John Oswald’s Plunderphonics are the sound of our age. His “compositions” give the impressions of scanning through a radio to find the best song or a cd skipping while getting bumped around or walking into best buy when there are multiple radios or tvs on at once. Of course the music is much more than these associations. By taking recordings of the twentieth-century as raw musical material Oswald creates his own unique compositions that have a feeling that is distinct from the sources. The most remarkable thing about Plunderphonics is when the listener already knows the source material the new reproduction is a bizzare jolt and as as Monalescu put it “subverts expectation.”
The first moment my mind was tricked and my expectations destroyed was in the song “Power” which turns out to be one of Oswalds first attempts at plunderphonics from 1975. The sources are a Led Zeppelin tune and a monologue of an evangelist preacher. I am familiar with both Zeppelin and the usual rants of preachers. For one this combination is quite an ironic contradiction. The “devil’s music” and “god’s word” together at last. Contrary to the goals of many musicians, Oswald claimed that he was “trying to create an uncomfortable situation which would lack a tailor-made audience. “ The other tubulent facet of “Power” that all the riffs and drum grooves are rearranged. While the timbre is unquestionably Led Zeppelin, the tune is no longer the one they wrote. Nor is the sermon that accompanies the song the one the preacher originally gave. What I gather from this plunderphonic is that it matters little whose side your on, but rather how much “power” you feel.
In a similarly powerful vein is the plunderphonic “2net” which is used to be Metallica and Queen. Again Oswald has used the original tracks as tones to build a new composition with. While it may seem as though this genre is unique to recorded and produced music, this track leads my mind to wonder why a band could not try to reproduce this live. It would not sound exactly like this, but why not make it ones own in a live analog format?
Perhaps one of the biggest controversies of plunderphonics is that it questions what original music is and where we draw copyright lines. While “Vane” is clearly a Carly Simon tune that has been altered, at no point to we hear the whole refrain or any coherent part of the song in length. Small fragments are used here and there. Oswald likes to create the sound of a skipping cd with this track. It has a nice effect that gives a sense of timelessness. So, if the new song does not have a discerenable melody that the old one contained is it subject to copyright infringement? I would argue that is does not. If one person writes a book and get a copyright for it. That means that another person cannot write a book with the same plot and the same words(In the same order). What Oswald is doing is creating new plots and usings words that are rearranged from the sources. Okay, there may be some gray area.
Another of my favorite songs of this collection of Plunderphonics is the “Brazillianaires Theme.” The source is a Joao Gilberto tune. Cleverly, Oswald has taken short snippets and created new melodies and chord progressions that sounds nothing like the original. This is followed by another Brazilian tune that has crazy drums tracks added. It sounds like Elvin Jones sitting in with Astrud Gilberto at a late night jam session in the fourth dimension. This type of flow between tracks is something that Oswald takes very seriously. He is constantly changing the songs that he has already constructed so that they lead better in sequence.
It seems as though Oswald uses a different method of composition and reproduction with evey track. This variety in remixing is incredibly stimulating. There is no doubt that this is art and a form that should be studied and explored. Like Monalescu pointed out, this type of reconstruction has it’s roots in western art music. It something that composers have been already been doing for hundreds of years. The difference is that now we have music that is recorded exactly as the composer desired it. Oswalds Plunderphonics question what composition is and what is subject to copyright law. His work also opens up new methods of creation and variation that I hope artists continue to plunder.
Bibliography
Cutler, Chris. “Plunderphonics.” Classic Essays on Twentieth-Century Music: A Continuing
Symposium. New York, NY: Schirmer Books 1996.
Holm-Hudson, Kevin. “Quotation and Context: Sampling and John Oswald’s Plunderphonics.”
Leonardo Music Journal, Vol. 7, (1997), pp. 17-25.
Oswald, John. Plunderphonics. CD; Interview by Norman Igma.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
The Bachianas Brasileiras of Heitor Villa-Lobos - A Response to Hannah Porter's Journal Entry
There are several reasons to appreciate music. It can be for its beautiful melodies, harmonies and timbres. It can be for the way the composer has woven together previously unrelated ideas in new ways. It can be enjoyed for the emotions and feeling that surface through the listening process. Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras fulfill all three of these qualifications of “good” music. In Hannah Porter’s journal article, she argues that that these works should be enjoyed as a whole rather than trying to disect the parts. In fact, the thick orchestration of many of the Bachianas Brasileiras makes it difficult to clearly hear every note that is played. However, each line that Villa-Lobos writes has such an interesting character that I cannot help but to want to follow to see where it leads.
I was drawn to the same two Bachianas that Hannah explored, nos. 1 and 6, as well as no. 3 (for Piano and Orchestras). The first Bachiana is for an orchestra of violincelli. I think Villa-Lobos was on to something with this unique instrumentation. The ‘cello is such a versatile instrument because of its wide range and warm, rich timbre. It can be at once jarringly rhythmic and beautifully melodic. In the Introduction(Embolada) Villa-Lobos presents a Brazilian rhythmic motif that is played in the higher register while a nationalistic melody in the lower register brings to heart the passion of the Brazilian people. This theme comes to back at the end to the movement closure. The second movement is a Preludio and a Modhina. It feels like a lament at times with desceding lines and at other times it feels more like an empending tornado of emotions. There are chromatic rises and falls interspersed among lush, romantic sweeps. Villa-Lobos takes the listener from the Brazilian countryside to a café in Rio in a matter of seconds. The third movement, a fugal “conversation” is perhaps the most Bachian of the first Brasileira, yet it’s A theme speaks of the influence of the Arab immigrants in northern Brasil, where Villa-Lobos visited. As the movement progresses the language of Bach becomes more prominent, yet I never forget where I am at in the world. Ms. Porter is correct in ascertaining that the fugue is definitely the most “baroque” sounding movement of the work and that the composer succeeds in demonstrating the similarities between music that is two centuries and a globe apart.
Bachiana Brasileira No. 6 for flute and basson is perhaps one of the most beautiful pieces of music that exists. Again, the passion of Brasil and its people comes through strikingly clear. While the instruments and compositional style are quite European, even in the most romantic composers it is difficult to find this kind of emotional expression. No. 6 is another example, also, of unique instrumentation. I believe there is great merit in combining varying timbres because the overtones that one instrument lacks, the other fills in. In this case, the flute, which has such a pure tone, creates overtones that have more relative space, while the bassoon’s overtones are more rich and thus cover some of the emptiness of the flute. It is a work such as this that would inspire me to learn one of these sonorous instruments.
Leaning towards beautiful timbres, my other favorite Bachiana Brasileira is No. 3 for Piano and Orchestra. The piano makes this piece. Like the ‘cello, the piano is quite versatile and seems to be well suited for just about any style of music, especially the dramtically emotional music of latin America. While I am usually one to loathe the genre of concerto for the lack of inspiration that the orchestra recieves, Villa-Lobos pulls this one off. His use of timbres is unique and modernistic. Of all of the Bachianas, this one (the first movement in particular) I could hear in a dark adventure movie as background during a development. Batman goes to Brasil? The fourth movement introduces a xylophone to play with the high winds. As a percussionist I appreciate this, although it surprises me that coming from a country with such a rich percussion tradition that the only idiophones and membranophones used are those that are directly European. It makes me think that Villa-Lobos was working within certain boundaries and had a very specific audience that he was trying to appeal to, namely that of upper-class Europe. It is evident from the stories he told aristocrats in Paris about his travels to the savage jungles of Brasil that he was trying to impress. To this degree I think it is unfortunate that the composer did not use more colors of Brasil aside from melodies, scales and rhythms. I think Bach’s musical style could benefit from an added pandeiro, surdo, ganza or tamborim. While Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras are perfect for what they are: some of the most beautiful compositions ever, the genre he invented leaves much room for expansion. In addition to Ms. Porter’s hope that these works be studied and appreciated as they are, I sincerely hope that composers of the present and future take up where Villa-Lobos left off.
Bibliography
Peppercorn, Lisa. Villa-Lobos: The Music. New York: Pro/Am Music Resources Inc. 1991.
Mariz, Vasco. Villa-Lobos: Life and Work of the Brazilian Composer. University of Florida Press 1970.
Peppercorn, Lisa. “Villa-Lobos’ Brazilian Excursions.” The Musical Times, Vol. 113, No. 1549 (Mar.,
1972), pp. 263-265.
I was drawn to the same two Bachianas that Hannah explored, nos. 1 and 6, as well as no. 3 (for Piano and Orchestras). The first Bachiana is for an orchestra of violincelli. I think Villa-Lobos was on to something with this unique instrumentation. The ‘cello is such a versatile instrument because of its wide range and warm, rich timbre. It can be at once jarringly rhythmic and beautifully melodic. In the Introduction(Embolada) Villa-Lobos presents a Brazilian rhythmic motif that is played in the higher register while a nationalistic melody in the lower register brings to heart the passion of the Brazilian people. This theme comes to back at the end to the movement closure. The second movement is a Preludio and a Modhina. It feels like a lament at times with desceding lines and at other times it feels more like an empending tornado of emotions. There are chromatic rises and falls interspersed among lush, romantic sweeps. Villa-Lobos takes the listener from the Brazilian countryside to a café in Rio in a matter of seconds. The third movement, a fugal “conversation” is perhaps the most Bachian of the first Brasileira, yet it’s A theme speaks of the influence of the Arab immigrants in northern Brasil, where Villa-Lobos visited. As the movement progresses the language of Bach becomes more prominent, yet I never forget where I am at in the world. Ms. Porter is correct in ascertaining that the fugue is definitely the most “baroque” sounding movement of the work and that the composer succeeds in demonstrating the similarities between music that is two centuries and a globe apart.
Bachiana Brasileira No. 6 for flute and basson is perhaps one of the most beautiful pieces of music that exists. Again, the passion of Brasil and its people comes through strikingly clear. While the instruments and compositional style are quite European, even in the most romantic composers it is difficult to find this kind of emotional expression. No. 6 is another example, also, of unique instrumentation. I believe there is great merit in combining varying timbres because the overtones that one instrument lacks, the other fills in. In this case, the flute, which has such a pure tone, creates overtones that have more relative space, while the bassoon’s overtones are more rich and thus cover some of the emptiness of the flute. It is a work such as this that would inspire me to learn one of these sonorous instruments.
Leaning towards beautiful timbres, my other favorite Bachiana Brasileira is No. 3 for Piano and Orchestra. The piano makes this piece. Like the ‘cello, the piano is quite versatile and seems to be well suited for just about any style of music, especially the dramtically emotional music of latin America. While I am usually one to loathe the genre of concerto for the lack of inspiration that the orchestra recieves, Villa-Lobos pulls this one off. His use of timbres is unique and modernistic. Of all of the Bachianas, this one (the first movement in particular) I could hear in a dark adventure movie as background during a development. Batman goes to Brasil? The fourth movement introduces a xylophone to play with the high winds. As a percussionist I appreciate this, although it surprises me that coming from a country with such a rich percussion tradition that the only idiophones and membranophones used are those that are directly European. It makes me think that Villa-Lobos was working within certain boundaries and had a very specific audience that he was trying to appeal to, namely that of upper-class Europe. It is evident from the stories he told aristocrats in Paris about his travels to the savage jungles of Brasil that he was trying to impress. To this degree I think it is unfortunate that the composer did not use more colors of Brasil aside from melodies, scales and rhythms. I think Bach’s musical style could benefit from an added pandeiro, surdo, ganza or tamborim. While Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras are perfect for what they are: some of the most beautiful compositions ever, the genre he invented leaves much room for expansion. In addition to Ms. Porter’s hope that these works be studied and appreciated as they are, I sincerely hope that composers of the present and future take up where Villa-Lobos left off.
Bibliography
Peppercorn, Lisa. Villa-Lobos: The Music. New York: Pro/Am Music Resources Inc. 1991.
Mariz, Vasco. Villa-Lobos: Life and Work of the Brazilian Composer. University of Florida Press 1970.
Peppercorn, Lisa. “Villa-Lobos’ Brazilian Excursions.” The Musical Times, Vol. 113, No. 1549 (Mar.,
1972), pp. 263-265.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Harry Partch's The Bewitched
If equal temperament, advanced European harmony, and serial music are ‘sliced bread,’ then the musical language of Harry Partch is ‘the greatest thing since.’ The magic of The Bewitched has truly changed my musical paradigm and the way I aurally understand the world. Let me explain the process that led to this life-changing revelation. In my search for a musical work to study, I first chose Libby Larsen’s Marimba Concerto. I love the marimba and the expanded battery of percussion instruments used in the 20th Century. Upon listening to it, I was disgusted with its trite orchestral clichés. It was the same music heard at every Percussive Arts Convention evening concert featuring a big name soloist and university wind ensemble. I needed something fresh. I remembered a colleague mentioning something about Harry Partch and his unique instruments, and thus began listening to Partch’s The Bewitched. From the first notes I was hooked; there was no turning back. This music has feeling. This music is the future. It leaves the limitations of twelve equal tones in the dust like a snake that sheds its skin. I had to know how this music came to be.
The impetus for The Bewitched came in 1952 when an undisclosed man approached Partch and asked him to “write a series of “backgrounds” for television airplane crashes, drowning, and murders in the park…” Partch was intrigued by the idea but perhaps differed in interpretation. These “backgrounds” or scenarios poke fun at the thought of doing such a thing seriously. Partch also gained inspiration from the dozens of musicians that flocked to him in search of something new. He called them “the lost musicians” and dedicated the first eighteen minutes of The Bewitched to them, their pursuit, and their subsequent discoveries. The third muse behind this magical spoof is, of course, the witch. Partch’s witch is not an evil, seventeenth century Puritanical idea of a witch. Rather, Partch goes back further to the “ancient idea of the benevolent, all-knowing witch” (Partch 334). In the album notes Partch explains that we are all under some kind of spell. We are the products of our environments, cultural conditioning, and systematic brainwashing. While it may be impossible to completely untangle ourselves from such a bewitchment, pure experience and liberation can be found by breaking free into the moment.
There is a sense of juxtaposition in Harry Partch’s music that is exemplified in The Bewitched. The tuning was the first things that stood out to my ear when I listened to the work. The implementation of just intonation allows the music to go two different directions. The use of ratios to tune intervals results in harmonies that are more in tune than they would be if tuned in equal temperament. We hear this clear consonance when “Exercises in Harmony and Counterpoint” plead their case “in a Court of Ancient Ritual.” The polyphonic clarinet and adapted viola play distinctly more harmonious lines than similar melodies would be in our standard tuning system. When the koto and crychord enter to prosecute the “counterpoint” they “speak” in what we would consider microtones. These tones are, however, included in Partch’s scales based on ratios. To ears accustomed to twelve evenly spaced tones per octave, these extra tones seem out of tune. They are actually quite in tune. With Partch, harmony becomes relative. Every tone is relative to a single “tonic” of G = 392. Consequently, Partch’s music is at once more harmonious than almost any other 20th century western art music and just as microtonal as any Indian or South Asian music.
One of the biggest aids in listening to The Bewitched is a resource on the American Mavericks website. The website allows visitors to “play” all of Partch’s invented instruments. My favorites include the boo (bamboo marimba), the diamond marimba, the mazda marimba, and the xymo-xyl. In our world of academia and western art music we are taught to create the best sounds possible and that we have to play instruments that use only the best materials and are made with the best craftsmanship. Harry Partch rejected this notion by building many of his own instruments with the materials he had around him such as California redwood and bamboo. The mazda marimba is made with old light bulbs, tuned, arranged in rows and played with rubber mallets. It sounds like nothing I have ever heard, though Partch claimed that is sounded like a coffee percolator. I actually thought the CD was skipping on first listen because I did not initially accept that sound as an instrument. I love playing pitched percussion instruments. The hearing these new inventions with their clever tuning opens up so many possibilities. It opened my ears to sounds in nature previously unclassified as music. Anything can be an instrument and most objects can be tuned. Partch was incredibly clever and industrious with regards to his original instruments.
If The Bewitched is not in the canon, I do not understand why. The music of Harry Partch is perhaps the most groundbreaking and innovative music ever created. I see this as the future of art music. Partch’s concepts should be taught in theory classes and his compositions should be analyzed. His instruments should be well maintained, reproduced, and mainstreamed. There is no reason that this music should die. If anything should pass, it should be the stale European derived forms of the concert hall that composers continue to write to please audiences and musicians that are scared to get out of their suits.
Bibliography
Partch, Harry. Genesis of a Music. New York: Da Capo Press, 1979.
Ben Johnston. “Corporealism of Harry Partch.” Perspectives of New Music Vol. 13, No. 2 (Spring-
Summer, 1975): 85-97.
American Public Media. “Harry Partch’s Instruments.” American Mavericks Interactive Website,
http://musicmavericks.publicradio.org/features/feature_partch.html#
(accessed April 13 – 20, 2009)
The impetus for The Bewitched came in 1952 when an undisclosed man approached Partch and asked him to “write a series of “backgrounds” for television airplane crashes, drowning, and murders in the park…” Partch was intrigued by the idea but perhaps differed in interpretation. These “backgrounds” or scenarios poke fun at the thought of doing such a thing seriously. Partch also gained inspiration from the dozens of musicians that flocked to him in search of something new. He called them “the lost musicians” and dedicated the first eighteen minutes of The Bewitched to them, their pursuit, and their subsequent discoveries. The third muse behind this magical spoof is, of course, the witch. Partch’s witch is not an evil, seventeenth century Puritanical idea of a witch. Rather, Partch goes back further to the “ancient idea of the benevolent, all-knowing witch” (Partch 334). In the album notes Partch explains that we are all under some kind of spell. We are the products of our environments, cultural conditioning, and systematic brainwashing. While it may be impossible to completely untangle ourselves from such a bewitchment, pure experience and liberation can be found by breaking free into the moment.
There is a sense of juxtaposition in Harry Partch’s music that is exemplified in The Bewitched. The tuning was the first things that stood out to my ear when I listened to the work. The implementation of just intonation allows the music to go two different directions. The use of ratios to tune intervals results in harmonies that are more in tune than they would be if tuned in equal temperament. We hear this clear consonance when “Exercises in Harmony and Counterpoint” plead their case “in a Court of Ancient Ritual.” The polyphonic clarinet and adapted viola play distinctly more harmonious lines than similar melodies would be in our standard tuning system. When the koto and crychord enter to prosecute the “counterpoint” they “speak” in what we would consider microtones. These tones are, however, included in Partch’s scales based on ratios. To ears accustomed to twelve evenly spaced tones per octave, these extra tones seem out of tune. They are actually quite in tune. With Partch, harmony becomes relative. Every tone is relative to a single “tonic” of G = 392. Consequently, Partch’s music is at once more harmonious than almost any other 20th century western art music and just as microtonal as any Indian or South Asian music.
One of the biggest aids in listening to The Bewitched is a resource on the American Mavericks website. The website allows visitors to “play” all of Partch’s invented instruments. My favorites include the boo (bamboo marimba), the diamond marimba, the mazda marimba, and the xymo-xyl. In our world of academia and western art music we are taught to create the best sounds possible and that we have to play instruments that use only the best materials and are made with the best craftsmanship. Harry Partch rejected this notion by building many of his own instruments with the materials he had around him such as California redwood and bamboo. The mazda marimba is made with old light bulbs, tuned, arranged in rows and played with rubber mallets. It sounds like nothing I have ever heard, though Partch claimed that is sounded like a coffee percolator. I actually thought the CD was skipping on first listen because I did not initially accept that sound as an instrument. I love playing pitched percussion instruments. The hearing these new inventions with their clever tuning opens up so many possibilities. It opened my ears to sounds in nature previously unclassified as music. Anything can be an instrument and most objects can be tuned. Partch was incredibly clever and industrious with regards to his original instruments.
If The Bewitched is not in the canon, I do not understand why. The music of Harry Partch is perhaps the most groundbreaking and innovative music ever created. I see this as the future of art music. Partch’s concepts should be taught in theory classes and his compositions should be analyzed. His instruments should be well maintained, reproduced, and mainstreamed. There is no reason that this music should die. If anything should pass, it should be the stale European derived forms of the concert hall that composers continue to write to please audiences and musicians that are scared to get out of their suits.
Bibliography
Partch, Harry. Genesis of a Music. New York: Da Capo Press, 1979.
Ben Johnston. “Corporealism of Harry Partch.” Perspectives of New Music Vol. 13, No. 2 (Spring-
Summer, 1975): 85-97.
American Public Media. “Harry Partch’s Instruments.” American Mavericks Interactive Website,
http://musicmavericks.publicradio.org/features/feature_partch.html#
(accessed April 13 – 20, 2009)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)