In C

While I like the idea of this project being 365 wholly and entirely new things, I also like the idea of letting this framework open me to explore things I already know in new ways.

Terry Riley’s “In C” is considered the founding text of minimalist music, written in 1964 and clearly setting the stage for Philip Glass, Steve Reich, John Adams and other composers who followed shortly thereafter.  It’s a gorgeous piece with a straightforward premise: some number of musicians (Riley suggests 35) play 53 short musical phrases in order.  Each musician can play each phrase as many times as s/he likes, and the ensemble as a whole moves through the sequence of phrases together, more or less, and it is the more or less that makes it interesting.

I’ve listened to this piece countless times, and love the Remix project that the Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble released last year.  But today was the first time I downloaded the score, and followed along, singing.  It was glorious, and you should try it.  If you can sing do-re-mi, and I know you can, you can sing this. The 35th part is a little challenging, but by the time you’ve reached it, you deserve a break anyway, and Riley actually gives you an out on this one in the directions:

If for some reason a pattern can’t be played, the performer should omit it and go on.

request for input: modality

Every now and then, I hope to talk about things I’d like to learn this year and request your advice, dear reader, on how to do so.

The topic of modes in music theory interests me.  Reading about it doesn’t really get me to any understanding of it.  Anyone want to teach me about modes or direct me to any great online resources?

Thanks!

Murder Ballads

Today’s SNED dovetailed with my friend Caterina’s new Sunday Singalong efforts.  Hooray for overlapping projects!  The theme of today’s song session was murder ballads, and we spanned the centuries with our dark tales of destruction and mayhem.  Five of the attendees played guitar (including some actual people who, as Caterina put it, have sung in exchange for money) and one played ukulele, so it was all quite delightful.

We opened with the classic murder ballad Rocky Raccoon (actual death toll: 0, though murderous intentions abound on all sides), and proceeded through Bad, Bad Leroy Brown (death toll: 1, gunshot), I Never Will Marry (death toll: 1, drowning), Long Black Veil (death toll: 1, hanging, plus whoever got killed beneath the town hall light to start off all the trouble in the first place), Greenwood Side (death toll: 2, stabbing. bonus: ghosts!), Copacabana (death toll: 1, gunshot), and Darling Corey (death toll: 1, cause of death unclear).

As quite a few of these songs were new to me, I think this was an admirable SNED undertaking, and it piqued my interest in digging into the Child Ballads a bit more, and re-learning basic guitar chords enough to play along at times like these.

Some modern & traditional murder ballads for you here and here.

Hand Drumming

For my first SNED, I took a workshop on hand drumming.  Taught by Susan Appe at the new SoundSpace, the workshop was a delightful three hours of percussive rhythms.  I played the doumbek, an hourglass-shaped drum that appears under different names in various world cultures, and we learned the two main sounds that drum provides – the doum, which is a strong bass played in the center of the drum, and the tek (or ka, when played with the non-dominant hand), which is a lighter tone made near the rim.

After some stretches and warmups (and a round of “happy birthday” to me!), we started learning some African and African-influenced rhythms, including the Haitian Ibo, the African Ibo, the Fanga Alafiya (my favorite), and some hip hop variations.  We then took a break and moved into Middle Eastern rhythms, starting with the classic Belide and Zar, and then on to the more complex Ayoob and Elzafa, and some accompaniment on finger cymbals.  We then took parts and just played for a while, both on traditional drums and on some recycled instruments Susan had made from discarded bottles and cans.  Very fun!

Though my hands were quite sore by the end, I had a fantastic time playing drums for three hours with Susan and the group.  I was surprised at how easily most of the rhythms came to me and how little my small mistakes mattered in the scheme of things.  I will definitely be doing more drumming, both of this sort and exploring other traditions like Taiko and tabla.

More:

+ Basic hand drum rhythms

+ Tabla classes in San Francisco