The tenth Black House Composers’ Workshop is now complete and I have to say that this has been an incredibly fulfilling experience. The collaboration with the Gamelan ensemble was as fun as it was intimidating. My thanks go out to all the members of Gamelan Genta Kasturi for being so accommodating and tolerant of our awkward attempts to write for them. I also want to thank Angelica Sandoval for creating the lighted canopy for us and Justin Hundley and Trina Warren for sharing their dance talents with us. Lastly, my congratulations go out to all the members of the collective for all their hard work.
Suling/Vocal Stroll-Patrick Alonzo Conway
Magic Solutions-Hunter Long
How You Wike Me Now Hans Bwix-Chris Robinson
Masked Dance-Patrick Alonzo Conway
I awoke this morning victorious-Hunter Long
Richie Tennenbaum-Mary Huntimer
The 10,000 Things-Russell Thorpe
Colon Right Parenthesis-Teri Ann Quinn
I got to the space couple of hours before the show to eat dinner and set up. Angelica was putting the final touches on the lighted canopy which looked great but was a bit unstable. So she was making adjustments to secure them. They looked right but we were both a bit uneasy since we weren’t able to test them with the lights off and the band set up beforehand. I was able to go for a quick beer run and check out a few minutes of the Frontier’s Inside Job at the Paragraph Gallery before the band started arriving. Unfortunately carrying two boxes of beer got me started sweating and this did not stop until I went home after the show. For those of you who came to the show, the building turns off the AC at 6:00pm or 7:00pm and that’s why the room only appeared to get hotter as the night went on. The turnout for the performance was fantastic and was as much, if not more, than our performance at the La Esquina gallery last summer.
We began the show with Pat Conways’s Suling/Vocal Strollwhich requires that both ensembles start in the elevator lobby and then walk separately to the “stage” area where we join together and perform on our instruments. It’s always fun when composers require that instrumentalists sing. The band was a great sport about singing and didn’t require a ton of prompting to get everyone to sing loud. But I did notice that people were reluctant to make eye contact while singing.
Next we performed my piece for combined ensembles Magic Solutions which is without a doubt the “trippiest” tune I’ve ever written. The piece went over well with the crowd but I personally don’t feel like it represents a direction that I want to go in compositionally. Next was Chris Robinson’s How You Wike Me Now Hans Bwix? which gave Chris Hazelton, Ryan Thielman, and Rusell Thorpe a chance to solo. I feel like this piece is a big step forward for Chris.
At this point we began the individual ensemble pieces beginning with the gamelan performing Pat Conway’s Masked Dance. This piece featured an improvised dance by Justin Hundley. I especially enjoyed the suling section about four minutes in. After this was the Black House feature I awoke this morning victorious written by myself. This piece reflects my recent study of John Hollenbeck’s large ensemble work and my attempt to take advantage of having such a great low brass section. I also couldn’t resist writing myself a solo since I didn’t play on half of the pieces this workshop.
We got back to the combined ensembles with Mary Huntimer’s piece Richie Tennenbaum. Ryan Thielman, Eric Chapman, Chris Hazelton, and Chris Robinson took my favorite round of solos on this piece. The penultimate piece was Russell Thorpe’s 10,000 Things and featured dance choreographed by Trina Warren. This piece produced the most anxiety this workshop with its difficult time signature and dense, interlocking parts. While frustrating at times this is the ambitious find of work I want to be doing in our workshops. Batting clean-up was Teri Quinn’s Colon Right Parenthesis. This piece was one of my favorites this workshop. I feel like it incorporated the gamelan in a really smart way and featured the Napoleon Dynamite organ sound.
Next for Black House will be the first performance of Black House Blue Label in Kansas City proper. We’ll be at the RecordBar on June 17th as part of Jeff Harshbarger’s alternative jazz series. Then in August Black House will be taking over the La Esquina art gallery on August 3rd in a collaboration with artist Jeff Tackett.
Your blog is great, and I love this post. I think I can find more useful information here. Thanks and keep it up!
Posted by: nike heels | 06/11/2012 at 10:46 PM