Ornette Coleman

Wow, I just had a session/rehearsal with Ornette Coleman in his Harmolodics
Studio. It's for a 17-piece work inspired by the Statue of Liberty to be
performed on June 1 in New York's Battery Park.

The strange thing for me was that my playing the written notes accurately was
considered wrong by Ornette. Since he sees Classical musicians as tied to
the notes, basically missing the true sounds, they are akin "to people that
do the windows." Still, the music was too fast to do much in the wind
sectional.

He basically seems to have evolved a theory of music based on transposing
instruments. He thinks in terms of changing clefs, treating the accidentals
as a "musica ficta." This should be fun.

Johnny Reinhard

Ornette Coleman has a Harmolodic theory for his music. Since transpositions
are discarded, there is a "new" clef, a harmolodic clef. Unfortunately, I
can't represent it in e-mail. (It was drawn for me by Ornette's copyist on a
napkin!) But it's cute.

So, there is only a staff, with all 4 notes reading (for treble, bass, alto,
and tenor clef readings). Only accidentals change as a result, so there is
an improviser's freedom to play sharps and flats as fit to the player's
imagination and sense ("musica ficta").

So, there is an "intra-scale" or "uni-scale" that Eb and Bb saxophones and
clarinets can share with trombones and violas. Essentially, Ornette composes
a tune and places it on a matrix stemming from the diminished 7th chord C Eb
F# A, and this leads to notes that harmonize out. Then they are played in
two parts for checking, and at last it meshes into a large ensemble. It is
parts first, score later.

The "microtonal" aspect, a term regularly associated with Ornette Coleman's
music, is still just beyond my reach. However, this understanding is clearly
measured in days. June 1 is the big event in New York's Battery Park. The
outdoor concert ushers in the Jazz season in the City.

Johnny Reinhard
AFMM
bassoonist

Well, the Ornette Coleman concert has come and gone. It was the opening
event of the Bell Atlantic Jazz Festival that Dan was mentioning. It was a
good night and it was quite favorably received.

However, there is no "theory" of microtones present in Ornette's music.
Critics must feel chic to use the term. It can only apply to squawks ans
shimmies, or to "raw sound." Ornette is big on getting your sound, favoring
a single note over all others.

Essentially, he takes all the scaless and turns them into an "intra-scale"
with very specific modulational possibilities. Of course, I through in a
Harmolodic quartertone line here and there and it was appreciated.
Harmolodic is the name of Ornette's studio and applies to the idea that all
transposed instruments can play the same written notes and be freshly
harmonic. Only the accidentals do not translate exactly. They can be placed
to taste.

Johnny Reinhard
AFMM