Well, I had to drop out for a little while, because it's my first college semester and it was extremely busy. Now that I'm back, I'd like to fill you on the piece I completed this semester. It's the first of a a collection of chamber pieces with varied instrumentation based on the four suits in the world of playing cards. Although named for Spades, Hearts, Clubs, and Diamonds, the pieces draw symbolism from the parallel suits in the tarot deck: Swords, Cups, Wands, and Pentacles.
In tarot, the equivalent to the joker is the fool. The fool represents an individual who is child-like and about to embark on a journey to experience life. In tarot, the fool does in fact embark on what is called "The Fool's Journey", a metaphorical journey through life which cycles through cards known as "The Major Arcana". In my collection of pieces, I wanted to mirror this idea, but through the lens of the popular playing card deck. So, each of the suits represents a stage of a dreamlike journey taken by the Joker.
This idea of a dreamlike journey in which an innocent man is made wise by encountering the world sounded much to me like a medieval morality play. In morality plays, the main character represents humanity and embarks on a journey during which characters representing vices and virtues battle for his soul. To me the idea was very similar, so I decided to make tribute to the morality play in the title of my collection. The morality play has also been called an interlude, which, conveniently, is also a type of musical piece.
So, in the spirit of the morality play, using characters from the playing card deck, and with reference to music, I named the collection Joker's Interlude. Now, on to the first piece.
I decided to tackle Spades first. I began with my personal interpretation of the suit. For purely subjective reasons, I've always perceived the suit as having a very dark, near hellish aura. To this I added the symbolism of the swords suit from tarot. In Tarot, swords represent air and the military. They deal primarily with cold intellect. Combining this stoic and hollow feel with my own abysmal interpretation, I created I. Spades, Wardens of the Void.
The Spades are jail keepers who imprison and execute those who enter their realm. The Jack is servant and messenger of the King and Queen. He is the impish lunatic who first lures the Joker into the void. The Queen is a beautiful but stoic tyrant who acts as judge over the Joker's trial and ultimately condemns him to death. The King is the executioner, a monstrous, devouring creature to which the condemned are thrown to die. The Ace, while not a character, symbolizes the essence of the Spades' realm, the sword. It symbolizes the idea that death waits for all.
The piece, which narrates the Joker's encounters with these characters, consists of three sections which flow together seamlessly. They are called "Summoning", "Inquisition", and "Execution", and correspond to the Jack, Queen, and King respectively. The ace, appears throughout the sections, most importantly to begin and end the piece. This subtly signifies that despite all that lies in between, death is the alpha and omega of the void.
The piece is scored for oboe, piano, violin, cello, and two double basses with suspended cymbals. Although, each instrument is involved in the entire piece, they do, in a sense, represent particular characters. The oboe and violin act as the joker, the two instruments often passing his melody back and forth to illustrate his fragmented mind. The cello represents the beautiful and cruel queen, combining its sultry tone with the queen's dark melody. The piano, while representing the void itself, often works together with the cello, since the queen is the void's ultimate ruler. The two double basses represent the king, their deep, growling tones imitating his beast-like nature. The suspended cymbals are bowed by the double basses and signify the ace. When bowed, cymbals produce metallic tones that resemble wailing or screeching, this being the perfect representation for both the sword and death.
Much of the phrasing in this piece follows a pattern of three, hinting at the Spades' mockery of the trinity. I incorporated a handful of different scales, as well as the use of quarter tones to create the sound of these characters. For the joker's melody I employed the Lydian mode, which usually has a light sprightly sound. In this case I scored the playful melody over a much darker undertone played by the piano, foreshadowing the darkness within the seemingly harmless character. When the void is entered at the beginning of "Inquisition", very hollow whole tone chords are used, creating an atmosphere that is empty and floating.
For the queen's melody I chose a gypsy scale, giving it an exotic "egyptian" sound. This reminded me of the harsh and unforgiving desert, and it fit perfectly for the merciless ruler. The king does not have a melody, per se. Rather, he owns a rhythmic and harmonic motive which threatens throughout the piece and dominates "Execution". The motive is in 5/8 time, which when played quickly feels like it skips a beat. This combined with a set of jagged chromatic harmonies gives the king a ferocious "chomping at the bit" sound.
That's about all I can say concerning the development of this piece. The exciting news is that it will be premiered tonight at Oklahoma City University, and I'll be conducting for the very first time. The performers will be as follows: Will Smith - oboe, Kaelyn Neal - piano, Michele Esch - violin, Summer Suffridge - cello, Brendan Bradford and Hamilton Pyburn - Double Bass. They are fantastic and are definitely worth seeing perform.
Anyways, now you know about Joker's Interlude and I. Spades, and you can be looking out for II. Hearts next. I plan for it to be the antithesis of this piece, so expect something extremely bright and celestial. Pray and wish me luck. I'm going to need a lot of help.
P.S. If you like the picture, check out the artist's deviantART page.
P.P.S Minus the layering and extra reverb, this is what a bowed cymbal sounds like. Unless you have a double bass bow you're ready to destroy, don't try this at home. Fortunately for me, percussionists just happen to have old bows lying around.
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