Editing a Journal for the first time

I ran a one-day conference on the later music of Ligeti in March of this year at London University, and had arranged for the papers to be published by Contemporary Music Review (this has just come out, click Ligeti's Later Music). As I hadn't edited a journal before I was both excited and rather nervous. I asked a friend of mine with some experience of book editing for advice, and what he said was very helpful - he said that you need to be quite firm with contributors and if you feel something is not quite quite right, then you must say something sooner rather than later. It is perhaps too easy to try to be too relaxed and laissez-faire. I also decided to ask one of the presenters to be a co-editor to lessen the load - it was a good idea as you have someone to look over your own contribution.
    The main issue was that we had been given relatively a tight amount of space for each article, and quite understandably contributors wanted to provide full examples which often went beyond this allocated space (the journal was very understanding and allowed more space to accommodate this). Another issue was concerning footnotes and references, and what might be the optimal length for these. I had successful (if slightly protracted) discussions about reducing these in one case where the footnotes gradually expanded to become nearly as long as the article. This is perhaps more a matter of style, which I think is the editor's responsibility. Another issue was getting colleagues to get the final copy in on time (I suspect that this is common)- so it is important to set a deadline well before the final deadline given by the journal. We also had a delay caused by the copyright fees charged by the composer's publisher which seemed rather large given likely sales, and beyond the relatively modest budget. It seemed a little curious that a publisher would want to potentially jeopardise the publication of an academic journal covering one of their composers. This was thankfully resolved by the publisher of the journal and it was a relief (and a joy!) to finally see a hard copy of the issue. I have learned one thing through the process, and that is that editing a journal issue takes a lot more time, effort, and emotional energy than you would think.

Ligeti Conference March 2012: some reflections

I organised a conference of Ligeti's later music on 30th March at Senate House (in association with the Institute of Music Research - and with their support) which has taken up a fair bit of my time over the last few months. This is the first major confernce I have organised and it seemed to be a success judging by responses received. I was particularly pleased to see the number of speakers and delegates that had travelled from US, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Holland, Hungary, and Norway. The conference was mainly a series of papers plus a lecture recital by Ian Pace, a parallel analysis session for composers (led by Peter Wiegold) and a chamber 'performance' of Ligeti's Poeme Symphonique (we didn't quite manage 100 metronomes but there were two that seemed particularly persistent at the end).
    What was valuable at the conference was making contact with Ligeti scholars who one had read but not met, and being socialise with them before and after the conference. On reflection I think there should have been a round table session at the end (there wasn't time in the schedule) and it would have been good to have had questions after each speaker. I had allowed 30 minutes for each speaker to include 5 minutes for questions, but the reality was that the full 30 minutes was usually taken up with the papers (which is quite understandable) - and there was little slack in the day. There were also technical issues which soaked up time - almost inevitable when so many different computers were being used (our technical support was excellent and it is absolutely essential to have someone good to cover this). I liked the range of our speakers which showed many different approaches to the nature of the conference paper. At previous conferences I often feel that the papers were not really designed to be read out, but rather needed to be read as an article which can be quite tedious.
    There is a general orthodoxy to read papers at conferences which can be quite a challenge for the listener (I whish I had the confidence not to do this myself - our keynote speaker Richard Steinitz avoided reading out a paper, which made what he had to say very engaging). If I had to do this again I would allow more time for the papers and include a round table session at the end. I didn't do a general call for papers (on helpful advice from a colleague) and simply invited who I thought would have the most interesting things to say about Ligeti's music. I think this worked well - student researchers have plenty of other opportunities to present their work. One final thought is that it does take a lot of time and energy to organise - so bear that in mind if you feel the urge.
see Ligeti Conference London 2012  for full details - the papers will be published in Contemporary Music Review shortly.

Preparing a Composition Portfolio: thoughts

These are some thoughts I discuss with my composition students when they are preparing their portfolios:

Composition Portfolio Preparation

1. Submit with a CD recording. Full, clear and accurate notation. Full score required in concert pitch.
2. Avoid using a midi print-out (Logic etc) which can be meaningless.
3. In pop music and jazz, rhythms are often difficult to notate because of slight changes to the beat - these don’t need to be notated– keep it simple and clear.
4. Drum kit parts – keep it simple and of use to the drummer – not too complex.

Some useful texts:

5.  Runswick, D. Rock, Jazz and Pop Arranging, London: Faber, 1992
6. Baker, D Arranging & Composing: For the Small Ensemble, Jazz, R&B, Jazz Rock, Alfred Pub, 1988
7. Adler, S The Study of Orchestration, New York, Norton, 2002
8. Avoid production of looped backing tracks where there is no development nor main idea/melody – it is boring.
9. Think about overall shape of piece and sketch that out first
10. Well-structured music combines repetition and contrast. Avoid over-repetition and too many different ideas – vary and develop your ideas.
11. Notational performance details: make sure that full details are provided for the players.
12. Avoid pastiche – relate your music to today’s music scene.
13. Listen to a wide range of music.
14. Approach your own music with a critical ear – don’t be easily pleased.

Arrangement:

15. Make sure the main melody is audible – think about balance of the parts and dynamics.
16. Vary the ensemble – don’t have them all playing at once all the time.
17. Find out the range of your instruments and what they sound like in their ranges, plus other aspects of their nature.
18. Buy a book on orchestration and read it– see above.  (plus see Hugill’s website)  http://andrewhugill.com/manuals/intro.html
19. In tonal music think about which chords you are using and what the key is.
20. Listen to your harmonic progressions? Are they the most effective ones? Are there notes missing? Does it go anywhere?
21. Melody is really important – it needs to be more than just part of the harmony – it needs a life of its own. It should have a memorable shape.
22. Make sure you use a varied rhythm – not just crotchets and quavers.
23. The bass-line is a second melody and needs to be memorable and singable – avoid just using a line of root position chords – use first inversions and passing notes – make it interesting.

Inspiration

24. Anything can be inspiring: improvising – images – poems – other works – stories – events – musical processes – chemical processes – emotions (but beware of ‘cheese’…).
25. Sketch the whole piece out first with just the main line – use a sound source to help.
26. Don’t leave it too late so you cannot improve it.

A Scottish Ligeti Trip (Hamburg Concerto)

In late January I went up to Scotland (Glasgow and Edinburgh) to give two pre-concert talks on Ligeti's last major work the Hamburg Concerto for Horn and Chamber Orchestra performed by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (they also played Ligeti's Chamber Concerto which I didn't hear). I was impressed by the quality of the playing of the SCO as this is an extremely demanding and complex work. The excellent soloist was Alec Frank-Gemmill (on both French and Natural Horn) and the conductor Robin Ticciati showed a thorough understanding of the score. The work is curious for two reasons: it is in seven brief movements which are often divided up into smaller sections making it 14 in total; and it makes extensive use of the strange and beautiful tunings of the upper harmonics of the natural horn. As one goes up the harmonic series, the notes gradually deviate from the equally tempered scale of the piano, sometimes to an alarming degree. In places the natural horn quartet in the orchestra (parts which are almost as demanding as the soloist's part) are all in different keys - F,E, Bb, and D. Ligeti combines the 'out-of-tune' notes from each horn to generate quite alien-sounding harmonies that are disturbing but also beautiful. It seems to me that it would be almost impossible to be able to calculate the precise results of these combinations, but there does seem to be a strange logic in the progressions - for example in the 'Choral' in the second movement. The fourth movement is also quite interesting in the way that it combines elements of minimalism and serialism in quite an original manner.
     I also ran a Ligeti study day in Edinburgh which included a question and answer section from the soloist and conductor who explained some of the challenges of the work. These included the problems of playing natural horns high up and hitting notes that one would usually avoid (ie the oddly tuned harmonics). Robin talked about the importance of having an image of each movement in your head before working with the orchestra, and the importance of avoiding listening to other people's recordings. I felt that the audience were quite positive towards the concerto, and they said that they would have liked to hear it twice in the concert to help their understanding. This is an excellent point as it is difficult for even experienced contemporary music listeners to make sense of a new work on one hearing (whatever they might say!).
   At the end of the day I got the participants to create and perform their own compositions based on Ligeti's ideas and techniques (see http://www.sco.org.uk/experience/blog/2012/01/exploring-ligeti  for pictures) which produced some rather interesting and unusual work. It is daunting doing this kind of activity if you are an amateur musician (or just a music-lover) and I felt everyone put a lot of effort into making the best pieces possible.