Tongue & Groove

Instrumentation:

Oboe - Cor Anglais
Clarinet Bb - Bass Clarinet
Harp
Viola
Cello

c7' 30''

Written for BMIC and Okeanos

Composition 15/9/08-1/10/08. Revised 24/11/08.

Programme note and detailed analysis:

Tongue and Groove referrers to the method employed in carpentry in which similar objects are fitted together edge to edge to form a single flat surface.  Each piece has a slot or groove cut along one edge and a thin protruding ridge or tongue along the opposite allowing for pieces to be fit together.

Precomposition
For this piece I was interested in exploring this joining method musically.  The word groove could easily be interpreted in the musical sense.  The term is very rarely employed in connexion with contemporary art music but more commonly expressed in the popular styles of jazz, funk, rock, soul, and fusion.  The phenomena of the groove can be best described as the composite driving rhythmic effect created when a band plays with a heightened sense of ensemble awareness.  The term tongue would require a more subtle approach and thus I returned to the joining method itself noting that the tongue had two characteristics: first it protruded from the object in such as way as to make it a defining feature of the original object; second, its purpose was to fit inside the groove of another object.  I felt that these two characteristics could be interpreted musically allowing for the piece’s concept to be formalised.  As the concept evolved it became apparent that the form of the piece would be dictated by the concept itself: a groove would be established using the ensemble, a tongue or protruding melody would be gradually introduced that while different from the groove could be fit against it or inside it.  The melody would gradually take over the groove creating a new grove in preparation for a new ‘tongue.’  It could therefore be possible for the roles of each instrumentalist to be reversed either taking a tongue or groove in the same way that is inherent in jazz with the rhythm section and frontline instrumentalists.

The final form of Tongue & Groove differed slightly from this concept; as is often the case in my composing method, once a concept or rule has been established more serendipitous process often take over leading to the concept itself being broken or sidestepped.

In addition to exploring the above, I have also recently developed an interest in borrowing materials from other sources.  To this end I decided to turn to Bach and Das Wohltemperirte Clavier Book II.  Bach was the obvious choice for me as I had recently studied Tansy Davies’s Inside Out pieces which also used Bach as a starting point.  Also, I felt that the driving rhythms and frequent syncopation that can be found in Bach’s keyboard music would be ideally suited for the creation of riffs and grooves.  I chose three preludes which contained what I felt to be interesting rhythmic lines:

Das Wohltemperirte Clavier Book II

Figure 1 - Bach Preludes

In addition to using the rhythms for the basis of exploration, I employed their pitches to create a row.

Figure 2 - Pitch Row

This row was then rotated by its intervals to form the matrix of Figure 3.  Patterns in the matrix were noted and highlighted: for example the cells A-E reoccur though out the matrix and the diminished chord that occurs in each row were linked according to their roots.  Some rows also contain parts of other rows and row three was highlighted as significant as it bares no relation to the other rows.  Such relationships and patterns were drawn out in the composition with musical lines beginning in different rows but often gravitating towards a cell within a row through means of the highlighted pathways or patterns.

Detailed Analysis

As previously stated, the form of the piece was closely related to the piece’s concept.  The piece opens with a groove (bb1-16) which is three times interrupted by the oboe stating the first melody or tongue.  After each interruption the groove is developed in terms of orchestration (bb1-16 B.Cl. & Vc.; bb24-42 B.Cl., Vla., Vc.; bb59-76 B.Cl., Hp., Vla., Vc.) and rhythm.
         The rhythm of this groove uses a strict mathematical pattern.  I wanted the feel to be that of uneven or unbalanced beats and so created a number sequence using the numbers 2, 3, 4.  The number 1 was thrown in as a point of divergence.

Figure 3 - Number Sequence

The numbers in grey show the position of each number within the sequence allowing for more rows to be created using position manipulation.  In total three further grooves were created: the first by calculating the odd then even positioned number, the second counting through the sequence in units of five and the third by counting through the sequence in units of three (Figure 5).

5 - Original Number Sequence & Permutations

Figure 5 - Original Number Sequence & Permutations

Again, the numbers in grey denote the position of each number within the original 34-unit row.  The position of the red numbers (or points of divergence) in the new rows were noted as they could give character to each permutation given that in the ‘odd/even’ permutation the point arrives at the half way point of the sequence whilst in the other two it features in the third quarter.  In the original row the diverging point occurs just before the end.  These number sequences were translated into rhythm using the simple substitution in which 1=a 16th note, 2= an 8th, 3= a dotted 8th, and 4 = a quarter note.

The original number sequence is employed in bb1-16.  By the nature of the grouping, the roles of the Vc. And B.Cl. reverse in bar 8 at the half way point so that for the first section initially the B.Cl. leads on the downbeat followed by the Vc at b9.  The point of divergence (position ‘33’ or the single 16th note highlighted in red above) occurs in b16 announcing the first interruption.  This first interruption from the oboe establishes new rhythmic motifs which developed from the selected materials borrowed from Bach (Figure 1).  In addition the pitch material for the tongue and groove of this section differs in that the groove pitches are always obtained by reading the pitch rows of the matrix forward whilst the Oboe tongue uses the same rows backwards.  The grooves also tend to be isorhythmic in that whilst the rhythm is changing (according to the rhythmic row chosen) the pitches are cycling. 

After the first interruption the viola joins the grooving instrument providing a stable foundation of quavers which serve to highlight the unsettled nature of the rhythmic row given to the B.Cl. and V.c.  In this section (bb24-42) the rhythmic row employed is permutation number one: ‘odds/evens’ (Figure 5) with the point of divergence (red number) occurring in b32.  Where as the first groove of bb1-16 employed two pitch rows simultaneously (B.Cl. = row 3, V.c. = row 1), the second groove (bb24-42) links three pitch rows with the V.c. using 2-3 note chords based on positions in pitch rows 2 and 1 that synchronise with the position in pitch row 3 that the B.Cl. has reached at any point in time (the B.Cl. naturally moving through its row at a faster rate because of the grace notes).

The second oboe interruption (bb43-58) continues the development of the tongue with rhythmic ideas from Bach’s material becoming more apparent.  This is followed swiftly by the returning groove (bb59-75) using permutation 2 of the rhythmic rows.  During this groove the harp is added cycling through pitch row 3 and with an augmented version of the rhythm of the original number sequence.  The point of divergence arrives in b69 but with the single 16th note augmented by a factor of 5.  The introduction of the new number in the system (1 substituted for 5) accentuates the point of divergence.  The tongue returns at b76 continually developing rhythms from the Bach sources.  The harp’s phrase, by the nature of it begin augmented continue, unpinning the tongue.  The groove (using permutation 3 of the rhythmic rows)is gradually reinstated forming an accompaniment for the tongue (bbb92-106) which begins moving through pitch rows using the pathways highlighted on the matrix (Figure 4).

Harmonically, the whole first section bb1-105 is grounded in the rows that are found at the top of the matrix thus creating a fixed tonal range.  As stated, some lines employ the rows in retrograde whilst other employ them forward.  As the section progresses the individual lines of the music become more adventurous using the designated pathways on the matrix or jumping to other rows through patterns.  Even so, the harmonic focus of this section remains at the top of the matrix.

The second section of the piece (bb107-247) passes the solo role to the harp.  Instead of following the original concept that the first tongue would morph into the second groove, I decided to revisit the borrowed Bach material and create the new elements from scratch.  Bars 107-145 serve as a bridging section during which the piece’s first groove mutates into the second.  The second groove can be seen clearly in the Vla. part in bars 136-138 and consists of a rhythm developed from the Bach:

Figure 6 - Second ‘Groove’

The second groove emerges from and is also set against another rhythm taken from Bach (BWV 970 b16) first presented by the harp (bb114-116):

Figure 7 - Genesis of Second 'Tongue'

The rhythm of Figure 7 becomes the genesis of the second tongue played by the harp in bar 146.  As with the first section, the tongues and grooves initially alternate (tongue (bb146-154), grooves (155-161)) before being superimposed on each other.  As the harp enters for the second time in this section (b162) with its melody, the Cl. joins the Vla. with the second groove rhythm but off set.  As the sections continues all the grooving instruments (all players except harp) gradually gravitate towards the rhythm of the second groove (bar 1921 sees the end of this transformation).  The rhythm continues to be off set in the parts creating a polyphonic tapestry supporting the tongue.

The harp tongue also goes through a process of rhythmic transformation similar to that used for the creation of the rhythmic rows of section one.

Figure 8 - Rhythm Row for Second 'Tongue'

The original version of the second rhythmic row show in Figure 8 was used for bb146-149 followed by numerical permutations of its cells using the same method as before:

Figure 9 - Permutations of Second Rhythmic Row

These rhythmic permutations and their retrogrades were used to create the whole second tongue (bb146-205).  Rhythmically, in this section, the groove gradually takes over until all instruments are playing it including the harp by bar 206.

The pitches rows used for this section are taken from the bottom of the pitch matrix with each instrument using a different row.  As the section progresses and the groove takes over the two pitch process begin to take effect: first, the register of the music ascends, and second the individual lines converge on the intervals at the end of pitch row 19.  This second process occurs as each instruments move in turn through pathways finally residing in pitch row 19.  The convergence of each instrument at the end of row 19 in bar 229 is achieved by looping the instruments through row 19 deducting a note from the beginning of the row with each successive loop.  The second section concludes with a free climax using vertical harmonisations of the pitch matrix.

The final section of the piece brings about a relaxation of tension.  The harmony of this section is grounded in the top few rows of the pitch matrix.  The groove this time is restricted to dovetailing crescendos.  The actual entry of each crescendo is governed by the rhythm of Bach’s prelude BWV 870 bb12-13.  Initially this writing is augmented to a factor of 4 with each note within the rhythm marking the start of a crescendo event.  The rhythm is also factored by 3 to produce the harp melody which initially starts as a line (bb269-278) and develops into a new pattern.  The use of grace notes in this section denotes a return to the characteristics of the opening groove.  The differentiation between tongues and grooves in this section is deliberately less clear.  Initially the harp melody of bb269-278 feels like part of the groove and yet develops into something more significant.  In addition, the Cl. eventually (b.295) introduces what could be perceived as the next tongue – a melody based on the rhythm of BWV 883 b21 – but it is cut short as the harp line becomes more significant.  Gradually the piece disintegrates omitting the last note of the harp phrase in the last few bars.