Text as Music, Music as Text: Stuart Saunders Smith's Works for Percussion and Spoken Word Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation Authors Soflin, Elizabeth Louise Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 30/09/2021 10:47:17 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/624573 TEXT AS MUSIC, MUSIC AS TEXT: STUART SAUNDERS SMITH’S WORKS FOR PERCUSSION AND SPOKEN WORD by Elizabeth L. Soflin __________________________ Copyright © Elizabeth L. Soflin 2017 A Document Submitted to the Faculty of the SCHOOL OF MUSIC In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2017 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Document Committee, we certify that we have read the document prepared by Elizabeth L. Soflin, titled Text as Music, Music as Text: Stuart Saunders Smith’s Works for Percussion and Spoken Word and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the document requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Musical Arts. ____________________________________________________________________________ Date: Norman Weinberg ____________________________________________________________________________ Date: John Milbauer ____________________________________________________________________________ Date: Moisés Paiewonsky Final approval and acceptance of this document is contingent upon the candidate’s submission of the final copies of the document to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this document prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the document requirement. ____________________________________________________________________________ Date: Document Director: Norman Weinberg 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This document has been submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this document are allowable without special permission, provided that an accurate acknowledgement of the source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his or her judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author SIGNED: Elizabeth L. Soflin 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This document has been a large effort in many ways, but thanks to the collaboration of other individuals, it has been a task I have largely enjoyed completing. I would like to specifically acknowledge the following individuals. Stuart Saunders Smith was very kind to be through the process of writing this document, not only because he was willing to let me write about him, but also because he helped me to do it. Thank you to my professor and advisor, Dr. Norman Weinberg and the members of my major committee, Dr. John Milbauer and Professor Moisés Paiewonsky, for investing in my degree program and career. Thank you to Dr. Matthew Mugmon, for acting as a sounding board for much of this document. Thank you for putting so much extra time into reading my writing and being a mentor to me. Thank you to Dr. John Brobeck, for teaching me well and reading early drafts of this research. Thank you to Dr. Morris Palter, Dr. Andrew Bliss, Professor Keith Brown, and Dr. Andrew Spencer: for supporting my academic progress. Lastly, thank you to Matt, my parents, my siblings, and my extended family for their support in every endeavor I have undertaken. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES 7 LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES 8 ABSTRACT 10 CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION 11 Purpose of Study 11 Thesis Statement 12 Review of Scholarly Literature 12 CHAPTER 2 – COMPOSITIONAL BACKGROUND 15 Smith’s Biography 15 The Problem of Classifying Interdisciplinary Works 16 Smith’s Rhythmic Language 17 Smith as Confessionalist 19 The Texted Works 20 The Definition of Speech-song 21 CHAPTER 3 – A CONTEXT FOR SOUND POETRY 24 The Futurists 24 Dada and Ursonate 29 Smith’s Exposure to Sound Poetry 33 CHAPTER 4 – SYNTHESIS OF TEXT AND INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC 38 The Problem of Notation as it Affects Speech 38 Smith’s Rhythmic Language Revisited 43 Scoring for Varied Sound Materials 47 Music as Language 52 Levels of Text Abstraction as Expressive Element 54 6 Combining Disparate Elements into Expressive Systems 56 Language-Based Music: Easter in Bingham 60 CHAPTER 5 – CONCLUSION 64 REFERENCES 65 7 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 3.1. Russian Zaum’ Poetry by Kruchenykh 25 Figure 3.2. Italian Futurist Poetry by Marinetti 27 Figure 3.3. Hugo Ball, “Karawane” 29 Figure 3.4. Poetry of Emily Dickinson used in Stuart Saunders Smith’s The Authors 35 Figure 3.5. Brün, Futility 1964, Text 36 Figure 4.1. Smith’s realization of the rhythm of Some Household Words, Movement X 45 Figure 4.2. Photograph and Diagram of Performer Set-Up for Songs I-IX 46 Figure 4.3. Analysis of Peeping Tom Text and Rhythm Correlations 59 Figure 4.4. Division of Easter in Bingham into three major sections 61 8 LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES Musical Example 2.1. Smith, Home of the Brave, Mvmt. II, m. 24-28 17 Musical Example 2.2. Smith, Tunnels, Excerpt from Page 3 22 Musical Example 3.1. Adler, Zaum Box, “Vnafti” 28 Musical Example 3.2. Schwitters, Ursonate, Movement I Introduction 30 Musical Example 3.3. Smith, Songs I-IX, Excerpt from Song VI 31 Musical Example 3.4. Smith, Songs I-IX, Excerpt from Song VIII 34 Musical Example 3.5. Smith, By Language Embellished, I, Epilogue 37 Musical Example 4.1. Rzewski, To the Earth, mm. 6-20 39 Musical Example 4.2. Silverman, stars cars bars, mm. 82-91 41 Musical Example 4.3. Silverman, stars cars bars, mm. 1-34 42 Musical Example 4.4. Smith, Poems I II III, First Movement mm. 14-24 43 Musical Example 4.5. Smith, Some Household Words, Movement X 44 Musical Example 4.6. Smith, Songs I-IX, Excerpt from Song IX 46 Musical Example 4.7. Smith, Songs I-IX, Excerpt from Song IX 47 Musical Example 4.8. Smith, Songs I-IX, Excerpt from Song II 48 Musical Example 4.9. Smith, The Authors, “Chute” 49 Musical Example 4.10. Smith, The Authors, “Kerouac” 50 Musical Example 4.11. Smith, The Authors, “Kerouac” 51 Musical Example 4.12. Smith, The Authors, “Dickinson” 51 Musical Example 4.13. Aperghis, Le Corps a Corps, Excerpt from “Recit” 55 Musical Example 4.14. Globokar, Toucher, Opening Gestures 57 Musical Example 4.15. Senn, Peeping Tom, mm. 1-2 58 Musical Example 4.16. Smith, In Bingham, fifth movement 60 Musical Example 4.17. Smith, Easter in Bingham, Opening of saxophone solo 61 9 Musical Example 4.18. Smith, Easter in Bingham, Excerpt from Song IV 62 Musical Example 4.19. Smith, Easter in Bingham, Excerpt from Song V 62 Musical Example 4.20. Smith, Easter in Bingham, Opening of vibraphone solo 63 10 ABSTRACT American composer Stuart Saunders Smith (b. 1948) has been active in the composition of contemporary art music for over forty years, composing over 200 musical and interdisciplinary works. His music ties the experimental world of contemporary music to his experiences living, composing, and teaching in the northeastern United States. Many of his works have included spoken word as a percussion instrument, either alone or blended with instrumental percussion writing. Although not unique in blurring the boundaries between text and music, Stuart Saunders Smith’s texted percussion works manage to both belong to tradition and exist as a unique body of works, as can be seen by studying the context of their creation, technique in synthesizing music and text, and usage of text as melodic material. 11 CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION So . at a certain point, one begins…1 Purpose of Study American composer Stuart Saunders Smith (b. 1948) has been active in the composition of contemporary art music for over forty years. He has composed over 200 musical and interdisciplinary works that tie the experimental world of contemporary music to his experiences on living, composing, and teaching in the northeastern United States. Scholarship about Smith’s music consists mainly of one book dedicated to his music and several articles in other books and journals that give either a broad overview of the entirety of Smith’s works or discuss one particular piece at a time. With scholarship on Smith and his compositions generally consisting of the very broad and the extremely narrow, there remains an overlooked angle of study: in-depth exploration of genres in which Smith has been an innovator. One such area is the usage of poetry and spoken word in his instrumental pieces. This document seeks to examine Stuart Saunders Smith’s works for text and percussion in three ways. The first is a discussion of their context, using a brief overview of sound poetry’s history. The second is an examination of how Smith combines text and instrumental material in his compositions, tracing his development of compositional technique and comparing his works to those 1 Stuart Saunders Smith, “Composing, Thoughts,” in The Modern Percussion Revolution: Journeys of the Progressive Artist, edited by Kevin Lewis and Gustavo Aguilar (New York: Routledge, 2014), 226. 12 of other composers who also were working with text. Finally, this document analyzes how Smith treats text as a musical element and vice versa. This portion of the document explores Smith’s scoring and notation, rhythmic language, and usage of abstract text.