Resonance and Making Music

The composer Jill Jarman composed the piece Resonance for me in 2014 and I’ve just revisited and recorded it as my final lockdown project. Resonance is just over 7 minutes of wild cello music that traverses the sonic possibilities of the instrument. Jill composed the piece based on the principles of cymatics, which have to do with making the inherent geometric patterns in sounds visible. You can see a simple example of how resonance creates these complex patterns in this video (which comes complete with dramatic music):

It is super cool.-and we have yet to hook up the music to something that can simulate or generate these, but I’m working on it!

 

Recently, during the past few months – in and between lockdowns, I came back to the piece and had the chance to perform it in some exquisitely unusual locations – for example in the middle of the sea on a pontoon,

as a demonstration with brain scanning equipment,

and most recently in my own home.

Those are all great stories (and yes, I will tell them), but today I would like to focus not on the performances, but on the process.

 

Music, the score, & the composer

When (classical) musicians play music, we tend to have sheet music and there is a certain respect that is bestowed upon that printed page. Ok there is s a religious respect that the words (the notes) have flowed directly from the composers and somehow it is out duty to be so true to them – and I am not going to dispute that. However, I have come to realise there is much more interpretative freedom both within and beyond the score than at first glance.

Published music is the record from the composer and across decades trends from less to more input from composers has given performers a window into their intention. The baroque music of Bach’s very famous Suites for Solo Cello have very little expressive and interpretative markings in the score, and we do not even have a copy of these works in the composer’s hand. (this website is a great place to have an initial explore of these great works and compare the existing ‘scores’ for yourself: https://jsbachcellosuites.com/score.html )

Other composers give every detail, like George Crumb, in his works. You can see that in the snippet below (Image Source: https://orchestra2001.org/inner.php?pageid=1532)

Jill’s music is somewhere in between.

She knew I had come back to the piece and mentioned – if you’d like to run it past me….

I thought *gulp*!

Why would I think this??

Leonard Bernstein put it well in his opening address to the 1960 TV series “The Creative Performer” when he explained about the role of the performer and composer in creating music:

“How can those performances be so different? After all we’re dealing with a score, a published record of certain utterances by Beethoven, clearly and unmistakeably conveyed by hieroglyphic of musical notation. Shouldn’t it then mean the same thing to all men? Yes, but remember that this score only half exists- it is only a score, a printed record until performers take it, assimilate it, combine their energies with its dormant ones and spark it to life by performing it.”  (-you can hear Bernstein say this himself here)

He is right, but there is one key difference between Beethoven’s compositions and Jarman’s Resonance. I can still talk to Jill and she can tell me what she thinks! The performance and creation of the music becomes a joint venture.

Collaboration & Growth

I did send Jill recordings as I relearned the piece, and one of her first comments was that it has become a different piece. – She didn’t mean the notes had changed, but meant that spark had evolved. I had changed and could see more in it, and also could play more in it. In turn she could hear different things in it and then the actual piece began to evolve collaboratively.

What do I mean by that? Surely I’m speaking metaphorically? Um, no. She actually started changing things in the piece ! Technical and interpretative things like these:

Articulations changed, a chord was added, emphatic portamenti were added, and several expression markings changed – well over a dozen slurs were added –

This was an iterative process that I’ll admit was a little scary. If you have memorised a speech and then someone changes a few lines, it can really throw you.

We kept going… and there were comments directly about my execution of the piece – it is technically challenging and one thing musicians (all artists) strive for is to have the ART be foremost and the behind the scenes work remain as just that- behind the scenes. Unless indicated, a listener should not ‘hear’ the technical difficulties in performance, and that can be tricky.

Sometimes I needed reminding that actually she meant what she wrote, and in being true to those dots, the expression spoke for itself:

and those reminders were welcomed and really did help:

In the end, when I got it right, when the composer actually confirms you might be near to expressing what she had in her minds ear – That is rewarding.

Recording Resonance

I set aside a day for recording, knowing full well I couldn’t actually play the piece all day (it is physically demanding even though it is only 7 minutes long), and had the cushion of one spare day if something went terribly wrong. We moved the furniture, set up the cameras, and everyone cleared out of the house. (thank heavens for the sunny weather) My goal was to play it straight through. Anything is possible with editing, and I didn’t want to do that. The only plans for the audio in terms of treatment are to add a bit of ‘room’, as recording in my house is not the most resonant space, but no manipulation will take place of pitches or timings; whatever imperfections exist, they can remain. This is my ‘honest’ lockdown project.

The full recording won’t be ready for some time though, as there is a lot of work to organise the camera footage. I have a front camera:

a finger view

and a bow angle (haha! cello joke there – bow ‘angle’) 😉

To me this is all very exciting! -and yes, I would LOVE to spend the next couple of days editing, but I also have a day job, and have (let me count… ) 5 videos to record for lectures this coming week. Fortunately they are not all long, but still – as I’m sure living in lockdown and working remotely has taught many of us – recording even a few minutes of something to share takes time in both planning and production.

I am supremely grateful to Jill for writing Resonance and for working with me, and I cannot wait until all the bits are put together.

The moral of the story…

…is that there is far more expression inside the music than it appears on the page. If you are fortunate enough, like me, to have the chance to work with a composer – oh do it!! Otherwise, play it. Play it some more. Live with the music. Research it, listen to recordings, listen more widely to other compositions by that composer, and then listen to yourself (yes, I mean record and listen back – you’ll learn so much). Question, and just consider – those dots are not necessarily as set in stone as some people assume. After all, composers as diverse as Mozart and Liszt changed things – improvised, and Chopin made different versions of his music for each student. Why should we all play the same?