SKETCHES: THE MANILA COMPOSERS LAB 2009 - by HueyChing Chong
Special Thanks to Ms. HueyChing Chong for provided the rights for SMCC to share the review.
The inaugural Manila Composers Lab was held at the College of Music, University of the Philippines from 4th to 11th June 2009. This workshop was organized by the Department of Composition and Theory.
Participants from around Asia were invited to participate in this workshop. Moreover, this experimental workshop provides young composers with chances to work directly with musicians and experiment with the practicality of woodwind instruments. The objectives of this workshop are listed below (quoted from the concept paper provided by the organizer):
(i) Initiate epistemological dialogues with composers from various cultures and backgrounds that will hopefully continue beyond the duration of the event.
(ii) Facilitate an exchange of paradigms and compositional technique between the participants as mediated by the various elements of the workshop.
(iii) Foster an intensive laboratory environment that would encourage extra- conventional thinking that is inclusive of aesthetic differences.
Names of participants and their home countries are listed below: (i)Gatot Danar Sulistiyanto (Indonesia) (ii)Motohide Taguchi (Japan) (iii)Chong Huey Ching (Malaysia)
(iv)Joyce Tan Cheng Ai (Malaysia) (v)Teo Sin Yee (Malaysia) (vi)Jonathan Crehan (New Zealand) (vii)William Harsono (New Zealand) (viii)Jahanna Aurea van Gestel (Philippines)
Above is the introduction on the basic concept and information regarding the Manila Composers Lab. In this following paragraphs, please allow me to write this article in the point of view as a participant and to share my wonderful and educative experiences that I gained during the workshop.
In October 2008, I took part in my first composition master class conducted by renowned Philippines composer, Dr. Jonas Baes organized by Cultural Centre, University of Malaya. After the master class, I was honoured to be invited by Dr. Baes to take part in the Manila Composers Lab organized by him and his students.
At the beginning stage, I was asked to send in a sketch composed for any combinations of woodwind instruments from the standard woodwind quintet (Flute, Oboe, Clarinet in Bb, Horn in F, and Bassoon). In other words, I could send in a sketch for solo, duo, trio, quartet or quintet. When I received this information from Dominic Quejada a.k.a Nick (one of the master-mind behind this workshop), I was so exciting about getting started with the concept I have in mind, thinking that I must compose something impressive, but I totally neglected the term “sketch”! As a young and lacking in experience composer, I did not realized the term “sketch” has such a big different from “completed work”. In my mind, I always thought that when I present a piece of work, I have to be hundred percent sure that I had put in all my efforts and all the ideas I had before I submit to someone. Therefore, I spent around four months to conceptualize and put all my ideas into a five- movement piece composed for woodwind quartet called “The Journey of Stars”. This piece is approximately nine minutes long.
When I completed “The Journey of Stars” under the guidance of my kind and patient teacher, Mr. Yii Kah Hoe, I was so proud of myself! This is not because I composed a master piece but it is because this was the first piece I composed that was considered a big- scale work among my previous compositions. I was happy about it and knew I had done the best I could for that moment. But of course, there are still more rooms to improve before I could call myself a true composer. With the excitement and anticipation I had, I sent my finalized score to Nick, thinking that all I had to do is waiting for June to come and by then, I will be able to hear my music being performed live! All the hard works and lack of sleep will be paid off in June. But...just like most of the novels you had read, there is always a “but”...I received an e-mail from Nick few days after I submitted my score. He wrote to me politely stating that my submitted score was too “complete”. There is no space for further development and experiment. What they requested was a “sketch”, not a “complete work”, so that there are still rooms to develop and experiment further during the workshop. Due to my wrong interpretation on the word “sketch”, I was left with two choices. First, I work on a new piece and submit it as soon as possible or I write a new piece on spot when I arrive at Manila in June.
I have to confess, I was “devastated” after I received the e-mail, because I knew I would not be able to hear “The Journey of Stars” being performed live after all the excitement and anticipation. Even though so, as a passionate and egoistic Leo, I had decided to work on a new piece for woodwind quintet within three days. Yes, woodwind quintet. Indeed I was led by my greed at that time, hoping to write for all instruments so that I could get the chance to work with all musicians and learn about all the instruments during the eight-day workshop. I was not aware about the fact that sometimes, less is more. My teacher kept emphasizing to me that it is important to submit a piece that I really want to learn and develop on, not a piece that composed for the sake of composing. At that point, I understood what he meant, it is important to compose from the heart and also it is important for me to like my own composition before I submit it for the workshop. Nevertheless, I submitted “Fly”, a piece composed in three days for woodwind quintet. The piece was accepted as a sketch but I was not at all happy about it, because I knew I composed it for the sake of composing it. I did not put my heart into it even though I did try my best to do the best I could at that moment. It was not a satisfying process.
However, when I arrived at Manila and once again met up with Dr. Jonas Baes, whom was my mentor during my participation in the Composers Lab, I was asked to compose a brand new piece. Surprisingly, I was very happy about it. Once again, I was being excited about composing a new piece even though I would have to complete it in two days so that the performers would have enough time to rehearse for the final concert.
During my first lesson with Dr. Baes, he told me about the music of an Asian composer who based some of his compositions on the concept of Chinese calligraphy. He asked me to think about a word that I like, and make some short fragments or sketches basing on the word I chose by the next morning. Few hours before the lesson, I was staring outside the window of Dr. Baes’ office while my friend, Joyce, was concentrating on notating down a tune that had haunted her for quite sometimes by sweeping her fingers across the honky-tonk piano in the office. By then, we were informed by Dr. Baes that we had to compose new pieces for the final concert. When I was staring blankly outside the window, the word “Kokoro” came into my mind. It is the title of the famous literature by Japanese writer, Natsume Sōseki. That was when I decided to compose my new piece based on the word “Kokoro”, which means “Heart”. In addition, I would like to clarify that it was not a requirement to compose a new piece apart from the submitted piece. Dr. Baes requested us to compose new pieces because he knew that this would help us to develop further in our composition technique and also the aesthetic side of our music.
Before I got my inspiration, Dr. Baes suggested to me that I should write a duet instead of a full quintet work. Like most of the young composers, I had this wrong concept of “the more instruments I used, the more exciting and colourful my music could be”. Because of this wrong concept, I was slightly disappointed about his suggestion which later proved me wrong. After I decided I would like to compose a piece based on “Kokoro”, I tried to “negotiate” with Dr. Baes about the instrumentation. At that point, I was convinced that only two instruments would not give me enough space to develop the sound and tone colour that I would like to achieve in this piece. Dr. Baes did not reject my idea of writing a trio directly, but instead, he told me that even with only two instruments, it is possible to create more than two simple tone colours. There are a lot of possibilities lie between only two instruments. By knowing my character which likes to be challenged, he told me that it is even more challenging to achieve the sound and tone colours that I had in mind through only two instruments compared to using more instruments. I accepted the challenge right away without considering much. A Leo will always stay a Leo!
However, I did not regret one bit after I accepted Dr. Baes suggestion. We decided to work on an interesting combination of Flute and Horn in F. These two instruments are not a common combination for duet because each of them owns a highly distinctive sound quality. Even though so, it was definitely not a “brand new” combination.
On the second day of the Composers Lab, I showed Dr. Baes the nine fragments of “Kokoro” that I composed. Then, he began to explain to me about the notion of movement and present. He also guided Joyce on the concept of interlocking rhythm. With these new concepts we just learn in mind, we “locked” ourselves away from the world for one and a half day during the weekends to concentrate solely on our new compositions. Without any exaggerations, we did not even leave the hotel room for meals! We survived on breads and a one-time delivery by a kind- hearted committee from the workshop. Nevertheless, we were enjoying the process!
Besides composing and rehearsing with musicians, all the participants also attended two very informative lectures conducted by Dr. Jonas Baes and Dr. Ramon Santos respectively. We also took a tour to visit the ethnomusicology department where a lot of traditional musical instruments being protected and displayed. Through these activities, I believed all of us learnt and got to know more about the development of contemporary art music and the current affairs that concerned the music scene in Philippines.
One of the most important experiences I gained through this workshop was sharing and communicating with the musicians directly about my thoughts and emotions when I was composing “Kokoro”. I had a very interesting and fun experience working with Raymond Sarreal (Flautist) and Mahler Villanueva (Horn player) during the rehearsals, especially Mahler. According to a good friend from the committee, Mahler came from a musical family and is an active musician who often tour Asia with the orchestra he is currently associated with. Because of this, he is always very conscious about his performance and always insists in giving the best performance. These, of course are traits of a professional musician worth to be respected. However, these were also the reasons that he was very stressful when he was forced to work on “Kokoro” in a very short period of time. He even came to a point where he confessed to me that as a classical-trained musician, his has weakness in improvisation and producing non-rounded, harsh tone which played an important role in “Kokoro”.
Furthermore, I remembered seeing Mahler sitting outside the rehearsal room and stared at the score of “Kokoro” blankly before the rehearsal began. He looked depressed. Honestly, I was quite worried and wondered did I write things that are highly unpractical for the Horn player. Therefore, I tried to communicate with him and told him stories to help him to get a better picture of my music. In return, he also pointed out to me regarding certain notations that might not function well practically with the horn. Raymond, Mahler, and I eventually worked together tightly and discussed about ways to make “Kokoro” more practical for both instruments. It was a great pleasure to work with both of them who are well-trained and highly professional.
The bond between participants and also the committees of the Composers Lab was also strongly grown over the eight-day programme. We, the participants and the committees (formed by highly talented young composers) even collaborated in writing a fun and unstructured piano piece. Dr. Baes also shared his talent in this “special impromptu project” by filling up a bar in between this piece. I was selected to play this “highly challenging” and “outrageous” piece by the end of the rehearsal on the day before the concert. It was a short piano solo piece that combined the geniuses of composers from around Asia. If I had to comment on it, it’s priceless! We had a great laugh and tonnes of fun composing it!
After all the hard works, finally, the concert day had arrived. Below is a list of new compositions from the participants composed for the concert:
(i) Abdominal Pain (for Oboe Solo) by Gatot Danar Sulistiyanto
(ii) Soliter (for Clarinet in Bb Solo) by Gatot Danar Sulistiyanto
(iii) For Flute Solo by Motohide Taguchi
(iv) Kokoro (for Flute and Horn in F) by Chong Huey Ching
(v) Shadow of fear (for Woodwind Quartet) by Joyce Tan Cheng Ai
(vi) Play (for Woodwind Quintet) by Teo Sin Yee
(vii)Shades of Rough (for Woodwind Quintet) by Jonathan Crehan
(viii) Fragment (for Woodwind Quintet) by William Harsono
(ix) Bakit Hindi (for Woodwind Quintet) by Jahanna Aurea van Gestel
Besides premiering new compositions by participants, the concert also featured a few compositions by the committees and some beautiful pieces from Schoenberg and Satie. Even though it was quite disappointing that the number of audience turned-up was quite little due to the fact that it was still school holiday; I would still said that we had a successful concert because all the composers were enjoying themselves, and all the sincere audience who turned-up to show their supports to the contemporary art music event had a great time as well!
Finally, I would like to conclude this article by expressing my gratitude to all the faculty and committee members who worked so hard to make this event meaningful and beneficial to us. Also, to everyone who was involved in this fun and educative event, I had a great time and I learnt a lot from everyone! May the bond of our friendships will continue to grow! Salamat (Thank you in Tagalog)!
Posted date: 10 Jan 2013
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The inaugural Manila Composers Lab was held at the College of Music, University of the Philippines from 4th to 11th June 2009. This workshop was organized by the Department of Composition and Theory.
Participants from around Asia were invited to participate in this workshop. Moreover, this experimental workshop provides young composers with chances to work directly with musicians and experiment with the practicality of woodwind instruments. The objectives of this workshop are listed below (quoted from the concept paper provided by the organizer):
(i) Initiate epistemological dialogues with composers from various cultures and backgrounds that will hopefully continue beyond the duration of the event.
(ii) Facilitate an exchange of paradigms and compositional technique between the participants as mediated by the various elements of the workshop.
(iii) Foster an intensive laboratory environment that would encourage extra- conventional thinking that is inclusive of aesthetic differences.
Names of participants and their home countries are listed below: (i)Gatot Danar Sulistiyanto (Indonesia) (ii)Motohide Taguchi (Japan) (iii)Chong Huey Ching (Malaysia)
(iv)Joyce Tan Cheng Ai (Malaysia) (v)Teo Sin Yee (Malaysia) (vi)Jonathan Crehan (New Zealand) (vii)William Harsono (New Zealand) (viii)Jahanna Aurea van Gestel (Philippines)
Above is the introduction on the basic concept and information regarding the Manila Composers Lab. In this following paragraphs, please allow me to write this article in the point of view as a participant and to share my wonderful and educative experiences that I gained during the workshop.
In October 2008, I took part in my first composition master class conducted by renowned Philippines composer, Dr. Jonas Baes organized by Cultural Centre, University of Malaya. After the master class, I was honoured to be invited by Dr. Baes to take part in the Manila Composers Lab organized by him and his students.
At the beginning stage, I was asked to send in a sketch composed for any combinations of woodwind instruments from the standard woodwind quintet (Flute, Oboe, Clarinet in Bb, Horn in F, and Bassoon). In other words, I could send in a sketch for solo, duo, trio, quartet or quintet. When I received this information from Dominic Quejada a.k.a Nick (one of the master-mind behind this workshop), I was so exciting about getting started with the concept I have in mind, thinking that I must compose something impressive, but I totally neglected the term “sketch”! As a young and lacking in experience composer, I did not realized the term “sketch” has such a big different from “completed work”. In my mind, I always thought that when I present a piece of work, I have to be hundred percent sure that I had put in all my efforts and all the ideas I had before I submit to someone. Therefore, I spent around four months to conceptualize and put all my ideas into a five- movement piece composed for woodwind quartet called “The Journey of Stars”. This piece is approximately nine minutes long.
When I completed “The Journey of Stars” under the guidance of my kind and patient teacher, Mr. Yii Kah Hoe, I was so proud of myself! This is not because I composed a master piece but it is because this was the first piece I composed that was considered a big- scale work among my previous compositions. I was happy about it and knew I had done the best I could for that moment. But of course, there are still more rooms to improve before I could call myself a true composer. With the excitement and anticipation I had, I sent my finalized score to Nick, thinking that all I had to do is waiting for June to come and by then, I will be able to hear my music being performed live! All the hard works and lack of sleep will be paid off in June. But...just like most of the novels you had read, there is always a “but”...I received an e-mail from Nick few days after I submitted my score. He wrote to me politely stating that my submitted score was too “complete”. There is no space for further development and experiment. What they requested was a “sketch”, not a “complete work”, so that there are still rooms to develop and experiment further during the workshop. Due to my wrong interpretation on the word “sketch”, I was left with two choices. First, I work on a new piece and submit it as soon as possible or I write a new piece on spot when I arrive at Manila in June.
I have to confess, I was “devastated” after I received the e-mail, because I knew I would not be able to hear “The Journey of Stars” being performed live after all the excitement and anticipation. Even though so, as a passionate and egoistic Leo, I had decided to work on a new piece for woodwind quintet within three days. Yes, woodwind quintet. Indeed I was led by my greed at that time, hoping to write for all instruments so that I could get the chance to work with all musicians and learn about all the instruments during the eight-day workshop. I was not aware about the fact that sometimes, less is more. My teacher kept emphasizing to me that it is important to submit a piece that I really want to learn and develop on, not a piece that composed for the sake of composing. At that point, I understood what he meant, it is important to compose from the heart and also it is important for me to like my own composition before I submit it for the workshop. Nevertheless, I submitted “Fly”, a piece composed in three days for woodwind quintet. The piece was accepted as a sketch but I was not at all happy about it, because I knew I composed it for the sake of composing it. I did not put my heart into it even though I did try my best to do the best I could at that moment. It was not a satisfying process.
However, when I arrived at Manila and once again met up with Dr. Jonas Baes, whom was my mentor during my participation in the Composers Lab, I was asked to compose a brand new piece. Surprisingly, I was very happy about it. Once again, I was being excited about composing a new piece even though I would have to complete it in two days so that the performers would have enough time to rehearse for the final concert.
During my first lesson with Dr. Baes, he told me about the music of an Asian composer who based some of his compositions on the concept of Chinese calligraphy. He asked me to think about a word that I like, and make some short fragments or sketches basing on the word I chose by the next morning. Few hours before the lesson, I was staring outside the window of Dr. Baes’ office while my friend, Joyce, was concentrating on notating down a tune that had haunted her for quite sometimes by sweeping her fingers across the honky-tonk piano in the office. By then, we were informed by Dr. Baes that we had to compose new pieces for the final concert. When I was staring blankly outside the window, the word “Kokoro” came into my mind. It is the title of the famous literature by Japanese writer, Natsume Sōseki. That was when I decided to compose my new piece based on the word “Kokoro”, which means “Heart”. In addition, I would like to clarify that it was not a requirement to compose a new piece apart from the submitted piece. Dr. Baes requested us to compose new pieces because he knew that this would help us to develop further in our composition technique and also the aesthetic side of our music.
Before I got my inspiration, Dr. Baes suggested to me that I should write a duet instead of a full quintet work. Like most of the young composers, I had this wrong concept of “the more instruments I used, the more exciting and colourful my music could be”. Because of this wrong concept, I was slightly disappointed about his suggestion which later proved me wrong. After I decided I would like to compose a piece based on “Kokoro”, I tried to “negotiate” with Dr. Baes about the instrumentation. At that point, I was convinced that only two instruments would not give me enough space to develop the sound and tone colour that I would like to achieve in this piece. Dr. Baes did not reject my idea of writing a trio directly, but instead, he told me that even with only two instruments, it is possible to create more than two simple tone colours. There are a lot of possibilities lie between only two instruments. By knowing my character which likes to be challenged, he told me that it is even more challenging to achieve the sound and tone colours that I had in mind through only two instruments compared to using more instruments. I accepted the challenge right away without considering much. A Leo will always stay a Leo!
However, I did not regret one bit after I accepted Dr. Baes suggestion. We decided to work on an interesting combination of Flute and Horn in F. These two instruments are not a common combination for duet because each of them owns a highly distinctive sound quality. Even though so, it was definitely not a “brand new” combination.
On the second day of the Composers Lab, I showed Dr. Baes the nine fragments of “Kokoro” that I composed. Then, he began to explain to me about the notion of movement and present. He also guided Joyce on the concept of interlocking rhythm. With these new concepts we just learn in mind, we “locked” ourselves away from the world for one and a half day during the weekends to concentrate solely on our new compositions. Without any exaggerations, we did not even leave the hotel room for meals! We survived on breads and a one-time delivery by a kind- hearted committee from the workshop. Nevertheless, we were enjoying the process!
Besides composing and rehearsing with musicians, all the participants also attended two very informative lectures conducted by Dr. Jonas Baes and Dr. Ramon Santos respectively. We also took a tour to visit the ethnomusicology department where a lot of traditional musical instruments being protected and displayed. Through these activities, I believed all of us learnt and got to know more about the development of contemporary art music and the current affairs that concerned the music scene in Philippines.
One of the most important experiences I gained through this workshop was sharing and communicating with the musicians directly about my thoughts and emotions when I was composing “Kokoro”. I had a very interesting and fun experience working with Raymond Sarreal (Flautist) and Mahler Villanueva (Horn player) during the rehearsals, especially Mahler. According to a good friend from the committee, Mahler came from a musical family and is an active musician who often tour Asia with the orchestra he is currently associated with. Because of this, he is always very conscious about his performance and always insists in giving the best performance. These, of course are traits of a professional musician worth to be respected. However, these were also the reasons that he was very stressful when he was forced to work on “Kokoro” in a very short period of time. He even came to a point where he confessed to me that as a classical-trained musician, his has weakness in improvisation and producing non-rounded, harsh tone which played an important role in “Kokoro”.
Furthermore, I remembered seeing Mahler sitting outside the rehearsal room and stared at the score of “Kokoro” blankly before the rehearsal began. He looked depressed. Honestly, I was quite worried and wondered did I write things that are highly unpractical for the Horn player. Therefore, I tried to communicate with him and told him stories to help him to get a better picture of my music. In return, he also pointed out to me regarding certain notations that might not function well practically with the horn. Raymond, Mahler, and I eventually worked together tightly and discussed about ways to make “Kokoro” more practical for both instruments. It was a great pleasure to work with both of them who are well-trained and highly professional.
The bond between participants and also the committees of the Composers Lab was also strongly grown over the eight-day programme. We, the participants and the committees (formed by highly talented young composers) even collaborated in writing a fun and unstructured piano piece. Dr. Baes also shared his talent in this “special impromptu project” by filling up a bar in between this piece. I was selected to play this “highly challenging” and “outrageous” piece by the end of the rehearsal on the day before the concert. It was a short piano solo piece that combined the geniuses of composers from around Asia. If I had to comment on it, it’s priceless! We had a great laugh and tonnes of fun composing it!
After all the hard works, finally, the concert day had arrived. Below is a list of new compositions from the participants composed for the concert:
(i) Abdominal Pain (for Oboe Solo) by Gatot Danar Sulistiyanto
(ii) Soliter (for Clarinet in Bb Solo) by Gatot Danar Sulistiyanto
(iii) For Flute Solo by Motohide Taguchi
(iv) Kokoro (for Flute and Horn in F) by Chong Huey Ching
(v) Shadow of fear (for Woodwind Quartet) by Joyce Tan Cheng Ai
(vi) Play (for Woodwind Quintet) by Teo Sin Yee
(vii)Shades of Rough (for Woodwind Quintet) by Jonathan Crehan
(viii) Fragment (for Woodwind Quintet) by William Harsono
(ix) Bakit Hindi (for Woodwind Quintet) by Jahanna Aurea van Gestel
Besides premiering new compositions by participants, the concert also featured a few compositions by the committees and some beautiful pieces from Schoenberg and Satie. Even though it was quite disappointing that the number of audience turned-up was quite little due to the fact that it was still school holiday; I would still said that we had a successful concert because all the composers were enjoying themselves, and all the sincere audience who turned-up to show their supports to the contemporary art music event had a great time as well!
Finally, I would like to conclude this article by expressing my gratitude to all the faculty and committee members who worked so hard to make this event meaningful and beneficial to us. Also, to everyone who was involved in this fun and educative event, I had a great time and I learnt a lot from everyone! May the bond of our friendships will continue to grow! Salamat (Thank you in Tagalog)!
Posted date: 10 Jan 2013
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