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Styles
Artistic Statement
A Historical Guide To My Stylistic Periods
Popular Style
FREE IMPROVISATION. Though my career has shown some distinct stylistic periods and influences, there have been some unifying threads. The most prominent has been a preoccupation with a natural musical flow and creative spontaneity. The most notable and obvious outgrowth of this interest was a serious pursuit of free improvisation at the keyboard starting in the mid-1970’s. In 1977, I finished my first piece based on a rather literal transcription of a keyboard improvisation. This was my CONCERTO FOR DOUBLE BASS (1977), and was followed by others: BRASS QUINTET (1979), COUPLET FOR A DESERT SUMMER (1980) for orch., TWO IMPROMPTUS (1980) and IMPROVISATORY CONCERT (1980) for solo pf.
Though my improvisation starts in essentially the same popular style as my written music of the mid-1970’s, it rapidly progressed in a different direction toward a freer and more rhapsodic style which was less tonally grounded and increasingly more difficult to transcribe. In1982, I abandoned written transcriptions. Between 1984 and 1992, I gave up playing the piano entirely. I was concerned about the instrument’s effect on my double bass intonation, and I was concerned about it’s effect on my creative imagination. When I returned to the instrument, it had changed. The dawn of the era of digital tuning, midi, and computers had changed the instrument forever.
MUSICAL PROCESSES. Though most of my written music is not improvised, much of it is based upon generalized musical processes which were designed to mimic the flow and spontaneity of improvisation. These processes tend to be grouped into two categories. First are the open-ended or “spiral processes” which spin out freely into various larger structures. Second are the processes based upon the different levels of the rhythmic and structural hierarchy. I call these the “pagoda processes,” because the structural diagrams remind me of pagodas.
Without intellectual and/or emotional meaning, there is really no reason to go to the trouble of putting one’s music down on paper. With the effort I have put into free improvisation, this particular point has always been especially poignant. Abstract meaning for me has, more often than not, expressed itself in terms of compositional process. Just as Bach found the fugal process or the concerto process representative of his monotheistic religious views, I have found the same spiritual affinity for regenerative processes.
I was first drawn to musical processes in college. Though I was never drawn to the process de jour, namely serialism, I did spend a great deal of time designing intervallic systems based upon personal preference. These intervallic systems survive melodically in PENDULUM (1972) for db. and orch. (or pf.), and harmonically in MOVEMENT (1972) for pf. solo. During 1973-74, I explored a crystaline-type structure which I used for my PIANO SONATA (1968-74), CITY MUSIC (1974) for orch., STRING TRIO (1974), RAIN, RAIN (1973) - my only set of songs, and several unpublished piano works. In 1975, I explored my first real open-ended or “spiral” process with the four volumes of my PIANO JOURNAL (1975). The work, which I wrote continuously for over a year, is based on an abstracted and regenerative version of the blues (AAB). Though it is separated into “parts” and “volumes,” it is actually a through-composed effort of nearly three hours in length and sounds very much like improvisation.
After the JOURNAL, my regenerative interests turned to REAL improvisation, while my written music began to explore the idea of basing the structure of pieces around the hierarchy of structural and rhythmical levels. My original idea was derived from the gamalan music of Indonesia, but this sort of organization was also showing up in some minimalistic music. Some of the music I wrote during this period also has a minimalistic “feel” to it, especially those pieces which are based on different levels of repeated patterns. These works include VIOLIN SONATA NO. 1 - IMAGES FROM “THE FAR FIELD” (1981), MOBILES (1981) for 2 vlns. & db., ECHOES FROM AN URBAN GLADE (1981) for vln. & db., INVOCATION (1982) for pf. & pc., FLUTE DANCE (1981) for fl. & pc., WEDDING DUETS (1985) for 2 vlns., and RITUAL VARIATIONS (1980) for pf. solo. Still others, however, managed to avoid a minimalist association altogether. They include the DANCE SUITES NOS. 1-3 (1977) for pf. solo, INTERMEZZO (1981) for db. & pf. (or hp.), LULLABY (1980) for fl., hn., & hp., RITUAL MARCH (1981) for 8 vc., CALYPSO ROUND (1981, orch. 2000) for fl., hn., mbr., hp., & db. (or orch.), and ALPINE PRELUDES (1989) for pf. solo.
When I stopped transcribing improvisations in 1982, I began using a new regenerative process. This process is the one I refer to as the “spiral.” It is a small scale process and is quite natural sounding. I would write new material between bits of older material in sort of a leapfrog fashion. The pattern I generally used was A » B » a » C » b » D » c » E » d . . . where capital letters are new material, small letters are old material, and arrows are connecting material. The material flows and develops very naturally, which was the purpose, and I found that by articulating major structural points (such as middle, recap, coda, etc.) I had a very satisfactory hybrid structure which flowed smoothly yet was easy for the listener to keep track of.
Because of the rather traditional structural shells, I like to refer to this period as my “classical” period. It occupied my full attention for about ten years from 1982-1992. I wrote several significant works during this period including MIDSUMMER NIGHT (1982) for vln., mbr., & pno., VIOLA SONATA (1982), SHORT SET (1982) for fl. & pf., TRIO (1983) for fl., vla., and pf., CONCERTINO FOR HARP AND STRINGS (1983), TRIO (1985) for vln., vla., & db., SUNSCAPE (1987) for orch., MUSIC FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO (SONATA NO. 2) (1988), STRING QUARTET NO. 1 (1991), CELLO SONATA (1991), FANTASY (1992) for solo vln., and PIANO TRIO (1992).
Modal Period
My “popular” period lasts until 1984. Between 1984 and 1992, my music makes a significant shift. My music becomes very contrapuntal, highly modal, and rhythmically smoother. Though my music had always been essentially modal at its core, during this period it became very noticeably so. It showed more concern for motion and momentum, and less concern for the significance of individual ideas. At its best, it has an almost a neo-Renaissance feel.
I was no longer tied so much to the keyboard, and was making a gradual shift to using the synthesizer as my compositional assistant. During this period, my two children were born, which warranted a significant change in lifestyle. I had sold my piano, and was playing the double bass more. During this period, I was also running the Arizona Composers Forum and presenting about a dozen concerts per year. With the Phoenix Symphony going full time in 1982, I had considerably less time to compose than I did in the 1970’s.
But by the early 1990’s, I had said all that I had wanted to say using both the spiral process and the modal style. The last piece of this period, the PIANO TRIO (1992), is bursting with restlessness and new ideas. It was time for something new.
Improvisational Synthesis
In 1993, I felt my written music had grown stale. So upon looking back, I realized that I had abandoned my most promising and original thread, that of free improvisation. With the help of computers, it was now much easier to transcribe an improvisation into a workable form. However, I did not want to just transcribe my improvisations, I wanted to use them as source material and seeds for imagination.
My first effort was A WAKE AT NIGHT (1993) for stg. orch. (or nine solo stgs.), which I consider a breakthrough piece. I started with an improvised line. I let the line suggest a general structural outline, and then used the line to derive all the surrounding material. As the work grew, the line became less important as material and more important as a suggestive thread. The original improvisation became like a Rorschach ink blot, which suggested and allowed the complete work to emerge.
The process was a revelation. It stimulated my creativity far beyond that which I had previously experienced. However, I knew I had work to do on two fronts. First, in order to grow, I had to make a spiritual commitment to free improvisation. Second, I knew that eventually I would be deriving my written works from full keyboard improvisations, and I would need more technique and experience before I would be able to do that.
I wrote two more works based on improvised melodic lines, QUARREL FANTASY (1996) for fl., cl., & bsn. and VIOLIN SONATA NO. 3 (1999), before I felt I was ready to tackle a piece based upon a full keyboard improvisation. In the meantime, most of my creative effort was directed toward free improvisation.
At first, I used free improvisation as a spiritual exercise. I tried to erase the preconceptions of structure, rhythm, and tonality from my consciousness while playing, and tried to concentrate upon the present passing moment and its constant motion toward the next moment. As a result, I became more focused upon the tension and release of emotional intensities than upon any musical parameter. The discipline released an entirely different side to my musical personality, a free-flowing mixture of tone, sound, and expressive feeling. The experience was far beyond that which I had originally imagined and, eventually, I began to realize that my improvisation was in need of an outlet of its own. This result was the release of the CD DREAMCATCHER (AUR/HORIZON CD 3007) in 1998.
Kenneth LaFave of the Arizona Republic wrote about DREAMCATCHER, “Each (title) is impressive for the ease with which Stallcop moves from idea to idea, and for the way in which he places considerable keyboard technique at the disposal of interlocking motifs. Stallcop gained his skill from years of playing jazz, but the music sounds more like post-Romantic harmonies attempting to take the form of some massive nocturne or ballade. It’s a very engaging CD.”
[I plan to make a number of selected improvisations available on this website. DREAMCATCHER is available now. To order, please contact me.]
In 1999, I completed my first work based upon a full keyboard improvisation. MILLENNIAL OPENING (1999) will receive its first performance in May 2002 with the Phoenix Symphony, Hermann Michael cond. A second work, STRING QUARTET NO. 2 - “INDIAN SUMMER” (2000) was completed in the summer of 2000 and has yet to be scheduled. Between my free improvisation and my written works, which are derived from free improvisations, I have achieved a comfortable synthesis.
