The manipulation of time perception as a performance practice is a fundamental objective of my compositional process. Music has many ways to distort our sense of time perception, for example, durations may seem to last longer with greater stimulus intensity in loudness or pitch. The human brain processes, adjusts, and recalibrates rhythm and temporal perception from connections between the various parts of the brain, encoding and decoding sequential information allowing us to navigate in our physical world. Polytemporal music, by inflecting our perception of time intervals, time durations or judging simultaneity of events, offers opportunities to manipulate this perception of time itself; for example, by utilizing two ostinatos at 'dissonant' tempos of 5-against-7, the listener experiences a temporal illusion - momentarily perceiving time as slowing down, stopping, speeding up, or even running backward, as the timing and temporal order of events are misperceived. There are several types of temporal illusions in which music can manipulate the listeners' perception of time that I will investigate with music composition, such as Vierordt's law (where small intervals of time tend to be overestimated, and long intervals of time tend to be underestimated) and the telescoping effect (the perception that recent events as being more remote than they are and distant events as being more recent than they are).
Conlon Nancarrow's polytemporal works are an important element of my composition process throughout the album Knott Tones. The purpose of the recording was to investigate the Quartet's ability to accurately perform tempo ratios and polytemporal music. Since the Quartet had previous experience performing Nancarrow's String Quartet 3, I believed there could be fewer difficulties than expected in interpreting, rehearsing and recording my new works. During the period between July 2018 until May 2019, I worked on the research process where I studied various Nancarrow scores from the 50 Studies for Player Piano along with the analysis in Kyle Gann's book, The Music of Conlon Nancarrow. I determined which polytemporal, polyrhythmic concepts I would further explore in my exploratory process and began researching additive and divisive rhythms, ostinato, and basic forms of acceleration and deceleration and also concepts from Olivier Messiaen's The technique of My Language.
When the Ligeti Quartet agreed to be involved in the creation of Knott Tones, we organized a workshop to explore various extended string techniques I could consider. I received a copy of the cellist's Valerie Welbanks's dissertation on the topic which was later incorporated into the final work. The collaborative spirit between the quartet and myself was prevalent during this rehearsal phase. In November of 2019, I presented my rough draft versions to the Quartet to work on readability and to further clarify the pieces. We workshopped and played isolated sections where I allowed the quartet to share any feedback. On some parts, I even wrote question marks allowing them to help decide which options are best. After receiving their final feedback I began working on the pre-final versions of the score which I presented at our first rehearsal before Christmas. After that session, I further realized many other ways I can improve the pieces and continued revising the scores. For example, I made quite a few register changes such as moving the cello into the high upper range and creating more closed voicings within the quartet. On January 3, 2020, I presented the final version of the scores and the Quartet had its final rehearsal before the recording session.
My compositional style typically embraces free atonality where the melodic and harmonic material is formed from either tonal and atonal sources. Even though Schoenberg would not approve of this, I would often use tone rows to formulate atonal material. The tone rows can be 12 tone or hybrid rows and the organization of these rows follows conventional 12 tone techniques but the development of the materials does not abide by any specific rules.
I systematically went through various tone rows of Albert Berg, Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, and Charles Wuorinen and collected the tones rows I felt best to fit my compositional needs. Currently, I have been working with over 40 different tone rows which are put into eight categories: Melodic series, Tonal series, Atonal series, Symmetrical series, All interval series, Symmetrical, All interval series, Short Series and Long Series. If any of these tone rows could satisfy the needs of these master composers then they certainly can work in my works.
The row utilized in House of Donn is from the melodic series which Ernest Krenek in his excellent treatise Studies in Counterpoint recommends us to, "avoid more than two major or minor triads in the series, formed by a group of three consecutive tone…. because the tonal implications emanating from triad are incompatible with the principles of atonality. This is certainly true, but many of our greatest serial composers have included suggestions of tonality in their works, and some have deliberately courted tonal implications in their music by using series specially designed to permit tonal suggestions with facility. Before considering these deliberately tonal series let us look again at two of the melodic series already discussed. The series in Berg's lyric suite will be seen to embrace definite tonal regions. Not only does the series contain two minor triads but the first half of the series is completely diatonic within the tonality of F major and the second half is diatonic within B major. Only one note (the 4th degree or subdominant in each case) is lacking from the complete scale of F major and B major in each half of the series"
After composing the Zappanation Rock Opera in 2016, I embarked on a new compositional style incorporating many aspects from Charles Wuorinen's book Simple Composition. My atonal style is also influenced by the techniques from Serial Composition by Reginald Brindle, Style and Idea by Schoenberg, and rhythmic technique from Musical Language by Olivier Messiaen. I developed a composition technique booklet and below is a table of content of various exercises that I typically explore when I am developing a piece derived from a tone row.
After implementing these various exercises I would next begin composing the draft versions for Knott Tones and through this process I organically began combining elements from both the rhythm and pitch material creating numerous draft versions. Before beginning a composition session I would often read Schoenberg's Style and Idea for guidance. Here is an excerpt of something in the final compositional stage.
House of Donn and Mystical Healing is based exclusively on additive rhythm from Conlon Nancarrow's Study #20 duration canon. House of Donn was initially composed and recorded with the Ligeti Quartet in January 2020 and Mystical Healing is a future work part of the Otherworlds Book of Motets which are both modeled from the duration canon of Study #20. What makes Study 20 unique is its polyphonic use of isorhythm in which the color pitch row and talea rhythmic row are associated differently in each contrapuntal line. Study #20 expresses Nancarrow's flirtation with minimalism and is often referred to as the Cloud Study whereby the climax random-sounding notes can be thought to evoke rain. The repeated pitches within a limited range are similar in effect to the stochastic textures of Iannis Xenakis's music. Kyle Gann claims the concept of Study 20 was never repeated in any of his later studies.
Study 20 utilizes two rhythmic series, one for the first hexachord and one for the second, both 180 unites in duration
duration values: 11 16 10 3 23 16 7 - 13 9 11 7 5 10 14
section A: 11 16 10 3 23 16 7 13 9 11 7 5 10 14
section B: 8 20 17 10 14 21 7 21 15 16 14 17
19 15 12 14 19 12 11 16 12 19 13 18 plus a final note at the end
The distances between entries of each pitch and series diminish by multiples of six 42 - 36- 30 - 24 - 18. These distances remain constant throughout the section and perceptually the canon is inaudible as such, what one hears is the transfiguration from one hexachord into another one.
There are some key differences between Study #20 and House of Donn. Section a 8 20 17 10 14 21 7 21 15 16 14 17 is directly connected with section b 19 15 12 14 19 12 11 16 12 19 13 18 plus a final additional note at the end. Unlike Study 20, both my works are not strict canons and instead utilize retrograde rhythms of the series and a palindrome the section.
The compositional techniques developed in my works are directly influenced from my background as a free jazz improvisor, storyteller, lyricist and percussionist, who conducts from behind the drum kit various cross-genre projects. My music is informed by a wide variety of genres ranging from Harmolodic jazz, Post-bop, Punk-jazz, Third Stream, East Coast hip hop, Free-funk, Drum and Bass, Jungle, Hardcore punk, No wave, Death metal, Psychedelic rock, Krautrock, Celtic music, Country, Senegalese Mbalax, Malian Mande, Afro-pop music and folk music from around the world. The composition techniques discovered from performing these styles are utilized to support the musical narrative.
The drum kit is one of the few polyrhythmic instruments which allow you to develop complete independence and coordination between the four limbs. Developing complete independence and coordination on the drum kit is a pinnacle achievement when complex polyrhythms can work together musically. Coordinated independence exists when it is possible to improvise independently with both hands while the feet play a repetitive pattern. Developing limb independence allows me to play different rhythms, without having to consciously focus on each one individually. From developing these practice skills I began approaching the choir or string quartet as an extension of my limbs. A vast majority of my practice time is devoted towards integrating composition and performance techniques to advance my coordination, dexterity and improvisation skills. Here is an example of a technique I developed in the past which I am still utilizing today. Caught in the Act from A Gamber's Hand
