Symphony #2 is a melding, a blending, a celebration of my
heritages. This diverse legacy comes in four forms: family (my
ancestors); influences from the places I have lived; a love for the
outdoors and its music (especially the calls of birds); and, finally,
musical heritages from composers such as Bartok and a cornucopia of
ethnic musics that I have played, listen to and studied. In
essence, this work is a musical autobiography.
I descend from farmers, from people that worked the land in the prairie
portion of Canada and the United States. This tradition, grounded
in the soil, tied through roots to life-giving sustenance, is an
indelible part of me even though I am two generations removed.
The sense of purpose, of community and the expanse of vision (both in
the physical and metaphysical sense) of the plains states is firmly in
my bones. I have also recently gathered data on my family tree and
those cultures (Irish, Scott, Dutch and German) can be heard in this
work.
Most of my adult life has been lived in areas in Northern California,
Montana and, now, Virginia, that are abounding with rivers.
This flowing of water, of turbulent rapids and placid eddies is a
central theme in this work. Many of these areas have been
beautiful and pristine and I spent many an hour (but still not enough!)
listening to the ripple of water, the songs of birds, the bugle of an
elk, and the whisper of wind in the trees.
I have been blessed to share experiences with many different peoples:
in the Lakota and Anishinabe sweat lodge, at a Dakota Sun Dance, and in
song and drum with members of the Yoruba and Dagara. There I have
found great beauty, power, and have drawn great courage from indigenous
ways of viewing life. The Middle East, a region of the world so
deeply affecting ours right now, has some especially entrancing music
with mesmerizing rhythms and scales.
All these diverse ideas flow together in Symphony #2, uniting my roots
and influences (both musical and genetic) with the flow of water, the
flow of life itself. In the aural stamp of each voice of an
ancestor, each culture that has touched me, each bird who sang
(seemingly for me), each river and stream where I dipped my fly or feet
or paddle, each redwood tree raising my eyes upward to the heavens:
through all of this, my life has been sung.
Tips for Performance
The structure is Classical in form. Movement 1 is an overture with a
slow, somber introduction punctuated with birdcalls. This section
rises in intensity to a fanfare. A second, somewhat faster
section is a pan-diatonic chorale, flowing and, gradually, transforming
from Eb to E major (lydian). One advantage of music over water is
that music can flow uphill, as does this final section of this movement!
Movement 2 is a theme and
variations with the saxophones beginning in a minuet-like 3/8
occasionally alternating with measures of 2/4. The movement
remains in or near the key of Bb with cascading whole tone and
octatonic counterpoint creating a sense of mystery, adding additional
layers of forward momentum. Each variation flows into the next,
seamlessly overlapping.
Movement 3 is a lively rondo
with the first theme a raucous Hungarian-like D (almost) dorian theme
in changing 6/8, 3/8 and 2/4 measures. This homage to the music
of Bartok is followed by a tango where the accompaniment is solidly in
Eb but the melody is not quite so sure with frequent major sevenths
belying the true tonality. After a return to the first theme, the
lower instruments combine with many special effects to create the drone
of the Highland Bagpipes (or is it an Australian didjeridoo?).
These themes return and contrast in typical rondo form to the
end. This is a very happy movement!
Craig Thomas Naylor
Kalispell, Montana, January 4, 2000
Revised, September 7, 2004, Fredericksburg, Virginia
Notes To The Conductor
Percussion
1) 4 Timpani
2) Marimba
3) Bells (also Claves, Castanets, Vibes, tubular Bells [share
Tub. Bells with 'Tub. Bells"].
4) Tubular Bells (also xylophone, sus. cym. [ can share with
perc. 1]), light chain for bell buzz
5) Percussion 1: snare & field drum (also Sus. Cym, claves,
triangle [or other ringing metal], water in tub [for dunking metal],
gembee [a.k.a. djembe - OK to sub a third snare for three-tone set].
6) Bass Drum (also triangle [or other ringing metal], water tub
[can share with Perc. 1].
7) Percussion 2: vibra slap, 4 Tom Toms, Wood block, Dumbek
[Middle Eastern drum with metal shell] - dubeque, dubek [ceramic shell]
are other names or similar instruments. OK to sub 3 Tom Toms for
dumbek.
8) Percussion 3: Triangle, Tam Tam (with light chain for buzz),
Crash Cym.
• If you do not have enough players to cover all percussion parts,
eliminate in order: 1 - marimba, 2 - timpani.
Mvt. I
• The beginning is a colored Bb Pedal. As is clear by tubas
muffled with towels, exact intonation is not at the top of the list of
desired characteristics. The effect of a low, ominous rumble is
the important aspect.
• Bird calls: the exact rhythms are not important. The effect
should be as if there is no pulse/beat. “Dissonant” intervals
such as major sevenths should roll off the instrument gracefully,
creating joyous, exuberance, the friendly chatter of birds; not
cacophony.
• The chant at D is an East Indian/Tibetan style that should sweep up
through the overtones as the "eee" is approached and then descend as
the tongue returns to “o,” – all while clearly singing and hearing the
Bb fundamental. The important consideration is to always have the
lips in an O shape. The tongue moves, the lips do not.
Practicing in the shower is recommended!
• At D, the percussion should have the feel of randomness, as if the
work is without pulse. The tenor drum, drawn from the Gagaku
tradition of Japan, also should have the timeless feel. If
crotales are available, a Bb one works well for one of the metal
instruments that is dipped. A Bb bar from an Orff metalaphone
also sounds great.
• F should have a seamless, flowing quality. Small streams grow,
join together, and grow again, the interplay of currents in a river,
the gentle but compelling flow to the sea.
• At J, low instrument long tones - OK to breathe and sneak back
in. Stagger breathing.
• The ending piccolo (black-capped chickadee) should make the movement
hang in suspense, an unanswered question.
Mvt. II
• This movement should be elegant. It will be easy for younger
groups to make the sixteenths jerky and disjointed but they should flow
smoothly.
• Eighth notes are more important than sixteenths. Eighths are
the flow, sixteenths the side currents and eddies. Sixteenths
should rise out from the rest (and often recede back) - as a trout
rises for a dry fly in a river.
• At G, the trumpet and trombone chorale is most important. They
are gradually joined by horns, oboe, etc., and build to a tall,
polytonal chord at I. This chord and the sixteenths celebrate the
richness of life and should be played with great love and joy,
embracing lushness rather than stressing the dissonance.
• At G, the West African Drum rhythm should be last in order of
importance, a soft heartbeat behind the flow of the river (eighth
notes) and the side currents of the sixteenths. Lowering dynamic
to mp or p might be in order.
Mvt. III
• This should be a wild dance, raucous, at times unruly, and should be
played as fast as possible. It is highly playful. When each
theme returns, it is altered a bit, often with an extra measure or two
to throw the ear of the audience off and to play with their sense of
expectation. As with the other movements, wide leaps of the
seventh should roll with glee out of the instrument, not be forced with
a preconceived notion of dissonance for major sevenths and other such
intervals.
• Dancing, movement, eurhythmics of the basic rhythmic pattern are
highly recommended. Watching a video or learning a Middle Eastern
or Balkan dance would be a great experience that would help clarify the
rhythmic patterns.
• Dumbek part at A - if too virtuosic, it is OK to simplify by leaving
out some notes, some rolls. If this part can be played, however,
it will be incredibly exciting.
• M. 10 - Bn 1, tbn 1, t. sax - important to have the 7/4 feel against
the 7/8 feel. This rhythmic figure occurs occasionally throughout
the movement.
• At C -Jazz/tango phrasing in trombones. Lean on tenuto, very
short staccato.
• At Letter E, the melody is in the picc, bn 2, bass clarinets, bari
sax and should be very prominent. The vowels in the drone
are performed while playing instrument using the same syllables and
tongue motion as the chant in the opening movement. Horn lip
slurs: stopped - valves 1, 2, 3 on F side will work. If
unstopped is necessary for balance - open on Bb side will work.
Each sound of background should blend to form bagpipe drone with some
didjeridoo effects in the horn and flutter tongue. The gradually
speeding rhythms (such as fl 2 in m. 71) can be reversed (gradually
slowing). Encourage musicians to be creative in rhythms, number
of pitches, etc. It is OK for them to choose one sound, play it
for a while and then switch. Measures are numbered in parts but
you will need to give a good cue at F.
• Letter G can easily be made incredibly dissonant. Treating each
entrance of the fugato with joy and playfulness will bring out a
different side of this section.
˙• The horn countermelody at H fits clearly into the harmonic framework
and, again, should be played emphasizing joy and ebullience.