Composer Alexandra T Bryant

In today’s interview we talk to Alexandra T Bryant, a composer who has received commissions from the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra and William Preucil (concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra), and winner of the 2010 Avalon Composition Competition.

I love listening to classical, most obviously, but really enjoy getting my mind off of that and listening to mindless music like pop.  It’s something where you don’t really have to pay attention, which every one needs every once in a while.  I also love and have a soft spot in my heart from classic rock…  My dad got me hooked early on in my life.

Can you tell me a little bit about yourself – where you’re from and why you decided to pursue music?

I was born and raised in western Washington and grew-up in a very musical family.  My mom is a violin teacher, teaches orchestra at a high school near by, conducts plays in the Tacoma Symphony, conducts a local youth orchestra, and plays gigs around the area, and my dad plays classical guitar, so I was influenced very early on by both my parents.  I started violin at a very young age, taking private lessons, and was involved in two youth orchestras, my high school choir, and was teaching violin to young children all before I graduated high school.

Being a very craft oriented individual, I’ve always been drawn to creating things, whether it’s sewing something for a friend as a gift, making up new recipes (I LOVE baking!!!! and cooking as well!), finding out how something is constructed and reconstructing it myself, I’ve always been a very hands-on kind of person.

I began writing music in high school as a way to express my creative output, but also because I would hear a work and come to a section that I was not completely satisfied with.  I would want to change and manipulate the written parts; I wanted to feel a complete sense of satisfaction once the piece had ended.  I have this favorite story of one of my teachers during a lesson.  It was while I was playing Bach that she stopped me and asked if I could play the rhythms that Bach had written and not my own, with which I replied, “Well, I guess I see what Bach wrote as… guidelines.”  She retorted back, “Lexi, you see ALL composer’s works a guidelines!”

When I was auditioning and applying for schools in my senior year, I intended to be a performance major.  Performing has always been a passion of mine (practicing, however… has not!).  During my first few semesters, I became more and more drawn to writing my own music.  During the summer of my freshman and sophomore years, I attended the Mark O’Connor Fiddle Camp in San Diego, where my eyes were opened to so many different facets of music that I was aware of, but had never really immersed myself into.  It was then that I decided I wanted to transfer to a conservatory and actually focus on writing music.

How would you describe your style – what characterizes your music?

My music is very tonally rooted, which is difficult for me to say, because I feel a number of composers say similar things, yet I never feel it as strongly in their music.  I’m more than happy and certainly not ashamed to have a series of perfect fifths – to allow the listener a melody, or to sit “in a key” for a while before shifting to another “tonal center.”  I guess you could say that I believe there are fundamentals of music that should never be left behind.  Finding “new” ways to stretch that sense of a “key” and push the listener just beyond that point of comfort, is a way that I’m working on expanding my vocabulary.  I think it’s so important to allow the listener a place to relax and to give them a feeling of ease, but allowing their ears to bend and stretch in a way they may not have before.

What was the last piece you wrote? What should listeners expect if they hear it?

The piece I just completed, Circuits, was a work for the Aspen Music Festival and is written for percussion ensemble.  It calls for three percussionists to play one marimba simultaneously.  This piece is based off a lot of “grooves” and repetitions (which is where the title evolved from).  It begins with a slower section and progressively grows into this very rhythmically driven finale.  It’s just a “fun” piece, not something as serious as a lot of my other works tend to me.

What are you currently working on? Any exciting projects in the works?

Phew!  Well, I’m starting to think about all of my DMA applications and have talked to my current teacher about how I need to make my portfolio as strong and diverse as possible.  I just started a brass quintet of miniatures, which is in total contrast to pretty much everything else I love to write!  My music is generally string heavy and very broad and expansive.  This piece is meant to be as much of a contrast as possible, and it’s pushing me to look and my music differently, which is great!

I’m also working on a commission for a duo in Houston called Duo Scordatura for violin and viola, which I’m very excited about.  String writing is where I feel my strength lies.  It’s so natural for me – it never feels forced.

In addition, I’m also very slowly working on a massive work for choir and orchestra, but we’ll leave that as is for a little surprise in the future!  (It’ll probably be a few years in the making…)

What do enjoy most about composing?

Expressing myself and just being who I am!

What do you find most challenging about composing?

It’s hard sometimes to move on from one piece to the next, because you’ve been so immersed in a certain sound, texture, color, and style that all your thoughts have been focused so intensely on one work.  It’s especially difficult when you’re very pleased with the work or have witnessed some success with it.  It can cause you to feel as though, “well, since that was well received, I guess I should write all my music in the idiom.”

What music do you most enjoy listening to? Who do you most admire?

I love listening to classical, most obviously, but really enjoy getting my mind off of that and listening to mindless music like pop.  It’s something where you don’t really have to pay attention, which every one needs every once in a while.  I also love and have a soft spot in my heart from classic rock…  My dad got me hooked early on in my life.

What ‘hidden gem’ of a piece would you recommend to people (old or new)?

I have a strong love for Ernest Bloch.  He’s not necessarily your common household name in the music world, but he has written some terrific works.  His Evocations, in three movements, is an excellent orchestra piece in my opinion.  I’ve listened to it many, many times and never seems to get tired of it!

You can find Ernest Bloch sheet music at MyLiszt.com, including sheet music for Evocations. Thank you Alexandra T Bryant for taking the time to give this interview.

Recordings

I’m delighted to say that Alexandra has been kind enough to provide recordings of two of her compositions, which you can hear below.

This first recording is the fourth movement of the string quartet The Still Point, which was inspired by TS Eliot’s Burnt Norton. This movement’s title is IV. Time Present. The performers are The Aeolus Quartet (who will feature here in a future interview).

I asked Alexandra to talk a little bit about this string quartet, and in particular the fourth movement Time Present. Here’s what she had to say.

“What a perplexing mystery time is. One is constantly caught between then and now and how to separate what has been from what is and what will be. In nothingness lies a sense of stillness that is so utterly persistent, yet longing to move forward into something more than a constant stasis, that it resultantly manifests itself into something more; a continuous, unbroken reality of what once was. It Moves Perpetually in its Stillness.”

“I see time here as a progression from nothingness to uncertainty. Moves Perpetually in its Stillness lends itself to being of Time Past, and the awkwardness of what is now continually becoming what was. Between what was and is ultimately must therefore be Between Un-Being & Being and inevitably must become what is, Time Present, and because of the uncertainty of what will be there is the Transient Beauty to that mystery, but soon after the Time Future, it is that feeling of expectation that still lingers off far, far into the distance that can sustain us, that White Light Still & Moving.”

“Time Present is constantly driven, relentless, and agitated… The here and now flies by, and one is constantly running from one activity to the next. It feels as though there is never down to, or only the slightest moment of repose. This is Time Present.”

Hit play below to hear the recording.

The Still Point – iv. Time Present

The second recording is a piece of electronic music called Static. I asked Alexandra to tell us a little more about this piece.

“Static was my first attempt at electronic music. It experiments with different sounds by incorporating man-made, material sounds with real recorded human voices. The work focuses on a sound-world almost entirely taken from patches I made on a Jupiter-8 we had in the lab. How I loved that keyboard!! (I secretly wish I could take it home with me… as well as my favorite patch which I created and used in great abundance in this work). I not only work with the different sounds in this piece (most evidently ’static’), but also took advantage of the voices and used them as a foundation for color and texture as well. By cutting out a specific consonant or syllable from one person’s recording and repeating it in a rhythm, I could create a layer of sound or a certain ‘beat’ or ‘groove’.”

“While working on this piece, I have to admit that I madly searched the halls of CIM for my friends to drag them into the recording studio and get them to sit in front of a microphone and say ’silly words and phrases’ for me. It’s special and sentimental, because almost every one of my closest friend’s at that time is included in the track.”

Static

We hope you’ve enjoyed today’s interview. Thank you again to Alexandra T Bryant for taking the time to answer our questions and generously providing recordings of her work. If you’re interested in performing one of her pieces, or commissioning a new work, you can contact her at alexandratbryant@gmail.com. If you want to hear more of her work, please check out the following links.

Alexandra T Bryant – Apostrophe – Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra

Alexandra T Bryant – The Open – William Preucil, Arthur Rowe

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Tags: Alexandra, Avalon, Bach, Classical Guitar, Cleveland Orchestra, Commissions, Composition Competition, Concertmaster, Creative Output, Dad, Little Bit, Private Lessons, Rhythms, School Choir, Senior Year, Sewing, Violin Teacher, William Preucil, Writing Music, Youth Orchestra, Youth Orchestras, Youtube Clip

Both comments and pings are currently closed.