For Good Measure, by Ensemble for These Times (E4TT) Episode 29: Dawn Norfleet (part 4)
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In this week’s episode, we talk to Dawn Norfleet about her compositional process, finding her voice, and the worlds of classical music and jazz. If you enjoyed today’s conversation and want to know more about Dawn Norfleet, check her out here: music.columbia.edu/bios/dawn-norfleet . Parts of this episode originally premiered on January 2022, found on Youtube, click here.
This podcast is made possible in part by a grant from the California Arts Council and generous donors, like you. Want to support For Good Measure and E4TT? Make a tax-deductible donation or sign up for our newsletter, and subscribe to the podcast!
Intro music: “Trifolium” by Gabriela Ortiz, performed by E4TT (Ilana Blumberg, violin; Abigail Monroe, cello; Margaret Halbig, piano), as part of “Below the Surface: Music by Women Composers,” January 29, 2022 Outro music: “Lake Turkana” by Marcus Norris, performed by E4TT (Margaret Halbig, piano), as part of “Alchemy,” October 15, 2021
Transcription courtesy of Otter.ai.
Producer, Host, and E4TT co-founder: Nanette McGuinness Audio Engineer: Stephanie M. Neumann Podcast Cover Art: Brennan Stokes Interns: Roziht Edwards and Merve Tokar
[INTRO MUSIC] Welcome to For Good Measure, an interview series celebrating diverse composers and other creative artists sponsored by grant from the California Arts Council. I'm Nanette McGuinness, artistic executive director of Ensemble For These Times. In this week's episode, we continue our conversation with Dawn Norfleet, who we spoke to in January 2022[INTRO MUSIC ENDS]. Jazz is another major influence in your works. What draws you to incorporate jazz and other genres into your compositional style? Do you see a major difference in the classical and jazz divide? Or any other for that matter? And do you see that changing in the future?
Dawn Norfleet:
Well, when I was in college, I learned something about third string, third string music. Gunther Schuller was a big advocate of that. David Baker. And I thought, "Okay, this is what I want to do." But the, but the but actually, deliberately trying to compose a piece that is jazz and classical, it just wasn't something that inspired me be beyond something that was an a question, like an intellectual question. It just didn't, you know, but my, the way..let's see, how do I put this, the direction my compositional life has taken me, I've just, I'm just composing pretty much now. You know. Like, for example, the viola piece, it's, I wanted to do something that was you know, I didn't want to do like a piano piece written for viola or something like that. So so so I was really doing a lot of studies on Viola and watching, yes, YouTube videos, because I'm not I don't have access to, or an orchestra or an orchestral instruments, so you use what's available to you. So and YouTube, it's available. And then I was able to, thankfully, you know, well, actually, the way that piece came about was a grad student named Calvin green had commissioned this, this this piece when he was at the University of South Carolina, so it was a spark grant. And so I was able to, you know, do this, this composition and explore different ways of playing this, this instrument is that I mean, I so through my research, I was also looking at Viola jokes, and bowing techniques, and just all kinds of things traditional, versus, you know, avant garde or, or extended technique, and all of that. And, and I ended up with something that is, it's, it's a, it's pretty creative, and it's, it's there's some things that are very funky, some things that are very traditional, and some things that are very faulty. So yeah, so, um, trying, I'm trying to, when I compose, think about where I am right now, what am I feeling right now? What could I do? Like, what how can I compose this piece? In a way that would be different? Had I had this opportunity like and it in it at another time, you know, so so when I have opportunities to compose rather than necessarily say, Okay, well, I want it to sound more classical. I want it to sound more jazzy. I'm thinking more like, what do I want to say right now? And it also depends on what the ensemble is like, if I'm going to, you know, if I'm, if I have a jazz concert coming up or from reading for a jazz ensemble, I'm gonna write something more along that in that idiom. I Um, but if I, you know, if I'm proposing for somebody who's like call them shredders, you know, classical Shredder, I'm gonna, I'm gonna give that person some, something to work on so. So I, I like to write music that's challenging and fun to play. Still, at the same time. And with this Viola piece, for example, there were, there was a lot of energy, you know, just like the first piece was just kind of I was that I was dealing with just all of these emotions of what was going on and 2020 and 2021. And then, but the, the third movement is just very calming. And it's not something I would have written when in my grad school days, that third movement, because it's just completely tonal completely rhythmic, and, you know, so So I don't, I want to, I want to write something that's authentically myself and what I'm dealing with at the time and in. Yeah, read it. Also keeping in mind who I'm writing for.
Nanette McGuinness:
[OUTRO MUSIC] Thank you for listening to For Good Measure, and a special thank you to our guest, Dawn Norfleet for joining us today. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to our podcast by clicking on the subscribe button and support us by sharing it with your friends, posting about it on social media and leaving us a rating and a review. To learn more about E4TT Our concert season online and in the Bay Area where to make a tax deductible donation, please visit us at www.E4TT.org. This podcast is made possible in part by a grant from the California Arts Council and generous donors like you. "For Good Measure" is produced by Nanette McGuinness and Ensemble for These Times, and designed by Brennan Stokes. With special thanks to audio engineer extraordinaire Stephanie Neumann. Remember to keep supporting equity in the arts and tune in next week "for good measure." [OUTRO MUSIC ENDS]
Jazz is another major influence in your works. What draws you to incorporate jazz and other genres into your compositional style? Do you see a major difference in the classical and jazz “divide” – or any other, for that matter? Do you see that changing...