THAT’S How to Perform Electronic Music!

First and foremost, a huge CONGRATULATIONS to my friend Chris Cresswell for a great concert.  This was Chris’ degree recital, and he put together an outstanding program.  The music was wonderful, the performers did a great job, and the program flowed very well.

I could rave about each piece on the concert, but I want to use Chris’ success as a way to point out something very important.  Included in the program was a work for baritone saxophone and electronics.  Normally, when I see a piece on a program listed as “with electronics,” I cringe.

I have lost count of the number of programs where I have shifted uncomfortably as the composer fusses and fiddles with wires, laptops, microphones, and anything else on the stage.  I’ve seen it happen during the first performance, and the fiftieth.  I’ve seen it with student composers and established professionals.  I’ve seen composers jumping on and off the stage apron to get to their equipment in the pit.  I saw one performance with the composer sitting in a folding chair next to the pianist, laptop on his knees, head down – I didn’t know if he was performing, or just cruising the internet.  And if one more person stops the performance so they can reset and re-start, I might just scream.  Or walk out.

It makes me crazy!  Using electronics in a piece is no excuse for wasting the time of your audience and your performer.  It shouldn’t take any longer to set up a work with electronics than it does for any other piece.  Set the stage, take a quick second to tune, and then start the piece.

Which is EXACTLY what Chris did!  Hooray!!

Chris had his laptop all set up, his mixer, the speaker, the mic – all he had to do is hand the instrument mic to the soloist, who clipped it onto her sax.  And then they began the piece.  Chris was seated in front of the stage (essentially in the pit), so he and the performer could easily see each other and communicate.  The rest was transparent.

From the audience’s perspective, it was no fuss, no muss.  Just a well written, well executed performance.

C’mon, composers!  We are far enough along with our technical advances to expect this kind of seamless performance every time.  And I’ll give you just two words to tell you how to get it.

TECH REHEARSAL!

You absolutely must run through the piece – ALL THE WAY – enough times to ensure it is smooth and seamless.  Don’t get partway there and call it good.  No orchestra practices the first eight measures of a piece and figures it’s good enough for performance.

I’m not saying that things will never go wrong.  Things happen.  But not the things that have been rehearsed.  Lights burn out?  Music blows off the music stand?  Violin string snaps?  Audience member trips and knocks your laptop to the floor?  Yeah, these things happen, and you can’t avoid them.  But the mic not working because you didn’t check it before the start of the performance?  Shame on you!

Technology can be tricky when it is new, but frankly, this technology has been around long enough that it should be transparent to the audience by now.  Musical theater used to rely on the vocal power of the likes of Ethel Merman to be heard over the pit musicians, and now it is all done electronically, sometimes with the musicians in a completely separate room.  Many (too many) pop musicians rely on electronic manipulation to run their (over-produced) live shows – auto-tune, pre-recorded orchestral tracks, extra backing vocals.  For Pete’s sake, the lone guy with the guitar who sings at Greasewood Flats has the technology to add backing harmonies to his live vocals in real time!

So let’s get with the program!  An electronic music work is like a magic act.  The audience wants to be awed and impressed, and in the end, they don’t really want to know how it’s done.

 

Edit:  Chris has posted this video on YouTube of the premiere.  Enjoy!

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