www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SWD2MKhiJU

True North, is thought of as the direction along the earth’s surface towards the geographic North Pole. This the title for this weeks composition. Throughout this project it has been more challenging to write about the music than to work on the music. There is no time really for analysis in the moment, one can be more objective after the fact. Not to say that I  haven’t  found ideas in words and their combinations, because I have.  I think of true north as a metaphor for looking for truth in a direct way. In this case, true north being the path and the North Pole the destination, or the direction of travel at least. In general my aim in composing to capture the essence of a time, place and thought, which also is what recording happens to do.

In thinking about the music from the music point of view, there are elements from classical, jazz and pop in this composition. The influence of jazz, in the harmonies and improvisation, classical, in the through-composed form, and pop, in the repetition of a musical “hook” throughout. That’s just me looking through the lens however, you the listener can draw your own conclusions, and decide what sound means to you.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=lteWWU2x_yI

In the bebop era, it was a common practice to take a popular song and write a new melody over the familiar chord changes.  Charlie Parker wrote many of his tunes this way, including Donna Lee (the changes are from Indiana), Ornithology (on How High the Moon), and Koko (Cherokee).  For “Affirmation,” I chose to write my own “contrafact” (the technical name for a song written using this method) on a tune of Charlie Parker’s called Confirmation.

The primary motivation for playing a song like this was to have a bebop song that we could play as a clarinet and piano duet — I wanted a challenge for myself (clarinet has never been my strongest instrument, although it is the woodwind I started on) as well as a new color for the Duo Chronicles project.  It turned out simple and straightforward, but at the same time fun and exactly what I was going for.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmgf9JSR1iA

The title “The Road Taken” is based on of one of more popular Robert Frost most poems, “The Road Not Taken.” The whole idea for the music stems from a particular chord that I like to use, a major chord with the 4th added so a kind of consonant dissonance occurs between the 3rd and 4th steps in the chord. In improvising one would usually refer to the mode, in this case the Ionian mode, which is the 1st mode of major scale harmony. I like the contemplative nature of this sound, open to me, and good place to start the music from. The melody then ascends and descends alternating between major and minor chords. The improvising takes place over the form of the melody with the 1st chord extended for a bit at the beginning. I liked how this distinguished the piano and saxophone solos. If one looks at the written lead sheet there is a two measure ending. On the take that we used however, I liked just fading on two repeated chords, an ending just seemed too final. The aspect of recording influenced the form and arrangement of the composition which I find interesting. Recording becomes part of the composition process.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkhPsSUQ0Jk

Quadrivium — from Latin, meaning “a crossroads.  A place where four roads meet”

This composition is a modern choral of sorts, with four clarinet parts playing what might be more traditional sung in four part harmony, or played on an organ.  My inspiration came from the fabulous ECM recordings of saxophonist Jan Garbarek improvising over the top of the incredible four-part vocal group called the Hilliard Ensemble.  But, unlike their work, which sticks to very authentic early-music compositions, I chose to write a new piece with some modern twists thrown in.

Clay gets to play the part of Jan, using the melodica’s bright sound to cut through the darker sonority of the clarinets and bass clarinets below him.  Most of his part is improvised, with a short melodic hook that happens once in the middle and once at the end.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hr0yHx-88fA

For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been at Portland Center Stage as part of the orchestra for a production of the “25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.”  The show is a musical comedy, following a rather unusual group of children (as well as some audience volunteers) through a farcical spelling bee in which the word the students are challenged with is just as likely to be chosen because of its ridiculous definition as its difficulty to spell.

The score to the show is an uncommon combination of instruments, with myself on reeds (flute, clarinet, and alto saxophone), Liz Byrd on cello, Ben Wasson on percussion, Kurt Crowley on synthesizer, and our musical director, Rick Lewis, on piano.  Instead of playing from an orchestra pit below and in front of the stage, our orchestra instead plays behind the back wall of the stage (if Superman were in the audience with his X-ray vision, he’d see us performing behind the actors) with the music piped in through a sound system.

William Finn’s compositions for the show run the gamut from quirky themes that complement the comedy on stage, to powerful melodies that support the more emotional moments.  Unlike some musicals, where orchestras get bored quickly with ironically the often less-than-musical compostions, there’s always something new to find in Finn’s score, which I’ve been scouring to find bits and pieces to serve as inspirations for Duo Chronicles pieces.

The title for this piece is taken from the lyrics of a song in the show called “Woe is Me,” sung by a character who is pushed by her two dads to “be smart, be cool, be adult” and “be remarkably adroit in social situations.”  I toyed with other titles that didn’t sound as flippant, but in the end, it seemed like that line just worked best.  In the show, the cast breaks into a Stomp-inspired dance section in the middle of “Woe is Me,” where the 3-part vocals harmonies are accompanied by the percussion sounds made by clapping, stomping, and dancing on stage.  Something about 3-part vocal a cappella always gets me interested, so from the first time that I heard that section performed by the PCS cast, I knew I wanted to do something with it.

For the Duo Chronicles piece, I took that section and started altering it bit by bit.  The first change was the time signature — instead of being 4/4 like the piece in the show, our version is in 7/4.  The next, was the structure — we start with the “Be Smart, Be Cool” section, and the “Woe is Me ” hook happens in the middle.  The vocals have been replaced by three overdubbed saxophone parts.  Instead of the Stomp-inspired percussion, Clay and I use a couple tracks of clapping and a track of using storage boxes as percussion instruments.

Throughout the song, I tried to reference each of the distinct sections from Finn’s composition.  There are direct references in the piano part, the clarinet parts, and certainly the saxophone parts.  After all of the revisions and editing, making it fit the Duo Chronicles style, it ended up farther from Finn’s “Woe is Me” than I had intended originally, but only because Clay and I are putting our own spin on things.  Check out the sheet music from the link below.

Since I’m at Portland Center Stage doing this show eight times a week until the end of June, it wouldn’t surprise me if another Finn-inspired song makes its way into the Duo Chronicles songbook before we’re done.

]]> http://duochronicles.com/2010/06/08/week-41-be-smart-be-cool/feed/ 0 alto,clarinet,Clay Giberson,John Nastos,keyboard,overdubs,piano httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hr0yHx-88fA For the past couple of weeks, I've been at Portland Center Stage as part of the orchestra for a production of the "25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee."  The show is a musical comedy, httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hr0yHx-88fA For the past couple of weeks, I've been at Portland Center Stage (http://www.pcs.org/) as part of the orchestra for a production of the "25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (http://www.pcs.org/spellingbee/)."  The show is a musical comedy, following a rather unusual group of children (as well as some audience volunteers) through a farcical spelling bee in which the word the students are challenged with is just as likely to be chosen because of its ridiculous definition as its difficulty to spell. The score to the show is an uncommon combination of instruments, with myself on reeds (flute, clarinet, and alto saxophone), Liz Byrd on cello, Ben Wasson on percussion, Kurt Crowley on synthesizer, and our musical director, Rick Lewis, on piano.  Instead of playing from an orchestra pit below and in front of the stage, our orchestra instead plays behind the back wall of the stage (if Superman were in the audience with his X-ray vision, he'd see us performing behind the actors) with the music piped in through a sound system. William Finn's compositions for the show run the gamut from quirky themes that complement the comedy on stage, to powerful melodies that support the more emotional moments.  Unlike some musicals, where orchestras get bored quickly with ironically the often less-than-musical compostions, there's always something new to find in Finn's score, which I've been scouring to find bits and pieces to serve as inspirations for Duo Chronicles pieces. The title for this piece is taken from the lyrics of a song in the show called "Woe is Me," sung by a character who is pushed by her two dads to "be smart, be cool, be adult" and "be remarkably adroit in social situations."  I toyed with other titles that didn't sound as flippant, but in the end, it seemed like that line just worked best.  In the show, the cast breaks into a Stomp-inspired dance section in the middle of "Woe is Me," where the 3-part vocals harmonies are accompanied by the percussion sounds made by clapping, stomping, and dancing on stage.  Something about 3-part vocal a cappella always gets me interested, so from the first time that I heard that section performed by the PCS cast, I knew I wanted to do something with it. For the Duo Chronicles piece, I took that section and started altering it bit by bit.  The first change was the time signature -- instead of being 4/4 like the piece in the show, our version is in 7/4.  The next, was the structure -- we start with the "Be Smart, Be Cool" section, and the "Woe is Me " hook happens in the middle.  The vocals have been replaced by three overdubbed saxophone parts.  Instead of the Stomp-inspired percussion, Clay and I use a couple tracks of clapping and a track of using storage boxes as percussion instruments. Throughout the song, I tried to reference each of the distinct sections from Finn's composition.  There are direct references in the piano part, the clarinet parts, and certainly the saxophone parts.  After all of the revisions and editing, making it fit the Duo Chronicles style, it ended up farther from Finn's "Woe is Me" than I had intended originally, but only because Clay and I are putting our own spin on things.  Check out the sheet music from the link below. Since I'm at Portland Center Stage doing this show eight times a week until the end of June, it wouldn't surprise me if another Finn-inspired song makes its way into the Duo Chronicles songbook before we're done. John Nastos no 3:06 http://duochronicles.com/2010/05/26/week-39-the-valley-below/ http://duochronicles.com/2010/05/26/week-39-the-valley-below/#comments Wed, 26 May 2010 06:20:49 +0000 gyberspace http://duochronicles.com/?p=530

www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkPZMC0Vmko

Influence is all around us whether we are conscious of it or not. Ultimately what resonates with us comes out in how we express ourselves and in our art. Chances are if a thought or idea resonates with you, it probably does with someone else as well. I like to think of this as a kind of collective consciousness. I listen to music frequently while driving, as I suspect many people might do. Two CD’s that have been in the car lately (I don’t get around to changing them that often) are Brad Mehldau’s latest “Highway Rider” and a mix CD of Foo Fighters songs. So I was influenced by this music I’m sure when I wrote “The Valley Below” two days ago. Not because I want to sound like Brad Mehldau, but something in that music speaks to me and inspires me to find my own musical thoughts, exploring in a similar language.

i think John mentioned before that he too had drawn some inspiration from “Highway Rider,” in his animated video of his tune “Twenty Seven.”

“The Valley Below” also explores some of the ideas that are prominent to my musical thoughts. Namely the influence of pop music in terms of a musical “hook.”  Being that is an instrumental piece, there are no lyrics to evoke imagery. So in terms of musical form, taking four measure sections and changing and developing them to create a larger shape or arrangement. They are like characters in a musical short story.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAMUdSSRJNo

The title for this weeks composition is a ode to the ending of the popular television show “Lost,” which is ending this month after six seasons. Much of the appeal of the show for me is not only the individual characters and their stories, but also the use of time as well. Flash-backs, flash-forwards and side-wise time elements are all part of the episodes. “The Island” is as much a character as anybody in the show. Does it represent good or bad? Or maybe a combination of both? i think that no clear conclusion can be reached, which makes it a little like music to me. It can be elusive, meaning different things at different times to different people. We still experience music or sound in linear fashion, but live in an increasing non-linear world. Perhaps a little like The Island?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=f342tJieuzc

A ritual has an inherent shape or form built in. From this one can let the story unfold in this space. This space is the possibility of sound or rather one possibility at one given time. Improvising to me is like observing and observance is a ritual.

I really like the vibe John and I got on this take. In fact there was only one take so there were no others to choose from. One of the challenges of playing in the duo format is how to to fill out the space, in terms of texture and rhythm. I guess I liked the vibe because there was a natural flow between the melody and the solo improvisations, an arc of circular nature from beginning to the end.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGAVENHlAwc

I wrote “Open Road, Closed Door” just a couple of weeks after moving from New York to Portland in November of ’07.  If I remember correctly, the first performance of the song was at the Portland Jazz Festival in February 2008 when I was featured at Darrell Grant’s young artist series at the Old Church.

The song looks complicated on paper — lots of changing time signatures and chord changes, but they all serve the purpose of supporting a rather simple melody — it’s not just complexity for the sake of complexity.  But, while the melody may sound simple, it’s a hard tune to play.

We stick to the stereotypical jazz form on this one — melody, solos, melody, with a vamp at the end — no overdubs, no through-composed sections.  While I definitely enjoy putting together the compositions where we push those boundaries, it’s also nice to get back to a more simple layout like this sometimes.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CJHI32P5l8

This week continues my trend of writing pieces that were influenced by specific writers or compositions.  “Another Noon” was heavily influenced by a piece called “Hi Noon” by Justin Morell, a guitarist that I’ve been playing with in the Damian Erskine Project.  Justin’s composition uses a set of drop-two voicings (I’m not going to go into the theory here, but the technique leads to chords that cover a wide range and have a fairly open sound to them) that sound rather melodic on their own, with another melody that seems to float on top of it.

For my composition, I employed the same technique of drop-two voicings with an additional melody, and then filled out some of the inside parts using a woodwind choir made up of flute, soprano sax, alto sax, and bass clarinet.  The result is a simple but lush harmonic foundation for the piece — so simple, that you might not even notice that it’s in 7/4 at first.

In the second half of the composition, the piano part gets rhythmically and harmonically more intense, while the woodwind parts turn to more long, held-out notes than the melodic phrases they were playing earlier.  On top of that, we added a second piano track that has no written part — it’s a sort of abstract solo on top of everything going on with the woodwind and piano ostinato figures.

Seventeen weeks to go and we still have plenty of ideas we’re looking forward to trying out.