DISCOVER THE MUSIC
ESSAYS
The Tradition of Jazz Mentorship
The Stravinsky Effect
Duke Ellington; The Source of his Success
Composite Timbre in Jazz Orchestration
Authentic, Imitative and Interpretive Performance Practices in Early Music
Tracing the Passage of the Oral Tradition in Medieval Music
Scroll Down for access to all Essays
Citations available upon request
The Tradition of Jazz Mentorship
Finding its way in Jazz Education
Sarina Bachleitner 2014
ABSTRACT
The idiom of Jazz has found its place in mainstream education with such academic force that one may believe its history has been anchored in academia for more than half a century. The path to institutionalized jazz education has been a long and arduous process that in its fledgling stages was assembled in blocks and pieces by many jazz pioneers. If one were to trace the lineage of jazz education by peeling back the layers of decades, one would find a myriad of jazz mentors at its core. Who were these mentors, how pivotal were they to the development of jazz and how important is this lineage in the structuring of today’s institutionalized jazz?
Looking into how mentorship has fostered jazz musicianship and how this tradition is finding its place in today’s jazz academia is worth careful evaluation and discussion. The tradition of mentorship is still an important aspect of jazz musicianship and must be considered when embracing new concepts in jazz education.
DEFINING MENTORSHIP
Dating back to early hunter-gatherer societies, apprenticeship was common practice for education in the arts and such practices continued into the late nineteenth century. Apprenticeship has historical significance as an early form of artistic development and is making its way back into mainstream education. “The traditional roots of instrumental teaching and learning clearly lie within the apprenticeship approach, and this is likely to have implications for many of the concepts involved in the practice.”
BACK DOOR EDUCATION
The reality is... jazz education has always been around but its infrastructure has changed throughout history. Musicians have benefited from both mentorship and conservatory training since the late 1800s. “Back door” jazz, a term I use to describe education that was not available through mainstream institutions, but rare educational opportunities that were located in lofts, school basements or session studios through non-institutional environments. This type of education became known through word-of mouth and remained a cult following for those who had a thirst for knowledge and were lucky enough to stumble through the “back door.” In the late 1970s, musicians could attend workshops by Barry Harris in a trendy loft in New York City or attend improvisation classes at the Jazz Mobile in Harlem. Nowadays, various organizations such as the Monk Institute and Jazz Apprenticeship Program offer jazz programming similar to the jazz mentorship philosophy and Universities and College music programs have embraced jazz as degree-worthy programs of academic study.
EARLY JAZZ EDUCATORS
Since jazz education has been a work in progress, many forms of jazz education and mentorship should first be defined. Private study, mentorship, university and academic studies are all valuable paths for gaining knowledge of the jazz idiom. Traditionally, jazz instrumentalists would study with private teachers to hone their craft of an instrument through structured lessons that focused on the building of technique and repertoire. If a musician had the luxury of affording these lesson, the foundation for musicianship was established. However, many jazz musicians were unable to subsidize these types of lessons and so it became more valuable for a young musician to befriend a master performer, follow them around throughout their daily careers and learn through professional osmosis. This represented a more casual environment where the usual conservatory status of teacher and student became more integrated and personal. This kind of relationship seems to have spawned two types of mentorship. The first being the immersion mentorship that occurred primarily as a business relationship through professional bandstand experience. The second is the kindred mentorship where the personal interaction between mentor and their apprentice extends beyond the performance arena into their personal lives as well.
THE TRADITION OF JAZZ MENTORSHIP
Louis Armstrong & King Oliver
Louis Armstrong credits much of his stylistic origins to King Oliver who convinced Armstrong to leave New Orleans and move to Chicago. Armstrong’s long-time mentorship with King Oliver was pivotal to his career and their relationship is evidence of early jazz mentorship. Louis Armstrong moved from New Orleans to Chicago to join King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band in 1922. Louis Armstrong became second lead cornetist and the collaborative styles of both Armstrong and Oliver became the foreground for new improvisational techniques in jazz. These early sessions were recorded using phonographic needles to etch sound waves into wax discs and trail-blazed the recording industry.
Claude Thornhill & Gil Evans
Gil Evans arranged for the Claude Thornhill Orchestra and was greatly influenced by his unusual instrumental pairings of French horns and tuba. Listening to the early recordings of Thornhill’s Orchestra shows the foundation of Gil Evans’ evolving textural style.3
Although Gil Evans credits Thornhill for his mentorship as a jazz arranger, Evans eventually left his band to pursue a more individual sound but maintained many compositional attributes of Thornhill’s style. Understanding the point of departure when the apprentice leaves the mentor to find his or her own voice is worth exploring when understanding the relationship between mentor and apprentice.
Art Blakey
Art Blakey is considered one iconic mentor who best represents jazz mentorship. He was pivotal in launching the careers of talented musicians such as Curtis Fuller, Bobby Timmons, Wayne Shorter and Freddie Hubbard by mentoring through an intensely innovative ensemble.
During an interview in 2005, Art Blakey discusses his affinity for hiring promising young musicians by saying “What you have to do is trade off with your experience and their [young musicians] energies, and fair exchange is no robbery.”
The energy and stylistic innovation of Blakey’s band was continuous and forever evolving as Blakey continued to spawn young talent into the professional arena. Blakey once said
“ I’m gonna stay with the youngsters. When these get too old I’ll get some younger ones. Keeps the mind active.” Blakey’s personal philosophy of fostering young talent through real world experience supports my argument on the importance of mentorship as a viable form of education.
Charles Mingus
Although much of his music was not widely accepted in mainstream circles, Charles Mingus became an underground force that pushed musicians to approach their music with more interactive consciousness. His creative workshop became a music-agricultural plateau where innovative ideas were cultivated within a mentorship environment.
After Mingus’s death, saxophonist John Stubblefield and Sue Mingus continued the Mingus legacy of collaborative workshops by providing opportunities for young musicians to work with The Mingus Orchestra.
Billy Taylor
Billy Taylor has been an important pioneer in the plight for jazz education and has devoted his career to introducing audiences to jazz. He began educating audiences in the early 1980s through live performances and launched the Jazz Mobile in Harlem NY when jazz education was still a fledgling concept. “Taylor has called jazz: America’s classical music for years. The appellation strikes at the core of his beliefs that jazz deserves more respect in the music education community”.6
Taylor exposed the inside track as to what was occurring on the band stand in order to enlighten audiences to the technical and highly skilled aspect of being a jazz musicians. Taylor’s approach to jazz education was to transform the concert arena into an interactive classroom-performance environment. As a predecessor to Wynton Marsalis, Billy Taylor’s visionary ideas brought jazz awareness into mainstream society and laid the foundation for jazz as an educational art form.
JAZZ EDUCATIONAL MYTHS DEBUNKED
Misconceptions about the value of institutionalized jazz versus traditional mentorship has struck the jugular of why jazz education matters. A traditionalist may argue that the over- intellectualization of jazz can hinder creativity and that the very existence of a privileged education goes against the grain that jazz is a street music best learned on the band stand. Such controversial attitudes are worth analysis when understanding contrasting opinions of traditional jazz mentorship versus the growth of institutionalized jazz. How does the merging of past and present methodologies affect jazz musicianship and what is on the educational forecast?
“Indeed, much of the debate surrounding jazz education centers on issues of just what jazz should be taught in the first place, with criticism often leveled at institutions that mandate a more narrow exclusively tradition based path of study.” However, many jazz institutions are willing to incorporate new methodologies that embrace the best of both worlds to better prepare young musicians for the real world.
JAZZ INDIVIDUALISM
Jazz individualism is not lost in conservatory or university academia. Contrary to Wilf’s opinion that jazz education stunts individual growth is not only naive but simply untrue. Jazz musicians of the past may have been self-taught by lack of institutionalized jazz education, but given the opportunity to enter an organized curriculum dedicated to the discussion and intricate studies of jazz is not an opportunity most of them would have dismissed.
A more poignant argument set by Chinen is that traditional apprenticeship is valuable since it carries a musician into the professional arena on a direct path through professional immersion. There may be many routes to get to one’s destination and where one may prefer the faster more direct highway; another may prefer the longer indirect country road simply because there may be something of value to gain or experience. Jazz musicianship inherently seeks knowledge from all directions and many musicians have an inclination to assimilate as much knowledge as they journey towards greater musicianship. The sharing of information becomes the normal path for honing one’s craft and the source of where information comes from is not as important as the accumulation of it as it’s applied towards one’s craft.
Many traditionalists with the best intentions to preserve the past are often at risk of blocking new trends that represent progress and change. Many of us over the age of fifty would admit to committing preachy sermons to our youth about “in my day we had to transcribe our solos at tempo without that slow-mo technology...” or “when we were young we had to copy parts and scores by hand...” The pitfalls of falling into the “them vs. us” mentality which often plagues religious and political platforms, is not a worthy strategy when discussing jazz education. The jazz community, at least in my experience as a musician, is a highly adaptive art form that prides itself in acclimation and open- mindedness. Our quest for originality only thrives when we embrace the ideas of those who inspire us. Using the argument from Wilf that institutionalized jazz hinders individualistic creativity in its constituents; is a fallacy. The very nature of jazz as an improvisational medium and individualized art form would not be compromised by gaining an advanced education.
JAZZ THUMB PRINT
If five trombonists were stranded on a deserted island for 5 years with one jazz educator using only one method of jazz study, would the 5 trombonists all end up sounding the same? Jazz is already a type of musical “thumb print” that involves so many intricate factors of knowledge that no two musicians can ever sound the same.
At the very core of every musician’s knowledge, there lies theoretical and foundational material that is embedded on the standards of music practice. These facts exist in the science of music theory or how one plays their instrument, but there are hidden subtleties on how each musicians learns and applies this knowledge because of physical, environmental and external conditions. Four piano players may all learn the major scales from the same teacher, but each student has a different physical make-up and combined with the practice on various pianos with different sound and hammer action may result in subtle differences in each student’s technique.
The importance of understanding how a jazz musician develops style is also part of exploring the argument of how individualism in jazz. Students who study jazz at a university jazz program may draw much of their knowledge from an academic curriculum, however the main element of student’s today still use listening as a primary source of knowledge to hone their craft. Any fly on the wall would observe a faculty lecture instructing students to listen and students of today are attached to their headphones a lot faster than placing a needle on a turn table.
Wilf also avoids certain stages of a musician’s life when gathering information before developing an individual style. A student in a jazz program would likely be spending much of their studies learning history, music theory, techniques and performance skills through information overload. During this time, students are not generally encouraged to develop individual styles since they are still listening, analyzing and developing performance skills. Wilf ignores the natural stages of most artists in any medium where the student learns through listening, analysis, emulation and applied techniques.
Visual artists learn the various techniques of Monet, Picasso and Rembrandt while creating art using those similar techniques as a foundation for developing skills before finding their own individual style. In the world of the jazz, “imitation is the best form of flattery” and understanding the works of one’s predecessors is the key to developing one’s own style.
CONCLUSION
When summing up the argument as to why mentorship is important to jazz education, one must recognize that jazz is an interactive sport. The importance of communication between musicians is crucial to the music beyond what is observed by the listener. No great jazz musician has ever emerged onto the scene without acknowledging the inspiration of another. No musical concept has grown out of a vacuum without the foundation of other ideas contributing to its existence. For that very same reason, the tradition of mentorship is an undeniable presence found in the idiom of jazz compared to other vocations. Once the importance of this practice is recognized, it stands to reason that the structure of any academic education in jazz should embrace this element of teaching into mainstream academia.
This is not to say that the etiquette for an innovative program suggests that a university professor invite students home for tea and personal advice, nor does this method of mentorship advise a student to call a professor by his first name to prove a point. The relationship of a mentor in the traditional context is about creating an environment that is geared towards the success of the apprentice within the professional arena. When the history of music education shows a separation of two worlds (the institutional form of education and the mentorship form of education) both aspects of pedagogy are valuable and none should exist without the other.
Many university jazz programs have integrated strong elements of jazz mentorship within the folds of its academic practices. On several occasions, faculty concerts within a jazz program will invite promising young students to perform along-side their teachers as a means for challenging the student to a higher level of musicianship. Although the curriculum is academically driven, the performance environment acclimates students to experience what occurs in the professional world.
Master classes within the university structure have also become a powerful means for integrating the mentorship philosophy into the classroom. Music schools today are offering students what Billy Taylor was offering audiences back in the 1970s. When a guest artist comes to lecture about their experiences as jazz performers, they are speaking a musical language that shows the inside track of what occurs on the band stand. In essence, they are handing down the tradition of jazz in a dialogue kindred to the mentor’s way.
The good news is that the role of mentorship is alive and well within the walls of today’s innovative university and college jazz programs. Unfortunately the importance of mentorship becomes bleak at the most critical point in a post graduate’s career...when they graduate. This is the moment in a musician’s career where the guidance of a seasoned professional is the most critical. When reviewing the history of musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Art Blakey, Gil Evans and many others, we must look at the common denominator of what propelled these musicians to move towards their success. Evidence shows that behind every great musician there stands a great mentor. The world of jazz academia has shown its membership to the immersion of jazz mentorship. How the individual musician decides to pursue the tradition is still on the educational horizon.
Resources
Bass, Lisa P., and Billy Taylor. “Marathon Man of Jazz Education: An Interview with Billy Taylor.” Music Educators Journal, 68, no. 5 (Jan., 1982). pp. 31-34 Accessed: January 29, 2016, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3397739.
Stokes, W. Royal. Growing up with Jazz: Twenty-four Musicians Talk about Their Lives and Careers. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. Burwell, Kim. “Apprenticeship in Music: A Contextual Study for Instrumental Teaching & Learning.” International Journal of Music Education 31, no. 3 (2012): 276-291. Accessed January 29, 2016. Doi: 10.1177/0255761411434501.
Jackson, D.D. “Institutionalized: The New Apprenticeship.” Village Voice 50, no. 22 (June 2005): C81, accessed January 29, 2016, http://search.proquest.com/docview/232258917. Armstrong, Louis and King Oliver. Louis Armstrong & King Oliver. Recorded with King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band & the Red Onion Jazz Babies, April 5, 1923 to December 22, 1924. Milestone MCD-47017-2, 1992, CD.
Thornhill, Claude. The Uncollected Claude Thornhill & His Orchestra 1947. Burbank, Calif: Hindsight Records HCD-108, 1980, CD.
Mingus, Charles, et al. Charles Mingus: The Jazz Workshop Concerts. Recorded between April 4, 1964 and September 20, 1965 in New York, Amsterdam, Minneapolis and Monterey. Mosaic MD7-65; on discs: 253, Mosaic, 2012, CD.
THE STRAVINSKY EFFECT
Sarina Bachleitner 2017
Abstract
The music of Stravinsky brings the Neoclassical genre into a more freer musical art form. There are many contemporary composers who have embraced the works of Stravinsky. Exploring the appeal of Stravinsky and why his music “strikes a chord” with other contemporary composers and musicians, specifically in the jazz genre, is worth careful evaluation. Understanding Stravinsky’s philosophy and theoretical approach to music will help determine what makes Stravinsky’s music appealing to the jazz musician. Using Stravinsky’s Harvard lectures entitled Music in Six Lectures will connect his philosophy with the jazz perspective. Theoretical analysis of Stravinsky’s “Ragtime” will reveal how the blending of both jazz and Stravinsky’s Neo-classicism can evolve into a hybrid style we will identify as the Stravinsky Effect.
The Stravinsky Effect
In the late 1940s, composer Billy Strayhorn coined the phrase “The Ellington Effect” to describe common identifiable characteristics in Ellington’s music such as the “jungle rhythm” or “trumpet growl,”. What is the Stravinsky Effect? By utilizing the term as a method for analysis, we will identify stylistic similarities and differences that co-exist between Stravinsky and the jazz idiom.
Stravinsky’s Approach
In order to delve into the musical connection between Stravinsky and the jazz idiom, we must first identify Stravinsky’s philosophical approach to music compared to that in the jazz idiom. There seem to be four topics discussed in Stravinsky’s lectures at Harvard that seem integral to his approach as a composer. Since these four topics are important to Stravinsky, we will compare these with jazz perspectives as well.
Improvisation vs Freedom
”Art as in everything else, one can build only upon a resisting foundation: whatever constantly gives way to pressure, constantly renders movement impossible. My freedom thus consists in my moving about within the narrow frame that I have assigned myself for each one of my undertakings. I shall go even further: my freedom will be so much the greater and more meaningful the more narrowly I limit my field of action and the more I surround myself with ob- stacles. Whatever diminishes constraint, diminishes strength. The more constraints one imposes, shackle the more one frees one's self of the chains that spirit.”
Improvisation is the most important structure of the jazz idiom. Stravinsky criticizes Wagner for using improvisation as a means to create over-dramatization of emotion in his operas. Although Stravinsky condones the concept of improvisation to entice an emotional response, he is referring to the “embellished” aspects of the Romantic period, not the improvisational element in jazz. In fact, Stravinsky believes that true artistic freedom comes from overcoming obstacles. Jazz musicians are like-minded in the way that they conform to a predetermined form or structure before allowing free will and interpretation.
Dissonance and the Concept of Tonality
“And for over a century music has provided repeated examples of a style in which dissonance has emancipated itself. It is no longer tied down to its former function. Having become an entity in itself, it frequently happens that dissonance neither prepares nor anticipates anything. Dissonance is thus no more an agent of disorder than consonance is a guarantee of security.”
The importance of both tonality and the use of dissonance is also a good place to compare jazz to the music of Stravinsky. Jazz and Stravinsky may believe in having a key structure, but neither are bound by any credo that mandates one tonal hierarchy. Miguel Oliveres wrote an article entitled The Language of Jazz where he discusses Stravinsky’s use of polytonality as a jazz characteristic. He goes further to discuss saxophonists John Coltrane and Charlie Parker’s use of polytonality to extract improvisational ideas. He uses a solo from Charlie Parker to identify a quote from Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring to explain how polytonality is used as a means for improvisation. Although polytonality is a strong element in both jazz and Stravinsky’s music, it is merely a foundation with which to launch other more complex developmental structures.
In jazz, improvisation uses harmony a guide, not a map with which to journey through a solo. In the case of a jazz standard, the harmonic structure may move through various keys, but the melody does not. Contrary to belief, most improvisation is not solely based on the harmonic progression but rather from melodic structure and interaction between the ensemble members. In the case of Stravinsky’s Ragtime, there are several obvious points of the piece where polytonality is not the basis for development at all. In fact, the harmonic structure of Stravinsky’s Ragtime starts diatonic but readily moves atonally through dissonant motivic sequencing. Removing obvious diatonic progressions will actually give tonality more power because it remains illusive and uncommon. Evidence of this occurs in the form of the blues where the last chord of the piece rests on the dominant seventh. What seems inconceivable in most classical genres is common within the blues and jazz idioms.
To summarize, the term Polytonality implies tonal duality but does not adequately explain why Stravinsky would choose to use it. Polytonality creates harmonic instability; a type of musical seesaw where the cadence may fall in one of two places. The music does not commit to one end, but rather moves with more harmonic surprise.
When summing up the lecture at Harvard, we can asses that while Stravinsky does offer a reckless abandonment of tonality, he would likely argue that shifting away from a preconceived key center is not against tonality but rather in favor of it.
Cultural Identity and Historical Folklore
“A renewal is fruitful only when it goes hand in hand with tradition.”
The cultural identity of jazz is a strong component of the jazz idiom. Every jazz musician must have a historical understanding and respect for the foundation of jazz and its social and political legacy. Without this knowledge, the musical performance of the ignorant will be one dimensional. Stravinsky discusses the importance of the Russian legacy and its music in his lectures at Harvard. An entire lecture is dedicated to necessity of Russian composers to create music that embrace the Russian culture. With the oppressive restrictions of the Russian government before the revolution in 1917, composers were considerably restricted in their music similar to African Americans during slavery when their instruments were taken away and they’re music could only be expressed through field hollers and religious context.
The history of a jazz and its cultural legacy is of vital importance to the community of jazz. Tracing the lineage of how jazz became a vital American art form is ever present in the artistic expression of the music. Stravinsky also offers a backdrop of national and political pur- pose within his music as well. Comparatively speaking, the presence of folklore in Stravinsky’s music is parallel to the blues elements one will always find in jazz. Humanitarian struggles and triumphs within an oppressed society exist within the art form whether those elements are intangible or audibly noticed. Stravinsky may not necessarily quote a traditional folk song within a symphony or create a triumphant brass fanfare to show patriotism or atonal dissonance to convey a revolt against the regime. Music by Stravinsky may simply contain a purpose to direct the listener to avoid feelings or he may abandon traditional music theory to project a position that is small in its revolt but enormous in its message and power.
Role of the Active Listener
“I have expatiated at some length on this theme in order to make you see more clearly where the true relations between the composer and the public lie, with the performer acting as an intermediary. You will thereby realize more fully the performer's moral responsibility. For only through the performer is the listener brought in contact with the musical work.”
First listening without preconceived reference similar to how jazz performers perform for themselves first, the result and acceptance comes second. On this issue, Stravinsky seems to contradict himself on two accounts. In the Harvard lectures, Stravinsky is clear about the importance of the role of the listener. He believes that the audience must accept the first debut of a premier as an act of patience and must allow the composer their first reveal without prejudice of judgement. This opinion may have been formed at the premier of The Rite of Spring where the visual savageness of the choreographed ballet in the Dance of the Adolescence against the heavy rhythmic drone of the music incited a riot during the premier. Stravinsky later commented on how the audience should have respectfully allowed the ballet to run its full performance free of judgement until the end. Stravinsky spoke of the importance of the audience to respect the artist to express their work unrestricted by ignorance and opinion. However, he neglects to discuss how the audience perceives their role. Is the audience meant to observe art or be the recipient of it? This atti- tude is heavily weighed by jazz scholars and critics. Just like Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring debacle, Jazzers have been accused of ignoring the audience in favor of the almighty art form. In the 1970s, jazz became Avant Garde and the atonal and free style of jazz pushed the music underground into a small cult following of mostly jazz lovers and enthusiasts. Jazz was losing its audience because the music was no longer for the listener; only for the performer. When a collection of jazzers dared to fuse jazz and rock into a genre called fusion, the audience began to grow and the jazz purists condemned them for “selling out”. Jazz has had its polar causes where both the jazz individualist could truthfully express their art while still satisfying the audience while others stayed the course on playing what they felt regardless of who enjoyed it. Stravinsky also seems to straddle both objectives. He seems certain that what may appear inaudible to the audience now, may eventually become pleasing and a century of changing music genres has proven him to be correct.
Comparative Analysis: Stravinsky’s Ragtime and Traditional Ragtime
There are certain musical traits that generally exist within a traditional Ragtime piece and should first be identified as necessary “elements.” There are also other stylistic traits which we will identify as “embellishments” that may not be present in traditional Ragtime but are still part of the jazz language. The four most important element of Ragtime is the Two Feel, Multi-the- matic Form, Short Motives and the Ragtime Eighth-note.
1. The Two Feel: In early ragtime, the left handed piano bass line which falls on the first and third beat could be played by a tuba player or in later years, a bass player.
2. Multi-Thematic Form: Any vital thematic statement will likely be repeated more than once but separated by a bridge representing new thematic material.
3. Short Motives: Ragtime motives are usually only 2-bar phrases and are likely to repeat by passing through a series of octaves, or played in octave unison by the pianist or between horn sec- tions.
4. The Ragtime Eighth-note: Eighth notes were played in a more jagged manner during the early 1900s compared to the smoother swing eighth-note feel in later jazz styles. A swinging Ragtime eighth note feel can be thought of as a dotted eighth followed by a sixteenth. This type of swing eighth note feel eventually became obsolete when musicians started to consider a true swing feel divided as 3 triplet notes instead of 4 sixteenth notes. This allowed a more smoother swing feel and to this day, the jagged swing feel of Ragtime would be considered taboo unless a musician was performing in the Ragtime genre.
With these four “elements” in mind, other “embellished” attributes may also be added but are not necessarily strict characteristics of the Ragtime style.
1. Slide Trombone: This effect may have evolved from a particular dance step that needed to be cued or just for comical effect when Ragtime was evolving out of vaudeville acts.
2. Quarter Note Feel: Placing a heavy quarter note passage sparingly within a piece to create a strong contrast from the usual swing eighth-note feel.
3. Stop Time: An effect made popular during the vaude- ville acts and continued through early jazz. In ragtime it often occurs at the close of the An or B section. By the mid 1900s, stop time was used to launch a soloist into a featured section of the piece. Stravinsky uses this slide technique several times in Ragtime as a means for creating transi- tional material into a new section.
Stravinsky’s Ragtime holds obvious relations to the ragtime genre but continuously breaks from tradition in nonconventional ways. Through analysis, we can decipher where Stravinsky pays homage to stylistic traits and where he chooses to abandon them. The end result is a hybrid construction that represents both sides of the compositional spectrum. In essence, the blending of Neo-classicism with jazz creates a new form of structure which we will herein call the Stravinsky effect.
Multi-Thematic Form
Multi-thematic form of AABBACCDD is the typical construction for a traditional ragtime piece. There is always a four bar introduction where a short phrase descends through multiple octaves to a sudden stop time break before the first A section. In the case of Stravinsky’s ragtime, he adheres to the required form by using a traditional introduction with stop as shown in time Ex. 1. He also goes through the typical form until the last C section where he then always returns to the Introduction again without ever offering a D section at all. Another unusual component to Stravinsky’s form is that every time he repeats the form, each section becomes reduced. Stravinsky creates a type of musical urgency that expedites the way the piece travels through time (#). This concept coincides with his philosophy that music need not be restricted by conventional concepts of time.
Motivic Development
Thematic material is a standard ragtime is generally easy to identify and is usually created using diatonic triads linked by chromatic passages. Stravinsky’s ragtime is slightly different in the way that he avoids diatonic triads in lieu of chromaticism to design his first two motives as seen in Example 1A. Stravinsky’s process for development becomes more interesting as the piece contin- ues through the form. Every time motive 1 is repeated, the intervalic structure widens and is sequenced at a higher pitch. First look at Motive 1A and then at Example 3. In Example 1, motive 1 & 2 occupy three measure. In Example 3, both motives have been condensed into two mea- sures. Stravinsky also makes other changes to the original two motives by raising the pitch, expanding the intervalic structure, increasing 2-part harmony to 3-part while condensing the amount of measures you get to hear it. Another element of the Stravinsky Effect; a motive may change shape but the melodic content remains in tact.
Harmonic Structure
Stravinsky plays hard ball when it comes to tonality. His philosophy on how tonality should evolve is also clearly stated within his lectures at Harvard(#). To paraphrase his argument, Stravinsky avoidance of conventional tonality does not necessarily lessen its importance by creating instability but rather enhances its existence by making it unpredictable.
In Example 1, we may think the piece is in the key of C, when in fact we are being told that we are in no key center at all. Although the chromatic passing tones to G followed by an abrupt stop time marked in Fragment A, suggests a G7 chord, this is the first a last glimpse of tonality that we will see for the remainder of the piece. What becomes more apparent is the implied key of Bb in the bass line. Although these examples are a piano reduction of the orchestrated version of Ragtime, we can observe how the traditional ragtime stride piano creates the feel of two and emphasizes a progression of I going to V. To be more specific, Bb and F7. Although the left hand remains tonal, the melody pays head games through ambiguous chromaticism. Once Stravinsky presents the complete form a second time, all evidence of tonality becomes distorted.Here lies another element of the Stravinsky Effect; more textural complexity within a nonconventional structure
Rhythmic Syncopation
One common aspect of the jazz genre not specific to just ragtime style is the pinning syncopation against a non-syncopated structure. Contrary to belief, jazz music is not all syncopated but mostly a balance between up and down beats. Hypothetically, if a person were to clap only the up beats for four measures, those syncopations would begin to feel like downbeats. Jazz must carefully balance to placement of both up and down beats to create an actual swing feel. Stravinsky seems to be aware of this as evident in Example 2B. Solid quarter notes in the melody accompanied by a strident bass line is repeated after two bars. Within those bookends, Stravinsky has inserted the original syncopated motive 2 and repeats that as well. This heavy quarter-note feel occurs often later in the piece but becomes somewhat morphed as seen in Example 4C. What seems to be two separate motives and sections of the piece are in fact, fragmented varia- tions of the same idea. Another syncopated nuance is the displacement of the original motive on different bets throughout the piece. Although subtle in Stravinsky’s ragtime, the use of rhythmic displacement is common practice in the jazz genre. On example of Stravinsky’s use of rhythmic displacement exists in the movement Dance of the Adolescence in The Rite of spring. Stravinsky uses an irregular rhythmic pulse through the entire movement to create intensity and unpredictability. Jazz flutist Hubert Laws captures the essence of this piece in his jazz arrangement of the Rite of spring where the constant irregular pattern becomes the inspiration for jazz improvisation.
Summary
What makes Stravinsky’s music appealing to contemporary musicians and composers goes beyond the discussion of philosophical and theoretical approach. However, the four categories presented against the analysis of Ragtime reveals evidence that Stravinsky and jazz hold similar perceptions on how music is to be perceived and constructed.
Stravinsky’s Neo-classicism points in many directions and has been pivotal to the way we think and listen to twentieth century music.
We now can appreciate that the abandonment of tonality is not against but rather in favor of it. That music need not be restricted by conventional concepts of time. That cultural heritage is a valuable inspiration for art. That improvisation can impose restrictions yet still be free. That a motive can morph through obscure stages but still have melodic content. That is the Stravinsky Effect.
* Analysis Score & Citations available upon request
DUKE ELLINGTON
The Source of his Success
Sarina Bachleitner 2014
Abstract
Duke Ellington is a person of special interest when exploring the emergence of the swing era during the Harlem Renaissance. Understanding the historical significance of Ellington’s career, the innovative elements of his compositional style, and what propelled his music to greatness will reveal how new visions of jazz came into focus. Duke Ellington’s music cannot be put into a silo of praise in an attempt to yield an understanding of his life’s work. The cause and effect of his musicianship and character are complicated in their entirety yet simple in their effect. Was Ellington a genius? And if he was, does that explain the source of his success.
It was the Great Migration that brought jazz musicians from New Orleans, Kansas and other southern states to the urban community of Harlem in hopes for a better life. What they found was a liberal environment far from the oppressive Jim Crow laws of the South and closer to an artistic freedom and a place to call home. New York was the gateway to an “explosion of the arts” unlike any other metropolis throughout the world (Daneman, 2015). Here in the melting pot of New York City, jazz was simmering a southern gumbo into Harlem stew and swing was the new soup du jour.
The Source of his Success
During this time, Harlem’s nightlife, radio and Tin Pan Alley were becoming notable media and entertainment hubs, thus creating an advantageous surrounding for jazz musicians such as Ellington to foster careers both locally and abroad. The juxtaposition of artistic innovation, racial tolerance and intellectual awareness was generating a momentum. The Negro movement, initiated by the literary works of African American writers Langston Hughes and Alain Locke, discredited stereotypes of the black community by presenting new images of respectability, equality and poise. “The Harlem Renaissance [was catching] the attention of high society to observe the creativity of black Americans and that helped generate jazz popularity around the world ” (Watrous, 1999). Harlem was experiencing a cultural revolution and provided an environment where jazz could thrive uninhibited and adored.
It was the year 1923, when Ellington left Washington D.C to claim a new life in Harlem. “What a world to step into, if you were inquisitive and at the beginning of the 1920s, Duke Ellington, touched by genius and ambition, prepared by education and class privilege, walked into the 20th century.”(Watrous, 1999). Without consequence, Ellington was able to cross racial barriers while becoming symbiotic with the mission of the “Negro Movement”. Through osmosis, Ellington became the lovechild of the black and white community and with great historical significance, contributed to the foundation of the Harlem Renaissance.
In 1923, Fletcher Henderson established a new larger orchestra that made its debut at the Cotton Club in New York. When Henderson brought Armstrong from Chicago, the band began to develop a unique, more advanced quality of danceable swing. Ellington, inspired by the sounds of Henderson’s Orchestra, expanded his Kentucky Club Orchestra and began a long-term engagement at the prestigious Cotton Club in Harlem, New York. It was at this prestigious club where Ellington launched his career through both radio and live performances.
During the fledging stages of his new expanded orchestra, Ellington was also acquiring a distinct sound and propelling jazz into the new emerging swing era. His influence as both a musician and person of stature extended far beyond the community of Harlem, but also across the United States and around the world.
One individual cannot patent the beginnings of innovation without credit to its predecessors. Ellington credits band leader Fletcher Henderson, composer Will Marion Cook and members of his orchestra for inspiring the foundation of his compositional methods. Once, during a casual exchange of ideas with Will Marion Cook, Duke asked, “ ‘What is the logical way to develop this theme ?’ Cook answered, ‘First you find the logical way, and when you find it, avoid it and let your inner self break through and guide you. Don’t try to be anyone but yourself’” (Gloster 1974, 177). Following Cook’s advice, Duke Ellington wrote music to encourage his musicians towards expressive individualism; a place to “be yourself” (177). He hired musicians with technical prowess and individual character and these musicians helped mold a new generation of swing.
There are many facets to Ellington’s style that are often referred to as the “Ellington Effect,”and these elements set the foundation for new ideas in jazz. One element of the Ellington Effect is the virtuosity of featured trumpeter, Bubber Miley, in his use of various mutes to create a dramatic growling and talking technique. This technique, also echoed by trombonist “Tricky Sam” Nanton and in later years, Cootie Williams, all contributed to the unique sound of Ellington’s band. Evidence of this technique can be heard when listening to “Creole Love Call” where the muted trumpet growl followed by the wordless vocal obbligato is emotive technique at its best. Although many have credited Ellington as the sole provider of this improvisational element, Miley’s obvious ownership could warrant a new reform called the “Miley Effect.”
Another component of the Ellington style is the “jungle affect” that promotes an organic primal quality to the music. Many of his compositions have an underlying rhythmic structure that drives the music with exciting tom-tom rhythms and percussive tribal beats. Combine those elements with the wailing cry of the “Miley Effect” and the result could transcend the listener to a place of African origins and nostalgia.
To summarize Ellington’s style, the most beautiful element of his music is that the importance of melody is never forgotten. One only needs to listen to “Harlem Air Shaft,” “Black and Tan Fantasy” or “Creole Love Call” to hear that Ellington’s words are clearly spoken. Ellington was passionate about the tradition of song and folklore and made it known that his music had a message. In an interview by Florence Zunser, of the New York Evening Graphic, Ellington states, “I am not playing jazz. I am trying to play the natural feelings of a people” (Tucker 1993, 45).
After exploring numerous publications about Duke Ellington, one will find a connective thread of factual information for the chronology of Ellington’s life and the stylistic elements of his music. Ellington was historically pivotal in the movement towards racial tolerance, innovative in his stylistic approach to composition and an important icon in the idiom of jazz. Yet how does one explain the Ellington phenomenon in realistic terms? Did a predisposition for musical genius lie dormant within his genetic code to emerge regardless of circumstance or did the path of his life guide him towards greatness? Finding answers may not be easy but the views of those who appreciate Ellington’s accomplishments have a lot to say on the subject.
Historians, authors and critics tend to use the term “genius” as a descriptive catch- all phrase for Duke Ellington. Journalist, Peter Watrous, states that, “Ellington, touched by genius and ambition, walked into the twentieth century” (Watrous 1999). Author and musician Gunther Schuller, states “I regard Ellington as a great genius” (Schuller 1992, 36). Although Ellington enthusiasts may say that definitions such as “talent” and “genius” are fair play when discussing anything Ellington, I would argue that such terms are too convenient and underscore the incessant demand and dedication involved when perfecting ones’ craft.
Explaining intangible talents as a gift given to the chosen few, can often disregard the mastering of music as a life time process. To imply that every compositional choice Ellington made was already at the peak of immaculate conception, ignores the importance of trial and error as a valuable path towards artistic discovery. When examining the reasoning behind Ellington’s compositional style, one could say that his music was channeled by an innate talent for innovative sound, but the pragmatic might look for a more simple explanation.
Ellington, primarily a self-taught composer, would often transfer piano voicing’s directly into the score with minimal arranging alterations. In the case of “Harlem Air Shaft,” Ellington commits an arranging “faux pas” by using unorthodox but beautiful parallel and vertical voicing’s superimposed directly from the piano. This aspect of arranging may have, perhaps by accident, contributed to new innovative textures that later became Ellington’s signature sound. Blissful ignorance or not, Ellington’s decision to maintain these harmonic structures were, in my opinion, purely experimental and need not be deified in order to be proven valuable.
Ellington’s success (or “genius”) did not emerge out of a vacuum nor did it suddenly appear without incident. Ellington experienced his share of pitfalls and creative challenges like any other pioneer. In 1934, Ellington’s Carnegie Hall debut of his extended composition, “Black Brown and Beige,” met with audience distain. The extended 53-minute composition was a musical narrative of the African American experience, a subject matter that posed a constant muse for his music. The extended work received negative reviews from numerous critics throughout New York. One review written by Douglas Watt’s for the Daily News stated “There is almost no continuity to the piece and it obviously isn’t the sort of thing the audience came to hear...” (DeVeaux, 1993). This review, similar in tone to other reviews, did not offer any false accolades of Ellington, and proves that during the height of his career, was not above reproach. In response, Ellington reduced the size of the composition to a more publicly acceptable length, showing his ability to balance public opinion with personal artistry.
So many musicians have contributed to the collective archive of the jazz idiom, but few have captured the essence of the human condition as well as Ellington. Understanding the desires of an audience and the needs for expressive individualism proves Ellington’s music as enjoyable entertainment with a purpose. Genius or not, one should examine the reality of the human condition as a valid path towards success before idealizing the reason with subjective terminology. Ellington was grounded in the realities of life and that is what made him accessible to the people and capable of such extraordinary music. The presence of Harlem and the history of the Renaissance is in the folds of jazz and the narrative is told through every song that is heard. Yet with all that narrative, Ellington treated the story of music with grace and beauty, incorporating the cause of a people into something of value.
RESOURCES
Current, Gloster B. 1974. “Duke Ellington: The Black Perspective in Music 2 (2): 172-178
DeVeaux, Scott. 1993.”Black, Brown and Beige and the Critics” Black Music Research Journal 13 (2):125-146
Ellington, Duke. 1927. “Creole Love Call”. By Duke Ellington. Originally recorded 1927 with Duke Ellington Orchestra. On Duke Ellington: The Bubber Miley Era. Jazz Legends 2003 JAZ 1014, Compact disc.
Ellington, Duke. 1936. “Echoes of Harlem”. By Duke Ellington. Originally recorded 1936 with The Cotton Club Orchestra. On The Complete 1932-1940 Brunswick Recordings of Duke Ellington and his Famous Orchestra, Mosaic MD11-248, compact disc.
Ellington, Duke. 1940. “Harlem Air Shaft”. By Duke Ellington. Originally recorded 1940 with The Cotton Club Orchestra. RCA Victor. On Duke Ellington: Masterpieces, 1926-1049. Kent, England: Proper 2001, compact disc.
Ellington, Duke. 1927. “Black and Tan Fantasy”. By Duke Ellington. Originally recorded 1927, Victor. On Jazz: The Smithsonian Anthology. 2010. SFWCD 40820, compact disc.
Ellington, Duke. 1926. “East St. Louis Toodle-oo” (jazz). By Duke Ellington and Bubber Miley. Originally recorded on Vocalion, 1926. On Duke Ellington: The Bubber Miley Era. Rhino R2 7987, 78rpm
Green, Edward. 2011 “Harlem Air Shaft: A True Programmatic Composition?” Journal of Jazz Studies 7 (1): 28-46
Martin, Henry and Keith Waters. 2011. Jazz: the First 100 Years. Cengage Learning.
Rattenbury, Ken. 1990. Duke Ellington: Jazz Composer. London and New Haven. Yale University Press.
Schuller, Gunther. 1992 “The Many Sides of Duke Ellington: The Music’s Greatest Composer” Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 46 (1): 36-51
Tucker, Mark. 1993. The Duke Ellington Reader. New York, NY. Oxford University Press.
Watrous, Peter. 1999 “Music: Ellington Emerges, Falters and Triumphs: Catching the Spirit of a Century”. New York Times 17 (2): 32
7
Authentic, Imitative and Interpretive Performance Practices in Early Music
Sarina Bachleitner 2016
Abstract
Some would argue that the modernization of Baroque repertoire has gradually removed itself from the authenticity of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This ideology claims that the authentic use of period instruments and techniques must be present if the performance is to have any value. Other points of view claim that this type of purism is unrealistic and contrary to the “rational” and “affectional”elements of the Baroque style. In other words, the music must leave something to the performer’s imagination. Although the authentic rendering of any genre has its merits, I believe that interpretive performance is in fact, the most authentic way to perform the Baroque idiom.
Art in the late Renaissance and Baroque centuries showed many signs of art imitating life with great interest in the human condition. This may substantiate the idea that interpretive style is of equal or more importance than authenticity. Historically informed performances may be necessary as a foundation for mastering a performance, but I challenge any view that considers interpretive performance as a less genuine path. With scholarly discussion in tow, I will explore various performance practices of the Medieval, Renaissance and specifically, the Baroque periods.
Definition of Authentic, Imitative and Interpretive Performance Practices.
Since there is an abundance of data on the subject, I will narrow the vast collection of scholarly definitions into three performance practices.
1. Authentic: The purist kind of performance practices using strict compositional protocol and period instrumentation. It remains true to its original form and structure with consideration for the composer’s intent. A purist would ask that a snapshot of an original work be frozen in time in order for the integrity of that genre to be properly realized.
2. Imitative: A reconstruction of the original using modern instrumentation and influences. It respects the origins of early music but is more a mirror image or replica of an original work. This practice considers the intent of the composer as well.
3. Interpretive: The blending of past and present where expressive liberties are given to the performer. It suggests that once an original composition has been created, any replica thereafter is subject to the interpretation of the performer. When pinning the authentic against the imitative and interpretive ideology, one is merely playing the composition versus arrangement game.
The Influence of Art
Understanding the influential role of music within the cultural world is vital when exploring the meaning of authentic versus imitative and interpretive performance. When questioning the importance of these three ideologies, we must research cultural and philosophical influences surrounding the art movement during those centuries.
A sculpture is created by Michelangelo. It is revealed to the public. It has an influence that will change and effect all that exists thereafter. Once art is realized (meaning performed or made real), it loses its ability to remain pure. Art doesn’t evolve out of a vacuum. Once an idea has taken shape, any replica of that original idea is an imitative art form and its influence belongs to its cultural surroundings. In other words, every new artistic idea does not evolve on its own but is merely a representation of a pre-existing idea. Because of this perpetual influence, the opinion that any art form is completely original or authentically pure can be challenged. In the case of music, the performance of any so-called authentic idiom will always be an interpretive art form and this must happen in order for music to evolve.
Genre Specific Performance Practices and Techniques
During the Middle Ages, the practice of learning music by rote was the standard practice for learning the chant. As music notation evolved, the practice of memorization was becoming obsolete. Geographical exploration, pedagogical practices and the humanitarian influences of the Ars Nova affected structural changes in monophony. With great effort to re-establish the power of the Roman church and the purity of its music, Emperor Charlemagne sent scholarly experts on a quest to spread the teachings of the authentic chant. Given the historical performance practice of monophony during the Middle ages, it seems appropriate to perform a gregorian chant with authenticity in mind.
Music of the Renaissance brought the age of polyphony. Music notation was evolving into mainstream society and now music was part of every day life. Music was now a story-telling medium that allowed for more expressive performance practices called text painting. Text painting in the Italian madrigal, showed more rhetorical dialogue than ever before. Sacred music was becoming more expressive as well. For example, the cantus firmus of a Renaissance motet, was imitative and interpretive in its structure to allow for vocal expressivity. This element allowed the performer to use composition as a medium for their own expressive language.
The Baroque era was the age of musical exploration where composers began to expand the concept of music to new heights. Composers were creating virtuosic features against a larger ensemble where the recitative and aria portion of a piece was filled with improvisational nuances. Where musical embellishments of the Renaissance were merely implied, ornamental elements of the Baroque idiom became common practice. Many composers preferred performers to take liberties and offer interpretive style to their music. The popular use of the Basso continuo is one example of how performers were given poetic license to add interpretive style within the Baroque style.
When looking for evidence of how Baroque composers intended the performers to interpret their music, we find a plethora of evidence pointing to the importance of interpretive style. In the 1600s, ‘Jacopo Peri praised the vocalist Vettoria Archilei, who sang in his opera L’Euridice… because she not only performed the ornaments he wrote but also adorned his compositions “with those pretty and graceful [things] which cannot be written, and writing them, cannot be learned from writings.”’
It seems that when experts talk about J.S. Bach, there seems to be a consensus that he was the most forgiving of composers when it comes to interpretive performance practices. I have often heard people say that if Bach were alive today he would be a jazz musician. Whether that’s true or not, we can sense a few things about Bach’s intent as a composer when exploring his music. We do know that during Bach’s employment in Leipzig, he became influenced by the music of Buxtehude and “began improvising and accompanying the hymns with what were called curious variations and irrelevant ornaments.” Even though Bach was known to improvise unprepared compositions for patrons and courtly functions, we can only speculate that he preferred performers to play his works verbatim or elaborate beyond the written score.
Timothy Collins discusses the importance of emotional expressivity in an article entitled “Reactions against the Virtuoso.” In his review he explains the importance “ornamental improvisation” as necessary for “music to move the soul and delight the senses.” He adds that this aspect of virtuosity, known as passaggi or gorgie, was expected through the period of 1580 to 1620 and was the precursor for new vocal techniques in France during the late sixteenth century. Another contributor to the theory of interpretive style within the Baroque period is German composer, organist, and music theorist Michael Praetorius. In a book Syntagma musicum, published in 1619, he describes the role of the vocalist as “not much different from an orator, requiring many expressive devices to move the listener.”
The most compelling argument for interpretive style in the Baroque idiom is the study on improvised vocalization by scholar John Butt. He reminds us that there is an important relationship between the composer and the performer by stating “this dialogue needs to be recaptured if the concept of a historically conditioned performance is to have any sense.” What started as a performers “occasion to invent” becomes more indoctrinated through the Baroque era. However, he also states that the emergence of new compositional trends of the Baroque style resonate with the ‘rhetorical’ aspects of the Renaissance as well. Specifically the style recitivo as an obvious example of ornamental interpretation that became a matter of written theory with expectation for interpretive performance. He continues to explain how attitudes regarding the first and second prattica forged a collaboration between composer and performer and was pivotal to ornamental techniques used within the Baroque idiom. “This music can indeed be viewed from the standpoint of its composer-performer status, [where] modern concerns for historical performance can more profitably be directed towards the music itself.” John Butt also mentions the use of rhetorical language used by composers Monteverdi, Cavalli and Rossi as characteristic of imitative practice. He states that “the musical-rhetorical figures which focuses on the analysis of vocal polyphony through the application of rhetorical concepts than on the composition of contemporary music through the use of modern expressive techniques.”
Arguments of the Importance of Authenticity
Aron Edidin’s article on “Consequentialism about Historical Authenticity," explores several controversial opinions that support or reject authenticity as a criteria for the performance of early music. He first identifies authentic performance as adhering to the original intent of the composer and the use of instruments and techniques from that period. He outlines three opposing opinions that ring true to our definitions of authenticity, imitative and interpretive styles.
The first point of view claims that there is only “one way to play”. That modern performance practices of early works have become “distorted” and if the music is to have authentic value, the performer must replicate the exactness of that period. The second point of view states that the original intent of the composer must be considered through the “artistic role of the performer”. A type of traditional revival where the reproduction or imitation of a piece is “historically informed” but not exhaustive. The third opinion claims that modern performances of early music have been influenced by the “Wagnerian” era and has shaped new concepts of how early music is performed. This interpretive practice allows the performer to enhance a composition with modern sensibilities and influences.
Edidin uses a quote from Stephen Davies that states “ the nature of classical composition entails that once the decision has been made to perform such compositions…there is a presumption in favor of the use of period practices and instruments in a context of full fidelity to composers’ directions.” Davies believes that authentic “requirements, are not an interpretive option.” This type of absolutism is consistent throughout the discussion about how early music is to be historically performed.
Continuing the path of how authentic rendering of early music closely resembles imitative and interpretive practices, Nicholas Cook states “According to this language, we do not have ‘performances’ but rather “performances of” pre-existing works. The implication is that a performance should function as a transparent medium, expressing or bringing out only what is already in the work…” Cook has touched on a valid point that recognizes performance as a reflective art form. This statement resonates with my philosophy that art is constantly changing by its influential surroundings and therefore, cannot be expected to remain pure.
Edidin also involves jazz scholar Paul Berliner, who believes that the “updating of a performance” can co-exist within a traditionally correct performance. Comparatively speaking, a jazz musician can pay homage to an old standard by putting an interpretive spin on the original while maintaining the integrity of the piece. Although the improvisational aspects of jazz cannot be held to the same criteria as early music, there is a consistent thread of interpretative and improvisational practice dating back to early Renaissance and Baroque centuries.
Edidin concludes his argument in full support of historically informed practice with emphasis on “updating a composition in performance [as] a way of performing it”. The integrity of early music is not compromised simply because an interpretation is pursued.
Peter Walls presents more extensive research on the importance of authentic performance in his publication “History, Imagination and the Performance of Music.” He continues to question the dogmatic quest from scholars who impose authenticity as a requirement for modern performers. He explores problems that arise from placing authentic practice as an absolute imperative. 1. The urgency for authentic performance is unrealistic because the modern approach to early repertoire must factor in the audiences personal experience of the music. 2. That the modern influences of composers occurring after Bach influenced new practices in performance, and 3. That the limited amount of performers who stay true to the authentic may not be addressing external philosophical and rational aesthetics of modern performance.
Walls confirms my original hypothesis that the “rational” and “affectional” aspects of musical performance is always present regardless of any intent for authenticity.
Similar to Edidin, Peter Walls agrees that research is of vital importance when performing works of any early music. That the research itself, “…Ought to have a life of its own separate from its application in performance”. He concludes his article by stating that although the Renaissance to Baroque eras offer some specific performance guidelines, little data on the “expressive” requirements of performance is available.
Summary
When gathering the extensive opinions on the importance of authentic versus imitative and interpretive performance practices of early music, evidence shows that there is a mutual respect for all three ideologies. It is not enough to merely state that all performances of early music must follow a strict treatise for authenticity. Art imitates life and therefore must always be changing in order to evolve. When a performer is dedicated to a particular genre, it stands to reason that gaining knowledge of that genre is pivotal to the performance of that piece. However, the relationship between the composer and performer should embrace a musical journey that in its interpretive state can offer more than its authentic and imitative counterparts. When understanding the mastery of composers such as J.S.Bach, we witness his ability to abandon standard practices in lieu of new ones. We can assume his motivation to create was not hindered by a philosophy that limited him to a set of rules.
In my opinion, any performance of a piece, no matter how authentic, will always be imitative or interpretive in its recreation. Once an original composition is performed, it becomes a clone simply because the external influences and instrumental nuances of the performer change the DNA of the original work. The individuality of the performer, paired with the surrounding influences of modern life, will affect the overall outcome of that performance. Conclusively, this would prove that the quest for authenticity of any genre of music will always be an interpretive art form. With that in mind, we must merge the intent of the composer with the sensibilities of the performer when deciding on the relevance of authenticity and apply it one performance at a time.
RESOURCES
BOOKS
Walls, Peter. Introduction to“History, Imagination and the Performance of Music.” ( Suffolk, UK: Boydell & Brewer, 2003), pp.1-11.
Donington, Robert.The Interpretation of Early Music, revised ed. (London, 1989), p.37.
Davies, Stephan. Musical Works and Performances (Oxford: Oxford UP, 2001).
Cook, Nicholas and Mark Everist. “Analyzing Performance, Performance Analysis,” in Rethinking Music, eds.(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), 244.
Berliner, Paul. Thinking in Jazz, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994).
ONLINE JOURNALS
Collins, Timothy A. “Reactions against the Virtuoso. Instrumental Ornamentation Practice and the Stile Moderno.” International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music 32, no. 2 (Dec., 2001): 138. Accessed December 1, 2016. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1562263.
Edidi, Aron (2008) “Consequentialism about Historical Authenticity,” Performance Practice Review: Vol. 13: No. 1, Article 2. DOI:10.5642/perfpr.200813.01.02. Accessed December 1, 2016. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/ppr/vol.13/issl/2.
Rinehart, Hannah M.“Musical Fury: Impressing Through Expressing in Baroque Improvisation” (Research and Scholarship Symposium (April 20, 2016). Paper 20. Accessed December 4, 2016. http://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/research_scholarship_symposium/2016/podium_presentations/20.
Butt, John “Improvised Vocal Ornamentation and German Baroque Compositional Theory: An Approach to Historical Performance Practice.” Journal of the Royal Musical Association 116, no. 1 (January 1, 1991): 43. Accessed December 4, 2016. http://www.jstor.org/stable/766493Click
Composite Timbre in Jazz Orchestration
Sarina Bachleitner 2016
PROLOGUE
Scenario One: The scene is a vast desert wasteland with dry dust circling in tiny funnels and an eerie sense of emptiness. A tumbleweed darts across the screen and a quick shot of boots treading heavily with spurs clinking a path to somewhere. We hear the flies buzzing and suddenly a sinister face appears...pruned by the sun...waiting. We hear a flute play a quick falling 5-note riff followed by silence. How does this one musical gesture create an emotional response?
Scenario Two: Sergei Prokoviev composed a programmatic operetta based on the story of Peter & the Wolf in order to introduce an audience of children to each instrument of the orchestra. Each character in the story is represented by an instrument. Why did Prokoviev use strings to identify the boy, the oboe as the duck and the bird as the flute?
Scenario Three: Jazz composer Maria Schneider uses accordion and vocals to paint a musical image of small Midwestern town in a composition entitled “The Pretty Road.” Using these unique instrumental pairings seems vital to the musical landscape yet there is minimal analytical discussion on how these decisions are pre-eminent in the process of Schneider’s orchestration.
Whether we are watching a Sergio Leone western scored by Ennio Morricone or listening to an operetta by Prokoviev, we may be unaware of a composer’s subtle tactics to captivate an audience. However, those who which to delve into the world of orchestration must ask the question: how does a composer use instrumental timbre to create textures that tell a story?
ABSTRACT
Few analytical studies have been made that question what role timbre plays in the decisions a composer makes during the process of pairing instruments for orchestration. Are the choices of using musical tone to create complex textures of sound a strategic conscious decision or is it merely an inherent byproduct of other compositional factors?
I propose that composite timbre plays a primary role in composition not merely as an arranging default, but as a more conscious element of manipulating the listener towards an emotional response. If the importance of timbre in jazz orchestration was based primarily on the amount
of analytical studies on the subject, one might surmise that timbre is merely an afterthought or an affect that occurs after the melodic and harmonic elements of music are considered.
Unfortunately, many publications on orchestration pass over the importance of timbre and fail to discover ways to explain its purpose in an effective way. Questions as to why a composer chooses certain textures and how much of this process involves thought for timbral characteristics must be asked in order to assess the composer’s intent. Whether composers contemplate these characteristics during the early stages of orchestration or if it’s merely habitual as breathing oxygen, the need for analytical discussion on the subject remains the same. Humans by nature, breathe in oxygen 30,000 times per day, yet we don’t consciously think, “Now I am inhaling oxygen, and now I am exhaling carbon dioxide.” When a composer makes choices to combine certain instruments, the decision may seem as unconscious as breathing; its purpose may seem invisible, yet it is as important as the air we breathe.
THE LANGUAGE OF TIMBRE
The definition of timbre is simple and is best described as the vibrating disturbances of a tone readily transmitted to the brain. Although the science of timbre is absolute, how timbre is received by the brain can be subjective. Composite Timbre can best be described using the analogy of how fibers are woven to create texture. Studies on the subject of timbre are extensive. However, there is minimal data or analysis on how composite timbre is used as a compositional method. To be more specific, timbre seems to be the catch-all phrase for any studies on how instruments produce musical tone or how a listener receives auditory signaling of sound. Yet the analytical complexities of timbre is still struggling for adequate identification in the world of composition.
One article states “...two tones coming from two different violins may be greatly different and we have no adequate language to express this difference” (Fletcher 1934, 67).This article offers an in-depth look into how timbre is related to other important elements of composition such as instrumental groupings (or pairings), effects of pitch, the identity of timbre and other scientific elements of how sound is perceived and related to timbre.
Another study on composite timbre (Kendall & Carterette, 1993) explores the auditory response and identifiable components of combined timbres and uses complex frequency diagrams to explain timbral dyads using visual graphs in mathematical terms. During the experiment, a panel of musicians were asked to identify a variety of instrumental blends and rate their findings on a sliding numbers scale. Although the study included harmonic elements such as intervallic tones to gage how a tone is heard, the most useful aspect of the study is in the identification of blended timbres.
The results showed that the ability to identify instruments became increasingly more difficult when numerous instruments of the same family played the same pitch (such as various wind instruments). The study included the blending of various instruments in extreme ranges and melodic and harmonic structures in order to determine a plethora of other oratory obstacles. In order to decipher commonalities of how the ear defines timbre, the study produced a method for visualizing the timbral energy of sound using a multi-dimensional scaling graph.
To date, the majority of timbral analysis in composition seems to base its study on how timbre is heard within the melodic and harmonic context of musical notation. The primary identification of timbre, however, should be explored without the influence of those elements in order to create a more accessible method for practical analysis.
TIMBRE AS A TEXTURAL EFFECT
Composers use timbre to create textural effects which we will identify in two categories defined as Timbral Density and Timbral Intensity. When these elements are observed, clarity of how a composer uses textures to evoke a mood becomes more transparent.
When identifying the textural effects of composite timbre, one must first remove the auditory influences of harmonic and melodic structure in order to discover the foundation of sound and how it affects the listener. Since analytical studies on timbre offer both absolute and subjective imperatives, a complete analytical approach on timbre should also include these as well.
COMPOSITIONAL ANALYSIS
One jazz composer who uses composite timbre as a primary element for orchestration is Gil Evans. Although the “Cool” jazz era is considered the age of harmonic minimalism, the importance of timbre was a strong consideration as evident in his compositions.
The historical significance of Gil Evans’ music in the recordings during the late 1940s to early 1950s, suggests to us that the mood of jazz was relaxed and effortless in its character. The textural elements of Evans’ music combined with Davis’ contemplative tone in recordings such as My Ship, is obvious, yet their distinctive sound should raise some question as to what musical deciding factors were involved.
During a two-part interview hosted by Les Tomkins in 1978, Gil Evans discusses how he chose instrumentation for the collaborative nonet ensemble with Miles Davis. He states a conscious decision to create rich textures of sound by utilizing the range, tone and color of the mid-sized ensemble to create an implied fuller and larger texture of sound. ”...the idea was to sound as full as possible, you know, and still not be too large [...] that was why I picked out that instrumentation.”
It becomes clear that the placing of instruments in various registers, the omission of vibrato or instrumental pairings to produce larger threads of sound reveal a conscious awareness to create composite timbral textures even when the terminology within the analysis is not described as the primary thought.
METHOD FOR ANALYSIS TIMBRAL DENSITY
How the composer uses instrumental pairings to create density of sound is determined by what instruments are being used, how many instruments of the same family are being used and how those overall decisions affect the composition. This analysis will use a numbering system to define the density of the timbre being created.
TIMBRAL INTENSITY
How the composer uses the range of an instrument can create “tension and release” (McAdams 1999, 77) which can alter the palette of sound in an effective way.
Timbral variances of sound can be manipulated through the rise and fall of a musical passage by raising the register of as instrument as a means to thin out the timbre or lowering the register of the instrument to thicken the timbre. This subtle technique of musical ebb and flow will create tension and release that can trigger an emotional response from the listener.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
SCORE ANALYSIS - score analysis attachment offered by request
My Ship: arranged by Gil Evans
Looking at the first twenty measures of My Ship can reveal the importance of Composite Timbre and how it is used in various registers and instrumental pairings to lead the listener into experience a particular mood.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
TIMBRAL DENSITY Legend = Triangle
Number 1: Are used to identify composite timbre from instruments that share similar textural qualities. For example, instruments such as flute and vocals would make for good sonority pairings since both share an airy and breathy timbre of sound. Another example would be a violin playing in the low register paired with a viola in a higher register. These two similar instruments share similar tone frequencies and cannot be as distinguishable from each other compared to more distinct pairings in Numbers 2-5.
Number 2: Are used to identify two distinctly different timbral instruments such as a trumpet and guitar since both can clearly be identifiable even when playing the same notes in the same register.
Number 3: Are used to identify three distinct timbres such as 3 flutes, 4 trombones and one piano. Regardless of how many similar instruments are grouped, the distinction of the 3 various timbres create a density level of 3.
Numbers 4: Are used to identify four distinct timbres as described as above such as 2 flutes, 4 muted trumpets, 3 Saxes and piano. When combined, these instruments can still be audibly identified compared to 2 flutes, 2 vocals, 2 violins and 2 violas.
TIMBRAL INTENSITY Legends: Tension / R = Release
Example 1: Timbral Intensity
Letter A: Timbral Intensity is created at the beginning of My Ship when both the bass clarinet and tuba start in the mid-lower register creating a gravitational pull to the ear. As the bass clarinet begins to ascend higher in range towards a thinner timbre of sound, the lightness of sound changes. The harmonic dissonance of the passage becomes irrelevant to this analysis since only the range of sound is being evaluated. The T at m.6 is identified as Tension because of the low register.
Letter B: the tension in measure 8 begins to release on the third beat when the reeds and trumpets move higher in register. The dark motion of sound from the moving clarinet in measure 9 creates timbral tension by the fact that it’s low and faster in motion.
Letter D: the ultimate release of tension comes when the great expanse of instrumental range creates a thinning of texture. The muted trumpets and Davis’ solo line strongly contributes to the lighter texture of sound.
Example 2: Timbral Density
Timbral Density defines the choices Gil Evans makes using certain composite timbres to summon a
particular mood or color.
Letter A: there are 2 different instrumental sections being put to use; the brass and reed section. The brass section uses trumpets, French horns, trombones and tuba while the reed section consists of only a bass clarinet. Evans’ decision to pair the French horns with the trombone creates a new Timbral Density of 1. This unified sound is strengthened by the sonority of triads. The trumpets on top are moving in unison as one texture and also are identified as a Timbral Density of 1.Since the bass clarinet and tuba move separately and sound as separate entities, they each create a separate Timbral Density of 1. Combined timbral density from mm. 1-7 results in an analytical total Timbral Density of 4.
Letter B: one could figure that the texture of sound becomes more complex, but this can be misleading. The clarinets, Saxes, French horns and bass clarinet are being treated as one composite of sound and therefore become a Timbral Density of 1. The bass and tuba on the bottom line also factor as one since together they become a new sound. Evans’ creates a textural effect by using unusual blends in semi-spread voicing while keeping the Bass clarinet and Tuba in the lower range. Although the French horns are positioned in between the reeds, the timbral result is a unified sound. Evans seems to evoke contemplative thought by giving a mixed blending of timbres combined with a chordal structure that seems neither open nor closed. Using range and intervallic structure to enhance the role of Timbral Density and Timbral Intensity, the combination of the two become effective tools for promoting mood.
Letter D: the timbral density is 3 because Davis’s solo line is a distinctive timbre on its own. The remaining two timbres remaining are similar to Letter B.
SUMMARY
The study of timbre as a compositional elements warrants further study beyond the common language of sound. Stating that a composition uses flutes and Saxes to create a particular sound may be the launching pad for analysis, but understanding why the mood of a composition is subject to certain pairings can provide another point of view. Further methods for identifying composite timbre using simplified terms and data would allow the listener to approach the music with a new perspective.
SOURCES
Fletcher, Harvey. 1934. “Loudness, Pitch and the Timbre of Musical Tones and Their Relation to the Intensity, the Frequency and the Overtone Series” The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America Vol.6 (2):59-69.
McAdams, Stephan and Bruno L. Giordano. 2008. “The Perception of Timbre” Oxford Handbook of Music Psychology: 72-78
Kendall, Roger and Edward Carterette. 1993.”Identification and Blend of Timbres as a Basis for Orchestration” Contemporary Music Review, 9: 1-2, 51-67
Tracing the Passage of the Oral Tradition
in Medieval Music
Sarina Bachleitner 2017
ABSTRACT
The development of music during the Middle Ages holds both the duality of simplicity and complexity in its historical telling. What started as a primarily religious practice, music within the church reflected the simplicity of monastery life yet the intricacies of how monophonic chants were performed were specific to the liturgy of the church. During the fledgling stages of medieval music, the purity of plainchant was of utmost importance within the church. The fundamental practice of most chants were designed to support the text during proper and ordinary Mass. The process of learning chant was through memorization where the acquisition of repertoire was taught by rote; taking years of repetition to learn and master.
As the importance of music grew throughout the Middle Ages, opinions about the oral tradition began to take shape through speculative theories and philosophical discussion. Since musical rhythm within the plainchant had not yet been established, the intangible properties of time became the focal point of monophonic chants. Isidore Seville, a notable music historian, had a thorough understanding of music as a practical theory and explored the human senses as it pertained to memory. With the belief that the interpretation of music was primarily a passing down of information through sound using repetition and rote, Isidore wrote that,“unless sounds are remembered by man, they perish, for they cannot be written down”(41). St. Augustine was also a contributor to the conversation of memorization in his Confessions where he illustrate his theory of time. “[Music} is not a measurable or divisible quantity; lengths of time are simply collections of successive nows."
THE PURITY OF CHANT
Since the early monophonic chant was capsulized in memorization, the importance of its purity became a glorified issue between the churches of the Roman, Byzantine and Franco regimes. Frankish King Charlemagne, with great ambition to preserve the tradition of the Roman chant, sent experts to teach its tradition to various European provinces. Notker Balbulus recalls the story about how these disgruntled experts of chant secretly contaminated the teachings of the chant and they were eventually exposed and punished for royal treason (44). However scandalous the story, the importance of indoctrinating the legacy of the Roman church may have propagated early pedagogical practices for the study of chant. To further the mission of preserving the legacy of the chant, Pope Gregory the Great became notably the first to archive a collection of antiphonal chants. John the Deacon writes about the antiphonal works of Pope Gregory as a divine acquisition from God further glorifying the superiority of the chant within the Roman church.
THE EVOLUTION OF NOTATION
Now that the chants of the Middle Ages were expanding its demographic, the design of early notation was beginning to emerge through pedagogical theories and methods. Fundamental symbols were created to offer singers a common ground with which to reference parts of a chant. What started as simple neumes on parchment developed into a series of notated squiggles, clefs and finals that spawned the precursor for early notation.
One pivotal contributor to early notation was Odo of Cluny who was known for his invention of the Monochord, an instrument similar to the modern piano. Basing his methods on practical ear-training techniques, Odo devised innovative concepts of intervalic memorization to expedite the learning of chant as explained in his musical handbook, Enchiridion musices. Following in parallel motion to Odo’s theories on intervalic memorization, Guido D'Arezzo took the technique a step further [no pun intended] to include the first staff line as a point of tonal reference. Although D’Arezzo scoffed at Odo’s monochord, both scholars are trailblazing early pedagogical principles for western notation. More importantly, D’Arezzo devised a method known as the “Guidonian Hand”, a mnemonic scheme where notes were assigned to various joints of the hand to assist in the “singing of unknown songs”(42). With these pedagogical advancements, the evolution of visualizing music negated the tradition of memorization.
During the rise of polyphony, new methods of musical notation were now replacing the traditional practices of the oral tradition. The use of memorization was evolving into the practice of intervalic structures followed by the use of visual aids and then towards the implementation of signs and staffs. Although these elements paved the way for western notation, much of it emerged as a result of non-music related aspects of church and society. In fact, much of the basics of music notation became established for reasons beyond the domain of the church. For example, the rural monastery life of the church during the late Middle Ages, transitioned into the statelier and more ornate gothic designs of city cathedrals. Now the development of polyphonic chant was reflective of the economic growth of church and nobility. Polyphony was becoming more rhythmic, harmonious and improvisational with a growing repertoire of notated music. As the nineteenth century unfolds, the birth of musical notation is paving the way for western music as we know it today.
THE WRITTEN TRADITION
Looking at the vast, global catalogue of documented music that exists in the modern world, future centuries may identify the start of the 20th Century as the age of the written tradition. Understanding the early practices of oral tradition and how the development of musical notation has affected music of today, is worth comparative analysis. With the bygone days of oral tradition behind us, have we lost an organic connection to the music through the use of musical notation? Has the art of listening and memorization become a dying art and if so, has the music been compromised?
To answer on the effects of musical notation in today’s world, the inquiry must involve the tracking of historical complexities relatable to the economic, political, social and religious factors of every century dating back to the Middle Ages. To simplify these complexities, one must find a common thread that affected the need for Western notation. What remains constant is the human criteria for communicative thought.
Since the pre-notational chants were learned by rote, one can only speculate that monks obtained an enhanced skill for listening and memorization. After years of repetitive repertoire, the performance of chant would likely have become a precise and effortless art form. Monks placed great importance on the meaning of text and the purpose of the music was not for amusement but rather a vehicle for sacred worship. As theorists began to contemplate how music related to the passing of time, the meaning of sound was the primary organic element. However, at the start of the twentieth century, the art of improvisation and memorization were replaced with the theoretical and reproductive aspects of music on paper. It is likely that classicism has benefited the most from the development of western notation, utilizing the vast collection of archived works dating back to the Renaissance and Baroque idioms. However, modern day jazz musicians may be the contemporary preservationists of the oral tradition through the use of modes and improvisational structure. Although the rhythmic and stylistic aspects of jazz are different from the early Gregorian chant, the improvisational and minimal notational practices of jazz offer similar characteristics.
To summarize, every piece of music performed by a musician has shared in the preservation of music through the application of notation. Arguably, it seems that modern technology has returned us to the popularity of listening. Having the ability to render musical recordings of the past could be argued as a form or technological memorization and the heightened interest in listening rings similar to practices found in the oral tradition.
Since the Middle Ages, notated music has traveled the world, expanded its instrumental arsenal and allowed the collection of musical repertoire to grow. With the enhanced ability to recapture the music of previous decades, the integrity of the music has not been compromised. Just as the development of the alphabet allowed the formation of words, notation was created to perpetuate the communication of music into its own universal dialogue. Therefore, the common thread of both the oral and written traditions point to one place; the language of music.