Eclectic Edge Ensemble

Study Guide: A Musicians Perspective...

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When you hear the amazing sounds that EEE dances to, you might ask yourself; "how do they do it?" Well we wanted to know as well, so we asked. We are lucky to have such wonderful composers and musicians working with our company and they were excited to tell us all about their process. Each musician took some time to describe how they go about the process of coming up with their music for the show, Send in the Jazz. As you will read you will find that each person has a unique process, which truly classifies the art in the music. Happy reading, and enjoy!

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A few words from Richard Sloss:

My approach at musical composition is quite a bit different now than it was in the „70s, during my time at the U of MN and the years immediately afterward. That process was pretty standard and straight forward. Sketch the piece out. Score it on staff paper. Write out the parts. Rehearse with the performers. Attend the performance. Move on to the next piece. As any composer will tell you from that time, the process was very time consuming and exhaustive. Which is why, when Dana and I started our family, I pretty much retired from it.

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Around the time Karis created the Eclectic Edge Ensemble, she asked me if I would consider writing a piece of music for a dance she had in mind. Yep. I dusted off my composer chops, and soon a new process evolved. Many things dictated how this process would come about. The interaction with the creative process of choreography and dance required me to be very agile and adaptive in how my music would be created. “It needs to be faster here and slower there.” “Lose this part, it destroys the flow.”

“Can we have more of the C section? You know, about 30 more seconds?” 

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Advances in technology provided me with many more tools that would allow me to work in this manner: MIDI, DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations), sample-based virtual

instruments, and of course the computer. My objective had changed from creating notes for musicians to entertain audiences with musical performances to creating musical performances to be used by dancers to entertain audiences with dance performances. The interactivity of the musical creation process with Karis‟ dance choreography process was intriguing.

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The piece “Workin title” was originally to be a 4 movement piece with each part being about 3-4 minutes. After I had finished the first movement and was well into the second, I received an update from Karis. “The pieces are much too long; we need to make them shorter.” Ah, I thought, a set of short etudes (ala Anton Webern). I get a couple of them well under way when … “I think what we need is one continuous piece that is about 7-8 minutes in length.” “The piece should be rhythmic and fun.”

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“Cactus Dance” came about as a vehicle for a duet Karis has brewing in her mind. It speaks to the people you meet in your life; juxtaposed with the solitude and aloneness that haunts you. My first attempt at this piece received a set of clear and distinct notes from Karis. This was a perfect example of a piece of music that I thought was good and would stand on its own. However, it did not fit this vision had for the Duet. With the notes I was easily able to adjust the piece to match the vision Karis had for her choreography.

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Writing music for the fantastic dancers of Eclectic Edge Ensemble and Karis‟ choreography is tremendous fun and a great priviledge.

~Richard Sloss

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A few words from Mike Rossetto :

I'm terrible with naming pieces. When I have kids someday I have no doubt they will be named 'untitled 1' and 'vamp in Cm.' I do like to get a few descriptive words in my head before I begin a larger work.

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When I first sat down with choreographer Karis Sloss and talked about this collaborative piece, she gave me the following adjectives: cave, trapped, trust, glimpse and mysterious. Fortunately for me I like to work in darker, minor keys. Making the 5 string banjo sound dark can be quite the challenge as most of the world associates the modern American banjo as a joyous instrument played at hoedowns. Over the past year I have been writing in the double C tuning which can turn a proper sounding banjo into a rather mysterious fellow. For those that are curious the tuning is gCGCD.

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The piece as a whole is modeled after the cavernous human mind, Structurally, the piece is split into four movements, each one representing a different state of consciousness. We begin with the current state of an individual in movement one, then experience an unexpected and unwelcome change in movement two. During movement three, the individual begins to play with their new identity almost in a drunken state until finally peacefully accepting their new persona. All the dark imagery aside, I like to think that no experience completely changes us and somehow our true self always manages to cut through. This is illustrated musically as movement four has some of the same structural elements as movement one. Despite having a different tuning on the banjo, it is still...a banjo.

~Mike Rossetto

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A few words from Warren Park:

OLD AMERICAN MECHANICAL TOYS, Five Miniatures for Saxophone Quartet Throughout the 1800's and early 1900's a variety of mechanical novelty toys were created by inventive craftsmen everywhere in the US. We can see them occasionally in antique stores and on programs like "Antiques Roadshow" on PBS. They are part of our American heritage and a source of entertainment for many generations. These five short pieces are not intended to convey the actual motions or behaviors of specific mechanical toys. The music is designed, instead, to bring to the listener's imagination some of the personality, attitude, and character the toys might project. What might they do, what spirit do they radiate? That's up to the listener to conjure up, and my music sometimes adds hints of Americana to help paint their images. Each toy has a life of its own for everyone to enjoy. I'm not positive, however, that they are all working quite right.

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Thus, when these were written, dance was not in my mind at the time, but I am really excited to see Karis take an interest in this music. Her creative imagination has a way of making perfect sense when it comes to realizing music as a visual movement work for dancers. These Mechanical Toys have really come to life in her mind, in her choreography and in the fantastic dancing of all the amazing EEE members.

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I love the sound of four saxes playing together, and I think they really lend themselves to conveying well the imaginary motions and actions of mechanical toys. Please visit www.warrenparkmusic.com to read more from Warren.

Warren Park

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This performance is made possible, in part, by MRAC and the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund as appropriated by the Minnesota State Legislature with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4th, 2008