Articulate the nature of your project with clear description.
My interests lay in the spontaneity of music...the unconscious and conscious processes that allow and influence a composition through the embodied flow of creativity. Thus, I designed my practicum, entitled “Life Autotelic OR The Improvised Life”, to structure the development and composition of a multi-layered solo piece of music hoping to discover a practice as an improvisational composer; refining my own unique approach, process and strategies for composition.
This would be acomplished through open-minded research, soulful exploration and the experimentation of new improvisational knowledge. I visualized a complex piece deep in personal storyline. I was able to learn, process and document my discoveries by way of a new recording, notation and editing program called Logic Studio 8. But first, I began by familiarizing myself with a simpler system called Garage Band.
I also wanted to begin putting my interdisciplinary practice into a teaching environment, deepening and expanding my practice while developing a greater understanding of my chosen field.
Articulate your personal assessment of what happened, the result and overall reflection of your experience.
Made evident to me during my Practicum Semester, composition is to become a very important and rich addition to my practice. Along with learning new software, I was successful in creating five original compositions, richly textured, playfully complex, and as some would call them, “risky sound pieces”.[1] These pieces included two collaborations, one with a performance artist and another with a poet. My use of language played with the border between sense and nonsense, provoking questions about how language can express meaning beyond the boundaries of language[2].
In terms of intellectual inquiry, several books deepened my understanding of creative practice, including: Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention and Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, A Woman’s Book of Creativity, by C. Diane Ealy and RSVP Cycles, by Lawrence Halprin along with study of John Cage, Meredith Monk and Laurie Anderson, all helped to amplify possibilities in performance.
Conversation Series CD[3] has emerged consisting of compositions realized during my Practicum semester. These pieces have been adorned with sensitive experimental vocal techniques, spontaneous spoken word and volumes of computerized applications. I was further able to develop mentoring relationships by attending a workshop with Meredith Monk’s company. This influenced how I experience myself as a performer, expanding both my theatrical and movement vocabulary.
Continued opportunities for composing are being sustained because of the collaborations during my Practicum semester. This is leading to self-confidence, technical prowess and joyful autonomy.
My practicum took me to a new level as a musician; using it as an opportunity to learn new tools and knowledge that allow me to (with a degree of reliance) incorporate spontaneous experimentation and improvisation while composing. I feel I can now introduce myself with confidence to the community that, “I am a composer.”
Having recorded the fruition of this semester’s work, I wanted to look beyond the traditional ways of thinking about audience; posting my work on a several websites, inviting friends and neighbors to experience my music and to offer feedback. The web afforded me the opportunity to engage listeners in a new way; opening up different ways of thinking about the public, community and audience.
The body of my work (both compositionally and poetically) can be accessed through these Internet formats.
Web Site:
MySpace:
Art and Culture Social Web Site:
http://www.artandculture.com (artist: debby watt)
Reverbnation Music Site:
http://www.reverbnation.com (search: debby watt)
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/DebbyBolandWatt
Photographs Only:
Flickr.com (search: debby watt)
Documentation of process during Practicum
Conversation Series: This series consists of several vocal pieces of music that feature conversation as a theme. I’m fascinated by language, foreign or fabricated. The strangeness of a foreign tongue always catches my attention; playing a sort of game with my mind. I think that this aspect of my music will capture the listener’s attention as well; keeping it for the duration of the piece. All my compositions are now recorded on a CD of the same name.
Composition #1
BaBaBa
Composed, Performed & Produced by: Debby Watt
BaBaBa was composed in a manner suitable for any Experimental Artist...Spontaneously! This piece is constructed of pure consciousness...a performative sound thread. BaBaBa was my first attempt at using GarageBand and I found it very simple to interpret and use. All the instrumentation (other than vocals) were created on a Midi Keyboard. I began layering sounds one by one, complimenting them with subsequent applications. The vocals are improvisational “gibberish”.
Keyboards (piano, piano/strings, synths & warm glow chords), Orchestral Bassoon, Orchestral Glockenspiel & Telephone Lines (vocal application).
“BaBaBa is very playful... you’re clearly having fun playing with the range of sounds you can create. The playful “dings” punctuate the chromatic piano lines, play[ing] off of your softly percussive utterances tickle[ing] my ear. It’s over before I’m ready for it to be.” [4]
Composition #2
Conversations ~ “We Have The Stars”
Composed, Performed & Produced by: Debby Watt
We Have The Stars was composed spontaneously by layering musical ideas by way of GarageBand. The piece was originally named “Horn Solo” as I considered the piece finished before the vocals were applied. Once I decided to experiment with vocals, a track of vocal “gibberish”, with an accent and a subsequent (understandable) English verse, were recorded. I ended up using both vocal tracks instead of choosing just one (as I had originally planned). An interpretive duet? Possibly.
Basically, what I’m learning (and prefer) is to not plan, expect or decide on anything until I’ve “played it out”... all the way, living with the assemblage of recorded tracks, playing with layers and keeping an open mind as to how the music wants to grow. It’s all in the flow you know.
Instrumentation
Orchestra String Ensemble, Xtra Cello (section legato), Orchestra English Horn, Orchestra Celesta (piano & keyboards) & Ambient Vocals
“The rising half-step motif at the beginning of this piece opens out into a contrapuntal, expansive landscape. I love when the motif is picked up by the English horn. I hear a little Aaron Copland. I feel a little bit of Dvorzak’s New World Symphony.
This movement creates such a strong sense of place to me, like the world out of which
the next movement is born. All this from two little notes. I hear an intimate conversation, a song of celebration and love and life. It sounds to me like two people cooing over their baby [or] two people reflecting on the long journey of their lives. I love the edges between sense and nonsense, melodic and poetic, lamentation and joy. Sometimes it sounds like you[r] voice speaks all languages at once. Music of the stars, Debby. I’m profoundly affected by this piece. I could live in this music for a while.” [5]
Composition #3
Dinner For One
Arranged &/or Composed, Performed & Produced by: Debby Watt
A Kellie Lynch Performance Art Piece:
December 9th and 16th
Good Shepherd Center (9th), University Heights &
Community Center (16th), Seattle, WA
Doors @7:30 Show @ 8:30
My role in Dinner For One was to compose &/or assemble 20 minutes of music to be used during Kellie’s performance. Kellie also gave me a list of pieces she wanted me to consider using. This version is the first draft I submitted.
Instrumentation:
All audio tracks, printed in the right hand column, are sampled from purchases off iTunes, original track of An Affair to Remember with keyboards by Hans Brehmer and vocals by Debby are reverb-ed & phased (to death) for a dizzying and disoriented effect and also used was the Applause FX 01 Loop.
Composition #3 & 1/2
Dinner For One (rewrite)
Arranged &/or Composed, Performed & Produced by: Debby Watt
A Kellie Lynch Performance Art Piece:
Instrumentation:
Audio tracks are sampled from purchases off iTunes OR from YouTube. Original track of An Affair to Remember with keyboards by Hans Brehmer and vocals by Myself, are reverb-ed & phased (to death) for a dizzying and disoriented effect along with an Applause FX 01 Loop application. Added Logic Studio Applications:
Crying Baby Isabelle.caf, Cry Cartoon 1.caf, Thunder and Rain 01, 2, 3, 4, Bell Buoy.caf, Bell Tower.caf, Gas Station Bell.caf and Escape B Tuba.caf
Composition #4
Iroko ~ Tree
Composed, Performed & Produced by: Debby Watt
Lyrics by: Dakota Darkhorse
Iroko ~ Tree is the third composition added to my Conversation Series. Composed of twenty-six tracks, it is my first composition composed using Logic Studio 8. Several days were spent going through hundreds of sampled sounds and loops that are included within Logic. After choosing my favorites I began to sense where I wanted this tune to head musically. Lyrics are from a poem written by Dakota Darkhorse (http://www.dakotadarkhorse.com).
Dakota and I had been in conversation about collaborating for several weeks. I finally settled on his poem “Iroko”, feeling that I could do it justice. I continued to work from an improvisational frame of mind, without preformed ideas or melodies...just waiting for the music and lyrics to speak to me. The ending was quite a surprise! I love how it appears in mid-sentence that I’ve disappeared... having perhaps, turned into a tree.
Instrumentation:
Debby’s Voice (10 tracks), African Skies Voices (Loop), African Skies Kit (Loop), Sanskrit Darabuka (Loop), Sanskrit Manjira 01, 03 & 04 (Loop), Sanskrit Udu 01 (Loop), Jacaranda Singers 01,02, 03, 05 & 06 (Loop), Jacaranda Percussion 02 (Loop), Jacaranda Marimba 02 (Loop), Tambourine & HH (Loop), India Loop 01, Tribal Groove 02 (Loop), Turkish Morning Drum 01 (Loop), Capitol E Violins 2 (Loop with key adjustments), Melodic Piano (Loop with key adjustments), Concert Hall Piano 20 (Loop with key adjustments)
Composition #5
Where Are You Now...my Love?
Composed, Performed & Produced by: Debby Watt
Where Are You Now...my love?
Instrumentation:
GarageBand Applications: Piano (Concert Hall Piano 13, 14, & 18), Harpsichord (Court Harpsichord 08), Harp (Escape F Harp), Acoustic Bass (Scheme Low Strings 01), Xtra Bass Section Legato, Tibetan Singing Bowls, Orchestra Trombone Section, Kits (Desire E Orchestral Kit), Olympus Voices, Ambient Vocals (3 tracks) and Vocal Radio Effect (1 track)
Composition #6
Goodbye Guardian Angel
Produced, Composed & Performed by: Debby Watt
Lyrics by: Dakota Darkhorse
Goodbye Guardian Angel is my second collaboration with Dakota Darkhorse (http://www.myspace.com/darkhorse1804), a Spoken Word Artist from Connecticut that I met on MySpace last year. Iroko ~ Tree was the first product of our collaborative interests. Dakota is a young man that impressed me with strong prose and determination to “make good”. Now, in the midst of compiling a new CD, he contacted me about writing music to his poem, Goodbye Guardian Angel. Directives, from Dakota, for composing this piece included listening to and following the soundscape of a tune called, 9 Crimes by Damien Rice. As in song 9 Crimes, Goodbye Guardian Angel’s metronome is set at 73 beats per minute, uses the Aeolian mode and is written as a duet for Dakota and myself; exhibiting melancholic melodies with a slow purposeful and mingling conversation-like chorus.
The vocals are completely improvised; hoping to discover a melody within the piano, clarinet and harp tracks that I previously recorded (also improvised). Notes have been aligned, changed and/or enhanced, within the vocals and instrumentation, in order to improve flow, meaning and overall sound quality. Before completion, I’ll need to make adaptations and spend time with the mix when Dakota adds or sends me his vocals.
Instrumentation
Orchestra Steinway Piano, Classical Piano track 1 & 2, Orchestra Clarinet Section, Orchestra Harp track 1,2 & 3, Beats; Exotic World Beat 06 loop, Beats; Abstract Atmosphere 046 loop, Havana Congas 01, Mixed Choir, Legato & Ambient Vocals 1 merg.2.ai, merg.7, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 21, 22, 26, 30 & 31.
Composition #7
woolie when (once upon a time things were warm and nice)
Produced, Composed & Performed by: Debby Watt
Poetess: A.K.Mimi Allin
I traveled to Seattle, several months ago, to participate in a Goddard graduates’ performance art piece. This is where I met Mimi Allin. After exchanging email addresses I did some research; finding Mimi to be a delightfully prolific poet. I was drawn to her poem, woolie when (once upon a time things were warm and nice); contacting her straightaway, asking if she would allow me to compose music for it. Mimi agreed and off I went! Though the poem consists of gibberish and subsequent translation, I instantly understood the soundscape for this piece. It would be of Celtic descent. At completion, 58 audio files (loops and vocal recordings), using both Logic Studio 8 and Garage Band, have been utilized.
The mood of this piece is representative of someone who has lost the stability of home through the wandering of a parent figure. This act is demonstrated amply, by the cacophony of sound followed by scattered and gentle aural reminders of the children left behind (fireflies upon the lawn). I believe the evolution of the poetic Spoken Word and the music that supports it, works well together.
Instrumentation
Logic Studio Applications using Audio Files & Loops:
Irish Chiann Harp 03.1, 03#1.1, 03#1.2, 03#2.1, 03#3.3, 03#3.1, Irish Chiann Harp 05.1, 05#1.1, 05#1.2, 05.2, 05.3, 05#3.1, 05#4.2, 05.5, Irish Chiann Harp 10, Irish Chiann Harp 18, 18.1, Irish Chiann Harp 20, Irish Chiann Violin 08, Irish Frost Harp 02, 02.2, Indulge Harp 01.4, Irish Breton Harp 01, Irish Breton Harp 06, Orchestra Harp Strum 09, Orchestra Harp Strum 11, Orchestra Harp Pattern 02, 02.1, 02.2, 02.3, 02.5, 02.6, Irish Lore Bodhran 04, Irish Lore Bodhran 07.1, Tryst All, String Section #EB626.ca, Escape G Violins 1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.6, Escape B Flute, Float A Flutes, Desire A Basses, Stormy F Basses 1, Irish Lore Voice 02, 02.1
Debby’s Vocal Recordings with Garage Band:
Voice English 1, 1.1, Voice Old 2#1.1, Voice Old 4.2, High Old 1, Low English 1.1, Long Echoes 1, Long Echoes 4.2, Long Echoes 5#1.6, 5#1.10, 5#1.14, 5#1.19,
“...I got the CD. I got the CD. Thank you! Wow. It was surprising and delightful."
Poetess: A.K.Mimi Allin
Scissorly Submission
Photography, Performer & Producer: Debby Watt
Music “Lost” by: Annie Lennox from her album Songs of Mass Destruction
Ensemble, I returned home very interested in using movement. So, I took some time off from my music studies to shoot some photos. It was late in the day and I had to follow the sun. As I held up my prop to capture its image I saw a shadow beyond...laying at my feet, on the concrete. It was me! A kind of long, distorted Shadow Portrait. I began moving, bending, leaning, while continuing to snap photos. Before returning to the same spot the next day (to see if there was something I might have missed, I grabbed a pair of scissors on the way out the door. Back at home; I viewed the stills, noticing a nice story unfolding. It was then that I decided to load them into iMovie (a video application on my computer). After placing them in an order I liked, I sped up the sequencing as if it were a film. It was in my mind to compose the music that would accompany, “Scissorly Submission”...but when I heard Annie Lennox’s song, “Lost”, it was just too perfect to replace with an original.
[1] G3 Advisor, Response Paper, Lin, Ju-Pong (2008), Goddard College, MFA-IA Program, Port Townsend, WA.
[2] Lin, J., Ibid.
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