An Alternative Community
marc faris
About this work:
Much of my recent work is characterized by an effort to make socially relevant music – not necessarily reflecting or commenting on social issues in a direct way, but rather embodying a sounding space that highlights the social nature of music making. This is manifest in my commitment to bringing together performers from many different musical backgrounds, in ways that both play to their strengths and ask them to participate in unfamiliar modes of performance. An Alternative Community is my most ambitious effort in this vein to date, with twenty-four classical, rock, free improv and electronic musicians participating, as well as live video mixing and text fragments drawn from poetry written specially for this piece.
The work is cast in six continuous movements, each one utilizing a distinct compositional and orchestrational approach. The first four movements set the instruments and ensemble subgroups off from one another, with tentative steps toward unity. Finally in the fifth and sixth movements, the ensemble evolves from a group of scattered individuals into a powerful collective musical force. The piece is thus a reflection on an idealized notion of community: a group of people brought together by shared interests and convictions, working together toward a common vision, their collective accomplishments enriched by the individual strengths of the community’s members. The score is constructed in such a way as to encourage, highlight and value the contributions of every performer, even as it insists that they participate in a unified musical expression.
The music evokes a range of dramatic and emotional qualities (the fierce obstinacy of “Fanfare!”; serene contemplation in “Prayer for C.C.”; playfulness changing to insistent joy in “Ecstatic Dances”), but during rehearsals this week I’ve been struck by an overarching sense of melancholy. There are concrete reasons for this: the recurrent musical “sighing” motive and minor-interval-heavy harmonic language, the resigned tone of Charles Jester’s poems, Bill Noland’s collected images of decay and suburban ennui. I also think it reflects a generalized anxiety about the way contemporary American life – suburban sprawl, neighborhoods divided on class and race lines, chat rooms and cellphones replacing personal contact – seems to be moving toward an irrevocable snipping of basic social threads. I offer this work, and the community of artists it brings into dialogue, as a hopeful response to that observation.
Two of the movement titles contain dedications. “Prayer (for C.C.)” refers to Cornelius Cardew (1936-1981), a relatively obscure British composer whose work has nonetheless been extremely influential on a generation of experimental musicians. His commitments to social change, both within the musical establishment and in Western society at large, and to making music that is performatively (if not aurally) accessible to musicians of all stripes, have influenced my own aesthetic. The text-based score for this movement, as well as the explicit breathing metaphor – i.e. the Chinese characters “xi” (inhale) and “hu” (exhale) in the title – are references to his ideas and working methods. The “R.W.” in the closing “Elegy” is local musician Randy Ward (1968-2004), whose homebuilt noise instruments inspired the mechanical, off-kilter loops that underscore the movement. The outpouring of tributes that followed his sudden death earlier this year is testament to the tight-knit spirit of the local underground music scene; I now offer my own memorial to a fondly remembered member of the alternative community.
Year composed: 2004
Duration: 00:50:00
Ensemble type: Chamber or Jazz Ensemble, Without Voice:Other Combinations, 10+ players
Instrumentation: 1 Oboe, 1 Bassoon, 1 Percussion (General), 2 Drum Set, 1 Piano, 1 Guitar (Classical/Acoustic), 2 Electric Bass, 6 Electric Guitar, 1 Prerecorded Sound (Tape/CD/Other), 1 Computer/Laptop
Instrumentation notes: "Percussion (general)" part includes marimba, vibraphone, suspended cymbal and unspecified metal instruments (such as Fredrico Percussion's Pan Man Fan). Also a subgroup of 6-10 improvising musicians (unspecified instrumentation), and video projections recommended. 6 Tibetan singing bowls are needed. All acoustic instruments are amplified.