1995-05-28: Sound Choices: A Profile of Composer Judith Shatin

Vol. III, No. XXVI

Transcription:

Sha tin (UVA)
Music
Greeting
Sound Choices:
With Good Reason
Volume III, Number XXII
A Profile of Composer Judith Shatin
The old time fiddle wails in West Virginia coalmining region as
it has for more than a century. Two years ago, Virginia composer
Judith Shatin traveled to coal country to hear the fiddle songs
and use them with the sounds of pickaxes, coal cars and an
appalachian chorus to tell the story of the miners. She
represents the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and Public
Policy today on With Good Reason. I'm Brenda Pennell.
Music- "Coal" by Judith Shatin
Feature
Pennell
We're listening to "Coal", written for the people of West
Virginia. Today a profile of the composer Judith Shatin and
her work to push the envelope of sound and tambour in music. Her
interest in exploring new frontiers took a twist in 1992 when she
agreed to capture the essence of the West Virginia coal mines.
Not an easy task for a composer born in the Northeast and trained
at Julliard and Princeton. Since she knew little about coal
mining, the first step was research.
Shatin
I read many, many books about coal mining and its history in
West Virginia. I also did work in archives at the West
Virginia University and at the Craft Memorial Library down
in Bluefield. I also traveled extensively around the state
and was able to meet many people who had worked in mines,
people who had been laid off from mines, people who had had
a wide variety of different kinds of experiences. And I
found it impossible not to be drawn into this world. It was
just a really fascinating adventure of the kind that most
composers never undertake.
Pennell
To give us the experience of being in a mine, Dr. Shatin visited
the Eagle Nest Coal Mine in Twilight, West Virginia to harvest
sounds for her composition.
Shatin
I found it really fascinating to be underground, to feel
this kind of grit in the wind that was blowing, and to just
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have the experience of seeing these incredible machines in
action, to experience the darkness, which is really
overpowering. I think there is no way to over-dramatize
what is feels like to be in that kind of an environment.
Music-"Coal" by Judith Shatin
Pennell
That sound was recorded in the mines and believe it or not it'~ a
pick-axe. The tape was fed into a computer and the sound
filtered until it resembled a banjo. Transforming sounds from
the mines came naturally for Judith Shatin as she worked on
"Coal". Writing for appalachian folk musicians did not.
Shatin
The process of creating the music was complicated because I
don't play any of these folk instruments and I was very
fortunate to have the help of a Charlottesville musician
named Pete Vigor who plays banjo, fiddle, hammer, dulcimer,
guitar, and sings. And so I was able to work with him to
translate some of my ideas about what kind of sounds I
wanted for the appalachian instruments into reality. And
them I also worked with the musicians to enable them to
learn the different pieces that they were involved in. We
also made a tape so that they could have that to work from
because these are people who have incredibly sophisticated
ears and oral traditions but most of them are not trained in
traditional reading of music notation.
Pennell
"Coal" combines traditional appalachian music, western choral
music techniques, and sounds harvested from the mines. Even
though it's an oratorio written by an accomplished composer, the
West Virginia audience had no difficulty responding to the
composition.
Shatin
I believe that the fact of the topic, in a sense, right away
made people think that it would be accessible to them. But
I can also imagine a piece on this topic that wouldn't be
accessible. What do we mean by "accessible"? We mean that
at the surface of the music that there are melodic
structures that people can respond to. I think that
involving the sounds of the mines and involving the
appalachian musicians and having them play music that seemed
natural to that milieu. I wasn't trying to get them to play
music that would be counter-indicated by their traditions.
So I think that there was a range of types of music in the
piece. Some of it would be more challenging than the rest
as far an accessibility scale might go. But I think the
people were able to respond to the music.
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Music-"Coal" by Judith Shatin
Shatin
What sounds like rockfall in that sound is again the sound
of the pick-axe that's been processed.
Pennell
We're in the Virginia Center for Computer Music at the University
of Virginia which Judith Shatin founded in 1987.
Shatin
So one of the things that's amazing about computer sound
generation is that one can start with one sound and wind up
with an incredible array of different sounds that are all
generated by processing the original sound.
Pennell
About how :many different sounds would you say that you used
in "coal"?
Shatin
I used approximately twenty sounds that I collected in the
mines. I collected more but in this process there's always
a great deal of editing that one does. In fact I think that
in using computer music, one of the big issues is deciding
on your timbral pallet, because it's endless. So that is
generally the first line of attack for me, trying to stake
out exactly what the sound world will be
Pennell
And then you can use those twenty sounds in a variety of
ways?
Shatin
Right. As I've shown, I could make the pick-axe sound like
a banjo and I could make the pick-axe sound like a falling
rock in an underground explosion. So, having that much
material is really quite a large palate to work from.
Pennell
The Virginia center for computer music is a room full of
equipment. Work stations with computers, speakers, hard drives,
in fact you wouldn't know that it's a center for music unless
you noticed the piano sitting out of the way against one wall.
We're seated at one of the Mac-based work stations in the center.
There's a tower in front of us that holds six gig of memory.
Shatin
Another issue of computer generated sound is that it's a
memory hog. But the technology has been changing such
that it becomes more and more possible for one to do the
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kinds of things that we want to do. In fact I remember the
first solo piece tape I did called "Darkness Upon the Face
of the Deep". I tried to make a cassette recording of this
piece, and the cassette recording really didn't sound good.
It didn't have enough dynamic range. So it was just at the
time when DAT tape had become available and I was really
lucky because I was able to make a recording that really
captured all of the aspects
of the sound, and I couldn't have done that just a couple_ of
years previously. So I think that one of the things that
happens in all computer art is that we're always using
technologies that enable us to explore and to work at going
whatever the next step is.
Music-"Hearing Things" by Judith Shatin
Shatin
I really want to emphasize that I don't see this as somehow
supplanting people playing instruments. People are always
going to love making music, there is nothing that can
replace that. But in its own way this is making music to.
And it does enable the composer to have the kind of control
that was impossible before. There are some ideas that
people can't play. There are some kinds of musical
structures that, because of their timing or because of the
sounds involved, that people simply couldn't play. And to
have an alternative way to get at that is really exciting.
Pennell
Well, some people would argue that composers have always
used what has been available to them, and that if Mozart had
had the computer, maybe mozart would have used the computer?
Shatin
I think it's very true that composers have tended to use
what was available to them. But what I like to remind
myself and others of is that one can make interesting music
using a world of different items, from stones to computers.
And that having a computer to generate sound is no magic
bullet. It doesn't mean that you're going to generate
wonderfully interesting sounds. So I think that's just good
for us all to keep in mind. But, yes, I think that if Bach
and Mozart had had computer music to play with, they would
have been very thrilled by it. And I imagine they would
have done interesting things.
Pennell
Is there something that you can see on the horizon that
might be the next, the next tool that composers have
available to them?
Shatin
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I think we're really more in a period where we have many
different kinds of tools, and this issue of standardization
is what's really crucial. Just as it is in the computer
industry where there's a move toward convergence of
platforms. I think that if we have that, then we could have
instruments developed where this shelf life of one or two
years would not be the problem that it is today. I think
that's, for me, one of the single most problematic issues of
dealing with the world of electronic music. There is no __
stability whatsoever, and this really does have some very
major implications for what the longevity of any particular
piece can be. And that of course is a huge problem. If at
the time of Mozart pieces had been written for instruments
that we no longer had any way to access now, that would be a
problem. There are people working on this issue, but I
think it's going to take a lot of effort to solve it.
Music-"Hearing Things" by Judith Shatin
Bridge
This is With Good Reason and we're listening to "Hearing Things",
a composition by Dr. Judith Shatin, professor of music at the
University of Virginia whose work has been recognized by the
Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and Public Policy.
Interview
Pennell
Dr. Shatin, in describing your piano trio "Ignoto Numine",
you wrote, "The work suggests certain aspects of traditional
sonata and concerto form but only to annihilate them". Do you
view yourself as the kind of person who's always seeking to cross
traditional boundaries?
Shatin
I'm certainly a person who likes to explore and to push
limits. In my piano trio "Ignoto Numine" I was very interested
in the metaphorical aspects of what I was attempting to do. When
I said that there were aspects of sonata and concerto form that I
wanted to annihilate, there are particular aspects of the form.
There are sort of "templates". Certain kinds of things that
always happen in a particular way and what I was trying to do
was, again, to create music that one can follow in the present,
that has a surface that can be responded to, but to in a sense
comment on some aspect of that tradition. That we've moved
beyond that, there are other ways to think about it. I also
think of music in a very passionate, explosive kind of way. And
so for me, in that sense, it's also about breaking boundaries.
Music-"Ignoto Numine" by Judith Shatin
Pennell
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Well certainly I hear that passion and explosiveness at the
end of the piece. And you also, in addition to calling upon the
musicians to play their instruments, they have to use their
voices too. How do you, in what other ways do you expand the
limits of sound and form in your music?
Shatin
I'm always fascinated in creating new musical compositions,
to work with performers who play different instruments. Whether
it be clarinet or a flute or string instruments, and try new
techniques with them. And see what is particular to the
instrument that can be done and be explored. In fact right now I
am creating a new piece for a string quartet in electronics for
the Chrones Quartet. And I've taken the unusual step of renting
a violin for myself so that I can have the experience of hearing
the sound of the instrument as it goes through an effects
processor so that even though I don't really play the violin, it
gives me a kind of tactile and aural sensation that I find
invaluable.
Pennell
You've been very successful in acquiring grants and
receiving grants to do your work. From your perspective, what's
the current climate for composers and other artists receiving
grants to do work. Has that changed in any way over the past
couple of years or is it changing?
Shatin
Well, I think at the time when we are all concerned about
the future of the NEA and in our state the future of the Virginia
Commission for the Arts I think that it is changing. It's very
difficult being an artist in this country. It's much more
difficult than it is in European countries which have a very
strong tradition of supporting the arts. It's difficult in a
number of different ways: "A" to find funding to support the
creation of new work but also to have performances and not just
premieres. There are, of the few groups that are excited about
playing new music, there seems to be much more excitement about
the first performance and many wonderful compositions languish
after that period. So, it seems to me that, contrary to the
period when Mozart was alive when a piece that was twenty years
old was looked at as old hat and people were running to hear what
was new, we're now in a situation where we do have a huge history
of music that's performed very repeatedly. And while I certainly
don't want to give up this tradition, I think that it's
imperative to make room for the efforts of artists working today.
Pennell
How do we do that?
Shatin
One simple way to do it would be to strongly encourage
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ensembles, orchestras, to perform at least one American work on
every program that they do. Another piece of this is having
students in primary and secondary schools educated in music.
This is when you were asking me about grants for artists, I think
that creating an audience, creating a citizenry that is aware of
and enthusiastic about the arts and has had the arts as something
that sparks their creative imagination, that's absolutely key.
And I think that if we don't do that, we are going to have a
problem, period.
Pennell
You
country.
country?
Shatin
mentioned that it's difficult to be an artist in this
Is it more difficult to be a woman artist in this
There are many difficulties in answering that question. One
is that no good statistical work has really been done on it. Our
anecdotal evidence is that yes, there are certain barriers. I
can think of many experiences in my own past where my gender made
it more difficult for me to be an artist, to be a composer in
particular. Ranging from little comments such as when I was a
composition fellow at Tanglewood and the first comment to me was,
"Ooh, a lady composer.", as though that were some kind of very
small insect. Those kinds of things either make one more
determined, as I believe they did in my case, or would make one
give up. And I think that it has made some people give up. On
the other hand, as president from 1989 to 1993 of American Women
Composers, which has had its headquarters in Washington D.C., I
have really become aware of so much really exceptional music
created by women in this country and elsewhere that I'm really
optimistic about the possibilities for women composers.
Pennell
Now you're also creating the international alliance for
women in music. What are your goals for that organization?
Shatin
Two prior organizations, American Women Composers and the
International League of Women Composers decided that we would be
stronger as one group and that we wanted to broaden our base.
Instead of having just "composers" in our title that we were
going to create the International Alliance for Women in Music.
This group has actually just taken off, it officially began on
January 1st, 1995. We're having a major celebration on June 12th
of this year at the National Museum for Women in the Arts in
Washington, D.C. where the American Women Composers has had its
ongoing yearly concert of juried music by women for some years
now.
Pennell
We've talked about barriers of having audiences accept your
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1. work, barriers that women composers face and barriers- to
receiving funding to compose. Since you face these kind of
obstacles all the time, why do you do what you.do?
Shatin
I do what I do because I love what I do. There's really not
a wonderful rationale other than that because there are so many
difficulties that I think if you weren't really enthusiastic
about the process itself you wouldn't do it. I really enjoy all
aspects of it. I like the part that involves solitude, I enjoy
the collaborative part when I'm working with performers who are
really expert at their instruments who are also open to the new
kinds of possibilities of what they can do with their
instruments. I really enjoy rehearsal, watching music take
shape. In fact for me that's at least as exciting as the final
performance of a work.
Pennell
Would you say that your job involves more solitude or more a
collaboration?
Shatin
Well, there are two pieces to my job and my teaching at the
University of Virginia it's very much of a collaborative
enterprise with my students, although of course I, there's a
solitude of doing preparatory work for teaching. But that piece
of it keeps me very involved and engaged. As far as the
composing itself is concerned, there is a lot of work that's done
in solitude. I'm not sure exactly what the percentages are, my
guess is that more of it is done in solitude than with others.
So in a sense it's a very kind of internal journey that one
makes.
Pennell
And I would imagine you have to be fairly independent to be
able to deal with the solitude and also to deal with the
obstacles.
Shatin
I think that being independent is absolutely essential for
being an artist. If you are buffeted about by all of the
difficulties that we've mentioned I think you wouldn't be able to
manage. But also it's a kind of dwelling in the life of the mind
and the spirit. That's very enriching as well.
Music-"Stringing the Bow" by Judith Shatin
Pennell
In your work teaching students, how do you approach teaching
students to appreciate traditions but also create their own voice
in composition?
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Shatin
You've just asked a very difficult question. For my
composition students I really try to help them understand what
they're doing and extend it to reach further. We spend a fair
amount of time looking at music that others have created which is
always a terrific source of inspiration. I also teach courses in
music theory which are involved in understanding music of the
past and sometimes of the present as well. How it's put
together, what kinds of ideas are behind the music, what kinds__of
ideas are structured in the music. And then they have the
opportunity to create pieces, either modeled on things we've
studied or within some kind of set of guidelines. And wherever
possible I arrange for us to also perform these pieces, because
it's one thing to think about them and another thing to hear them
and to deal with the practicalities of performance. And although
most of my students are performers themselves, that's very
different from actually having to put something down on paper
that another person can read and turn into what it is that you
had in your imagination.
Pennell
Is that difficult as a composer to turn over your music in
essence to performers who may havedifferent ideas from you for
how it should sound?
Shatin
Well it really depends on the performer because I have had
wonderful performers who have given me excellent suggestions that
I've happily adopted and I have also had performers who weren't
so wonderful and weren't really able to project my ideas. So I
think there is really a very large gamut there and I think it
does depend on the performer.
Pennell
I know that you're very interested in crossing boundaries
and in exploring new sounds. Is there anything that's sacred to
you? A boundary that you wouldn't want to cross, or a barrier
that you wouldn't want to try to overcome?
Shatin
I believe that there are certain kinds of nuances in human
performance, that there is simply no other way to create moreover
the quality of tambour that traditional music provides I also
wouldn't want to give up, so in a sense maybe that's a boundary
that I don't want to break. I want rather to embrace both.
Pennell
Great. Well thank you very much Dr. Judith Shatin for
joining us on With Good Reason.
Shatin
Thank you.
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OUTRO
Next week, insects outnumber humans one million to one. And when
we try to control their numbers, the bugs win every time. Join
guest host Lisa Lafata for a look at managing insect populations.
This is With Good Reason. The project coordinator is Michael
McDowell. Carolyn Elliott is the producer and Kevin Piccini
wrote the theme music.
Judith Shatin's composition "Coal" was made possible by Mary
Cathleen Ernst and a grant from the Lilla Wallace Reader's Digest
Arts Partners Program. I'm Brenda Pennell.
This program is produced with the help of WMRA, Harrisonburg.
Thanks also to the University of Virginia.
Announcer
With Good Reason is produced for the Virginia Higher Education
Broadcasting Consortium for the State Council of Higher Education
and public radio stations serving Virginia.
The views expressed are not necessarily those of the consortium
or this station.
To comment on today's program or to receive tapes or transcripts,
call toll free, l-800-245-2434.
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