“Through closed doors” score published

I’m happy to announce that the paper score for my violin duo Through Closed Doors, notated on an antique door, is now available for purchase from my publisher Oxingale Music. The work was commissioned and premiered by Ilana Waniuk and Suhashini Arulanandam in the winter of 2014. The duo was inspired by an antique door which had been attacked by a teenager girl in a fit of passion, resulting in a jagged hole. I structured the piece around the door’s different panels, creating a kind of choreography for the two performers who move around the door as they play. The notation drew on medieval illuminated manuscripts and incorporates dynamics, accents and bow pressure right into the staff lines for a more intuitive performance. Since the door is rather large and expensive to transport (though it does have a travel case if anyone is interested in renting it), I also made a paper score, which is now available for purchase here.

The premiere of the work from a draft paper score drawn with pencil happened in February 2014, right during the most difficult days of the Maidan protests in Ukraine, which ousted the pro-russian president Yanukovych, a corrupt criminal who was trying to bring Ukraine back into russia’s sphere of influence. I watched livestreams of tires burning in the centre of Kyiv, the people fearlessly resisting a regime rapidly growing increasingly oppressive, as we rehearsed the work. I cannot think of this piece separately from these protests, especially now, knowing the chain of events that eventually forced Ukraine to defend itself yet again against russia’s imperialist aggression.

Interview on SoundLab

Paul Steenhuissen recently interviewed me for his podcast series SoundLab. The interview was commissioned by Toronto’s New Music Concerts in preparation for the Ukrainian-Canadian Connection concert happening on April 4th, which will feature the premiere of my piece Weeping. Paul asked some very probing and difficult questions, which forced me to define my compositional practice and goals.

We discussed my work with Ukrainian folk music, focusing specifically on Weeping and the grieving songs which inspired and shaped it, as well as an earlier piece Bridal Train, which was commissioned by the Thin Edge New Music Collective. We also talked about my explorations of childhood, Carl Jung’s archetypes and the cello in the piece The Child, Bringer of Light premiered by Paul Dwyer at Carnegie Hall. Finally, we discussed my work with graphic notation and unusual materials in the piece Through Closed Doors, also commissioned by Thin Edge.

In addition to recordings of my music, the podcast includes archival as well as my own recordings of Ukrainian folks music, and a bit of my singing. You can listen to the podcast online or download it here.

“Through closed doors” video

At the end of September, Thin Edge New Music Collective performed Through closed doors at the Array Space in Toronto. Ilana Waniuk and Suhashini Arulanandam did a fantastic job. Here’s the video I put together using footage by A.J. Gray and audio recordings by John. S. Gray, as well as some great photos by Terry Lim.

The door score

The door score

Ontario Concerts

Just a quick heads up about two upcoming events in Ontario featuring Through closed doors performed from its antique wooded door score. The program, performed brilliantly by Thin Edge New Music Collective, will also feature fantastic works by Ana Sokolovic, Anna Hostman and Brian Harman. If you know me and would like to come to the Toronto fundraiser, get in touch with me please.

September 20, 2014, 8:00 pm (Waterloo, ON, Canada)
The Button Factory (Waterloo Community Arts Theatre), 25 Regina St. Tickets available here.

September 21, 2014 (Toronto, ON, Canada)
A private fundraiser in Rosedale. Entrance by invitation.

I will be selling high-quality copies of four of the pages from the paper manuscript of Through closed doors. They are printed on nice 12×15″ watercolour paper and will be available for $40 each (or $140 for the set of four). I also have 5×7″ postcards for $5 each (just the first two pages). Bring cash or cheques!

Through closed doors, page 1Through closed doors, page 2Through closed doors, page 3Through closed doors, page 4

 

The door’s reincarnation

As soon as the last coat of varnish was dry, the door score was picked up by the shipper this morning. Less than 24 hours ago I was still painting the last letters. Here are some photos of the door’s journey from a bathroom of a very old house in Vancouver to its new incarnation as a musical score. I am very happy to have given this broken piece of history destined for the landfill a new lease on life.

The door in its original condition.

The door in its original condition

The door was stripped of paint using a heat gun and some heavy duty chemicals. 

Stripping the door

When most of the paint and old varnish was scrubbed off, the beautiful old growth wood was sanded to silky smoothness. I then laid out and transferred the bits of manuscript onto the surface using oil-based paint pens.

Transferring the manuscript onto the door

And here’s the door just before shipping.

Through closed doors, the door manuscript

This door manuscript will be premiered by the Thin Edge New Music Collective in Waterloo on Sept. 20. Details to come soon.

 

Playing with curves

As I finish up the ‘B side’ of the massive door score for Through closed doors, I get to experiment with curving staves. This is something I didn’t get to do on the paper manuscript.

As soon as the paint dries, this score will be shipped off to Ontario for two events. You can see violinists Ilana Waniuk and Suhashini Arulanandam perform the door in Waterloo on September 20th. More info soon.

Door score excerpt

Door score excerpt

The door

As my departure from Vancouver draws nigh, I am feverishly working to complete the final objects involved in the semi-theatrical piece Through closed doors for the Thin Edge New Music Collective. I don’t think I’ve ever had to use so many different skills in any of my creative projects. There has even been carpentry involved (my ‘day’ job coming in handy). The only thing I haven’t done here is fiber arts.

The final ‘score’ for the piece is an antique door, which the violinists will circle in pursuit of each other. The piece was inspired by it and built around it. You can see some pages of the hand-inked manuscript I made first by scrolling down to some earlier posts.

Here’s the door all ready for engraving with the manuscript laid out below it. 

The door ready for engraving
My original plan was to burn the notes into the wood with a wood burning pen. It seemed like a good idea until the metal nibs started bending from the heat of the tool they were made for (talk about quality!). Moreover, the wood the door is made from has widely varying density and is not that suitable for pyrography (things got rather bumpy).

After an episode of some first rate artistic misery, panic and hair-pulling (“Oh my god, this whole project is a disaster!!!! Who the hell did I think I was trying to pull something like this????), I discovered the Sharpie oil-based paint pens. Life is looking up.

Some music on the door

Violin duo illuminated

Now that the violin duo Through closed doors has been premiered and the music tested for errors, I have started making the final score. Drawing inspiration from medieval illuminated manuscripts, I am creating a two-colour score with large rehearsal letters built right into the wavering staves.

The first page from “Through closed doors”

Violin duo illuminated, first page

I have estimated that the whole score (title page and notes included) will take up about 16 pages, so this should occupy me for the next month or so.

This work was commissioned and premiered by the Thin Edge New Music Collective.

 

Super concert with Thin Edge

I just want to say that I am thrilled with how the Thin Edge concert went last Friday. Gallery 345 is a beautiful space with great acoustics. The new violin duo, Through closed doors, looked great in there and Ilana and Suhashini sounded FANTASTIC! I couldn’t be happier with the piece at this stage in the process.

"Through closed doors" premiere

Photo by Terry Lim. Performers: Ilana Waniuk and Suhashini Arulanandam. 

I am happy to say that the notation seems to be working exactly as planned. I feel so lucky to work with such adventurous and dedicated musicians. Now I’m waiting for the recording (and taking a little breather) before making some revisions and starting on the next stages: making the final layout of the score and engraving the door (if this sentence is confusing, look down at the last two posts).

I am also extremely happy to have met the cellist Dobrochna Zubek, who performed The Child, Bringer of Light. It was great working with her to prepare the piece. She approached it with thoughtfulness, sensitivity and a strong desire to make it her own. She is now the fourth performer to take it on and it’s fascinating to hear the transformations the piece goes through each time.

Dobrochna Zubek performing "The Child, Bringer of Light"

Photo by Terry Lim. Performer: Dobrochna Zubek. 

Speaking of The Child  and its transformations, the piece will be performed at the end of March by Claire Poillion in a brand new arrangement for viola. I am very curious to see how the piece will transfer to this instrument. The performance will be my Uruguayan debut (check the Events page for details).

New Year = New Notation

As discussed earlier, I am working on a piece for two violins built around an antique wooden door. Since this piece is already in an unusual form, I thought I would make it even more complicated by trying out some new notational techniques. I have completely done away with dynamic markings and bow pressure indications. Instead, I am using the staff lines themselves to shape the musical line. As much as possible, I am also trying to incorporate accents into this more visual system.

Through closed doors-1

I think the result is very intuitive. The dynamics are completely relative and bow pressure is not an ugly black wedge above the staff. I am hoping this approach will eliminate the arguments about the difference between mp and mf, and give the performers an opportunity to react to the page in a more emotional and intuitive way. It also makes the staff look like wood patterns, which makes me happy.

Through closed doors-2

I think this sort of notation would only really work with certain types of material. What I’m writing is fairly simple in terms of melody and rhythm, and the music doesn’t move up and down the staff very much. In fact, much of it happens below it or above it. So far, Ilana and Suhashini are not reporting any problems with legibility, but I think it would become an issue if I was writing anything much more complex. If the spacing between lines changes too much, I think it would be difficult to maintain any sort of reference point.

Through closed doors-3

Since I will be engraving the score onto a wooden door, this project must involve several stages. I would like to really test out the music before committing it for eternity to such a solid medium. The musical portion of this semi-theatrical work will be premiered by the wonderful Thin Edge New Music Collective in Toronto on February 21. The door itself will follow at a later date. I will also be making a colour paper score using some fancy markers and calligraphy pens (see my past hand-scoring work here).

Through closed doors-4