As explained in the Foreword, my aim is to explore the use of intervals in composition and improvisation, and of twelve-tone rows in composition.
In recent years, I have focused particularly on twelve-tone rows built from two intervals.
My current research asks how we can explore improvisation and composition using pairs of intervals.
My aim is to organise this material in a way that is useful to a group of improvisers. I intend to write a cycle of compositions devoted to it, and to explore it myself.
The first piece I wrote using a row built from two intervals was Rakesh (score,
music, dedicated to the first Indian astronaut). It is based on the perfect fourth and major third, P4 and M3, or (5,4).
The row is A D F# C# Ab C E B G Eb Bb F: twelve notes containing six perfect fourths and six major thirds.
The entire composition is written using retrograde and inversion of the row.
During improvisation, both the soloist and accompanying musicians use the intervals that make up the row as melodic material.
My aim is to organise the material horizontally, melodically, rather than vertically, harmonically.
I believe improvisers have a responsibility to explore their material as thoroughly as possible, so I set to work on doing so.When a composition uses clearly defined material, I find it interesting for an improviser to engage spontaneously with the same material and strategy used by the composer.
Returning to Rakesh, the improviser encounters the following material:
- a fixed rhythmic sequence (7/8+7/8+7/8+6/4)
- melodic or harmonic choices based on the two intervals (4,5)
Let us look at how this second aspect works in practice:
starting from C, the improviser can move up to E (+4), down to Ab (-4), up to F (+5) or down to G (-5): four possible choices. From each new note, the melodic path continues with another four possible notes. Octave placement is unrestricted. This applies to every instrument involved, whether melodically, on the bass for example, or harmonically, on the vibraphone.
Typically, a soloist engages intuitively with the material and chooses the options that feel easiest or most natural, soon exhausting the possibilities that come readily to mind.
I therefore decided to analyse the possible combinations of two intervals, to broaden the improviser's choices as much as possible and offer new creative resources. This is the next stage of my work.