Author: Jay Vosk

Wednesday:
Today my session started with a return to the ‘ Horn Quintet’. I still need to come up with an appropriate title for this work. Maybe something in regards to how the heat of a desert summer seems to envelop you, or something to that affect.
I wrote the work about a year ago but it was one of those pieces I wasn’t quite sure of. I finally got around to sending it to a hornist friend who thought the piece was ‘cool’ and to send her the parts. Upon reviewing the piece I thought things needed some revising. There was an effective, smooth-flowing section in the strings toward the end that seemed to end too soon. So I decided to write an extension to that part . At the end of my time with the piece today, I sensed it was nearing the transition to the final section, of the piece...’

Next I worked on the trumpet- marimba piece.It’s my intention to keep the piece moderately ‘abstract; enough to come across as ‘modern’. Will this work appeal to trumpeters and marimba players? I really don’t know. The piece,I think, starts out effectively with the gentle purr of the marimba. I sense the piece is losing its ‘challenging ‘ aspects and falling into a rut. I’ll ‘sleep on it’ and see what happens tomorrow.
My daily session concluded with some time devoted to the sax choir piece.

Thursday:
It seems as if I’ve finished the horn quintet. I’m thinking of calling it ‘Passing Ships’. In a nutshell It’s about watching the ships go by on Puget Sound although it is actually more personal than that.I know this is an about face regarding the heat in the desert idea. Music is an ‘abstract’ art ,and I’ve learned long ago that interpreting music verbally is very allusive. In any event, I brought the smooth- flowing section to its conclusion and did a sudden pivot to the final da capo . Prior to this revision, the da capo began with just solo horn but I chose to add slow string glissandi as in the beginning. It seemed to me an effective move that gave the section more heft. From that point on there was no need to make more changes.

I revisited the trumpet marimba piece. A form for the work seems to be beginning to take shape; slow- fast perhaps? A change of pace in the marimba with a return to a written retard of repeated notes.

The sax choir work I spoke of previously is one in a series of ‘choir’ works for different families of instruments. So far I’ve written pieces in this genre for flute choir, clarinet choir and trombone choir. So far the only luck I’ve had is with the flute choir piece that is to be performed this fall by a group in Washington D.C. The sax choir piece is the most ‘choral’ of the works. It features gentle conjunctive movement peppered with fleeting dissonances.

Finally, there is a solo tuba piece that I hope to get back to in the next day or so. Here I’m using ‘measureless’ notation which seems to be freeing me up to take more chances. And, as things go, the piece seems to be taking some interesting twists and turns. As with the trumpet marimba piece, the form wasn’t predetermined but seems to just fall into place as the piece progresses. I see the form of the tuba piece so far as: ABAB maybe a conclusive C.

(Horn Quintet midi recording before revision)

As things stand, my horn quintet will be a work in three movements. So far, the piece is a little more than a third of the way done.
If Structured in terms of tempo, I foresee the entire piece looking like this:
1.slow-fast-slow, II.moderate,III. fast-slow (or slow fast)

Barring any last minute revisions, the first movement is in place.
In the opening, or more aptly termed ‘introduction’,slowly swirling chromatic configurations in the strings cluster together in a kind of ‘knot’.This serves as an accompaniment to the horn.Here the horn stands out by conveying an angular, stately line.
The fast section continues this association between the horn and strings but with driving rhythms. In the course of the movement, a series of these ‘knots’ seem to alternately cluster and loosen up.
Prior to the conclusion of the movement, is a solo horn interlude..
In the middle movement, the horn appropriates some of the chromatic configurations of the strings. The string writing here is more open and airy..

Looking ahead I foresee sizable stretches of pulsing rhythms in the strings against which are set against punctuating repeated notes in the horn.

In a few weeks, I will provide an update of the work. Here is a sample:

Within the act of composing music, there is a constant quest to discover something fresh and unique. With each step of this process there are countless decisions to be made.
This series of blogs will take you through several steps in this process.In this first installment of Clarinet Piece, I’ll run you through my process of choosing what instruments, if any I to write for to accompany the clarinet.

When one is deciding what to write for, are we talking about something traditional, like a clarinet sonata or something more 21st century like an electro acoustic work? My personal preference is to write for purely acoustic instruments. I find writing for people skilled at playing these acoustic instruments very rewarding. There is something about having the human connection to bring ones written notes to life as opposed to synthesized and computer generated sounds.

Another relatively new development, which had its origins in the 20th century, was to depart from the traditional ensemble such as the string quartet, concerto and and turn to a variety of instrumental combinations. Examples of this are most notably the Pierrot ensemble( an ensemble with the same instrumentation as Shoenberg’s Pierrot lunaire, which is comprised of flute/piccolo, clarinet/bass clarinet, violin/viola, cello and piano accompanying the voice.The Pierrot ensemble also has players double instruments. Other chamber combinations can be for like instruments such as bassoon quartets ,trombone choirs and all sorts of hybrid combinations. Nowadays, choirs of like instruments have become quite common in colleges and universities and they are cropping up all over the place in the form of amateur ensembles like flute and clarinet choirs.

Professional players or academic professors, tend to want to be be in the spotlight and so combinations that feature the clarinet are preferable. Those traditional combinations are especially suitable for the professional soloist. In striving for the highest quality of work, it would make sense that I would expect to have a professional performance of my music.
So a list of typical traditional combinations for clarinet might include: a clarinet sonata ( for clarinet and piano or unaccompanied clarinet) , a clarinet quintet ( for clarinet and string quartet), a clarinet concerto ( for clarinet and orchestra and the less traditional clarinet and band or wind ensemble).

Now we need to narrow down this list. We should immediately rule out the concerto. Unless one is lucky enough to get a sizable commission, I wouldn’t waste countless hours writing such a work. Just about every large and midsize city tends to have at least one string quartet and some universities have quartets in residence. Once again, you could secure a commission, send a piece around on spec, or you might have friends in a quartet who might need a new piece by a local composer to fill out their program. In my case, I’ll be writing a quartet for saxophone and string quartet later this year, and don’t want to press my luck.
Now we’re down to the accompanied verses the unaccompanied sonata. By now one might deduce that the less performers involved the more likely one can get a piece performed.
So should I choose the solo clarinet as my instrumentation? Not so fast. The unaccompanied work seems to be the go- to combination these days. Such a combination has been a kind of testing ground for extended techniques such as key clicks, humming and playing, multiphonics and lip glissandi. But I’m going to choose a clarinet and piano piece and here’s why: One reason is my composition history. Over the past few years I’ve written several solo piece that were performed and performed well. What I find is lacking in these sorts of works is a sense of perspective The piano offers the composer many of the things an orchestra can do so such as harmony and texture. And, one final decision; I could choose to have the clarinetist double or triple on another member or the clarinet family. But, being that this piece isn’t commissioned, I’d rather keep things tidy and stick just with just the clarinet.
So have made my first big decision; a work for clarinet and piano.
There are a bunch of other decisions to be made before I actually begin to write down any notes.
We’ll cover that in the next installment of ‘Clarinet Piece’.

The Visions of Harriot Tubman- sample – Organ
A couple of years ago,the US Postal Service decided to put the image of the famous African American , Harriot Tubman,on one of its currency denominations. I was struck by the reaction to this decision, and troubled in particular by the negative responses. I decided to read up on Ms Tubman and found her to be a remarkable woman; among other things one of the key figures of the Underground Railroad in the mid- 19th century. Ms Tubman, a deeply religious woman ,claimed that God spoke to her, urging her to lead runaway slaves to freedom.

This inspired me to compose my Visions of Harriot Tubman. In this work the music grows organically emerging into a kind of paraphrase of the African American spiritual Let my People Go.This was the tune that Harriot Tubman sang as a signal to the slaves she would lead to freedom. As the piece progresses, the music travels in phases from the hymn tune, to jazz ,to blues as so forth. The registrations and edits were by organist David Gay of Tucson, Arizona.
The Visions of Harriot Tubman was composed in 2016.

Organ Prelude 2016- 5:31 versionCommentary:
And the Idles Shall Utterly Pass Away is a tone poem based on biblical verses from the Book of
Isaiah (2:18). For me,the wonderfully varied imagery of the text lent itself to a variety of musical moods and gestures. The seemingly limitless timbrel possibilities of the organ greatly enhanced my ability to bring these images to life.
The formal structure of the music is based upon the thematic structure of the verses. Formally the work is divided into two groups each comprised of two ‘darker sections sections culminating in a third ‘majestic ‘ section of music. The unifying features of the darker sections are unsteady rhythmic figures along with angular melodies and strident harmonies. This is in contrast to the ‘majestic sections which feature more rhythmic regularity and a solid sense of tonality.
And the Idles Shall Utterly Pass Away was composed in 2010 and commissioned by David and Illona Gay
The sections of music presented with brief pauses are as follows:
1. ‘And the idols shall utterly pass…’
2. ‘And the men shall go into the caves…’ 3. ‘And from the glory of His majesty…’ 4. ‘… a man shall cast away his idols..’
5. ‘ To the moles and to the bats…’
6. ‘From before the terror of the Lord…’
And the Idles Shall Utterly Pass Away
And the idles shall utterly pass away.
And men shall go into the caves of the rocks. And into the holes of the earth,
From before the terror of the Lord,
And from the glory of His majesty,
When he arises to shake mightily the earth. In that day a man shall cast away
His idols of silver, and his idols of gold, Which they made for themselves to worship, To the moles and to the bats;
To go into the clefts of the rocks,
And into the crevices of the crags,
From before the terror of the Lord,
And from the glory of His majesty,
When He ariseth to shake mightily the earth.
Isaiah 2:18

Currently there are three works which occupy my daily composing schedule:

Little Night Creatures is a piece for soprano saxophone and vibraphone. In these whimsical episodes, I endeavor to create a handful of imagined ‘creatures’.There’s no telling who or what these creatures are; essentially it’s really up to each listeners imagination. As is the case with several of my other works, the musical materials are derived from a ‘palette’ of motivic materials. This includes interchangeable pitch and rhythmic materials. It is my hope to make Creatures both technically challenging as well as artistically rewarding for both performer and listener.

The Three Princes is an adaption of a Grimm’s fairy tale for brass quintet and narrator. Although this is one of the brother’s lesser known stories, the tale is filled with magic and adventure. From the composer’s standpoint, there are  a lot of  intriguing materials to work with including everything from encountering a swarm of bees to discovering an enchanted castle with a beautiful  princess.The Three Princes is sure to captivate listeners both young and old alike. At  the same time, the piece  promises to be a lot of fun for members of the quintet to perform!

Trio ( the working title so far)for oboe,cello and piano is the third of my current projects.The piece is being written for Sarah Fraker, Professor of Oboe at the University of Arizona. Prior to this work, Sara has performed the premieres of my Pastorals with the Paloma Wind Quintet and Lyric Passages for Oboe and string trio (violin, viola and cello) a piece which was premiered at the International Double Reed Society Conference in Tempe, Arizona.The  current trio contains some of the same features as Pastorals and Lyric  with a particular focus on the use of the ‘singing’, lyrical qualities of each instrument. What’s more,Trio is also is a bit of a departure from the other aforementioned pieces in terms of its approach to form and harmony. It is my hope that Trio will have its first performance some time in 2015.