Ancient Light

One of the great privileges of working in Interlochen in the summer is rubbing elbows with wonderful musicians from many different areas of the music world. One of those privileges is preparing and performing new music that our composition faculty has created for ensembles here at Interlochen. Over the last couple of years I've developed a deep friendship with Dr. Peter Terry, a wonderful composer and musician who teaches Electronic Music Composition here.  This summer, the Intermediate Concert Orchestra is privileged to perform the world premiere of his new work for string orchestra, Ancient Light. Dr. Terry came to our rehearsal yesterday to give us some insights into the work after we had spent a number of days framing the piece and getting ready for his input.

We began our time with Dr. Terry by asking him to respond to an incredibly light question that I had asked all the students earlier in the rehearsal. What exactly is your favorite dessert and why?  I have found over the years that simple conversations like this are often wonderful ice breakers and yesterday was no different. I think the question threw him for a little bit of a curve-ball and he took a moment to consider the answer. After a few moments of thought, he let us know that tiramisu is his favorite and that it was because his family had a number of traditions around this dessert. This provided a wonderful segue into our work for the day on his composition.  Immediately, he had a connection with kids and they were now ready to hear what he had to say about the new work.

I then asked him to tell us just a little bit about the title and the ideas behind the work. He explained that Ancient Light refers to the to a common interest that he and his father shared in astronomy and looking at the night sky. He was always aware when engaged in this activity that the lights that he was seeing in the stars were generated millions of years ago. The things that we see in the night sky may not even exist anymore. The magnitude of that idea is reflected in this piece. He also explained that the piece is inspired by thoughts and feelings related to family (especially his father)  and the depth of that relationship and related experiences like the time they spent studying the stars.

We continued by playing the piece for him and asking for his input. The composition features 4 sections and is in A-B-A-B form.  It floats between E minor and G Major and I would call it about a Grade IV.

The A section is a bold Allegro in 3 with a driving rhythmic underpinning. He explained that the rhythmic underpinning must have a heroic feel. It is actually a "bravura" section and he wanted the students to give it an almost march-like, military drive. This resonated with the kids and they immediately made the adjustment. Additionally, there is a rhythmic, syncopated , marked melodic figure in the other voices. He asked for very short releases at the end of these short phrases and it provided a greater sense of urgency in this rhythmic passage. I always find that having a new voice in a rehearsal yields great results and this was certainly the case. The way Dr. Terry made his points resonated with the kids and they seemed to internalize the idea behind these passages.

Next, we dug a little deeper into the primary melodies of the piece and the way they interact with each other. He noted that each time the primary motive enters in a new voice, it should be somewhat intrusive to the other voices. Again, that word intrusive really resonated with the kids. They were able to execute this almost immediately and it transformed the impact of the piece in those places .

Next we spent some time in the more lyrical B sections of the piece. Each of these sections is very chorale-like and requires a totally different approach. We looked at the greater dynamic scheme of each of these sections and noted that they grow continuously through two statements of the entire chorale. They reach an apex on the final stanza which is then followed by a hushed, brief reprise. As we looked closely at this dynamics scheme, the musical line of this section became so much more perceptible.

As we moved through the rehearsal, you could feel the energy grow and the excitement for the piece intensify. By the end of the rehearsal there was incredible life in the work and the students were quite engaged and committed. The rehearsal ended with Dr. Terry giving a wonderful charge to the students regarding the privilege of performing a world premiere. He sent them into our last few rehearsals with an inspired challenge to truly own the work and to realize that there is only ever one World Premiere of a work. Intermediate Concert Orchestra gets to experience that and no one else will ever have that experience. What a wonderful challenge! I have no doubt that this will be one of the most meaningful musical experiences of these young musicians' lives.

I want to extend my deepest thanks to Peter. I value our friendship so much and truly enjoy out all of our musical collaboration. This is the third world premiere that I have conducted for one of his compositions.  (Blindsighted and Beneath the Irish Sky, Carl Fischer Publications) I consider it one of the great honors of my musical life and my work at Interlochen.

This concert will take place on Wednesday, July 26th at 6:30 p.m. in Corson Auditorium on the Interlochen campus. It will be available via live stream as well.

Peace .

Scott

Blindsighted

This week, on the final intermediate concert of the 2016 season, the Intermediate Concert Orchestra at Interlochen Summer Arts Camp will be presenting the world premiere of Blindsighted for String Orchestra by Dr Peter Terry (Carl Fisher Publishing). This has been a great summer of world premieres at Interlochen and I really think that we have saved the best for last. Peter Terry wrote this work with the Interlochen Intermediate Concert Orchestra in mind and he has really hit the mark with this piece.

It has been a great experience for the students to participate in the process of learning a new piece of music. There is so much that goes into this process that is unique in the ensemble music world. In that it is a new work, I have actually been formulating my opinions and approach to the work as part of the rehearsal process, rather than prior to rehearsals per usual. It has been great for the students to participate in those moments of discovery and decision-making. Some of these moments are very concrete. They might include bowing concepts, tempo decisions, style, articulation, and other clear technical decisions. Additionally, however, there are the more abstract realizations that come as part of living with a work for a period of time. For this piece, this has been the really fun and enlightening part of the process.

As I began to dig into this work, one of my first impressions was that the A section is very angular and geometric in nature. There are clear angular rhythms and ostinati throughout this section which create a somewhat aggressive, almost hard rock, driving impression. The angles and geometric figures are somewhat "black and white" in their presentation. I explained to the orchestra that one of our jobs as an ensemble is to take those black and white figures and begin to make them three dimensional and colorful through the use of dynamics, style, movement, and contrasts in the work.

The slower, more lyrical B section of the work features a small, initial battle between the anglarity of the A section and the softer more muted ideas of the slow middle section. I told the students that the the transition almost reminds me of the process of coming out of a dream state; that moment when you feel yourself waking up but still are pulled back into a dream. I feel like the students really responded well to this concept and will perform it very well with this idea in mind.

As the piece transitions back to the  A' section, that battle between dream state and lucidity reoccurs. Finally, the geometric, angular, dream re-emerges and the piece drives to the exiting end.

Within these changes, it is certainly the orchestra's responsibility to generate dynamics, direction, approaches and arrivals, and interest through articulation, accuracy, and drive.

Yesterday, for rehearsal, Dr. Terry came and listen to some of the work that we have been doing on the piece. In my preparation, I had somehow neglected to look up the definition of blindsighted. As I told Dr. Terry my impressions of the piece, that I have already written about above, a pleasant smile came over his face. He told me that the word blindsighted is actually a reference to the dreams of people that are blind. You can look up this concept at the following link. In the end the impressions that I had of geometric figures, dream states, and 3 dimensional images in the mind, all relate to this title. What an amazing coincidence! I think that Peter and I both felt a real satisfaction in this realization that we had connected on the meaning behind the work based entirely on the music that he had written.

We had a wonderful rehearsal yesterday and the students really gained a significantly deeper perspective through the opportunity to talk with the composer and hear his impressions. He will come to another rehearsal on Friday, too. I loved the fact that he was willing to articulate to the kids that a world premiere only happens once in a piece's life. He really charged them with the excitement and immediate sense of the situation and performance that is in front of them. The students are totally excited to have this opportunity.

He will come to another rehearsal on Friday to conduct the work for the students as well. I will be conducting the world premiere on Saturday, August 6th, 2016, at 4 o'clock in Kresge Auditorium on the Interlochen Center for the Arts campus.