Allure of The Mountains Swimming for 4 horns and piano!

 After the first draft of the piano & horns arrangement of Celebration of the Deep was finished and sent off to Tanja, I was still yearning for more sounds of horns, and decided I would look to see what other pieces I already had that might lend themselves to horns. So in February, after trying out various compositions (french horn thingie, Rachel, Thirds, liquid mind release), I settled on The Mountains Swimming — that chamber group piece already had a piano part, plus lots of vocal lines — and the recording of the performance by Women’s Works plus the Cedar Arts Chorale showed the beauty and novelty of the piece. I hadn’t listened to that in YEARS! It has the drawback of having the same basic arc as the Deep — starting quiet with horns playing slow introductory melodic material, then we’re into the main melody & harmonies, then transitioning into the livelier sections, and then ending with the main melody. At least the piece doesn’t end with the beginning introductory material! On the plus side, the piece incorporates some improvisation sections, and I had noticed that Lin Foulk Baird of U of Michigan (Western Brass Quintet, Western Wind Quintet) was working with improvisation for classical players now, so figured it is possible this piece could have additional life because of the improvisation sections.

So the decision was made to delve into this piece and create the 4 horns & piano arrangement!

As soon as I started working on it however I noticed several aspects that would need a lot of work — for one thing the transitions are abrupt. This continues to be a challenge for me, how to develop the overall arc of the piece so that one idea flows into the next. Instead I have this kind of fiddle tune, linear approach, where there is an A section, B section, C section, and they relate to each other because I say they do. Perhaps that is what lends a novel sound to my pieces, and I’m basically deciding to embrace the connections because to me they are satisfying. And also it appears to be where I’m at as a composer, so why fight it or despair that I’m not different? That will lead nowhere.

For another thing I never had straightened out just what key is this in. I noticed that the piano had different accidentals than the other parts! But nonetheless, my ears could tell there WAS a tonal center, and the question of whether to write in all the accidentals or depend upon a key signature seemed very worth deciding. This is where Bill Cowdery came to the rescue, with his deep understanding of my music and also music theory. So I felt like I was having a theory seminar, with hands-on work assignments, and that was very fun! He helped me to re-write the notes so everyone is in the same key. That really helps to clean up the score and make it approachable for classical players.

Another problem: this piece is not as strong as the Deep! I forgive myself, because it was written at least 5 years before the Deep, in an earlier phase of my composing ear, abilities, and skill. I was still expanding my vision of how much I could have going on at one time. Remembering that I started solo in 1996, was writing duets by 1999, Water Bear group expanded to 3 players in 2000 and 4 in 2001 (improvised parts based on 2 lines in jazz lead sheet fashion), then I started writing 3 interweaving lines. 

I also almost exclusively wrote in 3/4 and 6/8 time signatures initially. Quite awhile before I could write in a straight 4 beats to the bar! Now isn’t that strange? All part of the musical healing journey I felt. And I related it to how in Western early religious music the symbol for Perfect time was a circle, and the piece was in 3, representing the Holy Trinity. And then Common time (in 4) had a piece taken out of the circle, Imperfect time. Also the heartbeat is often considered to be in 3.

More next time on how this piece has turned out! I have sent it to Tanja for her consideration, but haven’t heard back yet. If her group doesn’t want to play it that’s fine, though I’ll be disappointed — perhaps another group will discover it, since I’ll be posting it on Lin Foulk Baird’s database of works by women composers for french horn.