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Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School

2013

Teaching Turtle Island Quartet Music:Selected String Orchestra Pieces for HighSchool and College MusiciansSally Hernandez

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FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF MUSIC

TEACHING TURTLE ISLAND QUARTET MUSIC: SELECTED STRING ORCHESTRA

PIECES FOR HIGH SCHOOL AND COLLEGE MUSICIANS

By

SALLY HERNANDEZ

A Treatise submitted to the

College of Music

in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Music

Degree Awarded:

Fall Semester, 2013

ii

Sally Hernandez defended this treatise on October 30, 2013.

The members of the supervisory committee were:

Pamela Ryan

Professor Directing Treatise

John Geringer

University Representative

Bruce Holzman

Committee Member

Melanie Punter

Committee Member

The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and

certifies that the treatise has been approved in accordance with university requirements.

iii

To José Hernández, my dance partner in life

iv

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author would like to express gratitude to the members of the Turtle Island Quartet, past and

present, for creating such wonderful and daring music and for taking time out of their busy

schedules to assist with this paper. The author is grateful to Nick Geist for his technical

expertise with the musical excerpts and music librarian, Misti Shaw, for her help with diacritical

markings and footnotes. Thank you to those who gave me continual love and support, my family

and friends, especially my mother, sister, and husband. I am appreciative of my friends, Kristin

Geist and Rebecca Rhoads, for enduring encouragement and to the members of the “ABD Club”

who helped ensure my future ineligibility into the club. Thank you to my mentor, teacher, and

friend Dr. Pamela Ryan, for guiding me patiently and fostering a love for the viola in all her

students.

v

TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Tables .................................................................................................................................. vi

List of Musical Examples .............................................................................................................. vii

List of Terms ................................................................................................................................... x

Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... xii

1. INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................... 1

Preface ....................................................................................................................................... 1

Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 3

2. A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE TURTLE ISLAND QUARTET ............................................. 11

3. THE STRING ORCHESTRA GENRE AND LITERATURE IN PEDAGOGICAL USE .... 30

4. AUTHOR’S ANALYSIS OF TEACHING PREPARATION IN WORKS BY MEMBERS

OF THE TURTLE ISLAND QUARET FOR STRING QUARTET ............................................ 40

Notes to Teachers .................................................................................................................... 40

Blue Book ................................................................................................................................ 47

Dexteriors ................................................................................................................................ 55

Grant Wood ............................................................................................................................. 60

Spider Dreams ......................................................................................................................... 68

Mr. Twitty’s Chair ................................................................................................................... 77

5. AUTHOR’S ANALYSIS OF TEACHING PREPARATION IN WORKS BY MEMBERS

OF THE TURTLE ISLAND QUARET FOR STRING ORCHESTRA ....................................... 85

Blues for Oaktown ................................................................................................................... 85

Skylife ...................................................................................................................................... 91

Tremors .................................................................................................................................... 98

Bach’s Lunch ......................................................................................................................... 102

Steel City Strut ...................................................................................................................... 106

12th

of December ................................................................................................................... 115

Gettysburg ............................................................................................................................. 124

6. CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................... 130

APPENDICES ............................................................................................................................. 133

A. IRB EXEMPTION ................................................................................................................ 133

B. COPYRIGHT LETTERS ...................................................................................................... 136

BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................................... 142

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ....................................................................................................... 151

vi

LIST OF TABLES

1 Turtle Island Quartet Membership Timeline, by Instrument and Year ............................. 29

2 Form and Structure of Blue Book ...................................................................................... 51

3 Form and Structure of Dexteriors ...................................................................................... 57

4 Form and Structure of Grant Wood ................................................................................... 63

5 Form and Structure of Spider Dreams ............................................................................... 71

6 Form and Structure of Mr. Twitty’s Chair ......................................................................... 80

7 Form and Structure of Blues for Oaktown ......................................................................... 88

8 Form and Structure of Skylife ............................................................................................ 94

9 Form and Structure of Tremors ....................................................................................... 100

10 Form and Structure of Bach’s Lunch ............................................................................... 104

11 Form and Structure of Steel City Strut ............................................................................ 108

12 Form and Structure of 12th

of December ......................................................................... 118

13 Form and Structure of Gettysburg ................................................................................... 127

vii

LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES

1 Darol Anger: Blue Book, mm. 20-24. ................................................................................ 53

2 Darol Anger: Blue Book, cello, mm. 49-56. ...................................................................... 53



5 Darol Anger: Dexteriors, violins, mm. 66-69. .................................................................. 59

6 Darol Anger: Dexteriors, viola and cello, mm. 32-35. ...................................................... 59

7 Darol Anger: Dexteriors, violin I and cello, mm. 42-43. .................................................. 60

8 Darol Anger: Grant Wood, violin I, mm. 32-36. ............................................................... 66

9 Darol Anger: Grant Wood, viola and cello, mm. 48-51. ................................................... 66

10 Darol Anger: Grant Wood, mm. 66-69. ............................................................................ 67

11 Darol Anger: Grant Wood, mm. 143-146. ........................................................................ 67

12 David Balakrishnan: Spider Dreams, viola, mm. 18-19. .................................................. 73

13 David Balakrishnan: Spider Dreams, violin I, mm. 28-29. ............................................... 73

14 David Balakrishnan: Spider Dreams, violin II and viola, mm. 36-37. .............................. 74


16 David Balakrishnan: Spider Dreams, violins, mm. 115-118. ............................................ 74

17 David Balakrishnan: Spider Dreams, mm. 1-6. ................................................................ 74

18 David Balakrishnan: Spider Dreams, violin II, mm. 18-22. ............................................. 75


20 David Balakrishnan: Spider Dreams, cello, mm. 68-72. ................................................... 75

21 David Balakrishnan: Spider Dreams, mm. 52-55. ............................................................ 76

22 Katrina Wreede: Mr. Twitty’s Chair, viola and cello, mm. 13-15. ................................... 82

viii

23 Katrina Wreede: Mr. Twitty’s Chair, mm. 29-34. ............................................................. 82




27 Darol Anger: Blues for Oaktown, mm. 5-8. ...................................................................... 89

28 Darol Anger: Blues for Oaktown, violin I, mm. 1-4. ......................................................... 89

29 Darol Anger: Blues for Oaktown, mm. 59-62. .................................................................. 90

30 Darol Anger: Blues for Oaktown, viola, cello, double bass, mm. 20-22. .......................... 90

31 David Balakrishnan: Skylife, violin II, mm. 5-6. ............................................................... 95

32 David Balakrishnan: Skylife, violin II, mm. 64-70. ........................................................... 96

33 David Balakrishnan: Skylife, violin I, mm. 65-71. ............................................................ 96

34 David Balakrishnan: Skylife, m. 71. .................................................................................. 96

35 Danny Seidenberg: Steel City Strut, violin I and violin II, mm. 13-16. .......................... 111

36 Danny Seidenberg: Steel City Strut, mm. 43-50. ............................................................. 111

37 Danny Seidenberg: Steel City Strut, mm. 1-3. ................................................................. 112

38 Danny Seidenberg: Steel City Strut, cello and double bass, mm. 73-81. ........................ 112

39 Danny Seidenberg: Steel City Strut, viola, mm. 63-64. ................................................... 113

40 Danny Seidenberg: Steel City Strut, cello, mm. 122-124. ............................................... 113

41 Tracy Silverman: 12th

of December, mm. 1-5. ................................................................ 120


of December, mm. 96-100. .......................................................... 120


of December, cello, mm. 22-25. .................................................. 121


of December, violins, mm. 30-33. ............................................... 121


of December, violin II and viola, mm. 68-70. ............................. 121

ix


of December, double bass, mm. 67-71. ....................................... 121


of December, mm. 90-96. ............................................................ 122

x

LIST OF TERMS

Ad lib. This term is a common abbreviation for the Latin words ad libitum and usually contains

punctuation as in “ab lib.” Its use in Turtle Island musical scores does not contain

punctuation and indicates to the performer to improvise a solo.

Bass line. A series of notes or chords based on a scale or arpeggios typically found in the bass

part and used in popular music genres such as jazz or blues.

Blue notes. Notes in a scale lowered or flattened (often the third and/or seventh scale degree) in

blues or jazz music for expressive purposes.

Bow slap. The player strikes the string (dampened or with notes/chords) with the upper half of

the bow over the fingerboard.

Brushes. “Brushes is a technique wherein the player imitates the sound of a drummer using

brushes on either a snare drum or on a high hat by either bowing the C bout in a shuffle

pattern or by striking the strings from the air in a lateral motion (from end of finger board

toward the left hand). The latter technique is more clearly audible, although both are

subtle and benefit greatly from amplification.”1

Chop. A percussive bow stroke played near the frog of the bow toward the bridge of the

instrument and used to imitate the sound of a snare drum. The pitch is indeterminate with

the left hand dampening the strings.

Comping. Used in popular music, this is an abbreviation for accompanying or to accompany.

Falls. Indicated by a small downward glissando in the score, the player slides from one note to

another.

Ghost note. “Ghost notes are bow strokes which are executed with very little right hand weight

and whose purpose is to create a rhythmic space in the middle of a phrase, which is

exactly the length of a note of the same rhythmic value.”2

Groove. This term is used throughout popular music in a variety of ways to describe rhythmic

“feel” or connectivity in the music or within an ensemble. The pulse and pacing of the

music are important in defining the musical phrasing or rhythmic patterns. Dance and/or

swing may also be used in a similar way.

Head. The beginning section, chorus and/or main theme of a piece (in jazz music especially)

may be called the head.

1. Evan Price, e-mail to author, June 11, 2012.

2. Ibid.

xi

Shakes. Indicates a trill, often a minor third above the written pitch.

Shout chorus. Characteristically lively and exciting, the final repetition of a chorus or main

theme of a piece and may also feature tutti passage and highlight extreme pitch registers.

Shuffle. See page forty-four for a description of single shuffle, double shuffle and Georgia

shuffle.

Slap bass. A percussive technique common to bluegrass and jazz, the player pulls the string

during pizzicato outward to cause the string to rebound toward or “slap” the fingerboard.

An alternative method to achieve the sound is to “slap” the fingerboard with the hand

during the rebound.

Solo(s). Improvisation or virtuosic embellishment played over the chorus of a piece. This

definition of solo differs from its use in classical music where solo indicates one

instrument or player.

Straight. Performing a rhythm as printed and with no changes to the rhythm.

Swing. Performing a rhythm in a swing style that differs from the printed rhythm. The rhythm

alteration is specific to the type of swing and may be played as triplet or dotted figures.

TIQ. Used by the Turtle Island Quartet and throughout this paper as a common abbreviation for

the Turtle Island Quartet.

Turn around. The end of a section or phrase leading into the next section, and is typically a way

to transition into a repetition of the previous phrase.

Walking bass. A style of bass line accompaniment common to popular music with the inclusion

of scales, arpeggios, or outline of the chord progression in continuous rhythmic motion.

xii

ABSTRACT

The music of the Turtle Island Quartet became of interest to the author in the 2000-2001

academic year while studying a piece for string quartet called Steel City Strut by Danny

Seidenberg. This experience led to the research and quest to provide relevant and useful

information about published Turtle Island Quartet pieces at the level of advanced high school

and early college musicians. Using the formatting model from the series Teaching Music

Through Performance in Orchestra,3 selected string quartet and string orchestra music of the

Turtle Island Quartet is discussed in sections called units, including: composer, composition,

historical perspective, technical considerations, stylistic considerations, musical elements, form

and structure, suggested listening and additional references and resources.

This document includes a brief history of strings in popular music idioms and the Turtle

Island Quartet; a discussion of the string orchestra genre and literature in pedagogical use; and an

author’s analysis of teaching preparation of works by members of the Turtle Island Quartet

including: Blue Book, Dexteriors, Grant Wood, Spider Dreams, Mr. Twitty’s Chair, Blues for

Oaktown, Skylife, Tremors, Bach’s Lunch, Steel City Strut, 12th

of December and Gettysburg.

Improvisation is discussed with available resources and information is provided on modern string

techniques such as the “chop.”

3. Littrell, David and Laura Reed Racin, eds. Teaching Music Through Performance in

Orchestra. Chicago: GIA Publications, Inc., 2001.

Littrell, David Ault, ed. Teaching Music Through Performance in Orchestra. vol. 2.

Chicago: GIA Publications, Inc., 2003.

Littrell, David Ault, and Michael Allen. Teaching Music Through Performance in

Orchestra, vol 3. Chicago: GIA Publications, 2008.

1

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Preface

The literature of the Turtle Island String Quartet became of interest to the author, in the

2000-2001 school year, senior year of an Undergraduate viola performance degree. Enrolled in a

coached chamber music course, the cellist of the assigned string quartet offered up a selection for

our semester study: the Turtle Island Quartet piece, Steel City Strut. The music was ordered and

in no time at all the quartet realized this would be an incredible undertaking with the various

rhythmic complexities and counting paradigms, not to mention the high register of the first violin

part. The groove and more percussive qualities of the piece had not yet entered our minds.

Simply getting through one measure together was an accomplishment.

That semester the quartet members studied the score, clapped, counted, practiced with a

metronome, endured extended rehearsals, vented frustration, listened to the recording, and met

with our teacher. The final examination for the class was given in a successful performance of

the work. The feeling of pride in climbing the infamous jazz mountain and being “cool” among

our family and peers is why the study and accessibility of Turtle Island Quartet pieces became

personally important to an academic musician. If the modest undergraduate quartet with no

experience playing jazz could achieve the rewarding experience of playing jazz with a Turtle

Island Quartet (TIQ4) piece, then what is more rewarding than to find a way to share that with

other string players.

In the reference series for music educators, Teaching Music Through Performance in

Orchestra,5 several jazz-influenced pieces include TIQ recordings in the suggested listening

portion for a particular work. This publication assists educators in their preparation of a

particular work. By using the model set forth by Teaching Music Through Performance in

Orchestra, the author will present information about TIQ pieces in a manner that is conducive to

a successful performance. The aim is therefore to increase accessibility to selected TIQ pieces

4. Turtle Island Quartet will be abbreviated TIQ throughout this document.

5. David Littrell and Laura Reed Racin, eds. Teaching Music Through Performance in

Orchestra. Chicago: GIA Publications, Inc., 2001.

2

suitable for string orchestra and increase traditionally trained string orchestra musicians’ interest

in non-classical and improvised music.

Although the ability to read music is emphasized in string orchestra pieces, including

those published works by the TIQ, other genres such as fiddle and bluegrass have a stronger

emphasis on the ability to memorize or improvise on a tune. Through study of string orchestra

pieces by members of the TIQ, musicians will be introduced to some of the skills they need to

improvise in a new genre. With a written part to learn from, the young string musician can be

encouraged to note-read at a high level while experimenting with improvisation, and the early

introduction can help narrow the gap in skill between “classically trained” and string musicians

who can improvise. These appealing and challenging pieces6 will provide an accessible string

orchestral experience that young musicians find exciting and are willing to practice with

dedication and discipline.

The scope of the research will provide enough relevant and useful information to help

teachers program and rehearse TIQ music for their ensemble. It is hoped that the information

will be a valuable tool for classroom string teachers, college chamber music coaches, and others

who wish to know more about available TIQ music and get a general background on selected

pieces and suggestions on how to approach the music. With additional information about the

string orchestra pieces with regard to technical demands and other such practical observances,

the intention will be to encourage more teachers to introduce varying genres and incorporate

more examples of non-classical styles in their teaching, as guided by the information provided in

the author’s research.

While the TIQ continues its extensive performing schedule, they also participate in

outreach activities to engage students in relevant and fun educational musical activities. Many

members have published materials that would be ideal to include in a list of suggested

supplementary resource materials. With the inclusion of relevant and available materials, and

with insight into the composition through communication with the composers, this practical

guide serves string orchestra teachers in their programming choices, providing school orchestra

programs with additional choices with a wider range of music genres.

6. The Turtle Island Quartet pieces presented in this paper are intended for advanced

high school and early college musicians. The information provided in the analysis section can be

used to guide programming suitability for an ensemble.

3

Introduction

When considering the idiom of jazz, improvising solo instruments such as trumpet,

saxophone, piano, and the instruments of a jazz quartet are more common than stringed

instruments such as violin or even a string quartet ensemble, however, the influence of orchestral

stringed instruments in jazz has a history that goes further back than one may assume. The string

bass, or upright bass, and guitar are two stringed instruments widely used in jazz and have a long

history with ensembles playing in jazz style, functioning both rhythmically and harmonically,

and performing improvised solos. In the early history of America, “the violin actually played an

important role in the evolution of the blues”7 through the music of the slaves. Musical styles

including blues, ragtime, early jazz, and swing are all a part of music that evolved into the jazz of

today.

The violin found its role as a solo instrument8 through ragtime ensembles, and an

example of this style is recorded on the album The New Orleans Ragtime Orchestra. Racism

prevented many black string players from recording albums with major record labels and from

playing in the all-white orchestras. In a traditional jazz setting “the violin couldn’t compete with

the volume of the horn players and rhythm sections in the blues and jazz clubs, and the

technology wasn’t yet available for violin amplification.”9 Overcoming the obstacle of balance

through the softer volume of the stringed instruments competing against louder brass instruments

was one of the primary advances to the use of the violin in jazz. It wasn’t until the 1930s when

Stuff Smith (1909-1967) amplified his violin, enabling him to be heard over larger ensembles,

that the opportunity increased for jazz violinists.10

Violins were more widely used when pickups

7. Julie Lyonn Lieberman, “A Brief History of Jazz Violin,” American String Teacher,

vol. 52, no. 4 (November 2002): 78.

8. Christopher Washburne, “Miscellaneous Instruments in Jazz,” in The Oxford

Companion to Jazz, ed. B. Kirchner (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 658.


vol. 52, no. 4 (November 2002): 79.



4

were invented in the early 1940s and microphones and other amplification devices became

readily available and more frequently used in clubs.11

Several key jazz violin soloists solidified the role of the instrument in jazz including: Joe

Venuti (190312

-1978), Stéphane Grappelli (1908-1997), Stuff Smith (1909-1967), and Eddie

South (1904-1962). Other jazz violinists of note are Darnell Howard (1895-1966), Robert

“Juice” Wilson (1904-1993), Jimmy Bell (1910-1987), Al Duffy (1906-2006), and Clarence

Moore. The swing era violinists such as Svend Asmussen (b. 1916), Ray Nance (1913-1976),

and Michael Warlop (1911-1947) were quite influential and later violinists such as Joe Kennedy

(1923-2004), Leroy Jenkins (1932-2007), Jean-Luc Ponty (b. 1942), Michael Urbaniak (b. 1943),

and Zbigniew Seifert (1946-1979)13

were developing the violin in various jazz genres. These

violinists were responsible for developments made in jazz violin, ranging from the use of

extended techniques, compositional form, special effects, and exploring newly invented violin-

type instruments which expand the range of the violin either by adding one or two strings or with

instruments that sound an octave lower such as the violectra.14

Some of those violinists include

Billy Bang (William Walker) (1947-2011), John Blake (b. 1947), Mark Feldman (b. 1955), and

Regina Carter (b. 1966).

Other hybrid instruments were used in jazz by bassists and cellists. Ron Carter (b. 1937),

a bassist doubling on cello (just as Sam Jones [1924-1981]), used Piccolo Bass, while Oscar

Pettiford (1922-1960) and Ray Brown (1926-2002) were using both the cello and bass in jazz.

Cellist David Darling (b. 1941) used an eight-string electric cello. Other jazz cellists of note are:

David Baker (b. 1931), Calo Scott (1920-1998), Fred Katz (1919-2013), Nathan Gershman

(1917-2008), Abdul Wadud (Ronald DeVaughn) (b. 1947), Doug Watkins (1934-1962), David


vol. 52, no. 4 (November 2002): 79.


vol. 52, no. 4 (November 2002): 83. “Reports on his birth date range from 1894 to 1904, so his

age at death was unknown.”



14. Ibid., 660.

5

Eyges (b. 1950), Erik Friedlander (b. 1960), Akua Dixon (b. 1950), and Dierdre Murray (b.

1951).

Many other resources discuss the career and innovations of prominent string players

while others feature jazz violin literature. In an article in Strings entitled “Anger’s Passion,”

Turtle Island violinist Darol Anger (b. 1953) mentions several influential violin players

including: Anand Bennett, Vassar Clement (1928-2005), Matt Glaser (b. 1956), Rob Thomas of

the Jazz Passengers, Joe Kennedy (1923-2004), Stuart Duncan (b. 1964), John Blake (b. 1947),

Mark O’Connor (b. 1961), Richard Greene (b. 1942), and Jean-Luc Ponty (b. 1942).15

Darol

Anger also writes about violinist Johnny Frigo (1916-2007) in the article “Nice ‘n’ Easy Does

It.” He writes, “Frigo is the only jazz violinist now living who has come close to the late

Stéphane Grappelli’s legacy in style, tone, and authoritative virtuosity.” 16

There are, in fact,

many historical jazz violin players worth mentioning and many more violin players actively

performing and creating jazz music. Looking back at the viola, however, the shortage of

information and examples of players is reflected in the limited number of jazz viola players

today.

One of the few places the viola could be found in the jazz genre is in the jazz orchestra or

dance band. The era of the dance band from around 1890-1930, playing popular dance music

influenced by jazz is another venue that included strings. Two such examples include William

Christopher Handy (1873-1958), who led a group known as Handy’s Orchestra of Memphis and

Paul Samuel Whiteman (1890-1967) of the Whiteman Orchestra. Smaller than an orchestra and

larger than a jazz band, perhaps around seventeen players, these orchestras included strings, and

sometimes included a part for the viola. Upon the rise of big band music, the role of the

musician and instrumentation changed, requiring louder instruments to be heard over a large

ensemble as greater emphasis was placed on one of the fundamental elements of jazz music,

improvisation.

15. Derk Richardson, “Anger’s Passion: Darol Anger Trades the Camaraderie of the

Quartet for the Producer’s Chair,” Strings 12, no. 5 (January/February 1998): 51.

16. Darol Anger, introduction to “Nice ‘n’ Easy Does It: Jazz Fiddler Johnny Frigo has

Weathered the Ups and Downs of a Remarkable Career with Grace and Humor,” Strings 12, no.

6 (March 1998): 48.

6

In Jazz Improvisation and the Concept of Virtuosity, the author relates jazz music to a

conversation you’ve had on many occasions. “In reality, the notes of an improved jazz solo are

no more spontaneously created than are the words of a spoken language.”17

As an example, think

on the answer to a common question you may ask or be asked when you are getting to know a

new person, “Where are you from?”. Generally you know your exact answer to this question

based on the circumstances being either professional or personal, or even whether you will see

this person in the future. Knowing your answer and being able to elaborate or abbreviate your

answer is something a person would be able to do without much preparation. “In truth, the

performance of an improvised jazz solo is similar to the delivery of a concise, eloquent answer to

a question in conversation.”18

In contrast to David Demsey’s simplification, improvisation may once again be a

tremendous impossibility if you consider the following statement he makes on the subject. “A

jazz improviser must have a working knowledge of harmony, an innate feel for form and melodic

line, a strong technique, a quick, relaxed mind, and a deep sense of history.”19

After hearing

both statements on jazz, the dilemma for performers and teachers of jazz emerges as the teacher

considers the level of understanding of music theory among student musicians. The teacher must

assess the appropriate knowledge base and design a corresponding approach to begin

improvisation lessons. Fortunately, Donald L. Hamann and Robert Gillespie provide “Practical

Approaches to Teaching Improvisation in the School Orchestra”20

in Chapter Eight of their book

Strategies for Teaching Strings: Building a Successful String and Orchestra Program21

and

there are many other resources teachers may rely on to help in this endeavor, being ever mindful

of the benefits to the student.

17. David Demsey, “Jazz Improvisation and the Concept of Virtuosity,” in The Oxford


18. Ibid., 788.

19. Ibid., 789.

20. Robert Gillespie and Donald L. Hamann, Strategies for Teaching Strings: Building a

Successful String and Orchestra Program (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), 195.

21. Ibid.

7

“Through improvising, students improve their basic musicianship skills, including

listening skills, pitch discrimination, intonation, and memorization.”22

Citing improvisation

benefits such as creativity, excitement, and fun, Hamann and Gillespie write also about the

National Standards for Music Education, specifically referencing the standard “3. Improvising

melodies, variations, and accompaniments.”23

They give teachers suggestions for incorporating

other newly acquired techniques alongside the improvisation lesson and encourage those

teachers whose background is in classical music to successfully teach improvisation. They then

give five approaches to teaching improvising, explaining the steps and including musical

examples and ways to add to the exercise as the students gain skill and confidence. “The

following are five different ways to help you get started: a creative drone approach, a riff

approach, a call-and-response or question-and-answer approach, a chordal approach, and a

rhythmic ostinato approach.”24

Another important resource, Spotlight on Teaching Orchestra, is from The National

Association for Music Education, the MENC. In Section 7: Multicultural Music, Sara Edgerton

addresses “Alternative Styles for String Playing.”25

There are many benefits that she cites

including encouraging creativity and improvisation,26

recruiting, retaining students, and

developing musicianship.27

Some teachers express concerns about the quality of their program if

they introduce these eclectic styles. “Ear training, an understanding of harmonic activity and



23. National Association for Music Education, “National Standards for Music

Education,” http://musiced.nafme.org/resources/national-standards-for-music-education/

(accessed January 5, 2013).



25. Sara Edgerton, “Alternative Styles for String Playing,” in Spotlight on Teaching

Orchestra (Reston, VA: MENC, the National Association for Music Education (U.S.), 2005),

87.

26. Ibid.

27. Ibid.

8

form, and related skills were immediately applicable to classical string playing.”28

“It would

seem that traditional and alternative methods of string education can coexist and in fact provide a

mutually beneficial synergy.”29

Around the country today there are many ensembles that are playing, improvising and

performing at a high level. In recent years the outgrowth of new playing styles has been

organized through the work of The International Association of Jazz Educators (IAJE) Jazz

String Caucus. “The seeds of this trend were planted in the late 1970s, when the Berklee College

of Music created a (jazz) string department. Its first chairman, Randy Sabien, says that once in

the position, ‘I realized that I was on the wrong end of the chain, because the string players

coming into Berklee basically couldn’t play their instruments very well, let alone play jazz at any

appreciable level. So I left to hit the young players at the grass roots level in school string

programs primarily in the Midwest.’”30

From 2000-2009 the formation of a String Caucus through The International Association

for Jazz Educators led the way in organizing and developing this movement toward the

promotion of jazz string education within the modern community of string players. The goal of

such an organization was to promote the available music and resources. They developed lists of

repertoire and fostered the education of teachers of various styles in string playing. In 2003 the

American String Teachers Association with National School Orchestra Association introduced

Celebrating Alternative Strings: The First Alternative Styles Awards. The goal from their 2003

conference brochure was listed as follows: “The purpose of this event is to validate these styles

within the string profession and to educate string players and teachers in the aesthetics and

traditions of various styles of string performance other than classical.”31

The popularity and

28. Sara Edgerton, “Alternative Styles for String Playing,” in Spotlight on Teaching

Orchestra (Reston, VA: MENC, the National Association for Music Education (U.S.), 2005),

87.

29. Ibid.

30. American String Teachers Association (ASTA), “Focal Point: Jazz Improvisation,”

American String Teacher, vol. 52, no. 4 (November 2002): 53.

31. ASTA “Celebrating Strings –All Together Now! ASTA with NSOA National

Conference 2003” in American String Teacher, vol. 52, no. 4 (November 2002): 47.

9

accessibility of such music has led to the creation of the Eclectic Strings Festival presented at the

American String Teachers Association National Conference32

where young players are able to

compete individually and/or as an ensemble.

Many string players and organizations have contributed to the growth and popularity of

music considered to be outside the genre of Western classical music. This treatise will explore

the string quartet and string orchestra literature of the Turtle Island Quartet. The Turtle Island

Quartet is the perfect model for the combination of traditional and alternative methods as they

combine the traditional string quartet from the Beethoven-Bartók model with the influences of

jazz, rock, world music, and many other genres. The string quartet instrumentation or the

expanded model, string orchestra, can be used to incorporate various styles into the classroom or

chamber program, especially since some of their music is published either for string quartet or

string orchestra. The pieces often include suggestions and explanations for the specific

techniques that will help string players achieve the musical style. Many of the pieces include

written-out solos or transcriptions of the solos that the Turtle Island Quartet members performed

in concerts or recordings. Other pieces have improvised sections over chord charts, which can

be a starting ground for improvisation and a chance to introduce the concept and to gain practice.

For those groups that already have the experience, the chord charts are available for their

reference when soloing or accompanying.

The pieces will be analyzed in Chapters Four and Five modeling the outline used in the

series Teaching Music Through Performance in Orchestra, vol. 1 and 233

which includes a

section about the composer, composition, historical perspective, technical considerations,

stylistic considerations, musical elements, form and structure, suggested listening, and additional

references and resources. Since the formation of the Quartet in the mid-1980s there have been

many original compositions and arrangements, many of which are quite challenging, even to

accomplished professional musicians. The author’s selection of pieces has been made in part by

the level found in available published copies of the work and on the availability of a recording.

All the past and present members of the Quartet are composers living today so the accessibility

32. The 2012 ASTA National Conference took place in Atlanta, Georgia March 21-24.

33. David Littrell and Laura Reed Racin, eds. Teaching Music Through Performance in

Orchestra. Chicago: GIA Publications, Inc., 2001. David Littrell, ed. Teaching Music Through

Performance in Orchestra, vol. 2. Chicago: GIA Publications, Inc., 2003.

10

to the music is achieved through a publisher or through the Quartet’s or composers’ website.

The pieces will be analyzed and divided into two chapters. Chapter Four will include

compositions that have been published for string quartet and Chapter Five for string orchestra

arrangements. The pieces are presented in each chapter alphabetically by the composer’s last

name and then by the title of the piece.

11

CHAPTER TWO

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE TURTLE ISLAND QUARTET

The Turtle Island String Quartet was founded in 1985 and has since become one of the

most famous modern string quartets, enjoying an extensive touring, recording, composing, and

performing career. The original name of the group changed from Turtle Island String Quartet to

Turtle Island Quartet in 2006 and will be referred to as such throughout the remainder of the

document, sometimes abbreviated as TIQ. Although the membership of the quartet has changed

over the years, the innovative concept of the group has remained on the forefront of music style

exploration and exemplary performance. The musician-as-composer approach has made the

Turtle Island Quartet unique in the modern string quartet paradigm.

David Balakrishnan (b. 1954) and Mark Summer (b. 1958) are the founding members of

the string quartet who are still members today. For violinist David Balakrishnan, the move

toward this type of string quartet evolved during his B.A. degree in music composition and violin

at UCLA (graduating in 1976). Having studied jazz and classical composition,34

Balakrishnan’s

music style is infused with the rock music of Jerry Goodman (b. 1949) who played an

electrically amplified violin with The Flock. Other style influences include jazz violin players

such as Don “Sugarcane” Harris (1938-1999) and Papa John Creach (1917-1994). This

inspiration led Balakrishnan into further study of blues, and an interest in rock and jazz violin

and groups such as the Mahavishnu Orchestra (1971-1976, 1984-1987), a jazz-rock fusion band.

The Mahavishnu Orchestra in particular was of special interest to Balakrishnan due to their

inclusion of Indian music, as his father is from India, this was “a complete kind of connection to

David Balakrishnan [me] in so many ways that he [I] just fell head-over-heels in love with

that.”35

34. Leonard Feather, “Jazz: Turtle Island Makes the Strings Swing,” Los Angeles Times,

August 28, 1988. http://articles.latimes.com/1988-08-28/entertainment/ca-1668_1_turtle-island-

string-quartet (accessed June 11, 2012).

35. Eugene Marlow, “In Conversation with David Balakrishnan,” Jazz.com, April 22,

2008. http://www.jazz.com/features-and-interviews/2008/4/22/in-conversation-with-david-

balakrishnan (accessed June 10, 2012).

12

The David Grisman Quintet (1975-present), of which Darol Anger played in from 1975-

1984, was another turning point for Balakrishnan. In an interview with Eugene Marlow,

Balakrishnan said, “they [The David Grisman Quintet] all played entirely acoustic instruments

and had all the same energy and drive [as in electric rock music], but were all so dedicated to the

acoustic sound of their instruments [as in jazz violin].”36

During the pursuit of his masters

degree in music composition at Antioch University West37

from 1981-1984,38

Balakrishnan

found that incorporating all the influences, from jazz to rock, and blending them together in

compositions for string quartet from the Beethoven-Bartók quartet model,39

yielded in particular

to the Indian influences and the flexible intonation offered by strings while maintaining the

sound of acoustic instruments. His composition teacher, William Allaudin Mathieu, “gave him

tools to excavate the underlying connective principles of a wide range of musical styles and

cultures.”40

Since David Balakrishnan “wrote music for a string quartet predicated on each member

being equally and powerfully grounded in classical technique and jazz improvisation,”41

he did

36. Eugene Marlow, “In Conversation with David Balakrishnan,” Jazz.com, April 22,

2008. http://www.jazz.com/features-and-interviews/2008/4/22/in-conversation-with-david-


37. David Balakrishnan, Spider Dreams, “Score Notes,” Comtemporary Originals for

String Quartet as Performed by Turtle Island String Quartet (Ann Arbor, MI: SHAR Music

Publications, 1997).

38. David Balakrishnan, “Turtle Island String Quartet Historical Narrative,” embedded at

Turtle Island Quartet http://www.turtleislandquartet.com,

turtleislandquartet.com/wordpress/wpcontent/uploads/2010/04/TI_Historical_Narrative.pdf


39. Ken Smith, “Speak for Yourself! A Hyper-History of American Composer-Led New

Music Ensembles,” NewMusicBox.org, May 1, 1999,

http://www.newmusicbox.org/articles/Speak-For-Yourself-A-HyperHistory-of-American-

ComposerLed-New-Music-Ensembles/ (accessed June 10, 2012).





41. Ibid.

13

not yet have a string quartet with which to perform his works. In an article in NewMusicBox

Balakrishnan says, “’There are a few jazz violinists, there are far fewer jazz cellists. But there

are no true jazz violists.’”42

Without a group with which to record, Mr. Balakrishnan made a

recording of his composition Balopadem by overdubbing the parts himself, “using three violins

and a baritone violin (a regular violin with strings tuned an octave low).”43

In the opening chord

we hear another influence on the music of Balakrishnan, the music of Jimmy Hendrix (1942-

1970) from concerts Balakrishnan attended in his youth. The Turtle Island Quartet further

explores the musical influence of Hendrix from those concerts and later produced an album Have

You Ever Been…? (CD).

After recording all the parts himself, Balakrishnan began to encounter players who would

be able to join him and perform these works, making the string quartet a reality through the

formation of the Turtle Island Quartet. One of the founding Turtle Island members, Darol Anger

(b. 1953), is originally from the Pacific Northwest and before entering high school started on

guitar, changed to the violin and then went from playing classical orchestra to electric rock on

the violin.44

Anger attended a concert of a group called the Youngbloods and also heard the

band Seatrain (1969-1972) with violinist Richard Greene. Greene impressed Anger as a teenager

with his “loud, amplified violin.”45

He attended the University of California at Santa Cruz. In

1975, violinist Darol Anger launched his full-time professional career in the David Grisman

42. Ken Smith, “Speak for Yourself! A Hyper-History of American Composer-Led New

Music Ensembles,” NewMusicBox.org May 1, 1999,

http://www.newmusicbox.org/articles/Speak-For-Yourself-A-HyperHistory-of-American-

ComposerLed-New-Music-Ensembles/ (accessed June 10, 2012).







45. Digital Interviews, “Darol Anger,” copyright 2003 Rossgita Communications,

http://www.digitalinterviews.com/digitalinterviews/views/anger.shtml (accessed June 12, 2012).

14

Quintet,”46

playing with them until 1984. His musical influences include a recording entitled

Jazz Violin Summit (CD, 1999; original release LP, 1966) by Svend Asmussen, Stéphane

Grappelli, Jean-Luc Ponty, and Stuff Smith.47

Anger and Balakrishnan met in 1978, finding the

recording Jazz Violin Summit influenced them both and provided a common ground and the

desire of both to expand jazz violin. Anger was a regular member of the David Grisman Quintet

and Balakrishnan would play with the group as a guest; they both had the opportunity to play

with Stéphane Grappelli.

Anger’s experience and widely ranging influences include California bluegrass, jazz,

“Dawg music,”48

string band, and new acoustic music. His debut solo album Fiddlistics (LP,

1979) was followed by David Grisman Quintet albums, recordings with “Suzanne Vega, Tony

Rice, Holly Near, Henry Kaiser, Will Ackerman, Alex DeGrassi, The Duo (LP, 1983; CD, 2005

Rounder Records) with Mike Marshall, Tideline (Vinyl 1982, CD 1990) with Barbara Higbie,

piano. Although the group he formed (including David Balakrishnan) called Saheeb (1980-

1983) was short lived, it led into another group he founded, Montreux49

(1982-1990), with

recordings including Live at Montreux (released as Darol Anger and Barbara Higbie in 1984),

Sign Language (Windham Hill 1058), and Let Them Say (Windham Hill 1090). His concerts,

recordings, and collaborations continue throughout his career including the years he spent with

TIQ. Republic of Strings Fiddlers 4, Psychograss, and 4 Generations of Jazz Violin represent the

major performing and recording groups in his career, although his playing is also heard each

week in the music for the NPR radio show “Car Talk”50

and he has recorded and performed with

many artists as a guest.






48. Dawg music, so named by mandolinist David Grisman (b. 1945) of the David

Grisman Quintet, is his mixture of bluegrass and jazz influenced by Django Reinhardt (1910-

1953) and Stéphane Grappelli, otherwise known as gypsy jazz.

49. It was around this time that Balakrishnan went to pursue his master’s degree (1981-

1984).

15

Darol Anger says in an interview with Greg Cahill, “I think that the American, and for

that matter, the international string-band form is one of the major musical streams happening in

humanity, and western European art music is just one very intense ethnic subgenre. This kind of

music [chambergrass] to some extent has been underdocumented and underappreciated – except

by the players; most fans are players – because so much of it is an aural form, not relying so

much on written music. And if it is composed, it might not be written down, and so much of it is

masquerading under the rubric of folk, or dance music. The fact is that string-band music is one

of the most vital and creative forms in music.”51

With concepts of new acoustic music and the

string-band form alongside his wide musical experiences and perspectives rooted in American

music, Darol Anger “developed and popularized new techniques for playing contemporary music

styles on string instruments.”52

The chop technique, for instance, written about in Chapter Four,

is one such technique invented by Richard Greene in 1965 and further incorporated into the

music Greene played with Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys and The Great American Music Band

with Grisman. Anger and TIQ used the percussive chop bowing technique for greater

enhancement of groove and rhythm.

Balakrishnan explains, “The chop is something we use . . . to get the sound of the drums

or the rhythm guitar sound.”53

Since the group is comprised of only string instruments, without

percussion, the special techniques that are used to create rhythm became essential to the TIQ

sound and to the accompaniment role during solos. After leaving the David Grisman Quintet,

carrying with him the influences of the string-band genre, Darol Anger joined with David

Balakrishnan and violinist Matt Glaser to record some of Balakrishnan’s music in a recording

50. Darol Anger, “Short Bio,” Darol Anger Website,

http://www.darolanger.com/bio.html (accessed June 12, 2012).

51. Greg Cahill, “Born on the Bayou: Cajun Fiddler Michael Doucet Steps into an

American Vernacular String Quartet,” Strings, no. 105 (October 2002): 62.

52. Darol Anger, “Full Biography,” Darol Anger Website

http://www.darolanger.com/bio.html (accessed on June 12, 2012).

53. Nina Goldstein, “Turtle Island String Quartet,” in Contemporary Musicians: Profiles

of the People in Music, vol. 9 (Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 1993), 267. This article quotes an

article from Detroit News, April 11, 1991.

16

Jazz Violin Celebration! Live in San Francisco,54

joined by mandolin player Mike Marshall (b.

1957), bassist Rob Wasserman, and guitarist Mike Wollenberg.

Darol Anger and cellist Mark Summer (b. 1958) met while both were performing at the

Winnipeg Folk Festival in 1985.55

Anger was performing with the Montreux band while Mark

Summer was performing with a group he formed called the West-End Stringband. Mark

Summer was born in 1958 and grew up near Los Angeles in Reseda, CA. He took cello lessons

in his youth with Edwin and Gretchen Geber, and then with Stephen Geber at the Cleveland

Institute of Music. Summer began composing his own tunes as early as age 9 and became

inspired by the prospect of playing jazz on the cello after hearing a recording by Roger Kellaway

called Roger Kellaway Cello Quartet (A&M SP 3034) just after high school. Studies at the

Cleveland Institute of Music56

helped with his cello technique, but did not provide an outlet for

his true musical interests. After graduation Summer began playing with orchestras including:

Chamber Symphony of San Francisco, Oakland Symphony, Winnipeg Symphony, and Oakland

Ballet. He told Newsweek, “I remember being in the middle of playing Berlioz’s ‘Symphonie

Fastastique,’ this amazing piece, way ahead of its time, and I’m going, ‘I’m really bored.’”57

Today, Mark Summer is considered one of the premier jazz cellists. It is said that he has

invented a whole new way to play the instrument, well known for his pizzicato and percussive

techniques, slap bass on the cello, and swinging bass lines. His composition for solo cello Julie-

O (1988)58

and jazzy arrangement of Lo How a Rose E’er Blooming continue to be performed.

54. This album was recorded in Phil Edwards’ mobile recording unit at the Great

American Music Hall on November 10, 1984.


of the People in Music vol. 9 (Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 1993), 266.

56. Colin Larkin, ed., The Encyclopedia of Popular Music, s.v. “Turtle Island String

Quartet” (London: Muze, 1998), 5537.


of the People in Music, vol. 9 (Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 1993), 265. This article quotes from

a Newsweek, vol. 116, issue 13, article by D. Gates, September 24, 1990: 77.

58. Arpeggios and broken chords found in Mark Summer’s Julie-O are reflective of the

much adored Bach Cello Suites.

17

Mark Summer left his tenured three-year position with the Winnipeg Symphony and in

the next year, he moved to the San Francisco Bay area and connected with Anger and

Balakrishnan. After the recording Jazz Violin Celebration (CD), Summer was invited to play

with the three violinists: Anger, Balakrishnan and Matt Glaser. The cellist’s exceptional

performance of Coltrane’s Moment’s Notice captured the attention of Balakrishnan and the

successful performance of these four musicians convinced him to form the string quartet for

which he had already written music. Up until this point for Balakrishnan the music had existed,

but there was no group readily available that would be able to play it. To keep with the

traditional string quartet instrumentation, Balakrishnan, Summer and Anger were joined by an

improvisation student of Balakrishnan’s, violist Laurie Moore (b. 1955).59

She introduced

herself to Darol Anger after hearing him perform in 1983.

In the fall of 1985, the quartet came together to try Balakrishnan’s piece Balapadam and

other jazz arrangements, featuring soloing and rhythm section style playing found in the string

band genre. Their first performance took place at a church in the Noe Valley and David

Balakrishnan did an interview on the KQVD radio network to promote the event. The Quartet

performed several times as the “The Quartet With No Name,” seeking to find a name that

captured the so called “American vernacular,” until Darol Anger suggested the name Turtle

Island, the Native American term for North America, originating from creation mythology found

in Native American Folklore60

and specifically referenced in a 1974 Pulitzer Prize winning book

by Gary Snyder called Turtle Island. The perspective of American culture shared by the author

was reflective of the origins of jazz, as people immigrated so also did their music. America’s

immigrant culture was global and music influences entered America and coalesced into a world

music style. The Turtle Island Quartet attracted audiences and captured the attention of the

musical community with due speed and this led to the potential for the group to tour with their

music.

Although her viola technical skills were at the same level as the other players, Moore did

not share the same level of experience playing jazz and with the prospect for touring not

60. Turtle Island Quartet, “About,” Turtle Island Quartet Website,

http://turtleislandquartet.com/bios/ (accessed January 10, 2013).

18

desirable, she left the group in 1986 and continued her work at the Loveland Violin Shop.61

Fred

Carpenter and Mick Loveland had begun teaching her instrument repair and bow rehairing in

1983 and around the same time she joined the Santa Rosa Symphony, currently marking her

thirty-fourth year of membership.62

Laurie Moore continues her work at the Loveland shop as

performers in the Bay Area rely on her bow rehairing skills.

Irene Sazer (b. 1959), a graduate of the Peabody Conservatory (1977-1981), became a

member of the Baltimore Symphony (1981-1983) and had just moved to the Bay Area in 1986 to

join the Oakland Symphony Orchestra (1986-1987). “She too began leading a double life,

moonlighting in a country-swing band.”63

Those skills made her a natural fit for TIQ, however,

the group needed a violist so she switched from violin to viola to play with the group and learned

all the TIQ pieces in seven days. A violinist switching to viola for the TIQ was common in the

group’s history and it’s easy to see why as Paquito D’Rivera likens both a jazz violist and a

string quartet that ‘swings’ to that of a barking cat, entirely unexpected.

David Balakrishnan, Darol Anger, Irene Sazer and Mark Summer recorded Turtle Island

String Quartet (CD, 1988), a self-titled debut album, on the Windham Hill Jazz record label.64

Balakrishnan was nominated for a Grammy in the instrumental arrangement category for his

work on A Night in Tunisia. Their second album Metropolis (CD, 1989), rising to the top of jazz

charts, was soon to follow with original compositions and arrangements of music by Pat

Methany, Duke Pearson, Bruce Williamson, Horace Silver, Lee Morgan and John Coltrane.65

“By performing jazz and original compositions that were unconventional for string quartets, and

61. Loveland Violin Shop, “About Us,” Loveland Violin Shop,

http://www.lovelandviolinshop.com/aboutus.html (accessed January 10, 2013).

62. Ibid.



string-quartet (accessed January 10, 2013).

64. Ken Dryden, “Turtle Island String Quartet: Produce Description,” CD Universe,

http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=1435432&style=music (accessed January 10,

2013).


of the People in Music, vol. 9 (Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 1993), 267.

19

playing in what Anger dubbed an ‘American vernacular’ style, Turtle Island had to work long

and hard to establish its position, not only in the record marketplace but especially on the concert

circuit.”66

The jazz string quartet was working club dates while simultaneously applying for grants.

The more academic approach paid off through a grant from the National Endowment for the

Arts.67

This was only the start of a lifetime of grants, projects, nominations, and awards to come.

Balakrishnan says, “What has made it consistent is that throughout we have kept a high level of

composition. It never falls into a gimmicky thing where you just play tunes and improvise and

show off our individual chops. I’m very proud of [having found] a way to incorporate the jazz

tradition without losing the identity of the string quartet.”68

Throughout her career, and reflected in Irene Sazer’s extensive résumé of concert

performances, recordings, compositions and educational endeavors of all types, she has remained

dedicated to improvising strings, including her work in founding and directing the School of

Strings and String Improvisation in Berkeley, CA.69

Irene Sazer left Turtle Island Quartet to

pursue her solo career and other musical interests. Since 2003 she has played with a group called

Real Vocal String Quartet whose members play and sing in many style-mixing genre

combinations. Sazer’s work with TIQ is on a third album, Winter Solstice, vol. 2 (CD, 1986),

produced by Windham Hill which also includes a piece called By the Fireside, performed by the

composer, Balakrishnan’s composition teacher William Allaudin Matheiu (b. 1937). After the

departure of Sazer from the quartet, Katrina Wreede (b. 1960) assumed the TIQ viola position

from 1989-1992.





string-quartet (accessed January 10, 2013).

68. Fernando Gonzalez, “Turtle Island Takes the String Quartet into Uncharted

Territory,” Special to the Miami Herrald, Miami Herrald,

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/18/2753979/turtle-island-takes-string-

quartet.html#storylink=cpy#storylink=cpy (accessed June 14, 2012).

69. Real Vocal String Quartet, “About,” available from Real Vocal String Quartet,

http://www.rvsq.com/#http://www.rvsq.com/about/ (accessed June 15, 2012).

20

Wreede graduated with a BA with distinction from San Jose State University in music

performance.70

In 1985, however, she decided to leave symphony work behind and study jazz,

joining the Bay Area Jazz Composers Orchestra due to her enjoyment of improvising.71

Wreede

had the opportunity to play with several members of Turtle Island Quartet; previous to joining,

she played alongside Mark Summer and Irene Sazer in the Skyline String Trio around 1987, met

Darol Anger at a recording session, and took jazz lessons with David Balakrishnan. With her

training in classical and new music, she was most comfortable in experimental and free jazz

music styles, leading her into the earlier jazz traditions and playing with the Turtle Island

Quartet. The Turtle Island Quartet recorded several albums with Wreede playing viola: Skylife

(CD, 1990), On the Town (CD, 1991), Winter Solstice, vol. 3 (Audio cassette, 1990; CD, 2011),

Spider Dreams (CD, 1992), and a soundtrack entitled Shock to the System. Touring with TIQ as

the only woman of the group was sometimes challenging, as in any small ensemble, many of the

decisions are made in informal settings such as hotel or dressing rooms, however some of her

best experiences with the group were in rehearsals and during a concert in Zion National Park.

The quartet had a unique and surprise visit by dive-bombing bats during an outdoor concert.72

Wreede has dedicated much of her career to teaching young musicians chamber

composition. She is among the founding faculty members of the John Adams Young Composer

Program; “Composing Together”73

and “My Goldfish Died-Blues for Strings” are two of her

most recent collaborative and educational composition projects for the classroom.

Representative of her work are recordings such as Add Viola and Stir (CD, 2010), publications

such as Violaerobics: A Technical Workout for Violists, and journal articles such as “Alternative

Styles: A Violist’s Primer to Improvised Accompaniments in Alternative Styles” in Journal of

70. San Francisco Community Music Center, “String Teachers,” San Francisco

Community Music Center, http://www.sfcmc.org/site/teachers/string (accessed June 15, 2012).

71. Katrina Wreede “Alternative Styles: A Violist’s Primer to Improvised

Accompaniments in Alternative Styles,” Journal of the American Viola Society, vol. 19, no. 1:

31, http://violaspace.com/avs/ks/site/JAVS/sample%20Issue/altstyles.pdf (accessed June 15,

2012).

72. Katrina Wreede, e-mail message to author, June 16, 2012.

73. Katrina Wreede, “Composing Together,” Katrina Wreede, http://katrinawreede.com/

(accessed June 15, 2012). This project includes children in the composition process as she leads

them through creating their own masterpiece.

21

the American Viola Society, vol. 19, no. 1. Wreede left the TIQ in 1992, after which the quartet

played with several musicians for concerts or recordings, including Will Taylor, Tanya

Kalmanovitch, and Jeremy Cohen. Will Taylor attended the University of Texas at Austin and

plays viola with his group called Will Taylor and Strings Attached (1999-present). “As a solo

jazz artist, he has released three international recordings: Reel Life (CD, 1993, Amazing), Simple

Gifts (CD, 1995, Igmod), and Live from Austin (CD, 1996, Cymekob, Inc.), all of which have

received extensive airplay on NPR stations throughout the United States, including exposure on

programs such as All Things Considered and New Sounds.”74

Taylor has also participated in an

outreach and educational school concert program in Austin called American Roots.

Tanya Kalmanovitch (b. 1970) is a graduate of the Juilliard School (1992), after which

she earned multiple degrees including a BA in Psychology (1995) and Master of Science in the

history and theory of psychology (1998) from the University of Calgary, and an

ethnomusicology Ph.D. from the University of Alberta (2002). Kalmanovitch became the

assistant chair of the department of Creative Improvisation at Boston’s New England

Conservatory and plays with her quartet (viola, guitar, bass, and drums), Hut Five. Her

recordings include: Winterland (CD, 1998), Lingua Franca: Lingua Franca Irish Project (CD,

2001), and Hut Five (2003). Kalmanovitch is interested in developing jazz string pedagogy and

presents on the subject often while maintaining her involvement as the Canadian representative

to the International Association of Schools of Jazz, founding member of the board of the Jazz

Alliance of Canada, and as member of the String Caucus of the International Association of Jazz

Educators. “Central to her teaching philosophy is a belief that all musicians, regardless of genre,

should possess the means to creative self-expression and professional development.”75

Jeremy Cohen played viola with Turtle Island Quartet for six months, switching from

violin to viola, and was also on two tracks of the Spider Dreams (CD) recording. Composer,

arranger, and violinist Cohen attended Sonoma State University and Brooklyn College and was a

violin student of Itzhak Perlman (b. 1945) and Anne Crowden (1928-2004). He served on

faculty of the Henry Mancini Institute in Los Angeles and is currently on faculty at The Jazz

74. Strings Attached, “Bios,” Strings Attached,

http://www.stringsattached.org/bios/willtaylor.php (accessed June 18, 2012).

75. Tanya Kalmanovitch, “Teaching,” Tanya Kalmanovitch,

http://tanyakalmanovitch.com/teaching/ (accessed June 15, 2012).

22

School at Berkeley.76

Cohen performs with group Violin Jazz and a quartet he founded in 2001,

Quartet San Francisco, a crossover quartet playing in “multiple styles — from jazz to tango, pop

to funk, blues to bluegrass, gypsy swing to big band…”77

Quartet San Francisco has recorded

4tet San Francisco (CD, 2002), Látigo (2005), Whirled Chamber Music (CD, 2007), QSF Plays

Brubeck (CD, 2009), and Five by Four (CD, 2011). Many of Cohen’s original compositions and

arrangements are published, including works such as his Stylistic Etudes for Solo Violin: For

Intermediate to Advanced Players and jazz arrangements for string quartet such as St. Louis

Blues and Some of These Days: Swing-Jazz Classics for String Quartet.

After much searching and many auditions, Juilliard trained violist Danny Seidenberg

joined Turtle Island Quartet from the fall of 1992 to 2003. In addition to his classical training he

had “a commensurate level of jazz chops, along with brilliant compositional talent and a

hilarious taste for the irreverent.”78

Seidenberg’s recent recording Alto Logic (CD, 2008) with his

group Unbande (2 violas and the Chapman Stick), features Danny Seidenberg and Novi Novag

on viola and Larry Tuttle playing the Stick.79

Unbande personnel include: Danny Seidenberg

and his wife, Daryl Silberman, playing viola, Noah Seitz on cello, and Christopher Woitach,

guitar.80

He is teaching violin and viola at Williamette University81

and has previously taught at

76. Quartet San Francisco, “About,” Quartet San Francisco,

http://quartetsanfrancisco.com/about/jeremy-cohen/ (accessed June18, 2012).

77. Ibid.





79. Chapman Stick, http://www.stick.com/ (accessed June 18, 2012). This instrument,

developed by Emmett Chapman, is called the Chapman Stick. It is a bass type instrument in

which both hands of the player are able to participate equally.

80. Tom D’Antoni, “Silverton Wine and Jazz Festival: Danny Seidenberg with the

UnBande” Oregon Music News, May 6, 2010, http://oregonmusicnews.com/tag/danny-

seidenberg/ (accessed January 10, 2013).

81. Willamette University: College of Liberal Arts, “Faculty and Staff,” Willamette

University, http://www.willamette.edu/cla/music/faculty/seidenberg/index.html (accessed

January 13, 2013).

23

the Henry Mancini Institute, although much of his career has been as a studio musician and

recording for the film music industry in the Los Angeles area. One of the educational outreach

programs with which he has been associated is the String Project in Los Angeles, encouraging

students to improvise and pursue music styles in which they are interested.82

Turtle Island Quartet experienced several changes around the time Danny Seidenberg

joined as violist. In the spring of 1993 David Balakrishnan resigned due to family

responsibilities, Tracy Silverman (b. 1960) would play violin with TIQ from 1993 to 1997.

Management of the group also changed to International Creative Management (ICM), who made

major efforts to popularize the group and earn them mainstream success. In an interview Mark

Summer says, “There was a time when we played at the Hollywood Bowl with Shirley Horn and

the Manhattan Transfer and opened up for Ray Charles at the Universal Amphitheatre.”83

Tracy Silverman was a violin student of Deborah Schwartz, Lewis Kaplan (b. 1933), and

Ivan Galamian (1903-1981) at The Juilliard School, graduating in 1980. Silverman has written

two concertos for electric violin, Electric Violin Concerto #1 and Between Kiss and the Chaos,

and performs two more concertos written for him by John Adams (b. 1947), The Dharma at Big

Sur (2003), and The Palmian Chord Ryddle (2012) by Terry Riley (b. 1935). He plays on a six-

string electric violin, performing and recording with two groups, Eclectica and Three Part

Invention. He teaches at Belmont University and has worked with the percussion ensemble

Vortex at Vanderbilt’s Blair School of Music.84

In the summer he has also taught at the Mark

O’Connor Fiddle Camp.

In four years with Tracy Silverman playing violin the TIQ recorded Who Do We Think

We Are? (CD, 1994), A Night in Tunisia, a Week in Detroit (CD, 1994 on Chandos Records Ltd.)

with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and By the Fireside (CD, 1995). The commercialization

attempts for the quartet and conflicting individual career interests led the group to more changes

82. String Project Los Angeles, “About Us,” String Project Los Angeles,

http://www.stringprojectla.com/about_us.html (accessed June 18, 2012).

83. Casey Phillips, “Q&A with Mark Summer, cellist and co-founder of the Turtle Island

Quartet,” ChattanoogaNow.com posted March 30, 2012,

http://www.chattanooganow.com/news/2012/mar/30/q-mark-summer-cellist-and-co-founder-

turtle-island/ (accessed January 13, 2013).

84. Tracy Silverman Website, “Bio,” Tracy Silverman, http://www.tracysilverman.com/

(accessed June 19, 2012).

24

to personnel, management, and recording label. David Balakrishnan returned to the group in

February of 1997 and two months later Darol Anger left the group. Andy Stein (b. 1948) played

with the group for the 1997 European summer tour due to a prior commitment of their newest

member Evan Price (b. 1972), who was only twenty-four years old at the time.

Originally from Detroit, Michigan, Evan Price grew up surrounded by musicians. In his

youth he became the U.S. Scottish Fiddling Champion, Canadian Junior Fiddling Champion, and

Canadian Novelty Fiddling Champion. He studied music theory and violin while attending the

Cleveland Institute, studying violin with Linda Cerone; and went on to study jazz violin at the

Berklee College of Music. Berklee has made history as the first college to award a degree in

string jazz performance. Price’s teacher at Berklee and current artistic director of the school’s

American Roots Music Program, Matt Glaser, recommended him to the quartet. Price has

performed with violin players such as “Stéphane Grappelli, Johnny Frigo, Claude ‘Fiddler’

Williams, Johnny Gimble, Buddy Spicher, and Vassar Clements.”85

Price taught at Wellesley College (1996-1997) and the The Jazz School Institute in

Berkeley and has been playing with a gypsy swing band Hot Club of San Francisco since 1998

recording the following albums: Clair de Lune (CD, 2000), Veronica (CD, 2002), Postcards

from Gypsyland (CD, 2005), Yerba Buena Bounce (CD, 2007), Bohemian Maestro: Django

Reinhardt and Impressionist (CD, 2008), Cool Yule (CD, 2009), and Live at Yoshi’s (CD, 2012).

Price is currently on the faculty for the Chamber Music Workshop at the Crowden Center for

Music in the Community Summer Classes (2012).86

His most recent compositional premiere,

Emergence, took place in March 2012 with the New Century Chamber Orchestra.

“During the period that followed, 1997-2002, the scene in America was not very strong

for the group, prompting them to travel overseas quite a bit, especially in Germany, where they

had great success.”87

The Turtle Island Quartet made a recording The Hamburg Concert (CD) in

85. The Hot Club of San Francisco, “Players,” Hot Club of San Francisco,

http://www.hcsf.com/players/evan-price/ (accessed January 13, 2013).

86. Crowden Center for Music in the Community, “Community Summer Classes,

Crowden Center for Music in the Community,

http://www.crowden.org/CCMC/Programs/summer.htm (accessed June 19, 2012).



25

1998 on the recording label CCn’C. The next two recordings Art of the Groove (CD, 2000), and

Danzón (CD, 2002) featuring Paquito D’Rivera were released on the Koch label, a change from

Windham Hill. The quartet also changed management from ICM to Baylin Artists Management

who encouraged the quartet to focus on collaborations and a thematic approach. Balakrishnan

was nominated for his second Grammy in the instrumental arrangement category for You’ve

Changed from Danzón (CD).

While attending the 2003 Grammy Awards Balakrishnan was sitting next to Telarc

producer, Thomas Moore. On the advice of Moore, Balakrishnan contacted the Telarc owner,

Bob Woods, and suggested a recording collaboration with the Ying Quartet on the Telarc

recording label. As the quartet moved to the Telarc label in 2003, Danny Seidenberg left the

viola position and the group performed with and auditioned Cristoph König,88

Olivier

Manchon,89

and Jeremy Kittel (b. 1984), only 19 years old at the time. Seidenberg’s position

was taken in October of that year by twenty-four-year-old Mads Tolling (b. 1980), yet another

violinist to switch to viola to join TIQ and another member to come to the quartet by way of a

recommendation from Matt Glaser.

In his home country of Denmark, Tolling graduated from the Sankt Annae School and in

Boston, he graduated from Berklee College of Music in 2003. As other jazz violinists have

emerged from Europe, such as Stéphan Grappelli, Svend Asmussen (also Danish), and Jean Luc

Ponty, it was of little surprise. Other TIQ members would also emerge from Europe in years to

come. Tolling began playing jazz at age sixteen and at Berklee studied jazz with Matt Glaser

(violin), Joe Lovano (saxophone), and JoAnne Brackeen (piano). Tolling’s recordings include

Speed of Light (CD, 2007) with the Mads Tolling Trio, Playmaker (CD, 2009) and Celebrating

Jean-Luc Ponty—Live at Yoshi’s (CD, 2012) with the Mads Tolling Quartet. Members of the



88. Christoph Konig plays in his quartet, Hot Club of St. Pauli, with fellow members Ulli

Bartel, violin; Ingmar Suberkrub, viola; and Jorg Brinkmann, cello.

89. Olivier Manchon is from France and moved to the United States in 1999 and attended

Berklee College of Music. As a violinist he has taken part in the Broadway musical Spring

Awakening. The recording of his composition is called Orchestre de Chambre Miniature, vol. 1,

instrumentation that includes: violin, bass, viola, cello, and a woodwind instrument such as

saxophone, clarinet, and jazz harmonica (Gregoire Maret).

26

Mads Tolling Quartet include: Mads Tolling, violin; Mike Abraham, guitar; George Ban-Weiss,

acoustic/electric bass; and Eric Garland, drums.90

Tolling also plays with the Stanley Clarke

Band, having been recommended to the group by Jean-Luc Ponty.91

With Telarc Turtle Island Quartet (Balakrishnan, Price, Tolling, and Summer) recorded

4+Four (CD, 2005) with the Ying Quartet and A Love Supreme: The Legacy of John Coltrane

(CD, 2007). The work of the quartet paid off through two Grammies for Best Classical

Crossover Album in 2006 and 2008. After the last recording they decided to omit the word

“string” from their name becoming Turtle Island Quartet rather than Turtle Island String Quartet.

This would be “in keeping with groups such as the Emerson, Guarnieri, and Kronos quartets: in

fact pretty much all of their string quartet colleagues similarly eschew the word. Another factor

was the group’s ongoing imperative to search out ways to sidestep the unfortunate associations

for American audiences with string quartets being stuffy and boring without sacrificing artistic

integrity.”92

In November of 2007 Evan Price left the Turtle Island Quartet and was replaced in 2008

by Jeremy Kittel who had auditioned for the group earlier in 2003 while still attending college.

Matt Glaser, in their transition, played violin for their Solstice tour with Leo Kottke (b. 1945).93

Mads Tolling previously played viola in the quartet and switched to the position held by Price,

playing violin; Jeremy Kittel took the viola position in the quartet, switching from violin. Just a

few years later their next recording Have You Ever Been…? The Music of Jimi Hendrix and the

Music of David Balakrishnan (CD, 2010) was released.

Jeremy Kittel became the U.S. Scottish Fiddle Champion in 2000 and has attended the

University of Michigan (2004) and for his masters degree at the Manhattan School of Music

90. Mads Tolling Website, “Mads Tolling Quartet,” Mads Tolling,

http://madstolling.com/ (accessed June 20, 2012).

91. All About Jazz, “Mads Tolling: The Playmaker,” All About Jazz,

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=17974 (accessed June 20, 2012).





93. David Balkrishnan, “Membership Timeline,” (word document), e-mail to author,

January 25, 2012.

27

(2007). His recordings include: Celtic Fiddle (his debut CD, 2000), Roaming (CD, 2003), Jazz

Violin (CD, 2005), and Chasing Sparks (CD, 2010). He performs with his own Jeremy Kittel

Band, members include: Josh Pinkham, mandolin; Simon Chrisman, hammered dulcimer; and

Nathanial Smith, cello. Kittel teaches at the Creative Strings Workshop and multiple string and

fiddle camps such as Leahy Music Camp, Mark O’Connor Berklee College of Music Summer

String Program, Shasta, Swannanoa Gathering—Celtic Week.94

In April of 2012, Turtle Island Quartet members Jeremy Kittel and Mads Tolling left to

pursue their solo careers and were replaced by European jazz string musicians, Polish violinist

Mateusz Smoczyński (b.1984) and German violist Benjamin Von Gutzeit. The new Turtle Island

Quartet immediately began performing together, in July 2012 at the Grand Teton Music Festival

with many more performances scheduled. Smoczyński graduated from the Frédéric Chopin

Academy of Music, studying violin with Andrzej Gębski. He performed with the Jacek

Namysłowski Quintet in 1999 at the Jazz Camping Kalatówki. He co-founded the Atom String

Quartet in 2010, the first Polish jazz string quartet, with members Dawid Lubowicz, violin;

Michał Zaborski, viola; and Krzysztof Lenczowski, cello. Atom String Quartet has recorded

Fade In (CD, 2011)95

and Places (CD, 2011). Another group he founded, the Mateusz

Smoczyński Quintet members include: Jan Smoczyński, his brother playing piano; Konrad

Zemler, guitar; Wojciech Pulcyn, bass; and Lukasz Zyta, drums. They have recorded two

albums Inspirations (CD, 2006), featuring music inspired by John Coltrane and Zbigniew

Seifert,96

and Expressions (CD, 2008). New Trio released Simultaneous Abstractions (CD) in

2010 with members Mateusz Smoczyński, violin; Jan Smoczyński, Hammond organ; and Alex

94. Jeremy Kittel Website, “Roadmap,” Jeremy Kittel,

http://jeremykittel.com/2009/11/jazz-violin/ (accessed January 13, 2013).

95. Maciej Nowothy, ed., “Atom String Quartet – Fade In,” Polish-Jazz Blog Spot, Jazz

Forum, posted 2011, http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=pl&u=http://polish-

jazz.blogspot.com/2011/08/atom-string-quartet-fade-in-jazz-

forum.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3Datom%2Bstring%2Bquartet%2Bfade%2Bin%26hl%3Den%

26biw%3D1191%26bih%3D706%26prmd%3Dimvns&sa=X&ei=1TfjT8q8A4Ka8gTy8LmHCA

&ved=0CGEQ7gEwBQ, (accessed June 21, 2012).

96. Mateusz Smoczynski participated in the premiere of Zbigniew Seifert piece Jazz

Concerto for Violin, Symphony Orchestra and Rhythm Section.

28

Zinger, drums. Smoczyński has gained many awards of recognition and scholarships for his jazz

music and success in Poland.

Benjamin von Gutzeit (b. 1980) was first taught viola by his father from ages four to

twelve, after which he studied with Emile Cantor of the Orpheus String Quartet. Von Gutzeit

won the Jugend Musiziert youth music competition in Germany in 1992 and 1994, and by 1997

he was studying at the Bruckner Conservatory in Linz, staying only one year. Jazz violinist Andi

Schreiber taught him in 2001 at the Gymnasium in Austria and by 2004 he was attending the

Conservatory of Amsterdam. The Christian Hassenstein Trio features von Gutzeit on a recording

in 2009. He made his way to the United States on full scholarship to the Manhattan School of

Music, pursuing a master’s degree in jazz viola (2010 to the present). He has recorded with

several groups including the album Slang (CD, 2010) with Elastic Jargon (featuring violinist

Mark Feldman), Starvinsky Orkestar, and with Remy Gauche. He has also played with groups

such as “Strings Get Wings (Paul van Kemenade), Laetitia van Krieken’s Big Bang, and the

Celano-Baggiani-Fractie.”97

“The vast experience and influence of the Quartet is quite extensive:

It [the Turtle Island Quartet career] has included more than a dozen recordings on labels

such as Windham Hill, Chandos, Koch and Telarc; soundtracks for major motion

pictures; TV and radio credits such as the Today Show, All Things Considered, Prairie

Home Companion and Morning Edition; feature articles in People and Newsweek

magazines; and collaborations with famed artists such as clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera,

vibraphonist Stefon Harris, guitar legends Leo Kottke and the Assad brothers, The

Manhattan Transfer, pianists Billy Taylor, Kenny Barron, Cyrus Chestnut and Ramsey

Lewis, singers Tierney Sutton and Nellie McKay, the Ying Quartet and the Parsons and

Luna Negra Dance Companies.”98

97. Elastic Jargon Website, “About,” Elastic Jargon,

http://www.elasticjargon.com/pages/english/about/musicians.php (accessed March 15, 2013.)

98. Turtle Island Quartet, “About: David Balakrishnan,” Turtle Island Quartet,

http://turtleislandquartet.com/bios/#david (accessed October 9, 2012).

29

Table 1. Turtle Island Quartet Membership Timeline, by Instrument and Year99

99. Nancy Taylor assisted the author by computer formatting this timeline.

Violin Violin Viola Cello

19

85

19

90

19

95

20

00

20

05

20

10

David Balakrishnan

Tracy Silverman

Darol Anger

Evan Price

Mads Tolling

Mateusz Smoczynski

Laurie Moore

Irene Sazer

Katrina Wreede

Danny Seidenberg

Jeremy Kittel

Benjamin von Gutzeit

Mark Summer

30

CHAPTER THREE

THE STRING ORCHESTRA GENRE AND LITERATURE IN

PEDAGOGICAL USE

The education of young string musicians can begin in as many unique ways as there are

teachers honing their craft. There are publications for use in the classroom such as Essential

Elements 2000, Muller-Rush, String Explorer, String Basics, String Builder, All for Strings,

Sassmannshaus, Adventures in Strings, Sound Innovations and many more. Research studies

have been conducted which support approaches to pedagogy such as starting with rote or note-

reading, factors for intonation accuracy, bow technique, class organization, and differences

between those students who did or did not participate in chamber music, composition, and music

analysis.100

Beyond classroom method books, there are many publishers and composers that are

actively adding to the available literature for strings, including the Suzuki method.

The availability and wide variety of music arranged or written for the string orchestra

genre can be for busy teachers, professors and chamber coaches, overwhelming simply because

there are too many from which to choose. Some of the major publishers include: Alfred Music

Publishing, Neil A. Kjos Music Company, FJH Music Company, Carl Fischer, Kendor Music,

Belwin, Highland/Etling, Mesa Music, Edwin F. Kalmus, Latham Music, and Shar Music to

name a few. In the string orchestra literature genre the grading system is wide ranging in how

the difficultly or ease of a piece of music is quantified. Publishers generally give a description of

the grading system they use and with experience a teacher can ascertain the level of music

necessary for their string orchestra based on publisher and even by composer.

The grading systems used are not standardized and are wide ranging in their organization

from a numerical rating between 1 and 5101

including levels in between (1.5, etc.), and other

numbered grading systems from 1 to 7 (previously the ASTA levels 1-6 available in the ASTA

100. Gail V. Barnes, ed., Applying Research to Teaching and Playing Stringed

Instruments (Fairfax, VA: American String Teachers Association with National School

Orchestra Association, 2003), 1-4.

101. The FJH Music Company, “String Orchestra Music,” FJH Music Company,

http://www.fjhmusic.com/strings.htm (accessed on January 27, 2013).

31

String Syllabus)102

and lettering systems such as levels A-C, and descriptions such as Beginning-

Intermediate-Advanced or easy and young.103

The American String Teachers Association

revisited the levels and much of this new information was contributed at the National Convention

in Providence, Rhode Island, spring 2013. Aside from the variation in how the pieces for string

orchestra are graded, there is another variable – the composer – which can influence the level of

literature chosen for a particular group. One instrument section of a particular orchestra may be

weak or strong depending on the individuals and the piece may be more or less challenging

based on the composer’s interpretation of the level system and the rating they give based on the

overall technical requirements of a piece.

The string orchestra genre has deep roots in Western classical music as well as in many

other musical styles. In the Western classical genre we have a generous selection of string

literature composers and pieces such as Johann Sebastian Bach’s (1685-1750) Brandenburg

Concerto No. 3 in G Major, BWV 1048, Petr Tchaikovsky’s (1840-1893) Serenade for Strings in

C Major, Op. 48, Gustav Holst’s (1874-1934) St. Paul’s Suite, Op. 29, Antonín Dvořák’s (1841-

1904) Serenade for Strings in E Minor, Op. 22, Edward Elgar’s (1857-1934) String Serenade in

E Minor, Op. 20, and the Brahms Serenade, Nos.1 and 2. These pieces are still a part of the

modern repertoire and can present an opportunity to feature the string section of a symphonic

orchestra or hearken back to string orchestra genre found in string education before many young

players had the opportunity to play with full orchestra.

There are many styles of music featuring acoustic strings outside of the Western

European classical tradition. Defining those genres in language has been somewhat of a

challenge, in that many of the terms used reference the fact that the music is outside of the

normal classical tradition. “Non-classical,” “extra-classical,” and “alternative” are all labels of

music, and in the language of the label, characterize these genres as different than the normal.

Folk music represents some of the trouble in finding a label and in searching for a way to define

this other side to music, The American String Teachers Association 2012 Conference in Atlanta,

GA used the word “eclectic” for their Eclectic String Festival, which was a change from the

word “alternative” previously used.

102. David Littrell, ed., ASTA String Syllabus, 2009, vol. 1, rev. ed. (ASTA, 2009).

103. Lake State Publications, “Specifications, String Orchestra Music,” Lake State

Publications, http://www.lakestatepublications.com/tools3.html (accessed January 27, 2013).

32

Those musicians who perform in these various genres apply language to the styles that

are much more specific just as “classical” music really only describes the time period in music

after Baroque and before Romantic. Sometimes the current labeling language does not exist (i.e.

Dawg music)104

and artists invent their own descriptions and educate their audiences.

Sometimes a period in history does not find a sufficient label until time has passed and it is truly

history, with the perspective of the past and viewing the larger picture of events and movements.

Even within a particular genre, there are many subcategories and ways to play and

approach the music. The available string literature now offered through publishers and also

through arrangers and individual composers is more diverse and wide-ranging in genre than ever

before and in some ways the choices have become more specialized and specific. An interesting

example in the folk genre is with Irish and Scottish music. “For example, in Irish fiddling there

is a Donegal style, a Sligo style, and a Kerry style. In Scotland there is a northeastern style, a

highland style, a borders style, a composite central style, and a Shetland style.”105

Likewise in

jazz: bebop, cool, free, West Coast, modern, latin, contemporary, blues, big band, swing, hard

bop, soul/funk jazz, jazz-rock, fusion, modal, New Orleans, ragtime,106

third stream, and

Dixieland, to name a few.

At the February 2005 ASTA Conference in Reno, NV, Paula Zeitlin presented

Compositions/Arrangements for Improvising Strings: A Short List. The pieces included written-

out chord changes for the improvisation sections. The list is divided into seven sections, two of

which are string quartet/string ensemble and string orchestra/full orchestra with improvising

string soloist(s).107

In addition to pieces included in this research paper there are many more

104. This term refers to the music of David Grisman.

105. Bruce Erwin, “Incorporating Scottish Fiddle into String Class,” Spotlight on

Teaching Orchestra, Multicultural Music Section 7 (Reston, VA: MENC, the National

Association for Music Education (U.S.), 2005), 88.

106. Darol Anger also expressed an interest in the music of Bix Beiderbecke in an article.

If the reader is interested in string quartet literature for the music found in the music era between

ragtime and bebop (1920-1940), David Laurence is an arranger for the music of Bix

Beiderbecke, parts including written solos. See Derk Richardson, “Anger’s Passion,” in Strings

12, no. 5 (January/February 1998), 51.

107. Paula Zeitlin, Compositions/Arrangements for Improvising Strings: A Short List,

compiled by Paula Zeitlin, ASTA Reno, February 2005,

33

selections that range in level from beginner to intermediate/advanced level and some

professional level pieces.

The American String Teachers Association has many beneficial resources available for

order: Alternative Styles in the Classroom DVD, Ultimate Strings, volume 1: Alternative Strings

CD, and String Syllabus, volume 1, 2009 Edition, by David Littrell. The updated string syllabus

has additional material for Alternative Styles. This is an exceptional resource because of the

standardized grading system used and, when in the genre of music that falls outside of the

classical spectrum, can be extremely useful since some of the music available can only be

ordered directly through the composer.

There are many classroom music literature method-type resources emerging under the

new alternative styles genre listing that can be categorized under the category of world music

just as easily. Andrew H. Dabczynski, Bob Phillips, Randy Sabien, and John Nieto have written

for a Philharmonic Series for Strings by Alfred Publishing Company. The string orchestra or

private studio materials include Basic Fiddlers Philharmonic, Fiddlers Philharmonic, Jazz

Philharmonic, and Mariachi Philharmonic. World music collections include World on a String

by Ramona Holmes and Terese M. Volk; Strings Around the World, featuring folk songs from

various places such as the United States, Australia, and Scandinavia; and Eclectic Strings, Book

1 by Göran Berg and Eclectic Strings, Book 2 by Kirsi Pääkkönen. American Fiddle Tunes,

Celtic Tunes, and music by Barrage are available through Mel Bay.

As a teacher considers how jazz might fit into the upcoming school year’s program for

string ensemble or chamber music, the concept of improvisation can be, for those musicians

whole heartedly classically trained, intimidating. The intention of this document is to provide

support and courage to those teachers, along with access to relevant resources that will be useful

during the rehearsal, preparation and coaching process. Thinking of improvisation as something

some players are born with and others will never master is an idea easy to believe but entirely

false. Improvising String Quartets: Part of the Creative Ability Development Series by Alice

Kay Kanack with Dr. Sera J. Smolen is another recent publication on the subject of

improvisation that could prove useful for classroom improvisation game ideas and as an

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/34218381/COMPOSITIONS-ARRANGEMENTS-FOR-

IMPROVISING-STRINGS-A-SHORT-LIST-Compiled-by-Paula-Zeitlin-ASTA-Reno-February-

2005-The-purpose-of-the-following-list-is-to-give-string-players-teachers (accessed September

15, 2013).

34

improvisation method. Julie Lyonn Lieberman has also published The Creative Band and

Orchestra, another book teachers can use to inspire creativity.

There are several websites currently carrying arrangements and original compositions for

jazz string orchestra: jazzbows.com, sheetmusicplus.com, and ejazzlines.com among others. In

addition, there are publishers such as Jazz Lines Publications, Mel Bay, Alfred, Shar, and within

the publisher category emerges a list of arrangers: Mimi Rabson,108

Eddie Sauter, Richard

Stephan, James Christensen, Claus Ogerman, John Caponegro, George Russell, Calvin Custer,

and Rob Grice. Martin Norgaard109

has written Getting into Gypsy Jazz Violin and Jazz Wizard

books for fiddle, viola, and cello. Music that is arranged, composed, and/or recorded has been

organized into a database available at other websites such as stringscentral.com and abar.net.110

The effort to promote jazz and improvisational music has continued and more works are being

published each year. Many of these others can be found through the major education

organizations such as American String Teachers Association (ASTA) and National School

Orchestra Association (NSOA) through their Alternative Styles Committee, National Association

for Music Education (NAfME), and The International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE)

through their Jazz String Caucus (2000-2009).111

The year 2003 was an important year for string players interested in exploring eclectic

genres, jazz or otherwise. In 2003 the Jazz String Caucus and Latham Music Publishers released

Jammin’ Jazz Standards for String Quartet and in the same year ASTA introduced Celebrating

Alternative Strings: The First Alternative Styles Awards. Many of the same people who helped

create the Jazz String Caucus were indeed fostering jazz string music nationwide. These are the

members of the Alternative Style Awards Organizing Committee: Renata Bratt, Stanley

108. Many compositions and arrangements of Mimi Rabson developed out of her Really

Eclectic String Quartet repertoire.

109. Martin Norgaard has presented information about the incorporation of alternative

styles in the classroom, “Adding Eclectic Styles to Your Orchestra,” at the June 2012 Music

Education Week for the National Association for Music Education.

110. This website is maintained by Anthony Barnetti and he continues to search for rare

recordings of jazz string players.

111. A few of the musicians involved in the Jazz Strings Caucus included: Stanley

Chepaitis, Matt Glaser, Renata Bratt, Julie Lyonn Lieberman, Martin Norgaard, Laura Reed, and

Tanya Kalmanovitch.

35

Chepaitis, Andrew Dabczynski, Robert Gardner, Matt Glaser, David Littrell, and Julie Lyonn

Lieberman.

Composers, performers, and arrangers from the Turtle Island Quartet, past and present,

have published a remarkable variety of compositions. The lists that follow include compositions

that are suitable for developing string players from high school to college age.

DAROL ANGER

African Solstice

Blue Book

Blues for Oaktown

Chopagroove: A Rhythm Fantasy for Strings

Creaking Tree (Bob Phillips, arranger)

Dexteriors

Grant Wood

I Coulda Told You

La Betaille (You Little Wild Thing) Traditional, arranged by Anger

Li’l Darlin’ (Neal Hefti)

DAVID BALAKRISHNAN112

Balapadam

Confetti Man

Fruitcake

InterPlay

Little Mouse Jumps

Mara’s Garden of False Delights (string octet)

Milestones (Miles Davis)

Naima (John Coltrane)

A Night in Tunisia (Oliver Nelson)

Señor Mouse (Chick Corea)

Spider Dreams

112. Many of David Balakrishnan’s works are commercially available through the Turtle

Island Quartet website.

36

Skylife

Stolen Moments (Oliver Nelson)

Tempus Fugit (Bud Powell)

Tremors

Tree of Life

JEREMY COHEN

Crowdambo (mambo)

El Día Que Me Quieras (tango)

Tango Toscana

Tanguori (tango)

4 Latin Pieces Together

Blue Rondo a la Turk (String Quartet and String Quintet)

Strange Meadowlark

Dave Brubeck Collection

Toy Trumpet

Siberian Sleighride

Powerhouse

The Penguin

Raymond Scott Collection

Love Songs for String Quartet

Swing Jazz Violin with Hot Club Rhythm

St. Louis Blues and Some of These Days

Comme Il Fant and Francini

EVAN PRICE113

Yearnin’ (Oliver Nelson)

Variations on an Unoriginal Theme (orignal)

Lake Effect (Catherine Kelley)

Christmastime is Here (Vince Guaraldi)

O Tannenbaum (traditional German)

113. Evan Price contributed this list based on the suitability of the arrangement for the

focus of this paper. Many of the works selected are not yet commercially available.

37

Christmas Day I’ Da Mornin’ (traditional Scottish)

IRENE SAZER

After the Battle of Aughrim

American Folk Songs for Intermediate String Orchestra: Limerock

Star of the Country Down

TRACY SILVERMAN

12th

of December

The Belmont Strum

Unpublished works

Chorinho

Overture for Strings

Nawlins

Now's the Time (Charlie Parker)

Octopus's Garden (Beatles)

Tombo in 7/4 (Airto Moreira)

DANNY SEIDENBERG114

Steel City Strut

Bach’s Lunch (J.S. Bach)

Who Do You Think You Are? (Tower of Power)

Variations on Winter (Vivaldi)

Bernies’ Tune (String Quartet with two violas) (Gerry Mulligan)

Bowing, Bowing (Jean Luc Ponty)

Exsultate, Wana Latte? (String Quartet with two violas) (Mozart)

So Shall We Two Forever Part? (violin, viola, piano) (Mozart)

Sammy’s Here! (solo viola with string orchestra)

Zomby Woof (Frank Zappa)

Oh Darling! (Beatles)

Child’s Play

114. Danny Seidenberg Website, “Charts,” Danny Seidenberg,

http://www.dannyseidenberg.com/DAS_Site/CHARTS.html (accessed March 15, 2013),

Obtained from Danny Seidenberg’s website, this partial list mostly contains pieces for string

quartet or string orchestra unless otherwise noted.

38

Maracatu (Quintet with clarinet) (Gismonti)

La Création Du Monde (String Octet) (Milhaud)

Boplicity (Miles Davis)

My Funny Valentine (viola/cello duet) (Miles Davis)

A Foggy Day London Town (String orchestra) (George Gershwin)

Good Vibrations (2 violas/piano) (Brian Wilson)

See the World (Pat Metheny)

The Heat of the Day (Pat Metheny)

Lil’ Darlin’ (Neal Hefti)

Straighten Up and Fly Right (Nat King Cole)

Mercy, Mercy, Mercy (Joe Zawinul)

MARK SUMMERS

Gettysburg

Other pieces

Julie-O (solo cello and cello duet)

Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming (solo cello) (Praetorius)

Kalimba115

MADS TOLLING

Loki in the Pokey

Danish Dessert

KATRINA WREEDE116

The Felix Suite (added percussion with either String Quartet or String Orchestra)

Breakfast Boogie

Pegasus Quartet

Mr. Twitty’s Chair

What Goes on in the Ether

115. Kalimba is named after an African instrument called Kalimba or the African thumb

piano. Guitarist Leo Kottke, known for his 6- and 12-string finger-picking, was also a stylistic

inspiration for this piece.

116. Katrina Wreede Website, “Vlazville Publishing: Chamber Works,” Katrina Wreede,

http://katrinawreede.com/vlazville-publishing/chamber-works/ (accessed March 15, 2013).

39

Yet Another Tango

Pleasant Melody #1

Pleasant Melody #2

Concertos

Concerto for Improvising Viola and Orchestra

Tuba Beguine117

Cephalopodology (added percussion)

117. This piece has an additional part for tuba.

40

CHAPTER FOUR

AUTHOR’S ANALYSIS OF TEACHING PREPARATION IN

WORKS BY MEMBERS OF THE TURTLE ISLAND QUARTET

FOR STRING QUARTET

Notes to Teachers

The string quartet and string orchestra compositions and arrangements of the Turtle

Island Quartet offer a genre of music to young string players who are open to exploring a wide

variety of styles. Within the music of the Turtle Island Quartet jazz and fiddle styles are

commonplace alongside other American music styles and world music influences. The

compositional output of the Quartet and individual members continues to grow as their

performer-as-composer model is realized and as new works are composed and performed.

Members of the Quartet generate and perform compelling and original music and then publish it,

giving string players access to their ground-breaking music. The styles presented in TIQ are

specific and nuanced in their approach. The details of string technique, terms, descriptions of

bow strokes, markings in the score and general approaches to string playing within these genres

will be addressed in the following section.

The selections presented in this paper were chosen for their variety and accessibility to

young string players. There are some differences between recordings and the written part of the

pieces published for string orchestra with an added bass part and other pieces featuring

improvisation. There are optional transcriptions and/or parts provided with some scores for the

solos; and while improvisation is encouraged and chord charts are provided, there are written

parts for players who are beginning to learn improvisation. Listening becomes a critical skill to

develop in students as they listen to recordings for style and translate the written notation of

music into an authentic sound that best represents the nuances of the genre. Evan Price writes, “I

do believe that the overlap of composer and performer is much narrower than it was in prior

centuries and that such breadth is undervalued.”118

Encourage students to compose ornaments or

note substitutions as a path to improvisation, to listen to music in a same or similar styles as the

Turtle Island Quartet music, and imitate the sounds to their best ability.


41

Turtle Island Quartet compositions are written with the model of the string quartet

tradition in mind and explore relevant styles with popular rhythms that will appeal to young

players. Recordings of these pieces by the Turtle Island Quartet are valuable for listening to the

subtle differences between non-classical traditions and the Western classical music tradition. The

various styles of music presented by the composers of the Turtle Island Quartet “take an equal

level of dedication as the Western classical tradition,” David Balakrishnan writes, “… the idea is

to begin an intuitive exploration of the music as best one can, recognizing the learning curve

involved to actually communicating the essence of the music.”119

David Balakrishnan “wrote

music for a string quartet predicated on each member being equally and powerfully grounded in

classical technique and jazz improvisation … because of the primary emphasis on multi stylistic

integrity.”120

From the historical narrative:

“In fact the group prides itself as being the string quartet best suited to presenting

the music of the great geniuses of jazz and its many tributaries such as blues, rock, R&B,

etc., and has always felt thrilled and honored by the chance to re-voice this music through

the lens of the string quartet. Ironically, this is in keeping with the traditional string

quartet form itself, having long been essentially a cover band format, in that the vast bulk

of the material performed comes from another era, written by composers long dead.

Nonetheless the group has strived mightily to live up to its vast potential for significantly

contributing to the expansion and redefinition of the parameters of classical music, which

demands an ongoing fearless willingness to reach out beyond the overlay of its cover

band persona. For David [Balakrishnan], the string quartet form is hallowed ground, of

course largely due to the phenomenal strength of the classical performance tradition, but

perhaps even more so to the compositional tradition, representative of the finest music

ever conceived of by the great European classical master composer, from the inventor of

the form Haydn onwards [sic] well into the twentieth century. From the very beginning

119. David Balakrishnan, e-mail to author, January 27, 2012.

120. David Balakrishnan, “Turtle Island String Quartet Historical Narrative,” embedded

at Turtle Island Quartet http://www.turtleislandquartet.com,


(accessed January 5, 2013), 1.

42

David foresaw that if a group such as the Turtle Island could keep both sides of this

equation at a high enough level, it could conceivably come to be seen as the most

important string quartet of modern times.”121

Turtle Island Quartet compositions are challenging and rewarding, offering practice

motivation to students to meet the technical demands of music that grooves. The emphasis on

rhythmic groove and a strong backbeat will strengthen a young musician’s ability to maintain a

steady pulse through subdivision, a skill that is practical for playing in any genre. Turtle Island

Quartet compositions foster listening and ensemble skills, areas that are of particular importance

to young players. The role of each player in the ensemble can quickly and easily alternate

between soloist, accompanist, rhythm, or bass line. Evan Price offers a few general rehearsal

techniques, “rehearsing passages in pairs, then trios; building chords from the bottom up for

intonation; building chords from open strings outward, also for intonation.” This exercise for

intonation can also be used as a discussion point to encourage students to understand their role

and identify the moments of transition for accompaniment or melody, both as a rhythmic feature

and harmonically. This concept is relevant in any style of music in working toward balance and

will be a valuable lesson applicable to the study of music in any style.

Improvisation can be intimidating and exhilarating especially during the initial attempts,

yet discovering this creative outlet will be valuable to young players. Create an open

environment in which there are no “mistakes.” As an example, in a session at the 2013

American String Teachers Association National Conference, former Turtle Island Quartet

member Irene Sazer led a group through one such exercise: seated in a circle, the entire group

began on the same note--a drone; next, one player would improvise while the group continued

the drone; the improviser would return to the drone and the next person in the circle would

become the improviser. Another excellent improvisation exercise Irene Sazer demonstrated was

to ask members of the group to play what they had for breakfast. The words describing the

breakfast can be translated into rhythms and the shape of the melody might reflect the taste.

Tracy Silverman recommends an improvisation game to initiate younger players,

encouraging them to play their impression of colors or moods. If a student is older, Mr.

121. David Balakrishnan, “Turtle Island String Quartet Historical Narrative,” embedded

at Turtle Island Quartet http://www.turtleislandquartet.com,


(accessed January 5, 2013), 5.

43

Silverman begins with a minor pentatonic scale with call-and-response improvisation over a

blues chord progression. For students who have knowledge of chord progressions and

experience improvising but are looking for more guidance, Evan Price offers the following: “I

find when improvising that the best way to begin a statement is by simply choosing the first note.

I do this by thinking about the first chord and simply asking myself to hear the sound of the root,

the third, the fifth, the seventh, maybe the ninth in my head before the beginning. When I take

the time to do that—usually about 4-8 measures before the start of my solo—I always find one

note speaks to me more strongly than the others, and that’s the one I choose to start with. By

starting that way, I allow my inner voice to rule, rather than my intellect or muscle memory, and

as long as I keep listening to what I’m playing, the melody reveals itself.”122

Rhythm is another critical aspect of performing Turtle Island Quartet music, given the

differences in rhythmic emphasis found in various styles of music. For rehearsals Silverman

suggests “breaking lines down to their subdivisions—play a melody in 16th

notes.”123

In regards

to rehearsal techniques for rhythm, Balakrishnan writes, “A simple one is to rehearse with a click

on the back beat, meaning 2 and 4 in 4/4 time.”124

Evan Price writes, “In Turtle Island, the most

tried and true methods include playing ensemble passages with a metronome . . . we would

sometimes turn off the metronome and tap our feet together also.”125

The notated accents in the

parts often reflect the rhythmic drive and emphasis on the backbeat of the music. Shuffle

rhythms are likewise, notated in the score by accents or tenuto lines. The notation marks for

articulations are to be played with great care as they are constantly changing and may reflect a

particular shuffle bowing or unique rhythm while keeping the pulse steady.

Subtle nuances or changes to rhythm can be described using different terms other than the

traditional musical terms in Italian. Evan Price writes, “Here are some non-classical terms

relating to distortions of rhythm: lay back or laid-back; push; pull back; on top of the beat, on the


123. Tracy Silverman, e-mail to author, February 4, 2012.



44

back side of the beat; swing; drive.”126

Bowing patterns emerge to create rhythmic emphasis and

various bow strokes are used to achieve a percussive quality. The rhythmic feel of the music,

often referred to as groove, is related to the origins of the music. Evan Price writes, “Virtually

all American forms are derived rhythmically from dance music which is driven by either the

back beat or some form of clave or both.”127

Tracy Silverman writes:

“Among string players, and not just young players, there is almost always a relatively

weak sense of rhythm. This shows up in a lack of precision with the bow and more

fundamentally because of a lack of internalized subdivision. In other words, they’re not

counting. They’re not counting because they’re not feeling it. Playing a string

instrument is so complex that teaching weighs heavily on the mechanics of getting a good

sound and the emphasis is on playing melodic music, which is almost exclusively what

the string repertoire consists of. Much of my music requires players to play rhythm

passages or very rhythmic melody passages, both of which require counting. But it’s

easy to find passage in most classical pieces that require counting and which benefit from

not just counting quarter notes, but subdividing to what I call the ‘groovon,’ [sic.] the

smallest particle of the groove, which is usually the sixteenth note.”128

Shuffle bowing, chop, and bow slaps represent a few of the most common bow strokes

used by the group.129

According to Evan Price, “’Shuffle’ is a technique found in American

fiddling wherein the player keeps his bow moving at a steady pace—constant eighth notes, most

commonly—while emphasizing and de-emphasizing various notes within the grid130

using a

mixture of accents and ghost notes. Variants are the single shuffle, which is a static pattern of

two slurred eighths followed by two separate eights; double shuffle, a syncopated pattern found

most famously in the piece Orange Blossom Special which involves double-stops and string




129. See List of Terms on page x.

130. The grid refers to the subdivision or continuous pulse of the music (author’s

interpretation).

45

crossings; Georgia shuffle, which is a pattern of one separate eighth note, played on the back

beat and on a down bow, followed by three slurred eighths on an up bow.”131

Control of bow

weight and the placement of accents are important to the performance of many bow strokes

found in Turtle Island Quartet music. Isolate the rhythmic challenge by practicing the bowing

patterns on open strings. Various patterns can be used to add interest to a scale warm-up or

chord progression exercise from a theory lesson.

The inventor of the chop bow stroke, Richard Greene, created the technique while

playing with Bill Monroe. Darol Anger developed the chop “to the extent that it became such a

clearly effective tool for playing background rhythm section emulation . . .”132

Turtle Island

Quartet members Balakrishnan and Silverman133

learned the chop from Anger directly. The

chop bow stroke is notated in the score as an ‘x’ in place of the note head with an accompanying

written instructions, chop. The combination of a shuffle and chop would be the chop-style note

head with the shuffle bowing accents. ‘Sticky bow’ is a bow stroke described by Balakrishnan

for a “chop like shuffle that is partly off the string. Also ‘slurring across the beat’ is a common

jazz bowing term for eighth note jazz lines.”134

Evan Price writes about and defines several bow strokes:

“‘Ghost notes’ are bow strokes which are executed with very little right hand

weight and whose purpose is to create a rhythmic space in the middle of a phrase, which

is exactly the length of a note of the same rhythmic value. Ghost notes are rhythmic

place holders and they enable bowed instrument players to execute lines or patterns with

greater rhythmic drive by increasing the degree of contrast between accented and

unaccented notes, while allowing the bow to move at a constant, steady pace—as in a

shuffle pattern—thereby ensuring that the line is better locked into a rhythmic grid.

When teaching these techniques, it’s vital that the player find a comfortable spot

in the upper half of the bow, where the greatest looseness in the wrist and arm is possible.

131. Evan Price, email to author, June 11, 2012.


133. Tracy Silverman, e-mail to author, February 4, 2012. When asked from whom he

learned to chop, Tracy Silverman replied, “my big brother, Darol Anger.”


46

The upper half also affords the player the option of pinching the stick for a loud accent,

as in a martelé stroke, or releasing all pressure to create a ghost note. As a teacher I often

emphasize the practice of martelé in the upper half as a basic building block of fiddle and

jazz phrasing, as in my playing I rely heavily on the ability to apply quick thumb and

forefinger pressure in my right hand to bring out the notes I want to emphasize.

‘Brushes’ is a technique wherein the player imitates the sound of a drummer using

brushes on either a snare drum or on a high hat by either bowing the C bout135

in a shuffle

pattern or by striking the strings from the air in a lateral motion (from end of finger board

toward the left hand). The latter technique is more clearly audible, although both are

subtle and benefit greatly from amplification. Danny Seidenberg went to the length of

having a piece of ebony glued to his viola C bout to both protect his 200-year-old

instrument from excessive wear and to produce a louder brush sound.”136

There are also subtle differences in left-hand techniques for string players. Balakrishnan

writes, “Left hand terms are usually for glissando techniques that imitate horn sounds, like falls,

and shakes.”137

In some Turtle Island Quartet scores, falls are notated as a small downward

glissando, however, many times the nuances of performance are not indicated in the written

parts. There are examples containing series of notes within a phrase with upward and downward

glissando markings. Grace notes are performed with wide variety and are sometimes used in

place of glissando notation. When accents are written in an accompaniment line, left hand

shaping combined with bow weight would allow the accent to be articulated while the melody is

clearly heard. Vibrato usage varies however is it generally played minimally. Some sections in

Turtle Island Quartet scores are labeled senza vibrato for a special effect. Tracy Silverman

writes, “If they [young string players] are old enough to be using vibrato, I just try to get them to

135. The C bout is the label for a part of violin-style string instruments that describes the

curve of the wood near the waist of the instrument. The curve looks like the letter C and is on

both sides of the instrument.



47

stop. Classical vibrato has no business in jazz.”138

The imitation of other instruments with a

stringed instrument necessitates listening to recordings of those instruments.

When answering about the future of strings Evan Price writes: “Hopefully, the day will

come when the word ‘violin’ will connote the entire world of violin playing rather than the 18th

-

21st Century European Classical version of it.”

139 Tracy Silverman writes, “Every young player

knows they need to be able to improvise on some level and many now realize that there are other

options for string playing besides the classical model—fiddling, jazz, Indian, electric options,

etc.”140

The future of string playing in the words of David Balakrishnan, “They will build on

what we have done and go further and deeper in all sorts of directions, making compelling music

that keeps string music in the mix at the top, and thus relevant and feasible as an ongoing part of

the educational framework of our culture.”141

Blue Book

Composer: Darol Anger

b. 1953

String Quartet

Copyright: Fiddlistics Music, BMI: used by permission.

1994

Unit 1: Composer

Darol Anger was born in the Pacific Northwest and began his musical studies on the guitar.

After switching to the violin his classical musings were fleeting and he began playing rock music




141. Davin Balakrishnan, e-mail to author, January 27, 2012.

48

on the violin. Inspiration came to Anger as a teenager upon hearing violinist Richard Greene142

(b. 1942), originator of the chop bow stroke, the band Seatrain (1968-1973). Greene developed

the bow stroke in 1965 and performed it with Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys from 1966-1967143

.

Anger further developed the chop bow stroke and adapted it to function both rhythmically and to

accentuate a melody. Anger played with the David Grisman Quintet from 1975-1984 and

“helped pioneer the ‘new acoustic’ movement as a founding member,”144

and since then has

performed and recorded with many groups including the Turtle Island Quartet, Montreux,

Republic of Strings, Anger-Marshall Duo, Psychograss, Heritage, and Fiddlers Four. A founding

member of the Turtle Island Quartet, Anger is an accomplished violinist performing in many

vernacular styles, emphasizing his interest in the international string band, new acoustic music,

chambergrass, and jazz. Anger promotes string playing through clinics and online chop tutorials,

having served as the string chair of the International Association of Jazz Educators and helping

promote various styles of music through the American String Teachers Association. Darol

Anger is currently an associate professor at Berklee’s College of Music, String Department.

Unit 2: Composition

Blue Book is an enjoyable, short, jazzy-blues piece written for string quartet and is a great piece

for a quartet whose members do not yet improvise as the solos are written out. The musical

language features blues harmonies and the moderate tempo makes this piece accessible to many

players. Unison rhythms are written for the more complex passages and typically multiple parts

play harmonies together as a quartet or in pairs. Short rests are written between figures, giving

sufficient time for a player to reset the bow if needed. The cello has the most independent part

functioning as the walking bass and percussion section. This piece will be a delight to audiences

as it features each member of the ensemble, giving audiences something unique to remember--

especially when the cello player taps the fingerboard like bongos.

142. Richard Greene, “Richard Greene Teaches His Invention ‘The Chop’ – Part 1 of 2,”

You Tube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAmvloansmU (accessed March 15, 2013).

143. Blue Grass Boys: A Tribute to Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys, “Alphabetical by

Name,” http://doodah.net/bgb/ (accessed March 15, 2013).

144. Turtle Island Quartet, Notes in preface “Turtle Island String Quartet,” Blues for

Oaktown, Darol Anger (Ann Arbor, Michigan: SHAR Music Publications, 1997).

49

Unit 3: Historical Perspective

Blue Book has all the style and ease of a bluesy dance piece similar to the era of the Count Basie

Orchestra. The eighth-note figures are played in a manner typical of the blues, swinging them as

a triplet figure with a tie over the first two. The composer performs on a recording of this piece

available for download on his website www.darolanger.com. Anger plays, over-dubbing three

parts and the cello part is played by Renata Bratt.

Unit 4: Technical Considerations

Bow slaps, chopping, and bongo-like tapping are all unique technical considerations for Blue

Book. Bow slaps are rhythmic slaps of the bow onto damped strings, so the effect should not be

on any particular pitch.

In an article for Strings,145

Anger cites chopping instructions by cellist Renata Bratt:

1. Straighten your bow-hand thumb. This is the only time it should ever be straight.

2. Keep your bow very close to the string.

3. Holding the bow, use a slight waving hand motion as if you were slapping a table top

(but keeping your hand close to the table) or clapping your hands as if your left hand

were already resting (palm up) on your knee.

4. The chop should occur near the frog.

5. Once your chop makes contact with the string, the chop should also include a slight

downward slide away from your body. For violinists and violists the bow will slide

slightly toward the fingerboard. For cellists, the bow will slide slightly toward the

bridge.

6. The down-bow chop should “stick” to the string (because the weight of your hand is

now digging into the string) and make an additional little sound when you let it up on

the up bow.146

145. James Reel, “Darol Anger Divulges His Modern Chop Technique,” Strings, no. 119

(May 2004), http://www.allthingsstrings.com/Technique/VIOLIN/Darol-Anger-Divulges-His-

Modern-Chop-Technique (accessed January 20, 2012).

146. Ibid.

50

Instructions to cello, “like bongos; tap fingerboard.”147

At m. 49, the alternation between the left

and right hand in rhythm may take some practice to solidify tapping coordination and organize

the transition back into playing bowed eighth notes.

Unit 5: Stylistic Considerations

In blues, “the singer typically slid between tones or expressively bent certain scale degrees

downward by a semitone: lowering the third, fifth, and seventh degrees in major mode was

especially common, and these altered tones came to be known as ‘blue notes.’”148

To achieve

the blues feeling, players can provide movement to the blues notes through glissandos and slides

(oscillating quickly back and forth between pitches) imitating the voice. The lowered third, fifth,

and seventh scale degree (in Blue Book A-flat, C-flat spelled B, and E-flat) will take on a more

authentic sound as players slide those pitches slightly upward, as if toward the next pitch.

Although the rhythm is written in eighth notes, as with swing rhythms the most common

interpretation would be to play them as a triplet. The first eighth note is played connecting the

first two notes of an eighth-note-triplet, as if tied. The second eighth note would be the third

note in the eighth-note-triplet. Another swing rhythm interpretation of eighth-note figures is to

play the first eighth note as a dotted-eighth-note and the second eighth note as a sixteenth note.

As the cello plays a bass line including measures of rhythmic octaves, and during the shout

chorus at m. 73, it is of particular importance for the cello to accent the second and fourth beats

of the bar to create a ‘see-saw’ motion as the upper strings accent the third beat. The steady

walking bass serves the same harmonic and percussive texture as a bass player in a jazz group.

Unit 6: Musical Elements

The chord progression composed and labeled at mm. 25-36, “backup for solos,” most closely

follows the twelve-bar Bebop Blues chord progression, with the exception of mm. 7 and 12. In

the seventh measure the A-minor 7 chord is substituted for the usual F 7 chord, the common

notes between the two chords are A and C. If you were to compare Anger’s progression to the

twelve-bar Basie Blues progression you would find differences in the twelfth measure, instead of

147. Bongos are a type of drum.

148. Bryan Simms, Music of the Twentieth Century: Style and Structure, 2d ed. (New

York: Schirmer Books, 1996), (London: Prentice Hall International: 1996), 259-260.

51

resolving to F 7, the cadence chords from the previous section are presented so the section can be

repeated for additional solos. This technique is called a turn around. Experimenting with various

scales including minor pentatonic, hexatonic, and heptatonic blues scales would increase the

level of familiarization with the finger patterns found in Blue Book. The F heptatonic blues scale

is used often for the melodic, swinging passages of eighth notes: F—G—A-flat—B-flat—B—

D—E-flat. The blues scales is a major scale with a lowered third, fifth, and seventh. The key of

F is the primary key for all of the solo passages however, the key signature B-flat major is used

most probably to avoid the widespread use of the accidental E-flat. The shout chorus at m. 73,

Example 4, is just as the term usually implies, the last chorus before the final head, and it

functions musically as a climax.

Unit 7: Form and Structure

Sections of twelve-bar blues are labeled by the composer as descriptions of the musical event

rather than providing lettering or numbering. The solo sections are each twelve measures and the

other two sections known as the head (the theme or original composed section at the beginning

and end of a jazz piece) are twenty-four measures.

Table 2. Form and Structure of Blue Book

SECTION MEASURES EVENT AND SCORING

Introduction 1-4 Unison rhythm, the initial head of the music is in

mm. 1-24.

5-19 Cello begins walking bass. Unison rhythm patterns begin

in the violin I and violin II part and then violin II and viola.

Staggered entrances lead by violin I and then are picked up

by the viola and violin II.

20-24 Example 1 functions as a bridge with unison eighth-note

rhythms to finish the section and lead into the next solo and

backup section.

52

Table 2 - Continued


Backup for 25-36 Written parts are the backup for solos. Cello continues

solos walking bass as the other instruments play chords in a

dotted-quarter-note and eighth-note rhythm to support the

soloist.

Solos 37-48 Cello is given chord changes with instructions to pizzicato

a walking bass line. Marked solos, this section has written

out parts for violins and viola.

Cello breaks 49-60 Measure 49-52 and 57-60 in the cello, Example 2,

alternates between left and right hand to tap the fingerboard

like bongos in an eighth-note swing rhythm, indicated by

note heads and an x with a stem.

Cello solo 61-72 In Example 3, violin I plays a bow slap on damped strings

indicated by an “x” rather than a note head. Violin II and

viola accompany with dotted-quarter-note eighth-note

rhythms.

Shout chorus 73-84 Violins and viola share similar rhythms mostly in eighth

notes as the cello plays a pizzicato bass line.

D.C. al Coda 1-19 A return to the head of the piece.

Coda 85-90 This section completes the final head of the piece,

making it a complete twenty-four measures. The unison

eighth-note rhythms are played until m. 88. The final half-

measure is musical punctuation for the piece.

53

Example 1. Darol Anger, Blue Book, mm. 20-24.

Example 2. Darol Anger, Blue Book, cello, mm. 49-56.


54


Unit 8: Suggested Listening

Darol Anger

Diary of a Fiddler

Darol Anger and the American Fiddle Ensemble

Republic of Strings

Darol Anger and Renata Bratt

“Blue Book”

Papa John Creach with the Bernie Pearl Blues Band

Papa Blues

Count Basie Orchestra

Hank Mobley

“Dig Dis”

King of the Blues Backing Tracks

Richard Greene and The Grass is Greener

Sales Tax Toddle

Jean-Luc Ponty

“Rhythms of Hope”

Unit 9: Additional References and Resources

Bratt, Renata. The Fiddling Cellist. Pacific, MO: Mel Bay Publications, Inc., 2005.

55

Haerle, Dan. “The Jazz Language: a Theory Text for Jazz Composition and Improvisation.”

Alfred Music Publishing, 1982.

Reel, James. “Darol Anger Divulges His Modern Chop Technique.” Strings, no. 119 (May

2004), http://www.allthingsstrings.com/Technique/VIOLIN/Darol-Anger-Divulges-His-

Modern-Chop-Technique (accessed January 20, 2012).

Websites

www.darolanger.com

Dexteriors


b. 1953

String Quartet

Published by: Shar Music

Copyright: Fiddlistics Music, BMI: used by permission.

1991

Unit 1: Composer

See page forty-seven.

Unit 2: Composition

Dexteriors has been described as “hyperactive with the energy of bop.”149

This quick and highly

syncopated piece has an exciting sixteenth-note rhythmic drive throughout. Textural changes

provide interest with contrasting breakdown sections and sections with unison rhythm, a triplet

figure used transitionally or for modulation. Parts are written for the violin I and cello with

chords indicated and instructions to “ad lib,”150

inviting players to improvise.

149. Parry Gettelman, “Turtle Island String Quartet.” Orlando Sentinel, posted November

16, 1990, http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1990-11-16/entertainment/9011160900_1_turtle-

island-string-string-quartet-skylife (accessed March 15, 2013).

150. Ab lib is indicated in the score without punctuation.

56


Dexteriors was originally recorded by the Turtle Island Quartet on their album Skylife (1990),

with David Balakrishnan and Darol Anger, violin; Katrina Wreede, viola; and Mark Summer,

cello. TIQ performed Dexteriors live and from memory on The Lonesome Pine Specials.151


Dexteriors as played by the Turtle Island Quartet moves at a brisk tempo. The fiddle-type

melodies are comprised of sixteenth-note runs with many accidentals and a strong backbeat

using the chop bow stroke. The chop technique is used throughout the piece in various rhythms

and with pitched notes interspersed, which provides ample practicing opportunities as the bow

stroke is introduced with complex rhythms and sounding notes. In order to play quickly and

clearly on the passagework, advise players to use minimal bow and find a point in the bow that is

easiest to cross strings.


This piece is both a fiddle and a funk piece. Senza vibrato is indicated for the opening, as vibrato

is used more sparsely in this style of music. Glissandos and subtle note slides performed by the

TIQ are not indicated in the score, however those nuances can be added in later stages of

preparation by listening to the available recordings and experimenting. The composer uses the

chop technique harmonically and as a percussive articulation primarily in the accompaniment

part in the violin II and viola parts as the cello keeps the bass line harmonic motor driving and

the violin I part performs the melody, often trading melody lines with violin II. The last few

notes152

are performed all down-bow.

151. Turtle Island Quartet, “Dexteriors – Turtle Island String Quartet,” The Lonesome

Pine Specials, producer, Richard Van Kleeck; director, Clark Santee, Kentucky Center for the

Arts, 1990, live concert broadcast on Kentucky Education Television,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjscBl4moVs (accessed April 1, 2013).

152. Greg Cahill, “A Bow-ology Lesson: A Lesson in Bowing Terms; Common Violin,

Viola, Cello, and Bass Bowing Terms,” All Things Strings, posted November 4, 2011,

http://www.allthingsstrings.com/layout/set/print/Technique/VIOLA/A-Bow-ology-Lesson-

Common-Violin-Viola-Cello-and-Bass-Bowing-Terms (March 30, 2013). Martelé or

Martellato: Marked as a small triangle-shaped accent over a note, this instructs the player to bow

in a sharp, “hammered” bow stroke.

57


There are several abrupt changes to the character, namely around letter C and O. Anger writes

several hemiolas that accelerate the rhythm just before a change in meter, specifically mm. 18-

23. Metric displacement is written in with sixteenth notes sometimes grouped as three notes.

Tempo: medium tempo funk


Table 3. Form and Structure of Dexteriors


Introduction 1-5 Violin and viola/cello trade sixteenth-note figures in pairs.

AA 6-9 The material at A continues in establishing the rhythm and

sound of the piece, and although violin I is labeled melody,

the material is short and somewhat fragmented until a

longer melody is presented at letter B. Parts labeled

“polyrhythm” have characteristics of cross-rhythm mostly

in the first half of the measure.

Melody Chops Polyrhythm Accomp.

violin I violin II cello viola

BB 10-19 Melody duet Chops Polyrhythm

violin I/viola violin II cello

C 20-27 This section is a complete change from prior music.

Tutti sections are interspersed with ad lib cello solos over

an F7 chord or the player can choose to play the notated

solo part, with whole-note accomp. in the violins and viola.

D 28-31 The section at D is similar to the function described earlier

for section A, functioning to lead to the duet at E.

Melody Chops Polyrhythm


58

Table 3 - Continued


E 32-41 Melody (Example 6) Chops Accompaniment

cello/viola violin II violin I

F 42-53 Example 7 contrasts the solo violin I melody with the ad lib

cello accompaniment.

G 54-57 Breakdown section: starting with solo cello, another

instrument is added at the next two rehearsal letters as the

hemiola rhythms disguise the beat.

HH 58-59 The cello solo is joined by viola, combining rhythms to

play an off-beat sixteenth-note pattern.

II 60-61 Violin II enters adding to the polyrhythmic feel.

J 62-73 In Example 5 the melody is traded between the violins as

the polymetric rhythm pattern continues in the viola and

cello parts.

K 74-75 Melody Sixteenth-note figure Polyrhythm

violin I viola/cello violin II

L 76-79 Violin I hands off the melody to viola and cello at m. 78 for

an intricate rhythm part on octaves to outline the harmony.

Melody Polyrhythm Rhythmic shuffle

viola/cello violin II violin I

M 80-81 The intensity of the rhythmic activity increases as the

N 82-85 tension builds. In m. 83 there is a tutti triplet on the fourth

beat, hinting at the triplet runs at letter O.

O 86-88 This section features an abrupt change to the pulse and

character of the piece as the rhythm becomes in unison with

slight differences in the cello part. The primary rhythmic

value shifts from sixteenth notes to eighth-note triplets.

There are many accidents as we are modulating to the key

signature change at m. 91.

59

Table 3 - Continued


P 89-92 The time signature changes from 4/4 to 3/4 at letter P,

following by 3/8 and then back to 4/4 for the measure of

the key signature change.

Q 93-98 The texture is most similar to material at B.

Melody Chops Sixteenth-note figure


R 99 Melody Chops Sixteenth-note figure


100-104 In the last beat of m. 100 violin II leads into a

sixteenth-note run with violins and viola. The end is

punctuated with three accented chords, the final statement

of the hemiola.

Example 5. Darol Anger, Dexteriors, violins, mm. 66-69.

Example 6. Darol Anger, Dexteriors, viola and cello, mm. 32-35.

60

Example 7. Darol Anger, Dexteriors, violin I and cello, mm. 42-43.


Turtle Island Quartet

Skylife


Darol Anger, All Star Bluegrass Jam Along for Fiddle, (Hal Leonard and Homespun,

2008).

Darol Anger, Online Fiddle School with Darol Anger, Artistworks Academy, available

from http://artistworks.com/fiddle-lessons-darol-anger (accessed April 1, 2013).

Grant Wood


b. 1953

String Quartet

Copyright: Fiddlistics Music, BMI: used by permission

1987

Unit 1: Composer


61

Unit 2: Composition

Grant Wood is a versatile composition for string groups looking to explore new musical styles or

those already well-versed in fiddle and bluegrass music. The quiet, hymn-like opening theme

returns several times with block chords reminiscent of Copland’s Lincoln Portrait. The scene is

then set by an eighth-note ostinato figure with instructions to “fade in…,” as “the introduction is

meant to convey the hubbub of the warm-up room at a big fiddle contest, which is often held in a

small gymnasium next to the basketball court or a larger gym of a high school. All the players

are in there warming up at once. This also connotes the larger world of many fiddlers all over the

world, many of whom are playing-- somewhere— right now. That [theme] keeps returning

between sections, and re-surfaces in a more organized way under the cello solo, and again at the

end.”153

The violin melody is an upbeat fiddle style providing opportunity to embellish and

ornament, additionally there are solo sections that can be played by any instrument. Just as

Aaron Copland reharmonized the song “John Henry” for an orchestral work of the same name,

Anger composed another theme for Grant Wood as a reharmonization of the song “John Hardy.”

Leading into the final section of the piece, Anger composes a transitional ascending eighth-note

passage, which accelerates into a blazing Bluegrass hoe down that will challenge and excite the

entire group.


This piece is named after the artist of the same name, Grant Wood (1891-1942), best known for

his iconic painting, American Gothic. Anger’s Grant Wood continues to evolve since it was first

performed in 1985 by the Montreux band, with Darol Anger, violin; Mike Marshall, guitar;

Barbara Higbie, piano; and Michael Manring, electric fretless bass. It’s 1987 copyright and first

recording by Montreux entitled Sign Language (CD, 1987) developed later into the Turtle Island

Quartet recording of the piece on their album Skylife (CD) in 1990. Anger’s group Psychograss

performed it in 1992 at the Strawberry Music Festival in Camp Mather, California and there are

many more occasions where the piece was performed live. During his residency at the

McDowell Colony, Anger developed his orchestral version with viola and cello parts and the

153. Darol Anger, e-mail message to author, March 31, 2013.

62

piece was further developed in 2007 with the String Nation Orchestra.154

The longevity and

transformation of the piece throughout the career of Darol Anger signals the role of the piece in

his career narrative and development as an artist.


Imitation and adaptation are the primary technical considerations, given that the contemporary

musician playing contemporary music will alternate in the musical role and function at any given

moment. When corresponding with Darol Anger about rehearsal techniques and roles within the

Turtle Island Quartet, he wrote the following in response:

“The drums are the core of contemporary music, so suggesting that sound was paramount. Most

arrangements of ours demanded one soloist, with 3 others providing the crucial rhythmic and

harmonic context. The challenge came in combining the various voices with rhythm, so that both

groove and harmonic complexity would be served, mostly with only the 3 instruments-- plus the

improvising soloist, who had rhythmic as well as melodic and harmonic responsibilities. These

roles, moreover, would shift every time the soloist changed-- and EVERYONE soloed at various

times. The cello's role would imitate Bass and drums, and Mark [Summer] realized this

brilliantly, with magisterial groove and shocking inventiveness. The 2 other instruments would

also provide more rhythm and the[n] divide up the harmonies. The default pattern would be that

one person would model percussion and, say, guitar: chopping techniques with a set of tones for

each chord.”155

The secondary technical consideration for this piece is the tempo, with the blazing speed

of the tempo marking quarter note equals 160, the group will need to work up the speed and

incorporate practice rhythms. This piece can provide the motivation for students to improve

technique in both the left and right hands, developing a left hand that is lightweight and close to

the fingerboard and a right hand that is adept at string crossings and shuffle bowings. The chop

bow stroke is another technical consideration for this piece, used as a rhythmic accompaniment

and imitation of percussion.

154. Darol Anger, “The String Nation Orchestra: Grant Wood,” You Tube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4rdU_w1CuE (accessed March 15, 2013).

155. Darol Anger, e-mail message to author, July 17, 2012.

63


Bluegrass is one of the most common stylistic elements of this piece. Listening to a particular

musical style is one of the best ways to become familiar with its nuances and is key to learning to

improvise within a style. Improvising in bluegrass can be introduced in the classroom through

the harmonic study of the key including chord progressions, finding the notes that work

throughout so the students will have a successful encounter from the beginning. Experiment on

an easy yet familiar tune and divide the group into sections and alternate roles: the bass line,

chop (rhythm), harmony, backup rhythms, and solo. Build this up gradually as it is important

that everyone try all the parts so the function and importance of that role can be experienced and

understood first hand.


Thematic and melodic material is layered throughout Grant Wood as Anger contrasts undulating

rhythmic sections with an energetic yet free-spirited melody. Balancing the importance of the

layered musical ideas presents a great learning opportunity for a group. Transitions provide

another avenue for teachable moments as they occur frequently in this piece and sometimes

without much warning, creating the need for all the members of an ensemble to connect with the

conductor and with one another. Continuous eighth-note passages are played while emphasizing

notes to feature shuffle rhythms, disguise meter, or create a hemiola.


Table 4. Form and Structure of Grant Wood


Introduction 1-4 Hymn theme

The first interval played between the cello and viola is a

tritone resolving to a fifth. The chords are stacked and

alternate between dissonant and consonant harmonies that

include ninths. The hymn-like chord section returns

throughout the work.

64

Table 7 - Continued


5-13 The players are instructed to “fade in…”156

Violin I plays

an eighth-note perpetual motion figure (one measure)

consisting of scales and arpeggios in G major. Violin II

plays a two-measure repeating figure; the first measure is

ascending with off-beat eighth notes on beats three and four

and the second measure in descending thirds. A repeating

eighth-note viola figure is grouped to produce unequal

divisions in beats of three and five. Cello sustains an A

pedal from the fermata of m. 4 until m. 8.

AA 14-21 (repeats) Violin I and viola continuously play material from a

previous section. Cello sustains harmonies as a bass line.

Violin II creates rhythmic interest with a new two-measure

figure.

22-27 Violin I and viola remain constant. Violin II joins viola but

remains in a three-beat pattern. Cello plays a pedal C from

mm. 23-26.

28-30 Violin I plays a pedal on A. Violin II plays the same three-

beat pattern. Viola plays same material in a new key,

joined by the cello.

A 31-39 Melody A, Example 8 Answer/Bagpipe drone

violin I violin II, viola, cello

B 40-47 Melody A Drone Rhythm

violin I/cello/viola violin II, viola, cello viola/cello

C 48-57 Transition with duet pairs: viola/cello (Example 9),

violin II/viola. Bagpipe drone accompanies this section.

D 58-61 Melody A Drone Half-note staggered hemiola

violin I violin II, viola, cello mm. 59-60

62-65 Melody Drone

156. Darol Anger, Grant Wood, (Ann Arbor, MI: Shar Music Publications, 1990).

65

Table 7 - Continued


violin II violin I, viola, cello

E 66-79 Hymn theme, Example 10

Melody Chords in half-note motion

violin II tutti

80-81 The phrase builds dramatically into the next section

through an eighth-note ascending run in the violin I part

and a tutti crescendo.

F 82-85 Hymn theme Rhythmic countermelody

violin II/cello violin I/viola/cello

G 86-89 Hymn theme Accompaniment

violin II violin I, viola, cello

89-97 Melody Accompaniment


H 98-101 Melody A Accompaniment


102-107 This section features a transitional breakdown into the

upcoming solo section.

108-125 Cello improvises in fiddle style while the other instruments

(repeats four times) establish the tempo with a shuffle bow stroke and rhythm.

J 126-138 New material is presented in a frenzy of chord changes,

accelerating eighth-note runs and a chromatic ascending

bass line (mm. 36-37) transition into D major.

139-142 Quarter-note equals 230. The motor rhythm is established

through this four-measure transition and continued by

violin II in the following bluegrass section.

Bluegrass 143-152 Example 11

Solo Shuffle Chop Bass line

violin I violin II viola cello pizzicato

66

Table 7 - Continued


L 153-165 Melody Shuffle Bass line

violins viola cello

Viola joins the violins at m. 157 and the cello joins at

m. 162. With the players ending on a fermata at m. 164,

the violin I part carries over leading into the next section.

M 166-179 Hymn theme (brief recapitulation)

Melody in the violin I part

I 180-228 Melody A (brief recapitulation)

Staggered entrances starting with cello, viola, and violin II

lead to the violin I melody and a double bar in m. 188.

L 229-238 Additional material is written with differing key signatures

for violins in D major and viola/cello in G major.

Example 8. Darol Anger, Grant Wood, violin I, mm. 32-36.

Example 9. Darol Anger, Grant Wood, viola and cello, mm. 48-51.

67

Example 10. Darol Anger, Grant Wood, mm. 66-69.

Example 11. Darol Anger, Grant Wood, mm. 143-146.

68


Mike Marshall and Darol Anger

Chiaroscuro

Bill Monroe

“Old Dangerfield”

Montreux

Sign Language “Grant Wood”


Skylife


Websites

www.darolanger.com

http://www.berklee.edu/faculty/detail/darol-anger

http://ragman.org/darolangersrepublicofstrings.cfm

www.academyofbluegrass.com

Spider Dreams

Movement: Spider Dreams

Composer: David Balakrishnan

b. 1954

String Quartet

Published by: Shar Music Publications

Copyright: 1996 Balapadam Music

69

Unit 1: Composer 157

David Balakrishnan was born in Los Angeles, California in 1954. As a musician he is actively

performing and composing in styles such as “folk, bluegrass, swing, be-bop, funk, R&B, new

age, rock, hip-hop, as well as music of Latin America and India.”158

Mr. Balakrishnan received

his Batchelor in Arts degree in music composition and violin at UCLA where he studied jazz and

classical composition and then went on to get his master’s degree in music composition at

Antioch University West. Honors for his original compositions and arrangements come in the

form of commissions, grants, composer residency programs, and two Grammy nominations in

the category for best instrumental arrangement. David Balakrishnan is one of the founding and

original members of the Turtle Island String Quartet playing violin and baritone violin. “The

Turtle Island founder developed a revolutionary compositional style – based on the principle of

stylistic integration applied to bowed string instruments.”159

Unit 2: Composition

Spider Dreams was originally written in seven movements as a suite for string orchestra.

“Spider Dreams” was the name given to nightmares by Balakrishnan’s daughter when she was a

child. The entire suite is called Spider Dreams as well as the first movement, “Spider Dreams,”

and along with “Texas Tarantella,” “Waterfall with Blenders,” and “Marwa in the Pines” are the

most popular. The solos in this edition are transcribed.


This movement, “Spider Dreams” reflects Balakrishnan’s experimenting with and modifying a

bowing from the Bluegrass or Western Swing, known as ‘Hokum’ or double shuffle. The legend

of this bowings’ popularization belongs to Joe Venuti around the 1920s. As Balakrishnan

worked with the bowing, he found the quality to be as menacing as the nightmare creatures

157. The author has adapted the organization of the analysis into units. As explained in

the preface, this template comes from the series Teaching Music Through Performance in

Orchestra.

158. Turtle Island Quartet, “About: David Balakrishnan,” Turtle Island Quartet,

http://turtleislandquartet.com/bios/#david (accessed October 9, 2012).

159. Ibid).

70

described by his daughter. By individually overdubbing each part with the TIQ and bassist

Edgar Meyer (b. 1960), the original seven-movement string orchestra piece was recorded on the

1992 Windham Hill recording Spider Dreams (CD, Windham Hill Jazz 01934).160

In 1994 on a

Chandos recording Conductor Neeme Järvi led the Detroit Symphony in a live recording with the

Turtle Island Quartet, A Night in Tunisia a Week in Detroit: Detroit Symphony Orchestra and

Turtle Island String Quartet (CD, 1994) with Tracy Silverman and Danny Seidenberg, violins;

Darol Anger, baritone violin; and Mark Summer, cello.


Shuffle bowing and chop are two bowing techniques employed in this piece with regularity.

“Two of the characteristics of shuffle bowings are the string crossings and the use of accents,

which are very important.”161

In common time signatures, this stroke begins with sixteenth notes

grouped into four, High-Low-Low-Low (Example 12), and then three-note patterns of High-

Low-Low (Example 13). Later in the movement, Balakrishnan writes in the time signature 13/16

in which the grouping changes often, first appearing as High-Low-Low-High-Low-Low-High-

Low-Low-High-Low-High-Low to even out the pattern for thirteen notes. Another bowing

pattern emerging at letter C in 4/4 time signature is High-High-Low-Low-High-High-Low-Low-

High-Low-Low-High-High-High-Low-Low (Example 14). The chop bow stroke is also used

later in the movement as an accompanying technique to reinforce a harmony and rhythmic pulse

as the viola and cello parts exchange solos. The viola and cello parts both include sections in

treble clef. The rating by Shar is A5.


Although the solos are written out in this piece, practicing them in such a way to sound

spontaneous would be the best way to represent the music (Example 19). While the fiddle

bowings can be tricky, those too if practiced would sound best if the bowing were placed

dynamically within the melody or accompaniment context for which it was written and sound

160. David Balakrishnan, Contemporary Originals for String Quartet, Spider Dreams,

“Composer’s Notes,” April, 1996 (Ann Arbor, Michigan: Shar Music Publications, 1996).

161. Usher Abell, Jazz Violin Studies: A Complete Study and Reference Book, (Pacific,

MO: Mel Bay Publications, 2000), 78.

71

effortless with appropriately placed accents, imitating the originators of the bowing, fiddle

players. The role of the cello becomes a combination of the role of a percussionist and bass

player. Experimenting with pizzicato sounds to imitate bass plucking techniques would also help

achieve the appropriate performance and musical style. In teaching, let the approach to each

style element be made in an authentic manner, honoring the origins of the style and finding a

way to best represent that timbre or ‘feel’ on a stringed instrument.


Beneath solos, the fiddle shuffle rhythms keep the pulse. Poly-rhythms are found in abundance

as Balakrishnan pairs sixteenth-note figures with a quarter-note sextuplet across a measure of

13/16. The transitions between melody and accompaniment happen quickly, especially since the

rapidly-moving sixteenth notes comprise the pulse and must be handed from one section to

another seamlessly. The overall quality of each section of the movement is rhapsodic and story

telling in nature, almost as a soundtrack to the spider dream. The introduction (Example 17) has

sparse instrumentation with undulating rhythms and suspended dissonant harmonies when

suddenly interrupted at letter A with a brisk and intense shuffle with violin solos (Example 18)

soaring above it. The contrast between the energetic shuffle and lyrical melodies will interest

students and challenge their sense of rhythm and ensemble.


The composer gives rehearsal numbers, which also outline the form as the sections alternate

between melodic material, accompaniment and notated solo sections.

Table 5. Form and Structure of Spider Dreams


Introduction 1-15 Melody Syncopated rhythmic interplay

violin I violin II and viola cello scale

A 16-17 Tutti is written for two measures.

18-27 Solo Shuffle

violins viola

72

Table 5 - Continued


B 28-31 Sustained chords Shuffle sixteenth notes, six per bow

violin II, cello violin I viola

32-35 Shuffle

violin I alone

C 36-51 Melody Shuffle Harmony

violin I violin II, viola cello

D 52-59 A figure of three tutti chords alternates between melodic figures,

first in the violin and viola, secondly the cello, and then answered

by violins, and viola.

E 60-67 Solo Shuffle

violin II cello, violin I, and viola

The cello transitions with sixteenth notes and ritardando into the

next section.

F 68-72 Melody Syncopated rhythmic interplay

cello (Example 20) violin II, viola (similar to beginning)

G 73-100 Melody/Sustained chords Shuffle Harmony

violin II, viola violin I (Ex. 15) cello

101-106 Melody Shuffle Harmony

viola violins cello

107-112 Lessening of rhythmic activity

H 113-120 Rhythmic bass figure Shuffle

(three quarter notes and two eighth notes)

cello violins (Ex. 16)

Start of lengthy viola solo (mm. 120-149)

H1 121-128 Rhythmic bass figure Solo Chop

cello viola violins

H2 129-136 Rhythmic bass figure Solo Shuffle

cello (same as m. 113) viola violins

73

Table 5 - Continued


H3 137-144 Rhythmic bass figure Solo Chop

cello viola violins

H4 145-152 Rhythmic bass figure Solo Shuffle

cello viola violins

J 153-156 Melody Accompaniment Harmony

violin I violin II, viola cello

K 157-164 Rhythmic bass figure Melody Shuffle

cello (pizzicato) violin I violin II, viola

165-166 Three chords from section D Eighth-note statement

tutti viola

The ending chord is approached from below by glissando,

sustained with a fermata, and then released by an ascending

glissando.

Shuffle figures

Example 12. David Balakrishnan, Spider Dreams, viola, mm. 18-19.

Example 13. David Balakrishnan, Spider Dreams, violin I, mm. 28-29.

74

Example 14. David Balakrishnan, Spider Dreams, violin II and viola, mm. 36-37.


Example 16. David Balakrishnan, Spider Dreams, violins, mm. 115-118.

Introduction

Example 17. David Balakrishnan, Spider Dreams, mm. 1-6.

75

Example 18. David Balakrishnan, Spider Dreams, violin II, mm. 18-22.


Example 20. David Balakrishnan, Spider Dreams, cello, mm. 68-72.

76

Example 21. David Balakrishnan, Spider Dreams, mm. 52-55.


Samuel Barber

Adagio for Strings

Beaumont Rag

Back Up and Push

Sugar Cane Harris:

Sugar Cane’s Got the Blues

Cup Full of Dreams

Jean-Luc Ponty, Stéphane Grappelli and Stuff Smith

Jazz Violin Summit

Mahavishnu Orchestra

Orange Blossom Special

77


Spider Dreams

A Night in Tunisia, a Week in Detroit


Getting Into Fiddling

Spider Dreams

Texas Tarantella

Waterfall with Blenders

Marwa in the Pines (with You)

Websites

www.turtleislandquartet.com

Mr. Twitty’s Chair

Composer: Katrina Wreede

b. 1960

String Quartet

Copyright: 1990

Publisher: Vlazville Music

Unit 1: Composer

Katrina Wreede graduated with a BA with distinction from San Jose State University in music

performance.162

In 1985, however, she decided to leave symphony work behind and study jazz,

joining with the Bay Area Jazz Composers Orchestra due to her enjoyment of improvising.163

162. Community Music Center, “Teachers – String Teachers – Viola Teachers: Katrina

Wreede,” Community Music Center, http://www.sfcmc.org/site/teachers/string (accessed April 1,

2013).

163. Katrina Wreede “Alternative Styles: A Violist’s Primer to Improvised

Accompaniments in Alternative Styles,” Journal of the American Viola Society, vol. 19, no. 1,

31, http://violaspace.com/avs/ks/site/JAVS/sample%20Issue/altstyles.pdf (accessed June 15,

2012).

78

With her training in classical and new music, she was most comfortable in experimental and free

jazz music styles, leading her into the earlier jazz traditions and playing with the Turtle Island

Quartet from 1989-1992. Wreede has dedicated much of her career to teaching young musicians

chamber composition. She is among the founding faculty members of the John Adams Young

Composer Program; “Composing Together”164

and “My Goldfish Died-Blues for Strings” are

two of her most recent collaborative and educational composition projects for the classroom.

Representative of her work are recordings such as Add Viola and Stir (CD, 2010), publications

such as Violaerobics: A Technical Workout for Violists, and journal articles such as “Alternative

Styles: A Violist’s Primer to Improvised Accompaniments in Alternative Styles” in Journal of

the American Viola Society, vol. 19, no. 1. Wreede also leads workshops to inspire violists to

explore improvisation, including the project “Violas on a Roll.”

Unit 2: Composition

Wreede writes about the inspiration for Mr. Twitty’s Chair:

“’Mr. Twitty’s Chair’ is an 18 bar blues named for a crotchety old hermit who lived in a shack in

the Santa Cruz Mountains for over 40 years. After living in his place for several years myself, I

came back to civilization with his chair, his rain gauge and his attitude. This piece is dedicated

to sociopaths everywhere.”165

The opening for Mr. Twitty’s Chair is both mysterious and

grumbling with pizzicato in the viola part as the cello plays tremolo ponticello. A clave rhythm

figure provides a steady pulse while the dissonance in the violin parts reveal and introduce the

true nature of our main character. A solo section is written with chords provided and

accompaniment suggestions, however, Wreede encourages ensembles to experiment and find

what works best for a particular group, especially when comping or accompanying solo lines.

“Players should be ready to switch between arpeggios, string pad effects, etc. Players should be

ready to switch between textures, drop out or jump in, whatever makes the best music.”166

164. Katrina Wreede, “Composing Together,” Katrina Wreede, http://katrinawreede.com/

(accessed April 1, 2013). This project includes children in the composition process as she leads

them through creating their own masterpiece.

165. Katrina Wreede, Mr. Twitty’s Chair, (Oakland, CA: Vlazville Music, 1990).

166. Katrina Wreede, e-mail message to author, July 2, 2012.

79


Mr. Twitty’s niece rented a 300 square foot shack in the Santa Cruz Mountains to Katrina

Wreede for several years after Mr. Twitty died. Before Mr. Twitty lived there for many years,

the shack had been used as a field office for a lumber company in the early 20th

century. The old

wooden chair of Mr. Twitty remains with the composer, she writes, “Mr. Twitty's chair is my

most beloved piece of furniture. I've replaced the seat many times. It's actually pretty

comfortable.”167

Mr. Twitty’s Chair was the first piece Katrina Wreede wrote for the Turtle

Island Quartet. It was recorded on their album Skylife in 1990 with David Balakrishnan and

Darol Anger, violins; Katrina Wreede, viola; and Mark Summer, cello. The Ahn Trio adapted

and performed the work for a concert in 2007.168


Rhythm is one of the primary challenges in Mr. Twitty’s Chair. The time signature of 4/4

remains throughout the piece, yet hemiolas and clave rhythms (Ex. 22) can disguise a clear beat.

Wreede unifies the rhythm before transitions allowing an ensemble to regroup before moving

forward. The composer suggests rehearsing difficult passages in a loop, repeating sections until

the rhythmic intricacies settle. Another rhythmic element is the chop bow stroke used during

solo sections in which the performer plays notes and rhythms based on given chords. In the

violin and viola parts (Ex. 25) there are multiple open measures with the chords and instructions

to chop or solo (mm. 48-65). In the score, chops are defined as “short, accented, percussive hits

or slaps on beat 2 and 4.”169


The style of playing called for in this piece harkens to its namesake and the character of Mr.

Twitty, a crotchety old hermit. Ponticello and wild glissandos are heard often in the Turtle

167. Katrina Wreede, e-mail message to author, April 4, 2013.

168. Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk, “Sister Act Livens Up Chamber Music,” The Grand Rapids

Press, January 27, 2007, posted on Joanne Rile Artists Management Website, rilearts.com,

Roster-Ensembles-Ahn Trio-Reviews, rilearts.com/roster/ensembles/ahn-trio/ahn-trio-reviews/

(accessed July 25, 2013).

169. Katrina Wreede, Mr. Twitty’s Chair, (Oakland, CA: Vlazville Music, 1990).

80

Island Quartet recording on their album Skylife, perhaps depicting his anti-social behavior. The

quality of sound they produce uses a ponticello-like technique, playing with a shrill sound and, at

times, an expressively scratchy tone. The effects of the ponticello is marked only once in the

score in the beginning for the cello part, however, listening to the recording with Katrina Wreede

on viola and imitating the playing style is the best way to capture the composer’s intentions. A

tutti glissando is written in m. 26, however, glissandos can be heard many times on the recording

in individual parts, especially during solos.


The dissonant, grinding intervals give the unexpected rhythmic syncopations a clear musical

representation of the crotchety character of Mr. Twitty. A five-note shuffle portrays his off-

balance nature (Example 22). Hemiolas are found in individual parts as well as passages with

unison rhythm that end a section (Examples 24 and 26). Cross-rhythms (Example 23) between

parts are frequent and motifs are passed from one part to another.


This piece is an 18 bar blues.

Table 6. Form and Structure of Mr. Twitty’s Chair


Introduction 1-12 Tremolo (ponticello) Clave (pizz.) Interspersed figure

cello viola violins

13-24 Shuffle (five, eighth notes) Clave (arco) Trading a

motif

cello viola violins

25-28 These measures feature a tutti sustained chord with a

downward glissando at m. 26.

A (repeats) 29-47 (18 bars) Cello plays a two-bar repeated bass figure and the viola

plays a repeating three-bar figure (Ex. 23). Violin I plays

the melody while the violin II part takes over the clave

rhythm.

81

Table 6 - Continued


Solo section Ex. 25 First solo Chop Background Bass line

B 48-65 (18 bars) viola violin II violin I cello

repeats as needed for all solos Second solo Chop Bass line

violin II viola/violin I cello

Transition 66-73 Violin I plays a double-stop eighth note (open E- and A-

string) on beat three. Cello continues with the bass line as

the viola plays the background part from the earlier solo

section. Violin II continues with prior material.

In m. 72, tutti eighth notes begin and lead into a fermata.

Cello solo 74 Open solo cello cadenza without accompaniment. No

written part provided.

Intro. (recap.) 75-78 Tremolo Clave Improvised/Comping


79-84 Violins share melody in a figured grouped into four eighth

notes played one beat apart. Cello and viola play tremolo

for two measures until starting an off-beat rhythm. At m. 82

(Ex. 26) there is a tutti hemiola with unison rhythm. Cello

can solo or accompany. Each group can decide what works

best for them and do it differently each time if they choose.

D.S. 29-39 The structure is the same as above, the phrases from

A (recap.) mm. 29-39 and mm. 85-91 are eighteen bars.

Coda 85-91 Melody Clave Rhythm Bass line

violin I violin II viola cello

Violin I sustains an A starting in the middle of mm. 88-92.

Ending 92-93 The parts continue until the end of m. 92. There are three-

and-a-half beats of rest on the final measure and a single

eighth note A minor chord to punctuate the ending.

82

Example 22. Katrina Wreede, Mr. Twitty’s Chair, viola and cello, mm. 13-15.

Example 23. Katrina Wreede, Mr. Twitty’s Chair, mm. 29-34.


83





Skylife “Mr. Twitty’s Chair”

On the Town

Spider Dreams

Winter Solstice, vol. 3

Shock to the System

Add Viola and Stir

84


Breakfast Boogie

Pegasus Quartet

Pleasant Melody

Pleasant Melody #2

85

CHAPTER FIVE

AUTHOR’S ANALYSIS OF TEACHING PREPARATION IN

WORKS BY MEMBERS OF THE TURTLE ISLAND QUARTET

FOR STRING ORCHESTRA

Blues for Oaktown


b. 1953

String Orchestra with Soloists


Copyright: 1990 Fiddlistics Music, BMI

Unit 1: Composer


Unit 2: Composition

Oaktown refers to the city Oakland, California on the east side of the San Francisco Bay. Blues

for Oaktown is a great way to showcase soloists, challenge the entire group, and refine the

bowing techniques of a string group. Anger writes in such a way as to capture the authenticity of

the swing style, composing a melody that sounds in spirit improvised, free flowing with triplet

ornamentation (Ex. 27). The blues melody is simple with rhythmic syncopations to capture the

“Swing feel”170

indicated in the score (Ex. 28). The cello and bass section maintain a steady

pulse in walking bass harmonies, supported by the inner voices interspersed with jazz fills

between swinging melodic phrases. The versatility of the roles within the sections of the group

change rapidly between melody, solo, jazz fills, comping, bass line, and rhythm section (Ex. 29).

Transcriptions of solos are provided, however, students are encouraged to improvise and follow

the blues chord progression. Opportunities for further instruction in theory and history arise for

the chords while maintaining the practical use within the context of this piece.

170. Darol Anger, Blues for Oaktown, (Ann Arbor, Michigan: Shar Music Publications,

1990).

86


Blues for Oaktown was recorded by the Turtle Island Quartet on the album Skylife (CD) in 1990,

and later in 1999 by Anger’s The Duo with Mike Marshall on their album entitled Jam (CD). In

a video lesson, Anger discusses the differences between major, minor, and blues scales.171

The

distinction he makes between these scales is in the ascending movement (slide/glissando), a

gradual bending of the blue notes, the third, fifth, and lowered seventh scale degrees found in the

blues scale. The movement or bend of a note he describes as being the “expression in the blues”

and demonstrates how players can use this effect to elicit the emotion of the blues. Listening to

the style prior to study of blues pieces will provide aesthetic information to students aurally and

enable them to imitate the sounds heard in recordings.


This piece is rated at a level of Intermediate-Advanced by Shar. The notes in the score clarify

rhythmic differences in the swing feel as played with a hip-hop or contemporary swing treatment

of eighth notes. In the description the hip-hop rhythm is written out as a dotted-eighth-sixteenth

and the swing as a set of triplets with a tie over the first two. String crossings during the swing

rhythms and shuffle bowings require students to refine bowing skills particularly in the upper

half of the bow. Accidentals and chromatic figures will comprise the practice passagework for

the group. The other bowing techniques include those such as chops and bow slaps (Ex. 29). In

the score of Blues for Oaktown there is a helpful section entitled Performance Suggestion and

also a description of “The Chop Strokes:

1) grip bow normally, then ‘roll’ thumb out to opposite bend position

2) bow is brought straight down on the string using mostly wrist motion, making a no-note

‘chop’ sound. Elbow is slightly down, arm relaxed. Bow rests on string. Don’t pick up!

2a) bow is ‘popped’ off the string.

3) do (1a) and (2a) again.”172

171. Darol Anger, “Darol Anger Blues Lesson,” video lesson,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJsdW0kw4EA (accessed October 9, 2012).


1990).

87


The composer delineates the differences in rhythm between eighth notes as they are written, hip-

hop style eighth notes, and swing eighth notes. The hip-hop eighth notes are translated as tenuto

dotted-eighth and sixteenth note rhythms and swing eighth notes into a triplet rhythm. The first

eighth note would take up the first two notes of the triplet (tied) and the second eighth note

would make up the third note of the triplet played tenuto. Typically this style of music relies on

the percussion section including drums to solidify the driving pulse; and as a string orchestra

without a rhythm section, the responsibility to maintain the driving rhythms falls primarily on

cello and bass supported by those accompanying or comping. Anger writes the parts in such a

way to make the role interchange audible through changes in orchestration for a given section.


The melody of this blues piece flows naturally over the bass line emphasized with a strong

backbeat and percussive rhythmic techniques and accompaniment in the inner voices through

swinging eighth-note patterns. The energy of the piece drives forward throughout and the

orchestration is thickest at rehearsal number six at the shout chorus (starting at m. 71) with a

walking bass-line accompaniment. Featured violin and cello soloists make this an excellent

choice for a concert featuring advanced musicians or perhaps for a high school group to honor a

graduating senior. Students will enjoy practicing the percussive chop and bow slap techniques,

increasing the timbre and function of their instrument as a drum. The solo part provided at

rehearsal number three covers a wide pitch range on the violin in scale-like figures and ornament

figures found in the initial melody with eighth notes added for further rhythmic interest and

movement.


There are two main pieces to the structure: twenty-four measures for the head and twelve

measures for solos.

88

Table 7. Form and Structure of Blues for Oaktown


Introduction 1-4 Swing feel with hemiola in first two measures in the violin

I, violin II, and viola (Example 28).

1 5-20 Swing melody is in violin I, accompaniment in violin II and

viola, and bass line played by cello and double bass (Ex.

27).

2 21-34 Fills played by viola and cello m. 21-22 (Ex. 30). Starting

at m. 23 the cello is to “slap fingerboard with right hand” as

the melody pairs play the melody, first in the violin I and II

parts and then in violin II and viola.

1-2 Sections one and two are repeated with a first and second

ending.

3 35-46 Violin Solo I part is on a blues chord progression as other

violin I, violin II and viola accompany, the cello part chops,

and the double bass section plays a walking bass line.

4 47-58 Violin Solo II part begins; violin II plays bow slap on the

backbeats; violin I, viola and cello accompany while the

double bass maintains the walking bass line.

5 59-70 Unified rhythms in the violin I, violin II, viola, and cello

parts accompany a descending bass line leading into a cello

solo. As the cello solo begins it is accompanied by double

bass slaps. Violin I has instructions to “slap string

with upper half of bow, damp string with left hand.”173

6 71-82 The shout chorus has the thickest instrumentation of the

piece. The double bass maintains the walking bass line as

the other sections play highly chromatic eighth-note

passages.


1990).

89

Table 7 - Continued


7 83-98 Instructions are to “drive forward”174

as the cello and violin

I part are taking over the melody line heard in the

beginning of the piece.

8 99-105 For the ending the percussive device of a bow slap is

written into the viola, cello, and double bass parts as the

violin I and violin II part take over the melody brought into

rehearsal eight by the viola and cello.

Example 27. Darol Anger, Blues for Oaktown, mm. 5-8.

Example 28. Darol Anger, Blues for Oaktown, violin I, mm. 1-4.


1990).

90

Example 29. Darol Anger, Blues for Oaktown, mm. 59-62.

Example 30. Darol Anger, Blues for Oaktown, viola, cello, double bass, mm. 20-22.


Cannonball Adderly

Darol Anger/Mike Marshall Band

Jam “Blues for Oaktown”

91

Papa John Creach

Papa John Creach

Mark O’Connor


Skylife

Lester Young


Darol Anger, Chopagroove (A Rhythm Fantasy for Strings), (U.S.A.: Highland/Etling, 2008).

Grade Level: 3 ½

Darol Anger, Creaking Tree, arranged by Bob Phillips, (U.S.A.: Highland/Etling, 2007). Grade

Level: 3 ½

Darol Anger, Blues on the Fiddle, DVD, Homespun Tapes, Ltd., 2012).

Neal Hefti, Li’l Darlin’, arranged by Darol Anger, (U.S.A.: Highland/Etling, 2010). Grade

Level: 3

Traditional, Le Betaille (You Little Wild Thing)(An Acadian Waltz, Inspired by Michael Doucet),

arranged by Darol Anger, (W.B. Music Corp., 1958 Renewed), (W.B. Music Corp.,

2008). Grade Level: 3

Websites:

www.darolanger.com

Skylife


b. 1954

Version for String Orchestra

Published by: SHAR Music Publications

Copyright: 1996 Spleehab Music BMI

Unit 1: Composer

See page sixty-nine.

92

Unit 2: Composition

Skylife is written in a heavy blues/rock style and yields many creative possibilities for the

inclusion of improvisation and exploration of accompaniment or comping rhythmic techniques.

The tempo is accessible to an Intermediate/Advanced high school student group with

homophonic and polyphonic textures and rhythm. Each section of the string orchestra has the

opportunity to play the melody, accompany, and solo. In addition to the conductor’s score, there

are parts for violin I, violin II, viola, violin III, cello, and string bass, as well as “3 pages of

suggested improvising licks for each soloist.”175

In the original recording of Skylife (CD) the

baritone violin is used and while the string orchestra version was used for this analysis, the

baritone part can be found in the back of the string quartet edition referenced in the Additional

References and Resources section.


This work is an original composition for string quartet that was composed by David

Balakrishnan and performed early in the career of the Turtle Island Quartet with the membership

David Balakrishnan, Darol Anger, Katrina Wreede, and Mark Summer. The first recording was

released in October of 1990 on Skylife (CD) and then again in July 1997 on A Windham Hill

Retrospective: Turtle Island String Quartet (CD). There are multiple published versions of this

piece, the first copyright by Spleehab in 1990 and published in 1991 in a set called Modern Jazz

Classics Contemporary Originals for String Quartet vol. 3 in the American Vernacular Music

Series. Shar Music later published Skylife 1996 with an arrangement for String Orchestra. The

music is currently available for purchase in string orchestra version on the website of the Turtle

Island Quartet (http://turtleislandquartet.com/store/#sheetMusic). Music of the Turtle Island

Quartet is unique due to the performer as composer model and for the various genres of music

with compositions and arrangements for the instrumentation of a string quartet.


A strong command of bowing techniques is needed with much of the rhythm derived from

various bowing techniques and pulse through the use of accents, shuffle bowing, and articulation

175. David Balakrishnan, Skylife for String Orchestra, vol. 1, no. 2 (Ann Arbor,

Michigan: Shar Music Publications, 1996).

93

markings of staccato and sfzortzandos. The sixteenth note rhythmic figure found throughout

requires the ability to perform multiple syncopated up-bows at the frog (Ex. 31) and accents on

the second and fourth beats or backbeats of the measure (Ex. 33). Instructions for bow slaps, a

bow bounce close to bridge on strings will introduce contemporary rhythmic bowing

techniques176

(Ex. 33) and if the group is more advanced the percussive chop bow stroke may

also be used. Double stops are written as open strings and otherwise marked divisi for octaves

and other double stops. Natural harmonics (E) are written in the violin I part. The dynamic

range of the piece is marked from p to fff. The publisher Shar gives Skylife a rating of A4/A5,

Intermediate/Advanced.


Capturing and reproducing the style of Skylife is recommended through listening to an original

recording, which will benefit the players in the string orchestra, as well other rock groups, as

Balakrishnan was influenced by the music of 1970s rock musicians such as Jimmy Hendrix and

Led Zepplin. A strong sense of pulse is needed to create the hard rock feel, which in the case of

Skylife, has a relatively slow pulse with emphasis placed on the second and fourth beats.

Additionally, and perhaps “most important, eighth notes are ‘swung’ in the modern jazz

‘straight’ way—using accents on the offbeat eighths, instead of uneven rhythmic values.”177

As

a general note about vibrato in jazz the composer writes: “Vibrato, always used sparingly, is

somewhat slow and wide; the timbre, light and airy.”178

The texture of the piece changes

throughout, starting with a more sparse instrumentation until the solo improvisations of the

individual performers and moving toward a melody played by sections of the string orchestra.

Toward the end, Skylife has a contrasting section with a fuller texture, played much smoother and

marked legato, settled between more rhythmic playing resuming to energetically end the piece.

176. Turtle Island Quartet, “Turtle Island Quartet – Interview 1,” You Tube,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZteyUhYQ3o&feature=related (accessed October 9, 2012).

In an interview, the Turtle Island Quartet members demonstrate techniques such as walking

bass, bow slap, chop, comping and soloing.

177. David Balakrishnan, “Suggestions on Performance,” Skylife (CA: Spleehab Music,

1991).

178. David Balakrishnan, “Suggestions on Performance,” Skylife (CA: Spleehab Music,

1991).

94


Tempo: Quarter note equals 72

Direction: Hard rock feel—slow pulse

The jazz and blues harmonies for Skylife give a more spontaneous sounding aesthetic to string

orchestra, especially since the players are asked to improvise. The extra sheets of music

providing suggested improvised phrases provide a starting point for the soloists and through

guided experimentation students can learn to compose their own solo. The E minor blues scale

is suggested for improvised passages or players can follow the chord changes. The following

example comes from rehearsal letter A for cello and rehearsal letter E for second violin: E G A

B-flat B D. The chord charts in the improvisation section for cello alternate between measures

of E-minor 7 and B-minor 7 chords while the improvisation section for violin II has the

following chord chart: E-minor 7—B-minor 7—repeated several times—E-minor 7—C 7—

repeated—E-minor 7—B 7.


The composer gives rehearsal numbers, which also outline the form as the sections alternate

between melodic material, accompaniment, and improvised solo sections.

Table 8. Form and Structure of Skylife


1-4 Introduction to one of the primary rhythmic figures.

A 5-18 Cello improvised solo

B 19-26 Melody Accompaniment

viola, cello violin I, violin II, bass

C 27-38 Melody Accompaniment Shuffle figure

violin I, viola cello, double bass violin II

D 39-46 Counterpoint

Principal voice, subsidiary Accompaniment Shuffle figure

violin I, viola cello, double bass violin II

95

Table 8 - Continued


E 47-56 Change in orchestration179

Solo Solo pizzicato Accompaniment Bow slaps

viola bass violin I cello

F 57-64 Counterpoint

Principal voices Subsidiary voices Shuffle figure

violin I,viola cello/double bass violin II

G 65-71 Melody (Ex. 32) Bow slaps Accomp. Backbeat

violin II, cello violin I double bass viola

In m. 71, Example 34, a brief solo figure is passed quickly through

the ensemble.

H 72-77 Coda ending

Fortepiano followed by increased sixteenth note rhythmic activity

with a gradual crescendo into the last two beats of unison rhythm,

completing the piece with a fff sixteenth-note-dotted-eighth and a

quarter note.

Example 31. David Balakrishnan, Skylife, violin II, mm. 5-6.

179. Bryan Simms, Music of the Twentieth Century: Style and Structure, 2d ed. (New

York: Schirmer Books, 1996)(London: Prentice Hall International: 1996), 101. “Orchestration is

the art of realizing a musical idea for a specific group of instruments.”

96

Example 32. David Balakrishnan, Skylife, violin II, mm. 64-70.

Example 33. David Balakrishnan, Skylife, violin I, mm. 65-71.

Example 34. David Balakrishnan, Skylife, m. 71.


Turtle Island String Quaret

Skylife

A Windham Hill Retrospective: Turtle Island String Quartet

97

Jim Hendrix

The Jimi Hendrix Experience

Band of Gypsies

Led Zeppelin

“When the Levee Breaks”

“Good Times Bad Times”

Svend Asmussen, Stéphane Grappelli, Jean-Luc Ponty, and Stuff Smith

Jazz Violin Summit


Abell, Usher. Jazz Violin Studies: A Complete Study and Reference Book. Pacific, MO: Mel

Bay Publications, Inc., 2000.

Balakrishnan, David. Skylife: for String Quartet in Modern Jazz Classics, Contemporary

Originals for String Quartet, vol. 3: Music arranged and composed by David

Balakrishnan. California: Spleehab Music, 1991.

Demsey, David. “Jazz Improvisation and the Concept of Virtuosity” in The Oxford Companion

to Jazz. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Edgerton, Sara. “Alternative Styles for String Playing,” in Spotlight on Teaching Orchestra.

Reston, VA: MENC, the National Association for Music Education (U.S.), 2005.

Gillespie, Robert and Donald L. Hamann. Strategies for Teaching Strings: Building a

Successful String and Orchestra Program. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.

Washburne, Christopher. “Miscellaneous Instruments in Jazz” in The Oxford Companion to

Jazz. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Websites:

http://turtleislandquartet.com/

http://www.sharmusic.com/

98

Tremors


b. 1954

String Orchestra


Copyright: 1997 Balapadam BMI

Unit 1: Composer

See page sixty-nine.

Unit 2: Composition

The original recording by the Turtle Island Quartet features the standard quartet instrumentation

of two violins, viola, and cello. The published string orchestra version includes a part for violin

I, violin II, viola, cello and double bass. This piece is suitable for high school students with and

without improvisation experience. There are opportunities for each instrument to solo within the

orchestra and there are also transcribed solos in the part. Along with the score, Balakrishnan

includes a “Chord Chart for Solos and Bass Lines.” The composer also writes out the mode

(scale) that can be used to improvise over the given chords.


Tremors refers to the tremors of an earthquake, specifically the Loma Prieta earthquake, or the

World Series Earthquake caused by the San Andreas Fault, which took place in the San

Francisco Bay Area on October 17, 1989. Tremors was recorded by the Turtle Island Quartet on

their 1990 Skylife album with David Balakrishnan and Darol Anger, violins; Katrina Wreede,

viola; and Mark Summer, cello. The piece has a 1997 copyright from Balpadam Music and was

published by Shar Products Co. The Ahn Trio adapted and performed Tremors for concerts in

2006.180

180. Charles Downey, “Ahn Trio,” DCist: Arts & Entertainment, May 5, 2006,

http://dcist.com/2006/05/ahn_trio.php (accessed April 20, 2013).

99


Tremors is one of the most technically accessible pieces written and published by the Turtle

Island Quartet. The tempo of the piece is quarter note equals 100. There are several keys

changes between three sharps and no sharps or flats and meter changes between the time

signatures of 6/4 and 4/4. At letter K the viola part has a solo in treble clef that, in m. 96, goes

up to a B just above the treble clef staff. The composer provides written out solos for this

publication since the chord progression features more modern jazz harmonies, however, if a

soloist wanted to adapt their own solo, Balakrishnan recommends asking for help from any jazz

musician since they will have familiarity with the chords.

It is rated an A4/A5 by Shar.


The solo melodies have long, flowing lines but constancy of the rhythm and over-all sense of

pulse is possible with pizzicato accompaniment and undulating eighth notes. The eighth notes

use a “brushy repeated stroke that is similar to a bluegrass shuffle, but is more distinct and less

swingy, meaning the eighth notes are more towards an even feel, similar to latin grooves.”181

The Turtle Island Quartet recording of Tremors features simplicity in the sound of glissandos,

grace notes, accents, turns, and other ornaments to compliment the melody. Solo lines are traded

effortlessly and the duet interactions sound as though played by one person. The accompaniment

parts have a well-balanced dynamic and are supportive to the melody, providing a rhythmic

structure for the free sounding solo lines.


The singing melody lines provide contrast to the sparse pizzicato accompaniment in the

beginning. Long sustaining chords are also used frequently to support a soloist along with a

brushy stroke used for repeating eighth notes. “Mainly the playing should have a plaintive

expressive approach, but not too maudlin, watch the vibrato, but let the lines sing

nonetheless.”182

During the tutti transitional passages the ensemble can demonstrate a wide

181. David Balakrishnan, e-mail to author, April 23, 2013.

182. Ibid.

100

dynamic range through an exaggeration of the written crescendo and likewise, the diminuendo

leading into the new section at letter E.


The phrase structure in Tremors is asymmetrical and although it is written in the meters of 6/4

alternating with 4/4 the melodies are metrically ambiguous at times, this is also reflected in the

length of phrases. After a four bar introduction, the violin solo is six measures long. The viola

solo that starts at rehearsal letter A is seven measures long, followed by a two-measure tutti

transition in mm. 19-20. The solo section at letters F, G, and H follow an AABA song form with

the B section functioning as a bridge with four measure sections. The structure of the piece rests

between divisions in solo passages and textures. The accompaniment begins as a light pizzicato

accompaniment, moving toward sustained harmonies featuring open intervals, with more

rhythmic eighth-note movement pulsing toward crescendo or louder phrases.

Table 9. Form and Structure of Tremors.


Introduction 1-4 Light pizzicato accompaniment begins led by double bass

6/4 meter Pizzicato punctuations played in violin II, viola, cello

tacet violin I

5-11 Melody Pizzicato accompaniment

violin I “wistful” violin II, cello, double bass

A 12-18 Melody Accompaniment Counter melody

4/4 meter viola solo sustained chords cello

key signature change tacet double bass

19-20 This tutti transitional figure is played in unison rhythm.

B 21-24 Melody Shuffle Rhythmic gestures

6/4 meter cello solo violin II violin I, viola


C 25-30 Duet melody Pizzicato accompaniment

violins viola, cello, double bass

101

Table 9 - Continued


D 31-39 This passage functions as a transitional bridge with a cello feature

4/4 meter at m. 35.

E 40-43 Solo Pizzicato accompaniment

6/4 meter violin I violin II, viola, cello, double bass

F 44-59 Solo Pizz. accomp. Shuffle

violin I violin II, double bass viola, cello

G 60-75 Solo Pizz. accomp. Shuffle

viola violin II, double bass violin I, cello

H 76-87 Solo Pizz. accomp.

double bass (pizz.) violins, viola, cello

J 88-91 Melody Pizz. accomp. Shuffle

violin I double bass violin II, viola, cello

K 92-98 Melody Sustained harmony

4/4 meter viola violins


99-102 Transitional bridge

L 103-106 This transition crescendos and has an increase in rhythmic motion,

6/4 meter especially in the double bass part.

key signature change

M 107-112 Duet melody Pizzicato accompaniment

violins viola, cello, double bass



Skylife



102

Bach’s Lunch

Arranged by Danny Seidenberg

b. 1953

String Orchestra

Copyright: 2007 by Highland/Etling Publishing

All Rights Assigned to and Controlled by Alfred Music Publishing Co., Inc. All Rights Reserved

Unit 1: Composer

Juilliard trained violist Danny Seidenberg is from Pittsburgh, PA and began his performing

career at the age of sixteen, performing as a soloist with the Pittsburg Symphony. His

performing career on the violin and viola includes orchestra, opera, chamber music, touring, solo

and recording music for film and television. He was a member of the Turtle Island Quartet from

1992 to 2003. As a composer he receives commissions for his work and in 1997 Seidenberg was

awarded a German Grammy nomination for his piece Winter Variations, performed by the Berlin

Philharmonic. The 2006 album by the Turtle Island Quartet won a Grammy for Best Classical

Crossover and included his arrangement of Creation Du Monde by Darius Milhaud. Seidenberg

served on faculty with UCLA’s Henry Mancini Institute, the jazz studies department for

University of Massachusetts, Stanford, and Belmont University. He currently teaches at

Willamette University and resides in Salem, Oregon and Los Angeles, California.183

Unit 2: Composition

Bach’s Lunch is a perfect way to generate interest and accessibility to one of the greatest works

of Bach. The introduction of Bach’s Lunch is a creative layering of the first five beats of the

main theme of the first movement of J.S. Bach’s Double Concerto. Each instrument group

enters one beat later than the last and then repeats those five beats, four times. The piece begins

in C major for the first five measures and then in measure 6 there is a key change to C minor. In

the new key, Seidenberg uses a three-beat fragment of the theme and the staggered entrances

occur more rapidly with an eighth-note separation between groups and only two repetitions. The

183. Danny Seidenberg, “Bio,” Danny Seidenberg,

http://www.dannyseidenberg.com/BIO.html (accessed November 11, 2012).

103

swinging rhythm begins followed by jazzy syncopations and harmonies. The further surprise

will come as players use the chop bow stroke and improvise over chords.


Johann Sebastian Bach’s (1686-1750) Concerto for Two Violins and Orchestra in D Minor,

BWV 1043, often called the Double Violin Concerto, was written in the late Baroque period

between 1717-1723184

during the time Bach worked for Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen. The

Double Concerto is an example of concerto grosso form with several instruments performing the

solo, the concertino, as a continuo group accompanies. Danny Seidenberg composed his version,

largely based on Bach’s, and entitled the work Bach’s Lunch. In 1994 Turtle Island Quartet

made a live recording of Bach’s Lunch for their album, A Night in Tunisia a Week in Detroit

with Tracy Silverman and Darol Anger, violins; Danny Seidenberg, viola; and Mark Summer,

cello. The record label Windham Hill was seeking to produce crossover materials and for

Seidenberg, transitioning a well-admired piece by Bach and incorporating swing rhythms proved

highly successful. The version for school orchestra gives students the opportunity to improvise

“trading twos” or taking turns improvising for two measures. The violin parts have written out

solos if needed starting at m. 41.


The publisher, Highland/Etling rates Bach’s Lunch a Grade Level 4. The violin parts are more

virtuosic and soloistic while viola, cello, and bass parts function most often as accompaniment.

There are challenging elements in every part including passagework with scale-like runs and

quick, dotted rhythms. Viola chops during the improvisatory section (mm. 37-48) mark each

downbeat. The viola then plays offbeat rhythms for the remainder of the measure to create

continuous eighth-note rhythms with the cello and bass parts found playing most often on the

beat.

184. Edward Downes and The Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, The New

York Philharmonic Guide to the Symphony, (New York: Walker and Company: 1976), 19-20.

104


The element of surprise can be found by imitating a Baroque style in the beginning to

purposefully mislead your audience during the introduction. The familiar melody of the Double

Concerto will be easily recognizable to many audiences and as the treatment of that melody

develops the intrigue will be captivating throughout the performance. Accents and crisp

articulations will clarify the entrance of individual parts during thicker textures particularly

during fugue-like passages. Additionally, off-beat rhythms and the emphasis on the backbeats

are important for the style.


The strings parts in this composition/arrangement are quite independent rhythmically. Entrances

can present a challenge to the ensemble when the primary musical interests are found in the

effect of staggered entrances. Experimenting with dynamics can further clarify the interest of the

entrances as each new part enters confidently and blends in the texture to allow the listener to

hear the next entrance. Dynamic balance can be developed in musical phrases as the

countermelody is passed from one part to another in sixteenth-note runs found in the viola and

cello part in mm. 16-17 and violin parts in mm. 20-21.


Table 10. Form and Structure of Bach’s Lunch.


Introduction 1-5 Five-beat motif with fugal entrance is staggered by one

beat.

6-7 key signature Three-beat motif with fugal entrance is staggered by half of

change a beat.

A 8-15 “Swing it!”

Jazzy fugal melody starts in m. 8 with violin II. Initially the

viola plays off-beats beneath this section of music leading

into a frenzy of activity and fragments of Bach’s original

105

Table 10 - Continued


themes heard rapidly swirling around a bass line

established and maintained by the double bass, joined

frequently by the cello. Violin I plays the figure two

measures later in measure 10, viola starts in measure 14

with a counter melody and is joined in measure 16 by cello.

B 16-26 Melody and countermelody pass between parts.

C 27-36 Violin II initially plays off-beats in this section of the

phrase until the fugal repetition of the violin I melody. The

double bass and cello increase rhythmic activity with

repeated figures rapidly descending.

D 37-48 Solo section (transcribed) with accompaniment including

chops. Students may also trade twos improvising using the

given chord progression in c minor: i6-II7(b9)-V7

As written, the cello and double bass accompany by

playing on-beats and the viola plays off-beats while the

violins solos.

E 49-56 Same chord progression in the key of G minor.

The violin solos are challenging and are written out as a

quick-witted conversation with little space to catch one’s

breath.

F 57-68 Return of the material in violin II theme from m. 8. Cello

and double bass play on-beats and the viola plays off-

beats for two measures, subsequently increasing rhythmic

activity in a similar way to previous materials at m. 27.

G 69-76 “Optional fade out ending”185

These measures combine the

key signature change introductory material by staggering

entrances of a three-beat motif by one beat.

185. Danny Seidenberg, Bach’s Lunch, (USA: Highland/Etling Publishing Co., 2008).

106


Johann Sebastian Bach Concerto for Two Violins and Orchestra in D Minor, BWV 1043


A Night in Tunisia: a Week in Detroit

By the Fireside

“Variations on Winter from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons”

Art of the Groove

“Straphangin”


www.dannyseidenberg.com


Steel City Strut

Composer: Danny Seidenberg

b. 1953

String Orchestra

Copyright: 2008 by Highland/Etling Publishing

All Rights Assigned to and Controlled by Alfred Music Publishing Co., Inc. All Rights Reserved

Unit 1: Composer

See page 102.

Unit 2: Composition

The city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania provides the inspiration for this piece with the Rhythm and

Blues bands of the city, city traffic with honking horns, and of course, the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Danny Seidenberg is a fan of his hometown football team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, and in the

notes for the piece he encourages the use of Steel City Strut as their theme song. “Imagine a 300

lb. lineman humming music written for string instruments as the ball is snapped, or strings

107

blasting in the locker room during another championship drive.”186

One of the premier

challenges is maintaining the groove of a drum with a rock-steady beat amidst the blues scale

melodies with shuffle figures and cross-rhythms.


The rhythm and blues in Pittsburgh were highly influential for this piece, specifically the band

the Iron City House Rockers (1976-1984). For the composer, Tower of Power (1968-present) is

another influential representative of this musical style, American Rhythm and Blues. The Tower

of Power brass section accentuates the music as they play in the styles of soul, funk, and jazz.

The Turtle Island Quartet recorded Steel City Strut on their 1999 album Art of the Groove (CD).

Danny Seidenberg was the violist for the Turtle Island Quartet from 1992-2003.


The groove and sense of rhythmic pulse, with a strong backbeat, are the primary technical

considerations as players develop the ability to keep rock-steady time without the assistance of

drums. This can be especially challenging amidst meter changes, cross rhythms and shifts to the

metric pulse through written hemiolas (Ex. 36). Individual parts are highly syncopated so each

player will need to subdivide and maintain the steadiness of the beats within the measure. This

piece will help ensembles develop listening skills as awareness and knowledge of the similarities

and differences between parts becomes necessary.


During rehearsals, Seidenberg directs players to “emulate other instruments.”187

The instruments

played regularly in the band Iron City Houserockers include rhythm guitar, lead guitar, bass,

keyboards, accordion, drums, harmonica, and vocals.188

The instruments of Tower of Power

include tenor and baritone saxophones, trumpets, lead and bass guitar, drums, vocals and

186. Danny Seidenberg, “Program Notes,” Steel City Strut, (Highland/Etling Publishing

Co.: 2008).

187. Danny Seidenberg, e-mail to author, November 20, 2012.

188. Iron City House Rockers, “History,” Iron City House Rockers,

http://www.ironcityhouserockers.com/ (accessed April 7, 2013).

108

keyboard.189

The composer encourages ‘hornlike’ playing, “emulating trumpet and saxophone,

brassy and direct”190

and at other times to play like a Leslie Organ191

or car horns (Ex. 36).


Familiarity with the blues scale and treatment of the third scale degree will produce a more

characteristic blues sound. “Generally speaking, bow strokes are on the string, in the middle of

the stick, and ‘crunchy’ [Ex. 35 and 38]. The exception would be the loud rhythmic parts and

bass lines where the lower half of the bow needs to be used [Ex. 40].”192

The beat of the

measures remains mostly in a large four pattern with some measures written in 4/4 and others in

12/8 when there is a stronger use of shuffle bowings (Ex. 39 and 40). The time signatures of 9/8

and 6/4 do appear at the key signature change from one sharp to one flat as the viola part leads a

transition with shuffle rhythms in m. 63 (Ex. 39).


Table 11. Form and Structure of Steel City Strut


Introduction 1-4 In 4/4 time signature, “Rhythm and Blues Groove”

Quarter note equals 100

189. Tower of Power, “Band Profile,” Tower of Power,

http://www.towerofpower.com/the-band/index.html (accessed April 7, 2013).

190. Danny Seidenberg, “Notes to the Conductor,” Steel City Strut, (USA:

Highland/Etling Publishing Co., 2008).

191. This indication is in the score. It refers to a specific brand of electric organ

manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company (1935-1985) with Leslie speakers. The lower-

cost made Hammond Organ a popular alternative to an organ or piano with churches. Popularity

of this organ and speaker combination grew among jazz musicians, and eventually Rhythm and

Blues groups.

192. Danny Seidenberg, “Notes to the Conductor,” Steel City Strut, (USA:

Highland/Etling Publishing Co., 2008).

109



Intro. 1-4 Entrances are staggered (Ex. 37) with a crescendo leading

into an energetic rhythmic statement played forte.

A 5-11 In 12/8 time signature

Melody: Bass groove:

violins, viola cello, double bass

12 Descending quarter-note figure in m. 12 leads into the

following violin melody and serves as a transition

B 13-19 Violin I and violin II share a harmonized melody with

identical rhythm.

20 Measure 20 features an ascending eighth-note figure.

21-24 Violin II melody leads until a descending quarter-note

transitional figure.

25-30 Violin I has melody with crescendo, punctuated in m. 32.

31-32 In 4/4 time signature

B 33-36 In 12/8 time signature

Violin I and violin II share a harmonized melody with

identical rhythm.

37-40 violin II melody

41-46 Measures 43-46 are in 4/4 time signature.

Violin I leads melodically into a highly rhythmic and

syncopated transitional section.

47 In 12/8 time signature. The score indicates “car horns”

in the score for m. 47.

A1 48-62 Transitional material continues with greater similarity in

rhythms than in previous sections.

63-70 Key signature change to one flat. Viola shuffle figure.

Measures 69-70 in 9/8 time signature.

71-72 In 6/4 time signature. Chords like the opening, with

staggered entrances.

110



72-73 Measure 73 is in 12/8 time signature.

C 74-96 In 9/8 time signature, played “like a leslie organ.”193

97-109 Violin shuffle theme, cello theme B, violin II theme

Dynamic changes to pp.

110-114 Increased rhythmic activity.

115-117 Return to one sharp in the key signature and to12/8 time

signature. In m. 115 chordal entrances are like the

introduction.

118-129 Cello plays a shuffle figure. Measures 128-129 are in 4/4

time signature.

B1 130-137 In 12/8 time signature. Rhythmic feature: three against

four. Violin II plays the melody in 12/8 time signature to a

duple rhythm accompaniment. Measures 136-138 in 4/4

time signature.

138-145 Measure 138 features downward glissandos on the back-

beats. Measure 138 is in 4/4 time signature and returns to

12/8 in measure 139 through the end of piece. Greater

similarity in rhythms occurs as fragments of the theme are

played in harmony.

146-153 Theme is restated by violins and viola with cello and

double bass complimentary bass line groove rhythms.

193. Danny Seidenberg, Steel City Strut, (USA: Highland/Etling Publishing Co., 2008).

111

Melody

Example 35. Danny Seidenberg, Steel City Strut, violin I and violin II, mm. 13-16.

Transition featuring rhythmic and metric shift

Example 36. Danny Seidenberg, Steel City Strut, mm. 43-50.

112

Staggered entrances

Example 37. Danny Seidenberg, Steel City Strut, mm. 1-3.

Melody

Example 38. Danny Seidenberg, Steel City Strut, cello and double bass, mm. 73-81.

113

Shuffle

Example 39. Danny Seidenberg, Steel City Strut, viola, mm. 63-64.

Example 40. Danny Seidenberg, Steel City Strut, cello, mm. 122-124.



Art of the Groove “Steel City Strut”

Jimmy McGriff

Electric Funk

Jimmy Smith

The Sermon!

Iron City Houserockers

Love’s so Tough “Turn it Up”

Tower of Power

“What is Hip”

Unbande

Alto Logic

Pavlov’s Dog

114


Website

http://www.dannyseidenberg.com/DAS_Site/HOME.html

Partial List of Available Compositions194

Title Composer/Arranger Genre

Who Do You Think You Are? Tower of Power/arr. Seidenberg String Quartet

Bach’s Lunch Bach/Seidenberg String Quartet

Variations on Winter Vivaldi/Seidenberg String Quartet

1. Thin Ice 2. Texas Rain 3. Snow What?

Bernies’ Tune Gerry Mulligan/arr. Seidenberg String Quartet

with 2 violas

Steel City Strut Seidenberg String Quartet

Bowing, Bowing Jean Luc Ponty/arr. Seidenberg String Quartet

Exsultate, Wanna Latte? Mozart/Seidenberg String Quartet

with 2violas

So Shall We Two Forever Part? Mozart/Seidenberg Violin/Viola/Piano

Sammy’s Here! Seidenberg Solo Viola

with String Orchestra

Zomby Woof Frank Zappa/arr. Seidenberg String Quartet

Oh Darling! Beatles/arr. Seidenberg String Orchestra

Child’s Play Seidenberg String Orchestra

Maracatu Gismonti/Seidenberg Quintet with clarinet

La Création Du Monde Milhaud/Seidenberg String Octet

Boplicity Miles Davis String Quartet

My Funny Valentine Miles Davis Viola/Cello duo

A Foggy Day London Town George Gershwin String Orchestra

Good Vibrations Brian Wilson 2 violas/piano

See The World Pat Metheny String Quartet

194. Danny Seidenberg, “Charts,” Danny Seidenberg Website,

http://www.dannyseidenberg.com/CHARTS.html 11/11/12 (accessed November 11, 2012).

115

The Heat of the Day Pat Metheny String Quartet

Lil’ Darlin‘ Neal Hefti String Quartet

Straighten Up and Fly Right Nat King Cole String Quartet

Mercy, Mercy, Mercy Joe Zawinul String Quartet

12th

of December

Composer: Tracy Scott Silverman

b. 1960

String Orchestra

Publisher: Shar Music Publications

Copyright: 1995 From the Gut Music, ASCAP

Unit 1: Composer

Electric violinist and composer Tracy Silverman plays an electric six-string violin he developed

to include two strings that are lower than the traditional violin. Trained in violin at the Juilliard

School, he has pioneered electric violin as a concert instrument through his two compositions,

two concertos for electric violin: Electric Violin Concerto and Between the Kiss and the Chaos

for electric violin and string quartet. He has also premiered several works written for him, a

piece by John Adams, The Dharma at Big Sur and Terry Riley’s The Palmian Chord Ryddle.

Although he tours frequently as an international soloist, Tracy Silverman resides in Nashville

and teaches at Belmont University and Vanderbilt University. His musical influences are wide-

ranging from new music to world music, and from jazz to popular music.195

He was a member

of the Turtle Island Quartet from 1993-1997.

195. Tracy Silverman, “Biography,” http://www.tracysilverman.com/ (accessed on

October 23, 2012).

116

Unit 2: Composition

The liner notes for this piece on the album read, “Some memories are cloudy and dreamlike.

Others are indelibly marked on our personal calendars.”196

One hears a variety of percussion

instruments used throughout the recording of 12th

of December on the album By the Fireside

(CD), from latin-inspired rainstick and clave to a drum set, although written percussion parts are

not included with the parts. There are times in the piece that elicit the warm and cozy feelings of

being by the fireside and listening to the rustle of the weather outside. The soaring violin solo is

transcribed and the written style is more approachable to student improvisation due to the

moderate tempo, long sustained rhythms interspersed with arpeggios, and harmonies that

initially change less frequently (every four measures). Scale-like embellishments and

improvisations within sections of more rapid harmonic movement would be a student-friendly

improvisation strategy and an excellent opportunity to reinforce the importance of scale practice.


Tracy Silverman joined the Turtle Island Quartet in 1993, rehearsing, touring and composing for

the quartet. 12th

of December is one of his early works and was recorded by the Turtle Island

Quartet in 1995 and later published by Shar Music as part of the Turtle Island String Orchestra

Series. The date referenced by the title of the work is intriguing to audience members and is a

frequent question posed to the composer, “What is significant about the 12th

of December?”.

The answer is known, and yet Silverman writes that the audience, “…wondering about my

connection to that particular date is much more powerful than knowing what the connection

is.”197


12th

of December is rated Intermediate-Advanced by Shar. Proficient bow control is needed to

sustain the long lines found in this piece. To create a strong sense of the rhythmic groove, each

performer’s internalization of the pulse is essential. Ensemble subdivision practice by playing

sixteenth notes throughout is a rehearsal technique suggested by the composer. “Vibrato, always

196. Turtle Island String Quartet, By the Fireside, Windham Hill Records, CD, 1995.

197. Tracy Silverman, e-mail to author, November 1, 2012.

117

used sparingly, is generally slower, and used to release tension within a note rather than [to]

increase intensity; timbres are generally light and airy.”198

Since a string group does not

typically include percussion instruments like the snare drum, both the chop bow stroke in the

violin/viola part and a fingerboard slap by the bass player are intended to imitate that particular

highly percussive and non-pitched sound.


Styles and textures are unique as the piece builds from a fluid, ad lib opening to a “Brazilian

inflected groove”199

with bossa nova rhythms. The ease and flexibility of the opening provides

an opportunity for students to listen and respond to one another rather than to follow strict time.

As the sense of pulse becomes more concrete, the soloist leads phrases with cadenza-like

sections of rubato contrasting those phrases and sections with a more steady pulse. Although

many rhythms in the popular music genre are altered to fit a particular style (i.e. jazz, swing), the

eighth notes in 12th

of December are played as written since the piece is influenced by latin and

rock musical styles.200


This composition explores the melody through Brazilian, big band and funk grooves.201

As he

composes, Tracy Silverman explores melodies that work well when sung. Combining a sung

quality and improvisatory feel into the melody while maintaining the sense of subdivision is very

important when considering the lyricism found in the solo line. Capturing a free style in the

melody, and a cohesive rhythmic feel as the ensemble accompanies the solo violin, will give the

piece forward movement and pulse when the rhythmic activity increases building toward the end

of a phrase.

198. Turtle Island Quartet, “Performance Suggestions,” Music for String Orchestra, vol.

1, no. 1, (Ann Arbor, Michigan: Shar Music Publications, 1995).

199. Tracy Silverman, “Serving Suggestion,” 12th

of December, (Ann Arbor, Michigan:

Shar Music Publications, 1995).

200. Ibid.

201. Tracy Silverman, e-mail to author, November 1, 2012.

118


Elements of theme and variation are found in the 12th of December as it goes through several

styles with one melodic idea.

Table 12. Form and Structure of 12th

of December


Opening 1-13 A very thin timbre and mysterious piano texture is created in the

beginning with the cello playing elegant pizz. chord arpeggiations

and tied whole notes in the violin II, viola, and bass part creating

an ethereal mood. The violin I part leads with a sleek unhurried

melody that creates a seemingly improvised flow through the

chord progressions (Ex. 41). The melody, soaring and suspended,

is transformed with each repetition and has an improvisatory

character at the beginning.

A 14-21 The violin melody continues in the half-bar pickup to letter A and

has more of an audible pulse as the phrase moves to a climax in

m. 19. The long, three-measure crescendo builds dynamically and

rhythmically, though the insistent pulse (groove) in the bass part

remains understated. Dotted-eighth syncopations at the end of the

measure in the cello part give momentum to move forward into the

next measure. Rhythmic activity decreases, tapering to match the

end of the phrase.

B 22-43 A (transcribed) violin I solo starts with a half-bar pickup to letter B

with chords listed for improvisation. The violin I and viola parts

sustain long notes to support the harmony and the violin I part has

an eighth-note undulation. The cello and bass play Brazilian bossa

nova rhythms (Ex. 43). Rhythmic activity increases in mm. 30-33

(Ex. 44), but then subsides to make room for the violin I soloist.

119



C 44-67 Violin II plays a solo starting with a whole-bar pickup to letter C.

Similar accompaniment orchestration as at letter B is found at

letter C, but with an increase in rhythmic activity and a change in

harmonies. The momentum subsides temporarily with whole notes

as violin I leads into the viola solo at m. 58, played over a tutti

fermata. Violin I uses carefully placed quarter notes to make

a graceful exit and to indicate the next fermata for the cello solo at

m. 60.

Heavier 61 In contrast to the light texture of the opening, this section continues

groove with forte dynamics is more energetic with accents placed on each

of the two eighth notes of the fourth beat. The violin I part leads

into the next section, establishing the tempo and character with two

accented quarter notes.

D 68-89 Violin I plays a high melody sailing above the highly rhythmic

accompaniment. The bass slaps the fingerboard to create a

percussive effect on beats two and four (Ex. 46), imitating the

sound of a snare drum. The violin II and cello have similar

rhythms initially with the cello playing pizz. As the bass becomes

the snare drum, the cello becomes the bassists playing arpeggiated

figures. The viola has divisi eighth notes with a chop bow stroke

indicated on beat three (Ex. 45).

E 90-96 The accompaniment is played by violins, viola, and cello in unison

rhythm with the melody played by double bass (Ex. 47). Measure

96 begins a solo duet between violin I and cello (Ex. 42 and 47).

F 97-107 Solo bass joins the solo violin I and cello (Ex. 42). The texture and

mood of the opening are recreated as the piece winds down

through rhythmic expansion back to long sustained gestures. Tutti

entrance at m. 105 finishes the last three measures of the piece

with a fermata.

120

Example 41. Tracy Silverman, 12th

of December, mm. 1-5.



121


of December, cello, mm. 22-25.


of December, violins, mm. 30-33.


of December, violin II and viola, mm. 68-70.


of December, double bass, mm. 67-71.

122



123


Chick Corea

Jerry Goodman

Didier Lockwood

Jean-Luc Ponty

“Cosmic Messenger”

Tracy Silverman

May All Good Things

The Dharma at Big Sur

Eclectica

Three Part Invention

I’d Rather Be Dreaming

Trip to the Sun

Yangin’ with the Yin Crowd

North Meets South

Super String

On a Starry Night


By the Fireside

Who Do We Think We Are?

A Night in Tunisia, a Week in Detroit

Carlos Santanta

Michał Urbaniak


http://www.tracysilverman.com/

124

Gettysburg

Composer: Mark Summer

b. 1958

Published by: Cellobeat Music

Copyright: 1990

String Orchestra

Unit 1: Composer

Composer and cellist Mark Summer was born in 1958 and grew up near Los Angeles in Reseda,

CA.202

A graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music, Summer played for several years as a

member of the Winnipeg Symphony. He formed the West-End String Band, leaving his job at

the symphony to pursue his interest in other music styles. After returning to the Bay area he

became a founding member of the Grammy award winning Turtle Island Quartet, where he was

introduced to audiences as the “cello, bass, and drums, the one and only,”203

Mark Summer. His

most popular works for solo cello include the compositions Julie-o (also published as a cello

duet), Kalimba, and jazzy arrangements of Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming and Little Wing by

Jimi Hendrix. In 2011, Summer premiered a cello concerto written and named for him by David

Balakrishnan entitled Force of Nature. As a cellist his playing style has been described as with

“joy and explosive expressivity.”204

Mark Summer currently teaches in the summer at Cello: an

American Experience in Northfield, Minnesota.

202. Chris White, “Featured Artist: Mark Summer,” Internet Cello Society,

http://www.cello.org/Newsletter/Articles/summer.htm, reprinted by permission of Cello City

Ink: Newsletter of the New Directions Cello Association, vol. 3 no. 2, Fall/Winter 96/97

(accessed April 20, 2013).

203. WETA, “David Balakrishnan,” interview, September 30, 2011,

http://www.weta.org/fm/features/classicalconversations/498874/David+Balakrishnan (accessed

April 20, 2013).

204. Ibid.

125

Unit 2: Composition

''Gettysburg, from cellist Mark Summer, has a decidedly Southern feel, thanks to the fiddles'

meshing with his sad, sweet cello.”205

Gettysburg was originally composed for string quartet.

The virtuosity of the cello solo part reflects the composer/performer role of Mark Summer as the

cellist and founding member of the Turtle Island Quartet. There are peaceful, noble, hymn-like

passages suspending time contrasting with sections of intense undulating shuffle rhythms, with

overarching solo melodies, exploring jazzy harmonies through expressive inflections made with

bent notes and slides. This composition is ideal for a chamber group with confident and

competitive student members. The opportunity to audition for the solo parts could provide a

vehicle for further engagement within the group and extra motivation to practice.


Mark Summer wrote Gettysburg after spending time performing and visiting the area of

Gettysburg, PA, famous for the historic 1863 Civil War battle site. The beauty of the landscape

inspired him to write this “tuneful romp through fiddle country.”206

Gettysburg was recorded

and released on the album Skylife (CD) in 1990 with David Balakrishnan and Darol Anger,

violins; Katrina Wreede, viola; and Mark Summer, cello. Summer composed Ensenada, which

is on the same recording. The sheet music is available from the Turtle Island Quartet website

and includes written-out solos although the piece is adaptable for players to improvise solos over

chord changes.


The accented shuffle bowing is an important element of Gettysburg, used by the composer as an

accompaniment figure and as a transition between sections. Accompaniment sections feature

abrupt changes in dynamics to answer the solo line or to “fill” as in performances of jazz. This

piece provides teaching opportunities in the area of ensemble, particularly as the need to balance

205. Parry Gettelman, “Turtle Island String Quartet,” Orlando Sentinel (November 16,

1990), http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1990-11-16/entertainment/9011160900_1_turtle-

island-string-string-quartet-skylife (accessed March 15, 2013).

206. Turtle Island Quartet, “Store,” Turtle Island Quartet,

http://turtleislandquartet.com/store/ (access April 20, 2013).

126

the melody with the accompaniment changes within a measure perhaps for only one beat. Mark

Summer is well know for his percussive techniques and as there are differences in the recording

of Gettysburg on the album Skylife (CD), students can improvise and experiment with chops,

bow slaps (striking the string with the upper half of the bow), slap bass (playing pizzicato in such

a way as to cause the string to rebound into the fingerboard), or thumb taps (a technique

available for cello/double bass). Summer also uses ghost notes as rhythmic place-holders,

essential to maintain a steady rhythm in a piece.


The style of Gettysburg can be labeled in the new acoustic or American style, or even the

blending of what might now be called world styles with fiddle and folk influences. The

glissando slides are played within the context of the melodic line and add an expressive nature to

the lines. Playing ornaments such as these without obstructing the flow of the rhythm or use of

the bow will need to be rehearsed and practiced slowly to refine the skill. Summer suggests for

musicians to lift their left hand finger weight and continue the rhythmic motion by “playing the

rests.” The right hand maintains rhythmic continuity and as the left hand performs ghost-note

techniques a composite rhythm emerges. The bridge of the melody for this piece reminds the

composer of the Beach Boys song California Girls.


The themes and melodies of Gettysburg are often written as true melody and accompaniment.

The soloist or solo pairs and are sometimes answered by the group so it is important for each

performer to know what role they are playing at any given moment. This piece is an excellent

example of melody and accompaniment and a great way to teach and refine the concept within a

given ensemble.

127


Table 13. Form and Structure of Gettysburg


Introduction 1-4 Cello solo plays with sparse bass accompaniment.

A 5-10 This hymn-like section features suspended rhythms

primarily in half and whole notes.

B 11-16 Viola/cello solo duet is answered by tutti viola, cello and

double bass playing a punctuated sixteenth-eighth-dotted

eighth note figure.

C 17-29 Violin I solo is accompanied and answered by other

sections with a sixteenth-dotted-eighth-eighth note figure.

Measure 23 begins a syncopated descending and

ascending melodic figure in violin I part. Measure 29

features unison rhythm.

D 30-36 The first six measures are similar to C. Cello takes a

countermelody in mm. 33-34. Increased rhythmic activity

in mm. 35-36 leads into a new section.

E 37-45 A viola solo is featured in mm. 37-44. In m. 45, viola plays

an accompaniment sixteenth-note shuffle rhythm.

F 46-53 Violin I plays the melody over the shuffle sixteenth-note

figure in the viola part. Violin II, cello, and double bass

play longer rhythms until violin II breaks away in m. 51 to

play harmony alongside violin I for three measures.

G 54-62 Violin II, cello, and double bass accompany with half- and

whole-note rhythms. Viola continues with a lightly played

hemiola pattern repeating a sixteenth-note-eighth note

rhythm.

128



H 63-70 Violin I plays chops on beats two and four throughout this

section. Viola returns to playing a sixteenth-note shuffle

figure. Cello and double bass continue longer rhythms as

the violin II takes an eight-measure solo.

I 71-79 Viola takes the solo leading into letter I while the violins

play the sixteenth-note shuffle figure previously found in

the viola part. Cello and double bass continue with longer,

sustained rhythms.

J 80-85 Violin I begins letter J with the melody as violin II and

viola are increasing rhythmic activity. Cello and double

bass continue their harmonic role.

K 86-91 Unison rhythms are played in this transitional section.

L 92-97 Violin I has the melody. Violin II, viola, cello, and double

bass parts are accompaniment.

M 98-104 Violin II plays the melody. Unison rhythm at m. 104.

N 105-108 Melodic material passes from violin I, viola, and is then

shared by violin I and II melody.

O 109-114 Cello and double bass play hemiola rhythms while the

violin II and viola parts play shuffle sixteenth notes. Violin

I part plays the melody leading a four-measure crescendo,

ending the piece.


Beach Boys

California Girls


Skylife “Gettysburg”

By the Fireside “Turning Twice”

129

On the Town “Oh Lady Be Good” by George Gershwin

4+Four “Because” by John Lennon and Paul McCartney

A Love Supreme: The Legacy of John Coltrane “Moment’s Notice” by John Coltrane

Who Do We Think We Are? “Josey”

Danzón “Danzón” by Paquito D’Rivera

“Girl From Pathetique” based on Girl from Ipanema by Antonio Carlos and

Jobim and Tchaikovsky’s Pathetique Symphony



130

CHAPTER SIX

CONCLUSION

The history of string instruments in jazz and popular music demonstrates the adaptability

and evolution of strings in modern music genres. Throughout the development of jazz, blues and

other improvisatory music styles the players used their skills to create music and develop the art

form. The work of these musicians solidified the use of strings in jazz and other related genres.

The performers discussed in Chapter One carved the path of strings throughout modern music

history. Through the study of their music and example, present-day musicians can learn how

they adapted the instruments to suit the culture of their era.

Musical improvisation has a long history in various genres including classical. String

instrument educators can influence the outcome of the next generation of string players by

teaching this skill. Improvisation requires an intimate knowledge of the melody and music

theory with the confidence and freedom to create a new and exciting on-the-spot composition.

The study of diverse genres has the potential to increase the musical fluency of young musicians.

Organizations such as ASTA and individual music educators across the country are working

toward expanding the paradigm and trend toward the incorporation of popular styles.

The music of the Turtle Island Quartet and their unique composer-as-performer model

continues to influence the culture of string music in genres from classical to popular music.

With each publication of their compositions and arrangements, the Turtle Island Quartet

contributes to the available string orchestra literature for the next generation of string players.

The members of the Turtle Island Quartet share their knowledge and expertise of modern string

technique while inventing and/or expanding techniques. They experiment with string music in

new styles and provide information through workshops, concerts, video demonstrations and

educational programs. Through their performances, compositions, and arrangements they

increased the accessibility of multiple genres to modern string players.

Discussing and promoting the music of the Turtle Island Quartet is important for the next

generation of string players, to perform and study engaging music that is modern, relevant, and

challenging alongside the study of traditional string genres. Turtle Island Quartet music is the

bridge between styles that requires highly developed improvisation skills and written parts that

131

do not facilitate the need for harmonic understanding. The compositions and arrangements of

the Turtle Island Quartet are varied, in that some of the parts are complete in their notation and

others contain multiple measures of chord charts and the freedom to improvise entire solo

sections and accompaniment lines. The instruction of such music to younger players, by brave

teachers willing to study and learn new techniques, is paramount to the continuation of string

playing in popular music styles.

The information provided with the scores and through the author’s analysis serves as an

efficient guide and helpful guide to teachers and performers. Modern string techniques specific

to a style or genre are discussed with relevant resources, websites, books, and the historical

background and development. Each piece is analyzed to provide teachers with information and

teaching resources to ease the burden of score study. The nuances and language of the genre are

discussed, providing vocabulary, terms and techniques to supplement the teacher/student

knowledge base. Program information can be gained from the unit sections for the composer,

composition, and historical perspective. Information on the technical considerations can aid

performers and teachers in the selection of repertoire by describing a piece with skills they would

like to highlight or avoid. Common misunderstandings of technique are summarized into the

style descriptions by the author.

In the technical considerations section, the author describes the challenges inherent to the

piece with useful rehearsal techniques and/or practical advice from the author and/or the

composer. Through the research process, the author relied on interviews and e-mail

communication with the composers who related their experiences when various groups were

learning to perform their music. The Turtle Island Quartet members related pointed and essential

strategies for improving ensemble and the sense of rhythm in a group of musicians. The

invaluable lessons in rhythm gained by students will improve their sense of rhythm and ability to

count in every other genre. Teachers can use Turtle Island Quartet music to stretch their

students’ ability with modern, motivating music.

String music is a passion best shared by the entire community. The compositions and

arrangements of the Turtle Island Quartet are technically and stylistically challenging, and yet

the music attracts younger players and inspires them to practice. The experience and confidence

gained from a solo or jazz infused piece will influence students throughout their life. Confidence

is needed to approach a piece of music; and through a successful performance confidence is

132

increased. Audiences will be delighted by Turtle Island Quartet pieces at concerts. Through this

paper, the author would like to create a compelling promotion of Turtle Island Quartet music and

a momentum so effective that teachers and performers are not able to resist performing their

pieces.

133

APPENDIX A

IRB EXEMPTION

Human Subjects Application - For Full IRB and Expedited Exempt Review

PI Name: Sally Ann Barton

Project Title: CONTRIBUTION OF THE TURTLE ISLAND STRING QUARTET ON THE

STRING ORCHESTRA MUSIC GENRE: SELECTED PIECES FOR ADVANCED HIGH

SCHOOL AND EARLY COLLEGE MUSICIANS

HSC Number: 2011.5919

Your application has been received by our office. Upon review, it has been determined that your

protocol is an oral history, which in general, does not fit the definition of "research" pursuant to

the federal regulations governing the protection of research subjects. Please be mindful that there

may be other requirements such as releases, copyright issues, etc. that may impact your oral

history endeavor, but are beyond the purview of this office.

134

Interview Consent Form

I freely and voluntarily and without element of force or coercion, consent to be an Interviewee in

the treatise entitled “Contribution of the Turtle Island String Quartet on the String Orchestra

Music Genre: Selected Pieces for Advances High School and Early College Musicians.”

The oral history is being conducted by Sally Barton,207

who is a Doctor of Music in Performance

Candidate at The Florida State University College of Music. The faculty advisor for the treatise

is Prof. Pamela Ryan in the College of Music at Florida State University.

I understand the purpose of this oral history is to document the contributions to the string

orchestra music genre. I understand that if I participate in the project my email communication

may be used and interview will be recorded and may be used in the final treatise document. I

understand I may participate in multiple recording sessions. During each session I will be

interviewed by the oral historian. The historian will answer my questions about the project.

I understand my participation is totally voluntary and I may stop participation at anytime. I

understand there will be a digital audio recording of the interview and the recordings will be kept

as computer files.

I understand there are no benefits for participating in this research project.

I understand that this consent may be withdrawn at any time before or during the interview

without prejudice, penalty or loss of benefits to which I am otherwise entitled. I have been given

the right to ask and have answered any inquiry concerning the study. Questions, if any, have

been answered to my satisfaction.

207. During the course of preparing this treatise the author married and subsequently

changed her name from Sally Barton to Sally Hernandez. Permission letters and correspondence

to publishers may contain one or both names for clarification purposes depending on the

recipient and date.

135

I understand that I may contact Sally Barton, 3711 Shamrock Street West Apt. C214,

Tallahassee, FL 32309, (850)-339-0626, [email protected] for answers to questions about

this oral history. Interview recordings will be sent to me upon request.

I have read and understand this consent form.

_______________________________ ______________________

(Interviewee) (Date)

136

APPENDIX B

COPYRIGHT LETTERS208

REPRINT AUTHORIZATION LETTER

November 14, 2012

Sally Hernandez, Student

Florida State University

Doctoral Performance

Re: Steel City Strut (29762), Bach’s Lunch (26610S) – Doctoral Paper

Dear Sally,

With respect to your request, this letter will serve as our authorization to you to reprint musical

excerpts from the above referenced Composition(s) into your dissertation. This item is not be

sold or made available to the general public without further permission. This permission is

granted to you at no charge.

Any copies made must include the following copyright notices:

STEEL CITY STRUT

By DANNY SEIDENBERG

© 2008 by HIGHLAND/ETLING PUBLISHING

All Rights Assigned to and Controlled by ALFRED MUSIC PUBLISHING CO., INC.

All Rights Reserved

BACH’S LUNCH

By J.S. BACH

Arranged by DANNY SEIDENBERG

© 2007 by HIGHLAND/ETLING PUBLISHING

All Rights Assigned to and Controlled by ALFRED MUSIC PUBLISHING CO., INC.

208. Signatures and private addresses have been obscured for privacy.

137

All Rights Reserved

In the event your project is canceled, please write VOID and return this letter to us.

If we might be of service in the future, please let us know.

Sincerely,

ALFRED PUBLISHING CO., INC.

Troy Schreck

Business & Legal Affairs

Contract & Licensing Administrator

(818) 891-4875 Fax

[email protected]

141

October 10, 2013

Re: Mr. Twitty’s Chair

Dear Sally Hernandez,

This letter will serve as authorization to you to reprint musical excerpts

from Mr. Twitty’s Chair into your treatise for educational purposes. Much

success with your work, and thank you for including it in your research.

If it is possible to see a copy at some point, I’d love to get a look.

Sincerely,

Katrina Wreede, Owner, Vlazville Music

142

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

A native of Oklahoma City, Sally Hernandez was born in 1979 and began playing the

viola in her public school at the age of nine while in the fifth grade. The local, family owned and

operated strings store, Inter-City Violin Studios was influential in providing a low-cost rental

viola to her and tips from Mr. Herbert Bagwell such as “practice scales.” At the age of fifteen

Sally received a compliment that would change the direction of her musical life. A viola student

who graduated the prior year returned to the high school orchestra classroom and observed her

playing, and afterward casually asked, “Do you take private lessons? No? You should.” During

high school she began private viola lessons and participated in the Oklahoma Youth Symphony

program under the direction of Legh W. Burns, an admired mentor and educator.

She received her B.A. degree in viola performance from Oklahoma City University in

2001, a student of Jacquelyn Schwandt and Donna Cain. She studied with Scott Rawls and was

awarded her M.M. degree in viola performance in 2003 from The University of North Carolina

at Greensboro. While pursuing her doctorate at Florida State University in Tallahassee she

studied viola with Pamela Ryan. Sally Hernandez performs with various symphonies including

Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra and Panama City Pops. She has toured in the U.S. with the

Carl Rosa Opera Company and Shirley Jones; and her Hollywood Concert Orchestra tour in

China included visits to thirteen cities in twenty days. Hernandez performed a piece, written for

her by Russell Brown called Catch Penny, for viola, tape and live processing, at the thirteenth

annual Florida Electroacoustic Music Festival in Gainesville, FL. Composer Lonnie Hevia wrote

a piece for Hernandez called Dream Within a Dream (2005) for soprano, clarinet, viola and harp,

with text by the poet Edgar Allan Poe.

Sally Hernandez has been teaching since the age of sixteen and currently teaches strings

to children in the Thomasville City Schools, Thomasville, GA in grades four through six. She

lives in Tallahassee, FL with her husband, José Hernández, and enjoys activities such as salsa

dancing, crochet, nutrition, fitness and hula hooping.

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