Skimming Rock and Skipping Stones - programme notes

By -

The following are the programme notes for the string quartet to be performed at the concert.

This piece was originally conceived as a tribute to the anthem rock bands of the 1970’s and 80’s - groups like Yes, Kansas, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin. Anthem rock has hard driving beats with often intricate melodic lines and layers of sound; all features which influence much of the classical music I write. I did not intend this piece to be a pastiche of my favorite rock songs; it is rather (in a small way) my homage to the musical artistry and inventiveness of these musicians.

The string quartet has three movements. As word play, use of colloquialisms, and double entendre is common in the naming of songs and albums in the rock world, I indulged in the same practice in naming the movements.

In terms of geology, there are three types of rock: Igneous, Sedimentary and Metamorphic. Granite is an igneous type, salt is a sedimentary type and slate is a metamorphic type. I then related these types of rock to modern colloquialisms to create the titles for each movement.

    Taken for Granite is a movement with some pyrotechnics for the first Violin voicing the guitar solos and riffs of rock and roll. The use of some techniques like sul ponticello (playing on the bridge), pizzicato and harmonics simulates some the effects that can be achieved with electric instruments. Granite has a number of different colors to it and so does this movement. Created out of the fire of the earth, this piece comes out of the fire of this style of music.

    Salt of the Earth, the “slow” movement, is designed to show some of the sonorous sounds indicative of this style of music. Although it also has a fast section which allows the first Violin show off again. Many of the motifs for this movement are leaked in from the other movements and form the core to the entire piece.

    Clean Slate is a piece which returns to the hard driving sound, but with new motifs – in the end we realize these motifs are just changes from the ones presented in the first two movements. So while the music has changed, it is still rock built with layers of ideas.

Writing rock music for a quartet is not new. The Turtle Island Quartet has been doing covers and arrangements of a variety of different styles of music from jazz, fusion to rock, blues and folk since their inception in 1985. Several different groups in the US are achieving commercial success by bringing popular styles of music to the classical quartet. Skimming Rock and Skipping Stones is my foray into this genre.

Comments

Rob said…
Other quartets doing great cover versions are radio.string.quartet and Instrumental.
June 3, 2008 at 3:20 PM
Chip Michael said…
Cool... although I'd like to point out that the piece I've written is not a cover of any particular piece - but rather a new piece in the "style" of ...
June 3, 2008 at 3:51 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Role of Music in Opera

By -
There are numerous books on the topic, and every composer, librettist, director, singer and audience member has their opinion as to what role the music should play in an opera. In a play without music, the words ought to support the meaning behind a character's actions. However, in the case of action movies, often times the action is what tells the story and there aren't words, just images to forward the plot. We might hear music to accompany action, build tension, but the action tells the story. Musicals tend to speak until the emotion of the moment just "has" to break out in song - unless it's something like "Mama Mia" where the dialog is the rails we travel on between songs; the songs themselves, written before the concept of the musical, are the focus of the production, while the story is secondary. Operas are a different beast. The music provides emotion to the words spoken, but it also plays the role of ambience when there is only action. In ...
Read more

Episode 210b: Joyeuse le départ

By -
Image
Podcast:  Play in new window  |  Download Subscribe:  Apple Podcasts  |  Android  |  Google Play  |  Stitcher  |  TuneIn  |  RSS Provost Cunningham has Transmigrated, but to where! What is Dr Sage going to do with his body? And how can she bring home her friends, Abigail and Erasmus, without also bring home Cunningham? What are they going to say when they find the “skeleton” she’s hiding in her closet? Cast: Eddie Louise Clark  as Dr Sage Chip Clark  as Professor Savant Justin Bremer  as the Narrator Emily Riley Piatt  as Abigail Entwhistle, Calypso & Dean Stewart Written by  Eddie Louise Theme music by  Unwoman Sound Design by  Chip Michael
Read more

Teaching Composition – What are we trying to achieve

By -
In the process of learning composition I have spent time with a number of instructors who have encouraged me to write twelve-tone, pitch-class, electro-acoustic and other forms of experimental techniques. No matter how much I might understand and appreciate the work of other composers in the genres, these are not forms of music I resonate with. They are simply not forms of music I listen to and I struggle with the idea of writing them. However, in a Master Class by Libby Larsen she made the comment, “Learn them all, because all forms of music have something to offer.” This I very much agree. There are elements of each of the above mentioned forms (and others) that I do resonate with. Berg’s Violin Concerto is a beautiful twelve-tone work, although it is possible to look at numerous sections of the music with a “tonal” analysis. Another composer friend, Gary Bachlund commented that using these techniques can narrow the choices for how to compose a piece of work. If you look at ...
Read more