Blues With a Drone
Blues With a Drone is the first of a handful of etudes for tenor and/or bass trombone. These etudes were written with my own capabilities in mind, focusing on one or more elements of trombone performance. Blues With a Drone focuses on multiphonics -- the technique of singing while playing, so that two notes (or more, if overtones are involved) sound simultaneously. In particular, this etude aims to improve the flexibility and lyrical capabilities of the singing voice. In the existing literature, multiphonics are often used chiefly as a coloristic effect, and I wanted to use multiphonics melodically. Furthermore, I wanted to use multiphonics in a piece that might be accessible to trombonists of intermediate skill level. All too often, extended techniques such as multiphonics are relegated to pieces whose other technical challenges leave them unapproachable to student trombonists, and I see no reason why this should have to be the case.
To these ends, the melody in Blues With a Drone is given entirely to the voice, while the trombone itself is relegated to a tonic drone on G. This presents a slight challenge to the trombonist, as holding the trombone with the slide extended in one position for the duration of the piece is mildly fatiguing. Nevertheless, by simplifying the trombone part, the performer can focus on executing the vocal line. Although the melody proceeds slowly, hitting the notes accurately can be a challenge, as intonation, especially in dissonant intervals, tends to be somewhat unstable with multiphonics.
Blues With a Drone has proven to be effective in its original purpose. In the fall of 2008, shortly after I premiered Blue With a Drone, I was invited to compose and perform a piece at a memorial concert for composer Jennifer Fitzgerald. My composition, Lyric Homage, was loosely based on Jennifer's Lyric II for solo tuba. Lyric II had a number of challenging multiphonic sections, which I had been unable to play when she first showed me the piece several years ago, but I chose to leave those sections intact. Blues With a Drone gave me the opportunity to practice dissonant yet lyrical multiphonics in a controlled environment, and I was able to successfully reproduce Jennifer's multiphonic passages in performance. Similarly, I hope that Blues With a Drone can be a vehicle for other trombonists to learn about and develop multiphonic techniques.
