safe while it is being transported - usually it doesn't even go out of tune. Also, it is just very convenient - it only takes about 15 minutes to load, I can breeze past traffic, and I don't have to worry about parking or catching a cab.<br />
<br />
<h2>
Cheaper/Simpler Alternatives</h2>
I'm really hoping another bass player will follow my lead, and build a trailer like mine. So far no one has, but please let me know if you do! If anyone in the Toronto area would like a trailer like this but doesn't feel like they're up to the task of building it, I'd be happy to build one for you for the cost of materials + $25/hour.<br />
<br />
There are also some other cheaper and simpler alternatives if you don't need to haul things as large as a double bass. Wike also makes <a href="http://www.wicycle.com/cargo_economy_bicycle_trailer.php">a number of pre-assembled cargo trailers, starting at just $99</a> that might work for electric bassists, guitarists, or anyone with similar loads smaller than a double bass. Check out <a href="http://bicycletruck.blogspot.ca/2010/08/sunflower-style-trailer-ready-to-go-150.html">this trailer for hauling a drum kit</a> (<a href="http://www.maxsenitt.com/live/">Max Senitt</a> tells me he bikes his drums to gigs using a trailer occasionally). Or, check out <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t395mDaXgnk">this YouTube video</a> that explains how to use a hand-truck as a trailer by connecting it to your pannier rack with an old bike tube (you should be able to get a used tube for free from any bike shop). I borrowed my dad's bike and hand-truck while I was home in Edmonton, and used this set up to get to two gigs in the Edmonton Jazz Festival with my <a href="http://www.gelbass.com/bass/bass4RN.html">Eminence semi-acoustic bass</a> and a small amp. It worked very well.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJSP5hak45ZLD_1c-8kWuGBmE19X3lj3RASeVQYIgXp6lldf_h0q66oN-LqKogRwPjT0yQQdpD-R2EWr1G3qy0F1ShBZaW8kMX74_t9pRvy21pCFrhAaJSIzWEIxw30FnVW5NPZ5P9v6aS/s1600/2011-06-27_14-56-28_211_Edmonton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJSP5hak45ZLD_1c-8kWuGBmE19X3lj3RASeVQYIgXp6lldf_h0q66oN-LqKogRwPjT0yQQdpD-R2EWr1G3qy0F1ShBZaW8kMX74_t9pRvy21pCFrhAaJSIzWEIxw30FnVW5NPZ5P9v6aS/s400/2011-06-27_14-56-28_211_Edmonton.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Backstage at the Edmonton Jazz Festival - the rest of the band had to park blocks away!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Got to go now... I have to load my trailer up for another gig!<br />
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<a href="http://www.mattroberts.ca/" target="_parent"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Back to my main site, www.mattroberts.ca</span></a>Chromatticismhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293651732454610155noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630434598988309533.post-23471774447184515672011-06-16T22:23:00.000-04:002011-06-16T22:26:19.674-04:00Review of "This Album Is Not For People"Check out my <a target="_blank" href="http://www.scmagazine.org/ggty.html">review of "This Album Is Not For People" by God's Gift To Yoda</a> in Spontaneous Combustion Magazine.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.scmagazine.org/ggty.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <a target="_blank" href="http://www.scmagazine.org/ggty1.jpg"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.scmagazine.org/ggty1.jpg" width="320" /></a></a></div><br />
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<span><a href="http://www.mattroberts.ca/" target="_parent">Back to main blog page.</a></span>Chromatticismhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293651732454610155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630434598988309533.post-90242259217209334442011-04-18T14:38:00.000-04:002011-04-18T14:39:39.703-04:00Writer's Block and "A Song of Ice and Fire"<a href="http://www.newyorker.com/images/2011/04/11/p233/110411_r20732_p233.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.newyorker.com/images/2011/04/11/p233/110411_r20732_p233.jpg" width="230" /></a>Apparently George R. R. Martin experienced some difficulties while attempting to finish the next book in his series "A Song of Ice and Fire". (The series is the basis of a new HBO program that just premiered, <a href="http://www.hbocanada.com/gameofthrones/video.php" target="_blank">A Game of Thrones</a> - which looks like it is going to be pretty good!)<br />
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<br />
It took Martin over six years to complete his latest book, despite promising his fans to have it done within a year. Here are some excerpts from a recent <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/04/11/110411fa_fact_miller" target="_blank">New Yorker article</a> about the series and his challenges in completing it.<br />
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<blockquote>“Maybe I’m rewriting too much,” he suggested, after a fretful silence. “Maybe I have perfectionist’s disease, or whatever.” </blockquote><blockquote>Martin explained that he’s been tinkering with some parts of “A Dance with Dragons” for ten years. He has a “real love-hate relationship” with a chapter that focusses on Tyrion Lannister, the dwarf: “I ripped it out and put it back in, I ripped it out and put it back in. Then I put it in as a dream sequence, and then I ripped it out again. This is the stuff I’ve been doing.” </blockquote><blockquote>Such indecision, Martin suspects, may be fuelled by the mounting expectations for “A Song of Ice and Fire.” The reviews for the series have been “orders of magnitude better” than he’s received for anything else. After the fourth volume came out, Time anointed him “the American Tolkien.” Many readers have told Martin that his tale is the greatest fantasy story of all time. With the HBO show and his online critics breathing down his neck, the pressure has become even more intense. </blockquote><blockquote>“I don’t want to come across as a whiner or a complainer,” Martin said, as tinted light from the afternoon sun filtered through the stained-glass windows. “No! I’m living the dream here. I have all of these readers who are waiting on the book. I want to give them something terrific.” There was a pause. “What if I fuck it up at the end? What if I do a ‘Lost’? Then they’ll come after me with pitchforks and torches.”</blockquote><br />
Obviously my situation is very different than Martin's: I don't have millions of fans, or the challenge of being consistent with a fantasy world that has thousands of characters. My compositions aren't on the scale of fantasy novels many hundreds of pages long. But I still felt like I could relate to his anxieties, although on a smaller scale. Every time I undertake a project, I want it to exceed expectations and be better than anything I've done before, and that leads to similar re-writing where I spend hours writing a note, changing it, changing it back... Thankfully so far I've always managed to eventually overcome that and just enjoying composing and let go of needing to be in complete control of the result.<br />
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This article in The New Yorker seems to further support my theory that writer's block is what happens when <i>anxiety about creating</i> becomes greater then the <i>joy of creating</i>.<br />
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<a href="http://www.mattroberts.ca/" target="_parent">Back to main blog page.</a>Chromatticismhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293651732454610155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630434598988309533.post-57025067570988001332011-04-14T19:08:00.000-04:002011-04-14T19:12:21.439-04:00Little Prince Suite World Premier - April 16th, 5:15pm!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfuT18aSYRtq1ruyvURG0ihEb-M7zd0fql6fOqfAkkI0TrCIzsdOVKi78TYInNR66CtYiK8Tqglb8EV_Wq1rKuhwtLlfjg0bJGGo3JoXyqUYczRwAuepX-n3sb5DLfZW7IZtAspGXtvF-l/s1600/poster-web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfuT18aSYRtq1ruyvURG0ihEb-M7zd0fql6fOqfAkkI0TrCIzsdOVKi78TYInNR66CtYiK8Tqglb8EV_Wq1rKuhwtLlfjg0bJGGo3JoXyqUYczRwAuepX-n3sb5DLfZW7IZtAspGXtvF-l/s640/poster-web.jpg" width="414" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Hey, this Little Prince thing is really happening! Soon! This Saturday in fact!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The Little Prince Suite is a project that I've been working on for over two years, and it is finally ready for it's premier - this Saturday, April 16th, at <a href="http://www.music.utoronto.ca/about/location.htm" target="_blank">Walter Hall</a>. The suite is a continuous hour-long, seven-movement composition, featuring my jazz quintet <a href="http://www.circlesmusic.com/" target="_blank">Circles</a> along with a string quartet. It tells the story of the little prince from the <a href="http://wikilivres.info/wiki/The_Little_Prince" target="_blank">much-loved book by Antoine de Saint-Exupery</a>. It will feature short excerpts from the book (read by the musicians) as well as images from the book, projected behind the band. If you really want to know all the details, <a href="http://monolith.dnsalias.com/~matt//littleprince/" target="_blank">check this site, which I constructed for the musicians</a>. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Did I mention it is my graduation recital, which wraps up my studies in the masters in jazz program at U of T?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Anyway, it is going to be amazing, and I hope you can come!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><a href="http://www.mattroberts.ca/" target="_blank">Back to main blog page.</a>Chromatticismhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293651732454610155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630434598988309533.post-56372373484727199572011-04-14T15:40:00.000-04:002015-05-12T15:58:10.552-04:00A Shout Out To All The Music Theory Nerds(I'm not sure how many "clicks" I'll get with that title, but what the heck...)<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9GPaWiZCS5G2SQ8AGed4ncjYe2uQexu_QrlNU-up6ElUKbCLaX_9M0C9Z-WyfOiNVHNZ3eTtgwAPtqvxayrtroPJWsnIw94Gr_klyNkMOZGCTKbLLMP4QPAvElbh31MKcT05abB_hHAyL/s1600/screens.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="311" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9GPaWiZCS5G2SQ8AGed4ncjYe2uQexu_QrlNU-up6ElUKbCLaX_9M0C9Z-WyfOiNVHNZ3eTtgwAPtqvxayrtroPJWsnIw94Gr_klyNkMOZGCTKbLLMP4QPAvElbh31MKcT05abB_hHAyL/s320/screens.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Page from "Be Here Now"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I've always liked certain chord progressions in modern jazz, and I felt like there was some common thing that I liked about them, but I didn't understand what it was. I wanted to figure that out, not only due to general curiosity, but also so I could improvise over them better, and use those harmonies in my own compositions. The result was an essay I did as part of my masters degree at U of T, analyzing two compositions by Canadian-born trumpet player/composer <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenny_Wheeler" target="_blank">Kenny Wheeler</a>, and two composition by my friend and Circles-bandmate, pianist/composer <a href="http://www.myspace.com/hayounlee" target="_blank">Hayoun Lee</a>. The essay was titled "<a href="http://monolith.dnsalias.com/~matt//blog_linked_files/The_Flimsiest_of_Screens-Moving_Beyong_Traditional_Harmony_in_the_Music_of_Wheeler_and_Lee_(Roberts).pdf" target="_blank">The Flimsiest of Screens: Moving Beyond Traditional Harmony In The Music of Wheeler and Lee</a>". The title is a reference to a quote by the American philosopher and psychologist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_James" target="_blank">William James</a> which I had read in the book "<a href="https://www.dmt-nexus.com/Files/Books/General/be_here_now2.pdf" target="_blank">Be Here Now</a>".<br />
<br />
<blockquote>
Our normal waking consciousness is but one special type of consciousness, whilst all about it, parted from it by the flimsiest of screens, there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely different. We may go through life without suspecting their existence, but apply the requisite stimulus and at a touch they are there in all their completeness.</blockquote>
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This is an analogy for me about key to understanding this particular type of harmony I was interested in: it was just taking harmony we were already familiar with, and adding just one or two more elements to create a whole new effect. I made the point that "The comparison is not entirely metaphorical, since music with different harmonic languages will inspire different states of mind, and vice versa."<br />
<br />
Anyway, I was pretty happy with the approach to analyzing this new harmony that I ended up with. Modern harmony feels less mystifying to me now. I think it is an approach that is practical for the jazz composer and/or improviser. In jazz, it is very important that we can "hear" a chord progression, but what do we mean by this? I would contend that one of the main things we mean is that we are aware of the voice-leading. So my analysis centers around that - both with scales and chords. I like the idea I came up with of thinking of scales as having a kind of family tree, where the modes of melodic minor are related to the modes of the major scale, and the symmetrical octatonic scales are related to the modes of melodic minor through "<i>splitting</i>" one note of the melodic minor scale, and the wholetone scales are related to the modes of melodic minor through "<i>merging</i>"<i> </i>one note in the melodic minor scale. Anyway, now we are really getting nerdy. Read <a href="http://174.3.166.145/~matt/The_Flimsiest_of_Screens_-_Moving_Beyong_Traditional_Harmony_in_the_Music_of_%20Wheeler_and_Lee_(Roberts).pdf" target="_blank">the whole essay</a> if you are sufficiently interested. There may be a few small factual errors remaining in it. If you find one, let me know, you win a special prize!<br />
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If you want to listen to the compositions analyzed in the essay, here are some YouTube links to the Kenny Wheeler tunes:<br />
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO-mzKn83PM" target="_blank">Gentle Piece</a><br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PuxE2GsB0M" target="_blank">Everybody's Song But My Own</a><br />
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As for the Hayoun Lee compositions:<br />
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"Pegasus" is the first song that loads when you visit <a href="http://www.circlesmusic.com/" target="_blank">Circle's website</a>.<br />
To listen to "Autumn Dance", check out our <a href="http://circles.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank">bandcamp page</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://www.mattroberts.ca/" target="_blank">Back to main blog page.</a>Chromatticismhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293651732454610155noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630434598988309533.post-92076367051475162522011-03-28T11:14:00.000-04:002011-04-14T15:55:15.405-04:00An Interview With Myself About Composition<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As part of an independent project assignment for my masters degree at U of T, I'm going to be interviewing composers about their views on creativity. I needed a guinea pig to try out the questions on, so I started by interviewing myself! If you are a composer (or writer, or whatever!) and want to be part of my project, please feel free to copy these questions and send your answers to me at matt@mattroberts.ca. I found it pretty fun actually... hopefully my interviewees will feel the same! (If you have any suggestions for questions I could ask, please leave a comment!)</span></div><ul><li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What mistakes do inexperienced composers make?</span></div><ul><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I consider myself to be an “inexperienced composer”, so I probably lack the perspective to properly answer this question, but I'll take a stab at it anyway. I have noticed that inexperienced artists in many genres often make the mistake of over-doing things. They throw everything they know how to do into each work, because they have just discovered things and are so excited about their newly-acquired abilities. The result is that the work loses its effect because it has no subtly or unique character.</span></div></ul></li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you think you have grown as a composer over your career? How?</span></div><ul><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think I've grown tremendously over my “career” as a composer. My compositions have become much more complex and elaborate. I've also become much more comfortable writing scores (vs. leadsheets) for large ensembles. Whereas before say about 2006 my writing (especially for large ensembles) was mostly focused in trying to imitate others, now it is more focused on trying to discover a unique sounds. Also, I've gained some insight into my own compositional process, which allows me to make creativity a scheduled activity, whereas before it was more a case of “waiting for the miracle”. </span></div></ul></li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think back about the most important factors that contributed to your development as a composer?</span></div><ul><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Studying Bach chorals with Bill Richards at Grant MacEwan, and arranging class with John MacLeod at Humber. And performing my own compositions over and over again. I have had the benefit of encountering many wonderful teachers. I think their encouragement was even more important than the information they gave me. They gave me the courage and the impetus to investigate things for myself.</span></div></ul></li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What do you consider the most important principle(s) of good composition?</span></div><ul><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ELEGANCE</span></div></ul></li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Have you ever experienced “composers block”? If so, how did you deal with it? What do you think causes it?</span></div><ul><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think that “composers block” is basically the off-stage version of stage fright. Basically when your fear of creating something overtakes your motivation to create, you have a block. I experience this all the time. I have a lot of little stratagems for dealing with it (some of which I've outlined on this blog). Ultimately, however, I think you have to just acknowledge your fears and decide to proceed anyway.</span></div></ul></li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What do you find to be the greatest challenge of composition?</span></div><ul><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, initially I definitely find overcoming my fears and anxieties to be the greatest challenge. Aside from that, the greatest challenge is to achieve that “elegance” – to arrive at a work that feels like a cohesive whole, rather than a sum of parts. Something that is properly balanced and has the right effect. </span></div></ul></li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What is your compositional process? Does it have distinct phases? Do you follow a routine?</span></div><ul><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I wish I followed a routine, but I seem to lack the discipline to keep one for more than a few weeks. I think most processes for the type of music I'm writing lately probably go through the same phases: research, brainstorming, realization, editing, and performance/review. </span></div></ul></li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Have you developed any stratagems for helping your composition that come to mind and would be helpful to pass along?</span></div><ul><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One thing I discovered lately and found hugely important is that during the brainstorming process, I try to make a point of writing down all the ideas I come up with – whether I think they are good or not. This is much more encouraging then just staring at a blank page telling yourself all your ideas are bad, and often some of the ideas you originally thought were bad turn out to be useful, or to lead to something that is useful.</span></div></ul></li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Where do your ideas come from? How do you generate new ideas?</span></div><ul><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My compositional ideas come from all over – playing bass, fooling around on the piano or guitar, singing, playing with theoretical ideas. Often I'll steal ideas from music I'm studying or playing. There is usually some kind of theoretical idea that is tickling my cranium at any given moment, so often compositional ideas will come out of that. Sometimes ideas come from stories or pictures or events in my life. Often I structure my compositions in a programmatic/tone painting sort of way. Sometimes I have dreams where music and reality are fused, and that is sort of the world my compositions come from.</span></div></ul></li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What composer(s) do you most admire? Why?</span></div><ul><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first thing that comes to mind is David Binney. I guess right now I would really like to unlock the secret that makes his compositions so great to me. They seem mysterious to me right now. They are so simple, yet so interesting and compelling. They are interesting from the perspective of the performer and the music nerd, yet also they have a simple and direct emotional effect. I think a lot of it has to do with his band leading and the bands he puts together.</span></div></ul></li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What composition(s) do you admire? Why?</span></div><ul><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first thing that comes to mind is John Coltrane's Love Supreme suite. That suite made a huge impression on me. Coltrane had a powerful vision and a beautiful message which came through very strongly through that suite. The whole thing is one message that is direct and clear – that is elegance to me. The next thing I think of is Beethoven's 5<sup>th</sup> Symphony. It also has a strong emotional effect. I like the way Beethoven plays with the themes – it is very easy to follow but still very interesting. After that I would say the Bach Cello Suites. They are so subtle and beautiful.</span></div></ul></li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why compose? What is the reward of composition? Is it pleasurable? What is the most pleasurable part?</span></div><ul><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The biggest motivation for me I think is curiosity – wanting to understand music better, wanting to find and explore new sounds. I guess I would also have to say that I have something I want to express which I don't see how to express by covering other artists. Composition is often a very uncomfortable process for me, but it is a great feeling when I write something and hear it and really feel like it sounds good – maybe even the band has taken it to new places and it sounds even better than it did in my head. That's a wonderful feeling.</span></div></ul></li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Can you recommend any books or videos which have been important to your development, or are important to your current compositional process?</span></div><ul><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I would recommend <u>The Gifts of Imperfection</u> to anyone who is experiencing anxieties about their art. <u>The Creative Habit</u> is also worth a read to those who are interested in process.</span></div></ul></li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What composition are you most proud of and why?</span></div><ul><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, Duke Ellington apparently always replied “The next one!” but I prefer Weird Al's standard reply: “The one that I am currently promoting!” I'm really excited about “The Little Prince Suite”, which I am just finishing, and everyone should come see at Walter Hall at U of T on April 16<sup>th</sup> at 5:15pm.</span></div></ul></li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How would you like to develop as a composer in the future?</span></div><ul><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'd like to get better and better at connecting with audiences. I think the key is the overall form and balance of the thing. I'd also like to get over my fears and anxieties a bit and understand my process a bit better so that sitting down to compose becomes easier for me, and I get straight to generating lots of ideas on a regular basis, which I think is the key to finding good ones. I'd like to bring more discipline to my compositional process.</span></div></ul></li>
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<a href="http://www.mattroberts.ca/" target="_parent">Back to main blog page.</a>Chromatticismhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293651732454610155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630434598988309533.post-7179735824464325212011-03-24T12:19:00.000-04:002011-03-24T12:19:15.681-04:00Jazz Mind, Beginners Mind<div>(This is actually something I posted to my Facebook page a while ago, but I thought I'd re-post it here, since it seems relevant.)</div><div><br />
</div>Lately I was re-reading a chapter from one of my favorite books, "Zen Mind Beginner's Mind", by Shunryu Suzuki, and I was stuck by it in a new way - I saw how it relates to my music practise. When I first started learning the double bass, I felt I had virtually no skill and everything to learn. Although this was very stressful for me, I practised hard and eventually saw some dramatic improvements. I didn't become a virtuoso, but in a two or three years I went from having a poor sense of time and being virtually tone-deaf to having a reasonable concept on the instrument. Since then, however, I think I have seen a gradual reduction in my rate of improvement. I've been practising the same things for years now and not improving so dramatically. When I first started, everything seemed extremely hard to me. Now I tend to practice things that seem fairly easy to me, with the hope of perfecting them. However, if I was really aiming for perfection, then they I would still regard them as hard, because perfection is very hard to obtain! I think this subtle difference in attitude, together with simply less hours put into practicing due to a lessened sense of urgency (the threat of getting kicked out of Grant MacEwan College for failing my technical jury no longer looms over my head), may be responsible for the diminishing returns I've been experiencing. Basically what I am saying is I think every time I practise it should seem "hard" to me, whether that is because it is something new which I actually can not execute presentably, or because it is something I am aiming to master perfectly. I want to feel like a beginner every time I pick up the bass. But that's kind of a tricky thing, isn't it?<br />
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Here an excerpt from the original lecture, which was given after a meditation session. I see further implications for music, beyond just technique, into creativity as well. I would highly recommend buying the book, it contains many other fascinating insights into life and art. You have to excuse his broken english - it isn't his first language.<br />
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"We say, "Sho shin." "Sho shin" means "Beginner's mind." If we can keep beginner's mind always, that is the goal of our practice. We recited Prajna Paramita Sutra this morning only once. I think we recited very well, but what will happen to us if we recite twice, three times, four time, and more? Then we will easily lose our attitude in reciting -- original attitude in reciting -- the sutra. Same thing will happen to us. For awhile we will keep our beginner's mind in your Zen practice but if we continue to practice one year, two years, three years, or more, we will have some improvement, and we will lose the limitless meaning of the original mind. In beginner's mind we have many possibilities, but in expert mind there is not much possibility. So in our practice it is important to resume to our original mind, or inmost mind, which we, ourselves -- even we, ourselves do not know what it is. This is the most important thing for us. The founder of our school emphasized this point. We have to remain always beginner's mind. This is the secret of Zen, and secret of various practices -- practice of flower arrangement, practice of Japanese singing, and various art. If we keep our beginner's mind we keep our precepts. When we lose our beginner's mind we will lose all the precepts."<div><br />
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<span><a href="http://www.mattroberts.ca/" target="_parent">Back to main blog page.</a></span></div>Chromatticismhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293651732454610155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630434598988309533.post-30440995166250308512011-03-22T11:57:00.000-04:002011-06-16T22:26:02.743-04:00Review of "Gallery" by The Parker Abbott Piano DuoCheck out my review of the album "Gallery" by The Parker Abbott Piano Duo in the monthly 'zine "Spontaneous Combustion": <a href="http://www.scmagazine.org/pianoduo.html" target="_blank">http://www.scmagazine.org/pianoduo.html</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.mattroberts.ca/" target="_parent">Back to main blog page.</a>Chromatticismhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293651732454610155noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630434598988309533.post-21791307009534269002011-03-17T13:16:00.000-04:002011-04-15T12:27:34.807-04:00Books About Creativity That I Love (or at least own)In my quest to understand the creative process better, I've amassed a modest library on the subject. I thought it might be helpful to post my thoughts on some of the books I own. I feel somehow unqualified or disinclined to call these "book reviews", but I'll just say a bit about how each book effected me personally. Here they are, in the order I was exposed to them:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFycJYy_-AQ0RZ2FQ3ENQoRIRc5qRBsGTbG7MekGCk9SfG6nVAXHsfvOop6roA5vpqI0rnh3UiWz5HsBhWZvR5ghlLeL7hEPBfZ_3s3gBro5ue7L_DKYJLMl0HBLCpaZhHaTwtAhhxP89-/s1600/em.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFycJYy_-AQ0RZ2FQ3ENQoRIRc5qRBsGTbG7MekGCk9SfG6nVAXHsfvOop6roA5vpqI0rnh3UiWz5HsBhWZvR5ghlLeL7hEPBfZ_3s3gBro5ue7L_DKYJLMl0HBLCpaZhHaTwtAhhxP89-/s320/em.jpg" width="198" /></a></div>It seemed everyone was reading this book when I was starting music school. I hope young musicians are still reading this book, because I think it has an important message. It had a big effect on me at the time. I started doing the "steps" and listening to the guided meditations during breaks in my practicing. I even attended a five-day workshop on this subject with Kenny at The Banff Centre in 2002. (Actually, I just found YouTube videos of his wrap-up concert at the end of that week: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taQ8_2u5Ez8">part 1</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBO9baHBsgo">part 2</a>, and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBQYc9sZq64">part 3</a>.) Personally, I found the spirit and overall philosophy of this book to be very inspiring, but when I tried to use it as a specific path to achieving the kind of freedom it describes, it didn't really work for me. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Mr. Werner and his vision. For me this is a good book to flip through now and again, to sort of soak up its vibes.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMmCL48zpuMk5irNsBYgkMjv90od1z5iiyq1dXFZJ6Ip-O2ZsqDrzh4GWqCaWfUG3HKgFjg2ROOeGS4pu29miu7M9xJ0EjV6qk9C4LX8jTEzWGCt3MD2yt7lhxiAu3iAdnH_JRjdzZSBmM/s1600/tharp-creative-habit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMmCL48zpuMk5irNsBYgkMjv90od1z5iiyq1dXFZJ6Ip-O2ZsqDrzh4GWqCaWfUG3HKgFjg2ROOeGS4pu29miu7M9xJ0EjV6qk9C4LX8jTEzWGCt3MD2yt7lhxiAu3iAdnH_JRjdzZSBmM/s320/tharp-creative-habit.jpg" width="243" /></a></div>I purchased this book because I was excited and interested in the idea of creativity being a skill you could learn by practice - just like, say, juggling or playing a major scale. I wanted to learn and improve that skill. What I was hoping for was an almost scientific analysis of creativity, what it is, where it comes from, and how it can be harnessed. I found only a small portion of the book was about the details of how a formulated creative process would work. The rest seemed to me a sort of catalogue of tricks for stimulating your creativity. (Which is also helpful in its own right!) Along the way we get a bit of a portrait of Twyla Tharp as an artist. All in all, I think it was a helpful book to read, and each person will probably respond to it in a very personal way, depending on their own strengths and interests. For example, Christine Bougie considers it her bible - check out her blog posts on it <a href="http://www.christinebougie.com/notes-on-the-creative-habit-hard-work-and-the-blank-page/">here</a>, <a href="http://www.christinebougie.com/notes-on-the-creative-habit-hard-work-and-the-blank-page/">here</a>, and <a href="http://www.christinebougie.com/notes-on-the-creative-habit-part-2-morning-rituals/">here</a>.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRzNPyP5m1xGMhEVYu1RIU9XxJLOxnpyrIFR-W2C6-ljRXAI-dW-pUGMOlT0G4EFhUMufIlTyuUuf72GBXH1Wgqq5L1BvgnSKu6aslQFxsj8_6ezO2BM4g5yuPvkt8Rn5Ngoz38dkzb4tK/s1600/the-zen-of-creativity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRzNPyP5m1xGMhEVYu1RIU9XxJLOxnpyrIFR-W2C6-ljRXAI-dW-pUGMOlT0G4EFhUMufIlTyuUuf72GBXH1Wgqq5L1BvgnSKu6aslQFxsj8_6ezO2BM4g5yuPvkt8Rn5Ngoz38dkzb4tK/s320/the-zen-of-creativity.jpg" width="258" /></a></div>I definitely feel that there is something fundamentally sympathetic between Zen and creativity; Zen lore and culture is full of beautiful art in the form of poetry, paintings, rock gardens, etc. When Samu Sunim (head of<a href="http://www.zenbuddhisttemple.org/"> The Toronto Zen Buddhist Temple</a>) found out that I was a musician, he remarked that artists often like Zen, because "Emptiness - that is like a blank canvas." ("Emptiness" is a central concept in Zen.) However, I didn't really feel a strong affinity for this book, and I never finished it. It didn't seem to be addressing the specific questions I have. I'm sure there are lots of great things to be discovered in it though. Maybe I would be better off considering some of the original writings of Dogen et. all.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2ngtNPrgUTf4Sn0em9zSwSGCs4tU8sJL6zovg8AuT_nrVZ-E3gUCOsLkSMkev8BbCHKMwGz_16yc5B2rdmXOHFdp4bIm61i-oF1adp9GkpCNRiXRrERFWf2hxviCAX0AvHmlDJzT-gWOg/s1600/Jazz-Composers-Companion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2ngtNPrgUTf4Sn0em9zSwSGCs4tU8sJL6zovg8AuT_nrVZ-E3gUCOsLkSMkev8BbCHKMwGz_16yc5B2rdmXOHFdp4bIm61i-oF1adp9GkpCNRiXRrERFWf2hxviCAX0AvHmlDJzT-gWOg/s320/Jazz-Composers-Companion.jpg" width="239" /></a></div>The bulk of this book is made up of theoretically-based composition exercises, but I was interested in the last chapter, which is basically a collection of rants on the compositional process by the likes of <span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;">Bill Evans, Carla Bley, George Russell, Horace Silver, Pat Metheny, Chick Corea, Lyle Mays, Anthony Davis, Herbie Hancock, Richie Beirach, and Ralph Towner. While I didn't find anything specific to latch on to, I found it really interesting to read the essays. Each artist has a totally different perspective and set of interests about composing. I eventually flipped through the first section of the book, and was surprised that I found the compositional exercises fun to think about as well.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNeBcJrOqTcRL-edGJVKMEY9DU0E0tBPF-09rT9mNZaCD7svw9iPC-Lc7Oqz62c_J2b_BLhwpRwjBEdVD6ykh0t9K-QNk59A7jyidjgAhAnRNTKlaeWH0Er6LkxOEz4OsqKeNI47Uf6ah8/s1600/giftsofinperfection.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNeBcJrOqTcRL-edGJVKMEY9DU0E0tBPF-09rT9mNZaCD7svw9iPC-Lc7Oqz62c_J2b_BLhwpRwjBEdVD6ykh0t9K-QNk59A7jyidjgAhAnRNTKlaeWH0Er6LkxOEz4OsqKeNI47Uf6ah8/s1600/giftsofinperfection.jpg" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;">I've </span><a href="http://mattrobertsmusic.blogspot.com/2011/02/rest-and-play-enjoying-getting-stuff.html" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;">blogged about this book</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"> before - </span><a href="http://mattrobertsmusic.blogspot.com/2010/12/vulnerability-and-connection.html" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;">actually, twice</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;">. This book isn't actually specifically about creativity, but I found it helped my creative process more than any other book I've read in recent years. I guess I'm just excited about Brene Brown's whole "thing". Part of that might just be because I have an affinity for her outlook - we both like to take a "scientific" look at "messy" subjects, and try to invent systems to deal with them. (I think part of this book is kind of about learning to be comfortable not doing that.) Lately I've been noticing that someone can tell me something really wise, but if it isn't told to me by someone I'm prepared to hear it from, in the way that I want to hear it, I don't appreciate it. Which is my loss. (And the aggravation of my teachers and everyone close to me!) Anyway, this book is about letting go of anxieties about who you are. I may read it a second time.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtvD2M1mTlfkr5MoaSpbMuxaSDlwFIbcypEIEl1no-nHoU-NqB3n49mxC0_CuSi5HMoNmzyXL_xpjAhxHzpP6V43mrxMaGIj3v5DUCUJzzLsIRyIp9afRbBrSk4CHJSd5ZbbCDQTAt_ZQ9/s1600/art_and_fear_____by_lamelobo-d30vfnq.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtvD2M1mTlfkr5MoaSpbMuxaSDlwFIbcypEIEl1no-nHoU-NqB3n49mxC0_CuSi5HMoNmzyXL_xpjAhxHzpP6V43mrxMaGIj3v5DUCUJzzLsIRyIp9afRbBrSk4CHJSd5ZbbCDQTAt_ZQ9/s320/art_and_fear_____by_lamelobo-d30vfnq.jpg" width="220" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;">I was pretty excited by this book because the title seemed to be getting right to the heart of my issue. Unfortunately, when I actually started reading it, I found it kind of poorly written, and even sort of bizarre. However, I did find a few bits I really like. I haven't yet finished it, but to me the best of everything I have read thus far can be summed up in the following quote:</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;">"The function of the overwhelming majority of your artwork is simply to teach you how to make the small fraction of your artwork that soars."</span><br />
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I think if someone were to take just that quote and what is implied by it to heart, amazing things could happen.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLk3dfSW5XDaTnaOypWRyO13noIZ61DFBw5tXchsKdWtrFPcn5IwPPIWnKtF25Ijm3HrtxbRo4xz7e9ML9dJCiq8PtF9f4EugSWKHz3A2a69MY3pO-rSwUhQhfDls6v5FBiia84mWan3VD/s1600/big0465002633.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLk3dfSW5XDaTnaOypWRyO13noIZ61DFBw5tXchsKdWtrFPcn5IwPPIWnKtF25Ijm3HrtxbRo4xz7e9ML9dJCiq8PtF9f4EugSWKHz3A2a69MY3pO-rSwUhQhfDls6v5FBiia84mWan3VD/s320/big0465002633.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>Maria Schneider is apparently a devotee of this book - she reportedly carried it with her everywhere she went during her visit to U of T a few years back, and she sometimes does clinics with the same title. I've only just started it, but it seems to me like a sort of manifesto for the modern artist (Robert Henri lived from 1865-1929), and it seems to espouse some ideals that I can get on board with. For example, it opens with this quote from Mr. Henri:<br />
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"There are moments in our lives, there are moments in a day, when we seem to see beyond the usual. Such are the moments of our greatest happiness. Such are the moments of our greatest wisdom. If one could but recall his vision by some sort of sign. It was in this hope that the arts were invented. Sign-posts on the way to what may be. Sign-posts toward greater knowledge."<br />
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The book seems to be full of sort of fatherly advice that Robert Henri gave to his students. So far it has been inspiring, and I'm looking forward to finishing it.<br />
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Have you read any of these books? What is your opinion of them? Do you have any other recommendations?<br />
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<a href="http://www.mattroberts.ca/" target="_parent">Back to main blog page.</a>Chromatticismhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293651732454610155noreply@blogger.com0