Rewind to St. Louis in 1992: the formation of Pieces of 8. In one of life's incongruities, a community music school there with deep roots in classical music education, and interested now in adding a 'non-classical' sound, intersected with a guy (me), running the Electronic Composing and Arranging Program at the Grove School of Music in L.A. I had been commuting between L.A. and St. Louis for several years getting a degree in Computer Science, with the goal of writing music software for the Grove School. I knew virtually nothing about vocal arranging, by the way, but a lot about instrumental arranging. Somehow, during this period, the idea of Pieces of 8 as a 4-man, 4-woman a cappella group was hatched.
Over the past 12 years, Pieces of 8 has grown and matured. My overarching goal and guiding force over these many years has been to create "8 singers as a band," building a repertoire around music taken from one genre - which often focuses around instruments rather than singers - and transplanting the essence of each composition or arrangement into an 8-voice a cappella setting. All the music on this album - and, in particular, the transcriptions of Bach's Aria to the Goldberg Variations and Gershwin's Piano Prelude No.1, now "The Music of the Spheres" - reflects this initial vision.
I'm pretty sure that the first time I heard the phrase "Music of the Spheres" was when I was about 14, growing up in Wyoming. My piano teacher was trying to communicate the importance of a particularly expansive section of a piano piece by Edward MacDowell and, in an effort to describe the 'universal' nature of his writing, she said to me "He's talking about how music is everywhere, in everything, in everyone the Music of the Spheres."
Of course, I had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. But the phrase stayed with me, and several years later, while attending college in Chicago, I came across a small paperback of the same name. I remember sitting with rapt attention as I read a description of the universe by the ancient Greek philosophers, who clearly heard (and saw) music in everything - in the motion of the planets, the rustling of leaves, the patterns made in sand by a vibrating string. They understood both the universality of phenomena and the inherent importance of each person's connection to music, regardless of whether they were a musician or simply a citizen of the world.
These years have been an amazing journey for me and Pieces of 8 - filled with classic highs and lows. The road has led us to this, our first album for Town Crier. And as we give you this slice of the sounds of Pieces of 8, it seems fitting that part of the mix on this album should be a Jon Hendricks lyric of my vocal transcription of a Gershwin Prelude.
Jon and I didn't know the title of the lyricized Gershwin Prelude when we began working on it. Looking back, it now seems inevitable. Jon lives, breathes, and hears the Music of the Spheres every minute of every day. That his lyrics reflect this universal theme is natural. It is the next step in the lineage of the idea passed down from the Greeks to Shakespeare, and now embodied in Jon's lyric through a piano piece from Gershwin, a composer he loves.
Jon talks about the importance of being 'plugged in' to the universal music that surrounds us. As we got to the last two bars of my transcription, which mimic the effect of a long, ascending run of 32nd notes by means of a group 'shout' and final chord - I told Jon that maybe I should consider rewriting the measures with some "real notes" rather than just a "sound" as a setting for his yet-to-be-written final lyric. His response was an immediate, and emotional "No .... the ending is perfect. The words are `Move out.'" Not understanding the meaning of this, I questioned him. As had been the case with every other lyric throughout the piece, he patiently explained to me why the these final two words of his lyric were "right:" "The lyric, up to this point, is a description of the universality of music. But it is just a set of instructions about how to 'hear it: The last two words, however, are a command, like in the military. It is time to 'move out' - to connect yourself to the magic of the Music of the Spheres."
Thanks Jon. It was such a pleasure to work with you. I hope we can do it again soon. We all need to hear the Music of the Spheres and absorb its lessons of harmony. Your lyrics help lead the way - they are timeless. I hope you stay around for a long time to come. |
