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A New Normal: Suite for Jazz Ensemble
Frank, Alexander Jeffrey
Frank, Alexander Jeffrey
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Abstract
The dramatic shifts in society due to the COVID19 pandemic has drastically altered and completely uprooted how the musical community operates. Currently existing in a state of unprecedented uncertainty, musicians are struggling to survive while dealing with the looming question of whether the industry will return to a pre-pandemic sense of normalcy. A New Normal: Suite for Jazz Ensemble is a selection of three compositions composed between August, 2019 through March, 2021, which serve as a series of musical vignettes that represent various points prior to, and during the pandemic that reflect societal, emotional, and inspirational factors that influence the compositional process of each work amidst this ongoing crisis. A New Normal opens with “Hymn for Peace”, which is a medium-tempo swing piece in 3/4 time. While this piece predates the turmoil that would arrive with the pandemic, the political unrest in 2019 preceding the upcoming election year provided the inspiration for the piece. “Hymn for Peace” is an uplifting dedication to the forces opposing the political extremism that defined much of 2019 leading up to the pandemic and election in 2020. This piece began as an improvisation around two simple triadic sonorities which are a consistent point of resolution throughout the piece to elicit a sense of stability as the melody and harmony move further away from this tonal center. The large ensemble arrangement ends with a chorale that utilizes dissonant polychords to foreshadow impending darkness. This movement features the guitar and flugelhorn throughout, and is scored for four trombones, four flugelhorns (to achieve a warmer brass sound), as well as bass clarinet, two tenor, one alto, and one soprano saxophone in the woodwind section. “Daylight Savings Time” is a medium-tempo, straight-eighths work and is the second movement of the suite. Much of this piece was sketched out during the fall of 2019 and then later arranged for a small group in February 2020. The specific thematic purpose of the piece is to capture the essence of the midwest during late autumn and the acceptance of declining daylight and temperature coinciding with the return of winter and darkness. In terms of programmatic relevance, this piece represents humanity's adaptation to the major disruptions in life caused by the COVID19 pandemic. Like “Hymn For Peace”, this work was originally scored for a quintet. The large ensemble arrangement develops along a different path than the small group arrangement, with much of the small group material past the initial “A” section being reworked in the style of Kenny Wheeler’s writing from albums such as The Long Waiting and Music for Small and Large Ensembles. This piece features flugelhorn, tenor saxophone, and guitar, and is scored for standard big band instrumentation with the sole with a flugelhorn added in the 2nd trumpet part for color. The suite culminates with “Paper Hands”, a fast swing piece that is the most recently composed work of the three, having been written mostly through the fall and winter of 2020 during the height of the pandemic. The title, “Paper Hands” (a slang term that indicates fickleness and a lack of commitment and convictions in one’s decisions) was chosen as the title to critique shattered focus and an inability to fully commit to individual ideas that were generated throughout the compositional process. Thematically, however, this piece is intended to be a representation of being resourceful and ultimately adapting to unsettling changes. For months, much of this piece only existed as a forgotten and undeveloped pile of sketches that were intended to be their own individual large ensemble chart. As these sketches began piling up, however, potential harmonic and melodic connections began to reveal themselves, and this piece slowly began to unfold as a giant compositional “experiment”. Sections of this piece are inspired by the works of composers Bob Brookmeyer and Maria Schneider. Featuring the trombone, “Paper Hands” is scored for a standard jazz ensemble instrumentation and is the longest of the three movements.Each movement of A New Normal were initially composed as standalone tunes and seem to bear little relevance to each due to their differences in melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic language. Their programmatic relationship is rather in the external forces (such as the COVID19 pandemic and 2020 election) which significantly impacted the composition process of each work. A New Normal is a reflection of these processes and how these factors influenced the subsequent compositions.
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Date
2021-01-01
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University of Kansas
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Musical composition, Music, Music theory, Big Band, Bob Brookmeyer, Composition, Jazz, Kenny Wheeler, Maria Schneider