With Praise and Celebration
Barry E. Kopetz
The composer has the following to say about the composition of With
Praise and Celebration:
“Writing music for a specific event or idea is always a challenge
as one must consider the level for which it is being composed (middle
school band), the audience who will listen to it (the parents), and the
publishers who will consider the piece for publication. Rarely do all
of these factors align, so “give and take” becomes the
issue. Thankfully, most of these factors are fairly close together
for the commissioned
piece.
After Carol Handshue and I had agreed on a completion
date, I placed the piece into my schedule of writing. The piece for
Weaver Middle
School fell right between two other pieces I had on my schedule to be
written
during the summer of 2003. I had just completed the third movement
of a selection called “More Games!” The original title of this
movement was “Super-Heroes” later changed to “Capes
and Swords,” so if the audience hears that the opening of the
Weaver piece has a touch of that particular flavor, now you know
why!
As if with all of my pieces, I wrote a sketch of the
initial idea the old fashioned way – using music paper and pencil. Most of my sketches
are pretty ugly in that I tend to write in a “stream of ideas” getting
them down as fast as I am able. Some days, that leads to a lot of
notes; other days it leads to staring at the piano or staring out
of the window.
Either way, the ideas are put down in the order that they appear.
It is hard work!
It seemed to me that since this was a 10-year anniversary
of a school that it was to be a celebration of sorts. Hence, the very
first idea
that came to me was a fanfare passage. It became the opening of the
piece. Next came “percussive colors,” and these tended to
create a mood at the beginning of the piece. Finally, the rhythmic accompaniment
came next, and since it sounded a bit joyful and bright, this idea
went
to the clarinets and saxophones. The primary theme followed immediately
thereafter and the piece was finally in motion!
To say that the “rest is easy” would not be entirely true,
but once a piece of music is underway, I tend to get lots of ideas quickly.
The big problem is getting them down and discarding the ones that are “less
good” and keeping the ones that I ultimately decide are “better.” (I
have often wondered what a whole piece of “less good ideas” would
sound like)! The slow section of the piece seemed to evolve from
the fanfare, so if you listen carefully, you will hear that the opening
notes
of this passage are identical to the fanfare at the beginning, performed
much more slowly.
Once the big picture is fully sketched on paper, figuring
out what instrument gets what part is always a challenge. While certain
rules apply (tubas
do not get flute oriented melodies and vice versa!), the creative
process becomes a little bit of a puzzle, a little bit of trying out
ideas, and
a lot of perspiration rather than inspiration. Trying to make the
piece sound fresh without leaving people out of the music for long periods
of time tends to be a problem. Over time, composers tend to get a
feel
for what works, since they use their past experience to solve the
multitude of problems that pop up. Every new piece presents new problems,
and sometimes
the solution we work out in the process works just fine. It is when
things do not work out so well that we tend to burn the midnight oil.
If this
happens, I tend to just start a new sketch and get away from the
original plan. (The sketch that came after this one was entitled “Hymn for
the King of the House of Silverbow”, and is about a king from a
non-existent kingdom in a non-existent land, with non-existent characters
named Vlaskis and Quark … you get the idea)! Once I have cleared
my mind, I am usually ready to go back and continue on the earlier
idea, though occasionally I just throw away the first sketch and
pick up with
the second one.
Endings of pieces of music are always tough, since as
soon as you compose one, you realize that “I have heard this before.” I used
to wonder why so many recordings of popular music ended with a fade-out,
and now I know. It was because no one was able to come up with an ending
that did not sound like another ending that had already been used. Once
finished, I tend to rewrite the ending several times before I am almost
satisfied. During those rare attitudinal moments, I have often thought
about changing the ending right before the performance and just bring
along the new ending to the concert. I figured that while this would
make it exciting, it would also scare the performers, hence, it’s
probably not a good idea.
I did almost forget to mention the fact that the hardest
part of writing a piece of music for me is coming up with a title.
(I refer to this
as the crabgrass on the lawn of life)! Most of the time, I struggle with
titles a great deal. When I finally run out of time and I still have
no solution, I get out the dictionary and begin rummaging about.
Once
out of severe frustration, I even wrote down some street and town
names outside of Melbourne, Australia, when I was over there working
with bands.
While none of these have yet to appear in one of my titles, I plan
to compose a piece with the name “The Road To Castlemaine” sometime
in the future. The title “With Praise and Celebration” was
my third choice, and the first two ideas were very similar. Sometimes,
I ask for the students to come up with a title, and they invariably do
a better job than I ever could. So much for “word creativity;” I
am much better with notes.
The best part of composing the music is hearing it live
for the first time. This is referred to as the “premiere” and it is an
exciting moment for the composer. Premieres, if successful, lead to second
and third performances, though sometimes the piece gets rewritten before
this occurs. Tonight’s premiere is dedicated to the Weaver
students who have brought this music to life. After all, without
them and their
terrific efforts, the music is nothing more than a series of symbols
with very little meaning. Enjoy!
