ComposerLaFave: News and Views from an American Composer/Writer

Death, Dying, and Music

I write so many things, I sometimes forget what I wrote.

A stroll through the Internet today reminded me that I once penned an essay on classical music's relationship to mortality for the Macmillan Encyclopedia of Death and Dying, edited by my dear friend, Robert Kastenbaum. Bob and I were collaborators on several projects, including the one-scene chamber opera Closing Time, the one-act opera American Gothic, and the musical, Outlaw Heart. (Look for sections of American Gothic and possibly all of Closing Time to appear sometime soon at my YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/composerlafave.) We're hoping to work together on another project, soon.

Below is a link to the piece. In it, I try to make a case for the Western tonal system as an embodiment of the material-world cycle of birth-growth-decay-death, where most other musics "transcend" the material realm through repetition, trance techniques, etc. At the Macmillan site, you can also search for my articles on Gustav Mahler and "operatic death."

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_gx5214/is_2003/ai_n19132233

- KLF

Diet! The Musical at YouTube

There are now three videos from Diet! The Musical available for your viewing at YouTube. Find all three on my channel: www.YouTube.com/composerlafave.

The three are: 1) "We'll Start Tomorrow," a hilarious number about beginning that diet manana, set to a tango tune (original, of course); 2) "Never Enough," the character Lynne's power ballad about her negative self-image; and 3) "Who Needs a Man (When a Gal's Got Chocolate?", the character Pat's ode to candy over sex.

Enjoy. And let me know what you think.

- KLF

A Pierre Boulez memory

Pierre Boulez is one of the great musical figures of our time. As a young, avant‑garde composer, he created works that defied description. After a while, his gifts as a conductor overtook his compositional ambitions, and he came to wield the baton for the globe’s greatest orchestras, winning multiple Grammies. He has always had the reputation of music’s most serious fellow, the “Ice Man” of classical music.

In the summer of 1986, the New York Philharmonic, whose music director Boulez had been, hosted a “Boulez is Back!” festival featuring both his compositions and his conducting. As a publicist for the orchestra, I was asked to coordinate the photography of some Philharmonic musicians involved in a chamber concert of Boulez’s compositions.

I arranged for the musicians to have their picture taken on the steps of Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. As the photographer and I stood facing the musicians on the steps, just as the photographer was about to snap the photo, the musicians broke into uproarious laughter. The photographer and I were confused. What was the source of this sudden eruption of hilarity? We turned around to look behind us, toward where the focus of the musicians’ attention had been, to see ... Pierre Boulez, “Ice Man,” the most serious fellow in classical music, with his thumbs in his ears, waving his fingers.

His tongue was out, too.

Interview with Jamie Bernstein

Jamie Bernstein, daughter of Leonard Bernstein, is in Phoenix to narrate some of her dad's music for "Bernstein on Broadway," presented by The Phoenix Symphony.

In that connection, Susan LaFave and I interviewed Jamie for our radio show, "Arts On The Town" (which can be heard every Sunday ay 6 p.m. AZ time over 1100AM, KFNX).

If you missed it, fear not: The Phoenix Symphony posted the interview at its blog, which can be heard as an audio file at:

http://phoenixsymphony.blogspot.com/2007/10/on-air-bernstein-on-bernstein.html

Check it out and hear Jamie talk about her father as composer, conductor, and human being.

- KLF

Plays About Composers: More Popular Than You Might Think

Classical music in Phoenix has been dominated for the past two weeks, not by a simple concert artist, but by an actor-playwright-pianist. In one-man plays about Gershwin and Chopin, Hershey Felder has captured the imagination of audiences and taken them into the worlds of these composers. This is beyond "Amadeus," because the whole point of Felder's plays is to frame a musical performance of the composers' works in a dramatic context. It suggests an entirely new way to get this music to people who would just as soon see a play. This way, they get both.

Below is an excerpt from a column I wrote about Felder's shows for The Desert Advocate. For the entire piece, go to http://www.thedesertadvocate.com/103107/arts/foothills.htm

"At the close of 'George Gershwin Alone,' Felder comes out on stage as himself and leads a singalong. He explains that, before there was music everywhere–in elevators, on computers, on TV and radio and movies and even cell phones–it was necessary for people to make music for themselves. Everybody had a piano, and everybody took piano lessons. Because of this, there was a musical language in common between the composers and performers of classical music on the one hand, and their audiences on the other.

Of course, today that is not necessarily true. The person who takes piano lessons will surely get more out of hearing a Chopin polonaise than will one who doesn’t, but there aren’t as many of those folks as there used to be. So it’s realistic to expect that fewer people will go to recitals and concerts. That is, they won’t go, unless there is something they can relate to, something like a story or a theme that helps make the music more personal for them. And that, of course, is what theater does.

Theater may very well be the way to reach potential classical music fans without forcibly dragging them into concert halls. Felder’s plays, after all, are essentially piano recitals with stories wrapped around them. Instead of leaving this phenomenon to the theater world, the musical world might think about making its own moves in that direction.

- KLF

Hi. Remember me?

Should I claim to be a blogger, when weeks go by that I don't make an entry? Maybe not. A blogger, as I understand it, is someone who sends pixels spinning into the Internet on a nearly daily basis, whereas I missed the entire month of October.

On the other hand, what else would you call the screen before you but a blog? And who writes blogs but bloggers?

At least my excuse is a good one: Diet! The Musical. Susan and I rewrote it, produced it, and video taped it. Now we're in the middle of editing the tape and posting musical numbers to YouTube.

Info on the first two entries:

"Who Needs a Man (When a Gal's Got Chocolate)?" at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh79gWbQBes

"Never Enough" at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLz1rJsotD4

Enjoy! More to come. If you like the songs, visit the website (www.dietthemusical.com) and spread the word. Drop me one while you're at it.

- Ken

Diet! Rules

Everything is Diet! The Musical for at least the next two weeks.

From next week's column for the Desert Advocate:

Here’s a pop quiz for you, in two senses of the word “pop”:

What entertainment franchise has made more money than any other? By franchise, I mean licensed work of any kind: music, movies, TV, the theater.

Right away, I’m sure you’ve eliminated the theater. I mean, movies and TV gross much, much more than anything you can put on a stage, right? The probable answers to this question for most people would include Star Wars, the Harry Potter films, and maybe the Beatles songbook.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

The richest entertainment franchise in the world is…

The Phantom of the Opera.

The musical about a guy who lives in a sewer and seduces a young singer has grossed $1.9 billion in various productions around the globe, much of going to its composer and producer, Andrew Lloyd Webber – excuse me, Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber to you and me.

Which brings us to Diet! The Musical.

Diet! The Musical has also made $1.9 billion, minus that same figure. All right, it hasn’t made a buck yet, but then, it hasn’t opened yet. The ariZoni-nominated new musical opens in a new production Oct. 3 at Theater 4301 in Old Town Scottsdale, and runs there through Oct. 7. (The show was nominated on the basis of its initial, more intimate premiere production last spring at North Valley Playhouse.)

I wrote it. Well, I wrote the music and half the lyrics. The book (dialogue) and the other half of the lyrics were written by Susan Simpson LaFave, who, conveniently enough for a collaborative team, is related to me by marriage – ours. Why did we write this show? Why have we spent a year of our lives figuring out how to tell the story-in-song of two young women and their “quest for love and the perfect body”?

Not for the money. Well, not primarily.

Art and money are friendly enemies. Nobody I’ve ever known has gone into the arts for money. (We’re not counting pop music here, where fame and its attendant riches seem to be the No. 1 ambition.) People become artists because they love the art they practice, or because they have something to say that can only be said through acting, or writing, or dancing, or composing music. But at some point – and that point arrives early in a money-conscious society – it also becomes necessary to pay the bills without having to sling espresso for minimum wage. What to do?

Everyone’s answer is different. Susan and I decided we could come up with a show that has singable melodies, fun lyrics, and good story telling, while also appealing to the general culture’s obsession with weight and weight-loss. We believe we’ve done that with Diet! The Musical, and we believe audiences will respond en masse, filling up Theater 4301 every night, as they filled the smaller space of North Valley Playhouse last spring.

People want new musicals. If the evidence of Phantom isn’t enough for you, check out the crowds who stuff Gammage Auditorium every time a new show hits that space. (This week, it’s Jersey Boys.) Official cultural spokesmen shove the musical to the side, claiming that audiences only want pop music, NASCAR, and professional wrestling. We believe that Diet!, along with the many other musicals that premiere every year, prove them hopelessly wrong.

For information on Diet! The Musical, or to buy tickets, call (480) 994-2787, or log on to www.dietthemusical.com.

- Kenneth LaFave

Farewell to "The King of the High Cs"

Luciano Pavarotti will be buried tomorrow, and with him the enmity of many critics who judged Pavarotti musically deficient.

Much ink and many pixels have already been spent discussing Pavarotti's lack of musical knowledge, fear of learning new repertoire, etc. Placido Domingo, it is said, is the more intelligent singer, the better actor, the more adventurous artist.

And all that's true. But, so what? Music doesn't have to be one thing, nor does it need to be judged by one set of criteria. Pavarotti was all about his voice: That incomparable glorious instrument that was gifted to him by the gods of music, and which he generously shared with the world throughout a spectacular career. Listen to vintage recordings of Pavarotti singing "Nessun Dorma" or "O Sole Mio" or any number of other arias and songs, and you will be spoiled for hearing anybody else sing them. Powerful, open, exuding joy, Pavarotti's voice was the splendor of the tenor world for much of the past half-century.

Toward the end, yes, the voice grew tired and strained. Age does that to every singer. But even as Pavarotti kept singing into his 60s, losing much of his sheen and power, he continued to project through his performances a profound lust for life. Music can be about that.

- Kenneth LaFave

The return of Diet! The Musical

I had a lot of fun writing "Diet! The Musical," and now I'm having still more fun re-writing and producing it for the commercial stage. Come see the show Oct. 3-7 at Theater 4301 in Scottsdale, AZ.

Here's the official press release.

Aug. 30, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Call: Kenneth LaFave; 480-200-9210

DIET! THE MUSICAL Returns Oct. 3-7 at Theater 4301
Popular, Zoni-nominated original musical about the “Battle of the Bulge”

What: Diet! The Musical
Where: Scottsdale Center for the Arts’ Theater 4301
4301 N. Scottsdale Rd. (in Old Town Scottsdale)
When: 8 p.m. Oct. 3, 4, 5 and 6, 2007
2 p.m. Oct. 7, 2007
Tickets: $36
Call (tickets): 480-994-2787
Website: www.dietthemusical.com

DIET! The Musical, the new musical that broke box office records when North Valley Playhouse produced it in the spring of this year, returns in a new production Oct. 3 – 7 at Theater 4301 in Scottsdale. Produced by Dreamweaver Enterprises, the new production of Diet! The Musical will feature four of the five original cast members in a new staging by Laurie Lemley, with a revised script and three new songs.

The show tells the story of Lynne and Pat, roommates who go on a diet together, only to find out it’s what’s on the inside that really counts. Nicole Lang plays Lynne, and Andrea Tripodi appears as Pat. Marco Valadez plays Frank, Pat’s would-be boyfriend; director Laurie Lemley appears as Lynne’s mother, Connie; and Ken Goodenberger turns in a triple threat performance as Lynne’s boyfriend Josh, a merciless Gym Instructor, and Jean-Paul, a French photographer of plus-size models.

Susan LaFave authored the book, Kenneth LaFave composed the music, and together Susan and Kenneth LaFave wrote the lyrics for Diet! The Musical. Among the more than 20 songs in the show are ones with titles such as “Am I Fat?,” “Twenty Points a Day,” “Fat Pat,” “All You Can Eat,” “Pleasingly Plump,” and “Big Beautiful Woman.”

Diet! The Musical sold more tickets during its 10-day run at North Valley Playhouse than any other production in the four-year history of that community theater, despite the lack of a marketing budget and the fact the show was new and totally unknown. The production was subsequently nominated for three AriZoni Awards: Best Original Musical, Best Original Book for a Musical (Susan LaFave) and Best Original Music Composition (Kenneth LaFave).

For tickets to see Diet! The Musical Oct. 3 – 7 at Theater 4301, call 480-994-2787.

***

For music theory types only....

All right, everyone's invited to read this. But music theory geeks are probably the only ones who will care about it.

In classical music theory, we do something called "Roman numeraling." This means we assign the Roman numeral I to the first triad (or chord) of any given key signature, II to the second triad, III to the third, etc. This in turn implies a certain heirarchy of relationship between the various pitches in that key, a fixed system that gives Western tonal music its particular flavor.

It has always struck me that the system, while it works splendidly within limits, defies the truth of the human ear. When we hear pitches, we don't naturally hear fixed points in immovable heirarchy. We hear shifting relationships, an intricate web of possibilities that are limited only by the composer's decision-making process. From the composer's standpoint, this means there is a greater tonality than the system traditionally called "tonal." This tonality is intuitive and will not be limited by any system. When the standard-isue tonality of triads in rigid heirachy broke -- about a hundred years ago -- it produced a non-sensical thing called "atonality." Twelve-tone composers, as they were called, structured the dozen tones of the chromatic scale as discrete entities, completely unrelated to each other. What had been, under standard tonality, a system of relationships, became a system of anti-relationships, of pitches sounding wholly on their own.

While tonality and "atonality" seemed to be opposites, both were based on the assumption that either the relationship between pitches would be heirarchical and fixed, or there could be no relationship. But again, that's not how we hear. We hear infinite potential in even a single pitch. The composer's job is to explore that potential. A great composer does so without reference to any system, or at least in spite of having to work within a system.

I've developed these ideas in an essay just filed to NewMusicBox. Below is an excerpt. I'll let you know when the entire essay posts.

"Debussy averred that music is made only of rhythm and color. Pitch is a function of color; a matter of where, in the span of some universal monochord with infinite fundamentals, it falls, and of what other pitches are sounding at the same time. In the German-based tonal system common to our music, a B-flat is tonic because we say so and it remains tonic until we say otherwise by modulating away from it. In the French way of comprehending harmony, you can’t do that, for even if you play only a c minor chord and return to the B-flat, that B-flat chord is now changed forever. It has a different sonic context and is therefore a different entity. Its relationship to other pitch classes and to its own internal elements has shifted.

"Roman numeraling is an illusion based on the mistaken idea that tonal relationships must be codifiable or they cannot be tonal relationships. We are told to call the German system 'tonality' when, in fact, all relationships of pitch are inherently tonal -- not in the sense of adhering to an arbitrary system that posits stable tonics, but in the sense that every pitch in some way suggests every other pitch. There is not and cannot be any such thing as 'atonal' music."

- Kenneth LaFave