Michael Clayville

Scelsi

Last weekend, Erin Lesser, Matt Marks and I played for Art Trek Plus at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Our participation was part of Alarm Will Sound’s residency at the museum. For Art Trek we performed works for children, ages 5-12, and spoke about their relationship with visual art. The presentation also included an interactive activity: the participants improvised sounds with Matt, drew landscapes with Erin and created their own abstract works with me.

I performed Scelsi’s Tre Pezzi, not something someone would traditionally perform for that age group. I ran it by my daughter beforehand, figuring if a three year-old could handle it this group should be OK. It went over well at home and at the museum. I performed in Gallery 911 in front of two works by Burgoyne Diller, one in gray, the other in black and white and punctuated with primary colors; both using, primarily, rectangles to create form on the square canvas.

I related the simplicity in the gray scale piece to the first part of the Scelsi: the music gains its shape from the repetition of an A flat (and eventual explosion to an E flat), the painting’s form comes from repeated rectangles. I related the second part of the Scelsi to the other work by Diller. There’s still repetition in the music (this time centered around an A) but in a more dramatic fashion and with the added “color” of the mute. The relation to the Diller is not one-to-one but there are still some similarities. For the final part of the Scelsi we had the participants create their own image. Most everyone took theirs with them, though I did find this one left behind:

Like Father, Like Daughter

What I Learned at Dance Class

Dance Heginbotham and Alarm Will Sound

Last week I had the great fortune of spending much more time than normal with dancers. First with Dance Heginbotham and Alarm Will Sound at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, then with Cori Kresge and her dance class at Dickinson College. Cori invited me to improvise with her students’ motions. She teaches in the Merce Cunningham style using the technique he codified. It was exciting (I’ve never improvised in a situation like that before) and informative (it seemed like an excellent opportunity to learn something new). Here’s what I took away:

Begin simply

They began by jogging around the room and feeling the connection with the floor. That’s got to be a fundamental for dance… dealing with the floor.
It’s the same way I begin my musical day. Getting in touch with the most fundamental thing: the sound.
Seemed like a good way to begin to get the heart rate up as well.

Look the f%$k behind you

At some point during their jog Cori told them to run backwards and watch where they were going (ie. To look behind you.)
As a physical action it’s something I rarely do. Everything I deal with is in front of me, why turn around? Because it’s another perspective.
Maybe there’s some metaphorical significance to looking at the past while running away from it. 🙂

A change in position equals a change in perspective. A change of perspective can be a good thing.

This is another point that parallels music. I’m aware that what I hear from behind my instrument is different than what the audience gets from their perspective. I try my best to put myself in their position.
Cori had the class face different directions and rotate positions within the room. All of which helped create a changing dynamic.

Improvisation can be piecing together components you already know

Much of the work the class did seemed additive, they would do a series of moves that occurred in a meter and created a phrase.
The phrase could be extended by adding more movements or could be elaborated by embellishing the existing movements.
To me it was very musical: simple cells of material put together to form a phrase that could be added to or ornamented.

Do only what you’re capable of/what you’re capable of may vary from day to day

Some of the motions required rotation or bending. Students were told to not stretch themselves beyond what they were actually capable.
It takes a fair amount of awareness and honesty to pull this off. We frequently want to do the most we can but our bodies may not be up for it. It can be detrimental to “go for it.”

A corollary: don’t let friction do the work for you

A warning to not use the ground to push your feet into position but rather to use your muscles to do the work.
Trombonists can fall victim to things like this by using pressure of the mouthpiece against the embouchure

James Blake

And finally I learned about James Blake. I feel like I’m behind on this one. He’s one of those artists that as soon as I heard it I figured “I’ve got to be one of the last people to hear this guy.”
Check him out: