Transcript Joan Tower Style and Performance Considerations in Three Works

Joan Tower
Style and Performance Considerations in Three Works Involving Flute by
Joan Tower: Snow Dreams, Valentine Trills, and A Little Gift.
Dr. Tammy Evans Yonce
[email protected]
41st Annual National Flute Association Convention
Sunday, August 11, 2013
New Orleans, LA
Joan Tower
• Who is Joan Tower?
Joan Tower
• Contemporary American composer
• Born 1938
• Considerable body of works, Grammy award
winner, many commissions
• Influenced by music of Bolivia and Peru.
Early Style
• Began as a serial composer
– This was taught in academia and “everyone was
doing it.”
– She felt insecure as a composer.
– Accidentally became a composer. Originally was a
pianist.
– First experiment with composition as an
undergrad. Later – MM/DMA at Columbia.
Specific Use of Serialism
• “Precompositional maps.”
• She created these to help her make musical
decisions.
• Included pitches and sometimes other
elements of the work.
• She could then spend more time thinking
about other elements of the work.
Stylistic Changes
• 1975
• As she developed her skills and became less
insecure, she moved away from serialism.
• New style – “organic.”
– “Less dissonant, more colorful, slightly
impressionistic. Strong directional motion and
balancing of gestures” – Nancy Bonds
Transitional Work
• 1975 – Breakfast Rhythms I and II
• Movement I – serial
• Movement II – (some time later) – “organic”
Mature Style
• Independent style. Difficult to label.
• Gives us the sense that it is building in
intensity, static, or receding in intensity.
• She also uses certain gestures or
compositional practices consistently, which
give insight into her style as well as affect the
intensity.
Snow Dreams (1983)
• Flute and guitar
• 9 minutes
• “There are many different images of snow, its
forms and movements: light snow flakes, pockets
of swirls of snow, rounded drifts, long white
plains of blankets of snow, light and heavy
snowfalls, etc. Many of these images can be
found in the piece, if in fact, they need to be
found at all. The listener will determine that
choice.” – Joan Tower
Issues
• 1 – Articulation of form based on patterns of
musical contrast
• 2 – Development of a “fate” motive
reminiscent of Beethoven
• 3 – Patterns of density change
Density
• “Density may be seen as the quantitative
aspect of texture – the number of concurrent
events (the thickness of the fabric) as well as
the degree of “compression” of events within
a given intervallic space.”
- Wallace Berry, Structural Functions in Music
Valentine Trills (1996)
• Solo flute
• Very short – 1.5 minutes.
Program Notes
• Written for Carol Wincenc, who says:
“Valentine Trills is one of the most effective solo
pieces I play. Audiences are awed by the
continuous trilling, turning, spinning, and
seemingly breathless quality in the piece – all
which builds to a thrilling climax. Keep the pace
“on the edge” right up to the last few trilling
statements. The articulation needs to be
brilliantly clear, and all the dynamic changes
exaggerated from the surging fff to the hushed
ppp at the end.”
Issues
• 1 – The use of trills to shape form
• 2 – Motivic development
• 3 – Density changes
Trills
• Used to emphasize pitches, produce
momentum, sustain pitches, add color.
• It is significant when NO trill is used.
Motivic Development
• In this work, the triplet is used as a referential
rhythm.
• We can see it used and then manipulated
throughout the work.
Density
• A couple of perspectives:
– # of notes within a given space: relatively dense.
Density increases in the middle of the work,
creating an arch form.
– # of concurrent events changes at the end – two
different voices! Polyphonic style.
– This prepares a high-energy conclusion.
A Little Gift (2008)
• Flute and clarinet
• 2.5 minutes
• Free, creative response to “My Funny
Valentine”
Issues
• 1 – Patterns of change in textural density.
• 2 – Large-scale sectional contrast in note
durations.
• 3 – Metric change
Density
• Increased levels of textural diversity seek
release in simplicity.
• Beginning and end are similar. Middle is more
diverse and complex.
Note Lengths
•
•
•
•
This aspect creates intensity and form.
Slow-moving notes at the beginning and end.
Faster-moving notes in the middle.
This creates an arch form.
Metrical Change
• Very fast metric rhythm.
• Meter shifts occur consistently throughout the
work, and the rate of change increases as the
piece intensifies.
• Result – pattern of strong and weak beats is
constantly in flux.
Conclusions
• Joan Tower has produced a significant body of
work that deserves more attention than it
receives.
• Certain elements can be traced throughout
multiple works, showing a mature,
independent style.
• Music builds intensity, is static, or recedes in
intensity.
Conclusions, 2.
• Recognizing stylistic elements helps us, as
performers, give more informed, convincing
performances.