Songs for the Sane 3.0 (2014)
viola/voice (1 player) - 9'
I. Alphabet
II. Voices 3
III. Lunacy is...
IV. Circle
V. Voices
Commissioned by the Life/Art Dance Ensemble, Jessica Riggs, dir.
Version 3.0 of the Songs for the Sane series is comprised of: a complete re-setting of two texts that appeared in Songs for the Sane 2.0 (for viola/voice and percussion/voice), one movement preserved from the original but adapted to viola, and two new texts.
The dance portion of the work, choreographed by Jessica Riggs, features both a live solo dancer as well as an accompanying video featuring the entire Life/Art Dance Ensemble.
Regarding the original set of songs:
I began work on Songs for the Sane after being told a story by a friend of mine. She had an autistic saxophone student and in an effort to get him to play "expressively", she said "play this melody like you are sad". The student then played the melody exactly as he had before but this time removed the mouthpiece form his mouth and pretended to cry.
No amount of rubato, dynamic contrast, vibrato, etc. could be as direct and as clear in communicating sadness than the sight (and sounds) of someone crying.
I began thinking that in spite of (and because of) their condition, people with mental illnesses often see the world in a slightly clearer way than those of us who are "normal". As I read through first-hand accounts of paranoid schizophrenia I found this to be more evident than one might think. Each text in this piece is taken from one of these first-hand accounts and has some remarkable twist of perception that makes one wonder what "crazy" really means.
Regarding the settings themselves, I use a vocal language that has developed over a long period of time and is tied directly to the sounds and meanings of the text. In other words, the seemingly "crazy" sound of the recited/sung/screamed text is a non-traditional way of musically emphasizing certain words or ideas.
I. Alphabet
II. Voices 3
III. Lunacy is...
IV. Circle
V. Voices
Commissioned by the Life/Art Dance Ensemble, Jessica Riggs, dir.
Version 3.0 of the Songs for the Sane series is comprised of: a complete re-setting of two texts that appeared in Songs for the Sane 2.0 (for viola/voice and percussion/voice), one movement preserved from the original but adapted to viola, and two new texts.
The dance portion of the work, choreographed by Jessica Riggs, features both a live solo dancer as well as an accompanying video featuring the entire Life/Art Dance Ensemble.
Regarding the original set of songs:
I began work on Songs for the Sane after being told a story by a friend of mine. She had an autistic saxophone student and in an effort to get him to play "expressively", she said "play this melody like you are sad". The student then played the melody exactly as he had before but this time removed the mouthpiece form his mouth and pretended to cry.
No amount of rubato, dynamic contrast, vibrato, etc. could be as direct and as clear in communicating sadness than the sight (and sounds) of someone crying.
I began thinking that in spite of (and because of) their condition, people with mental illnesses often see the world in a slightly clearer way than those of us who are "normal". As I read through first-hand accounts of paranoid schizophrenia I found this to be more evident than one might think. Each text in this piece is taken from one of these first-hand accounts and has some remarkable twist of perception that makes one wonder what "crazy" really means.
Regarding the settings themselves, I use a vocal language that has developed over a long period of time and is tied directly to the sounds and meanings of the text. In other words, the seemingly "crazy" sound of the recited/sung/screamed text is a non-traditional way of musically emphasizing certain words or ideas.
