GEM
BYU Group for Experimental Music
Audio from 11/19/11 Concert:
For 3 or More (2011) by Christian Asplund, Performed by GEM
Discovering Resonance (2011) by Kristina Bishoff, played by GEM
For 3 or More (version 2) (2011) by Christian Asplund, Performed by GEM
For 5 or 10 People (1963), Performed by GEM
Ombas Sciefo (Part 1) (2011) by John Butcher, Performed by GEM
Ombas Sciefo (Part 2) (2011) by John Butcher, Performed by GEM
Ombas Sciefo (Part 3) (2011) by John Butcher, Performed by GEM
Improvisation (2011) ART Trio
In and Around (2011) by Christian Asplund, Performed by Ricksplund
GEM:
Kristina Bishoff
David Hernandez
Emily Nakayu
Melanie Park
Matthew Webb
Joseph Williams
Christian Asplund, Director
ART Trio: Christian Asplund, Steve Ricks, Neil Thornock
Ricksplund: Christian Asplund, Steve Ricks
Discovering Resonance
During class, we talked about trying a vocal piece for the concert, but had a hard time trying to figure out how to make it loud enough for a concert setting. I then had the idea to use the grand piano and it’s wonderful resonance to heighten our vocals for the audience. So I decided to write a piece based around singing into a grand piano.
–Kristina Bishoff
For 3 or More
This piece is inspired somewhat by the Wolff piece on tonight’s program, and by John Zorn’s Cobra, which was itself highly influenced by Wolff. Each performance is also, to a large extent, composed by the performers themselves. Like the Zorn, this piece uses cards, and like the Wolff, it focuses on various types of coordinations between players. Unlike Zorn, the prompts on the cards are determined by the players, and unlike Wolff, the coordination types are devised by the players. The ordering of events is determined by a structured chance operation.
–Christian Asplund
For 5 or 10 People
This classic of democratic music-making and graphic notation has become a staple of GEM’s repertoire. It is an elegant open instrumentation structure in that no two performances are the same, yet there is a mysterious thread that runs through them all. While many aspects of what musicians play are left open, the beginnings and endings of sounds, events, and phrases are often governed strictly by various coordinations between them.
–Christian Asplund
In and Around is part of a series of eight comprovisations for trombone and piano that explore alternatives to harmonic progressions as means of structuring and accompanying improvised solos. These alternatives include fixed rhythm with improvised pitch, improvisation over loops, free rhythm passages over fixed rhythm loops, improvisation over telescoping loops, etc.
–Christian Asplund
Ombas Sciefo
Coming of musical age during the 70s, one of the things that attracted me to improvisation was its questioning of, and alternative to, the hierarchies implicit in most compositional practice. Telling people what to do seemed to be increasingly unhelpful in making a relevant music. 30+ years on, the values of improvisation, graphic/verbal scores, and the ambiguity of performer/composer designations are an ingrained part of musical life – and my own views have
modified.
Generally, when composing for others, my main interest is to work with specific musicians I know well, and to orchestrate according to their special qualities and uniquenesses. So writing Ombas Sciefo made an interesting challenge, as it was the first time I’d formed a piece for an indeterminate number of, as yet, unknown musicians playing unspecified instruments. Of course, this approach now has a long and rich history – probably with very little needing to be added.
Nevertheless, in Ombas Sciefo I’ve attempted a new piece that melds precise instructions with an overriding trust in the creativity unleashed when musicians are encouraged to make their own decisions.
–John Butcher