THE COMPOSING OF
THE MUSIC OF DRIFTWOOD
for choir SATB with piano accompaniment
Set to the poem "The Music of Driftwood" by Reed Whittemore
Commissioned by the College Park Arts Exchange
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THE MUSIC OF DRIFTWOOD. by Reed Whittemore
The music of driftwood? Yes. It comes from deep water And floats with the wind in the foam and is beached and bleached, Lying still for a movement or two, then floating farther To enter the mind’s many chambers, as Mozart perhaps, Or Bach, or whatever -it changes, But always I like it. I think that it could be The music of poetry, true to the temper and pulse Of each flutelike, bassoonlike image that pads or flutters Within in the midnight recesses, yet true too To its own poor selfless self, bare yet bearing From way, way over yonder its theme of old blossomings: Temples in orchards, rites, supplications, art. |
DESIGNING THE CONCEPT BASED ON THE TEXT
November 2019. The general process of composing for a given poem starts by understanding the text, in this case, “The Music of Driftwood” by Reed Whittemore. I search for the natural cadence and sections that may translate into a principal theme, a chord progression, a harmonic shift, a change in texture, etc.
November 2019. The general process of composing for a given poem starts by understanding the text, in this case, “The Music of Driftwood” by Reed Whittemore. I search for the natural cadence and sections that may translate into a principal theme, a chord progression, a harmonic shift, a change in texture, etc.
I usually print the text and write notes on it to see a skeleton of what the piece may become, and then I start writing the music.
The meter I chose is 3/4 because of the round waltz-like of waves coming ashore carrying the driftwood. The piano introduction describes this image with activity in the first beat and a longer more relaxed second and third beats. I didn't write any key signature to have the freedom to travel through different key signatures without feeling attached to the initial one. |
Following the handwritten outline, but letting the piece speak on its own, I start writing. "The music of driftwood?" which ends with a question mark and an immediate response "Yes". The word "driftwood" has an ascendent motion for the question mark, and the "Yes" is the resolution of the chord carrying the word "driftwood". Just like that, other sections in the piece will use harmony to carry the nuances of the text.
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The text "and floats with the wind in the foam and is beached and bleached" starts with rhythmic movement until the image of arriving to shore slows down the movement until it stops completely on the word"bleached",
The continuation "Lying still for a movement or two" resumes the gentle waltz of the waves, until the sopranos take the melody much higher with the text "then floating farther", which starts the musical development while the poem describes where that driftwood is going: "to enter the mind's many chambers..." With "it changes" the piece momentarily goes from an environment of F Major (one flat) to B Major (five sharps), emphasizing that change in the text, but gradually the piano gently bends the B-sharp environment in to G Major (one sharp), bringing us closer to the tonal environment we were before, but not all the way to the initial F Major because the driftwood itself keeps traveling and doesn't return to the initial point of departure. The melodies that follow carry familiar elements of what was sung before but they are not identical. |
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Like this, the poem continues its description while the music gives a gentle vehicle, gradually increasing intensity to the climatic point at "in the midnight recesses, yet true too" to suddenly become introverted at "to its own poor selfless self", sung in unison by the tenor and basses.
Another venture starts at "bare yet bearing from way, way over yonder..." where the sopranos and altos choir take the text to the upper register, traveling farther away from our G Major (one sharp) to the much farther harmonic environment of A-flat Major (four flats). As we approach the end of the piece, the music seeks a feeling of conclusion by returning to familiar material. For that ir comes back to G Major and uses familiar melodic motives used before on the text "The music of driftwood" plus other times throughout the piece. It emphasizes the word "supplications" and finally the piece is put to rest on a gentle chord with "art". Thank you to the members of the College Park Chorale and the Chorale's director Allison Hughes, for being the vehicle to turn this concept to music, and special thanks to Ned Whittemore, son of Reed Whittemore, and Reed Whittemore's publisher Merrill Leffler, for granting us permission to set this poem to music. |