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University of Tennessee Freshman Year Seminar |
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University of Tennessee Freshman Year Seminar |
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Interpretations of Non-Idiomatic Improvised Duets - October 8, 15 & 22, 2020
As part of an exercise in active listening, the students enrolled in FYS 129 "Freely Improvised Music" created interpretations to a selection of non-idiomatic improvised duets. The idea behind the exercise was to translate the instrumental dialogue that transpired between the two musicians involved in the duet into a medium of their choice. We captured a few of these moments and share them here.  Alexa Ligons and Evelyn Spencer interpreted the track, A Departure, by Magda Mayas (clavinet) & Jim Denley (alto saxophone, bass flute) from the 2017 album, Tempe Jetz. Their interpretation took the form of a dramatic exchange between a young, British woman (Alexa) and soldier (Evelyn), called to duty in 1939. The woman pleads with her beau to abandon his duty and flee with her to a remote sanctuary. Torn between love and duty, the soldier declares that the only way the couple can live happily together is if she allows him to fulfill his oath to queen and country. He promises that he will return to her when the war is over. The whistle calls and he departs the station amidst the clatter of the train along the tracks. The British accents of both Alexa and Evelyn were impeccable!  Devon Marchand and Thomas Frank interpreted the track, The South Cliff Of The Lagoon, by Isabelle Duthoit (voice) & Franz Hautzinger (trumpet) from the 2017 album, Lily. Their interpretation began with a soliloquy by Thomas interrupted by frequent bursts of the trumpet from Devon.  As Thomas tries to express how he is feeling, Devon sets down her instrument and conveys to him in rather vehement terms that he cannot escape the suffering that is his destiny. Beset by this torrent of fatalism, Thomas is reduced to tears.  Devon and Thomas concluded the interpretation with an existential duet of their own composed of the bleats of a trumpet and residual sobs.  Jonathon Mull and Patrick Nzita interpreted the track, I Did. Did I, by Birgit Ulher (trumpet) & Leonel Kaplan (trumpet) from the 2015 album, Stereo Trumpet. They had prepared visuals for their multimedia performance. At the beginning of the performance, we receive the ambiguous instruction to "Wait for it." It is not exactly clear what we are waiting for.  Perhaps we are waiting for Jonathan to remove the trumpet from its case and begin to play. Instead, he silently scrutinizes the instrument from various angles.  As Patrick wonders with a degree of frustration where this piece is headed, he ramps up the tension by displaying increasingly disturbing images behind Jonathan.  When the music never arrives, Patrick shouts, "Jonathan, are you playing cat and mouse with me?!" We understood this interpretation as a reflection on the choice of Ulher and Kaplan to dispense with the traditional format of introduction, verse, refrain and coda, in favor of a more abstract form in which the development of the music proceeded according to a different kind of schedule, governed by forces perhaps indifferent to the outcome.  We continued the student interpretations on the following week. Emmy Sinclair and Griffin Elder translated the track, Dusk, by Ingrid Laubrock (saxophone) & Tom Rainey (drums) from the 2018 album, Utter. As shown in the photo above, their skit began with Griffin repairing a leaking sink. Emmy stands off to one side, offering some (perhaps unsolicited) advice.  As the piece progresses, the amount of water leaking from the sink increases as does the tension. Emmy's suggestions are met with an ill-tempered reply and the vehemence of the dialogue is amplified. As captured in this photo, attitudes are on full display. This conversation was meant to model the gradual change in tone of the track, as they interpreted it.  We concluded the exercise with three student interpretations on the third week. Hannah Hronec and Taylor Qualls translated the track, Pleasure and Cruelty, by Leila Bordreuil (cello) & Michael Foster (saxophone) from the 2016 album, The Caustic Ballads. Their multimedia interpretation took the form of a montage of photos and video and sound clips, which captured aspects of the music.  There may have been some hyperbole in their description. (10 hours of white noise? The track was less than three minutes long!)  Savanna Briggs and Courtney Webb translated the track, Walk within the Eye of the Storm, by Tomeka Reid (cello) & Filippo Monico (drums) from the 2019 album, The Mouser. Their clever interpretation was a combination of skit with reinforcement from background slides.  Late at night, a girl sneaks out of her parent's house...  Party time!  Sadly, the girl is busted as she wakes up her mom as she tries to sneak back in! Both cell phone and car keys are confiscated. (The realism was unsettling.)  The interpretation concluded with an existential denouement.  Last but certainly not least, Kelsey Walker, Emily Mason and Averre Neff collaborated in a translation of the track, Spiral Reflector, by Samara Lubelski (violin) & Bill Nace (guitar) from an untitled 2018 album. Kelsey kicked off the skit by reluctantly sharing her less than stellar grades from her first semester in college with her parents.  Emily played the role of the high-strung mom (Lubelski's violin), who proposed various draconian punishments. Averre played the role of the cool mom (Nace's guitar), who noted the general imperfection of the human condition and advocated a more understanding approach. Ultimately the two parents found a compromise, which they interpreted as the melodic agreement of violin and guitar, despite their first appearance of being at odds. Amazing!  All of the performances were creative examples of active listening and reflected George Lewis's words, "I feel that when people are listening to music, they can do it because of the sense of empathy that allows them to respond to the creativity of other people by feeling their own creativity. In other words, those neurons start firing and those experiences, those bodily feelings start to resonate with the creativity that's coming from outside because they've got it within them."* *George E. Lewis, interview with Lloyd Peterson, from Music and the Creative Spirit: Innovators in Jazz, Improvisation and the Avant Garde, Scarecrow Press, Lanham, MD, 2006. back to FYS 129 Main Page Contact: Instructor |