Prepping For In Harmony
While I love composing standard pieces that have a specific number of players to perform the piece and an ideal duration, another aspect of composing that has given me much joy throughout my career has been creating pieces of music that can be played by many different people and can have many different durations. These pieces are usually referred to as “open ensemble” and “open duration” pieces. A composer can create such pieces in MANY different ways. One of the quickest ways is to create what is called a “graphic score”, and graphic scores have actually been around for quite some time! The earliest most successful one is considered to be December 1953 by Earle Brown. (View the score here : https://umsnjip.ch/Bilder/gallery-december1952/december1952-02.JPG ) Another way (which is what I prefer) is to create a set of guidelines, and have musicians “realize” these guidelines with their instruments and voices, and potentially other elements!
For the upcoming In Harmony tour, my piece titled “13 PARTS for the Falls” will have its world premiere performance by members of the Louisville Orchestra. This piece is my newest open ensemble/open duration piece, and I am so excited! For this piece, I created an exciting chord progression, and for each chord, the musicians will be playing specific pitches and experimenting with instrumental colors and textures. The rhythm will be rather open. Because of this, the audience is invited to play along with the Louisville Orchestra musicians with shakers! The shakers can be professional, handmade, or even something unconventional like a set of keys or a box of small candies. Another aspect of this piece that excites me is the addition of a live artist! The musicians will be collaborating with the Kentucky artist Lacy Hale ( https://www.lacyhale.com/ ). The afternoon will be full of music, art, collaboration, sound, and – of course – the majesty of the waterfall!
