different types of practice
one of those practices is to write for
elite ensembles of the world such as the
RDD string quartet one of the best
string quartet ensembles and they can
play anything that you give them another
thing that I like to do is write for
amateur groups such as this group the
Chamber Singers of called nota bene a
chamber ensemble that is based in
Switzerland a third thing that I like to
do is work with an ensemble here at
Millsaps College called meme which
stands for the Mississippi experimental
music ensemble where we work together
collaboratively in a way that is more
interested in the process of creating
music than the product of music and
lastly I do music I create experiments
as a scientist that relate to syntax
they try to understand how we how we
deal with syntax in the mind and how we
process music and language in the mind
today though I’m going to focus on some
of those things that link these
different activities one of those things
I call dynamic systems dynamic systems
in my music and in my art and my
practices takes place in a variety of
different ways one of these ways can be
seen in that piece a piece that I wrote
for the RDD string quartet in that piece
you can see this small example from the
score it’s a lot going on it’s really
complicated but there these arrows
vertically and those arrows that you see
indicate a relationship and interplay
between the parts that allow for
this interplay between independence and
collaboration forms a hallmark of these
this practice of mine where every moment
indicates something else and I think
this this interplay between
collaboration and and independence is
not only a hallmark of what I try to do
but also a hallmark of what we as
society try to do and of what we as a
college at Millsaps College
tries it tries to instill with our
students another thing that I try to do
is that links a lot of my practice is a
what I call it a vocation of historical
models in this I take older works older
art art forms I examine them investigate
them critically and then transform them
into my own musical language you might
wonder well what does this sound like
well here’s an example from that string
quartet that combines these two
different approaches of dynamic systems
and a vocation of historical models so
here’s a short clip maybe about 40
seconds long
[Music]
is actually performed by a group called
jack string quartet but they this is a
these are amazing ensembles that can
pretty much play everything but every
single note of that example end of the
whole piece comes from late Beethoven’s
string quartets actually the fugue
themes of the late string quartets just
a few very short notes but every single
piece every single note of my piece is
derived from that very small material
such that the whole structure can be
derived from this small kernel of
original material sometimes that
material is done in a very overt way and
it’s very in-your-face and other times
it’s done in very secretive covert ways
but it’s always there it always informs
my process it always informs the
aesthetic of the piece I’ve used the
word a vocation because the definition
is an imaginative recreation I think
it’s very clear that doesn’t sound like
Beethoven alright no one would put that
on be like oh yeah that’s a that’s a
late Beethoven piece I think no one
would be confused it clearly sounds like
Rosenberg it sounds like my music it
sound like my aesthetic and yet
everything is based on that Beethoven
original material and that process of
transformation is at the heart of what I
try to do the piece I want to talk about
mostly though today is a piece called
lost this is a piece that was
commissioned by that second group I
mentioned the Chamber Choir note to
Benny based in Basel Switzerland and
this group had an idea for a concert
their Chamber Choir and they had an idea
of doing one of the great masterpieces
of the repertoire which is a piece by
Thomas Tallis called the lamentations of
Jeremiah from the late 16th century
wonderful extraordinary piece about 25
minutes long acapella and very hard to
pull off and they commissioned me to
write a piece that would relate to it in
some way knowing that I like to work
with historical models and I thought
about it and I decided to write a piece
that would not just respond to the
Thomas Tallis work but that would that
would integrate with
that would that could be a companion
piece to it whereby the sections of
Talas would follow sections of my works
that should be at section of Talas
followed by his section of lost section
of the lamentations of Jeremiah sections
have lost such that they inform each
other and that they are indebted to each
other the book of lamentations is the is
the source material for the lamentations
of Jeremiah from the Old Testament or
the Torah and the book of lamentations
deals with the the sacking of Jerusalem
and the sudden loss of this of this
temple of the Holy Temple and the
psychological ramifications of dealing
with that sudden loss it’s in five books
five parts and each part forms an
acrostic poem in the original Hebrew
where you have every line beginning with
a different letter of the Hebrew
alphabet in order beginning with olive
and then the second line would be bet
third line etc in fact the word alphabet
in English comes from the first two
letters of the Hebrew Aleph and bet the
first two letters so this is how this
the The Book of Lamentations from the
Bible is structured and this is actually
why in old manuscript versions of the
Bible you see the Hebrew Aleph and bet
these things marked with the large font
and unusually in red or some other color
because of this importance in the text
itself and it’s also why things like
Renaissance settings of the lamentations
typically have those Hebrew letters
incorporated into it the lamentations of
Jeremiah by Thomas Tallis has the first
five letters of the Hebrew alphabet my
piece lost uses lyrics that I created
there are 22 lines each line begins it’s
done in English and every line begins
with a different letter of the English
alphabet as you can see on the screen
but you might be wondering well wait a
second there’s 26 letters in the Hebrew
in the English alphabet what
going on there’s something wrong here
and so I get rid of four and those four
in an alphabetical order or order RL o s
and T relating to the subject material
of of the Bible of the of the Book of
Lamentations and that’s of course where
the title comes from so there are
distinct parallels in the creation of
the text between the lamentations
Jeremiah the the book of lamentations
and my peace lost there’s also five
books in the book of lamentation five
sections in the book of lamentations and
those five sections are represented in
my piece through having every having
five movements and every each one of
those movements being based on one of
the five stages of grief as theorized by
Elisabeth kubler-ross so denial anger
bargaining depression and acceptance
furthermore every movement has at some
kind of iconic gesture that that unifies
that movement for the first movement
which we’ll be talking about today that
that iconic gesture comes from this
scene here
it’s from the Wailing Wall the Western
Wall in Jerusalem and I don’t know if
how many people have been there but if
you go there it’s this extraordinary
experience where you see lots of people
standing near the wall swang often
swaying and murmuring prayers and taken
together they form this extraordinary
sonic experience that Wailing Wall is
the last remaining wall of that original
temple that was destroyed that was
discussed in the Book of Lamentations
it’s considered one of the holiest spots
in Judaism and so to represent that in
my piece throughout the movement there
are these opportunities for each singer
to independently on a given pitch say a
prayer rapidly in a murmuring fashion
but together as a choir it creates quite
an effect so this is a lot about the
text some about the music but what about
further musical connections well here’s
a
the first page of my edition a special
edition I made of the lamentations of
Jeremiah by Thomas Tallis the process of
doing this meant that I spent a long
time researching that piece the
lamentations of Jeremiah looking at
really old editions trying to find
historical records and then creating my
own version of that and one of those
advantages is that I can make tick marks
and other indications to the performance
to let them know that this is a very
special melody this is a melody that I
will be using in my own piece so that
they can emphasize it and highlight it
so it actually informs the performance
practice so here’s the first page and
I love this so much
it’s so beautiful so if you look at the
actually go back one slide if you look
at those two lines there you have an
alto 2 and a tenor that begin this piece
and they act those melodies are very
similar to one another its imitative
counterpoint I take those two melodies
which are now on the top of the screen
and I make I show you the beginning
soprano solos duet of my piece lost of
the first movement on the bottom half of
the screen and you can see that they’re
very very very similar in outline does
alto 2 part the top part it is now on
the bottom and vice versa but they have
same very similar pitch material very
similar gestures it’s just expanded and
changed a little bit into my own musical
language and so here’s what that sounds
like the opening of lost
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
let’s look at a more a specific example
this is the the first main thematic idea
in thomas Tallis’s work lamentations of
jeremiah it’s the olive theme a theme
that is very important in the opening
moments of that work here’s what that
sounds like
so you can hear it starting in The Sopranos being imitated in another voice
Sopranos being imitated in another voice the tenors this has three primary
the tenors this has three primary characteristics I’d like to point out
characteristics I’d like to point out the first is that it goes from longer
the first is that it goes from longer notes to shorter notes there’s a
notes to shorter notes there’s a quickening of the pace the second is
quickening of the pace the second is this really dramatic half step between
this really dramatic half step between the a the first note and the b-flat that
the a the first note and the b-flat that changed when the word repeats the olive
changed when the word repeats the olive repeats giving a special accent to that
repeats giving a special accent to that note and third is this melodic descent
note and third is this melodic descent at the end of this passage of the end of
at the end of this passage of the end of this theme with these three in mind I
this theme with these three in mind I want to play it one more time and then
want to play it one more time and then show you how I take those three ideas
show you how I take those three ideas and and transform them into my own
and and transform them into my own musical language
so here’s a section a solo that takes place in the piece it’s actually on the
place in the piece it’s actually on the word bet even though the original one of
word bet even though the original one of Tallis was Aleph but here’s how those
Tallis was Aleph but here’s how those same three features can be seen here
same three features can be seen here just expanded maybe a little bit
just expanded maybe a little bit transformed but that’s those
transformed but that’s those characteristics are still very much
characteristics are still very much there and that relationship I think can
there and that relationship I think can really be heard
[Music] I want to point out that on the end of
I want to point out that on the end of that melody an end of that solo it
that melody an end of that solo it didn’t repeat no one else imitated it
didn’t repeat no one else imitated it and this is important and done
and this is important and done intentionally because this movement is
intentionally because this movement is under the the theme of denial one of the
under the the theme of denial one of the first stage of grief and so there’s a
first stage of grief and so there’s a denied quality denial of that
denied quality denial of that protraction of that melody that the
protraction of that melody that the melody is not expanded is not continued
melody is not expanded is not continued on into the other voices and this is
on into the other voices and this is leads to an important relationship
leads to an important relationship between what Tallis does and what I do
between what Tallis does and what I do in the Tallis example the somatic
in the Tallis example the somatic material acts as a leader that which
material acts as a leader that which provokes imitation whereas in my music
provokes imitation whereas in my music the somatic material in this case acts
the somatic material in this case acts as a catalyst that which provokes change
as a catalyst that which provokes change in reflection another example that uses
in reflection another example that uses the same material just slightly later in
the same material just slightly later in the piece now is done between multiple
the piece now is done between multiple voices and you can hear how again that
voices and you can hear how again that same three features can be seen now in a
same three features can be seen now in a different context again
[Music] a good question would be well why do I
a good question would be well why do I want to do this at all why interact with
want to do this at all why interact with historical models want to just create my
historical models want to just create my own music totally from scratch and it’s
own music totally from scratch and it’s a really good question and one that I’ve
a really good question and one that I’ve been wrestling with for quite a long
been wrestling with for quite a long time and I have I’ll end with by
time and I have I’ll end with by dressing this question and I’ll do it in
dressing this question and I’ll do it in seven quick parts the first reason is
seven quick parts the first reason is that we’re used to it I grew up with
that we’re used to it I grew up with jazz and rock and like most of us were
jazz and rock and like most of us were accustomed to have hearing covers of
accustomed to have hearing covers of songs are doing standards and
songs are doing standards and transforming those into totally radical
transforming those into totally radical interpretations radically new different
interpretations radically new different interpretations is part and parcel of
interpretations is part and parcel of the creative process today another
the creative process today another reason is that we have just an
reason is that we have just an extraordinary amount of of historical
extraordinary amount of of historical precedents for this my favorite example
precedents for this my favorite example is actually come from the Renaissance
is actually come from the Renaissance like Thomas Tallis in this case I have a
like Thomas Tallis in this case I have a picture of Josie and to pray on the
picture of Josie and to pray on the screen one of my favorite composers and
screen one of my favorite composers and one of my favorite pieces of all time is
one of my favorite pieces of all time is piece called Joe special scan is me say
piece called Joe special scan is me say pon de lengua which is a paraphrase mass
pon de lengua which is a paraphrase mass where every voice is actually derived
where every voice is actually derived from a plain chant a third reason is
from a plain chant a third reason is that this is an homage in this case to
that this is an homage in this case to Thomas Tallis but it’s an artist can do
Thomas Tallis but it’s an artist can do this practice as as a way to show
this practice as as a way to show respect for these works that we think
respect for these works that we think deserve more attention that are often
deserve more attention that are often long lost and that we think are
long lost and that we think are absolutely exquisite fourth reason is it
absolutely exquisite fourth reason is it allows an artist to dive deep into the
allows an artist to dive deep into the material I created a whole
material I created a whole edition of this score by Thomas Tallis
edition of this score by Thomas Tallis because I I spent so much time with it
because I I spent so much time with it but also working with the material and
but also working with the material and transforming it into your own language
transforming it into your own language what better way to really understand the
what better way to really understand the material
material than to go through that process the
than to go through that process the fifth reason is that if you know that
fifth reason is that if you know that original material it can act as a window
original material it can act as a window into much more new and complex musical
into much more new and complex musical language or artistic language this piece
language or artistic language this piece was performed all over England and I did
was performed all over England and I did it everyone so many people would come to
it everyone so many people would come to the concert with scores of Thomas Tallis
the concert with scores of Thomas Tallis in their hand because I knew it so well
in their hand because I knew it so well and that gave them insight and a way
and that gave them insight and a way into the world of my piece because my
into the world of my piece because my piece obviously has a much more complex
piece obviously has a much more complex harmonic language it’s also doing this
harmonic language it’s also doing this as part of a growing community and
as part of a growing community and there’s a strong philosophical discourse
there’s a strong philosophical discourse around the practice of how does one
around the practice of how does one interact with the past how does one
interact with the past how does one incorporate those materials into our
incorporate those materials into our modern-day context which leads me to the
modern-day context which leads me to the last thing that doing so allows us to to
last thing that doing so allows us to to not only interact and engage with the
not only interact and engage with the past but somehow transform it and bring
past but somehow transform it and bring it into the current bring it into the
it into the current bring it into the present and figure out how we want to
present and figure out how we want to engage with that material going forward
engage with that material going forward how do we want to look backwards in
how do we want to look backwards in order to know how we should walk forward
order to know how we should walk forward thank you very much