The State of the Art

In these past 2 weeks I was lucky enough to participate in 14/48: The World’s Quickest Theater Festival.  7 writers, 7 directors, 4 designers, 25 actors,  6 band members and a host of volunteer bloggers, photographers and support staff all come together to write, score, design, rehearse, and perform 14 one-act plays, complete with music, in 48 hours.  It is a grueling artistic endurance challenge that leaves the mind reeling, the body exhausted, and some great theater in its wake.

Steering Committee member Shawn Belyea giving the 14/48 "virgins" the skinny at the company meeting.

I did 3 out of 4 days this time around.  Whew. This is what I learned:

• Gay people really do know a lot about musical theater.
• The Golden Girls theme is awesome.
• Actors talk to themselves… Often.
• Amazing scenes can be created with lighting alone.
• I can sing the theme from Titanic.
• A person can enjoy cereal with beer instead of milk.
• It’s hard to hold it together after an actor is making really lewd and obscene gestures at the band, unbeknowst to the the audience, in the midst of the performance. Hot tears were streaming down my red face as I was trying not to laugh.
• Alcohol can be fuel.

Really, it is just amazing what a large group of people with a common goal can do.  Especially artistically.  It feels good to be a part of something like that.  Being a professional artist sometimes takes you on isolated, single-minded journeys.  It is important to give yourself over to a larger tide.  To let your artistic skills dissipate into a larger pool, a pluralistic expression.  It frees you from your own introspective nightmares.  And it makes that cliche ring true:

The 14/48 band. From left to right: Beth Fleenor, Dave Pascal, Nate Bogopolsky, Annie Jentzer, Eric Ray Anderson, yours truly.

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.  That you are 14/48.  Thanks.

“Art reaches its greatest peak when devoid of self-consciousness. Freedom discovers man the moment he loses concern over what impression he is making or about to make.” - Bruce Lee.

There is a word in Eastern philosophy that describes the combination of two seemingly disparate disciplines. Using elements of one to enhance the other.  I unfortunately cannot remember the word nor find it on the internets.  Please drop of a line if you know the word. But, I had an experience that coalesced fishing and music.

Fly-Casting at Southworth

I went fly-fishing for the first time last Friday (7/23/10).  Learning to cast was a real challenge.  You have to load up 40 to 50 feet of airborne line up above your head with enough energy to lay out a practically weightless lure out in front of you.  I had trouble at first. In my mind I knew the technique for a cast, but could not enact it.  Then my first good cast came.  It was exhilarating.  After bringing in the line I paused to take stock of how I got the cast out.  I had let my mind go blank and just cast.  I realized that before I was thinking about how my cast looked to my friend/guide Scott (an experienced fly-fisherman).  I was thinking about how far I wanted to get the fly out.  I was very self-conscious about what I was doing.  As soon as I stopped being self-conscious and focused on the movement, the sound of the water, the sound of the line whizzing back and forth past my head, I got it.

This feeling was not at all unlike the  first time I cast a good line through a set of chord changes or improvised something meaningful.  Those things happen in moments when I am not concerned with how what I am playing sounds to other people or to myself.  Being present and letting go of self-consciousness is the key to good improvisation.  Just like casting.  Having that focus all the time takes discipline. I will to try visualize my fly-cast as a way to clear and focus my mind when I am playing music.  Using the casting metaphor as a device to discipline myself in my music.

I caught a 5″ bullhead (saltwater variety, not a catfish) by the way.  And you know what?  It was one of the best fish I have ever caught.

I am curious to know if any of you had this kind of experience.  Have 2 seemingly disparate things combined in your life; one enhancing the other?

Performing with Zubatto Syndicate at Sounds Outside 2010

Well, you probably do.  Not only do you know what it is, but I am positive you have a very heartfelt and serious idea about what modern  Jazz is and the direction it is heading.  I have noticed a bunch of postings in the blogoshere (names are withheld for my protection) that declaim the authors’ definitive views on this subject.  And if the author can’t exactly put their finger on what jazz is, they can certainly tell you what Jazz isn’t.  This is all fine and I do not dispute anybody’s claims.  What I want to know is, who actually has the right to define what Jazz is for anybody else?  Why is one definition more “correct” then another?  Why the divisiveness? I like Jazz mainly for the fact that their are so many different types, ideas, notions, forms of this great American (and now the World’s) art form.  The way I see it Jazz is like ice cream.  There are a lot of different flavors of ice cream.  We all have our preferences. But, it is all ice cream. When you get down to brass tacks, all ice cream is pretty delicious.  But unlike ice cream, Jazz should not be frozen into a static state.  Let it melt and flow and evolve and spread all its deliciousness.

Recently, I premiered a new piece for violin, trumpet, bass clarinet and piano at the Seattle Pianist Collective’s: Fine Pop concert. My preparations for it made me confront one of the reasons I started this blog.  Does serious music have a responsibility to entertain?  As I set out to write the piece I told myself that I would balance my desire to write a progressive piece with something that could be more or less accessible.  I wanted to write a serious piece of music that entertained.  So, I says to myself, what makes a piece of music accessible and entertaining? I distilled  it down to 3 main reasons:  Melody, Form/Mood, and Repetition.  Melody: the more more vocal and of distinct rhythm, the more we are apt to be engaged by it.  Form/Mood: I put these together because I feel they are very related.  Form takes us on a journey, paints a picture, makes us experience the passage of time in a new or different way.  In music we experience form in many ways.  Through melody and it’s development, rhythm and it’s development, though texture change, through orchestration manipulation, etc, and all of the above.  In a great piece I feel that most of us feel the form as evolution of emotion.  How a mood is introduced and developed and how it is used to make us feel a story like in a movie or a play. Debussy’s Claire de Lune, Pink Floyd’s Shine On You Crazy Diamond, and Charles Mingus’ Moanin’ are some examples.  Repetition:  as simple a concept as any good pop tune…  You gotta hear that hook a few times.

With these things in mind I came up with a piece that has a strong simple melody, pop-like supporting riffs and a couple subtle references to punk rock and hip-hop duo Luniz.  But there are some twists and turns.  Sometimes a few disparate simple things come together to make a weirder sounding whole. Sometimes two different harmonies clash. Check it out.  This is one of my first conscious attempt at “serious” music being entertaining.

Chimpromtu

By M. Owcharuk.  Performed by Paris Hurley-violin, Samantha Boshnack-trumpet, Beth Fleenor-bass clarinet, Michael Owcharuk-piano.

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We performed it at the Chapel Performance Space on 6/18/10.  On the Seattle Pianist Collective bill was Peter Stevens performing his own music, Kelly Wyse performing the work of local composers Hanna Benn and Jeff Aaron Bryant, Stephen Fandrich performing his own work, and yours truly performing Chimpromptu (kudos to Sam Boshnack for that title) and a solo piano piece called Kimberly’s Waltz, which you can hear at the music page of this site.  The night of the concert, first order of business was to breach the 4th wall. Performers connected to the audience from the stage. Peter spoke about his pieces and their development.  This was parlayed in a very easy-going, personable manner.   Stephen relayed some really charming anecdotes about his pieces. I spoke about how Sam Boshnack stumbled upon the title of my piece (originally named Impromptu).  Finally, we four pianists closed with Four Play, an intentionally humorous piece composed by Roger Nelson.  Basically it is 4 pianists fighting for position on 1 piano. A comedy that presented some interesting technical challenges. Very cute.

What this whole experience showed me is that serious art can be entertaining.  If not a particular piece of music on the program, the presentation of the concert can give an overall sense of entertainment. Anecdotes, contextualizing the music, and the mood created by the performers’ stage presence, all have a huge impact on the entertainment value.  Even when more esoteric music is being presented.  Now, does serious music have a responsibility to entertain?  Well, I don’t think I can judge what art can and cannot do.  But I do think the serious music seriously benefits from being framed in an entertaining way. Either implicitly (as in a whole concert program) or explicitly (as in Roger Nelson’s piece)   It is safe to say that the most entertaining things somehow appeal to our intellect.  The most hysterical comedy is usually the most intellectually engaging (and drawn from reality). Taking serious musical concepts that might not be readily digestible and presenting them in an inviting way will greatly contribute to the piece’s success. At the very least, the audience will be far more likely to give it the attention it deserves.  From that point there is only better and better kinds of reception. Everybody wins.

There are so many reasons we find things entertaining.  That is a huge topic in an of itself.  For me it really boils down to an ineffable humanity. Serious art can present bold, progressive, alien, disturbing, challenging, and /or controversial ideas and concepts.  The successful ones have that thing that makes you say: “I relate to that and it makes me think about x,y,or z a different way.” I think all forms of entertainment share that basic quality.

Djelem, Djelem

A Romany anthem Beth turned me on to.  This is a rehearsal in preparation to busk and the OWCHARUK 5 will be performing this song soon.

After the devastation suffered by the Roma during the Porajmos (systematic massacare by the Nazi forces), Jarko Jovanović composed the words and set them to a traditional melody.

Performed by Beth Fleenor-voice and clarinet and Michael Owcharuk-accordion.

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Translation:

I went, I went on long roads
I met happy Roma
O Roma where do you come from,
With tents on happy roads?

O Roma, O brothers

I once had a great family,
The Black Legions murdered them
Come with me Roma from all the world
For the Roma roads have opened
Now is the time, rise up Roma now,
We will rise high if we act

O Roma, O brothers

On May 15 Jack Straw Productions is presenting a complete performance of Erik Satie’s Vexations. Vexations is an enigmatic solo piano work with vague intentions.  Here is the composer’s note at the beginning of the piece:

““Pour se jouer 840 fois de suite ce motif, il sera bon de se préparer au préalable, et dans le plus grand silence, par des immobilités sérieuses.”
“In order to play the theme 840 times in succession, it would be advisable to prepare oneself beforehand, and in the deepest silence, by serious immobilities.”

You read that correctly — the piece is to be played 840 times in succession.  Thankfully, I do not have to do it by myself.  Jack Straw contacted a cast of some of Seattle’s finest pianists including: Dawn Clement, Karin Kajita, Kelly Wyse, Wayne Horvitz, Robin Holcomb, Roger Nelson, Amy Rubin, Julie Ives, Gust Burns and others, to each take a half hour shift starting at 4pm, May 15th and ending some 18 – 24 hours later.  According to Jack Straw this is the first time Vexations is being performed in Seattle.  It will be broadcast live by Hollow Earth Radio at www.hollowearthradio.org.  My shift will be 8:30-9pm on May 15th. This is a free event, although a donation would be appreciated.  All proceeds go to support Jack Staw’s Youth Arts programs.

So now, why do this seemingly masochistic performance?  This has vexed me for a while and the answer I come up with is twofold.  One, because it is there. Two, why not? I think that when art is concerned, these are often the only justifications needed. In doing some research on the piece, it seems to me that Satie was intentionally unclear to the meaning/intention of the piece.  Wikipedia (our all-knowing alter of passive study) suggests: “There is no indication that Satie intended Vexations for public performance (and certainly not as a “tour de force” of endurance to impress – or bore to death – a public) – the introductory text he wrote, as quoted above, rather indicating it was intended as a one-person experience (e.g. as a restrained way to work off anger, or, in order to get one’s ears tuned to an unconventional harmonic system and meter). Satie made no effort to get either Vexations published during his life, scarcely, or not at all, communicating about their existence.” There you go.  Make of that what you will.

Here is my initial read through of the piece and a PDF of the sheet music ( I apologize for the hiss in the recording.  This was done very quickly in my living room.):

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Vexations PDF

My academic take on it (MUSIC NERD ALERT): Structure: an omni-present theme in the bass that is played alone then with either an A or B section. Repeat 840 times. The B section’s right hand part is just an inversion of the A sections right hand part. (fellow nerds: take a look at the sheet music you will see what I am talking about). This piece is very hard to read.  A lot of enharmonic spellings that play tricks on you ( in layman’s terms: Satie notates the same thing in different ways to make it more challenging to read). There is no indication of time signature, dynamics, phrases, or emotional quality.  Just a tempo indication of very slow.  The right hand plays a succession of parallel tri-tones, whilst the left hand plays a theme based on a C half-diminished scale with 3 added notes (not quite a 12 tone row).   The only consonant interval in the right hand part is the second chord which is a major 3rd. Actually in context, this usually super consonant interval sticks out like a sore thumb to my ears.  What is most fascinating to me is the intervalic/harmonic relationship between the left and right hand parts.  Consistently, the interval between the bass part and the lowest note of the treble part is a third or some version thereof (i.e. a sixth or a tenth of some sort).  Purely consonant.

My personal take.  This piece drives me bat-shit crazy.  Co-incidence or not, I will sit down to practice Vexations and inadvertently the phone rings, the cat want attention, someone knocks on the door, something happens to interrupt.  I can deal with that, but then the piece itself messes with you. This very tightly controlled, limited pallet exposes every single imperfection in my quality/consistency of tone and volume, metric deviations (even though there is no meter, sometimes the time I play feels off for the piece and I can’t seem to get it where it should be). Something so deceptively simple is a test of control and will power more than musical chops. And I am not even going to get into the weird shit passing through my mind as I practice the piece. That is more appropriate for personal conversations over cocktails.   My wife made a very good observation about the piece as I was expressing my vexations with Vexations. Maybe it is a meditation device.  A rote activity one’s body performs in order to let thoughts pass though one’s mind without rumination to achieve stillness.  All in all, I have a lot of respect for Erik Satie. If nothing else, he figured out how to truly fuck with people from beyond the grave.

Well here we are.  Thanks for taking the time for reading my first foray into the blogosphere.  My intention of this blog is pretty much exactly what the title says.  It is the State of the Art.  My art and the art I experience around me. What this entails is musings on art and process, sketches of work in progress, reviews of shows/exhibits (not in a snooty way, mainly I just want to talk about what inspires/impacts me), commentary, dialogue, chronicling…  All the miscellany of being a working artist.

Being a musician is an unusual profession.   The continual search for work, the interactions with many people who have varying perceptions and notions of what you do, talking about yourself in the 3rd person for press materials, the drunk uncles at weddings (God bless you.  You are a well-spring of entertainment).  I get to meet all sorts of people, play in all sorts of random, fancy, scenic, cool, scary, dive-y, and weird places (Once, I had to play a piano that was put on top of a huge table and surrounded by a buffet. In a Santa suit.).  So I can have some pretty entertaining stories.   And yes it can be done. You can make a living as a musician.

On a more serious note: I wrestle with what it means to be a composer in our post-modern era.  As I understand it, post-modern thought says that there are no more original ideas.  Today’s creative ideas are just re-interpretations, re-combination of what came before.  Is this true? Is musical exploration still possible (not one’s own personal exploration of music, but exploration of new musical horizons in a movement sense, i.e. Baroque to Classical to Romantic, etc)?  If it is possible, is it my responsibility to search for the proverbial “lost chord?”  Is it a composition when I put a group of incredible musicians in a room and tell them to improvise a certain thing?  Where is the trend  of musical hybridization heading (this is a big one for me, because it is a lot of what I do)? Does “serious” music have a responsibility to entertain? There are many answers to all these questions and the answers will certainly raise more questions.

Also no blog can be complete without segments and guest bloggers.   My first recurring segment will be Metal Guy Jazz Reviews. Every week or so my friend Metal Guy will review a jazz record.  Metal Guy is a black metal guitar player in Hammerfest, Norway.  I met him about  11 years ago at a Dimmu Borgir concert near Nuremburg, Germany. We have kept a correspondence over the years. He sends me the latest European Death Metal and I send him the jazz. Metal Guy is quite an astute listener, prolific writer, the voice of his generation, and has some very keen observations of the great American art form.  Stay tuned.

So please leave a comment, suggest a topic, provoke philosophical arguments, and send me dirty jokes. Let’s dish!  If I can make you think or piss you off, I have done my job.  Please do the same for me.  And for the record, I believe Comedy and Satire to be some of the highest forms of communication.  Keep that in mind and this will go swimmingly.  Thanks for reading!

- Michael Owcharuk