An amazing concert I went to on January 9, 2017 at the Merkin Concert Hall was titled “Bang on a Can”. The band was made up of great musicians including six for most of the show and then eight during the second part of the show. The band not only played each instrument extremely well, but also seemed to have an amazing chemistry with each other and this in turn made each piece even more enjoyable to watch. The show featured seven composers who were great and their pieces were interesting and very colorful. There were eight pieces included in the show. Bang on a Can; a formidable concert based off of funds from the people’s commission, had its’ 30th year anniversary showcasing the owners, composers, and most of all the Bang on a Can’s All Stars. There was great dialogue from the Host John Schaefer, who is also the radio host of WNYC on the 93.9 FM radio station. There was a great ambience in the venue because it was warm, huge and full of seats. Before each piece was played, the composers were called onto the stage by John Schaefer and had a mini interview about the piece, and how they came up with the idea for the music.

During the first part of the show, the performers in the band stayed the same for all of the pieces and during the second part they added Eliza Bagg on violin and voice and Charles Yang on violin and voice as well. The band was incredibly amazing; their energy for each piece was impeccable and they did not even look tired at the end of the show, which was roughly two hours. It featured David Cossin on Percussion, Derek Johnson on Electric Guitar, Robert Black on Solo Double Bass, Ashley Bathgate on Cello, Ken Thomson on Clarinets and Vicky Chow on Piano and Keyboard. When they were required to do so, they lent their voices to pieces as well. I think that the performers made the show amazing by giving their all to every piece.

The first half of the concert featured two pieces from composers from different parts of the world. During this part of the show, the composers had to use field recordings. They were asked to record something new or old in the field of sound and then write music to correspond with what they found. The piece by American composer and co-founder of Bang on a Can, David Lang who received a Pulitzer Prize in 2008 for one of his pieces, was titled sunray. Anna Thorvaldsdottir from Iceland, whose works have been nominated and awarded on many occasions, wrote a piece that was titled Fields. The piece by Juan Felipe Waller who is a Mexican-Dutch composer was titled Hybrid Ambiguities and the settings of his works vary from symphonic orchestra to chamber music and electronics. The piece by American composer Nico Muhly, who has written over 80 works for the concert stage, was titled Comfortable Cruising Altitude. The pieces featured Field Recordings incorporated into them which were either old recordings or new recordings found in real life and I was pleasantly surprised at how seamlessly they were woven into the pieces.

David Lang said sunray was inspired by masonic shapes and bringing life to physical form in music. The piece had many dissonances and used cool pizzicato chords from the strings, repetitious modulation and subtle dynamic build-up. The percussionist literally played everything; he would switch from the vibraphones to bells. He used broken rhythms and the piece gradually got stronger and louder as the percussionist went to the drum set. David Lang indeed illuminated the building with his amazing piece.

Anna Thorvaldsdottir was one of the international composers that contributed to Bang on a Can. Her piece had live, natural textures that made you feel as if you were running through fields. She mentioned she was influenced by actual fields in Iceland to write this piece. Random piano and guitar trills and scale runs were used with clarinet tonguing, breaths and spits to give the song a natural live feel. The string section held long suspenseful notes and the drummer used like a choked snare sound by using conga drum slaps.

Juan Felipe highlighted a Korean Harp in Hybrid Ambiguities that was inspired by a friend. This piece was very experimental. That unique instrument had 96 tones, 12 semi-tones for each 8 notes in the scale. The drummer was smacking the vibraphones with the shaker; he used timpani, toms, and vibraphone. The bass clarinet held higher notes for a long period of time and the pianist which was also amazing helped create a hip-hop feel and pulse. The string section produced a speeding car sound. The guitarist used many chromatic notes. This piece was definitely awesome.

Nico Muhly was absent but Comfortable Cruising Altitude was ok. It used uneasy airplane noises, and babies crying on the plane. The drummer used a violin bow on his cymbal which I’ve never seen… ever. The decay and overtones of the crash cymbal were dramatically enhanced with one arc. The piece constantly resolved dissonances, had beautiful chords and there was deep distance between the left and right hand of the pianist covering low and high octaves. All of the pieces were adventurous and daring and the artists weren’t afraid to think outside of the box and make their pieces unique to their own personalities.

The artists in the second part of the show were American composers but that did not take away from how exotic and fresh the pieces were. There was a piece by Michael Gordon, a member of the Philharmonic known to add rock instruments to chamber music. His work was titled St. Remy from his opera Van Gogh and it happens to be his final movement. Julia Wolfe whose music pushes performers to extremes and demands audiences’ attention, composed a piece titled Believing and it included double bass chaos when he would move up and down sporadically. Then there were two pieces by Philip Glass, who has written music for experimental theater and Academy Award winning motion pictures, one titled Bed which has a consonance on off-beats from his opera Einstein on the Beach and the second one is titled Closing which included cello vibrato with shaking notes from his debut record Glassworks were included in the second part. Michael Gordon’s St. Remy was conducted by the clarinetist in common time but the band would start on an off-beat. There were group vocals from everyone on this song, there were a lot of half-step ascensions. Some of the lyrics used by the male singer and violinist were “I think I have done well”. These pieces were just as interesting and unique as the pieces in the first part of the show.

The show was amazing and very insightful. I enjoyed every piece, composer, and program. I learned plenty just from being in the front row, and I’m sure I got a different sonic experience being able to hear the unfiltered effect of the music. Thank you so much Professor Tilley, I definitely plan on going to more Bang on a Can concerts.

Tigue

Music is intriguing by the way it sounds and the through a process of composing. As we progress in time and as a listener, we question what is consider “music” or just simply noise. During Music Since 1945 class session, I was exposed to John Cage composition. Cage has an unorthodox way of composing music. He would squeaky ducks, place flower into water fill bathtub, a sound of streams releasing from a boiling pot and many another unorthodox way of making music. I found it interesting because the concept was a showcased in 1960 which is futuristic for its time. Nowadays those sounds are available as a plug-in for digital music creating. Cage was also known to alter piano sounds by attaching screws, corks, and various of other things between piano wires. This allows some notes to be higher pitch and mute. Another composer that caught my attention that utilizes music beyond classical method is 12 tonnes introduce by Arnold Schoenberg and Josef Matthias Hauer. The technique is a means of ensuring that all 12 notes of the chromatic scale are sounded as often as one another in a piece of music while preventing the emphasis of any one note. Also overall gives the player to repeat the same single note every time is indicated. While it does not provide a wide range of octave it does have a clear message toward composing. This brings me toward to presenting a group name Tigue Music that utilize experimentalists and radicals method.

The band Tigue are composed of three performances: Mat Evans is keyboard and percussion, Amy Graphic is drums and percussion and Carson Moody is drums and percussion. The trio is base out of Brooklyn fused the precision of contemporary classical music with art-rock energy. The trio performed three compositions lasting one hour and thirty minutes at Pregones Theater.

The first composition the group utilize flower pots, metal sticks, metal plates, glass bottle, saws wheel, door bell,  metal panpipe. Mat began the piece by revolving what seem to be a screwdriver around the flower pot.  This created low resonant sounds while other pieces are played.  The Trio hitting on objects that created ostinato. The drums at the end of each fragment place emphasis. Two instruments that have the highest pitches are the drum and panpipe. The piece begins to make a transition as each instrument played prestissimo. The piece overall has a lot talea of sixteen notes follow by heavy drums. This piece creates a feeling of infinite since there a lot of talea and ostinator insinuate anticipation toward the listener. The listener does not know when the composition is going to resolve. When there is a transition it introduces somewhat new melodies and harmony but it resolves back to talea and ostinator. The composition motif created a subliminal infinite theme.

The second composition the trio began to sit on the floor with their instrument. Carson is on drum with a small rake, Mat is on a mini wooden keyboard that may consist of one octave and a half and Amy is using an electric guitar. The group began to chant out simultaneously “This is a Mat favorite puzzle that we like is 1,3,1,3,3,2,4,1….” The group began to look down on a piece of paper that consists of only numbers.  As each person takes turn to read out numbers they began to play their instrument in a precise method. As number one is being called Carson begins to use his left hand to rake across the drum, as for number two he begins to hit the drum on the right side. While Carson and Mat played a specific note on their instruments. The beginning of the composition it was adagio then proceeded to allegro. As This provided the piece less distance from each instrument sound. Overall the transition provided the piece a more put together sounds rather individually sounds. The group began to make a dramatic transition. Mat start to flip over his mini wooden keyboard and unscrew the back cover with a screwdriver. He would use the same screw to screw back and forth on the board to create a grinding noise. The sound was at moderate pitch. Meanwhile, Amy detaches one the electric guitar wire and begins to hit her palm to the neck of the a guitar. This created a loud heavy pitch and resonant. The other instrument can be heard as a grind and tapping sound. This transition of method created a lot of overlap sound. As the pitch and resonant of the bang guitar linger over other instruments. The end of the piece the trio began to repeat the extensive list of numbers that they been following to the audience while playing their instrument. “ 1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 ..This was a puzzle of a puzzle was” as the trio announce to the audience and trio simultaneously provided sign numbers with their finger. The index finger is being 2, the third finger is 3 and so forth.  This composition seems to be using a logic like the 12 tone since each player was playing a specific tone as each number are read. However, the piece does not have a clear melody or harmony.  The first movements all instrument seem to have the same density. However, after the transition, the altered guitar have the highest density.

The third composition the trio utilize an electric keyboard, drum set, shaker, and glockenspiel. The drum repeats 3 notes as the melody meanwhile he using the shaker. The pianist is holding down one tone throughout which creates a resonant.  The glockenspiel is highlighted because is played at a higher pitch than other instruments. It also repeats melody that other instruments seem to surround it.  The song has harmony created by other repeated notes and continuous notes.  It is polyphonic. The glockenspiel has the most noticeable density. The instruments are able to work together because each instrument does not rise above the glockenspiel tone.  There is minimal variation. Most noticeable variation is the drummer play the bass note then  hi-hats and repeat. After short highlight by the drummer, it would shift back to glockenspiel. The pieces have a lot of repetition but it captures the message of the melody. The piece reminds me of the 80s style of a band playing rapid quarter notes. The sound also promotes dancing because of its tempo. This piece does connect to my life since I was playing a video game that takes place in Miami during the 80s and Latin radio station often would be played this rapid pace of instruments.  During the performance, I also rap over this beat in my head since it kept the same tempo.

Overall Tigue shows an array of creativity with their method of performance to utilizing household items as an instrument. They pay homage to past composer that forefront these methods of making music such as dodecaphony and Extended technique. The three compositions insinuate the listener with feelings such as infinite, puzzle and logical thinking.  Their witty hand sign to connect to the audience and insinuated logical thinking. Tigue pushes the boundaries by utilizing binary form to each of its composition that keeps the audience anticipated. The audience would anticipate and guess what would come after this unorthodox movement.

On February 18, 2017 the Ecstatic Music Festival at the Kaufman Music Center in New York City presented Origami Harvest, a modern Jazz / Hip Hop fusion of the trumpet virtuosity of Ambrose Akinmusire with the postmodern rap lyrics of MC Kool A.D. Ambrose Akinmusire was the primary creative force behind this Jazz / Hip Hop collaboration which featured Kool A.D. along with the instrumental accompaniment of the contemporary string ensemble Mivos Quartet, piano and synthesizer effects by Sam Harris, and drumming by Marcus Gilmore. In an interview for Liquid Music website at the beginning of 2017, Ambrose states that Origami Harvest stands for a cyclical exposition of the various musical elements which make up the diverse ensemble’s presentation. During the performance each performer takes a turn at presenting his or her instrument’s unique voice as a metaphorical fruit, which is then harvested by the changes in the seasons. Through this cyclical performance, the sonic textures blend with one another and the juxtaposition of the diverse instrumentation folds upon itself in the same way that the folding of paper creates an origami image. The composition also explores how there is no clear beginning or end to a cycle as all preceding moods and textures morph onto the next section.

The piece began with the string quartet’s creating dissonant waves by making circular motions with their bows and sliding up and down the strings, which created the whispering sound of an ocean floor. This technique would be revisited several times.  The intro by the quartet was a mix of dissonant and consonant sounds, which established an atonal motif for the rest of the piece. A different section also featured a modern chromatic piano solo, which was in contrast to the usual rhythmic groove patterns, Sam Harris, played on a synthesizer along with drummer Marcus Gilmore. MC Kool A.D. would typically rap over the synthesizer’s effects and drumming, and Kool A.D. would also add sparse lyrical content with varying dynamics throughout the sections. Interestingly, Kool A.D. attempted to mimic the virtuosic off-beat phrasing of Ambrose’s trumpet. Needless to say, Ambrose provided varies trumpet solos with the unconventional sounds of the Free Jazz form.

All the performers demonstrated a high level of musicality and control over their modern, unconventional sounds. Origami Harvest was successful in presenting a series of cyclical and separate sections featuring an atypical ensemble, however, the visual staging of where a performer stands while not playing could be improved upon or “relaxed.” There were awkward moments when MC Kool A.D. was just standing on stage silent while the quartet played. On other occasions, he compensated by repeating a lyrical phrase such as “and it don’t stop” or attempted to make creative moments. Ambrose also sat on a stool and avoided direct eye contact with the audience when he was not playing. The tension onstage could have been relieved if the performers had had more freedom to move around the stage. Perhaps, Ambrose or Kool A.D. could even have walked over to conduct a different section, which did not feature them. I believe this would have relaxed the visible onstage nerves of the musicians. After all, there is countless footage of Miles Davis or Jon Coltrane walking to the side of the stage to smoke a cigarette or gaze at the audience, while another performer took the spotlight.

With the current trend of musical fusions within the mainstream market, Origami Harvest is a commendable attempt to bridge the gap between the modern Jazz, Classical, and Hip Hop genres. Recently, Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly (2015) received an unprecedented acceptance with mainstream audiences and won awards for successfully blending Hip Hop with Funk, Free Jazz, Soul, and Spoken Word. The album’s fusion was presented as a kind of avant-garde conceptual album, which featured Free Jazz prominent figures such as Kamasi Washington on tenor saxophone, Thundercat on bass/producer, and Ambrose Akinmusire on trumpet, among the various other instrumentalists.  To Pimp a Butterfly brought Free Jazz elements into a Hip Hop production while Origami Harvest brought Hip Hop into a modern musical auditorium.   The new and experimental trend that has united free jazz, classical avant-garde, and hip hop artists in a common musical aesthetic is evocative and inspiring.

http://www.liquidmusicseries.org/blog/akinmusireinterview

http://www.liquidmusicseries.org/blog//rapper-author-future-farmer-an-interview-with-kool-ad            

Saturday February 18^th in East Harlem, Carnegie Hall brought their neighborhood concerts to the historic El Museo del Barrio. Harlem, a neighborhood that is historically black and Latinx, got to experience a fusion of their culture embodied in the musical group: Antibalas. El Museo del Barrio tries to bring these events to their community regularly and for free or a low cost. This event was part of their Super Sabado program, but they’ve had other events such as lectures featuring the prominent Dominican American writer, Junot Diaz. Music, however, is a particularly strong way to immerse one’s self in culture. It also acts as a point of connection for many within the community and outside of it. This event was attended by a very diverse crowd, including a group of Eastern European women sitting near me. The band itself, Antibalas, was made of about twelve men. Though it was led by its black and Latinx members, there were a few members of other cultures who were involved as well.

Antibalas is a Brooklyn-based band composed of saxophones, trumpet, trombone, vocals, guitars, keyboard, bass, vibraphone, drums and percussion (congas and woodblocks). Their sound is a unique mixture of funk, jazz and afrobeat. Their inspiration stems from Fela Kuti and his afrobeat grooves, but their keyboardist harbors similarities with the playing style of Ray Manzarek from The Doors. The primary focus of this band resides in its brass and percussion sections which dominate both the rhythm and melody. Each member of the band had a specific role to fulfill. As a large band like this can be challenging to control, communication between one another is key. They immediately exemplified how talented and tight they were in their performance. Catchy guitar riffs, an insane keyboard solo on top and dense percussion lines mixed with call-and-response melodies from the horn section marked the beginning of Antibalas’ performance.

There was an amalgam of texture and timbre coloring the first song, which lasted about 12 minutes. The piece kept building up, leading to the vocalist emerging and calling for the audience to repeat his phrases; the audience gladly cheered the lines in excitement. As the dynamic died down, funky repeating guitar riffs settled into the mix. The band also responded to specific vocal cues by the lead singer in a call-and-response form. The lead singer began chanting, “Go up! Go down!” and the band repeated his continuous line in response. Dynamics began to build louder and louder as melodic phrases from the horn section colored the background, bringing it back to the powerful introduction with a few variations throughout. The audience was so impressed and eager to applaud that they started clapping and dancing right before the final climax.

Each song gave the audience much more than expected. They clapped to the beat as much as possible. If this wasn’t a seated event, everyone would have been dancing from the beginning. Behind each dense percussive horn driven line, a complex yet controlled and danceable drum beat was laid. Each musician had their own spotlight in one song where they would solo to showcase the talent that is Antibalas. As the last song began, the audience started to lift from their seats, unable to control themselves after an hour of outstanding music. They began to dance, both on their own and with others. The band, in response, turned the event into a wild party. Steady and fast dance rhythms grew in power while the trombonist burst out a solo that blew everyone away and empowered the entire band. An encore was definitely in order and requested by the audience who were engaged throughout the performance. In addition to their outstanding musical talent, Antibalas embodied an approach that gave the audience an even greater gift: a true community experience.

Here’s a taste of Antibalas: