Holland Lecture - Alec Macklin
I really enjoyed this last weeks lecture by Mr. Jonathan Bailey Holland. I found his collaborations and commissioned works very interesting. The most interesting, in my opinion, was the song with the Tree Ring folk group! He spoke on how he was writing the music for them without really knowing what the theme would be and without any idea of the lyrics, which were writing afterward. As a songwriter, it’s always very interesting learning all the different ways songwriters, or composers writing a song, get to creating a song. The added instruments - chamber ensemble - added to the Tree Ring group was interesting. Though a bit odd, I found, it did add more color, a little bit more fullness and a nice unique sound to the group. I think a full orchestra would sound even better than the chamber ensemble. I don’t know, what do y’all think?
His more political works also stood out to me! As a Black American songwriter, I’m always thinking of ways in which I can incorporate my realities, and the realities of people like me, into my music and art. Like Nina Simone, or James Baldwin but in a modern and fresh way and I really believe Holland accomplished that. I really really loved the Maya Angelou piece! I think the music really did add to the poem! It was interesting to find out that the person who recited the poem could not read music! Talk about a panic lol but it sounded so natural and went along very well with the music.
His chamber ensemble work was also one of sociopolitical concept! A rare orchestration of oboe, bassoon, violin, cello and piano, he sought to capture the sense of duality and capturing his feelings of the realities he and our community feels and I thought it was wonderful. Utilizing the voices of President Barack Obama, Cicely Tyson, Sandra Bland and Eric Gardner really gave this sense of reality that the listener would not be able to escape. The recording placed into his music was fresh and new and exciting.
The waltz he composed for the Detroit Symphony and showed to us in the beginning of his lecture was also great! It very much reminded me of Leonard Bernstein! Loved the woodwind lines he wrote in this piece
What was your favorite and least favorite parts of the lecture?
I also liked the piece he wrote utilizing the voices of Barack Obama, Cicely Tyson, Sandra Bland and Eric Gardner, especially what he said about not being able to 'tune it out'. On the radio, or news pieces there would be traditionally be segments that you can tune down or up depending on your interest, but incorporating the voices and the stories of what happened within a piece of music meant that your focus was equally aware for both the musical and the experience component which meant you could indeed not escape what was happening.
ReplyDeleteI also think it was interesting that he wrote songs in a unconventional process such as writing the music then the lyrics. This method produced some very unique and wonderful music!
ReplyDeleteAgreed! Music before lyrics can be an absolutely powerful thing - definitely an intriguing approach.
DeleteIt's funny, as you mentioned the Waltz, I realized i had completely forgotten about that composition. To my ears, that wasn't "his sound" but something he wrote to emulate others. His personal pieces though, those were great! I loved the maya Angelou piece particularly. and agree that it did tons to strengthen her voice! the music accompanying her was also something i could sit and enjoy listening too on its own and probably still leave with a sense of the message. I completely agree that music can and should have a social impact! his use of story, narration, and instrumentation are testaments to the genre's true power.
ReplyDeleteI think the chamber ensemble work was my favorite from this lecture/composer...partially just because I thought it sounded aesthetically pleasing :) I think the creativity of having voices such as Obama's, Tyson's, Bland's, Gardner's added to my liking of the particular chamber work because it somehow made it more "intimate" (or inescapable as he described it), like chamber music is supposed to be...just in a different/more interesting way here. It was very effective in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteThe chamber ensemble song sounds very great me, Holland made a very well music part even he didn’t know anything that what’s the song talking about. I also like the idea that incorporating political ideas and reality into songs, which I think is a powerful function of music especially songs.
ReplyDeleteI liked him as a person. Maybe the most interesting thing in musical terms that he showed us (in my view) was the second half of the last chamber piece he played. The rest of the music, to me, was a perpetuous attempt to do something tonal but not conventional with the notes... Still there was a weird harmonic speech very often that made little or no sense.
ReplyDeleteI personally think chamber ensembles sound more intimate, and especially because he was writing with a strong intention behind the music I thought it was a good choice to use a smaller number of instruments. A large orchestra might have sounded great, but the smaller group made the music sound closer and a bit more intense, in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI also liked his piece for the DSO! The Tree Ring piece didn't particularly strike me as something I am going to listen to again but it was definitely a cool approach. I wish he would've been more specific about the exchanges that went down between him and the bandleader about music, lyrics, ensemble, etc. I think that would've been a cool anecdote and perhaps lesson on how to collaborate with another composer when neither collaborate a lot, remote collaboration, and composition philosophies. I really liked his piece with Maya Angelou's work as well as the piece with audio clips from Eric Gardner, Sandra Bland, and others.
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed Mr. Holland. As an African American, it's comforting to see others in the music composition field. I thought his music was great and I look forward to seeing more of it!
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