For the most part, we live in a noisy, fast, and relentless world. Sometimes, especially when I am trying to come up with the initial ideas for a new piece, I want to be in a quiet place. A place where I can really savor the sounds I create and not be distracted by anything. A basement practice room, an empty church. For others, it's a garden, a backyard, a patio. Here's to enjoying a few moments in your own quiet place!
New Commission - Choir, Saxophone & Piano
I'm excited to announce a new commission which has just been finalized and that I am writing this summer. Dr. William Eash and the Bethel College Choir are commissioning a new piece for choir, saxophone, and piano! I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Dr. Eash and the Bethel Choir, and also to include saxophone (near and dear to my heart!) in this piece. The text we decided on is below. I have been thinking about ideas for the piece for a few weeks and have a good idea of the general structure and to some extent the roles of the various forces (men, women, saxophone, piano). Yesterday I got to spend a bit of time working on the piece in one of my favorite spots - the basement of the Eastman annex building! Stay tuned for more details about this piece! O thou, in whose presence
O thou, in whose presence my soul takes delight, on whom in affliction I call, my comfort by day, and my song in the night, my hope, my salvation, my all;
Where dost thou, dear Shepherd, resort with thy sheep? to feed in the pastures of love? Say, why in the valley of death should I weep, or lone in the wilderness rove?
Oh, why should I wander an alien from thee, or cry in the desert for bread? Thy foes will rejoice when my sorrows they see, and smile at the tears I have shed.
He looks, and ten thou-sands of angels rejoice, and myriads wait for his word. He speaks, and eternity filled with his voice, reechoes the praise of the Lord.
"This Song of Mine" Recording Now Posted
In April, "This Song of Mine" for women's choir and piano was premiered by the Houghton College Women's Choir conducted by my friend David Horace Davies. David recently sent me the live recording from their premiere and it is wonderful (listen below)! His direction of the piece and the sensitivity of the singing is just beautiful. "This Song of Mine" is a simple lullaby, and I love the way this performance portrayed the piece. Bravo David and the Houghton College Women's Choir! [audio http://www.stevedanyew.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Danyew_this_song.mp3]
Houghton College Women's Choir David Horace Davies, Conductor Live Concert Recording - April 2012
Goodnight, Goodnight This Sunday - Greater Gardner Community Choir
This Sunday, May 20th, the Greater Gardner Community Choir will perform Goodnight, Goodnight under the direction of the wonderful Diane Cushing. I will be there and I'm really looking forward to the performance! Who: Greater Gardner Community Choir When: May 20, 2012 - 4:00pm Where: Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Church, Gardner, MA
Lauda at Texas Tech on Monday!
Lauda will be performed by the Texas Tech University Concert Band, directed by Duane Hill on Monday May 7th at 8pm. They are doing a really interesting program called "The Great Outdoors" and students in the ensemble have prepared visual slide shows and videos to play along with the music - very cool! Best wishes for a great performance! When: Monday May 7th, 8:00pm Where: Hemmle Recital Hall, Texas Tech University
"This Song of Mine" Premieres Tonight at Houghton College!
My new work for women's choir and piano, "This Song of Mine," will be premiered tonight at Houghton College in Houghton, NY. "This Song of Mine" will be published this fall by Santa Barbara Music, and tonight the work will be presented by the Houghton College Women's Choir under the direction of David Horace Davies. Houghton College Women’s Choir directed by David Horace Davies April 25th, 2012 – 8:00pm Recital Hall – Center for the Arts Houghton College
Evolving Ideas
It's interesting to look back at my sketches for a piece - my initial ideas, and see how they evolve into the final version. Sometimes, in the beginning, I have what I think is a great idea for a piece, a great motive, melody, etc. But inevitably that first version I come up with will not remain the same. It evolves in someway, through the process of working with the material very closely and making many decisions about it. Even the scope of the whole work itself - the length, the meaning, the inspiration, the direction - can change. Back on March 9th, I posted here about initial ideas I had for a new choral work. While finishing up Magnolia Star over the past few weeks, I have found little bits of time to think about this new piece and play with the initial ideas. Many of the ideas I discussed in the post weeks ago are still very much on target. However, two main evolutions have happened with this piece recently, which made me think about this whole idea of evolving ideas for a work:
1. The text: My initial idea was to just use the word "Alleluia" for the text. Then I realized that when the piece reaches its climax, it will really need a contrasting section, and it would be ideal to change the text at that point. It would be powerful to set up an ostinato with just this one word, for several minutes as the piece builds, and then when the climax arrives, open up a new world with a change in music and text. I have been thinking about setting Isaiah 55:12 for some time, but I kept thinking that it would be too short a text to stand on its own. Perfect! I can start with "Alleluia," then set the verse, and then end with "Alleluia."
Alleluia For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing. Alleluia
2. I have been struggling with how to start the piece - whether to begin with all four voices, or just sopranos, or sopranos and altos, etc. The repeating ostinato that I'm using starts with a D major chord, which I thought would be a beautiful way to begin the piece. Again, as I thought more and got deeper into the material, I started to think that this needed to change. While the D major chord would make a perfectly beautiful first sound, the piece is really about building to a climax via a repeating ostinato, adding counterpoint and growing slowly. So, in that way it makes sense to start with just the sopranos, stating the simple melody as a monophonic line. Then, perhaps I bring in the altos to add some counterpoint. And then, after two statements of the ostinato, the full choir arrives with that D major chord and the piece continues to build. That's where I am now in my thinking, but it could change!
Magnolia Star - Score & Full Recording
Magnolia Star, my newest work for wind ensemble which I discussed in my last post here, now has a page on my website. On that page you will find the full midi recording, PDF score, program notes, and a link to purchase the score and parts. Enjoy! Here is the full midi recording:
[audio http://www.stevedanyew.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Danyew_Magnolia_Star_midi.mp3]
Magnolia Star - Inspiration and Audio
Here is a midi sample of the first 3 minutes of Magnolia Star for Wind Ensemble (the full work is a little over 6 minutes): [audio http://www.stevedanyew.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Danyew_Magnolia_Star_midi_sample.mp3]
And here are the program notes for the piece:
When I was playing saxophone in my middle school jazz band, we started every rehearsal the same way – with an improvisation exercise that our director created. It was a simple yet brilliant exercise for teaching beginning improvisation and allowing everyone in the band a chance to “solo.” As a warm-up at the opening of each rehearsal, the whole band played the blues scale ascending, resting for one measure, descending, and resting for another measure.
During the measures of rest, each member of the band took turns improvising a solo. Looking back, this exercise not only got the band swinging together from the start of rehearsal, but it made improvisation, a daunting musical task to many, seem within everyone’s abilities. This experience was my introduction to the blues scale, and I have long wanted to write a piece inspired by this group of pitches. In Magnolia Star, I explore various ways to use these pitches in harmonies, melodies, and timbres, creating a diverse set of ideas that will go beyond sounds that we typically associate with the blues scale. I didn’t want to create a “blues” piece, but rather a piece in my own musical voice that uses and pays homage to the blues scale.
Nearly all of the pitches used in Magnolia Star fit into the concert C blues scale. It is interesting to note that embedded within the C blues scale are both a C minor triad, an Eb minor triad, and an Eb major triad. I explore the alternation of these tonal areas right from the start of the piece, and continue to employ them in different ways throughout the entire work.
When I first started improvising ideas for this piece based around the blues scale, I began to hear the influence of driving rhythms and sonorities which reminded me of trains. The railroad became a important second influence of this piece alongside the blues scale.
The American railroad not only provides some intriguing sonic ideas, but it also provides an intimate connection to the growth of jazz and blues in America. In the late 19th century, the Illinois Central Railroad constructed rail lines that stretched from New Orleans and the “Delta South” all the way north to Chicago. Many southern musicians traveled north via the railroad, bringing “delta blues” and other idioms to northern parts of the country. The railroad was also the inspiration for countless blues songs by a wide variety of artists. Simply put, the railroad was crucial to the dissemination of jazz and blues in the early 20th century.
Magnolia Star was an Illinois Central train that ran from New Orleans to Chicago with the famous Panama Limited in the mid 20th century.
Magnolia Star - Done! (Almost)
Today I'm putting the final edits on (all 38 pages! of) Magnolia Star, a new 6 minute work for wind ensemble. I will be posting more about the piece soon - what inspired it, an audio clip, etc. For now I just wanted to share a bit about the editing process I have been doing this past week. The bulk of the music was finished a couple of weeks ago, but there were still a few holes and spots I wasn't satisfied with. So over the past couple of weeks I have been focusing on those spots and also looking at every element of the piece and asking myself, "Is this what I want here?" And, "is this the best I can do, or is there anything else I can do to make this better?"
Now I have resolved most of those issues and have a fairly final score sitting in front of me on my desk. I have also gone through each page zoomed in at 200% to make sure all the dynamics are aligned and no markings are colliding on the page. I also made sure all the trumpet muting spots were marked, and that all the percussion instruments are marked appropriately. Really, the piece is done.
But this is one of the points I always struggle with - as a composer, how do we really know when the work is done? How do we know that we have created the work we intended, and that there is nothing left to improve upon? Or maybe that's not the point - surely there is something that can be improved upon. But that's ok? We aren't striving for a "perfect" work, right? That's probably a whole separate debate. I think of a painter - when they step back from a painting, put on a few more brush strokes, then a couple more, and then they are done. Wait - how did they decide that they didn't need to add a few more strokes, or change something?
I think often times it is a mixture of things:
- part letting go after obsessing in a detailed way over the work;
- part "feeling" that the work is done, and;
- part believing in the many decisions you have made throughout the course of creating the work.
Composers and other types of creators constantly question ourselves throughout the creative process - which is important and necessary. But at some point, we have to lay down the pen and decide that the work is done.