Fussy Players? archived

I wrote a piece for flute, violin, and viola. It was premiered at the Modern American Composer Series (MACS) in January 2006 (Notehead's production). It was performed by some friends/colleagues from Juilliard and they did an amazing job. And they only had a week to learn it!

Fast forward.... a trio in California has committed to playing the piece. They are long-time members of the Pacific Symphony and LA Philharmonic and regular session players for studio orchestras. In other words, they're really good. However, I just received an email from the flautist (or is it flutist?) asking me to rearrange/fix the rhythmical groupings throughout the piece because "it's too hard." This will take countless hours, as I'll need to re-extract and re-format the score and parts. She also needs a CD of the parts alone, which I'll need to record in my studio.

My question: do I tell them about the January 2006 performance and that my friends had no problem learning it (in seven days, no less!), or should I say nothing? I don't want to offend them, mostly because they're connected in the LA music scene. But I think they're being a little bit lazy. Oh... and they're not paying me (except for the actual sheet music, which is minimal).

Suggestions?

Isn't this the long-awaited moment where you get to assert yourself as a brilliant but tempermental artist with your own internal vision of perfection? This sounds like it will make a great anecdote in some future biography of famous early 21st century composers.

I am not a composer or a musician. But I've been dealing with clients for many years, and more times than not the clients ask me to do things that I think are unreasonable. This is what I'd do: First, call the flautist. A person-to-person conversation always reveals more than an email. If you get voicemail, don't leave a detailed message -- just cheerfully say that you received her email and would she please call you back. When you reach each other live, don't act defensive about your work. Just ask for more information or a more detailed explanation of her objections to the arrangement. Say as little as possible -- just let her speak her peace. Often an email like that from a client (and I suppose you can consider the flautist a type of client), is just an immediate, unthought-out reaction, and once they've had the chance to mull it over, then they are more accepting. Also, in the conversation you may find out that her objections can be boiled down to a few minor issues that you can easily address.

One question I'd have is this: Does the flautist have the authority to speak for the trio that is performing the composition? Or is this just her opinion? Finally, in answer to your question, I would not say, "Well the Julliard people learned it in a week and had no problem with it!" That would be very confrontational. You might, however, in your converstaion find an opening to drop it in. For example, with regard to the CD: "I'll check to see whether the Julliard trio recorded it when they performed it a few weeks ago," or something like that. Or perhaps you can ask her if it would be helpful to discuss the parts with the members of the Julliard trio to get some pointers.

Just my two cents.

shoshannah's advice sounds very good.

I haven't heard of composers complying with requests like this, but I'm sure there is a lot of variety. I sing with

Is she asking you to actually change the notes and rhythms, or just the notation? Without looking at it, or being a flute player, my guess is she's confused by the notation. Music notation is a pretty abstract thing, which attempts to represent sound by marks on paper, and it's often a crude and even confusing tool. Think for example the trumpet part in Ives' "Unanswered Question," which has triplets embedded in quintuplets embedded in triplets. It looks insane, and is, but the actual sound produced is quite simple (of course Ives could be an asshat about these things, but that's another story). I heard a story that Stravinsky claimed he could have written the "Danse Sacrale" in 3/4 time but didn't because he didn't want amateurs playing it.

All that aside, you could probably explain the notation, and sing it to her two or three times over the phone, and she'd get it.

I'm assuming you sent her the MACS recording of the piece? (Which I have listened to a bunch of times, by the way -- great stuff.)

One thing that I've found is that musicians at absolutely EVERY level of skill and accomplishment can sometimes be thrown by some little fragment of music that they just dont "get". Happens to me quite a lot when I put something jazz-oriented in front of players with a strictly classical background. Unfortunately, there is often very little you can do, especially if the artist gets uptight about it.

You have to balance the negatives of accomodating the artist against the positives of getting a performance of the piece, and probably a more confident performance than you'd have otherwise. But perhaps if you could put together a quick recording of that section with the flute all the way in the left channel, and the other parts in the right, and perhaps even with a click if the tempo is steady there, it would become comprehensible to her.

(Speaking of things being incomprehensible, I've got to get you over to my studio for a crash-course in Logic one of these days. Every time I try to figure out what I'm doing in there, my eyes glaze over and I end up going to GarageBand instead!)

Thanks everyone for the comments. I've been crazy busy with commercial work, hence the delayed response.

I know this is a HUGE generalization, but in my experience I've found that many professional orchestral musicians are lazy with chamber music (except percussionists and some brass, who always rule!). Nearly every performance I've received from an orchestral player in a chamber setting is lacking musically and technically.

Another part that bothers me is her attitude. I'm not some dippy student composer - I received my doctorate in composition from Juilliard. I know what I'm doing! She's always treated me like a student (well... she's also a professor at UCLA).

Shoshannah - very good suggestions. Yes, the flautist has the authority to speak for the trio (she's the founder).

Tom Reingold - I really admire groups like Harmonium. Encouraging new music (and young composers) is sometimes a tough sell, but I think it can be a very rewarding (and fun!) experience.

Tom - she's asking me to change notes and rhythms, and also some of the notation.

Notehead - yup, the MACS piece (Silhouettes). And yes, I'd love to hang out soon and go over Logic. Send me an email or call and we'll set something up.

Thanks again everyone.

But John! We're waiting to hear what you decide to do!

And yes, Harmonium is exciting beyond words. People hear the word "choir" and assume it's boring or churchy. When they come, we knock their socks off. If you are interested in composing a choral work, let me know. I might be able to hook you up. And if you know any high school students you might be able to convince to compose, we might be able to get something going.

http://www.moviesounds.com/amadeus/cutafew.wav

Posted By: Tom ReingoldBut John! We're waiting to hear what you decide to do!

:smile: I still haven't decided yet. I'm most likely going to write or call and politely say no (unless paid appropriately).

I have a few friends who sing in Harmonium (Daniel Schmalz and Mia Hewitt). It's a wonderful choir - a shining example of the power of choral music! And I'm always looking for new writing opportunities. I've composed several pieces for choir, including Psalm 27 (for baritone solo, chorus, chamber orchestra - commissioned by the Summit Chorale) and Canticles of Light (for tenor solo, chorus, very small chamber orchestra, and Himalayan singing bowls), among a couple smaller works. Let me know if you need anything. Thanks!

Soda - LOVE IT!

I sent an email. Here's a snippet from the email:

"I'm glad you like the piece. I agree - it's challenging. I'm sure you'll do a great job.

Redoing the final movement is a huge job. It would take many, many hours to change (reformatting score, re-extracting parts, etc.). Unfortunately, I simply don't have time right now. Is it possible to make do with the parts as is? I really appreciate your understanding."

I'll let you know her answer.

Just out of curiosity, could you post an image of the section she's having trouble with?

I don't know why, but tom's thought makes me giggle.

composerjohn, good note.

you have a filthy mind.

No offense taken, tom, but I don't know what you're talking about.

What you should have asked was, "do you think there are too many notes?"

then I guess I don't either.