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Bandsembles and Bandsembling: The HErini sRotsoe Hreyidr iacknd the Experience
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COLLEGE OF MUSIC
BANDSEMBLES AND BANDSEMBLING:
THE HISTORY AND THE EXPERIENCE
By
ERIN ROSE HEIDRICK
A Treatise submitted to the College of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Music
2020 Erin Rose Heidrick defended this treatise on April 2, 2020. The members of the supervisory committee were:
Shannon Thomas Professor Directing Treatise
Evan A. Jones University Representative
Gregory Sauer Committee Member
Corinne Stillwell Committee Member
The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and certifies that the treatise has been approved in accordance with university requirements.
ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My personal journey with bandsembling has involved the support of many different people from various eras of my life.
First, I would like to thank my family and friends, especially Charlotte Rose, John
Heidrick, and Price Sukhia for their relentless support and love. Thank you for listening to me voice my unconventional ideas for so many months with nothing except openness and enthusiasm. You believed in my potential and encouraged me during life’s more difficult moments, and I only hope I can do the same for you when you need encouragement from me.
I want to also thank the contributors of the Indiegogo campaign and my followers on social media platforms. Thank you for supporting me in this endeavor and having a role in the creation of a new piece for bandsemble. Reading your survey responses and reflecting on your perspectives made the entire process of writing so much more enjoyable!
Finally, this treatise is a testament to the impact of my professors. Thank you to all my teachers who believed in me from the very beginning of my collegiate career, especially those who encouraged me to pursue contemporary music, including Dr. Laura Talbott-Clark, Dr.
Katherine McLin, and Dr. Michael Kirkendoll. I would like to thank my committee members,
Dr. Evan A. Jones, Professor Corinne Stillwell, and Professor Gregory Sauer, for encouraging me to pursue this topic and helping me organize my thoughts so I could best create this document. And finally, I am enormously grateful to Dr. Shannon Thomas for her guidance, encouragement, and mentorship over the past three years. I hope to make you proud as I continue to bandsemble in the future!
iii TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Figures ...... v Abstract ...... vi
1. INTRODUCTION ...... 1 Introducing Missy Mazzoli and the Bandsemble...... 1 Challenging the Musical Rhetoric ...... 6 Purpose of this Treatise ...... 11
2. THE HISTORY ...... 12 Performer-Led Concert Series ...... 12 Composer-Led Concert Series ...... 17 Performer-Composers ...... 21
3. THE EXPERIENCE ...... 35 Musicking and Bandsembling...... 35 The Lecture Recital ...... 38 The Impact ...... 50
4. CONCLUSION ...... 53
APPENDIX: SURVEY RESPONSES FROM THE LECTURE RECITAL ...... 54
References ...... 61
Biographical Sketch ...... 66
iv LIST OF FIGURES
1 Victoire performing with members of Wilco and Roomful of Teeth at Carnegie Hall during the 2014 Ecstatic Music Festival (from left to right, Olivia De Prato, Eileen Mack, Missy Mazzoli, Glenn Kotche, Lorna Krier, Ellen Oppenheim, Martha Culver, Mellissa Hughes, and Virginia Warnken) ...... 4
2 The original founding members of the Mendelssohn Quintette Club (from left to right, Francis Riha, Edward Lehmann, Wulf Fries, Thomas Ryan, and August Fries) ...... 14
3 From left to right, composers Roger Sessions, Aaron Copland, and Virgil Thomson, at the Whitney Museum, New York City, 1981 ...... 18
4 "Drumming" performed by members of Steve Reich and Musicians, 1973 ...... 25
5 Members of The Philip Glass Ensemble ...... 27
6 American composer, improviser, and accordionist, Pauline Oliveros ...... 29
7 Members of the Meredith Monk Vocal Ensemble (from left to right, Bohdan Hilash, Meredith Monk, Allison Sniffin, and Katie Geissinger)...... 30
8 Members of Matt McBane’s bandsemble, Build (from left to right, Adam Gold, Ben Campbell, Andrea Lee, Matt McBane, and Mike Cassedy) ...... 33
9 Screenshot from the Indiegogo campaign page ...... 40
10 Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center in Chicago ...... 43
11 Photo of Dohnányi Recital Hall at Florida State University...... 44
12 Members of Haven performing TWO for bandsemble by Matthew Briggs (pictured from left to right, Alan Berquist, Erin Heidrick, Pono Santos, Christian Marshall, Matthew Briggs, and Amy Humberd), projected image from corresponding film by video artist Tori Bold...... 45
13 The bandsembling lecture recital poster, advertising members of Construct (from left to right, Pono Santos, Iris Cheng, Erin Heidrick, Christian Marshall, and Ross Hussong), TRIOmphe (from left to right, Iris Cheng, holding electronics, and Erin Heidrick), and Haven (from left to right, Erin Heidrick, Matthew Briggs, Amy Humberd, Alan Berquist, Pono Santos, and Christian Marshall) ...... 49
v ABSTRACT
This treatise explores the history of the bandsemble and an experience of bandsembling through a public lecture recital. The first chapter, “Introduction,” defines the term “bandsemble” and provides historical context on the emergence of the bandsemble and the rhetoric used in contemporary music projects. Chapter 2, “The History,” argues that the bandsemble belongs to a strong tradition of experimentalism in United States chamber music, through highlighting influential composers and performance projects from the past three centuries. Chapter 3, “The
Experience,” details the concept of bandsembling as modeled after musicologist Christopher
Small’s theory of musicking. It then details the various elements of a bandsembling lecture recital and concludes with a thematic analysis of audience responses to four survey questions.
Lastly, Chapter 4, “Conclusions,” contains my final thoughts on the future of the bandsemble and bandsembling.
vi CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Since the early 2000s, several unconventional chamber ensembles have influenced the landscape of contemporary classical music in the United States. These groups feature previously unexplored instrument combinations, and, as a result, each is distinct in its sound and style. At first glance, these ensembles may seem too unconventional to appropriately perform in a concert hall setting. Many popular chamber groups, such as Newspeak, the NOW Ensemble, and the
American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME), include electric guitar, electronic keyboards, and drum set alongside more traditional acoustic chamber music instruments. Yet contemporary classical composers have embraced these unusual instrument arrangements. In fact, many regularly compose works for these mixed ensembles, incorporating elements from both the symphonic and rock music worlds into their compositions. A specific type of genre-merging ensemble has become especially significant in the classical music scene of the United States, and it focuses on the role of the performer-composer. At this intersection between the classical and rock genres, one finds the “bandsemble,” the classical chamber ensemble-meets-rock band, led by its own composer.
Introducing Missy Mazzoli and the Bandsemble
Similar to how Joseph Haydn is commonly recognized as the father of the string quartet, composer Missy Mazzoli (b. 1980) can be considered the mother of the contemporary bandsemble. Yet Mazzoli’s interests are not singularly focused on the bandsemble; rather, her career reflects an interest in both traditional and unconventional musical projects. Mazzoli is the
2018-2020 Mead Composer-in-Residence with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and is the founder of the Luna Composition Lab, a mentorship program for undiscovered female-
1 identifying adolescent composers.1 Her attraction to unique musical projects began at an early age, as she experimented with music of diverse genres throughout her youth. Mazzoli explains,
“From a young age, I saw no inherent contradiction in following many musical paths simultaneously; I played guitar in a series of terrible punk bands, practiced my Beethoven daily, and wrote volumes of melodramatic music that I didn't share with anyone.”2
During her formative educational years, Mazzoli continued to participate in various eclectic musical projects. While completing an undergraduate degree in music composition at
Boston University, Mazzoli frequented live music events around the city and regularly invited bands to hold shows in the basement of her college house. While studying composition, she also continued her career as a performer, joining the Gamelan music ensemble at MIT and commuting to New York City every few months to perform piano improvisations at various eclectic bars and clubs downtown.3 Post-graduation, Mazzoli moved to the Netherlands to study composition with Louis Andriessen at the Royal Conservatory of the Hague under a Fulbright scholarship. There, she also joined the jazz-influenced, electronica band, Hills Not Skyscrapers.4
For two years, Mazzoli continued her interest in eclectic performance projects, building her reputation as a performer alongside her career as a composer in Amsterdam.5
1 “About Missy,” Missy Mazzoli, accessed March 3, 2020, http://www.missymazzoli.com/about-missy. 2 Missy Mazzoli, “Introducing Missy Mazzoli,” WQXR, March 29, 2010, accessed December 10, 2018, https://www.wqxr.org/story/15707-introducing-missy-mazzoli/. 3 Ibid. 4 John Schafer, “Indie Chamber Music, with Victoire,” New Sounds, podcast audio, August 5, 2010, https://www.newsounds.org/story/90041-indie-chamber-music-with-victoire/. 5 Ann Arenstein, “Music Beyond Genre,” CityBeat, October 9, 2013, accessed March 3, 2020, https://www.citybeat.com/arts-culture/classical-music/article/13006499/music-beyond- genres. 2 In 2004, Mazzoli returned to the United States to begin a master’s degree in composition at Yale University. Two years later, she graduated and moved to New York City, where she encountered other musicians who shared similar aesthetic styles and were also interested in bringing collaborative music to venues outside of the concert hall.6 She met composers Judd
Greenstein and David T. Little, and together they founded Free Speech Zone Productions, a collective that advocated for social change through a series of unconventional concert tours and video documentaries.7 For the inaugural Free Speech Zone Tour in 2005, Greenstein, Little, and
Mazzoli joined with two then newly-formed contemporary music groups, the NOW Ensemble and Newspeak, to perform their music in a series of concerts in bars and clubs across the East
Coast. In these relaxed settings, Newspeak performed one of Mazzoli’s works, entitled “In Spite of All This.” Scored for violin, cello, clarinet, piano, percussion and electric guitar, “In Spite of
All This” reflected Mazzoli’s increasing use of genre mixture within her classical compositions.8
The tour proved to be inspirational to Mazzoli, and afterwards, she began a new project that melded her interest in both the classical and rock music scenes.
In 2008, Mazzoli formed her own chamber group, Victoire, coining the unusual term
“bandsemble” to describe them to audiences. Victoire features Missy Mazzoli on keyboards,
Mellissa Hughes as vocalist, Olivia De Prato on violin, Eileen Mack on clarinet, Lorna Krier on keyboards, and Eleonore Oppenheim on double bass.9 Although the instrumentation is unusual,
Victoire still fits the basic requirements of a classical chamber ensemble; there is only one player to a part, and as a sextet, they are a relatively small ensemble. Yet the presence of non-acoustic
6 Missy Mazzoli, “Introducing Missy Mazzoli.” 7 “Free Speech Zone Tour 2005,” Free Speech Zone, accessed December 5, 2018, http://www.fszproductions.com/web-content/overview.html. 8 Ibid. 9 “Victoire,” Victoire, accessed December 4, 2018, http://www.victoiremusic.com/.
3 instruments in the ensemble suggests a significant influence of rock music on the classical chamber group. In fact, Victoire frequently collaborates with musicians from the indie rock band world. They regularly expand their personnel to include Bryce Dessner, the guitarist of The
National, and Glenn Kotche, the drummer from Wilco (Figure 1). Everyone in Victoire plays on instruments that are portable, which has allowed for performances to take place in locations such as Carnegie Hall, bars including (Le) Poisson Rouge, and music festivals including the Ecstatic
Music Festival and Bang on a Can. 10 As a result, the line between classical chamber ensemble and rock band has become increasingly blurred since their formation.
Figure 1: Victoire performing with members of Wilco and Roomful of Teeth at Carnegie Hall during the 2014 Ecstatic Music Festival (from left to right, Olivia De Prato, Eileen Mack, Missy Mazzoli, Glenn Kotche, Lorna Krier, Ellen Oppenheim, Martha Culver, Mellissa Hughes, and Virginia Warnken)11
10 “Victoire,” Victoire. 11 Michael Woody, “Victoire with Glenn Kotche at Carnegie Hall,” Photograph, from Victoire Music, http://www.victoiremusic.com/photos/kizv8l17zu960bvghue25s7qo1uwun.
4 Victoire stands apart from other contemporary mixed ensembles, not just in their unusual instrumentation, but also in terms of the narrow scope of the music that they perform. Daniel
Stephen Johnson highlights the importance of their specificity in his article, “Missy Mazzoli:
Raising Vacillation to High Art,” explaining, “Most new-music ensembles tend to demonstrate an inverse relationship between the flexibility of their instrumentation and the breadth of their musical focus—[Victoire is] more like a rock band to be both dedicated to the music of a single composer, and to exploit a small, idiosyncratic collection of instruments.”12 In this detail, we uncover the most important aspect of the mixed genre bandsemble: the role of a singular, lead composer.
The bandsemble composer has two main roles, the first being to write the music which will be performed. But their second role is just as important; the lead composer must perform their music with their ensemble. Ultimately, the bandsemble composer interacts with their music differently because they are actively performing it. In the case of Victoire, Missy Mazzoli writes the music, and they primarily perform her music; although named Victoire, it is important to point out that the group could appropriately be named the Missy Mazzoli Ensemble.13
Victoire released their debut album Cathedral City in 2010, on New Amsterdam
Records.14 The release was met with largely positive reviews; however, some struggled with the genre classification of the record. Mazzoli explained, “Some critics have claimed my recent album Cathedral City is not classical music, even though it is fully notated, uses several
12 Daniel Stephen Johnson, “Missy Mazzoli: Raising Vacillation to High Art,” WXQR, February 6, 2012, accessed December 10, 2018, https://www.wqxr.org/story/172819-portal- missy-mazzoli/. 13 Frank J. Oteri, “Missy Mazzoli: Communication, Intimacy, and Vulnerability,” New Music Box, March 1, 2016, accessed December 10, 2018, https://nmbx.newmusicusa.org/missy- mazzoli-communication-intimacy-and-vulnerability/. 14 “Victoire,” Victoire. 5 instruments straight out of the orchestra, harmonies straight out of Stravinsky and was written by a composer straight out of music school.”15 In Mazzoli’s perspective, Victoire clearly exists within the classical tradition, but it follows the highly experimental tradition of American classical music. Her labeling of the group as a bandsemble is not meant to concretely place them somewhere within the boundaries of the two genres. Rather, her term is meant to suggest flexibility in the style, purpose, and mission of the bandsemble.
Challenging the Musical Rhetoric
According to Oxford Music Online, classical music written in the United States has been influenced by a large array of musical genres. In fact, chamber music written in just the 21st century alone incorporates vocal, theatrical, electroacoustic, jazz, bluegrass, popular song, rock, and folk styles.16 As a result, it can be quite difficult to categorize or assign modern classical music to a singular subgenre. Authors Burkat, Ross, and Oteri argue that since the 2000s, “the cross-pollination between styles has become so commonplace that most attempts at categorization are futile.”17 Nevertheless, music critics, project consumers, and the composers themselves continue to assign labels to these unique musical projects. In many cases, these labels have multiple definitions, yet the public often chooses the genre-specific definition of a musical descriptor.
15 Missy Mazzoli, “Classical Resolutions: Missy Mazzoli Defies Dogma, Demands Diversity,” Deceptive Cadence from NPR Classical, January 22, 2011, accessed December 10, 2018, https://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2011/01/22/133117243/classical- resolutions-missy-mazzoli-defies-dogma-demands-diversity. 16 Leonard Burkat, Gilbert Ross, and Frank J. Oteri, "Chamber music in the United States," Grove Music Online, July 25, 2013, accessed August 31, 2019, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/ omo-9781561592630-e-1002240370. 17 Ibid. 6 There is, in fact, a history of flexibility behind the rhetoric used in the contemporary classical music community. In his dissertation, “A Scene Without a Name: Indie Classical and
American New Music in the Twenty-First Century,” William Robin surveys the usage of the term “indie-classical,” demonstrating the variable history behind a singular descriptive musical word.18 Currently, the term “indie-classical” is most commonly used to describe a genre of classical music. Contemporary classical composers and artists such as Nico Muhly, Judd
Greenstein, Nadia Sirota, and Missy Mazzoli have been described as “indie-classical,” indicating that they and their music belong in a specific subcategory of classical music.19 Nevertheless, the term historically has encompassed alternative perspectives. Robin points to the first usage of the term as beginning in the 1950s, with Billboard Magazine describing several small record labels as “indie[-]classical.”20 Initially, “indie-classical” referred to the size, influence, and genre focus of a business, yet the meaning of “indie-classical” evolved entirely about fifty years later.
Composers Judd Greenstein and Matt McBane were the first musicians to use the term as it more commonly appears in this century.21 Through his research and interviews with the composers,
Robin has discovered that both Greenstein and McBane defined “indie-classical” around the same time, albeit quite differently.
18 William Robin, "A Scene without a Name: Indie Classical and American New Music in the Twenty-First Century," order No. 10145999, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2016, https://login.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest- com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/docview/1828306371?accountid=4840. 19 Jeffrey Arlo Brown, “What is Indie-Classical? An Interview with William Robin,” VAN Magazine, October 5, 2016, accessed March 3, 2020, https://van-us.atavist.com/indie- classical. 20 William Robin, "A Scene without a Name: Indie Classical and American New Music in the Twenty-First Century,” 116. 21 Ibid., 116-117. 7 Matt McBane has explained that he originally used the term “indie-classical” without much intention, rather as a promotional tool for his band’s album debut.22 In April of 2007,
McBane was preparing a press release for his band, Build, and was searching for a quick descriptor he could use to help promote his music. McBane found inspiration in the previously established, hyphenated “indie” genres, such as indie-rock music and indie-films. To McBane,
“indie” genres were hip and artistic, and he wanted to describe his music in a way that could convey those qualities to new audiences.23 “Indie-classical” was an aesthetic characteristic, not a specific sound or genre.
Composer Judd Greenstein first used the term in a less formal, more conversational setting. In the same month as McBane’s press release, Greenstein posted a blog regarding the closure of Tonic, a downtown New York performance venue, calling it “the backbone for the developing indie[-]classical community.”24 Yet on August 17, 2010, Greenstein offered his first formal take on the word “indie-classical.” In a comment on Colin Holter’s article, “Overtaken by
Alt-Classical,” he explained,
The reason I like the term “indie[-]classical” is that it contains a horizontal and vertical component — the “vertical” axis of our connection to the classical tradition, and the “horizontal” axis of our connection to other independent musics and musicians…“indie[- ]classical” is specifically not about the sound of the music that I am, or anyone else is, making. I’m also not talking about any one specific organization (NewAm, for example) as being the sole representational body of the “indie[-]classical” approach. Rather, the term refers to an ethos, a spirit of doing-it-yourself and controlling the production chain of our artistic output, in response to the generally hierarchical and highly limited/limiting world of classical/contemporary music in which our art has historically been presented.25
22 William Robin, "A Scene without a Name: Indie Classical and American New Music in the Twenty-First Century,” 117. 23 Ibid. 24 Ibid., 118. 25 Colin Holter, “Overtaken by Alt-Classical,” NewMusicBox, August 11, 2010, accessed March 3, 2020, https://nmbx.newmusicusa.org/Overtaken-By-AltClassical/. 8 Alongside his friends and fellow composers Sarah Kirkland Snider and William Brittelle,
Greenstein founded the independent label New Amsterdam Records in New York City. The company formed in 2007, with a mission to support musical artists who transcend genre and to give young, undiscovered New York-based composers a place to publish and disseminate their music. Originally, New Amsterdam Records adopted the term “indie-classical” to describe themselves to the press, explaining that their website would “foster a sense of connection among musicians and fans in this ‘indie[-]classical’ scene.”26 Yet just three years later, Greenstein discouraged the broad labeling of New Amsterdam Records as strictly indie-classical, instead promoting his theoretical definition and striking the term from the company’s website all together.
Thus, Robin presents us with four possible definitions for “indie-classical:” a size and influence-based explanation of a business, an aesthetic ideal used for marketing, a philosophical view on the larger artistic process, and a suggestion for genre categorization. Although one may gravitate towards a particular definition, I believe that there is not one sole, correct meaning; rather, the significance of the term “indie-classical” lies in its flexibility. “Indie-classical” has evolved in its definition, even taking on two distinct meanings in the same moment in history. It is impossible to exactly recreate a musical performance, yet the terminology we use to describe music is often viewed as static and concrete. The rhetoric associated with contemporary music has historically been proven to change in context with time, perspective, and cultural climate variables. Depending on how one looks at it, new music can be described as an abstract,
26 William Robin, "A Scene without a Name: Indie Classical and American New Music in the Twenty-First Century,” 1. 9 untouchable art form, as an active influencer, as an aesthetic representation, as a philosophical entity, or as a mixture of all those ideas.
Today, many composers agree that the press has applied the term “indie-classical” to describe their albums and premiere performances to the point of overuse. Missy Mazzoli now argues that the term mostly misrepresents her work. In a 2015 interview with Philthy Mag,
Mazzoli publicized the issues with the descriptors that the press often applied to her music. She explained,
It’s so easy to create an idea of what my music is based on its labels: classical, indie- classical, post-minimal, contemporary, chamber-pop, opera, orchestral, etc. None of these words really tells you anything about how the music sounds or how you will feel about it, and they actually get in the way. I spend half my time explaining why the work “is” or “is not” classical, why I’m a “composer” versus a “musician,” or how I feel about the term “indie,” and usually I’m just rambling. There’s no real answer to those questions except maybe that I was an isolated kid who fell in love with classical music at an early age, and that I came to understand the world and all the art in it through the lens of that music. Ideally listeners will just let themselves be absorbed into the work without trying to name it or contextualize it.27
Given that Mazzoli has an aversion to genre descriptors in her own music, it is curious that she has also given one of her most unique, unconventional projects its own label, clearly describing her group Victoire to audiences as a “bandsemble.” Thus, it is significant that this one defining word exists to describe her music. As this term continues to be popularized among composers and audiences, it is important to consider the possible definitions and meanings behind the rhetoric that describes the bandsemble.
27 Izzy Cihak, “Missy Mazzoli: ‘It’s so easy to create an idea of what my music is based on its labels… and they actually get in the way,’” Philthy Mag, March 18, 2015, accessed December 10, 2018, https://www.philthymag.com/missy-mazzoli-its-so-easy-to-create-an-idea- of-what-my-music-is-based-on-its-labels-and-they-actually-get-in-the-way/. 10 Purpose of this Treatise
It is important to become familiar with the concept of the bandsemble and the climate of disagreement between the press and the classical composer before diving into deeper philosophical questions about the impact of the bandsemble. In Chapter 2 of this treatise, I will argue that the bandsemble has grown out of the classical chamber music tradition in the United
States. Since the early 1800s, American composers have valued experimentation and innovation in their music, most noticeably reflected in the experimental artistic movements of the 20th century. In Chapter 3, I will focus on the actual experience of being in a bandsemble. Through an analysis of musicologist Christopher Small’s theory of “musicking,” I will explain how the activity of music-making is the most significant defining factor of the bandsemble. Additionally,
I will present my term “bandsembling” and explain how it more appropriately encapsulates the spirit of the bandsemble through its active verb tense. This chapter will then detail the experience of bandsembling through the elements of the public lecture recital with my own bandsemble,
Haven, in comparison to elements of the symphony concert as described by Small. Finally, this chapter will explore the impact of bandsembling through a thematic analysis of a survey answered by audience members. Lastly, Chapter 4 will provide my concluding remarks on the future of the bandsemble and bandsembling. The goal of this treatise is to familiarize a larger audience with the concept of the bandsemble through clearly explaining where it came from and why it is significant in the timeline of chamber music in the United States. But more importantly,
I aspire to show how language can more accurately reflect the intentions behind these unique music projects and prove that bandsemble performances can invite new audiences into the classical music world and help create a sense of community and involvement among listeners.
11 CHAPTER 2
THE HISTORY
The modern bandsemble belongs to a long tradition of experimentalism in American chamber music. Beginning in the mid-19th century, audiences were first exposed to chamber works by American composers through several different public concert series. In these recitals, the organizers, who were often the performing ensembles, chose the music and programmed new works by American composers alongside better-known European composers, such as Beethoven and Mendelssohn. These contemporary pieces often highlighted a unique preference for unusual instrumentations and style combinations, for example combining the classical form with folk,
Native American, and American religious and popular song. With the introduction of the
Copland-Sessions Concerts of Contemporary Music in 1928, American composers became more closely involved in the performance of their compositions. By the 1960s, many had assumed new roles as performer-composers, presenting their own music to audiences in public recitals. The performer-composers of the minimalist, Fluxus, and experimental movements influenced a specific group of musicians who entered the musical scene during the 21st century. These artists have since expanded the chamber music tradition to include the modern bandsemble.
Performer-Led Concert Series
Chamber music as we regard it today was originally brought to the United States from
Europe during the late 18th century. Similar to its original purpose overseas, chamber music was first played in homes and private spaces primarily for the enjoyment of the performing musicians.28 But by the mid-19th century, the popularity of the genre began to grow amongst the general public in the United States, partly due to its more frequent programming. At first,
28 Burkat, Ross, and Oteri, "Chamber music in the United States." 12 chamber music was performed in concerts that featured other types of music, and the pieces were chosen and programmed by either the performing musicians or the organizing associations. On
December 7, 1842, the Philharmonic Society of New York sponsored a program of orchestral music, which also featured a single quintet by Johann Nepomuk Hummel. Yet just two years later, the Harvard Musical Association created the first series of concerts dedicated solely to chamber music. This monumental series continued for five years with six concerts per season.29
In 1849 in Boston, Massachusetts, violinists August Fries and Francis Riha, violist and clarinetist Thomas Ryan, violist and flutist Edward Lehmann, and cellist Wulf Fries formed the
Mendelssohn Quintette Club (Figure 2). They were the first professional ensemble organized in the United States that was exclusively dedicated to chamber music.30 Their first concert on
December 4, 1849 featured works for chamber ensemble by Mendelssohn, Prume, Kalliwoda, F.
Berr, and Beethoven.31 For the following forty-nine years, the Mendelssohn Quintet Club toured extensively across the United States, as well as in Australia and New Zealand. Gradually, they expanded their repertory to include works by American-born composers. Charles Callahan
Perkins, originally from Boston, Massachusetts, saw his Quartet in A Major, Opus 8, premiered by the members of the ensemble in December of 1853.32 The Mendelssohn Quintette Club continued to perform compositions by native Boston composers such as James Cutler Dann
Parker, Francis Boott, and Edward Jerome Hopkins.33 Author Roger P. Phelps highlights the
29 Burkat, Ross, and Oteri, "Chamber music in the United States." 30 Roger P. Phelps, “The Mendelssohn Quintet Club: A Milestone in American Music Education,” Journal of Research in Music Education 8, no. 1 (Spring, 1960): 39, https://www.jstor.org/stable/3344236. 31 Ibid., 40. 32 Ibid., 42. 33 Ibid., 42-43. 13 importance of the quintet’s collaboration with contemporary composers in his article on the history of the ensemble. He explains,
After an initial performance it might be expected that these compositions would not appear again on subsequent programs, but many of them were “repeated by request.” Thus, New England audiences in particular were educated very early by the Mendelssohn Quintet Club to the idiom of American music, even though it seems to have been tinged somewhat with German Romanticism.34
Figure 2: The original founding members of the Mendelssohn Quintette Club (from left to right, Francis Riha, Edward Lehmann, Wulf Fries, Thomas Ryan, and August Fries)35
By the 1850s, chamber music-specific concerts had caught on in popularity in other major cities across the United States, including New York City and Chicago. Yet, the actual output of the compositions by American composers was still small compared to the works being published by Europeans.36 Additionally, most of those composing in the United States patterned their music upon previously established Austro-German models of composition. Thus, by the
34 Roger P. Phelps, “The Mendelssohn Quintet Club: A Milestone in American Music Education,” 44. 35 Thomas Ryan, Recollections of an Old Musician (New York: E.P. Dutton & Company, 1899), 267. 36 Burkat, Ross, and Oteri, "Chamber music in the United States." 14 early 20th century, composers had begun to express a desire to distinctly separate themselves from the European masters and create a recognizable national musical idiom.
A New “American” Idiom
In the early 20th century, several composers sought to create an identifiably American style through incorporating other genres of music into their chamber works. Known as an
“Indianist” composer and arranger, Arthur Farwell explored his interest in Native American song, combining it with his knowledge of the structured Germanic musical form.37 His 1923 string quartet, The Hako, is his longest composition drawing from Indian music themes. The
Hako is structured in traditional sonata form but incorporates his transcriptions of native song. In merging musical styles, Farwell hoped to create a identifiably American sound.38 Also invested in building a new national musical idiom, composer Frederick Converse used American folksongs and traditional melodies in several of his chamber compositions, such as Two Lyric
Pieces for brass quintet and his Opus 3 string quartets.39 Similarly, composer Henry Gilbert found inspiration in African American folk song, referencing it in many of his compositions including his Negro Dances of 1914 and his String Quartet of 1920.40
37 Gilbert Chase and Neely Bruce, “Farwell, Arthur,” Grove Music Online, January 20, 2001, accessed March 3, 2020, https://www-oxfordmusiconline- com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo- 9781561592630-e-0000009342?rskey=JdYXmw. 38 Beth E. Levy, Frontier Figures: American Music and the Mythology of the American West (Los Angeles, California: University of California Press, 2012), 50. 39 Robert J. Garofalo, “Converse, Frederick Shepherd,” Grove Music Online, January 20, 2001, accessed March 3, 2020, https://www-oxfordmusiconline- com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo- 9781561592630-e-0000006384?print=pdf. 40 Katherine Longyear and Nicholas E. Tawa, “Gilbert, Henry F(ranklin Belknap),” Grove Music Online, January 20, 2001, accessed March 3, 2020. https://www- oxfordmusiconline- com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo- 9781561592630-e-0000011128?rskey=5GsJcz&result=1. 15 Like Farwell, Converse, and Gilbert, composer Charles Ives drew material for his compositions from areas outside of classical music. In fact, Ives’s Second Symphony, written in
1902 and completed in 1909, represents an important turning point in not only his career and his compositional style, but also in the trend of mixing genre in classical composition.41 In this symphony, Ives included American popular song alongside traditional hymn tunes. In their biography of Charles Ives, authors J. Peter Burkholder, James B. Sinclair, and Gayle Sherwood
Magee explain the importance of this instance of genre mixture. They explain,
What is especially striking is that the national material is not primarily folk music (only three fiddle tunes fit that category) but rather types of popular music, including Stephen Foster songs, patriotic songs, popular songs, gospel songs, and hymn tunes. From this time on, most of Ives’s major works would integrate sounds and melodies of popular music into classical genres. This was a radical departure from the traditional focus on privileging folk material, but it was a choice that represented his own experience and that of many urban Americans, who were more familiar with popular music from several generations than with any folk music.42
Ives also incorporated hymn tunes and popular songs into his chamber music, many of which also featured unconventional instrumentations. Three of his chamber compositions, written between 1905 and 1914, signal a new interest in especially eclectic arrangements. For example, Ives’s From the Steeples and the Mountains was scored for bells, trumpet, and trombone. His Halloween was written for string quartet, piano, and percussion and All the Way
Around and Back was scored for woodwinds, bells, violin, and piano.43
41 J. Peter Burkholder, James B. Sinclair, and Gayle Sherwood Magee, "Ives, Charles," Grove Music Online, October 16, 2013, accessed March 3, 2020, https://www- oxfordmusiconline- com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo- 9781561592630-e-1002252967. 42 Ibid. 43 Burkat, Ross, and Oteri, "Chamber music in the United States." 16 By the 1920s, a new generation of important composers emerged in the United States.
Composers including Henry Cowell, Ruth Crawford Seeger, Roger Sessions, and Aaron Copland influenced the American musical idiom. Many of them explored different possibilities of instrumentation, often introducing percussion into their chamber works.44 Aaron Copland and
Roger Sessions stand out as particularly influential composers from this group, not just because of their contributions to the chamber music repertory, but also for establishing a concert series that gave American composers a larger role in the performance of their own works.
Composer-Led Concert Series
In 1928, Aaron Copland and Roger Sessions launched a concert series in New York City, which programmed music by modern, mostly American-born composers (Figure 3). Serving as the directors, Copland and Sessions organized ten concerts total, from 1928 to 1932. They programmed the music of more than thirty American composers, premiering several new pieces in New York City, as well as in Paris and London.45 Yet, Copland and Sessions had larger aspirations for the series, beyond programming. In their first concert program, they stated the goal for their endeavor, writing, “Our only wish is to stimulate composers to more prolific activity and to develop a stronger sense of solidarity among the creators of a growing American music.”46 In order to advocate for modern music in the United States, composers would need to embrace collaboration and promote each other’s works, rather than compete against each other as artistic rivals.
44 Burkat, Ross, and Oteri, "Chamber music in the United States." 45 Oja, “Celebrating the Copland-Sessions Concerts.” 46 "The Copland-Sessions Concerts of Contemporary Music," April 22, 1928, program at the Music Division, New York Public Library, quoted in Carol J Oja, "The Copland-Sessions Concerts and Their Reception in the Contemporary Press," The Musical Quarterly 65, no. 2 (1979): 212, http://www.jstor.org/stable/741704. 17
Figure 3: From left to right, composers Roger Sessions, Aaron Copland, and Virgil Thomson, at the Whitney Museum, New York City, 198147
In addition to encouraging a new cooperative element in music projects, Copland and
Sessions explored a different interpretation of a “young” composer. They explain, “‘Youth’ will be interpreted in the most elastic sense. Works by composers of more achieved reputation will also find a place provided they are appropriate to the nature of the program. The only criteria in the choice of material will be excellence or promise.”48 With this statement, the term “young composers” expands in definition past age, more importantly highlighting undiscovered talent.
Nevertheless, during the first season of the series, all the music performed was by American composers between twenty-five and thirty-five years old. Many were French-influenced composers who had studied with Nadia Boulanger, and nearly all were just beginning to establish their careers and build their reputations in the United States. In the inaugural concert on
47 Victor Kraft, “Aaron Copland, Roger Sessions, Virgil Thomson, Whitney Museum, New York City, 1981,” Photograph, from Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/copland.phot0104/. 48 Carol J. Oja, "The Copland-Sessions Concerts of Contemporary Music," 212. 18 April 22, 1928, musicians performed Theodore Chanler’s Sonata for Violin and Piano, Walter
Piston’s Three Pieces for Flute Clarinet, and Bassoon, Carlos Chavez’s Sonata for Piano and
Three Sonatinas, and Virgil Thomson’s Five Phrases from the “Song of Solomon” in New York
City’s Edyth Totten Theater. Performances over the next five years took place in venues around
New York City including The Little Theater, Steinway Hall, President Theater, Broadhurst
Theater, as well as in Salle Chopin in Paris and Aeolian Hall in London. Ultimately, more than thirty American composers, including Ruth Crawford Seeger, Henry Cowell, George Antheil,
Roy Harris, and Robert Delaney, saw their compositions performed and popularized through the concerts.49
The Copland-Sessions Concerts of Contemporary Music gave an undiscovered group of
American composers the opportunity to showcase and advocate for their own musical works.
Whereas in earlier series, concert programs were determined by the performing musicians and head organizers, the Copland-Sessions Concerts was founded by American composers who were deeply invested in the state of composition in the United States. Copland and Sessions utilized their perspectives and influence as professional composers in their roles as artistic directors for the series. With their recitals, Copland and Sessions promoted their belief that modern composers could be more actively involved in their own works while also supporting and promoting the works of their peers.
Copland and Sessions acknowledged the existence of similar organizations in their first program note, explaining, “This series is not in any sense designed to compete with the work of existing organizations already so admirably engaged in presenting modern music. But we feel that the youngest American composers have been, till now, without a proper vehicle, an
49 Carol J. Oja, "The Copland-Sessions Concerts of Contemporary Music," 227-229. 19 institution explicitly devoted to the interests of the developing artist.”50 Associations such as the
Franco-American Musical Society and the American Music Guild had already initiated their own presentations of modern music in the early 1920s, but they mostly featured the music of an established older generation with European musical training.51 However, in 1929, a similar organization to the Copland-Sessions concerts emerged, named The Pan American Association of Composers.
Also focused on modern works, the Pan American Association of Composers encouraged collaboration and composition among a broader group of musicians. French émigré, New York resident, and accomplished composer Edgard Varèse founded the group alongside Henry Cowell,
Carlos Chávez, Carl Ruggles, and Emerson Whithorne. Although small, membership came from the United States, Latin America, and Europe, and, like the Copland-Sessions series, the concerts were composer-led.52 In her article for the American Composers Orchestra, musicologist Carol J.
Oja argues that the two were more complementary than rivaling organizations. She writes, “In challenging a largely conservative concert-music establishment, these groups faced a common enemy, and through their combined efforts, they helped American composers gain considerable ground.”53 The two organizations had similar objectives, with the main difference between them being the national versus international scope of membership. Activity through the Pan American
Association mostly occurred after the Copland-Sessions Concerts had ceased, and by 1934, the
50 Carol J. Oja, "The Copland-Sessions Concerts of Contemporary Music," 212. 51 Carol J. Oja, “Celebrating the Copland-Sessions Concerts,” American Composers Orchestra, accessed August 31, 2019, https://www.americancomposers.org/copland_sessions_oja.htm. 52 Ibid. 53 Ibid. 20 Pan American Association faced withdrawing sponsorship. Due to the effects of the Great
Depression, both organizations disappeared.54
Performer-Composers
By the end of the 1950s, more composers found themselves regularly performing their own works for audiences. In fact, several performer-composers associated with the Fluxus, minimalist, and experimental movements of the 1960s through the 1980s formed their own dedicated chamber ensembles. Ultimately, these composer-led performing groups significantly influenced the development of the modern bandsemble.
Fluxus
During the 1960s, a collective of artists, writers, performers, and musicians formed in the loft and gallery spaces of downtown New York City. The composers in this group embraced the visual and theatrical aspects of performance art, incorporating humor, ambiguity, and drama into their avant-garde music. Lithuanian emigrant and impresario George Maciunas created the term
“Fluxus” to describe these works and this group of artistic creatives.55
Fluxus musicians were considerably influenced by the perspective of composer John
Cage. In 1958 and 1959, Cage taught a composition course at the New School for Social
Research. There, musicians, composers, poets, and performance artists, including George Brecht,
Al Hansen, Jackson Mac Low, Dick Higgins, Scott Hyde, Florence Tarlow, and LaMonte
Young, attended and participated in Cage’s course.56 Cage structured his class into two parts
54 Carol J. Oja, “Celebrating the Copland-Sessions Concerts.” 55 Barbara Moore and Kelsey Cowger, “Fluxus,” Grove Music Online, January 31, 2014, accessed March 4, 2020, https://www-oxfordmusiconline- com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo- 9781561592630-e-1002256561?rskey=IB2oHy. 56 Ibid. 21 beginning with experimental performances and followed by philosophical discussion. In the class, students conducted experiments that utilized elements of indeterminacy and chance, but everyday materials and routines had a huge role in the performances. The poets, performance artists, and musicians were all limited to the same small closet of instruments and objects for their compositions, yet they were encouraged to be imaginative and innovative and create new concepts for artistic performance.57
Upon completing Cage’s course, the same group of artists created a series of concerts around New York City from 1960 to 1964.58 Each featured the works of several Fluxus artists, and the performance pieces emphasized visual spectacles, drama, and humor. Performed during these concerts, Robert Watts’s 1979 F/H Trace instructed the performer to pour Ping-Pong balls from the bell of a French horn, while Nam June Paik’s 1962 One for Violin Solo required the performer to slowly raise a violin in the air before promptly throwing it against the ground.59
Many scores featured written directions rather than conventional notation, including Dick
Higgins’s work entitled Danger Music Number Seventeen, whose score featured a single repeated command, to “Scream! Scream! Scream! Scream! Scream! Scream!”60
Although highly experimental and avant-garde, the musicians associated with Fluxus embraced many elements of the classical tradition. Fluxus musicians utilized the terminology and common practices of classical music, calling themselves composers, providing proper titles for their works on printed programs, and at one point, even naming an ensemble the “Fluxus
57 Hannah Higgins, Fluxus Experience (Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 2002), 1-2 http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=90493&sit e=ehost-live. 58 Barbara Moore and Kelsey Cowger, “Fluxus.” 59 Ibid. 60 Ibid. 22 Symphony Orchestra.”61 Although Fluxus scores often appeared quite visually distinct from traditional chamber music scores, Fluxus musicians continued to regularly create records of their music, calling them musical scores, as expected. Although they emphasized the actual process of music-making over the product of their performance, Fluxus performances seemed quite traditional in some respects. Author Barbara Moore highlights the irony in the Fluxus performance, claiming,
The typical Fluxus concert often engaged space in a manner consistent with a classical concert: performances generally took place on the proscenium stage of traditional shoebox halls, in sharp contrast to the experimental music trend of extending the realm of acceptable performance space. This political project was twofold: on one hand, Fluxus composers questioned the ontological status of art and music while on the other hand claiming (however ironically) the status of artists and musicians for themselves.62
Some of the performing musicians chose to not specifically identify with the label of
Fluxus, as many considered the label of Fluxus a limiting agent. However, Fluxus activity persisted until 1978, the year of Maciunas’s death.63
The Minimalists
Another group of young American composers, referred to as the minimalists, further shaped the musical scene of New York City during the 1960s and 1970s. Composers La Monte
Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass are considered the creators of a musical movement which reflected a new aesthetic preference for a simplified rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic language. Minimalism is often considered a response to 20th-century modernism, as it specifically rejects those methods of indeterminacy embraced by Fluxus composers and the serial
61 Barbara Moore and Kelsey Cowger, “Fluxus.” 62 Ibid. 63 Ibid. 23 techniques of composers Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen.64 In his historical analysis, author Keith Potter compares minimalism to modernism, explaining, “[I]t is tonal or modal where modernism is atonal, rhythmically regular and continuous where [m]odernism is aperiodic and fragmented, structurally and texturally simple where modernism is complex.”65 Through methods of simplification and repetition, the minimalists aimed to make classical compositions more accessible to audiences.
During the late 1960s, Steve Reich and Philip Glass formed their own dedicated minimalist chamber ensembles, respectively named Steve Reich and Musicians and the Philip
Glass Ensemble. Within these groups, Reich and Glass became performer-composers, actively involved in the concerts of their own compositions. Both composers have been actively performing with their groups nationally and internationally over the past fifty years.66
In 1966, pianist, percussionist, and composer Steve Reich joined his two friends, saxophonist Jon Gibson and pianist Arthur Murphy, to prepare a concert together as a trio. On
January 5, 1967, the three musicians performed “An Evening of Music by Steve Reich” at
Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey. The program featured music entirely by Reich, including Music for Two Pianos and Tape, It’s Gonna Rain, Come Out, and the premieres of
Saxophone Phase, Piano Phase, and Two Variations on a Watermelon.67 Reich has composed
64 Keith Potter, "Minimalism (USA)," Grove Music Online, January 31, 2014, accessed August 31, 2019, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/ omo-9781561592630-e-1002257002. 65 Ibid. 66 Keith Potter, Four Musical Minimalists: La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Rich, Philip Glass, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 197. 67 David Allen Jr. Chapman, "Collaboration, Presence, and Community: The Philip Glass Ensemble in Downtown New York, 1966–1976," PhD diss., Washington University of St. Louis, 2013, ProQuest (AAT 3559574), 260. 24 numerous works for this ensemble, now officially recognized as Steve Reich and Musicians or the Steve Reich Ensemble (Figure 4). Over the past fifty years, they have expanded their personnel to include up to eighteen members, and they have performed compositions by Steve
Reich more than any other singular musical group in the United States.
Figure 4: "Drumming" performed by members of Steve Reich and Musicians, 197368
Reich has vacillated on his personal account of the development of Steve Reich and
Musicians. At times, he is formal and professional, simply explaining, “by late 1966 I had formed a group of three musicians.”69 In other accounts, he describes the first concert as an event created by friends with common collaborative goals. He also explains, “At the time, I didn’t envision that this would eventually lead to a performing ensemble that would make it possible
68 Dian Franco Gorgoni, “‘Drumming’ performed by Steve Reich & Musicians, 1973,” Photograph, From Facebook account of Steve Reich, https://www.facebook.com/SteveReichMusic/photos/a.329741960407491/1589062827808725/?t ype=3&theater. 69 Steve Reich, “Steve Reich and Musicians,” Writings on Music: 1965-2000 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002),79. 25 for me to survive by performing my own music. In 1966 I simply had musical ideas that I wanted
70 to try and these were my friends who were interested in what I was working on.”
The Philip Glass Ensemble formed in 1968, just one year after the inaugural concert of
Steve Reich and Musicians (Figure 5). Both utilized many of the same minimalist performers, and in the beginning, Reich and Glass even performed each other’s compositions.71 The Philip
Glass Ensemble’s first performance took place at the Whitney Museum of American Art in
1969.72 Wind instruments and amplified keyboards formed the core instrumentation of the ensemble, with Glass performing keyboards in the ensemble. Jon Gibson, Dickie Landry,
Richard Peck, Jack Kripl, and Richard Prado formed the woodwind section, and Steve Chambers and Michael Riesman later joined Glass playing electronic keyboards. Strings and voice, also often amplified, expanded the membership. Cellist Beverly Lauridsen, violinist Barbara Benary and sopranos Iris Hiskey and Dora Ohrenstein joined the ensemble when needed.73 Until the
1970s, Glass composed chamber works exclusively for his own ensemble, and with them, he has premiered some of his most famous compositions, including Einstein on the Beach and Music with Changing Parts.74
Glass’s minimalist works have been significantly shaped by American popular music.75
In fact, many of his works for the ensemble have been compared to rock music due to their
70 Steve Reich, “Steve Reich and Musicians,” Writings on Music: 1965-2000 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), 143. 71 Keith Potter, Four Musical Minimalists: La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Rich, Philip Glass, 197. 72 Ibid. 73 Edward Strickland and Mark Alburger, "Glass, Philip," Grove Music Online, October 16, 2013, accessed August 31, 2019, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/ omo-9781561592630-e-1002252917. 74 Ibid. 75 Potter, "Minimalism (USA)." 26 similar elements of amplification, diatonic harmonies, and rhythmic simplicity. Author Keith
Potter has described Glass’s work for the ensemble as “a music as evocative of rock as any classical Western style, much less the serialism and late modernism of the period.”76 Kurt
Munkacsi, sound engineer for John Lennon, joined the ensemble in 1970, furthering this genre- crossing aesthetic. In fact, the Philip Glass Ensemble has been said to share more commonalities with jazz, rock, and non-Western music than with earlier classical styles of composition.77
Figure 5: Members of The Philip Glass Ensemble78
Both Reich and Glass originally found venues for performances with their ensembles in the loft-gallery spaces of downtown Manhattan. The artistic New York City community endorsed a breaking down of barriers, both literally and metaphorically, as these buildings were transformed into spaces that welcomed diverse art projects.79 Both groups began performing in
76 Potter, "Minimalism (USA)." 77 Ibid. 78 “The Philip Glass Ensemble,” Photograph, from Pomegranate Arts. https://www.pomegranatearts.com/artist/philip-glass-ensemble/. 79 Chapman, "Collaboration, Presence, and Community,” 1-11. 27 these informal venues; however, they were also welcomed into prestigious concert halls, including Carnegie Hall in New York City and Royal Festival Hall in London.80
Creative collaboration is a crucial element in both ensembles. As composers, musical interpreters, and ensemble leaders, Reich and Glass hold mostly supportive roles in their groups; they are not the primary soloists. Glass and Reich have used their ensembles to explore new ideas, including phasing, flexible instrumentation, and film and art collaboration. Relationships built on friendship and creative similarities formed the foundation of the ensembles, and both projects thrived first in their local communities before obtaining widespread success. Both composers regularly tour and perform with their ensembles, and their influence of their ensembles can most obviously be seen in the composer-led groups formed in the 21st century.
The Experimentalists
Composer-led ensembles have also been a popular endeavor for other experimental composers not specifically associated with the Fluxus or Minimalist movements of the 1960s-
1980s. In 1962, composers Charles Wuorinen and Harvey Sollberger founded The Group for
Contemporary Music, based at Columbia University. Although formed as a composer-led ensemble, this group also performed experimental works by other composers that often went unprogrammed due to their challenging technical demands.81 In addition, composer Henry Partch wrote music for his own ensemble that featured his own invented instruments. His developments influenced the formation of two other composer collectives in 1975, Music for Homemade
Instruments in New York City and Other Music in San Francisco.82 Additionally, composer
80 Keith Potter, “Classical: Steve Reich and Musicians Royal Festival Hall, London,” The Independent, October 3, 1996, accessed March 4, 2020, https://www.independent.co.uk/arts- entertainment/classical-steve-reich-and-musicians-royal-festival-hall-london-1356457.html 81 Burkat, Ross, and Oteri, "Chamber music in the United States." 82 Ibid. 28 Dean Drummond founded his own performing ensemble, Newband, in 1977, which performed his works alongside newly commissioned pieces. In the same experimental fashion, Drummond employed unusual combinations of newly invented and traditional instruments.83
Pauline Oliveros (Figure 6) is known for creating “deep listening,” “a practice that is intended to heighten and expand consciousness of sound in as many dimensions of awareness and attentional dynamics as humanly possible.”84 She served as the director of the San Francisco
Tape Music Center and formed the ♀ Ensemble in the 1970s. This group of female musicians met weekly in Oliveros’s home in Leucadia, California, for “sonic meditations.” Together, they tested her unconventional scores, journaled, and experimented with motion and discussed body movement.85 Beginning in 1971, she created programs for the ensemble, as to provide nonverbal directions to the members. These documents are now considered textual scores and documented records of their performances together.
Figure 6: American composer, improviser, and accordionist, Pauline Oliveros86
83 Burkat, Ross, and Oteri, "Chamber music in the United States." 84 Jonathan Williger, “Pauline Oliveros/Stuart Dempster/Panaiotis,” Pitchfork Magazine, February 10, 2020, accessed March 4, 2020, https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/pauline- oliveros-stuart-dempster-pan-deep-listening/. 85 Kerry O’Brien, “Listening as Activism: The ‘Sonic Mediations’ of Pauline Oliveros,” The New Yorker, December 9, 2016, accessed March 4, 2020a https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/listening-as-activism-the-sonic-meditations-of- pauline-oliveros. 86 Pietr Kiers, “Pauline Oliveros,” Photograph, from Oxford Music Online, https://www- oxfordmusiconline- 29 Also known for her highly experimental musical style, composer Meredith Monk has been credited with “singlehandedly pioneer[ing] an entire genre of musical expression.”87 She is a MacArthur Fellowship recipient, the recipient of two Guggenheim Fellowships, and holds honorary doctorates in music from multiple prominent schools, including Boston Conservatory,
Cornish College of the Arts, and The Juilliard School.88 In 1978, Monk founded her own chamber ensemble, Meredith Monk Vocal Ensemble, to train vocalists how to perform her music, as much of her music features complex, extended vocal techniques (Figure 7). She blends theater, movement, and poeticism into her music, and she creates playful, meditative variations on just a small amount of melodic material. Panda Chant, music for the film Book of Days, and the 2008 Grammy-nominated work, impermanence, stand out as important contributions of the
Meredith Monk Vocal Ensemble.89
Figure 7: Members of the Meredith Monk Vocal Ensemble (from left to right, Bohdan Hilash, Meredith Monk, Allison Sniffin, and Katie Geissinger)90
com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo- 9781561592630-e-8000923224?rskey=cCrJ2n&result=3. 87 “Meredith Monk,” Boosey & Hawkes, accessed August 31, 2019, https://www.boosey.com/composer/Meredith+Monk. 88 “Meredith Monk,” Walker Art, accessed March 4, 2020, https://walkerart.org/collections/artists/meredith-monk. 89 “Biography,” Meredith Monk, accessed August 31, 2019, https://www.meredithmonk.org/about/biography/. 90 Olivier Ouadah, “Meredith Monk Vocal Ensemble,” Photograph, from Meredith Monk: About, https://www.meredithmonk.org/about/vocal-ensemble/. 30 The modern bandsemble has a unique connection to Meredith Monk. Bandsemble- founder Missy Mazzoli first met Meredith Monk in New York during the summer of 2005. Monk was searching for a personal assistant/turtle-sitter and hired Mazzoli for the job. Mazzoli not only proved herself to be a premier animal caretaker, ultimately earning a place in Monk’s will as entrusted guardian to Neutron the turtle, but she also began to discuss composition with
Monk.91 Mazzoli speaks to the importance of having Monk as a composer role model, explaining, “[I]n my entire life I have never had a female teacher. And that was a real gap for me in my education. And I realized later on in my life when I met composers like Meredith
Monk, Julia Wolfe, and Kaija Saariaho that I had a very different feeling working with them. I felt like I was able to see a possibility for my future through them.”92
Mazzoli has obviously been most directly inspired by the minimalist and experimental composer-led ensembles. In fact, in interviews, she has named the Glass and Reich ensembles as the obvious inspiration for Victoire, as they are also dedicated to a single composer’s music and utilize electronic keyboards in their instrumentation.93 Yet Victoire is not the only existing bandsemble. In fact, since the 1990s, many composers have founded their own groups inspired by previous Fluxus, minimalist, and experimental composer projects. These groups can be recognized as modern bandsembles.
91 William Robin, “The Secret Muse of the Downtown Scene? Turtles,” New York Times, November 8, 2016, accessed December 10, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/13/arts/music/the-secret-muse-of-the-downtown-scene- turtles.html. 92 Meridee Duddleston, “Q&A with Composer Missy Mazzoli—On the Importance of Mentoring Young Women Composers,” WRTI, July 6, 2018, accessed December 10, 2018. http://www.wrti.org/post/qa-composer-missy-mazzoli-importance-mentoring-young-women- composers. 93 John Schafer, “Indie Chamber Music, with Victoire,” New Sounds. 31 The Bandsembles
Missy Mazzoli’s Victoire, Matt McBane’s Build, Fred Ho and the Afro-Asian Music
Ensemble, Shara Nova’s My Brightest Diamond, the Paul Dresher Ensemble, Ken Thomson’s
Slow/Fast, and Shane W. Cadman and The Illustrious Theater Orchestra are just a few of the modern bandsembles that developed out of the experimental tradition of chamber music in the
United States. All of these groups feature a lead performer-composer and showcase various genre-crossing elements through their instrumentation. In addition to Victoire, Matt McBane’s
Build can be considered one of the earliest, influential bandsembles that is still performing to this day.
Composer Matt McBane is a violinist and composer who formed his own bandsemble,
Build, in 2005. McBane is a graduate of the USC Thorton School of Music and a doctoral fellow at Princeton University, and he is well-versed in the musical genres of minimalism, experimentalism, European classical music, fiddle music, and jazz. The instrumentation of his bandsemble also reflects a melding of diverse sound worlds; McBane writes music specifically for this quintet of violin, cello, piano, double bass, and drumset (Figure 8). Similarly, his writing style blends multiple genres, which has led online magazine Time Out New York to describe
Build as a “quintet that straddles the increasingly permeable line between chamber music and instrumental rock.”94
McBane’s experience of working with Build has had a profound effect on his development as a composer. He explains,
I have learned so much about my own music by taking it far past just producing a score to performing pieces dozens of times in wildly differing situations, memorizing them, recording and mixing them, hearing them on the radio, etc. Before I got into all that, I had
94 “Build: Place,” New Amsterdam Records, accessed March 4, 2020, https://www.newamrecords.com/albums/place/5/16/place-2011. 32 no idea how much deeper you can get into your own music beyond the first step of writing it.95
Figure 8: Members of Matt McBane’s bandsemble, Build (from left to right, Adam Gold, Ben Campbell, Andrea Lee, Matt McBane, and Mike Cassedy)96
Matt McBane has similarly reflected on the value of hearing the bandsemble-specific works of his contemporaries, explaining,
Composer-led bands/ensembles also allow the audience to get a much better understanding of a composer’s music than more traditional new music ensemble set-ups. I know that hearing Missy Mazzoli’s Victoire or Ken Thompson’s Slow/Fast (to name two of my favorite examples) in concert and on recording has allowed me to delve much deeper into the worlds of these two composers than hearing a single piece of theirs’ on a mixed repertoire concert by a new music ensemble ever could.97
To McBane, performing in his ensemble has helped him become even more connected to his own music. In fact, a desire to keep this connection intact has kept several bandsemble composers regularly performing their own works. In a 2016 interview, journalist Frank J. Oteri
95 Steve Layton, “I’m in a band…,” Sequenza21, June 25, 2009, accessed August 31, 2019, http://www.sequenza21.com/2009/06/im-in-a-band/. 96 “Build,” Photograph, from Matt McBane, http://www.mattmcbane.com/build. 97 Layton, “I’m in a band…” 33 spoke to Mazzoli about her personal involvement in her own compositions. When he asked
Mazzoli if sending her works off to be performed by others was a vulnerable task, she answered,
It is. And if my only outlet was to make these marks on a page and then deliver it to people who I would never meet, I would be really depressed. I created this band, and I perform, and I write for my friends, and I try to be intimately involved with people who are in the process of performing my music to counteract that, to maintain some sense of control and involvement on every level. In a good way, not in a control freak kind of way, but just to be involved in all aspects of the music making.98
There is a legacy of experimental American chamber music behind the bandsembles.
With the original performer-led projects of the 19th and early 20th centuries, composers began to write for unconventional instrument arrangements, also incorporating eclectic genres into their classical compositions. The composer-led projects of the 1920s and 1930s led composers to be more closely involved in the concert programming of their works. And the performer-composers associated with the Fluxus, minimalist, and experimental movements of the 1950s-1980s further highlighted the composer who actively performed their own works. Since then, many 21st century composers have formed bandsembles as a way to experiment with multiple genres and to remain closely involved in the performance of their compositions. Future American composer- led projects will undoubtedly continue to evolve in their musical style and instrumentation, but it is the performer-composer who will make those projects unique, personal, and meaningful.
98 Frank J. Oteri, “Missy Mazzoli: Communication, Intimacy, and Vulnerability,” New Music Box, March 1, 2016, accessed August 31, 2019, https://nmbx.newmusicusa.org/missy- mazzoli-communication-intimacy-and-vulnerability/. 34 CHAPTER 3
THE EXPERIENCE
After researching the history of the bandsemble, I wanted to explore the impact of the bandsemble even more closely. Thus, in the following three subsections of this chapter, I will change my focus from the historical timeline of the ensemble to the actual experience of being in the bandsemble. In “Musicking and Bandsembling,” I will explore the activity of music-making as defined by musicologist Christopher Small and introduce a new term into the musical vernacular. In “The Lecture Recital,” I will analyze several different aspects of my bandsembling lecture recital and explore the relationships that are highlighted by these elements. Lastly, in
“The Impact,” I will trace the themes of four survey responses by audience members in order to discover the meaning behind the bandsemble experience.
Musicking and Bandsembling
Christopher Small (1927-2011) was a musicologist and educator from New Zealand who authored three influential books on musical processes. In Musicking: the Meanings of
Performing and Listening, he presents his own term, musicking, and a theory on the activity of performance.99 Small claims that music should be considered an activity rather than an object.
Thus, he provides a new verbal definition for music, explaining “to music is to take part in any capacity, in a musical performance, whether by performing, by listening, by rehearsing or practicing, by providing material for performance (what is called composing), or by dancing.”100
99 Dave Laing, “Christopher Small obituary,” The Guardian, September 19, 2011, accessed March 4, 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/sep/19/christopher-small- obituary. 100 Christopher Small, Musicking: The Meanings of Performing and Listening, (Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1998), 9. 35 Small’s theory supports the idea that music gets its value from the people who actively create it. Furthermore, he contends that “[t]he apparent thing ‘music’ is a figment, an abstraction of the action, whose reality vanishes as soon as we examine it at all closely.”101 Smalls warns the reader about the tendency to think in abstractions, using the concept of love as an example. He claims that love as a concept is often viewed as having an entirely separate existence from the action of loving. Additionally, he argues that we overemphasize the romanticized idea of love over the activity that it inherently includes. When it is considered an inactive and static object, the concept of love loses its value and influence and takes on a separate role from the action of loving. Small warns readers that when we look at music as an object rather than an activity that we all participate in, the overall musical experience loses much of its potential value.102
In his introduction, “Prelude: Music and Musicking,” Small poses a question to the reader. He asks, “So if the meaning of music lies not just in musical works but in the totality of a musical performance, where do we start to look for insights that will unite the work and the event and allow us to understand it?”103 Fortunately for the reader, he also suggests an answer: one can better understand music when they uncover and analyze the human relationships that are involved in the performance. In this way, musicking, an activity that by definition involves all humans, gives us a perspective with which to identify and analyze fundamental societal relationships.
Small’s assertion that the meaning of music can be uncovered within this singular term is a lofty one; yet, he has a valid point. In a musical performance, every person involved, whether they are composer, performer, or audience member, has a role in creating a meaningful concert
101 Christopher Small, Musicking, 2. 102 Ibid. 103 Ibid. 36 experience. Nevertheless, the words we use to describe performances often do not reflect those meaningful relationships. When the rhetoric that accompanies the performance reflects positive action, we more clearly highlight the value of relationships and community in classical music. In conclusion, Small reminds us that music obtains its value from the humans who perform it. In fact, he states that “performance does not exist in order to present musical works, but rather, musical works exist in order to give performers something to perform.”104
I believe it is important to carefully consider the rhetoric that accompanies music, especially as more musicians pursue bandsemble projects. Today, the bandsemble refers to the classical chamber ensemble-meets-rock band, led by its own composer. However, when we view the onstage bandsemble as merely a unique grouping of instruments, we neglect the important action of collaboration, and we miss the point of music-making. Thus, upon drawing inspiration from Christopher Small, I have coined the term “bandsembling” to reflect the active element of collaboration within a bandsemble. To bandsemble is to participate in any step of the music- making process of a bandsemble. The audience members, the composer, and the musicians are at the heart of the bandsemble, all equally influential characters in the performance. Additionally, bandsembling often involves more elements than just the music that is being performed; it includes video, fashion, dialogue, poetry, movement, dance, as well as any other nonmusical elements involved in the production. Bandsembling takes place in the practice rooms, in rehearsals, and in concerts. Thus, it can be experienced at any step of the process, either physically, at the actual event, or virtually, online via livestream or through social media platforms.
104 Christopher Small, Musicking, 8. 37 As my research became focused on the active experience of making music in a bandsemble, I realized that I needed to experience bandsembling myself. Thus, I planned an unconventional lecture recital for November of 2019. In the four months leading up to the recital,
I commissioned a new work for bandsemble, formed my own chamber group, Haven, and planned a lecture to introduce an unfamiliar audience to the history of the composer-led- ensemble and my concept of bandsembling.
The Lecture Recital
Small dedicates each of the thirteen chapters of Musicking to one specific aspect of the traditional symphony orchestra concert. He highlights various elements of the event and analyzes their effects on the overall musical experience. I similarly aspire to uncover the meaning behind the bandsemble performance, especially in contrast to more traditional concerts. Thus, this section will be a side-by-side comparison of the traditional symphony concert as described by
Small to my bandsembling lecture recital. I will analyze my recital using six of the thirteen categories that Small suggests, however, my bandsembling journey began far before ever setting foot in a concert hall. Thus, I find it necessary to change his original order to better correspond with my bandsembling project. I will analyze my lecture recital using the categories of score, organization, place, composer, performers, and audience members. Ultimately, in this analysis, I aspire to learn more about the human relationships that are emphasized through bandsembling and uncover the overall influence and meaning of the bandsemble.
The Score
In Chapter 7 of Musicking, “Score and Parts,” Small highlights the importance of the written document that is provided by a composer. In the symphony concert, musicians read music displayed on music stands. Small argues that the entire institution of Western classical
38 performance has been built on musical literacy.105 He defines the score as “a set of coded instructions,” and he explores its role in the symphony performance.106 Small contends that the score actually has very little impact on the value of the performance. Rather, as we listen, we create relationships between the notes and give them meaning. In fact, Small views the action of composing with some wariness, explaining,
The moment the musicians feel the need to write down instructions for performance in order to preserve it and hold it steady, a change begins to take part in the nature of the musicking and in the relationships between those taking part. A crack appears in the hitherto unified musical universe; the single process begins to split apart, separating composer from performers, composition from performance, and performers from listeners, centralizing power in the hands of the composer, the person who tells them how they are to do it.107
Small reminds the reader that the music often performed at orchestra concerts is authored by composers who are no longer alive. Thus, if the score is recognized as a record of the composer’s intentions and directions, then at the symphonic performance, the bulk of the responsibility is given to the orchestral conductor who must correctly interpret the composer’s word and show the musicians how to properly communicate the composer’s ideas through their instruments.
I began this lecture recital project knowing that I wanted to add a new score to the bandsemble repertory. However, my experience of encountering and interpreting the score was much more personal than the experience Small describes, as I was in frequent contact with the composer from the first thematic sketches to the final composition. First, I contacted Florida
State University doctoral composition candidate Matthew Briggs to ask him if he were interested in writing a new piece for bandsemble and perform it with me in a chamber ensemble. Upon
105 Christopher Small, Musicking, 110. 106 Ibid., 112. 107 Ibid., 115. 39 exchanging ideas, I created an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign to raise $1,000 for the commission of a new work, entitled TWO, for my own bandsemble (Figure 9).
Figure 9: Screenshot from the Indiegogo campaign page108
Crowdfunding has historically been a part of the compositional process for other bandsembles, such as Victoire, Build, itsnotmeitsyou, and Slow/Fast, and I wanted to experience what it was like to engage a larger community to create a new piece. I offered contributors various “perks” for their donations: digital downloads of the premier performance; subscriptions to a private YouTube vlog channel that I used to document the rehearsals, interviews, and performances; and signed copies of the score. With this Indiegogo campaign, the creation of the bandsemble score became a joint endeavor with donations by 25 project backers.
As my bandsemble began rehearsals, the score continually changed and evolved, since we had the composer in the room listening, providing feedback, and considering our thoughts
108 “Commission New Music for my ‘Bandsemble’!” Screenshot, from Indiegogo, accessed March 4, 2020, https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/commission-new-music-for-my- bandsemble?create_edit=true#/.
40 about individual parts. Although we rehearsed and performed with music on stands, having such a close relationship with the composer changed our dynamic with our scores and parts.
The Organization
In Chapter 2 of Musicking, entitled “A Thoroughly Contemporary Affair,” Small investigates the order and the organization behind the symphonic concert. He highlights the behind-the-scenes characters involved in organizing the concert, such as those who are in charge of booking the artists, creating the programs, obtaining the music, and publicizing the event, as well as those who might not even be seen or noticed by audience members, such as the piano tuner, the usher, and the janitor.109 Acknowledging that the event is possible due to an elaborate supporting infrastructure, Small explains, “Before a note of music has been played, the building and its mode of organization have created among those present a set of relationships, which are a microcosm of those of the larger industrial society outside its walls.”110 In Small’s perspective, the modern symphony concert revolves around the exchange of money, thus he believes classical music naturally favors a more privileged audience.
My lecture recital was a highly organized, complex production that involved many individuals. As the head organizer of this event, I booked the artists, chose the repertoire, created the programs and program notes, obtained and distributed the scores and parts, and publicized the recital in person and online. However, this was not an independent endeavor. Some of my fellow bandsemble musicians were instrumental in helping me find other musicians and a local video artist who were interested in collaborating in this project. In the weeks leading up to the
109 Christopher Small, Musicking, 30-33. 110 Ibid., 36. 41 recital, several audience members helped me promote the event, encouraging and inviting their own friends to attend it. And everyone involved helped under no pretense of payment.
Additionally, the people Small describes as “invisible” to most audiences, the piano tuner, sound technicians, and stage manager, among others, ultimately were more noticeably involved in the recital, compared to a traditional symphony concert.111 With such complicated and unconventional lighting, the stage manager had an important role and had to follow my complex staging plan. When the recording equipment did not immediately work, the sound engineer worked for an additional 15 minutes past the start time to make the alternative equipment operate. And when the piano tuner arrived 30 minutes before the start time to tune the piano, he was flexible and rescheduled so we could have a proper sound check. If the infrastructure that creates the symphony concert emphasizes the business and financial focus of that institution, then the bandsembling lecture recital revealed a community that was cooperative, generous, and flexible.
The Place
In Chapter 1 of Musicking, “A Place for Hearing,” Small explains that “place” includes every physical aspect of the performance setting, from the entrance to the exit. In the layout, shape, and style of a venue, one may discover various relationships and feelings which may either be highlighted or hidden in the setting. Small explains that with the traditional concert hall, every aspect of the building, from the outside ticket window to the lobby to the auditorium communicates a message. The long ticket line and guarded entrance indicates exclusivity, and the extravagant foyer inside confirms this status, as it flaunts wealth, opulence, and drama through the ornate furniture and impressive architecture of the interior. Further inside the concert
111 Christopher Small, Musicking, 2. 42 hall, audience members are seated in various rows at different heights. Seats are angled and sections are tiered for views of the orchestra on a well-lit stage. The better the view, the more expensive the seat, thus there is a clear status level of each guest. As the performance begins, the lights dim on the seated guests, instead highlighting the performers onstage. In this way, the layout of the room highlights a one-way-system of communication, specifically a pathway for music that travels from the stage to the audience and is presented through the medium of the performing ensemble (Figure 10).
Figure 10: Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center in Chicago112
In many ways, my bandsembling lecture recital venue had much in common with the traditional symphony concert hall. However, there are several fundamental differences that set it apart from tradition, and these illuminate a unique series of relationships. The recital took place
112 Todd Rosenberg, “Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center,” Photograph, from Open House Chicago,” https://openhousechicago.org/sites/site/orchestra-hall-at-symphony-center/.
43 in Dohnányi Recital Hall at Florida State University. Before one even entered the concert hall, they found themselves on a college campus, a place which signifies knowledge and encourages mastery. There were no ticketed lines and no guarded entrances, as the recital was free and open to the public. At first, those entering Dohnányi Recital Hall (Figure 11) may have noticed that the auditorium is very traditional, much like a smaller version of the symphonic hall that Small describes.
Figure 11: Photo of Dohnányi Recital Hall at Florida State University113
Although it is regularly used for solo and chamber recitals at the university, Dohnányi
Recital Hall is also used for collegiate classes, and the computer, presentation screen, and convertible desks that are permanently attached to the chairs highlight this dual educational purpose. Dohnányi Recital Hall is well lit upon entry, but as soon as the lecture recital began, it reflected a more intimate setting, something like a nighttime concert at a club or bar. In fact, we performed in the dark, with only our stands illuminated by small reading lights, and images and
113 “Dohnányi Recital Hall.” Photograph from College of Music. Accessed March 4, 2020. https://music.fsu.edu/facilities. 44 videos that corresponded to the performed pieces were projected onto the large screen throughout the recital (Figure 12). However, when I talked, a single spotlight fixated on me, and
I spoke directly to the audience, breaking the invisible wall between the performers and the audience members. In this way, I altered the more traditional elements of the recital hall to make the overall experience more welcoming, informal, and familiar to the audience.
Figure 12: Members of Haven performing TWO for bandsemble by Matthew Briggs (pictured from left to right, Alan Berquist, Erin Heidrick, Pono Santos, Christian Marshall, Matthew Briggs, and Amy Humberd), projected image from corresponding film by video artist Tori Bold
The Composer
Chapter 6 of Musicking, “Summoning Up the Dead Composer,” explores the role of composer in the classical symphonic concert. Small argues that most of the works performed in the classical concert are those written by the Great Composers, which he defines as the period starting with the birth of Antonio Vivaldi in 1678 and ending with the death of Claude Debussy in 1918.114 The Great Composer is always physically missing during the classical concert, yet they might be the most well-known person on the program. Thus, Small claims that the
114 Christopher Small, Musicking, 88. 45 composer has become a mythlike figure, whose life story is somehow encapsulated in the music they composed. He explains, “In that they handed down to us scores whose content is stable and unchanging, those mythological creatures themselves appear stable and unchanging. They cannot be alive in the present. They have to be dead in order to be immortal, and they have to be immortal to be mythic heroes.”115 He provides a religious analogy; by elevating the composers to sacred, prophet-like figures, we turn the concert hall into a sanctuary and the conductor into the priest, who is responsible for decoding the holy word of the composer.116
This is where things differ greatly with the bandsemble. By the nature of its definition, all bandsembles feature live, participating composers. Briggs was not a mythlike figure at the recital; instead, he was actively performing his music on stage. Although audience members at the symphony may feel a close spiritual relationship to the Great Composers through attending symphony performances, the audience at the recital had an opportunity to talk directly to Briggs afterwards and form a real relationship with the composer. However, Small does include an important note about the cycle of performing and composing that aligns well with the idea of bandsembling. He explains,
Performance is the primary process of musicking, from which all other processes follow. It can, and often does take place without any fixed musical work at all. Composing begins when a performer, liking what he or she has done, repeats it, perhaps many times, and tries to improve it so that a more or less fixed sequence of sounds, simultaneous perhaps as well as in succession, crystallizes out from the flowing stream. It evolved out of performing and is directed always toward it. That is its function: to facilitate performing.117
115 Christopher Small, Musicking, 89. 116 Ibid. 117 Ibid., 114. 46 If the role of composing is to facilitate performance, then having our own bandsemble composer in the performing ensemble was the closest way to maintain that natural cycle of performance and composition.
The Performers
Chapter 4 of Musicking, entitled “A Separate World,” focuses on the performing ensemble as a separate, singular entity. At the concert, the symphony orchestra dresses in uniform, enters and exits the stage in solidarity, and ignores the audience except when bowing for applause. They interact with their colleagues, form friendships, and bond in solidarity. The individuals in the orchestra are confined to a separate, highlighted stage, and Small argues that most people “are excluded from the magic world of the musicians, whose separateness is symbolized so lucidly here by the division of the concert hall into two.”118 The exclusivity and team-like status of the musicians is in the printed program, as players are defined by their instruments, for example “first violin,” “percussion,” or “oboe,” and are grouped under the larger name of their orchestra. All of these elements lead the symphony orchestra to be viewed as an exclusive club, existing separate from audiences.
In my lecture, I performed with my own bandsemble, which included our composer,
Matthew Briggs, as well as with two “cover bandsembles,” in which we performed works without their original composer. I asked members of all three bandsembles to join the audience to listen and learn, and when it was time to perform, they could casually leave their seats to join the stage. Each time a bandsemble member joined or left the stage, they broke that invisible barrier between audience and performer. I also included each person in the program with their
118 Christopher Small, Musicking, 73. 47 instrument designation, and we also created our own ensemble names, that is Haven, Construct, and TRIOmphe, as seen on our promotional poster for the recital (Figure 13).
The Audience
In Chapter 3 of Musicking, “Sharing with Strangers,” Small argues that the audience members who attend a symphony concert are often content to remain strangers. He claims that although they sit next to each other and experience the same music, they are expected to remain quiet and do not engage with each other, making the symphony experience a solitary one. He extends this isolation to the relationship between the audience and the orchestra, calling the two groups strangers to each other. He claims, “there is no opportunity for them to become anything else, for they enter and leave the building by separate doors, occupy separate parts of it, and never meet during the event.”119 In fact, Small argues that if there is any underlying kinship between the members of the audience, it is based off a prevalent desire to demonstrate good manners and maintain privacy during a formal event, rather than a desire to experience music in a collaborative way.120
In my lecture recital, I aimed to make the bandsembling experience much more engaging and less isolating for audiences. Nevertheless, it did share some similar dynamics with Small’s depiction of the traditional symphony experience. Some audience members were strangers to each other, and I sensed that all were subconsciously aware of the expectation to remain quiet and be attentive during the lecture, as they might be during a traditional recital or an academic class. However, the lecture highlighted an attempt to create a more inclusive experience for the audience. In my lecture, I attempted to make the audience feel more actively engaged in a
119 Christopher Small, Musicking, 43. 120 Ibid., 42. 48 Figure 13: The bandsembling lecture recital poster, advertising members of Construct (from left to right, Pono Santos, Iris Cheng, Erin Heidrick, Christian Marshall, and Ross Hussong), TRIOmphe (from left to right, Iris Cheng, holding electronics, and Erin Heidrick), and Haven (from left to right, Erin Heidrick, Matthew Briggs, Amy Humberd, Alan Berquist, Pono Santos, and Christian Marshall) 49 classical recital by alternating in my own role as performer and educator. In what I decided to share and how I verbally explained the concepts, I sought to help those listening feel more actively engaged in the classical concert. Through communicating directly to the audience, I hoped to build relationships and engage all those present, but I recognized that I would not discover if it was a successful endeavor unless I asked them directly about their personal experiences. Thus, I knew it would be important to create a survey and learn about the bandsembling experiences directly from the audience members who were in attendance.
The Impact
At the end of the lecture, I spoke directly to the audience, explaining that they have a vital role in the success of a concert experience. In the next phase of bandsembling, I would need to hear their feedback. I asked audience members to leave their contact information if they would be willing to answer a short questionnaire about their experience. After the recital, I sent a survey sent to the members of the bandsemble, bandsemble composer, Matthew Briggs, and participating audience members, and all responses can be found in the corresponding appendix.
The audience survey asked the following four questions:
1. Did this lecture recital change the way you think about “new music”?
2. How did this lecture recital experience compare to a “standard” classical recital?
3. Do you feel in any way more connected to this bandsembling project?
4. How does the term “bandsembling” change your understanding of classical music?
I collected eight survey responses from audience members, who were mostly students in the College of Music, and I noticed several themes emerge in their answers. The audience members explained that the bandsembling experience was different from their previous knowledge of “new music” in two main ways. First, many agreed that the experience was fresh
50 and exciting, as this was the first time that they had been formally introduced to the music of the bandsemble. But many also indicated that their enjoyment of the experience was due to the accessibility of the music and the method in which it was presented. One concertgoer described that this music was a different kind of new music to them, as “[i]t was experimental, but in an accessible way that is easy on the ears and can draw in music fans that aren’t necessarily classical connoisseurs.” For those interviewed audience members, the broad appeal and wide accessibility of the bandsemble made contemporary classical music more enjoyable.
The second question asked the listeners how the bandsembling experience compared to a standard classical recital. Three main themes appear from their responses, with the first focused on the feeling created in the venue. Many noted the relaxed, welcoming environment that was established in the concert hall by the dark mood lighting and the performers’ direct interaction with the audience. The background and contextual information that was provided during the lecture also helped the audience feel more engaged during the performance. One person in attendance explained, “[I]t aided me in fully embracing the music I was experiencing.” Second, concertgoers also indicated that they felt more excited during the lecture than in a traditional concert, as most were being introduced for the first time to a nontraditional, current type of classical music. Lastly, one audience member was impacted by the cross-disciplinary element, as the lecture featured both music and art, as performances were paired with video.
Upon being asked if they felt more connected to this bandsembling project after the recital, all responded with a unanimous “yes.” Nevertheless, almost every responder had a different reason for this connection. One felt more involved by learning about the bandsemble, while another found that in watching the entire process begin from first rehearsal to concert, via social media, they felt more involved in the behind-the-scenes elements. One audience member
51 felt it was easier for a younger generation to feel invested in this music, and another young concert member noted that the bandsemble pieces seemed similar to the music that they already listened to. Another felt even more connected just in the fact that they were being asked to share their experience, as it demonstrated that their opinion and presence mattered.
My final question on the survey asked the audience what they thought about the term
“bandsembling.” In all the responses, I noticed a theme which directed their minds towards the future. Many felt encouraged, more open-minded, and optimistic about the future of the bandsemble. As I read the responses, one specific answer stood out to me, as it best encapsulates my belief about bandsembling. This individual explained, “While the practice of ‘classical’ music may seem stuffy to the outsider, the ‘musickers’ of it know it to be anything but. However, in order for this area of music to continue developing, it should adapt to reflect current societal preferences. The term "bandsembling" reflects a way of achieving this.” Bandsembling offers us an opportunity to stay actively engaged in the process of music-making. The fact that even one person at the recital noticed that the term has the potential to engage an audience signifies that the bandsembling experiment was a success.
52 CHAPTER 4
CONCLUSION
The bandsemble emerged from a strong tradition of experimentalism in American classical chamber music. In fact, the composers of the past three hundred years made significant contributions to the chamber music repertory that paved the way for modern classical composers to develop the bandsemble. The original performer-led projects of the 19th and early 20th centuries led to the rise of the creative, modern American composer who experimented with unconventional instrument arrangements and eclectic genre mixture. With the composer-led projects of the 1920s and 1930s, the composer become more closely involved in the concert programming of their own works. And the Fluxus, minimalist, and experimental movements of the 1950s-1980s further elevated the role of the American composer, as composers began to regularly perform their own music with their own dedicated ensembles. These chamber music projects transformed the role of the composer in American classical music and inspired the current generation of composers to create the bandsemble.
If Christopher Small’s concept of musicking is about relationships, then bandsembling is about community. Upon reflecting on various elements of a concert, specifically in the categories of score, organization, place, composer, performers, and audience members, I have realized that the meaning of the bandsemble can be found in the dynamic of the people who come together to create the music. Thus, going forward, I ask the reader to consider the term “bandsembling” as a tool to use to build community. When performers, composers, and audience members follow and participate in the development of a bandsemble, they feel more intimately involved in the music.
I believe that through the bandsemble and bandsembling, we can create a feeling of community and cooperation, inviting new audiences into the classical music world.
53 APPENDIX
SURVEY RESPONSES FROM THE LECTURE RECITAL
Survey Responses from Audience Members:
Did this lecture Your lecture has helped bring my attention to this type of ensemble. I recital change the had the idea of writing for an ensemble like this, including drum set, so I way you think am very happy to learn that this is already a thing. about “new I’ve definitely always had a warped perception of "new music" as music”? How so? capable of being tremendously obscure or intentionally vague. Having this added the very general "new" music repertoire was actually very interesting and makes me think of newer styles of music as being less obscure and intentionally vague than I thought. It did, it made me think of "new music" as more than just new material, but new ways of incorporating different musical genres to create an experience that is fresh and entertaining. I had no idea what a bandsemble was until this recital and the lecture completely expanded my mind for how I think about chamber music. I love the mixture of styles and the contemporary feel. It was experimental, but in an accessible way that is easy on the ears and can draw in music fans that aren't necessarily classical music connoisseurs. I was such a fan of the pieces played at the recital that I found Build on Spotify the next day! Yes - I appreciated that the performance and historical background introduced me to a new area of "crossover" music. I've long believed that contemporary art music can have a broader appeal than it often does, and that's exactly what the music you performed and discussed strives to do. I think it did, by expanding my definition of bandsemble and the history of how it came about. Yes! I’m a very “classical” person if that makes any sense. I usually don’t know how to appreciate non-classical new music and I don’t usually enjoy it, but listening to someone talk about it and explain it kind of gave it a meaning to me! Also I really loved the use of videos related to the music we were listening to, I thought it was really cool and added so much to the experience. Your recital showed me a side of new music that was really accessible to the public. It had elements of many kinds of music, but also a strong element of folk music. It made “new music” feel not so stuffy.
How did this I felt that compared to a standard classical recital it was fresh and lecture recital current. It’s refreshing to see that academia is keeping up with the experience current trends in music.
54 compare to a It differed most in the mediums that were utilized. Especially in the last “standard” selection, the use of two collaborative mediums of expressive arts was classical recital? awesome to watch. It became easier to relate draw transfers and relate it to my field (Music Therapy) and served a greater purpose than just to be a standard recital performance. While I have enjoyed my fair share of classical recitals, the Bandsemble recital provided a kind of experience that felt more engaging as an audience member. The lecture was educational and welcoming to those that aren't classical music junkies. I appreciated the background and context behind the pieces-- it aided me in fully embracing the music I was experiencing. The informal and relaxed environment was enjoyable and it didn't feel like I was being "lectured at". I would definitely attend a bandsemble concert out in the community. The lecture recital format certainly has a more interactive feel, and perhaps seems less formal. The audience benefits from hearing background about the music and composers without needing to read program notes. I found the Powerpoint slides particularly helpful. It was a unique experience to watch my classical colleagues go out of their comfort zones a bit and perform something that seemed more upbeat and relaxed. The dark mood lighting was fun and made the whole experience more intimate. I feel like since I know so much about classical music since I’ve been learning it all my life, it is very predictable and most of the time I know the pieces that are being played in a classical recital. This was a totally new and more intimate experience since there was interaction with the performer, it was very unpredictable which is exciting and different. There were lights and videos! The music was not “traditional” classical music, and I liked how you gave a history of the Bandsembling.
Do you feel in any I feel that bandsembling definitely connects more to those who have a way more grounding in classical, pop, rock, indie, and experimental music. It is connected to this more appealing to younger generations and I definitely feel more bandsembling connected to it. project? How so? My immediate thought when the term bandsemble was defined was if one of my favorite bands, LakeStreetDive, qualified haha! So, I found small parallels and similarities with genres that I listen to and wrote down several of the composers and bands displayed to look up and listen to later. I absolutely feel more connected. Because several of the genres present in this project were from areas that I love to listen to (rock, pop, etc) I felt more connected to this bandsembling project. I do because my boyfriend wrote TWO. And I felt connected via updates on the Indie Go-Go. If not for those experiences, I do believe that I would feel connected to the pieces regardless because the space was very
55 intimate and because of the invite to complete this survey. I will also follow the bandsemble on social media and I'm excited to stay updated! I definitely feel more "in the know" about the project after attending the performance. Yes! Knowing the process of how it came about and all the work Erin has put into the details of getting people together, commissioning a composition, etc. made me really appreciate the scope of the project! I didn’t quite know what Bandsembling was before I went to the recital - but I liked learning about the history of where it came from. I also liked hearing and learning about different types of bandsembles and what types of music they could play. I think it is an interesting way to bridge different genres of music, and I am interested to see what you’ll do with it!
How does the term The term classical music is such a bad term. I guess you could call it a “bandsembling” subgenre of modern classical music, but that feels incredibly inaccurate. change your It feels like it’s own separate form of music. understanding of Put very bluntly, learning about the bandsemble puts more of my faith in classical music? "classical style" and makes me think of it as less boring. I think the promotion and education of the bandsemble will definitely support shifts and adaptions to the music education universe and ensure that students will still have a genre like this to look forward to as engaging and unique. While the practice of "classical" music may seem stuffy to the outsider, the "musi[c]kers" of it know it to be anything but. However, in order for this area of music to continue developing, it should adapt to reflect current societal preferences. The term "bandsembling" reflects a way of achieving this. I love the term "bandsembling" because it attaches the importance of collaboration to art-making. As a listener, you have no idea how much goes into the creation of a singular piece so it is delightful to be reminded of how the audience actually can impact the manifestation of the music. "Bandsembling" is such a descriptive term and opens up one's mind to so many collaborative and creative avenues that aren't really possible with a narrower definition of "classical music." I love its inclusivity. I am encouraged to cross boundaries, even while being a student. Sometimes as classical students, we can feel like we need to fit the mold first, then we can expand outwards. But there is no reason to feel constricted! We must find ways to expand our imagination and creativity and being in a bandsemble seems like one great way to do that! I feel like I’ve always seen classical music like such a narrow genre of music if that makes any sense, and this “bandsembling” term and concept has definitely opened my mind to all the things we can do with it. Bandsembling feels like a mixture of classical music and rock or indie rock music. It helps classical music reach a wider audience and helps
56 classical musicians play in different styles. I think that Bandsembling is helping to create a new (and better) future for classical music!
Survey Responses from the Composer:
What was the Well when you asked me to write the piece, I immediately had two ideas inspiration behind going on in my mind. The first was that I should do something like the “TWO” for piece I wrote for yMusic (because that’s why you asked me to do this in bandsemble? the first place), and the second was the general musical aesthetic that I associated previously with bandsembles. And these two ideas became the two musical elements of the piece, and obviously inspiration for the title. The first texture-based idea was a further exploration of a technique that I tried for the first time in the yMusic piece, Somewhere, Something, that involves putting different rhythmic divisions on top of each other (in different instruments) to create a complex texture. It could be as simple as 3:4, or as complex as 6:5:4:3. But I also felt an obligation to include some of the more rock/indie aesthetic typically associated with bandsembles, especially since I knew I was going to be writing for electric guitar. To pander a little bit to this aesthetic, I kept the pitch content very diatonic, but most importantly added in a clear melodic idea where phrasing was a little more conventional. But speaking to the counterpoint and Bach-like canon at the end…I don’t know where that came from! Perhaps from the melodic idea.
What music This is a tricky question, because I’m influenced by everything I listen influences you as a to. Although, some composers and styles of course speak to me more composer? Are than others. I listen to a lot of newer classical music, and probably the you influenced by oldest stuff that directly inspires me now is the music of Ligeti. Aside any specific genre from him I really love the textures, gestures, and rawness of both of music, classical Penderecki and Georg Haas. I’m also very interested in microtonality or non-classical? now (thanks mostly to Georg Haas), and I’m having a wonderful time exploring that world; but sometimes it’s more feasible than others. But not all my music gets inspiration from those styles. I’ve never been a die- hard minimalist fan, but it seems to keep coming up as an aesthetic in my music, post-minimalism at least; perhaps because those ideas really infiltrate a lot of music today (some might say the majority). For non- classical, I always like to say that I like the two sides of the “rock spectrum”: indie/folk and metal. I don’t really think they have any direct influence on my music, but I’m sure they do in some way of which I am unaware.
Why did you I think this instrumentation mostly came from your suggestions of who choose the we could get to perform. I know for your other groups (for the lecture instrumentation of recital) you had the strings and clarinet, and possibly flute, so I had those violin, cello, instruments in mind from the beginning. I also knew that you wanted it to be around 5 players, you wanted me to perform, and that we needed to
57 double bass, actually make it a bandsemble by including some rock instrument. I clarinet, flute, didn’t really want to play piano on this, so I thought it was the perfect and electric guitar opportunity to play electric guitar again. And at the beginning the flute for this particular was optional, but I just couldn’t leave it out once I started writing bandsemble? because it worked to balance the other instruments so well.
Did the experience I think the biggest impact was seeing my music truly from the of playing in the perspective of a performer. So often as a composer it’s easy to get lost in ensemble you writing the music and not see it from the viewpoint of the person who is wrote for impact going to be bringing this music to life. Now any good composer will you or your always keep the performer in mind, and I think in general I musical aesthetic do a good job of that, but this was a reminder of exactly how important in any way? that is. I always need to be thinking about the performance of a piece while I’m writing it, which means making sure that what I write will actually sound good and feel right on that instrument. And I get this experience whenever I rehearse pieces of mind, but it was that much more of a reminder being in the middle of it with other musicians.
What challenges The main two challenges I face in writing this piece were the form and did you encounter the aesthetic. Once I started writing I had so many ideas, but I didn’t in writing this want to cram the piece full of things that felt unrelated. So it was a piece? And in challenge to find the right balance between development of old material performing your and new ideas. Somewhat along the same lines was finding my own work? “bandsemble voice” – what aesthetic should I write in? This is maybe why there were two themes, the texture and the melody. I think I did a good job of reconciling the two, but getting to that point took a lot of time and thinking. But maybe the biggest challenge was during rehearsals. I’m used to being able to follow along with the score, really listen to what’s going on, and being able to provide musical feedback to the group or performer. But during our rehearsals I was mostly just focused on not messing up my own part, so it was a lot harder to comment on musical ideas aside from the objective ones. However, it did get better the more rehearsals we had, so I think more rehearsals would be ideal for me if I were in this situation again.
What was the I was most surprised at how the guitar mixed with the ensemble. At times biggest surprise it blended really well, and at times it really stood out in a bad way. I’ve from writing for never written for guitar with these types of instruments before, so I don’t and playing in a know if that was surprising or just a learning experience. But now I have bandsemble? a much better handle on what works and what doesn’t.
Did writing for The biggest thing was the guitar part. I knew that I needed to be able to your own play it, so I wasn’t too adventurous. I’ve played guitar for a while, but ensemble change never in a chamber context like this, and especially not with classically-
58 in any way the oriented music either. But on the other hand, I knew that I couldn’t limit way you my music to what I could play, because that is a really big issue when I composed your write for piano (my main instrument). So, I decided from the beginning music? Has it to have a compromise: I wasn’t going to limit what I wrote for the guitar, made you consider but I wasn’t going to get too crazy either. In the end, I found out that I doing anything was too conservative in my writing, so after our first couple of rehearsals differently going I made the guitar part a little more complicated and interesting. Moving forward? forward, I think I would use this approach again but lean more to the side of not caring about how to play it. That can really be limiting in many ways.
Do you feel in any Yes! I feel like I have a direct connection now to the genre, and the way more bandsemble world in general. Anytime anyone mentions a bandsemble connected to this now, I feel like I have a direct connection to it and played an active part bandsembling in helping it grow and develop. So, thanks for that opportunity! project? How so?
Survey Responses from the Performers:
How does playing There is a certain level of informal collaboration that leads the group in in the bandsemble directions less tied to limited tradition. Incorporation of non-classical compare to elements, instruments, and genres opens the possibilities of where to playing in other perform/present and audience interactions. more traditional Playing in the bandsemble was less nerve-wracking than playing in other chamber groups? chamber groups.
As a performer, The ability to work with different genres and specifically for a composer, what do you find which brings its own cachée to be part of an official composer's appealing about ensemble. playing in a It's quite unusual to find drumset in a piano/string trio. I enjoy the chance bandsemble? to perform in a new context, with a new set of challenges.
Did performing Performing with composers really relies on their own personalities and with the composer how involved they are in the process. I have worked with composers who influence the way did not make a positive experience of playing their music with them. you performed the This specific experience was great and very positive indeed. music?
Do you feel in any Playing a small role in the overall project definitely gave me perspective way more on all the work that would go into such an endeavor. When premiering a connected to this new work, one is always tangibly connected with that specific composer bandsembling and their work. With a bandsemble, that connection seems to be even project? How so? stronger with the composer personally involved.
59 I do feel connected to this bandsemble project. Recently I've been thinking of ways to tweak our current performance practice to make the bandsemble sound more homogenous.
60 REFERENCES
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65 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Erin Heidrick is a violinist, teacher, and vlogger who has been recognized for her dedication, natural leadership, and creativity as a musician. She currently is a section violinist in the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra and Northwest Florida Symphony Orchestra. Over the past decade, Erin has attended and performed in many prestigious summer music festivals, including the Montecito International Music Festival, Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, Round
Top Festival Institute, and Spoleto Festival USA.
Erin has a genuine passion for teaching violin to students of all ages. She is a licensed public-school teacher and a registered Suzuki violin instructor. Erin has held positions as a chamber music coach, judge for auditions and string festivals, and orchestra conductor for multiple pre-college music programs in Oklahoma, Arizona, and Florida.
Most recently, Erin has created several unique projects that highlight her interest in the bandsemble. She regularly performs with her cover bandsembles, Construct and TRIOmphe, as well as with her own bandsemble Haven, which is led by FSU composer and electric guitarist,
Matthew Briggs. In her free time, Erin enjoys creating vlogs that document her unique musical projects. She regularly posts them to her YouTube channel, “Erin Heidrick.”
Erin received a doctorate in music from Florida State University, where she was a teaching assistant to Dr. Shannon Thomas. She also earned a master’s degree in Violin
Performance from Arizona State University and a bachelor’s degree in Violin Performance and
Instrumental Music Education and the Honors College Degree from Oklahoma State University.
She has maintained a 4.0 G.P.A. throughout her entire collegiate career.
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