American Music Review Te H. Wiley Hitchcock Institute for Studies in American Music Conservatory of Music, Brooklyn College of the City University of New York
Volume XLV, Number 2 Spring 2016 Obsession and Paralysis in Tobias Picker’s Thérèse Raquin Stephanie Jensen-Moulton, Brooklyn College
While I was writing Thérèse Raquin, I forgot everybody and lost myself in a precise, minute production of life, giving myself up entirely to an analysis of the working of the human animal; and I can assure you that there was nothing immoral for me in the cruel love of Thérèse and Laurent, nothing that could arouse evil desires. Émile Zola, Preface to Thérèse Raquin
Nineteenth-century Parisian literati were fascinated by the downtrodden, the pathetic, and the pitiable, but also by the sensual, which seemed to be the antidote to such states of human darkness. Rather than dwell upon these depressive emotional states themselves, however, Émile Zola sought to create a new world of literary naturalism that would enable him to describe with perfect detachment the behavior of the “human animal,” which he did in his 1867 novel, Thérèse Raquin.1 While at the surface of this work, the plot may seem to develop around an adulterous love affair, disability provides the impetus for the entire story, its causes and its effects. Thérèse’s husband, Camille, has been an invalid since birth, which prompts Thérèse to take a lover; she and her lover murder Camille; the shock of the murder then causes Camille’s mother’s stroke. Thus, the functionality of body and mind among Zola’s characters provides a locus of meaning in the novel, reinforcing the clinical, observationary method employed by the author.
Where the novel reads with the chilly clarity of a scientifc report, its operatic counterpart flls with music the emotional void so purposefully left by Zola. Tobias Picker’s third opera, Thérèse Raquin (2000), rewrites Zola’s novel into a tale of obsessive love that fulflls not the ideals of the Naturalist school of literature, but Tobias Picker, composer rather, those of the opposing Romantic school. Zola’s treatment of the “human animals” in his novel relies largely on a harsh and flthy social environment and his invention of his characters’ heredity to determine their fate. Picker’s musical setting brings to bear upon the characters a more ide- alistic, symbolic perception of their lives; the composer even writes an Inside This Issue unsettling ghost aria for Camille, refecting the Romantic penchant Institute News...... 8 for the supernatural. Through this Celebrating Minimalism by Jennifer Oates & Jeffrey Taylor...... 9 musical treatment, the physical and Max Morath by Edward A. Berlin...... 10 psychological states of the char- Space is the Place by Daniel Blake...... 11-16 acters in Thérèse Raquin come to Improvisation Across Domains by Andrew Goldman & Marc Hannaford...... 17-20 either represent or butt against their Obsession and Paralysis (cont.) Obsession and Paralysis (cont.) respective positions along a continuum of morality. This Thus, this dichotomy of obsession as both desired that is not found in the novel, and nudging the listener her lover, Laurent, is frst mentioned, after one-hun- article particularly examines Picker’s opera from the and reviled seems to have its origins in both medical towards repetitive use of thematic material. The Ro- dred and ninety measures of silent reaction to others’ standpoint of its relationships with physical disability and cultural arenas. Because Zola’s novel takes place manticization of Zola’s characters through the musical dialogue. Her vocal presence depends entirely on and mental illness. The opera itself represents a rewrit- in nineteenth-century Paris, it is not too far-fetched to setting also engenders a sense of sympathy for their Laurent; without him or the idea of him, she does not ing of obsession (Thérèse, her lover, Camille’s ghost) reference the obsessive musical oeuvre extraordinaire actions and reactions, which renders them less morally sing, but only lives through a fragment of a repeated and paralysis (Camille’s mother) according to twenty- of Hector Berlioz, and specifcally his Symphonie reprehensible. Yet, Picker utilizes the tools of added motive: “Thérèse, Thérèse, Thérèse.” Camille’s past frst century perceptions of disability. Picker’s own fantastique, in constructing a narrative of obsession in dissonance and musical dissolution to construct their as a childhood invalid, overprotected and to some admittedly Tourrettic tendencies in composition also the Romantic era of Western art music. Whether desir- respective downfalls—physical, moral, and spiritual. extent constructed by his mother, emerges not through contribute signifcantly to the turn-of-the-millenium able or not, Berlioz’s idée fxe repeatedly returns to his the unbiased and dispassionate voice of the narrator, cultural product that is Thérèse Raquin.2 young artist in the form of the symphony’s unifying Much of the action in Zola’s Thérèse Raquin occurs but instead gradually emerges through the voice of musical theme, from which even death cannot free through the omniscient narrator, who is, in essence, Thérèse. In her frst aria, found in digital Example 1, Obsession is a concept that receives both praise him. As Blake Howe has noted, Zola himself. The setting of the novel is put forth in Thérèse details the paltry existence of her life with the and blame in modern society. As Lennard Davis aptly very explicitly symbolic terms. The action will be as Raquins.7 But because she herself provides the infor- notes, “[a]t the beginning of the twenty-frst century, Music has the potential to map onto the grim as the Paris scene presented in the opening pages: mation, her racial otherness as a half-Algerian child, obsession is seen both as a dreaded disease and as mental spaces of obsession. Indeed, a by-product of French colonial occupation, has been a noble and necessary endeavor.” Davis then asks: there are a number of compositions At the end of the Rue Guénégaud, if erased. Zola described the incident of Thérèse’s adop- “How can a disease also be, when you use a different that seem to reinforce these psychiat- you follow it away from the river, you tion thus: lens, a cultural goal?”3 In musical circles, obsessive ric models, representing obsession as fnd the Passage du Pont-Neuf, a sort of behavior is prized and encouraged: professional or- the product of a static note or group of dark, narrow corridor linking the Rue [Madame Raquin] had a vague notion chestral musicians in training must practice the same notes interrupting an otherwise steady Mazarine to the Rue de Seine. This that the dear little thing had been born symphonic excerpts for hours each day for years until fow of melody or harmony. The passageway is, at most, thirty paces long in Oran and that her mother was a native they land permanent positions; composers have long obsessive musical agent—stuck, fxed, and two wide, paved with yellowish, woman of great beauty. An hour before been lauded for obsessive and excessive productiv- rigid—interferes with the expected worn stones which have come loose and he left, the captain handed over a birth ity, even over and above the quality of their work; forces of motion along musical paths constantly give off an acrid dampness. certifcate in which Thérèse was recog- and conductors should and must possess unparalleled and goal-oriented progressions, either The glass roof, sloping at a right angle, nized by him as his child and bore his fervor in learning full orchestral scores by heart. As by restricting the range of movement is black with grime.6 name. He left and they never saw him Davis writes, “No scientist or musician’s reputation within the obsession’s fxed parameters again. A few years later, he was killed in is safe without the word ‘obsessed’ tacked to his or or by irritating an otherwise consonant In this piece, Zola’s gloomy setting foreshadows the Africa.8 her occupation.”4 It would seem that with the opera passage with dissonance.5 lovers’ eventual torrid affair and subsequent demise. Thérèse Raquin, the perfect merger of obsessive sci- This establishment of mood not mitigated through In essence, the vestiges of Thérèse’s identity—memo- entist (Zola) and musician (Picker) has fnally taken The specifc association of obsessive passion with dialogue, but rather, through the heavy smell and dim ries of her mother and father—gradually faded until place. Yet, obsession is also musical phrasing sets the light of the Passage du Pont-Neuf. While the problem she was as a person dead. In Zola’s novel, Thérèse understood as a destruc- compositional and cultural of translation from novel to a staged, sung work exists might be read as an allegory for the restlessness of the tive force, crowding out the stage for Picker to write his throughout operatic literature, it is particularly diffcult suppressed Algerians, colonized by France in 1830. “normal” in order to make own obsessive theme in the when the literary work depends so deeply on setting and Despite the notion that “it was the continued coloni- space for the abnormal nineteenth-century mono- narration as tools for plot development. Picker’s libret- zation of Algeria that promised to remedy France’s that is its object. In clinical maniac style, while also tist, Gene Scheer, chose not to employ a narrator—who social ills,” the Algerian situation—much like that of terms, we—particularly in alluding to its potentiality as might have been a Zola-esque character—or a Greek Zola’s heroine—would explode to a deadly, yet free- the United States—are cul- a musical signifer for paraly- chorus, but instead relied entirely on dialogue to estab- ing, outcome.9 turally aware of and famil- sis. While Picker has been lish the narrative. This choice alone ushers the action of iar with Obsessive Compul- known to compose twelve- the opera out of the realm of Zola’s Naturalism and into In the opera, however, we meet Thérèse in adult- sive Disorder (OCD) and its tone works, he did not that of Romantic passion, because the characters them- hood, and the African blood that Zola considered symptoms, to the point of choose to set Thérèse Raquin selves must explicate their own histories for the audi- so crucial to her general character—though stereo- using the acronym freely to in intellectually acute but ence, thereby inviting sympathy for their actions. typically colonialist in treatment, to be sure—has no denote any behavior that A scene from Thérèse Raquin by the Dicapo Opera Theater. emotionally spare serialism, bearing on the listener-viewer’s perception of her as would signal tendencies Photo by Hiroyuki Ito for The New York Times as might beft Zola’s natural- A prime example of this shift is the operatic treat- a character. She might as well be any other Parisian toward dislike of germs, ist approach to his novel. ment of the title character. Picker’s silent, sullen woman in Picker’s opera, and Scheer makes no allu- deviant sexuality, or superhuman neatness. Rather, Picker takes his creative cue from Berlioz and Thérèse sings for the frst time only when the name of sion to her racial otherness in the libretto.10 Thérèse his cohort, bringing a sense of humanity to the opera 2 American Music Review Vol. XLV, No. 2: Spring 2016 American Music Review Vol. XLV, No. 2: Spring 2016 3 Obsession and Paralysis (cont.) Obsession and Paralysis (cont.) may be the product of a morally questionable union by her at the beginning of the opera, “You must let me go, kissed each other while I drowned. While I drowned the motionlessness with which Laurent receives the the standards of her contemporaries, but in the opera, Mama. My illness now has passed. Let me move on they kissed, they kissed, they kissed, they kissed while sensory information of Camille’s body is akin to a her ancestry as a woman of mixed race and nationality like the river. I am strong enough at last,” with this last I drowned, while I drowned.”13 The text repetition momentary paralysis, which then takes its full form on has been cleansed of any cultural impurities, leaving phrase on high A’s and B’s, which would indicate a state employed by Picker and Scheer transcends the typical, the body of Madame Raquin later in the opera. Third, only the moral ones behind. of increasing health and vigor.12 It would seem that the crossing over into a pointillist poetry of singleminded- the notion of repetition, as aforementioned in relation only vestiges of Camille’s invalidism are his mother’s ness. See Digital Example 2.14 to the text of Camille’s aria, haunts the end of Lau- Picker and Scheer skillfully capture the obsessive, fear and his wife’s dissatisfaction. rent’s encounter with the corpse. Each of these three physical love that forms the basis of the relationship be- The musical tools Picker uses in the aria refect literary devices has its logical parallel in Picker’s mu- tween Laurent and Thérèse in the opera through the use Just as obsession plays out as a kind of musical Zola’s description of Laurent’s all-too-frequent visits sic, with the idea of repetition standing out as the most of anaphoric repetition of names and phrases in her Act excess in the opera, so does the shocking paralysis to the Paris morgue to view the various bodies, culmi- easily understood both in the score and in the text. But I aria “My father left me” (digital Example 1 above). of Madame Raquin. The wedding night scene begins nating in his fnal recognition of Camille’s drowned, the concepts of verticality and paralysis are seemingly Yet, in the interaction between Thérèse and Laurent what will be a swift dissolution of all aspirations rotting corpse. Zola describes in this passage Laurent’s more troubling, particularly when paired. within this piece, the palpable difference between their established in the frst half of the opera. As they try frst encounter with the body of his victim. Although relationship in the novel and that in the opera becomes to embrace, Laurent and Thérèse gradually come to frequent visits to the morgue had desensitized him to Madame Raquin’s paralysis occurs in the opera al- apparent. In the novel, Thérèse’s emotional and social realize, to their mutual horror, that the drowned corpse the awful effects of death, even by drowning, Laurent most immediately after she witnesses the ghost of her growth has been as forcibly stunted as Camille’s physi- of Camille will always be joining them in their mar- still feels an impact upon discovering Camille. murdered son, Camille. Before fainting, she screams cal and intellectual development; as well, she has deep- riage bed. After a long, hellish night of terror beneath in terror, “Camille! Camille! My son! My son!” ly repressed all physical desires, because “Camille’s the haunting portrait of Camille that Laurent himself The next day, on entering the Morgue, Laurent and Thérèse enter and discover that Madame blood had been impoverished by illness and he felt none painted in Act I, the couple fnally falls asleep with the [Laurent] received a violent shock in Raquin is unwell, and place her upright in a chair; but of the urgent desires of adolescence.”11 Thus, Thérèse’s rising sun. Picker takes this opportunity to unleash the the chest. Opposite him, on a slab, Ca- in their stupor from the previous night’s sleeplessness sexual awakening has all of the violence of a volcanic ghost of Camille upon the sleeping pair, in an aria that mille lay looking at him, extended on they neglect to notice that Madame has awakened and eruption in Zola’s novel, while in Picker’s opera, the screams for justice from beyond the grave. his back, his head raised, his eyes half that she can hear them speaking of Camille’s mur- open. The murderer slowly approached der. After a brief exclamation ending in “Murderers! Camille’s “Ghost Aria” continues the theme of rep- the glass, as if attracted there, unable Murderers!” the score indicates that Madame Raquin etition that is one of the hallmarks of musical obses- to detach his eyes from his victim. He has a stroke. While the book continues for a consider- sion and excess in this opera. The repetition in the aria did not suffer; he merely experienced a able length after the stroke event, the opera has but occurs both verbally as well as in the rhythmic repeti- great inner chill, accompanied by slight two scenes remaining after Madame Raquin becomes tion that pushes the piece forward, almost as though a pricks on his skin…. For fully fve disabled. Although Scene 7 begins with Laurent’s brief living man were pushing the corpse from behind with minutes, he stood motionless, lost in but disturbing account of his time as caretaker for a great effort and regular step. The continuous eighth- unconscious contemplation, engraving, Madame Raquin, this scene also contains the climac- note pattern that propels the piece also trips on occa- in spite of himself, in his memory, all tic moment when, after months of motionlessness, sion, as though running into a rough piece of pave- the horrible lines, all the dirty colours Madame Raquin attempts for the police inspector’s ment or sliding on a slimy rock on a dank night near of the picture he had before his eyes.15 beneft to write that “Thérèse and Laurent are m…” the morgue. Although the rhythm of the orchestral (murderers). Unfortunately, she can only achieve the Suzan Hanson (left) and Ani Maldjian (right) accompaniment is quite steady, the vocal line jerks in Zola continues in the passage to describe in detail the frst letter of that fnal accusatory word. And Scene 8 of the Long Beach Opera perform Thérèse Raquin. and out of the musical scene, as refected in the irregu- gruesome appearance of Camille’s drowned body, plays out the dual suicide of the lovers, which occurs Photo by Cheryl A. Guerrero of the Los Angeles Times lar poetic rhythm of the aria’s text. down to the smallest anatomical detail. Finally, Zola in the presence of Madame Raquin. allows Laurent to walk away from the morgue. But “as scenes between Thérèse and Laurent might be those of Camille’s vocal range is extreme in death as it nev- he stepped out, he repeated: ‘This is what I have done. These two fnal scenes tease out a musical enact- any other bel canto operatic couple. In addition, accord- er was in life, and Picker calls for singing both at the He is hideous.’”16 ment of paralysis that connects with both the com- ing to the opera’s timeline, Camille’s infrmity is a thing very top and bottom of the tenor register, and at very poser’s own identity as a person with a neurological of the past by the frst scene. He seems delicate, but loud and very soft dynamic levels in quick and sud- Three aspects of Zola’s passage bear particular difference and with the music as having certain attri- his dialogue has no hint of weakness—indeed, Camille den succession. As is apparent from the aria’s words importance to Picker’s opera, not only in the ghost butes that need not be normalized. Oliver Sacks fea- conducts himself as a robust, enthusiastic and happy and the exclamatory mode of delivery called for by the aria, but also in the scenes that follow pertaining to tures Picker briefy in his book Musicophilia, within individual, even having his wife’s best interests in mind. composer, Camille has found beyond the grave a pas- Madame Raquin’s imminent paralysis. First, note that the chapter on music and Tourette’s syndrome. Rather We hear nothing of his suspected sexual impotence, or sionate, vengeful obsession that can only be compared in the novel, Camille is on a slab in a decidedly hori- than relate an inspirational story of how music has of his years of fevers and near-death experiences, saved in its intensity to that of the newly-wedded couple, zontal position, whereas in the opera, Camille’s ghost “cured” him, however, Picker notes that he has “har- only by his mother’s care and forbearance. He sings to his murderers. Take, for example, this line: “They is upright and active, vertical in all senses. Second, nessed [Tourette’s] energy—I play with it, manipulate
4 American Music Review Vol. XLV, No. 2: Spring 2016 American Music Review Vol. XLV, No. 2: Spring 2016 5 Obsession and Paralysis (cont.) Obsession and Paralysis (cont.) it, trick it, mimic it, taunt it, explore it, exploit it, in (the way it feels comfortable to get back to the home 11 Zola, Thérèse Raquin, 17. every possible way.”17 Picker’s claiming of his dis- key area), then a kind of musical paralysis has oc- The H. Wiley Hitchcock Institute ability also relates to his deep conviction that the To- curred along with the literary one in Act II. 12 Picker, Thérèse Raquin: An Opera in Two Acts, 13-14. for Studies in American Music urette’s tics that seem to disappear when he composes have found their way into the music. He writes: “It While the plot of this opera appears to revolve 13 Picker, Thérèse Raquin, 222-232. Jeffrey Taylor, Director may be true that there’s a ‘Tourettic energy’ that fuels around an affair, it is actually the obsessive quali- Ray Allen, Senior Research Associate my work to some degree. Sometimes my music strikes ties of the couple’s interactions, as well as Madame’s 14
Picker has altered his compositional style from Neo- AMR is published in the Fall and Spring. Copyright 2016 by the H. Wiley Hitchcock Romanticism to freely atonal Expressionism in one 9 Benjamin McRae Amoss, “The Revolution of 1848 and Algria,” Institute for Studies in American Music, Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, 2900 Bedford Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11210. opera. The transition from one style to the other occurs The French Review 75, no. 4 (2002): 745. 10 Tel: 718-951-5655 primarily through the harmonic, or vertical, features of Tobias Picker, Thérèse Raquin: An Opera in Two Acts (New Email: [email protected] the piece, such as chords. If these chords are so jarring York: Tobias Picker Music, 2001), 39-45 (vocal score). Website: www.hisam.org or dissonant as to stop the fow of harmonic function
6 American Music Review Vol. XLV, No. 2: Spring 2016 American Music Review Vol. XLV, No. 2: Spring 2016 7 Institute News Celebrating Minimalism and K. Robert Schwarz Jeffrey Taylor, Brooklyn College Jennifer Oates, Queens College and Jeffrey Taylor, Brooklyn College
Congratulations to our Graduate Fellow Whitney George, tral Conducting Department at the Instituto Superior de Arte. Many of us at the Institute and Brooklyn Col- in the QC Music Library and cannot be copied or who recently conducted her ensemble The Curiosity Cabinet in We hope that this event with Maestro López-Gavilán made the lege fondly remember K. Robert Schwarz (1959- published without permission from the Schwarz the performances of two works. The first, on 23 May at Dixon first of many new connections between Cuba and the Hitch- 1999), who was a Research Assistant here in the family and those being interviewed. Thank you to Place in Manhattan, featured Night: Like Velvet, in Twelve Let- cock Institute, as trade and travel restrictions begin to loosen. 1990s. He was an immensely talented writer and the Special Collections Department of the Benja- ters, in which George set texts by Sylvia Plathe and Ted Hughes On 21 March, Senior Research Associate Ray Allen shared scholar and cordial colleague. Those who did min Rosenthal Library and to the Schwarz family in a non-linear song cycle that evoked the sometimes strained research for his upcoming book in “Jump Up! The Brooklyn not know Schwarz personally probably encoun- for facilitating the completion of this digitization relationship between the two poets. Beautifully sung by soprano Soca Connection,” and on 4 May Michael Weinstein-Reiman tered his work in the New York Times, Musical project, a fitting memorial to a writer and scholar gave some new insights into the contemporary pop scene with America, and many other publications, as well as who left us much too soon. “Going Postal: Posthumanism, Queerness, and Nicki Minaj’s through his most significant scholarly legacy, the ‘Monsters.’” Finally, in what is becoming an annual “global book Minimalists (Phaedon Press, 1996). Schwarz jazz” event, the Institute partnered with The Central Brooklyn earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in music at Jazz Consortium in “An Evening of Calypso Jazz” on 21 April, Queens College in 1979, where his father, Boris featuring trumpeter Etienne Charles, composer and pianist Schwarz, was emeritus professor of violin in the Frankie McIntosh, steel pan artist Garvin Blake and bassist Music Department as well as a renown musicolo- David “Happy” Williams as well as Arturo O’Farrill and the gist. He completed a Masters at Indiana with a Brooklyn College Big Band. thesis on Steve Reich, and was completing a dis- sertation on Paul Bowles at the CUNY Graduate In January Institute Director Jeffrey Taylor was interviewed Center when his life was cut tragically short by by Special Advisor Randall Horton for an episode of the AIDS. The Curiosity Cabinet performing American Music TV series now being produced at Brooklyn Whitney George’s Night, Like Velvet: in Twelve Letters College. As mentioned in our last issue, the Institute hopes to Robert interviewed hundreds of prominent Photo by Aleks Karjaka — Karjaka Studios become much more involved in the ongoing creation of these musicians of the late twentieth century, includ- programs. The episode, in which Taylor talks about the schol- ing composers such as Paul Bowles, Steve Reich, Sharon Harms, the twelve movements (each composed during arly study of American music and the history and mission of Terry Riley, Milton Babbitt, Meredith Monk, a different month of the year) featured a male actor, aerialist, HISAM, will be posted on our website. Research Associate Pauline Oliveros, Ellen Taffe Zwilich, and John and dancer, all accompanied by the rich contrapuntal textures Stephanie Jensen-Moulton started off a busy spring of lec- Corigliano, performers such as Joshua Bell, Anne of the nine-piece ensemble. Then on 10 and 11 June, at the tures at the annual meeting of the Society for American Music, Sophie Mutter, and Thomas Hampson, conduc- DiMenna Center, The Curiosity Cabinet was featured again in a where she participated in a panel of speakers on diversity and tors such as James Levine and Andre Prévin, staging of George’s one-act opera The Yellow Wallpaper, based inclusion. She also presented on Disability and Music at Clark and many fellow scholars. His recordings and on an 1892 story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Gilman’s story University, and gave keynote lectures at both Rutgers Univer- transcripts of the interviews, along with his follows the descent of Victoria (the central character) into insan- sity and Lehman College on disability in John Adams’ opera papers and extensive research notes for both his ity after her husband confines her in a room lined with paper The Death of Klinghoffer. Ray Allen continues his research on academic work and criticism, were given to the K. Robert Schwarz’s Minimalists that made her “think of all the yellow things I ever saw—not Brooklyn Carnival music. This spring he delivered two pre- Queens College Library by his family soon after beautiful ones like butter cups but old, foul, bad yellow things.” sentations on the topic: “Who is Globalizing Whom? Brooklyn his death. First performed in 2010, George had extensively revised the Soca Music and Transnational Musical Practice” at the Society piece, adding a role for baritone. Though performed with a for American Music annual conference in Boston, and “Steel We are delighted to announce that The K. Robert minimum of costumes, sets, and lighting effects, the work and Brass in Brooklyn: Carnival Music, Globalization, and Schwarz collection can be viewed at the Queens vividly portrays how the main character’s unease blossoms Transnational Identity,” at the CUNY Graduate Center’s Mu- College Special Collections and Archives Depart- into terror as she begins to see figures behind the wallpaper. But sics, Immigrants and the City conference. And amidst a busy ment (http://archives.qc.cuny.edu/finding_aids/ far from the hysterical woman of stereotype, Victoria emerges performing schedule, Research Associate Arturo O’Farrill KRobertSchwarz). All 320 tapes of K. Robert from her ordeal free and defiant. Judging from the enthusiastic led a premiere of his “Cornel West Concerto” at Harlem’s Schwarz’s interviews are now available for use responses by capacity crowds at both events, these two works Apollo Theater on 21 May. Writer, teacher and activist West on CDs in the Queens College Music Library. deserve a long performance life. Brava! provided inspiration for the work, which was commissioned by For a complete list of interviewees, see the the Apollo. West himself performed an oration in four sections, CUNY Catalog (do a simple search for “Schwarz On 8 February the Institute hosted a talk by renowned Cuban with each punctuated by instrumental solos. The text addressed interviews” at https://libsearch.cuny.edu/ composer and conductor Guido López-Gavilán, who is questions posed by W.E.B. Du Bois in The Souls of Black Folk F/?func=find-b-0&local_base=queens). Please President of the Havana Festival and Chairman of the Orches- about integrity, honesty, decency and virtue. note, due to copyright issues, CDs must be used 8 American Music Review Vol. XLV, No. 2: Spring 2016 American Music Review Vol. XLV, No. 2: Spring 2016 9 Max Morath, Complete Ragtime Works for Piano Space Is The Place: Composition In New York City’s Edward A. Berlin Improvised Music Scene Ragtime composition today can be divided into two and (2) polyrhythms, with one hand playing in three Daniel Blake broad categories: rags that adhere to the piano style against a duple in the other. Instances of meter shifts People have a lot more of the unknown than but rather to understand the unique practices of par- of the original period, extending from the late 1890s can be found in such works as Golden Hours (1972) the known in their minds. ticular individuals who take improvisation as a given through World War I, and those that retain the spirit and and One for Amelia (1964). Polyrhythms are included The unknown is great; it’s like the darkness. for their practice. An effort to capture a more complete some elements of the original style, but express them in such rags as Polyragmic (1964), One for Norma Nobody made that. It just happens. understanding of compositions that are not formalized with a more current musical language. Composers of (1975), and One for the Road (1983). Morath expands Sun Ra1 as musical scores must involve a better understanding the frst category include many ragtime fans, amateur his concept of unsettling rhythms further by lengthening of the musical communities from which these compo- performers, and a few professionals. In imitating this or shortening phrases and strains; instead of the antici- Following a 2013 performance of a string quartet in sitions emerged. With this potential gap of understand- historic music style, they adopt the well-defned con- pated four-measure phrases and sixteen-measure strains, which I participated as composer and saxophonist, a ing in mind, I pursued the question of compositional ventions of ragtime: two sixteen-measure strains in the he may present phrases of three or fve measures, strains colleague told me how he had enjoyed a certain pas- spaces by speaking directly with musical practitioners tonic followed by a “trio” of one or two strains in the of nine, thirteen, or twenty measures. It all throws us off sage that he assumed to be improvised. Although the living and working in New York City. These impro- subdominant, all characterized by tonal harmonies and stride and keeps us paying attention. Morath’s harmonic passage was notated, the comment led me to refect viser-composers come from diverse backgrounds in melodies and a few stereotyped syncopation patterns. language also evolved as his style developed, becoming on the many rehearsals I had held with the quartet, African American, European, folkloric, and electronic Modeled on the best rags, many less conventional and more com- during which we would discuss ideas and impro- music, and are people with whom I maintain some of these compositions are quite plex. In Anchoria Leland (1981), vise together. We were trying to establish a working degree of professional affliation as a performer. good as measured against the gen- a piece especially rich in surprises, method that would break out of the conventional eral ragtime output of the original he has touches of polytonality. composer-performer model, and our hope was that The notion of hybridity refers to musical practices period, but they remain old rags it would be more suitable to the diverse aesthetic that occupy several idioms simultaneously, and not to recently written. Morath’s natural inclina- we were interested in exploring.2 As for the pas- music that self-consciously adheres to a single idiom tion toward drama might have sage in question, I remember settling on a shorthand like jazz improvisation using song forms. A central Proponents of the other catego- prompted the programmatic notation approximating a mix of bow noise, sliding challenge in performing musical hybridity is how to ry include composers established effects he uses in Echoes of the harmonics, and fast tremolos. By the time of the create the conditions for a satisfying musical experi- in different genres who use their Rosebud (1975). The title refers performance the quartet ence in the absence of either skills and experience to create a to Tom Turpin’s Rosebud Bar, an was entirely familiar with a formalized score or an ragtime that could not have existed early twentieth-century center for the texture, rendering my idiomatic lineage to codify in the earlier period. Max Morath ragtime piano-playing in St. Louis. notation somewhat redun- musical expectations. Given straddles the two categories, but We hear familiar melodies—a little dant. the extraordinary diversity leans heavily toward the modernist bit of Charles Hunter, some Scott of alternative approaches camp. Though he has composed for Joplin —but they are not quite In fact, the passage outside of strict idiomatic many years, he is not a full-time right: the rhythms and other ele- represented a particular improvisation available to composer; his works have been ments are somewhat askew, sug- aesthetic agreement we contemporary musicians, incidental to his theatrical perfor- gesting a misty, imperfect recall, had forged together. That arriving at a sense of what mances that use popular music to Max Morath, composer echoes in which certain details agreement led us to a constitutes a “successful reveal an historical Americana, have been lost or distorted. hybrid musical structure performance” is itself a with some emphasis on the ragtime years. His seven- exemplifying what Robert signifcant creative devel- teen rags, spanning fve decades beginning in 1954, All seventeen rags are treated to sparkling, robust Morris has called a “com- opment for an ensemble, refect several styles. Not surprisingly, his earliest—the performances by Aaron Robinson on an MAI CD. positional space,” which Sun Ra, 1980 and therefore is worthy of irrepressible Imperial Rag (1954)—assumes the manner Robinson’s departures from the score, mostly slight I adopt here to signify a set Photo by Guy Le Querrec/Magnum Photos greater inquiry. For a group of an historical rag, though it includes features not com- embellishments, strike this listener as spontaneous and of aesthetic possibilities that of individuals to collectively mon at that time, such as an opening on a diminished enthusiastic responses to the music. Sample clips can is mutually understood by a share a feeling of mutual seventh chord and triplet passages suggestive of the be heard on the Amazon page offering individual tracks group of individuals, and which is worked out in real satisfaction in performance, they must successfully novelty piano style of the 1920s. and the complete CD, and on http://www.cdbaby.com/ time.3 These spaces represent “cracks” through which balance the different viewpoints and interests from cd/aaronrobinson8. The scores are available in the folio much analytical discourse about contemporary music within the group. My central argument here is that the As he developed his individual ragtime style, he ex- Max Morath, Original Rags for Piano, published by Hal falls, in part because they are tailored to the specifc creation of unique compositional spaces represents tended the defning trait of ragtime—its restless synco- Leonard (http://www.halleonard.com/). These fascinat- needs of one particular group or individual. To be a way to productively mediate the complex inter- pation—with other disruptive or unsettling rhythmic de- ing rags are worth examining and performing. clear, this essay is not an attempt to re-litigate the ana- play of aesthetic agreement and disagreement lying vices. These are mainly (1) duple and triple meter shifts, lytical binary of “improvisation versus composition,” just beneath the surface of contemporary improvised
10 American Music Review Vol. XLV, No. 2: Spring 2016 American Music Review Vol. XLV, No. 2: Spring 2016 11 Space is the Place (cont.) Space is the Place (cont.) Halvorson describes her compositions as maps. In music.4 As vehicles to mediate an ethical communica- Spatial metaphors are consistent themes in almost part interesting, that there are differences in how people laying out her view on composition to me, she empha- tion within an ensemble, compositions open up spaces every interview I conducted and, despite the diversity hear … and the decisions they make. If you play with a sized how her band handled an unplanned moment in for new kinds of interaction to occur in the course of of views taken up here, offer a powerful consensus on certain confguration of people a lot, you can do certain performance: performance. how compositions serve a unique function within New things on a dime, and actually that becomes an obsta- York’s rich contemporary music landscape. cle.” Evans lays out a hypothetical improvising situa- I had something written and it was In describing improvisation as an ethical interac- tion that describes the potential for disagreement: “Fred a sixteen-bar form and the trumpet tion, I follow the Foucauldian view of “moral behav- Improvising and Tolerance - the Playing Field wants to keep playing this high sparkly shimmery stuff played over it. And I said the alto will iors” as involving “the manner in which one ought to … he wants me to go there with him over and over. join and the trumpet drops out. But then conduct oneself … as an ethical subject acting in refer- Improvisation can be likened to a form of ethical Sometimes [I] go there anyway just to help the music at the gig everyone in the band dropped ence to the prescriptive elements that make up a moral mediation where musicians are fnding points of along!” Evans’ willingness to “go there anyway” il- out and suddenly it was just solo alto code,” which in this case can be likened to composi- agreement and disagreement, constantly honing in luminates a kind of ethical confating of agreement with and we just eventually cued into the tional materials that govern an improvisation.5 The real time how best to work together. This is why many what Brooklyn-based technologist Sergei Tcherepnin next part . . . philosopher Arnold Davidson likens Foucault’s “se ensembles do not last for more than a few sessions, calls an aesthetic “sameness, a point on the playing conduire” (to conduct oneself) to Williams Parker’s while others remain together with the same personnel feld.” For Tcherepnin, this point is but one position Although such unexpected structural re-arrangements notion of “self-conduction” which Parker describes for decades. Defning agreement and disagreement “from which you can also depart … [giving] you a way are routine in improvised music, they are crucial to as “the concept of conducting oneself in and out of can be tricky, as can be seen in recent scholarship that you can actually speak to each other through your Halvorson’s compositional model as they fll in ar- sections of a composition. There is also the option of interrogating notions of consensus in felds as diverse differences.” He aptly summarizes how true consensus eas of the map that may not have been there initially. creating parts or setting at the moment, working indi- as political theory and even scientifc research.8 In a is not in sounding the same, but in establishing an ethi- Halvorson appreciated this event because “the whole vidually or as a section. The rule is the moment always basic sense, the aesthetic agreements reached by the cal framework where a player is free to “throw some- thing is mapped out … so you can veer off but you supersedes the preset compositional idea. Each player musicians I interviewed favor an understanding of thing [new] onto the playing feld, changing the fow of still are in this overall structure and the composition has the freedom to create their own part if they feel the consensus that accepts, recognizes, and values individ- the music.” still has to get played until the end.” part they would create is better than the written part at ual differences within the range of what is considered that moment.”6 In merging the two ideas, Davidson “normal.”9 Queens-based pianist Ricardo Gallo de- Many experienced improvising ensembles have This active participation in a musical landscape notes that “to conduct oneself” is to improvise as an scribes it this way: “To me, doing music in an impro- managed this kind of interplay of intentionality by de- evokes and expands upon Mark Johnson and Steve ethical subject, a subject who possesses the “freedom visatory way has to do with tolerance … It has to do veloping implicit musical understandings over months Larson, who in recent work have noted a distinc- to create” in relation to a moral code. with fnding common ground. Notation is an area of and years of working together. Ethical mediation tive musical understanding based on a perceiver as departure and what I want to get at is within that area.” involves a mutual trust that although a musical form can moving against and interacting with an ontologically This essay will discuss the process of composing In connecting tolerance to “common ground,” Gallo change suddenly and unexpectedly, sometimes due to static space.12 To veer off the map would be to leave for improvisers in two parts. First, the collective effort asserts that aesthetic agreement is reached collectively an individual’s whim, the ensemble’s collective unity of the compositional space Halvorson has set, perhaps to achieve an ethical balance and is based upon a shared intent and purpose will not be compromised. Although by ignoring given material such as chord changes or through musical improvisa- ethical position of tolerance. this is certainly possible without utilizing explicit textural instructions. Halvorson concludes that “maybe tion forms the ground out of He alludes to this in stating that musical structures to guide a performance, many of the that’s what separates [playing a composition] from which distinct compositional a notated composition can chart musicians I spoke with see composing as a way to “help free improvisation, that these improvisations are serv- spaces can emerge that allow out an area of departure that is the music along” outside the common ground and into ing the composition. I would hope that the improvisa- for the kind of ethical interac- unknown and to which a group unknown terrain. tions are different than if you’re just playing free.” In tion described above. This can venture. This evokes leg- the interest of exploring unknown terrain, Halvorson interaction takes place within endary saxophonist/composer Compositional Spaces – Moving Outside the Playing Field gives her ensemble signifcant latitude to chart their a set of aesthetic possibilities Wayne Shorter’s succinct def- own course through the map she has introduced, so that is referred to here as the nition of jazz music as “dealing Considering musical performance as a kind of space long as certain destinations are reached along the way. “playing feld.” Second, three with the unexpected. No one allows us to consider musical performance as being a such spaces revealed in the really knows how to deal with kind of “container” marked by discernible characteris- In setting out a compositional strategy that best interviews will be introduced the unexpected. How do you tics. The theorist Robert Morris defnes compositional suits a particular ensemble, musicians have to balance Peter Evans, 2007 10 a desire to articulate often-complex musical structures that shift, expand upon, or Photo by Andy Newcombe rehearse the unknown?” spaces as “out of time structures from which the more consolidate the playing feld temporally ordered ‘compositional design’ can be with the reality that most improvisers expect a degree in some way. In choosing to focus on the spatial meta- Queens-based trumpeter Peter Evans describes composed.”11 However, spatial metaphors also offer of aesthetic agency when performing. This is a crucial phors musicians use to describe their work, I wish to consensus as having more to do with “common goals explanatory guidance for how a performance com- point of distinction for African-derived music, lead- highlight an alternative ontology to the more conven- in the music rather than specifc things that are happen- prised of diverse improvising musicians is structured ing Samuel Floyd to remark, “Improvising musicians tional understanding of composing as score making.7 ing.” He continues, “That’s what makes the improvised in real time. This is apparent in how guitarist Mary gladly take the risks that come with spontaneity …
12 American Music Review Vol. XLV, No. 2: Spring 2016 American Music Review Vol. XLV, No. 2: Spring 2016 13 Space is the Place (cont.) Space is the Place (cont.) in improvised music, high ensemble precision may After a certain amount of rotations [the becomes an orienting structure for the performance, a son’s map that maintains formal continuity between be sacrifced for individuality within the aggregate, piece] started to get worse. Then it kind kind of compass that guides players regardless of their improvisations that may veer off into unknown territory, with performers and listeners alike tacitly agreeing of fell apart and we all started laugh- individual position in the space. Ideally, all players 2) Peter Evans’ jungle that confronts players with a that imprecision … sometimes has its own value.”13 ing, and [percussionist Jim Black] said, have fully internalized the structure so that as Lehman saturated musical space forcing them to chart a unique As Brooklyn-based saxophonist Josh Sinton notes, “I “I was purposely trying to get myself puts it, “it becomes an opportunity rather than a limita- path in performance, and fnally 3) Steve Lehman’s don’t understand people writing for jazz trained musi- lost.” Jim was just playing these hits in tion … the sky is the limit in terms of individual and allocentric orientation where the compositional space cians, who are improvisers, a ten-page piece. I’m not totally random places out of tempo and group decisions.” functions as a compass for the performance. In all saying they are not capable of it, but that’s not playing not looking at the music so he could these spaces, players must balance unexpected musi- to their strengths.”14 Peter Evans aims to strike this fnd his way back. Lehman’s composition cal events (“the unknown”) with balance through his self-described “jungle pieces,” “Allocentric” creates a kind of the existing musical structures. which create a compositional space characterized by The complexity of the jungle creates the need for compositional space that, unlike Another commonality among the density of material. Evans describes this space as “an players to remain aware of a macrocosmic structure, Evans’ emphasis on density, spaces is that players maintain environment for people to live in,” a landscape that is which is represented here by the original tune’s chord lays out several consistent mu- their creative agency with regard “so saturated in detail that you have to hack your way progression. Where Halvorson’s compositions chart sical strata to which players can to the composition. Although through the jungle with a machete to fnd your path a specifc course through a map, with the ensembles refer and that remain in place all represent the result of spatial …” He adds that “it’s confusing, and it’s open. There’s flling in the space with improvisations, Evans drops throughout the piece. Lehman metaphors, there are differences no end to it.” This kind of compositional space in the players into a dense “compositional space” to be described the structure to me: in their applicability. One can veer some ways is at once more prescriptive than Halvor- worked out in real time. Unlike a fully realized score, off a map, but one cannot so eas- son’s notion of the map in that it gives performers the “jungle” represents a network of possible rhythmic The harmonies are ily veer off a jungle, nor can one concrete materials to interact with while improvising. and melodic events that players of an ensemble must based off the harmonic deny the universal directionality At the same time, Evans accepts that performers will grapple with moment by moment. series of four or fve dif- of a compass. These conceptual “hack their way through the ferent pitches rounded differences have signifcant impli- jungle” in different ways, and The creation of macrocos- to the nearest quarter- cations for how the music sounds, therefore maintains a signif- mic forms such as these is not tone. Rhythmically it is Steve Lehman as is evident in the recordings cant unknown element in how necessarily evidence of a supe- a bar of 4/4 that gets di- Photo Courtesy of SteveLehman.com these individuals have released as the space is interpreted in rior work, but one that is more vided in different ways, bandleaders. performance. suited to players interested in for example into fve parts, so two long interpreting such structures. pulses and one short one, and that could Communities function best when the need for Evans’ composition “All” Saxophonist Steve Lehman last two bars. The next bar could be the consensus is balanced with recognition of differences; is a complex contrafact based refers to this as a directional same bar of 4/4, but divided into seven “commonality in multiplicity” on the one hand, and on the ubiquitous jazz standard orientation, “an implicit under- parts, subdivided into 2+2+2+1, and so “individuality within the aggregate” on the other.17 In “All the Things You Are.” In standing or agreement in terms on …16 an age when modern political thinkers call for tran- addition to the melodic chro- of musical priorities,” which scendent “unpredictable ideologies,”18 contemporary maticism that is characteristic Mary Halvorson has to do with “what people As players work with the shifting temporal and intona- musicians continue their work opening alternative of a typical bebop tune, play- Photo by Peter Gannushkin tend to privilege within a tional gradients of the scale and complementary rhyth- aesthetic spaces that are becoming ever more inclusive ers must also contend with musical space.” For Lehman, mic subdivisions, the performance is guided by what and sensitive to the needs of their communities. constantly shifting tempi and detailed rhythmic coun- improvisers tend to fall into two broad orientational Lehman describes as “perceptual ambiguities” inher- terpoint, all set within the song’s original harmonic categories: 1) egocentric, where that position is de- ent to the structure. These ambiguities of pitch and Notes progression. Since all of this material cannot be played fned locally to one’s own point in space (e.g. to my rhythm form a larger aesthetic direction for the piece, all of the time, Evans concludes that the piece “forces right) or 2) allocentric, where one defnes their posi- serving as points of reference for players to maintain a 1 Sun Ra, Liner Notes, Destination Unknown, Sun Ra and His Omni- me to question my own criteria for what is a success- tion more globally (e.g. east).15 Lehman refers to the cohesive orientation throughout a performance. verse Arkestra, Enja 7071, 1992, compact disc. The title is also taken ful performance. I don’t even know sometimes! Part former as “improvising in a way where you are just from the flm Space is the Place, directed by John Coney/performed of the reason I’m writing this stuff is for people to take using your intuition and reacting to what you hear and The compositional spaces explored here refect how by Sun Ra (1974; New York: Rhapsody Films, 2003), DVD. risks.” The risk is to cope with the uncertainty of get- trying to communicate with everyone but it’s all ori- musicians engage with their musical communities. The ting lost in the jungle, to make formal decisions that ented around your own perception,” whereas the latter goal of a compositional space is to lay out a set of aes- 2 My background is in a variety of improvised music traditions may not coincide with another player in the ensemble. is a mode of improvisation “where all of that is still thetic possibilities that are of interest to an ensemble, and notated chamber music, while the quartet’s (The Mivos Quar- He recounts one such instance: going on but there is also a responsibility to uphold a and which are realizable in performance. I summarize tet) roots are in European concert music, specializing in cutting kind of musical form.” In this way, the composition these compositional goals as follows: 1) Mary Halvor- edge notated chamber works.
14 American Music Review Vol. XLV, No. 2: Spring 2016 American Music Review Vol. XLV, No. 2: Spring 2016 15 Space is the Place (cont.) The Challenge of Comparing Improvisation Across Domains
3 Robert Morris “Compositional Spaces and Other Territories,” 16 Stephen Lehman, “Liminality as a Framework for Composi- Andrew Goldman & Marc Hannaford, Columbia University Perspectives Of New Music 33 (Winter 1995): 329-330. tion: Rhythmic Thresholds, Spectral Harmonies, and Afrological In 1974, Bruno Nettl urged “ . . . it is probably time to The goal of our group is to trace common threads Improvisation” (PhD diss., Columbia University, 2012). begin to rethink the idea of improvisation, to see whether through various improvisational practices in order to lo- 4 Georgina Born, “On Musical Mediation, Ontology, Technology, it merits consideration as a single process, whether it has cate, describe, explain, and critique the phenomenon, and and Creativity,” Twentieth-Century Music 2, no. 1 (2005): 33. 17 George E. Lewis extends Floyd’s terminology in A Power integrity as an idea separate from other, related ideas about the scholarship surrounding it. The themes and practices Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental creating of music, and whether all the things that we now discussed at our meetings have been diverse. Guiding top- 5 Michel Foucault, History of Sexuality, vol. 2, translated by Rob- Music (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008), 511. call improvisation are indeed the same thing.”1 Today ics have included the role of preparation in improvisation, ert Hurley (New York: Random House, 1985), 25-27. Nettl’s questions fourish in a feld of improvisation studies listening as an improvised practice, gender, live coding, 18 Arthur Brooks, “A Conservative’s Plea: Let’s Work Togeth- that not only addresses variation between musical practic- problems mapping commonalities across domains, and 6 Arnold Davidson, “Improvisation and Ethics,” YouTube er,” TED Talk, https://www.ted.com/talks/arthur_brooks_a_ es, but also across a variety of domains with improvisatory temporality. For our sixth meeting we presented our frst video, 45:24, November 13, 2008, posted by The Center for conservative_s_plea_let_s_work_together, accessed May 2, aspects such as dance, theater, artifcial intelligence, farm- invited speaker, Chris Stover (The New School), who Jazz Studies, March 21, 2013, https://www.youtube.com/ 2016. I adopt this term appropriatively, from American Enterprise ing, organizational management, poetry, and many others. delivered a paper, “Time, Territorialization, and Impro- watch?v=2MYAMo_JZyA; William Parker, liner notes to Mayor Institute’s Arthur Brooks, although I do not share Brooks’ open The journal Critical Studies in Improvisation / Études visational Spaces,” that applied Deleuzian philosophy to of Punkville (Brooklyn: AUM Fidelity, 2000), CD. embrace of neo-liberal “free market” solutions to pressing global critiques en improvisation, the Improvisation, Community, the analysis of improvisation. Jaan Altosaar (Princeton dilemmas such as chronic hunger. and Social Practice organization, and the two-volume Ox- and Columbia Universities), our second invited speaker, 7 I refer here to “ontological metaphors” as defned in Lakoff and ford Handbook of Critical Improvisation Studies (Oxford presented work on machine learning approaches to music Johnson, Metaphors We Live B, (Chicago: University of Chicago University Press, forthcoming Summer 2016), edited by generation and improvisation, in which computers can Press, 1980), 25-32. Interviews Cited George Lewis and Benjamin Piekut, have been infuential learn to generate and analyze music with varying degrees in this regard, and continue to advance a growing move- of human supervision through “training” on digital cor- 8 Heather Douglas, “The Irreducible Complexity of Objectivity,” Ricardo Gallo, interview with the author, New York, NY, 10 April ment devoted to critical scholarship on improvisation. pora of musical examples.3 Synthese 138 (2004): 464; Longino et al., “Introduction To The Plu- 2011. ralist Stance,” in Scientifc Pluralism, ed. Stephen H. Kellert, et al. It is in this climate that we formed the Comparing Despite the apparent ubiquity of improvisation in (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2006): vii-xxvii. Peter Evans, interview with the author, Brooklyn, NY, 25 August Domains of Improvisation Discussion Group in August different domains, and surface similarities between 2011. 2015 at Columbia University. We use the term domain instances of the practice, fnding meaningful theoreti- 9 Anna Elisabetta Galeotti, Tolerance as Recognition (Cambridge: in order to consider accompanying theories and scholar- cal commonalities has not been a trivial process. Here, Cambridge University Press, 2002), 194-195. Mary Halvorson, interview with the author, Brooklyn, NY, 26 ship in addition to the practices themselves. Our goal we share some of these thoughts and challenges that we July 2011. is to provide a platform for improvisers and scholars of have encountered in the discussions, and refect on how 10 Wayne Shorter, interview by Laura Sullivan, All Things Consid- improvisation to explore commonalities and differences to advance this area of research. ered, NPR, 2 February 2013. Josh Sinton, interview with the author, Brooklyn, NY, 6 June in both the practice and theorization of improvisation.2 2011. One clear example of this diffculty arises in dis- 11 Morris, 330. Our respective interests in improvisation are both cussions of constraints, a concept which can readily Steve Lehman, Skype interview with the author, 30 August 2011. scholarly and personal. Goldman is a pianist, composer, be applied to improvisation in different domains. For 12 Mark Johnson and Steve Larson, “Something In The Way She and cognitive scientist whose postdoctoral work at Co- example, a musician might be constrained by a chord Moves: Metaphors of Musical Motion,” Metaphor and Symbol lumbia University focuses on developing ways to inte- progression or a dancer by a particular choreography. 18 (2003): 79-80. grate neuroscientifc theories and experimental methods Constraints are sometimes used to quantify the degree with the broader study of improvisation. This includes of freedom of a performance. Building on this view, 13 Samuel Floyd, The Power of Black Music (New York: Oxford both theoretical work (i.e., how can this integration best different performances can be placed on a continuum or University Press, 1995), 228. be done) and experimental work comparing groups of spectrum depending on how many constraints there are. musicians using electroencephalography (EEG). Han- These concepts have frequently arisen in our discussions 14 To this point, I am reminded of a 2008 workshop I attended giv- naford, a graduate student in music theory at Columbia as potentially having explanatory power across domains. en by multi-instrumentalist, composer, and recent Pulitzer Prize University, researches the analysis of musical improvisa- While we do not see this as implausible, it has also be- inductee Henry Threadgill, where the maestro gave us several tion, particularly in relation to subject- and community- come clear that the similarity may be only skin deep. pages of his own diffcult music, asked us to read it backwards, formation, in conjunction with race, gender, sexuality, and when a few of us balked he laconically stated “You can read nationality, and class. He is also an improvising pianist Comparing domains of improvisation using the con- the music from left to right, and then you can just go home.” and composer who performs regularly. Other members cept of constraints is problematic in at least two regards. of the group include musicians, musicologists, danc- First, theoretical terminology differs between practices 15 Barry Blesser and Linda-Ruth Salter, Spaces Speak, Are You Listening?: ers, choreographers, computer scientists, sociologists, a owing to differences in the practices themselves. There Experiencing Aural Architecture (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2006), 49. graphic novelist, and professional educators. are typically no chord progressions in dance performance
16 American Music Review Vol. XLV, No. 2: Spring 2016 American Music Review Vol. XLV, No. 2: Spring 2016 17 Improvisation Across Domains (cont.) Improvisation Across Domains (cont.) and no foot positions in musical performance. Even with- those processes have common features across domains of code) can result in very different sonic consequences. course?” and suggesting that, if improvisation persists, the in music, there is immense variety between traditions, regardless of the specifc nature of the product (e.g., mu- This is a complex issue, but the main idea for these pur- organization must confront the possibility of “disruption, each with its own theoretical vocabulary, instruments, sical notes, dance steps, etc.). poses is that despite a surface similarity that both live- inconvenience, and occasional mistakes.”10 Their answer and practices. Noting that constraints exist is certainly coding and acoustic instrumental practice are constrained, thus suggests that the primary function of improvisation in important, but there is more work to be done given that This question of depth is compatible with existing the performance processes can be markedly different, in their model is to increase productivity and market share. specifc constraints do not directly translate. Given these theoretical frameworks and empirical methods of cognitive whether constraints extend in time, and in how they affect Accordingly, when improvisation runs counter to these differences in formal descriptions of the practices, and science, which can model differences in thought processes, performance decisions and dynamics. This type of differ- aims (which are presumably more proftable for some differences in the practices themselves, the challenge is and demonstrate them in neuroscientifc terms. Many ex- ence has the potential to more meaningfully draw compari- than others), it should be curbed. There is thus a limit to to identify commonalities beyond the relatively general isting neuroscientifc studies compare improvisation with sons between domains of improvisation. That is, instead of the agency their theorization of improvisation grants those observation that constraints exist. rehearsed performance, although they are generally less considering the mere presence of constraints, concepts like below the management level: those improvisers are not sensitive to differences between types of improvisation.4 temporality—the temporal link between movements and able to invert or disrupt the power structure that frames In contrast, consider Wendy Hargreaves’ discussion of sonic results—can more effectively underscore important their improvisations without working against it. This is sources of idea generation. Hargreaves argues that musi- similarities and differences between improvisatory prac- not to say that improvisation cannot be used to critique cal improvisers can use strategy-, audiation-, and motor- tices that have similar temporal issues. power structures—it obviously can and often does—but based processes to generate ideas.5 One could potentially that, when theorized in terms of “working together,” one think of other ways to create a taxonomy of improvisatory Members of our group have also discussed constraint should also consider the function of power. processes with a similar application of describing how the in terms of interpersonal relationships. Improvisers act same product could potentially be produced by multiple and respond to one another in reciprocally dynamic ways. Nicholas Sorenson has called for a more nuanced Fig. 1: Blue boxes represent domain-specifc constraints. Other processes. This could be the basis for future neuroscientifc Unsurprisingly, improvisers are often acutely aware of this examination of “the jazz band metaphor” in studies of colors represent the many possible processes that improvisers experimentation. The contribution of the existing neuro- “dance of agency,” to borrow Andrew Pickering’s phrase.8 improvisation in organizational management. Reinserting could use to work with those constraints. The red boxes represent a scientifc work, and this continuation of it, is that differ- Power structures, which are either predetermined or power into Crossan et al.’s theorization also potentially process that is potentially shared across domains. In a comparison ences in process described at a neurophysiological level emerge during performance, modulate these relationships. provides the means for better comparison of improvisa- between piano playing and dancing, Hargreaves notion of motor- are translatable across domains because neurophysiology While it is true that power constrains improvisation, the tion across domains.11 Exploring “the jazz band meta- generated ideas, for example, could forge a link across domains. itself is not bound to any specifc practice’s terminological way in which power constrains provides better means for phor” further, for example, one could investigate how Second, constraints are often a description of product, framework. It thus has the potential to show connections comparison across domains. Furthermore, power manifests power relationships within a jazz band modulate impro- not process. In the case of music, one might say that an between processes beyond descriptions of products.6 itself differently in different domains of improvisation and visations by its members. Power structure might be based improvisation is constrained by a key on the basis of an not all of these manifestations are comparable. on monetary exchange, representation, compositional analysis of the product after the performance, and deter- Another place where the idea of depth of constraints material, and/or the overall aesthetic of the group—one mining that it is, for instance, in C Major. This constraint arose in our discussions was in our meeting on the topic of Take, for example, the theorization of improvisation of the musicians might pay the other musicians a fee, presumably affected something about the performer’s live coding. Defning live coding is diffcult because of the offered by Crossan et al., who compare improvisation in advertise the group in his or her name, be the sole or process (since it resulted in characteristic structures heterogeneity of its practices, although Thor Magnusson music and organizational management and state, “if orga- primary contributor of original material, and/or defne, that point to C Major), but describing the product alone suggests that writing algorithms in real time performance is nizations want to improvise [like jazz bands], they have explicitly or implicitly and in broad or strict terms, the potentially equivocates the many ways in which the a common feature.7 As an improvisatory practice, live-cod- to . . . rely on camaraderie, mutual trust, and respect.”9 aesthetic of the group. Consider these comments from the constraint could have directed the performer’s process, ing certainly works with constraints in the sense that coding Crossan et al. contrast rehearsals by jazz musicians, which great drummer Art Blakey in this regard: “I’m the leader, or the many processes that could have led to a similar environments and programming languages constrain what in their view are “loose, unstructured, and experimental,” this is true … You learn to sit back there and make that product. These formalized, product-oriented descrip- is possible to create, and facilitate certain kinds of creation with orchestra rehearsals, in which “all the musicians man play… and try to make him build up. And a guy tions of constraints are like a one-dimensional projec- due to the affordances of the particular human-computer in all the sections follow the lead of the conductor who goes a certain distance, I make a roll. They know when tion of many possible processes that could have led to a interface being used. That being said, the way constraints guides, develops, demands, and creates the mood of the I make that roll, they got a certain distance.”12 In this particular improvisation. In other words, there is another affect live-coding musicians has important differences com- piece.” In their analysis, constraints imposed by a particu- passage, Blakey describes the way he signals to a solo- highly relevant dimension—a depth to constraints—that pared with the way constraints affect acoustic instrumental- larly rigid power structure prevent the orchestral musician ist that their solo is coming to an end (a press roll) and captures important variation in process. The many ways ists, owing to the respective nature of these practices. from improvising, while the loosening of those constraints makes explicit the fact that, as the leader of the group to improvise in C Major constitute a depth, but that depth allow the jazz musicians greater freedom in rehearsal. (Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, emphasis added), variation would collapse if one only considers the prod- For the live-coder (if using only a computer keyboard They advocate for applying the jazz-band model to orga- he has the power to do so. These press rolls can be heard uct of an improvisation (i.e., the key). Understanding the and no electronic embodied interfaces), the relationship be- nizational management. One of their concluding remarks, on many of Blakey’s recordings and are, in part, artifacts variation in this depth dimension, we believe, has the tween a movement and the sonic result of that movement however, reveals a lacuna in their theorization in regards of a particular power structure. This is not a critique of potential to create more meaningful connections across can be dissociated in time. That is, when the performer to power. Crossan et al. refect on the sustainability of Blakey nor the jazz band as a space in which improvi- domains. In other words, one can look at the processes moves (by typing), the sonic result may not happen imme- improvisation in their model, asking “should [the group of sation takes place, but merely to point out that it is not that lead to what appear to be constrained products, and diately. Also, similar movements (i.e., typing similar lines improvisers] disband when the [improvisation] has run its devoid of infuential power structures.
18 American Music Review Vol. XLV, No. 2: Spring 2016 American Music Review Vol. XLV, No. 2: Spring 2016 19 Improvisation Across Domains (cont.) Theorizing improvisation in terms of power provides of contributors with diverse backgrounds, interests, and one way of comparing improvisation in organizational relationships to improvisation, to invite established schol- management, as seen in Crossan et al.’s model, with jazz ars to present and contribute to the group’s discussions, groups. Although Crossan et al.’s model is based on “the to deepen our ability to critically compare improvisation jazz band metaphor” it is fairly clear that power does not across domains, and to publish thoughts and arguments play an explicit role in either their analysis of jazz improvi- that arise out of our discussions. sation or the application of this metaphor to organizational management. Our analysis here suggests that a decentral- Notes ized power structure infuences both of these domains of improvisation: limited agency is granted to certain team 1 Bruno Nettl, “Thoughts on Improvisation: A Comparative Ap- members. Thus, the analysis of the mechanisms of power proach,” The Musical Quarterly 60, no. 1 (1974): 2. structures has explanatory power across domains, but iden- tifying its mere presence as a constraint does not. 2 We have been generously supported by both the Department of Mu- sic and the Presidential Scholars in Society and Neuroscience Program at Columbia University.
3 https://jaan.io
4 For a review of these studies, see Roger E. Beaty, “The Neuroscience of Musical Improvisation,” Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 51 (2015): 108–117, doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2015.01.004
5 Wendy Hargreaves, “Generating Ideas in Jazz Improvisation: Where Theory Meets Practice,” International Journal of Music Education 30 (2012): 354–367, doi: 10.1177/0255761412459164 Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers in performance Photo by Dale Parent, courtesy of the Art Blakey Estate 6 For instance, freestyle rap and instrumental improvisation may have different theoretical terminology on the surface, but can be compared In conclusion, we suggest that comparisons across do- in neuroscientifc terms. See Siyuan Liu et al., “Neural Correlates of mains of improvisation should take into account a depth Lyrical Improvisation: An fMRI Study of Freestyle Rap,” Scientifc dimension of constraints, that is, one that focuses on Reports 2 (2012): 1–8, doi: 10.1038/srep00834 differences in the many ways constraints are used or ap- plied. This shifts focus from products to process, and can 7 Thor Magnusson, “Herding Cats: Observing Live Coding in the Wild,” Com- more readily and meaningfully compare and contrast im- puter Music Journal 1, no. 38 (2014): 8–16, doi: 10.1162/COMJ_a_00216 provisatory practices across domains. In our experience, simply observing that improvisation in various domains 8 Andrew Pickering, The Mangle of Practice: Time, Agency, and Sci- is constrained, even accounting for spectrum-type models ence (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010), 21–22. that describe improvisation as more or less constrained, does not provide the grounds for meaningful compari- 9 Mary M. Crossan et al., “The Improvising Organisation: Where Plan- sons of improvisation. Rather, one should consider how ning Meets Opportunity,” Organisational Dynamics 24, No. 4 (1996): improvisation is constrained, and how those constraints 28–29, doi: 10.1016/S0090-2616(96)90011-X function. By understanding the ways various factors con- strain improvisation, theorists can more effectively fnd 10 Ibid., 34 points of overlap between domains. 11 Nicholas Sorensen, “The Metaphor of ‘The Jazz Band’: Ethical We intend to continue the Comparing Domains of Isuses for Leadership,” Critical Studies in Improvisation 9, no. 1 Improvisation Discussion Group throughout the 2016–17 (2013), doi: 10.21083/csieci.v9i1.1903 academic year. Our goals are to establish a regular group 12 Ben Sidran, Talking Jazz: An Oral History. Expanded ed. (Petaluma, 20 American Music Review Vol. XLV, No. 2: Spring 2016 CA: Da Capo Press, 1995), 105.