Back in grad school I took a computer music class. About the same time I got really into minimalism. As luck would have it, I got a visit from my Austrian friend Martin Pelizarri right when my final project was due. So I recorded Martin reading a poem by Wilhelm Busch, then sliced and diced, looped and lapsed, added a surprise ending, and voila! Out came Fritze.
In 1987, when I was just a fresh-faced lad attending the University of Rhode Island, I wrote a piano piece called “River.” I had the good fortune of living in a very small state, so it was chosen to be performed the following year at the Rhode Island Composers Festival at URI and Brown. The main thing I remember about the performance is that I was very excited and felt a bit like a real composer. I also remember that in one of the performances the page-turner turned a page too early, but the pianist Arlene Cole flipped it back without missing a note. I thought that was pretty impressive.
So here on its 20 year anniversary is a recording of River.
I just received a recording of my choral composition “Spring and Fall: to a young child” which was performed at the Iowa Choral Directors Association in July. It’s being performed again today in Bettendorf, Iowa by the Chamber Singers and University Chorale of St. Ambrose University under the direction of Keith Haan. So send out your good vibes to Maestro Haan and take a listen to the MP3 while reading the text below.
SPRING AND FALL:
to a young child
Márgarét, are you gríeving
Over Goldengrove unleaving?
Leáves, líke the things of man, you
With your fresh thoughts care for, can you?
Àh! ás the heart grows older
It will come to such sights colder
By and by, nor spare a sigh
Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie;
And yet you wíll weep and know why.
Now no matter, child, the name:
Sórrow’s spríngs áre the same.
Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed
What heart heard of, ghost guessed:
It ís the blight man was born for,
It is Margaret you mourn for.
-Gerard Manley Hopkins
For a couple of years now, rhythm has consumed me.
It all started when I got involved in the African Drumming Ensemble at the University of Pittsburgh–slowly a new way of thinking about rhythm evolved as my mind began to comprehend what it heard my hands doing. I couldn’t shake the rhythms from my head: I’d find myself walking down the street tapping out threes with my fingers against the twos my feet made on the pavement; or I’d curtail doing the dishes to tap on a particularly resonant portion of the sink; or I’d annoy everyone around me by breaking from my work at random intervals to play the bongos.
I decided that I’d better put some of these rhythms on paper before they ate me alive.
I began with a three movement piece for orchestra and conga called “Inventions” which was premiered by The University of Pittsburgh Orchestra under the direction of Roger Zahab. Next I wrote “12” for Evan and Catherine Pillsbury, a viola and cello duo from Boston. And now comes “6” for string quartet.
The Chagall String Quartet had been playing a piece of mine called “Jig” on their concerts and when they found themselves with some extra money at the end of the year they asked me if I’d write something new for them. Since I was in the middle of getting together a rock and roll string quartet I thought it would be a great chance to combine my enthusiasm for string quartet with my ongoing exploration of rhythm. And what came out was a piece in 6/8 meter that bristles with rhythm–”6.”
About a year ago the Linn-Mar High School Chamber Orchestra premiered my string orchestra composition “5.” You can read a press release or listen to an MP3 of the recording of the concert. Or you can email me and tell me that you’d like to program it for your orchestra. That would make my day.
A few days ago, I finished a commissioned choral composition on a text by Gerard Manley Hopkins: “Spring and Fall: to a young child.” I couldn’t bear to post it here in its Finale playback form because it sounds so robotic, so you’ll just have to wait until the premiere at the Iowa Choral Directors Association conference July 23-26.
Just thought you’d want to know. I’ll post some more recordings later this week.
In 1996 I was asked by Roger Zahab–new music’s greatest friend–to compose a piece for the University of Pittsburgh Orchestra. The result was The Three Rivers Overture. After its spring premiere, Roger decided it would make a good piece for Pitt’s graduation. In fact, he used it for a number of years after that–maybe even still uses it.
Here’s a funny anecdote about money and music. At my graduation from Pitt, I got paid to play my bass in the orchestra, got paid to hire other musicians to fill out some sections, and got royalties on The Three Rivers Overture. The latter was the greatest source of revenue, because BMI calculates royalties based on number of instruments (full orch), length of piece (over 6 minutes) and number of people in audience (about 20,000). I was very pleased when I opened up my BMI check that year. The sad thing is that BMI changed their rules, so they no longer pay royalties on events–only concerts. So my source of easy money dried up…
The good news is that a new piece was born, even though it’s no longer a money maker.
The Three Rivers Overture, mp3 (performed by the Pitt orchestra)