Improvisation and the Music of Michael Daughtery
By Glen A. Tuomaala
He
sits at a set of dual flat-screen monitors working on a new commission for the
Philadelphia Orchestra. Sticky notes
show a number of different titles with “Philadelphia Stories” circled as the
title du jour for now. The work is set
to premier on November 17th, 2001 with David Zinman conducting.
Surrounding
him are racks of electronics, computers, keyboards, audio and video equipment
and a huge percussion rack that would make Nexus jealous. Just as important is a large Batman figure
watching the room from atop a bookshelf, an autographed photo of William
Shatner and Leonard Nemoy and an eccentric and confident composer of both
orchestral and wind music: Michael Daugherty.
Born
and raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Daugherty was active in his high school band
and in particular, jazz band. His first
works were written for his high school jazz band and inspired from his love of
improvisation; a style and influence that is still heard in his music. After teaching at Oberlin Conservatory of
Music he now resides in Ann Arbor where he teaches composition at the
University of Michigan and begins his first of four years as Composer in
Residence with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
A
versatile composer, Daugherty has received numerous awards, including
recognition from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Stoeger Prize
from Lincoln Center, and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the
National Endowment for the Arts. His
music has been performed by the Los Angeles and New York Philharmonics, the
symphony orchestras of Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, San
Francisco and St. Louis. Performances abroad include those by the Melbourne
Symphony, the BBC
Symphony,
the London Philharmonia, the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, the Ensemble
Intercontemporaine, the London Sinfonietta, and the Netherlands Wind
Ensemble. His music is published by
Peermusic, New York, and represented in Europe by Faber Music, London.
B&O:
WHAT EXPERIENCES INFLUENCES YOU MOST AS A COMPOSER?
DAUGHERTY: It was the jazz background that informed my
classical writing. It’s more ear-based
writing than anything else with material generated by musical instinct just
like you would have to when improvising.
That material is manipulated in the abstract, on paper, but it is the
composer making the decisions that creates the final work for other people to
perform.
There
used to be a real divide between learning how to be a jazz musician versus a
classical musician. There were only
three real places you could really go to study jazz that being Indiana
University, Berklee and North Texas State University. It was at North Texas that I started as a jazz major, but
eventually wrote my first piece for orchestra.
B&O:
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR COMPOSITIONAL PROCESS?
DAUGHERTY: For me, the title is the first and most
important beginning to any work because it sets the idea and tone of everything
that follows. The title represents the
idea, the concept, the understanding of what it is all about. From there I lay out what instruments may be
featured and the instrumentation of the ensemble. For example, in ‘Rosa Parks Boulevard’, which features three
trombones, I wrote the trombone parts first and then layered the rest of the
orchestra parts within that framework; kind of like multi-tracking on a
sequencer.
I
don’t have any particular system when writing music, but I do focus on building
layers within each piece. I work from
the very first measure to the last and think more in terms of pitch center than
key signatures. The form of the piece
develops as I write. If it turns out to
be sonata-allegro form, then that’s great, but I never know that when I begin
to compose a new piece of music.
Within
that last step is where the real musical ideas are generated. One way for that to happen is improvisation
and experimentation from the keyboard.
It’s different for everyone, but improvisation often helps music
students define and refine how they experience music. Improvisation is really ear-based composition at it’s best; it’s
generated with pure musical instincts, manipulated in the abstract on a
computer, and then revised to create a final work. For me the process of composing is like therapy.
B&O:
HOW DO YOU REVIEW AND REVISE YOUR NEW WORKS?
DAUGHERTY: A piece is never really done; I’ve gone back
and made revisions to works that have been performed many times. I prefer not to rush projects and therefore
take months to let them take their course.
The best way is to be able to work on a project, put it away for a few
weeks and then come back with a new perspective. You’ll find a new opinion and view on the previous ideas and new
directions from that point on.
I
also invite musicians into my studio on a regular basis to play what I’ve
written. This evening a wonderful flute
player is coming over to play through some sections of new music I’m writing
for the Philadelphia Orchestra. Hearing
each individual part and often working it out in the studio with a player one
on one is terrific in terms of tempo alterations, acoustic space, and
generating new ideas.
B&O:
HOW DOES TECHNOLOGY PLAY A PART IN YOUR COMPOSITIONAL PROCESS?
DAUGHERTY: Technology plays a big part in the
composition process. I prefer to write
directly to the computer and make changes from there based on what I hear from
the playback. I started working this
way since 1984 and ever since then I’ve reinvested into the system I currently
use.
I
use a Macintosh G3 with two Sony flat screen 500PS monitors as my major
computer for writing music; there’s also another PC in the studio that is just
for e-mail. Tannoy Playback speakers,
Yamaha Disklavier acoustic piano, Proteus and Alesis playback modules, a few
Sony televisions and video cassette recorders, and a zip drive that backs up
everything at the end of the night. I
compose straight to the computer.
B&O:
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR WORK WITH BOTH BANDS AND ORCHESTRAS?
DAUGHERTY: I really love the world of the wind
ensemble. I compose for both orchestra
and wind band, but the wind repertoire is much like where the orchestra was in
the 19th century; it’s still expanding every day. Because of this more and more wind musicians
and conductors are open to new ideas and there is a sincere desire to try new
things. For example, there are some
terrific tuba players out there, but surely not too many great tuba
concertos. You can’t say the same for
the violin; in fact, there are hundreds of great violin concertos. Writing for wind bands also has the added plus
that they more often ask you to conduct the work you’ve composed for them!
B&O:
WHAT DO YOU RECOMMEND BAND AND ORCHESTRA DIRECTORS?
DAUGHERTY: Never put a roadblock up to a students
interest. We should be facilitators to
their interests and directions. This
would include the opportunity to improvise as much as possible in different
styles from jazz and rock to classical; get away from the printed page and the
impulse to be a passive performer. Any
method that will help develop their ears is also important such as developing a
digital tape recording project for the students. They need to learn how to listen and experience sound to better
understand it. You need to be able to
see the color samples before you know what to paint the house.
WEB
SITES OF ADDITIONAL INTEREST
http://michaeldaugherty.net
http://www.peermusic.com/classical
http://www.fabermusic.com
http://www.music.umich.edu/faculty/daugherty.michael.html