Title

Syncretism and Improvisation in the work "TRIVIUM - Cuyan Jazz"

for Piano, bass and percussion

Work awarded "Oustanding Award" in the 9th. Chengdu-China Sun River Prize Contest, organized by the International Society of Contemporary Music - ISCM

Introduction

"The aim with the syncretic thinking is to deny aesthetic principles learned or absorbed, and to let flow others, that thought has the

madness of proposing".

J. Halac

This paper describes an attempt to put together in an original music composition, two musical worlds, such as the modal style of jazz born in the 50's, created by Miles Davies, better known as cool jazz, and a contemporary style of composition, developed after the second half of the twentieth century.

We conceive a particular way or understanding the relationship between these musical worlds, by using a syncretic conception of the musical phenomena, as proposed by the composer José Halac, in his abstract entitled "The syncretic process in the composition of a contemporary piece1".

This particular experience was developed using aesthetic, technical and formal elements specific to each of these styles, trying to put them in coexistence, with the aim of proposing new constructive ideas that derive in new aesthetic results, in the search for modern sonorities, and in an attempt to abolish stylistic and cultural barriers between music and people.

Brief history

This work was born inspired by a musical group, specifically a jazz trio, of which I was part as pianist. The preparation of the repertoire, the rehearsals, and the extensive improvisations in which I was gradually breaking most of my musical conventions while we were pushing the aesthetical and stylistic limits of the group to new borders, related with free jazz and contemporay music sonorities, gave birth in me the inquietude of composing a piece in which, this personal

1 Published in "Avances " magazine, published by the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Facultad de Artes, Centro de Producción e Investigación en Artes. Specialized publication of the XVIII Jornadas de Investigación en Artes (2014).

sense of waving between distant musical worlds within myself, may be shared with other musicians and listeners.

This personal concern mainly led me to think of a composition with a constructive logic which tries, somehow, to abolish certain stylistic barriers of my own personal musical universe -and also other composer's- and to use, in coexistence, some procedures from different musical styles such as jazz and contemporary music, which eventually result in an expressive, intelligible piece, with the distinction of being able to transform itself and find new resolutions and concretions in each performance, just as happens usually with jazz standards.

Syncretic conception

The word "syncretism", from the Real Academia Española2, is referred to a philosophical system that aims to conciliate two different doctrines. It is commonly understood that these unions do not keep a substantial consistency. Cultural syncretism refers to the process of acculturation and miscegenation between cultures. In general terms, it basically refers to how mixing occurred between Europe, particularly Spain and Portugal, and the "New World" (Latin America).

An interesting facet of syncretism in art appears in the 90's with the Latin American Artists League. Through this organization, nearly three hundred Latin American artists have worked together on the thesis "Between Syncretism and paramodernity3" in various fields of visual arts, mixed media, arts temporary basis, multimedia, theater, music, literature and architecture.

Under this conception of cultural syncretism, and the further development of the Latin American syncretic art stream, in the field of contemporary composition, the Argentinean composer José Halac suggests a way of understanding and organizing sound events and generative ideas in a piece. Halac proposses that syncretic thinking can be a way to reach a level of understanding of a sound event that does not match the pre-determined ideas that one has already of that event by contextual and cultural reasons. To see this event in fresh new way, you have to recourse to an inquiry outside the context that gives meaning, and then bring a new way of relate and rationalize what is being heard.

In order to this, Halac proposses to think of a simple network diagram with circles connected by lines, where the circles represent materials sounding, or the ideas that later will become sound. The lines between them represent dynamic processes. Circles are called CEP (compositive expressive potential). A CEP is a potential, because it hasn't been related to anything yet, and only sounds by itself. Its existence is related to another CEP through the operational dynamic both by its spectral-morphological or physical configuration, and the semiotic meaning, in other words, the poetical consideration of what it is. Poetic can be symbolic, what sound represents in the realm of ideas, or mental representation.

2 Real Academia Española on-line. www.rae.es3 http://ligalatinoamericana-deartistas.blogspot.com.ar/

The main aim of this syncretic thinking, is to find as many sense chains as possible between CEPs, and not only the purely physicals. These sense chains are the lines of the network diagram. They are dynamic thought processes that give a "thinkable" sense to make this relation work out. Halac calls this dynamic circular principle "Syncretic Interactive Vector" (SIV).

Let's say, to exemplify, if you see an apple and say "RED", the word "RED" comes back to one and a loop is created. This loop is usually called "feedback loop". A constant feedback that loads with expressiveness that connection, that turns emotional and empirical, in the sense that starts this way of perceiving the world called empirical or experiential. Our way of knowing the world from pure experience. But not only we live of experiences. We can also say "Adam and Eve" or "hungry" or so many things that have to do with preconceived ideas, prejudices, with poetic conceptions with past experiences and so much else. Then the vector loop has many paths. We can draw several SIVs from a CEP to another. As many SIVs as we want. SIVs are virtually endless. And as a result of this, the composition may contain as many principles of relational connection, as they can be "thinkable".

In few words, a truly syncretic composition connects CEPs that can be sound or abstract, by vectors of sense (SIVs) that generate the constructive sense of the piece. The number of SIVs is also infinite and operations and are only limited to our own decisions about what is a border, and what is aesthetically within our own boundaries of taste, value and sensitivity.

Constructive elements

They have been used in the composition of this piece, certain musical elements that are used frequently, but not exclusively in the style known as cool jazz, initiated by trumpeter Miles Davis in 1959, and which are constituents of their particular language as musical style:

• The repertoire and organization of the heights

• Improvisation

• The general formal idea of the piece

The concepts of improvisation and repertoire / organization of heights are closely related, and are explained below.

This piece uses the concept of modal improvisation, developed especially by the cool jazz style musicians, like Miles Davies, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, and others. This concept is explained by Mark Levine4, and proposes that for each chord present in a leadsheet score, there is an implicit

4 Levine, Mark: "The Jazz Theory Book" Ed. Sheer co. (1994)

(unwritten) relation to a particular scale or mode. In general, certain chords relate to certain modes of the major scale, or its relative minor scales, so it is possible to improvise melodically using any of the notes in a particular way on your line accordingly.

Levine explains the idea of modal improvisation starting by the concept of Major Scale Harmony: The major scale has seven different notes, and we may play the scale starting from any of those seven notes. In other words, there are seven different scales of major, one based on each of its notes. This occurs in any major key. Each of these modes of the major scale has a Greek name. The first (the original scale) is Ionic, Doric is the 2nd, and consequently Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, and Locrian.

For each of these modes there is a derived chord, which is representative of it. Most used chordas are the seventh chords, that is, four-note diatonic thirds or thirds superimposed on the fundamental mode. The notes will be used are the tonic or fundamental, third, fifth and seventh. These notes are those that define the quality of the chord, that is, if it is major, minor, or dominant.

Example - First mode - Ionian - Cmaj7 chord.

According with this concept, the repertoire of heights proposed for the whole piece, comes from the notes that form the derived modes of the major scale and melodic minor scale. In total, then modes are used.

The order of these modes along the work has been arranged from "brilliant" to "dark" and back to the "bright", according to a categorization by Ron Miller5, which states that modes have more brightness or darkness, according to the position of the half step in the interval structure. As this interval is situated more in the left, the sonority of the mode gets darker. When it placed more to the right, the mode gets brighter.

Map used modes (notes in parentheses are changing between modes and subsequent):

5 Miller, Ron: "Modal Jazz Composition" - Vol 1 and 2. Advance Music (1996)

Related to the formal structure, it has taken the constructive idea of jazz instrumental solos. There are three formal moments plus and Intro and a Coda, conceived under the idea of solos, each of them, led by one of the instruments. In each of these solos, moments of improvisation alternate with fully written parts.

Formal scheme

Intro Section A

Double Bass Solo

Section B

Piano Solo

Section C

Percussion Solo

Coda

0:00 - 0:19 0:40 - 2:45

P.2 of score

2:45 - 5:15

P. 6

5:15

P. 11

6:16

P. 13

Mode 1 Modes 1, 2, 3 Modes 4, 5, 6 Modes 7, 8, 9 Mode 10

The moments of improvisation in the work are determined by brackets in the score of each instrument. Improvisation appears on one of the instruments at a time. Within the brackets, the name of the mode on which to improvise, and their component notes appears, except in the percussion, where improvisation does not arise in terms of heights.

During the written moments, instruments form a network, where each one sends certain impulses toward others, which receives and develops them texturally. According to the formal moment where we are, there will be an instrument that will assume prominence, in this case, the role of soloist.

The dynamics of the moments of modal improvisation is not possible to analyze a priori, as each instrumentalist, each instrumental group that interprets the work will show different possibilities

that will give different results, but clearly the solo instrument that improvise, should assume the textural leadership, while the others are expectant, texturally more static, and receptive.

Regarding to the notation issue, it has been opted for a notation with lack of rhythmic determination. There are only some indications of speed (ascending or descending) and a visual sense of proportionality. The temporary construction of the piece requires to the musicians, the ability of listening and watching themselves and all together, because there is no formal idea of pulse or time unit. There is also no indication of tempo. Instrumentalists should agree the length of the gestures, and the relationship of proportionality between them.

Analysis

In this work, every sound event and its textural development within the network, has been taken mainly from the use and exploration of sonorities featured (not exclusively) in the cool jazz style. Examples of these are the use of some chordal and melodic formations -by quarters or seconds-, execution techniques used (fingers in the double bass, or the action of brushes on drums), among other possibilities. The combination of these sounds form sound complexes, which in this case function as CEPs (compositional expressive potential), and they will be related in time by the trace of different vectors of sense (SIVs), with the objective of directing the musical discourse in the temporal plane.

As explained before, instruments form a network, where each one sends certain impulses toward others, which receive and develop them texturally. This means that they become nodal. Nodal relates to the connection and relation between them. When an instrument becomes nodal, it has an energy charge that the network puts into it, and it responds by sending that energy to the others, which are operating in active mode as impulse receivers. As active receptors they react, but do not become nodal until they are assigned that role in a different formal moment. These impulses sent to the network, are by themselves, expressive potentials that appear frequently and will be developed throughout the whole work. They can be analyzed, from an spectral-morphological point of view, by tracing directional axes from-to (heights, register and timbre), and in a rhythmic level, by the major-minor density of sound events.

In order to understand the textural construction of the piece and interaction between CEPs and SIVs, we will analyze in detail some fragments.

Intro

In this moment, the bass, playing with the bow on the tail piece, sends the first impulse. Piano and percussion respond, in adition to this sound. The piano in a low register and percussion in a repetitive circular gesture (sweeping brushes). This gesture gradually gets rhythmically more dense and unstable (bass - silent fingering tremolo). The piano proposes a gesture (ascending and descending arpeggio), which is immediately taken by the bass, with successive ascents and descents in the register increasing intensity, leading to a conclusion with sudden attack and

subsequent resonance, first by the bass (hit on the strings) and then the other instruments (block chords on the piano and cymbals on percussion).

The sonorities that appear in this section are going to be heard over the whole piece, in different configurations and reconfigurations, with different elaborations and textural developings.

In the following example, the bass proposes an ascending intervallic succession, that is immediatly developed by the piano, leading it towards the high register. During the intervention of the piano, the bass is held stationary on a pinch harmonic, although the arch describes a circular up and down gestures, repetitively (sp-st-sp).

The moments of improvisation appear in alternation between moments written in detail. Here the instrument is free to propose new gestures or ideas, or return to some already proposed sounds in the written parts.

In the above example, the piano begins his solo with a gesture of much attack, resonance (chord quarters). Between the first and second moment of improvisation chord sequences appear written, and by the end of the solo, the piano takes back the chords, begins to expand them dynamically, and leading them to the low register, while the tesitura of the chords gets smaller, in aim to merge into the sonority of the double bass playing in the tailpiece. This new gesture of great roughness and internal dynamism is complemented by tremolos without sticks -with fingers- on the toms (percussion), and later silent fingering in the double bass.

The last formal moment, the percussion solo, is preceded by an important dynamic and timbral change, given by the use of the sticks instead of brushes that were being used before. This formal moment is preceded by a rise of the general dynamic and chronometric density, which contributes to create a climax, immediately before the percussion solo.

After the percussion solo, the work closes. The coda presents a sort of jazz cliche, in which all the instruments tend to go towards the high register at the end of a song:

Conclusion

From a purely technical perspective, in this work, the logic of vector paths when it relates sound events (CEPs) from the spectrum-morphological, is clearly recognizable and must be able to be interpreted by itself during the written moments, contributing in providing support of the aesthetic uniformity of the piece.

Syncretic thinking challenges and proposes a new and open idea of continuity in music and lets see differences and consistencies in other contexts are considered prohibited or irrelevant. As Halac proposes, the achievement of seamless continuity of seemingly unrelated sources, it's a cultural achievement that enables greater creative amplitude, and the ability to imagine the coexistence of styles and ideas, incompatible by the canons of beauty and aesthetics. These canons are makers of freezing styles and generate invalid and non-existent aesthetic prejudices, that condition the vision and hearing of a piece by sticking it to them as if they were codes of laws against which a work may or may not be consistent, beautiful or valid in a culture.

As it was explained before, the general sonority of the piece uses elements that can be found in the style of jazz. It's possible that the presence of this athmosphere allows to our perception to expect constructive elements or conceptual procedures that belong to that musical world. More extensively, even the instrumentation and it's placing on stage, as a regular jazz trio, or the word jazz that can be found in the name of the piece in the program notes could give us, in a syncretic way, the ability of finding more sense chains between sounds than only the purely spectral-morphological.

In this sense, improvisation, as proposed in this context, does not represent a breach of the general formal coherence of the work. Even when it does not compromise essentially the limits of understanding the general form in a comprehensive manner, the final sonic result can be open, with a grade of melodic and rhythmic indetermination, and derivate in a vast range of possibilities, depending on factors such as the musical experience of the performers, or the way they interact during performance.

We believe that the main virtue of this work lies primarily in the ability to materialize in very different versions, the same way as a standard jazz, that is never played equally.

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