Initial CIS Project Proposal
I am planning a performance at the Lion’s Pause. The audience will sit at round tables where they will be served a meal made with organic ingredients. There will be a small ensemble of musicians on stage, and I will conduct a performance of an original classical piece of music that I will have composed. The piece will be roughly twenty minutes, and towards the end of the meal, I will reconstitute the pre-existing music with contemporary elements such as the drum kit, bass guitar, guitar, various hand drums, and other world instruments, repeat the performed piece again with modern recitative and aria elements (rap/spoken word/singing). During the musical performance, a dance group will collaborate with interpretive dance, and visual artists painting interpretive artwork. My rap, spoken word, and songs will articulate ideas of relevance, and hope to inspire the audience to grow (emotionally, idealistically, or otherwise). I will need a musical ensemble of at least twenty performers, 3-4 assistants in cooking, and an additional 2-3 volunteers in setting up the stage and venue arrangements.
My choices regarding the format for the project as described above are based on a few significant factors. By inviting artists of different departments for a collaborative performance, I will be able to incorporate not only the art form that I’ve studied personally, but other art forms as well. As my writings on social change synchronize with the composed music, I will be able to express my ideas not just through written communication, but with the help of the communicative affects of music.
Most importantly, this project will initiate a new movement among the musicians enrolled at St. Olaf. The contemporary music scene is flooded with products of machines and single artists. The machines produce the music and sounds, and the artists contribute feebly in the content of their music because of the over-riding priority to sell and make money. Their products are often shallow, soulless music that represents another stamp of the current trends. My music will be an effort to take back what is inherently the musicians' domain, to help musicians infuse meaning and personal expression through the art form, and invite more support from a broader contemporary audience. By re-capturing the audience with wholesome and solid musical expression provided in the context of a contemporary sound that is relevant to the modern (mass) audience, I hope to not only give live musicians a wider playing field, but also curb the dwindling popularity and support for live musical endeavors as well. Orchestras, bands, and choirs are dwindling in the modern world. The project will open new doors for musicians intending to pursue a musical career beyond the pre-existing and limited opportunities of music education and classical musical vocation, and at the same time, communicate social awareness and change in an expressive fashion.