I’ve been working on a couple of projects concurrently.  One is a resurrected String Quartet No.3 and the other is another idea revisited, Requiem.  I believe the majority of composers have attempted a String Quartet at least once, including me. 

It’s a classic vehicle for a composition and challenging due to there being only the four instruments; two violins, viola and cello.  You have to be somewhat adept at counterpoint and other techniques that make the best use of a limited number of voices.

There have been over 2000 Requiems  written over the centuries.  Many legendary and famous composers have written one, including many 20th and 21st century composers.  It can, for me, be an intimidating and daunting task to attempt a Requiem. 

But the desire to write one is compelling enough to get me past all that.  My motive for writing this is not to assume a position along side of the composers who came before me.  I do not think of myself as among their ranks.  I see myself as an individual, unlike other composers. 

Again, I quote Morton Feldman who said “I’m Morton Feldman.  Is there anybody like me?  You know anybody like me?  The minute you call me a composer, you are relating me to someone else.”  I think of myself in this same way.  We may all speak, more or less, the same language, but we’re individuals, each unique in his or her own way. 

That’s why I’ve always believed that one composer is no better than another.  You can prefer one over another.  That’s a personal choice.  What I like, you may not.  That’s OK.

So my attempting a Requiem is an individual expression, not a competitively driven desire.  I’m not a competitive person.  It’s usually me against the mountain, not me against someone else.  In that regard, I am driven to overcome whatever is preventing me from achieving what I want.  That never includes going after another composer.  I have too much respect for composers in general, even those I don’t particularly care for.

But a Requiem will be challenging.  With over 2000 versions already done, a big concern is making sure mine doesn’t sound too much like anyone else’s.  That will be difficult, as the liturgy has a meter or cadence of its own that suggests a certain musical pattern.  I’ll have to be particularly creative when avoiding this.  By the scope of the liturgy itself, this will not be a short work in duration. 

I did one other Requiem in 2001 for Susan Oppedisano, my best friend Chuck’s Mom.  But that was more of a memorial for her than anything else.  Besides, since then, my music has matured and my technique improved.Today, I am a better, more learned composer and feel more confident that I have something to say that will be worthy of the Requiem. 

I will talk about my progress in future blog entries, even include some MP3 excerpts for you to listen to and comment on.  It might be interesting to share my process with you.

So, until next time, take good care of yourselves and love each other,
Prov

I've been working on a new piece, concurrent with the other projects I've been working on.  I've posted it on my music page.  It's titled Couches de Bruits Musicaux, which translated from the French means Layers of Musical Sounds.  It was an experiment in multi-tempo layering of music passages for various instruments including Bassoon, Flute, French Horn, Violin and Percussion.

For each instrument, I composed a serial passage and recorded it four different times at four different tempos.  Then, using a multi-track software, I layered each variation across the timeline, repeating some sections to fill in gaps.  I then mixed all that down to a single sound file.

I repeated this for each of the five instruments, then did the same layering using the mix downs from each instrument.  I varied the dynamics of each track to achieve the overall sound I was looking for.  I think the result is an interesting study in compound serial structuring, and one that I was pleased with overall.  I would like to try more and different experiments with tempo and duration, as well as dynamics being varied and overlayed.

I am continuing my readings of Morton Feldman's lectures and interviews.  I'm going to compile some quotes that I feel are worth sharing with you and include them in future blog entries.

I was disappointed that the Radio Destiny Internet broadcasting didn't work out but I'm still looing into other vehicles to do this.  I'm staying away from "renting" space on a server made available by a few organizations for a hefty setup fee and rather pricey monthly costs.  I'd rather do it in true "Pirate" style, so I have to find the right software to make that happen.

Meantime, I invite you to listen and/or download my music from my "Prov's Music" page and give yourself an opportunity to challenge your sensibility and preconceived notions about music.  My work will definitely do that.

All the Best,
Prov

I've completed the Shaker Songs piece and have put it on my music page.  I still don't know if I really like it but I couldn't get past that.  So I offer it to you to listen to.  I'd be very interested in your opinion of it,  Drop me an email and let me know.

I'm at that difficult place for me, when I'm in between compositions.  I try to write every day, when I can.  Sometimes other things prevent that but, for the most part, it's what I try to do.  I have a few ideas for a new work, some I've shared with you in previous blog entries.  But I've gort to work that out.

In the meantime, I've been reading and studying more.  Some of it is revisiting what I've already read and studied, but reinforcement is an important part of learning.  So it's a good thing to do this.  As I've mentioned, I'm reading the lectures, interviews and writings of Morton Feldman.  Much of his philosophy resonates with me.  Morty was Morty.  He was unique.  I'd do well to heed his words.

On a personal note, my wife Donna is going to need Gall Bladder surgery.  She needs to set that up with a surgeon in the next few days, but it needs to happen sooner than later.  We've postponed an upcoming vacation to allow time for that to happen.  We'll see what works out.  From everything we understand, recovery time is minimal, so that will make Donna happy, as well as me.

I continue to be amazed and delighted to see how many visitors I get to my website.  I hope they enjoy their visit.  I'm setting up a Guestbook for anyone who wants to add a comment or make a suggestion.  I am all about sharing my music with the world, so I hope the world is listening and enjoying it.

Thanks,
Prov

NOTE: I have shut down my Destiny Radio broadcast due to technical problems.  I apologize for any inconvienence.

The "diversion" piece I've been working on, re-harmonizing some old Shaker songs, isn't going too well.  I'm having some difficulty in finding just the right harmony for these very old melodies.  One of the reasons is that their form is unconventional, with bars of 3/4 and 2/4 mixed in with bars of 4/4.  They don't have what we've come to know as a "normal" cadence. 

But more than that, they don't follow a pattern whereby I could apply traditional harmonies and chord sequences that, to my mind, would be suitable for hymns like these.  I'm normally not challenged by such things and usually find a way to harmonize these pieces and make them sound acceptable, but I'm not satisfied with how it's turning out.  I'm not sure why that is.

It's causing me to question this, and in turn, what aspect of my creative sensibility is not in tune with this work.  Why won't it come together.  I normally would put a troublesome project like this aside until mentally and emotionally I'm in a better state, more conducive to working on a piece like this.  But it's got me concerned. 

I'm more about why it's not coming together than finding a musical solution.  I'd like to further explore why I have these lapses of creativity on projects such as this.  It may help me to better overcome these "mental blocks" so I can change direction and continue with the work.  Maybe I'm over analyzing things.  Paralysis by analysis.

Lately, I've been reading more of Morton Feldman's lectures and writings.  Morty died in 1987 but his work is still very influential.  But, to me, his philosophy is even more influential.  I like how he thought about music and art in general.  I would encourage my readers to look up Morton Feldman on the Internet and find the transcripts of his lectures and other writings.  I believe you'll find them interesting and insightful.

I've also been getting into the study of Psychoacoustics through a book by Perry R. Cook entitled Music, Cognition and Computerized Sound.  This is an introduction to this discipline and explores things like Pitch Perception, Loudness, Timbre, Hearing in Time and Space and other similar topics.  Essentially it's about how we hear and respond to sound, particularly music.

For a sound-based composer, who uses sounds of all kinds as source material for a composition, it's good to understand how people perceive and recognize sounds.  It helps in better predicting how certain sounds will be received so that we can know if compositions made up of such sounds will be accepted or rejected. 

But, as I said in my last blog entry, it's not essential to a composer to know this in order to compose music.  But it is important if you want to reach people on an intellectual level.  If it's a turn off to listen to acoustically, it will never be understood or accepted creatively.  I'm sure that fifty years ago, we wouldn't have thought much about pyschoacoustics, but fifty years ago we weren't writing the electronic and sound-based compositions we are today.  It's all part of the evolution of music.

On a different note altogether, Les Paul died a few days ago.  Les not only invented the solid body electric guitar, but he pioneered the technique of muli-track recording, which impacted the entire recording industry.  We couldn't have evolved to this point without Les' contributions.  He was also a great guitar player and was still gigging up to his passing at age 94.  He will be missed.

My wife was having some tests done for a gall bladder problem recently, and because these take a very long time, I brought a book to read while I waited for her.  I was reading James L. McHard's book "The Future of Modern Music" which I had already read once but wanted to re-read it.  I would recommend it to anyone wanting to know more about modern music and the composers who create it.

Until next time,
Prov

I have posted "Die Stimmen von Mauthausen" (the Voices of Mauthausen) on my music page.  It is written for electronics only and is approximately 23 minutes long.  I can honestly say it is a difficult composition to listen to because it attempts to emulate the voices of suffering, pain and death that was the plight of the inmates of Mauthausen. 

From a technical standpoint, the electronic sounds can be something the average listener may not be acustomed to.  It is an acquired taste, if you will.  But if you're a fan of such composers as Xenakis, Estrada, Pape, Bussotti and others, you will find this somewhat familiar.  I don't mean to imply that my work ranks with these composers, but that we use the same language to express ourselves.

As a diversion, I am working on a short piece for accapella chorus based on some very old Shaker spirituals, many dating to the 1700's.  I am harmonizing these old melodies and linking several of them together into a single choral work.  It's still in progress and will be for a while yet.  Without a record of how these spirituals were originally sung, I am taking some liberties with tempo and, of course, harmony. 

As I said, it's a diversion that is quite a departure from what I've been doing as of late.  But I needed a diversion to get my head out of the world of atonality for a while.  It's like a restart button for my musical brain.

I've been reading some of the lectures of Morton Feldman, as well as the writings of Milton Babbitt.  In the particular pieces I'm reading from both composers, I've come upon a common thread dealing with the audience.  Not just the audience at a concert hall, but listeners of music in all forms of media from CDs to downloadable MP3's.

The question is; does a composer need an audience in order to compose music?  The answer is, of course, no.  Feldman makes the point that considering the audience when composing causes the composer to begin compromising for the sake of the listener and not following his or her vision of what the piece should sound like. 

Even matters of duration are things that can be a listener consideration.  We could begin planning on a specific duration that will comfortably fit on a CD or for a typical concert time slot, instead of letting the duration of a piece be the natural result of how long it takes to make your statement.  The dilema, of course, is that if you depend on selling recordings of your work in order to make a living, you're going to consider the listener because they are the ones paying.

For me, living a retired man's life with modest fixed income, I don't pay that much attention to what the listener may want.  There is such a tremendous amount of music, of all genres, styles and complexity that there's something for everyone to listen to.  My music doesn't attempt to find a niche in all of this, or to serve as an alternative to any of this.

I try and stay true to my vision when I compose.  It may be challenging at times and certainly unconventional, but it's my signature sound, my personal song.  However, I do consider how the listener will engage with my music.  Like most composers, I like to know how my music is received.  I also hope that it is enjoyed to whatever extent the listener enjoys it.  That's not so much ego as a fundamental axiom for any artist.

I also like to challenge my listeners.  I ask them to leave their comfort zone and stretch their minds a little.  I try and set the stage for them, if you will.  I always title my works.  I have a problem with any artist who creates a work, whether it be music, art, poetry or whatever, and doesn't title it. 

I've seen so many art works simply called "untitled".  To me, that's a copout.  It says that you really had no particular vision in mind when you created this piece and you just rambled through applying techniques for the sake of applying technique.  I feel an audience is helped a great deal when an artist or composer titles a work.  It gives them a clue as to your intent. 

Most people are living their daily lives, full of stress and struggle, where art in any form is not usually a major part.  They need some help in finding your direction.  A title is like a mini-map of the piece.  A preview of coming attractions.  It helps them focus on the work when focusing is difficult because their lives are filled with other concerns.  Think about that the next time you come upon a work of art that is "Untitled".

All the best, Prov

I have completed two works in the past few days.  The first is Sonata No. 2 for Flute and Piano, I mentioned in my last blog entry.  The second is a piece constructed for electronics entitled Die Stimmen von Mauthausen, which translated means the Voices of Mauthausen.  It is dedicated to the victims of the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria. 

My friend and collaborator, Swany, spent time in Austria and visited the camp.  It was her telling me of her experiences there, along with other material I've read, that inspired this work.  It is written for electronics only, no instruments, and is approximately 23 minutes long.  It's also not something you want to listen to alone at night.

Now, as they say, I'm in between projects and that's good in a way.  It will give me some time to think about what I want to work on next.  I'm seriously thinking about taking my friend Byron's advice and doing a narrative piece where I use biographical information to tell a story about some famous artist or composer.  I did that in my Painter's Suite with DeKooning and he liked it.

The Sonata No. 2 and the Adagio for String Quartet are both a mix of styles, as I said I was going to pursue.  It was actually fun writing in multiple styles and blending them together in a single piece.  Free style is a no-rules, petal-to-the-metal approach that really starts with a truly blank canvas and a full palette to work with.  It's a very liberating experience to write like that.  You become more like a Gonzo composer.

But sometimes it's good to stop writing and do some listening.  Not necessarily to look for ideas or material from someone else's work, but to go deeper and listen for what's beneath the work, the essence, the inspiration.  To see how a composer uses his or her voice to say what's important to them.  This can often rekindle that same spark in my own work, my own voice.  It's that kind of renewal that's important to keep from getting stale or complacent.  Absence makes the heart grow fonder and my muse re-energized.

In looking at the statistics that Register.com is posting about site activity, I see that I get visitors from all around the world.  Besides the United States, I get quite a few visits from China.  I welcome all of you, one and all.  It is a pleasure to share my music with all of you, and I encourage you to email me and tell me about your experience visiting my website.

Until next time, take care of yourselves.

Prov

After completing a short piece for String Quartet, which was primarily tonal, I decided to begin work on a Sonata for Flute and Piano, which is a mix of structured serial, free atonal and some polytonal influences.  This was my intent with the next work I would be writing, as I mentioned in an earlier blog post.

I have kept the flute part closer to the structured serial, at least as far as pitch class is concerned.  The piano part is where I use the mix of free atonal and polytonal.  Thus far, the results have been interesting.  I'm enjoying writing within this mix of styles.  It's been more of a blank, open canvas to work with.

The continuing story of Voluspa has begun another chapter.  My friend Swany, who did the Icelandic narration on the piece, met a woman who is a major player in the promotion and distribution of music in London, UK.  She asked Swany for a copy of the CD to preview.  When Swany told me about that, I said I would burn the CD and put together a cover letter.  I did all that and sent the CD to her yesterday.  We'll see what comes of this.

On a personal note, my daughter Jean, and her boyfriend Scott, and my grandsons Tyler and Vinnie went to visit my two sisters-in-law up in Grandview Wisconsin.  From the many photos I've seen so far, it looks like a good time was had by all.  It was good to see all the cousins and their families get together and enjoy each other's company.  It also looks like the aunts enjoyed it too.  My wife Donna and I will be going for a visit of our own later in August.

The area that Vickie and Dolly live in is in the far northwest section of Wisconsin, near Hayward and the Superior/Duluth region.  It's very beautiful country with acres of forests, lakes and, of course, Lake Superior.  Donna and I really enjoy the ferry boat ride from Bayfield to Madeline Island, part of the Apostle Island group.

I've also been reading a book on String Theory, which I mentioned earlier.  I became interested in this as part of an exploration into the law of attraction and how it uses the universe as a conduit of communication.  It started with reading a book by Gregg Braden which looked into the physics behind this phenomenon.  This led me from there to quantum mechanics to String Theory.  It's been an interesting journey thus far and the source for inspiration for a few recent works.

The rest of my life recently has to do with domestic issues (as the late Erma Bombeck said, "anyone who owns their own house deserves it") and personal health issues, both of which take way too much of my energy that I'd rather put into my music.  But these are all part of the rest of my life and I have to deal with it all.  Hopefully, as my daughter is fond of saying, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.  Given that, I should be either very strong very soon, or closer to the other part of that saying.  I guess that's part of the struggle.

Prov