500 Word Blog Post: Anna Clyne
Anna Clyne
One of the most interesting things I found of Anna’s presentation
was her use of visualizing her own musical material. She showed as an example
of creating a mural for the music using colors, forms, shapes and lines to show
how the music evolves and grows. This becomes a sort of visual representation
which is an incredibly interesting detail of her compositional process and
gives a lot of insight into the piece. Also, as much as the visualizing of the
material made it ‘physical’, she also mentioned she drew what the music made
her feel which I can imagine as well as being compositionally helpful, also has
some therapeutic benefits potentially!
For “Night Ferry” it shows the journey of the mind, a highly
effective depiction of the swirling thoughts and emotions as captured so beautifully
in her piece. She spoke about her background in technology and the ability
technological means allow for a layering of texture, and this influence was
definitely prevalent in her music as well.
“Abstractions” was based on a painting called “Marvel Moon”,
that used a dominant soft-blue color. The music for this piece was incredibly atmospheric,
creating an otherworldly feel with her innovative use of textures. I’m sure her
talking about the painting had something to do with this, but I definitely felt
something ‘blue’ about the piece, she managed to depict that color in the piece
in my feeling. Similarly, the still-moving musical pieces and textures
resembled something of passing clouds/ under-water, or at least a very nature-based
expression which was a beautiful interpretation of the piece.
Then there was the piece based on a painting full of crisscrossing
black lines, both the painting and the name of the music both escaping my
memory. She explained how she divided it into twelve parts, and then how the
music followed the cascading and descending lines using short energetic lines
that seemed to swell. For some reason the listening experience was very
satisfying because of the very tight rhythmic structure underlying this piece. Her
work with visuals and music is an approach that really interests and likewise
inspires me. Her ability to capture something creatively ‘physical’ like a
painting with colors, shapes, and lines is really incredible and for deepens the
experience of listening (as well as it would deepen the compositional process, I
would imagine)
Lastly, she showed us a song she did in collaboration with a
singer named Willie. This was definitely my favorite piece. The construction of
this was quite fascinating: leaving his vocal melodic line completely untampered
and in the foreground while delicately shading it with very sonorous accompaniment
made for such a rich piece of music. There was almost something hymn-like about
this, and the way she treated his singing and the song was one of a very simple
but a highly effective approach. It was exactly the right balance, her music
seemed just to fill and deepen the space created by his singing in a way that
made for a very memorable listening experience.
I also really enjoyed "Marvel Moon," and how Anna Clyne was able to express both internal peace and external awe for the painting. Moreover, I really enjoy that she pays attention to her use of woodwinds to flesh out certain colors in the orchestra.
ReplyDeleteI think that when music is written in reference to visual art, that the painting becomes really important to the existence of the music. This raises a lot of questions about whether those two things can then exist by themselves and be appreciated at the same level as the combination. Currently, I don't think this is fully possible, just because the more I get into the source of the music and its references, the more I appreciate it.
Seeing the way Anna Clyne visualises her music was definitely the most intriguing thing for me. I love her connection to that visual element - the way she starts with it and draws inspiration from it. It's definitely something I felt drawn to and can relate to very much! I also agree with Sanjay; being aware of the source enhances my experience and appreciation.
ReplyDeleteI also quite enjoyed the piece featuring Willie, "A Beautiful Day". I'm glad that we had the conversation about her giving him a writer's credit and royalties for the work. I think it is ethically important that we as composers give credit where credit is due, especially for such a direct reference.
ReplyDeleteI agree with a lot of this! A big takeaway for me as well is how different mediums of expression can inform the entire creative process in a non-linear way. Often I think of composing music and painting/drawing as a linear process where one is either composing to art/moving picture OR it's the other way around. With Anna, it seemed like the artwork sometimes comes fully formed and then the music is composed but the artwork can also develop along with the music and both can grow together.
ReplyDeleteThe tune with Willie was my favorite as well, and I agree with Alex, the following conversation about writers credit/royalties is incredibly important. I'm really glad Julia emailed us all to let us know about it and giving us specifics of what he was paid for and credited as well as how he is paid as a homeless man. As a vocalist and songwriter myself, I've run into some interesting situations with other musicians sampling recordings and/or instagram audio of me and my work. It's always good for us to know how to navigate situations like this, especially when it comes to pieces or recordings that end up making $$.
ReplyDeleteAnna’s process of incorporating visuals reminds me of the similar process that Joni Mitchell had, and I found her visualizations to enhance the music quite a lot. Drawing inspiration from visual art is a new concept for me, but when looking at the piece, the music just seemed to effortlessly float right out of it. It seemed effortless.
ReplyDeleteOh man! I feel so bad for having missed Anna's presentation!! She seems to creative ideas!
ReplyDelete