D'Arcy Reynolds is a well known composer on the West Coast where her compositions have been premiered at numerous concert halls and music festivals. In recognition for her outstanding work D'Arcy has won several grants from such prestigious organizations as the American Composers Forum, the American Music Center and Meet the Composer.
She has written works for Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra, Chorus, Chamber Ensemble, Voice and Piano. She has completed three song cycles for soprano and chamber ensemble (The Past Keeps Changing, Beyond Dreaming, and Listening to Winter), all of which have been written in collaboration with living poets. Recent premieres include Cloven Dreams, performed by Tessa Brinckman & the East/West Continuo in Portland, Oregon, Elegy by the San Jose Chamber Orchestra, 21 for piano, and The Past Keeps Changing, performed at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA.
In addition to her work as a composer and pianist, D’Arcy Reynolds is the founding Director of the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the American Composers Forum. The Chapter became an important arts organization for artists throughout Northern California, and as Director of the San Francisco Chapter, Ms. Reynolds developed an innovative Composer in the Schools Program, held salons with new works by Northern California Composers and administered interdisciplinary granting programs with composers, poets and choreographers.
She received a 2004 Meet the Composer Global Connections grant and is traveling to South Africa where the Sontonga String Quartet will perform her string quartet Cloven Dreams at the University of Cape Town.
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Friday, April 01, 2005
31 March, 2005
I've been to two African music concerts at UCT - one on Tuesday night, and another on Wednesday afternoon. These were both in Baxter Concert Hall, which boasts a Beckerathorgan, and seats 638. The Baxter Theatre Centre was completed in 1976, and is just below the building that houses the South African College of Music.
Dizu Plaatjies is a talented, and well-loved teacher in the African music program. In the two concerts, his students performed on a wide array of instruments, and were complemented by dance and vocals. Instruments included the mtshingo flute, akadinda, kudu horns, marimbas, and more. The mtshingo flute was played by Moeketsi Gibe, who deftly moved from his flute solo to drums in Bandigxohile:They Chase Me. They also had some vocals - Mamaliye: A song dedicated to all the mothers of the earth with Dizu on vocals, and other pieces had up to five vocalists with instrumental backing.
The South African music program has students from all over the world, and in the Wednesday afternoon concert, there were performer-couples from both Sweden and Canada.
I sat in on one of Dizu's drumming classes on Wednesday, and the techniques were reminiscent of Indian music.The students learn the strokes in conjunction with syllables, and then are able to swap out different patternsto create an improvisational sounding drumming pattern.
The students had write-ups of the vocalization of the patterns, and practiced the interlocking rhythms in sections, building and lengthening the rhythms. Dizu wouldadd new patterns along the way, showing students alternate patterns to add to the mix. Without a steady downbeatthe tempo tended to speed up and the rhythmic patterns would loose focus. So Dizu would have one person play thebass tone on the beat to keep it really tight.
One of the UCT students, Ross Anderson, is now in his third yearat UCT, and is the quintessential entrepreneur in his field. He has a double major in jazz on double bass, and Africanmusic on marimba, and his classical background is as a guitarist. He has developed a teacher training program for theAfrican schools on marimba, teaching students to become teachers, and transcribing a lot of the South Africanvocal music for marimba. He has a regular Monday night teacher training session that is open to the public. His students soon become teachers, and receive good compensation for their work. There are a lot of gigs that pay200-300 Rands for the students as well.
Greg Anderson (Ross's dad) has helped Ross to develop the infrastructure for his musical outreach program. This beganwhen Ross was only 15, and getting started as a rock musician. It is as though Ross is single-handedly carrying outthe mission of the new South Africa through education, teacher-training, and small business coaching for the African studentsthat he mentors. The juxtaposition and warmth between Ross and his African colleagues on stage is one of the more inspiring experiences that I've had since being in South Africa.
posted by D'Arcy Reynolds
8:55 AM
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