SO SIMPLE for wind ensemble, women's chorus and fixed media     

PROGRAM NOTE
So Simple for wind ensemble and fixed media developed from my years studying sound and how it manifests both vertically and horizontally. Two elements of sound, frequency and periodicity, are distinctly different, yet related quantities. Frequency is a rate quantity. Periodicity is a time quantity. Frequency and periodicity, i.e. pitch and pulse, have a reciprocal relationship. Pitch and pulse are intimately related. Every principle governing the melodic and harmonic implications of pitch can also govern the melodic and harmonic implications of pulse. What is the key?  What is the tempo? Both can be in C.  Do the laws that apply to vertical frequency; harmonic series, ratios, periodicity pitch, combination tones, etc. also apply to horizontal periodicity?  Yes.

One genre of music where this reciprocal relationship is instinctively employed is electronic dance music.   Besides its symphonic quality, electronic dance music with its insistent beat, lends itself well to the creation of horizontal periodicity ratios that harmonize time.  So Simple follows a basic EDM Trans structure: Intro-Motif Entry-Breakdown-Build-Drop-Outro.  All the thematic material is introduced in the Intro and Motif entry sections.  In the Drop section, pitch and pulse are harmonically combined via matching frequency and periodicity ratios.  This creates a three-dimensional harmonic framework, which in turn supports the main thematic material.  The Outro brings all to a close.

All the world’s music cultures begin from the same source; sound.  The language of music is not universal, but the source material is very much so. Studying the physical properties of a singular sound is a valuable key in understanding how the world’s cultures formed their unique approaches to music.  However, in the rush to complexity, most musicians often deem this study too simple.  To quote composer Morton Feldman's comment to John Cage:

 "Now that things are so simple, there is so much to do”.

So Simple is dedicated to Dr. Scott Lubaroff without whom this piece would not exist.

INSTRUMENTAION
2.picc.2.eh.ebcl.3.bcl.2.cbn./1.2.1.1.1/4.3.3.2.2/timp/5perc/pno/db/opt.women's chorus

DURATION
9 minutes

COMMISSIONED BY
The University of Central Missouri Wind Ensmble, Dr. Scott Lubaroff, conductor, Warrensburg, Missouri.