Part lecture, part rehearsal, and part performance, this fascinating program provides a window into a system for the creation of improvised music by an ensemble or band, that its designer, Lawrence "Butch" Morris, calls conduction. In his words conduction is: "A vocabulary of ideographic signs and gestures activated to modify or construct a real time musical arrangement of any notation or composition. Each sign and gesture transmits generative information and provides instantaneous possibilities for altering or initiating harmony, melody, rhythm, articulation, phrasing, or form." In practice it means Morris, a very accomplished cornet player and jazz musician in his own right, teaching a group of talented musicians to respond to a series of hand gestures that indicate changes in pitch, duration, dynamics, and other basic musical parameters, while always leaving the decision of what to play up to the individual instrumentalists. The result is an ensemble that makes music rather than simply reproducing it from a notated score. Morris has developed this technique over the span of more than 20 years, starting with a performance at KPFA studios, and continuing with many different ensembles for short periods of time. The key has always been to successfully gain the musicians trust without ever allowing them or himself to get into a rut. For this program he has gathered a group of eight string players who demonstrate both the difficulties in learning the technique from the occasionally stern taskmaster, as well as the spontaneous beauty that can arise from such a system of semi-improvisation. It is one thing to hear Morris talk about his system, or to go to a performance of his work, but to actually have the opportunity to see him teach his technique to an ensemble and to see them learn to interpret his symbols, and then produce elegant works of music is a rare pleasure and will be of great interest to anyone interested in conduction and improvisation. |
