Alvin Singleton

(photo: Joanna Eldredge Morrissey)

Atlanta-based Composer Alvin Singleton's latest piece, Argoru VIII, is a solo work for snare drum and snare drum only. How does one write for snare drum only? If you guessed a "roll" or "flam" would be included in any snare drum piece, you would be wrong, at least in Mr. Singleton's case, of which he says: "I avoided the use of drum rolls, flams and other typical things one associates with snare drumming. Rhythm was my main concentration in the writing of Argoru VIII."

Commissioned by Meet The Composer's Commissioning Music/USA program for the ensemble Thamyris, the title, Argoru, is from the West African Twi language, which is spoken in Ghana (coincidentally, where the origins of the "talking drum" begin). It premiered at Atlanta's Emory University on February 16, 2002 in a program of percussion works featuring other MTC commissions from Pauline Oliveros, Frank Hannaway, and Janice Giteck; in addition to a work by Steven Mackey (all performed by Peggy Benkeser of Thamyris).

Born in Brooklyn, Mr. Singleton attended NYU and Yale before he went to study abroad, as a Fulbright scholar, in Rome. He spent more than a decade in Europe, mainly Austria, before he was lured back stateside in 1985 to be composer-in-residence with the Atlanta Symphony, a post he held until 1988 (part of MTC's landmark Orchestra Residencies program). In addition, January 2002 saw the release of his CD, Somehow We Can, on John Zorn's Tzadik label.

We talked with Mr. Singleton about Argoru VIII, his roots, improvisation, and Somehow We Can.

MTC: What is your first memory of music?
AS: My parents had quite a collection of 78s; spirituals, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald. I also sang in the church choir and was in my Boy Scout marching band when I was young. I played the glockenspiel, but I also liked drumming and marching. I still do to this day. The music that comes from New Orleans especially has those elements.
MTC: Was jazz a big influence when you were younger?
AS: Jazz was a big influence on me during my teenage years. I remember seeing Ornette Coleman and his first quartet play at the Five Spot. Charlie Mingus, Thelonius Monk, Horace Silver were also favorites of mine during that period. I also heard Miles and John Coltrane at the old Birdland. Those performances stand out in my mind like it was yesterday. Where I grew up, in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, some of my friends' parents were jazz musicians. I didn't think I could ever be a good jazz musician though. Besides, I wanted to write for all sorts of instrumental combinations and performing became less important to me.

MTC: Do you have a favorite instrument to compose for?
AS: Not really. My favorite is the instrument I am composing for at that moment. For example, I just finished a solo snare drum piece commissioned by Peggy Benkeser of ensemble Thamyris titled Argoru VIII. This is a title I use for all my solo instrumental pieces. It's from the Twi language spoken in Ghana and means "to play." The piece will premiere at Emory University here in Atlanta this month. (February 2002)
MTC: How did you approach the challenge to write for a snare drum? Was it difficult?
AS: Writing music in general is difficult. You begin with an idea, whether it's about rhythm or color. In this case it was rhythmic. Utilizing just this one instrument was challenging and very exciting. It had to be balanced musically yet have some variety. I avoided the use of drum rolls, flams and other typical things one associates with snare drumming. Rhythm was my main concentration in the writing of Argoru VIII. As I started working with this idea, I discovered other things that became a part of the piece.
MTC: You said that your participation in the MTC Orchestra Residencies program, with the Atlanta Symphony (1985-1988), changed your life. How?
AS: The Meet The Composer Orchestra Residencies program brought me back to the States. At that point, I'd been living in Europe for about 14 years. I hadn't decided when or how to come back, although I knew that I wanted to return home. Receiving the invitation, in the middle of this personal quagmire, to be composer-in-residence of a major orchestra with a major conductor, Robert Shaw, was a great opportunity.
MTC: Were you making a name for yourself there?
AS: Yes, people were getting to know me. In Europe's smaller cities and towns people take time to get to know you. They watch and wait. After a while, when they had a sense that I was dedicating my music and life to them, living in their town, they embraced me and what I did. It's like that in the smaller cities in the States too. In Graz, Austria where I lived for 9 years, the local newspaper went from writing about me as "the American composer" to "our Alvin Singleton."
MTC: Why did you move to Europe and what did you do when you were there?
AS: I wanted to broaden my life experiences. I got a Fulbright to study with Goffredo Petrassi at the Accademia Nationale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. From there I went to Austria and worked as a disk jockey in a discotheque in the evening, while composing during the day. I went to Darmstadt, Germany and won a composition prize there. I was commissioned by the Austrian radio several times and won the Musikprotokoll composition prize twice. I visited many music festivals in Royan, Venice, Milan, Amsterdam, Warsaw, London and others. It's so easy to travel throughout. For example, if there was a Boulez or Philip Glass premiere in Holland, I would get on a train and be there the next day. I think that everyone should experience another culture. Learning to adjust to that culture is a great learning experience. I have that under my belt and I'm richer for it.
MTC: Have composers like yourself, who are influenced by and utilize improvised music in their compositions, changed the traditional idea that compositions exist as just notes on a page?
AS: Music compositions do not exist as just notes on a page, the real music is what one hears - the performance. The African presence in the United States, through the invention and development of jazz has influenced the thinking of many music creators. A musical score is a road map. Some of its directions are very specific, while others leave a choice. There will always be composers writing scores and at the same time those who concentrate more on improvisation. I'm interested in the combination of the two. One of the things that inspires me is the very high performance quality of musicians in the United States. To me, improvisation means you're a composer and performer in the same moment. I'm aware that whatever I give a performer on paper, he or she can do much more. I'm interested in their input. I want them to add some spice and/or energy of their own to my piece.
MTC: How do you indicate it?
AS: There are many ways of how one directs a performer to improvise within a fixed structure, or controlled musical environment. Of course that depends primarily upon who you are working with. If you're collaborating with someone who improvises professionally, or has had a lot of experience improvising in all styles, then you give them a lot less instructionally. In Vous Compra, for trumpet and piano on the new Tzadik CD, the performers are seasoned improvisors. Therefore my instructions were limited to notes and chords without rhythms along with suggestions of tempo, mood and energy levels. Now, for the player with little or no experience at making up things along the way, the approach is a lot more hands on. For example you can tell an instrumentalist to repeat a phrase 4 times with slight variations in each repetition; improvise based upon the musical environment; or, listen to what is being played around you and imitate and/or vary it. These are just a few examples.
MTC: Your new CD, Somehow We Can, on John Zorn's label Tzadik was just released. What is Somehow We Can?
AS: Somehow We Can is the title of the string quartet I composed for the Marian Anderson Quartet that premiered at Alice Tully Hall in 1995. It's one of the compositions on the new CD of the same title. Marian Anderson was a contralto, and the first African American soloist to sing at the Metropolitan Opera. The piece was commissioned by the Eastman School of Music in dedication to her memory.
MTC: What else is on the CD?
AS: Vous Compra, that was previously mentioned, for trumpet and piano. Mookestueck, written in 1999 for Martha Mooke and her five string electric viola and premiered at New York City's Renee Weiler Recital Hall at Greenwich House Music School. And finally, Again, a chamber orchestra piece premiered in 1979 at the Styrian Autumn Festival in Graz, Austria.
MTC: How did you become associated with Tzadik?
AS: John Zorn had expressed interest in my music and invited me to send something that he could listen to. The rest is history.