2008 Woodie Awards
Masterpieces in a hurry
John Pavik
Issue date: 10/2/07 Section: Arts & Entertainment
Time constraints are a musician's worst enemy, especially 24-hour ones. Last week was the ultimate test for one group brave enough to participate in "Unprepared Music," an exercise in such breakneck writing and performing.
At 7:30 Tuesday night, 12 composers from the UNCG School of Music began writing for a variety of instruments and literary concepts. Twenty-four hours later, the music was given to a group of performers to learn for the next day's concert. The results were a pleasant surprise, residual stresses aside.
Ensembles ranged from solo to quartet with bizarre combinations such as bassoon/alto sax, bass clarinet/harpsichord and voice/kitchen utensils. The esoteric nature of these works didn't stop there. A song by Kyle Blair, "What the Angels Say," described the chaos of a godless Heaven left to the angels' discretion. "Stalker: the euphonious terror," a work for solo euphonium by Matt Quayle, was not so much about musical virtuosity but more comic relief, describing a terrible albeit rather dim beast. In other words, the music was meant to be either subtly hilarious or frighteningly serious.
Overall, the concert provided a host of challenges for those involved. Sight-reading was certainly the most crucial. With such a short time to learn surprisingly difficult music, even the concert required last minute reading. Some less experienced groups unfortunately suffered from an inability to do this, though no permanent damage was done. Learning the language of fellow musicians within the ensembles was also a chore. Quality collaboration can only come through long-term practice, an impossible concept in this setting.
All involved seemed to have a wonderful time, hinting that this concert may not be the last of its kind. If the next one is anything like the first, then lets hope certainly that it isn't.
At 7:30 Tuesday night, 12 composers from the UNCG School of Music began writing for a variety of instruments and literary concepts. Twenty-four hours later, the music was given to a group of performers to learn for the next day's concert. The results were a pleasant surprise, residual stresses aside.
Ensembles ranged from solo to quartet with bizarre combinations such as bassoon/alto sax, bass clarinet/harpsichord and voice/kitchen utensils. The esoteric nature of these works didn't stop there. A song by Kyle Blair, "What the Angels Say," described the chaos of a godless Heaven left to the angels' discretion. "Stalker: the euphonious terror," a work for solo euphonium by Matt Quayle, was not so much about musical virtuosity but more comic relief, describing a terrible albeit rather dim beast. In other words, the music was meant to be either subtly hilarious or frighteningly serious.
Overall, the concert provided a host of challenges for those involved. Sight-reading was certainly the most crucial. With such a short time to learn surprisingly difficult music, even the concert required last minute reading. Some less experienced groups unfortunately suffered from an inability to do this, though no permanent damage was done. Learning the language of fellow musicians within the ensembles was also a chore. Quality collaboration can only come through long-term practice, an impossible concept in this setting.
All involved seemed to have a wonderful time, hinting that this concert may not be the last of its kind. If the next one is anything like the first, then lets hope certainly that it isn't.
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