During 1998-99 four new works were composed by student composers and premiered by members of the Symphonic Band under the direction of student conductors.  The premiere performance of these works took place on April 20, 1999 during the 1999 20th Century Music Festival at Towson University.

     African Fanfare                                     Craig Leland Sparks          Link to more information about African Fanfare

Kennis Rolle, Jr., conductor

     Reconstituted Memories                         Alex Abele                    Link to more information about Reconstituted Memories

Keith Geiman, conductor

Megan Gilmore, conductor

Kristen Gottleib, conductor

Perspective from a faculty composer

The April 20th 1999 concert of new music for symphonic band by Towson University student composers was the result of a series of discussions within our department centering on the importance of teaching independence and creative initiative to our students.   I proposed that we explore some alternatives to the traditional model of concerts in which the student's involvement is limited to practicing and performing works by people from some other time and place.   The project thus began as an idea for a concert in which the band would present new music composed for them by the student composers at here TU.   To further broaden the educational opportunity we asked student conductors to learn the new pieces with the composers, prepare and lead all of the rehearsals, and conduct the pieces for the concert.   Finally, we asked the student performers to broaden their technique and engage works by their peers--music that had been composed specifically with them in mind.   The project was immediately embraced by Dr.  Rothlisberger, Director of Bands, as a way of encouraging our students to value creative undertakings in the entrepreneurial model that many of them will face once they leave school and begin making a musical life for themselves.   The composers were charged with creating their pieces during the fall semester of 1998.   The completed pieces were then given to the conductors and prepared by the members of the Symphonic Band during the weeks leading up to this concert.   What you will hear in this music is the outcome of this creative undertaking presenting the students in roles of composers, conductors and performers.   I am quite proud of what they have made from this challenging project and I thank all of the students and Dr. Rothlisberger for their effort and commitment.

Dr.  William Kleinsasser,  professor of composition and 20th Century Music Festival Director
 

Perspective from a faculty conductor

The concept of student composers having their compositions realized by student ensembles led by student conductors is exciting, challenging, sometimes frightening, and very educational.  I have enthusiastically supported the notion from the time Dr.  Kleinsasser proposed it.  The entire project has brought into sharp focus in a very real way for all of the forces (composers, conductors, performers) the myriad details, challenges, and rewards entailed in producing a concert.  The added opportunity of student performers and conductors working in close collaboration with the composer adds a significant dimension to the process of making music. Plus, the conductors and performers have the opportunity not often afforded them of experiencing, learning, or broadening their understanding of the musical vocabulary currently employed by developing composers as we enter the 21st Century.  I congratulate all of the students involved in this endeavor.  The performers have had new demands placed on them as they have been asked to accept more responsibility for the performance of their individual parts as we rotated seating and performance assignments.  The student conductors have stepped onto the podium with confidence, courage, and commitment (and a bit of anxiety as well).  I have been impressed with their musical growth and the professional way in which they met this challenge.  I also thank the composers for their willingness to listen to my opinions and ideas as we have worked together on what I believe to have been a significant and worthwhile collaboration.

Dr.  Dana Rothlisberger, Director of Bands, Conductor of the Symphonic Band

PROGRAM  NOTES
 

African Fanfare is the first work I've premiered which utilizes my growing fascination with African music and aesthetics.  African aesthetics treat music more as a medium for interpersonal relationships than solely as a means for entertainment.  This idea permeates this piece, both in its aesthetic considerations and in the compositional techniques employed.  On a compositional level, I composed small chunks of music called cells.  These cells get repeated in such a way that the change in the relationship between cells creates interest.  And it is an interest in relationshipsóand what music can add to themóabout which I am most passionate.

Craig Leland Sparks
 
 

Reconstituted Memories attempts to employ several compositional techniques common to 20th century music.  Inspiration was drawn from jazz, Renaissance isorhythmic practices and serialism.  This is not my first attempt at drawing from these musical wells.  In a 1988 piece titled 12 Bar, 12 Tone, I attempted to marry 12-tone serialism and the blues in a work for orchestra.  In Reconstituted Memories, a less strict approach is applied to the three aforementioned practices.  The piece consists of three central musical elements: a contrapuntal melodic theme; a chord progression; and an isorhythmic pattern.  With isorhythm as the glue between sections, the melodic theme and chord progression are presented separately and together in various incarnations.  The presentation of each is loosely derived from serial procedures.

Alex Abele
 
 

"Kairos stands for a radical principle of occasionality which implies a conception of the production of meaning in language as a process of continuous adjustment to and creation of the present occasion"Eric Charles White

En Kairo is a composed piece that finds or reaches a time of response called Kairos óa Greek word for season, occasion or time, referring to an opportune time for a specific event to take place.  The character of this piece lies in two extremes: Composed music that is completely controlled, improvised music that lacks total control, and the mediation between the two.  That is why a clear distinction must be made by the performers between the music that is improvised and the composed music.  In this sense one can draw a parallel between this piece, and standard jazz models.  However, the rules of tonality and rhythmic gestures do not apply.  The performers are asked to improvise poetically, reflectively, and responsively and realize musical passages individually and at the same time.  A text for each improvised section is provided with the purpose of triggering a response.  The concept of collective individual expression is displayed here, and serves to exemplify the ideal of the celebration of diversity within unity.

The origin of this piece comes from considerations of the possibility of time existing in other dimensions, different from the linear concept that is natural to our existence.  The combination of these ideas in realtionship to the nature of God and the time in which God operates are the basis for this work.  This curiosity began after studying pieces by Karlheinz Stockhausen and Pierre Boulez.  Consequently, these curiosities were stimulated by concepts  and ideas on "revival" and "the manifestations of God," that were later  nourished by writers like C.  S.  Lewis and Henry Blackaby.

This piece is entirely presented as noises and sounds of praises to God, praises for His sovereignty over all of creation.  And it is a celebration of the vast infinite possibilities of expression through sound.   S.D.G.

Abiel A.  Mir
 
 
 
 

A Chrysalis describes something in a state of change.  An example is when a caterpillar changes from its former shape to that of a butterfly.  This idea of mutation and existing amidst two very different shapes is what I focused on in this piece.  The change does not only occur once, but many times and on many different levels.  Some changes, like that of the butterfly are very dramatic and turbulent, while others are much more subtle.  The idea of a scattered, diffused texture shifting toward a more unified, focused oneness is explored several times during the piece.  Some changes are very quick and occur on the surface while others are rooted in a deeper level such as form, where the actual change requires the entire piece.  Harmonically, the piece is almost entirely based on a single, "melodic" line.  To build vertical harmony, and expand outward along an imaginary "z" axis, I simultaneously present different durational versions of the line.  The extremes of this multiple projection range from every member of the band playing the same thing to complete independence of part.  This piece spends most of itís time exploring the actual shifting within the extremes.  The use of a computer is incorporated in this piece for several reasons, all of which have to do with expanding possibilities of time, timbre and dimension.  All computer music was derived from recording individuals and the entire ensemble playing the piece during rehearsals, and then changed using many of the software applications available today.  The first possibility which the computer is capable of expanding is the notion of multiple projection.  With its ability to compress and stretch, through synthesis, I  was able to compose many sounds which are actually lengthy sections of the piece but happen within a matter of a few seconds, and vice versa.  Through methods of cross-synthesis and convolution, I was able to elaborate on the aspect of timbre and create blends of instrument color.  Lastly, the computer allowed me to explore a multi dimensional approach to form.  I composed many sounds and sections of computer music which are composite moments taken from different sections of the piece.

Daniel Hope