The Songs of War. Playing a wonderful concert with wonderful friends Emily Kalish and Sun Young Chang as part of a musical reflection on the OSilas Gallery’s exhibition of World War posters at Concordia College NY.
“You know, music is just not that important … I don’t enjoy messing up, but I accept that the only way to get better is to suck. And some people work really hard to circumvent that process by never playing a song that they haven’t immaculately prepared, and when you play like that and think like that, then nothing magical can happen on stage. You have to learn to leave some room to let things happen. But that requires risk. And if you’re risk averse, you shouldn’t be doing this. You should be an accountant.”
A behind-the-scenes look from Duo Noire’s recording session in Brooklyn last summer. This is our recent arrangement of R. Nathaniel Dett’s famous “Juba” dance. It was a common dance performed by slaves on plantations across the south. People would clap and slap their thighs and chests while singing and stomping their feet in 2/4 time (8th + two 16ths). Sometimes a lead fiddler or dancer would show off with increasing virtuosity as the crowd encouraged them. Slaves used their bodies for percussion because they were forbidden from having drums due to a fear that they would transmit coded messages. Glad to share this with the guitar community in the new issue of Soundboard.
Last month, I had an epiphany in the shower: Instead of writing the ensemble piece I was asked to write for St Louis students, I would write a piece related to the recent shooting of the St Louis teenager Michael Brown. The topic spoke to me more than what was originally planned, and when artists can do what they want, rather than what they are asked, the work is usually more meaningful. Presumptuous?
I began researching the events and discovered Michael Brown’s rap songs. Many of them were vulgar, but I decided to take a melody he had used and based an entire piece around those eight notes. The aim wasn’t to glorify his crude raps, but to represent him aurally. The hope was that teens from all over the city would perform it and the whole community could come together across racial and socioeconomic lines to reflect on the situation in a healing and thoughtful way. Audacious?
Two weeks later and I had something…something I am very proud of. There is a reading by Du Bois to contextualize the racial aspect, and I gave players the option to raise or not raise their hands as they finish playing, in the hope that they could have a conversation about their choice. The fact is, people of good faith can -and do- have differing opinions about Ferguson, but I felt everyone would appreciate what I was trying to do. Naive?
But my perspective as a New Yorker didn’t anticipate just how tense and divisive things in St Louis are right now. And there are so many factors involved in having teens perform: Administrators, teachers, students and parents all have to be for it. Then there are all sorts of considerations for the presenting organization: Will we alienate members? Be seen as taking sides in this polarizing issue? How will the media portray this (e.g. “Presenter Showcases Vulgar Rap Song”)? We fought the good fight, even changing aspects of the piece to assuage objections (this is a whole other subject), but in the end, the difficulty in getting it performed as conceived became overwhelming. Failure.
UPDATE: So when at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. I went back to the drawing board and through luck, grace, and the hard work of certain individuals I’m grateful to, the piece will be premiered by Duo Noire at the Alliance of Black Art Galleries in St Louis. Now the real work can begin. Redemption.
This is the music video from our new album of Raymond Lustig’s “Figments.” It’s one of my favorite movements from the set of 6. Beautiful slow outer sections with virtuosic craziness in the middle (~1:35). We shot this on a roof in Harlem on what turned out to be the windiest day of the spring. Music stands were flying, hair was blowing, but I’m really happy with how this turned out and am so proud of this album. You can get it at iTunes and CD Baby.
Thrilled to announce that our debut Duo Noire recording has been released. It’s a 35 minute collection of pieces written for us by the acclaimed Juilliard composer Raymond Lustig. This CD is the culmination of a 7 year collaboration and friendship and I am SO PROUD to be on it. The music is cutting edge and totally original, but still accessible, virtuosic, and just all around interesting and fun. Music video coming soon, but until then, check it out here: CD Baby, iTunes.
Just published in the newest issue of Soundboard by the Guitar Foundation of America: New York, NY (New York Minute) composed and performed by Thomas Flippin. Depicting a hectic day-trip to Manhattan beginning at Grand Central Terminal, progressing through increasing levels of chaos, and concluding back at the safety of a Grand Central train seat, headed home.
“Much of the music of the period reminds one of the automobile and the airship. It is daring, clever, complex and utterly mechanical…Of course, a fine technical equipment is a very desirable thing, and nothing of worth can be accomplished without it; but should ‘What do you think of my cleverness?’ be stamped so aggressively over nearly every score that we hear?”
Coleridge-Taylor, Samuel. “Is Technique Strangling Beauty?” January, 1911. (In response to his third visit to America).
Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘Press On’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race. - Calvin Coolidge
I want to tell you a story, trust me when I say the story has a happy ending. Back in late October, I finally, finally, completed a project that was roughly 2 years in the making, I released my debut solo album, “Something New.” I can honestly say that I can’t remember a time in my life where I have undergone anything as psychologically and emotionally demanding for such an extended duration. Now that I've had several months to reflect on things, I’d like to synthesize some thoughts…as part of the healing process. :-p
When I first embarked on this journey, a colleague of mine warned me of the sorts of emotional toils making the CD could create. When she made her own solo CD she suffered so much psychological trauma that she thought she had developed physical ailments that made it impossible to play the violin. Several doctor visits later it was made evident it was all in her head. I’m not certain if I got to that point, but I did undergo at least a year of CD-related anxiety and stress, and even suffered a bout of despair when I realized a virtuosic arrangement I had made and invested dozens of hours in had to be scrapped from the project.
Picture yourself showing up for your first recording date, armed with a ton of virtuosic music that you’ve spent years researching, composing, re-composing, and arranging. You are on the clock and don’t have time to warm-up. Should I have changed my strings a day earlier? There are a dozen microphones facing off with your entire field of vision. Did I play that too fast? There is a man in a cordoned off room talking at you through a speaker about everything you could be doing better. Did I bend that string out of tune last take? The heat from the spotlights is knocking you out of tune. Should I have filed my nails differently? You know some part of what you record on this one day of your life is going to eventually be the permanent finished product. No, it was too slow! It is just you, and you knowing that all of the success or failure of the project rests entirely and literally in your hands. This is just a taste of the first day in the studio, and an example of why the process forces one to either let go, or go insane.
After intermittently undertaking these sessions for a year, I was left with several hours of recordings and soon learned that a CD is actually made on the editing room floor. You sift through hours and hours of takes in order to build a coherent and enduring musical statement. Make different choices, get a completely different CD. And of course, some trade-offs have to be made: Do you choose perfect intonation or precision? Do you choose the beautiful vibrato on the 7th eighth note, or the take where you spontaneously moved your right hand an inch in the other direction to get a different timbre?…etc. etc. I can think of nothing more tedious than the hours I spent making these choices during the summer of 2012.
Though, now that I’ve come through the other end of the process, I actually think finishing and releasing this CD is one of the proudest achievements of my career. And I learned so many lessons from the undertaking that every time I’ve recorded in the studio since has been much easier. It’s been thrilling to hear praise from colleagues and see people from around the world enjoying my art, and [UPDATE] As of August 2013 the CD was reviewed in Classical Guitar Magazine and was given high praise for being “beautifully played and recorded."
I’ve concluded that it’s likely impossible for artists to fairly evaluate their art because it’s too personal for us. Sometimes I listen to my album and think there are moments of true originality and brilliance. Other times all I can hear are the things I would have done differently if I had more time and resources. But at some point, you have to let go and put your art out into the world, because nothing is perfect, and waiting around for perfection is a surefire way to never put out anything.
All I can say for certain is that I know the album is sincere, and has something worthwhile to say, and that means a lot to me. As the famed guitarist Julian Bream - who also disliked the recording process- said at the end of his book A Life on the Road, “I don’t think I’m a great artist, but I know I’m a good one, and that I have got something to say, however modest. And I am happy to be alive, and to be able to say it and say it [through music] with some eloquence to people.”
Until the next one. - Thomas
This past weekend I had the great privilege of premiering my first guitar duet in the esteemed Brooklyn Conservatory of Music as part of a benefit concert. I was joined by the wonderful guitarist Madeleine Davidson, who commissioned the piece for the event -as well as several other wonderful musicians who contributed that day.
The piece is called Ten Kingdoms and is based on the writings of the 16th century Spanish friar Bartolome de las Casas, who famously documented the atrocities committed by the Spaniards in the Americas. After a friend on facebook posted a video citing his writings, I immediately bought his work “A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies” and couldn’t put it down. He begins the book by mentioning how “no fewer than ten kingdoms” had been completely depopulated and then goes on to describe the process and events that led to this devastation. A pretty amazing history lesson you probably skipped in school.
At the concert, we premiered the first movement, which is based on the text: “Those that arrived from the remotest parts of Spain…and who pride themselves in the name of Christians.” It imagines the excited feelings of those Spaniards setting off on the perilous and naive voyage for riches in the New World; completely oblivious to the events that await them and the natives.
The audience seemed to really enjoy the work; with its inappropriate joyfulness and dark subtext. I’m very grateful that it was so well-received, and I’m even more excited now about finishing the other movements I’ve sketched out, as soon as I get some more time and knowledge. Until then…Thomas