composition

learning musical uses of proverbs

I compose music in the African American jazz tradition. This musical heritage has historically assimilated external influences in a creative and dynamic way. My approach is to adapt elements of world cultures as a basis for melodic, harmonic, timbral, rhythmic, and formal materials in a given piece.

Solkattu rhythmic syllables are the basis of the theme in Tala Vadyam, a work in an 11 beat time cycle. West African Eve songs and supporting drum rhythms form the structure of Eve, while traditional donno and gungon drum rhythms are the foundation for Dagomba. The use of the Philippine kulintang ensemble instruments in their traditional way is a major part of my Pilipinas Suite. Native American melodies are the main focus of Navajo Blood/Pontoosuc Waters/Springside Lands and Papago-Saguaro Song.

I use the complex layers of time from West African drumming, Javanese gamelan, and South Indian music in my works. The Indian influence allows me to compose in time cycles of 5, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, and 23 beat cycles, and let the music swing in an African American style, whether the idiom is bebop, funk, Afro-Latin, reggae, or hip-hop.

These musical elements are manifestations of my underlying effort to connect the spirit of world cultures with an African American compositional and improvisational style, a musical parallel to what I see as a social reality of the 20th and 21st centuries.

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for scheduling workshops, residencies, lectures, and performances, contact me at the royal hartigan