Conlon Nancarrow:
Studies for Player Piano
Hayley Holesh
April 12, 2017
“Some of the rhythms developed thro!h the present acostical investi!ation cold not "e
played "y any livin! performer# "t these hi!hly en!rossin! rhythmical comple$es cold easily "e ct on a player%piano roll&' (Cowell 1)*0, +%+-.
/nspiration is a fnny thin!# yo can never really "e sre where or when it will strie& ore often than not, if yo !o looin! for it, yo will come away empty%handed& /n Henry Cowells "oo, New Musical Resources, a "rief, fairly innocos comment a"ot how the player%piano cold "e sed to e$ecte complicated rhythmic ideas, was the spar of inspiration that forever altered the creative corse for composer Conlon Nancarrow (Nicholls 1))+, 17*.& 3his idea wold serve as the "asis for his lifes wor, his Studies for Player-Piano, thro!h which he e$plored and e$perimented with a nm"er of intricate rhythmic concepts, well "eyond the physical capa"ilities of even the most !ifted msician& 4y the time of his death in 1))7, Nancarrow had composed over fifty stdies& 3ho!h his msic has never "een widely nown, the si!nificance of his wor can not "e nderstated& Conlon Nancarrow was "orn in 3e$arana, Aransas in 1)12& He started piano lessons as a child, "t soon switched to trmpet, primarily in an attempt to !et away from a teacher that he dislied (Hocer 2002, 5+.& /n his teens, he developed a love of 6a and "e!an composin!& Altho!h he was determined to prse msic, his fathers psh towards stdyin! en!ineerin! prompted him to enroll at 8ander"ilt 9niversity at the a!e of fifteen& However, his lac of attendance and disdain for athority, a recrrin! pro"lem stemmin! from his yoth, cased him to leave school after only a semester (ann 1))-, *+%7.& Arond 1)*0, while Nancarrow was attendin! the Cincinnati Colle!e%
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Conservatory, he encontered Stravinsys Rite of Spring & 3he rhythmic innovations dominatin! the wor resonated with Nancarrow (;eynolds 1)), 21.& /t was really the first piece of contemporary msic that he had heard and its impact was profond (reeson et al& 1))-, +0.&
iston and Nicholas Slonimsy& 3wo of his earliest compositions, “>relde' and “4les' for piano were selected "y Slonimsy to "e p"lished in Cowells New Music Edition in 1)*5 (Hocer 2002, 5+.& At the time of their p"lication, Nancarrow, an ardent socialist who had 6oined the Commnist >arty while livin! in 4oston, was enlisted with the A"raham ?incoln 4ri!ade fi!htin! a!ainst @ranco in the Spanish Civil =ar& After two years in Spain, he retrned to the 9nited States, findin! a place amon! the new%msic scene in New or, even p"lishin! several reviews in Modern Music (Carlsen 1)55, 2.& 3his was also when he first read New Musical Resources and serendipitosly stm"led pon Cowells ideas re!ardin! the player piano (ann 1))-, 2.& 3ho!h his official mem"ership in the Commnist >arty had ceased "y this time, his earlier political affiliations still levied a tremendos conseBence# in 1)0, his application for a passport was denied de to his o"6ectiona"le activities in Spain (Hocer 2002, 57.& Nancarrow decided to leave his homeland in favor of one where he was not deemed “sspicios' "y the !overnment& f the two contries that reBired no passports for entry, Nancarrow chose e$ico where he wold live in e$ile for the rest of his life (ann 1))-, 1.&
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Nancarrows earlier compositions had "een for varios small ensem"les that often reBired a hi!h level of sill to "e properly e$ected& 3ho!h these wors were only performed on a handfl of occasions, he had "een more than a little disillsioned "y the otcome each time (Carlsen 1)55, 2.& /n a 1)77 interview condcted from his e$ico City stdio, he remared to Charles Amirhanian, “ever since /d "een writin! msic / was dreamin! of !ettin! rid of the performer' (arland 1)77, 1-.& 3his desire, copled with the rather complete msical seclsion with which he was now srronded, prompted an e$clsive shift toward composin! for the pla yer piano (Carlsen 1)55, 2.& =hat reslted from his sin!le%minded focs is a collection of over fifty pieces with nm"ers, in lie of titles, desi!nated more or less chronolo!ically& ?ie conventional stdies, each of these wors involves a comprehensive e$position on a limited amont of msical concepts D with rhythm "ein! the common !eneral theme woven thro!hot (Carlsen 1)55, .& /n fact, the first piece was p"lished in New Music Edition as “;hythm Stdy E1', "t Nancarrow omitted the redndant term in s"seBent titles since practically all his stdies are, essentially, dissertations a"ot rhythm (arland 1)77, +.& ore specifically, Nancarrows seminal idea is what he called “temporal dissonance' D the concrrent se of different tempos clashin! a!ainst each other (Carlsen 1)55, .& =hile a comprehensive nderstandin! of the mechanics at wor in a player piano is not strictly necessary for the prposes of this discssion, some ey details, especially as they pertain to Nancarrows compositional process, are essential in !ettin! the whole pictre& ch lie loadin! a cassette into a tape dec, the player piano reBires a paper roll in order to play a piece& All the information re!ardin! notes D incldin! tempo, dration and dynamics D mst "e pnched into the paper roll& As the paper is fed thro!h
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the piano, a pnematic system releases air that passes thro!h the holes and tri!!ers correspondin! eys to "e strc (Hocer 2012, -%10.& =hen Nancarrow first "e!an worin! on his stdies, all the rolls were "ein! hand%pnched, a time%intensive and cm"ersome tas& /n 1)7, he retrned to New or seein! a machine for this prpose& /t had to "e cstom made and reBired several months to "e completed (arland 1)77, 5.& 3ho!h the pnchin! machine !reatly improved his speed, it did have an o"vios draw"ac: “3he machine ori!inally advanced the paper roll with a notched mechanism mch lie the platen advance on a typewriter& 3his meant that all the drations in Nancarrows msic had to "e inte!er mltiples of a particlar small nit, correspondin! to the advance from one notch to the ne$t' (Carlsen 1)55, .& After the first twenty%one stdies, modifications were made to the pnchin! machine so that the paper wold move forward steadily, main! possi"le virtally any and all arran!ements of rhythms and tempos (Carlsen 1)55, .& =hile each of the stdies is, in at least some way, niBe amon! the collection, Fames 3enney points ot the recrrent se of the followin! ey rhythmic featres: 1. Bicly ad6stin! meters, 2. varios concrrent meters in more than one voice, *. shiftin! tempos D with "oth !radal and a"rpt shifts, . varios concrrent tempos D incldin! atonomosly chan!in! tempos in more than one voice, -. employment of dration or metric series, and +. what he calls “the r"ato effect' (arland 1)77, .& Gyle ann offers an even simpler cate!oriation statin! that “NancarrowsI msic can "e smmed p as derivin! from for "asic rhythmic ideas: ostinato, isorhythm, tempo ca non and acceleration' (ann from “rove sic nline'.& Some of these techniBes can "e illstrated thro!h a closer inspection of two particlar stdies, with the first, Stdy No&
5, written "efore modifyin! the pnchin! machine, and the second, Stdy No& *+, composed after& Study No. 8
3he most si!nificant featre of this stdy was Nancarrows ina!ral se of what 3enney calls “spatial notation'& /nstead of traditional metric notation, which incldes time si!natres, "ar lines, and different note vales, Nancarrow ses only two different inds of drations: staccato tones D represented "y ei!hth notes, and sstained tones D represented "y Barter notes with strai!ht lines of different len!ths e$tendin! horiontally from the noteheads, indicatin! their dration& 3he ph ysical placement of these notes on the staff strictly correlates to when the notes sond (arland 1)77, .& 3he stdy is written in for voices and comprises three main sections& 3he overall theme is acceleration and deceleration& /n the first section, Nancarrow alternates "etween staccato notes and sstained notes& 3he first voice enters at the slow end of the spectrm, playin! a sstained note of the lon!est dration& 3he ne$t sstained note is of the second lon!est dration, and so on, as the speed !radally increases& =hen this voice reaches the shortest dration in the series (there are nineteen drations in total., and has also therefore reached the fastest speed, the second voice enters two octaves hi!her and "e!ins a strict imitation of the melody and dration series that "e! an in the first voice& As the second voice now speeds p, the first voice slows down& =hen the second voice has reached the fastest speed, the third voice enters, a!ain two octaves hi!her, "t "e!ins at the fastest speed and !radally decreases (Carlsen 1)55, *%*+.& 4ecase of the spatial notation, a millimeter rler is necessary in order to properly assess the drations sed thro!hot this stdy& ann (1))-. spent some considera"le
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time main! precise calclations with the measrements he too from Nancarrows ori!inal manscript and proposed that all the d rations are divisi"le "y a nit of appro$imately 1&71++mm, meanin! that this mst have "een the sie of one notched advance from the ori!inal pnchin! machine& He then assmed that the lon!est dration sed was eBivalent to twenty%for notches, with each dration decreased in len!th "y precisely one notch all the way to the shortest dration of si$ notches (ann 1))-, 15% ).& Carlsen (1)55. hi!hli!hts how a triplet feel is maintained thro!hot the entire first section "y Nancarrows deli"erate placement of each sstained note two thirds of the way "etween ad6acent staccato notes& Nancarrow apparently plotted the staccato notes first, "ased on a particlar series of acceleratin! drations, and then filled in the sstained notes& 3his series was reversed in order to achieve dece leration (Carlsen 1)55, *+.& Study No. 36
3his stdy is a for%part tempo canon& Also called “prolation' or “mensration' canon, the definin! featre is the se of imitation at varios speeds D in this case, ratios of 17J15J1)J20& 3he reason for havin! chosen these particlar ratios can "e traced "ac to Cowells ideas in New Musical Resources that “pitch intervals and cross%rhythms are manifestations of the same phenomenon, differentiated only "y speed' (ann 1))-, -.& @or e$ample, the interval of a perfect fifth is constrcted with two pitches of different freBencies, the hi!her of which vi"rates at a ratio of *:2 to the freBency of the lower pitch, or one and a half times& 3ransferrin! this idea to rhythm, a triplet "eat a!ainst a concomitant dple wold "e the rhythmic em"odiment of a perfect fifth interval (ann 1))-, -.& 3he varios ratios Nancarrow sed for his respec tive tempo canons correlate in
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the followin! way to these particlarly pitched intervals: :7 a minor seventh, *: a perfect forth, :- a ma6or third, *:- a ma6or si$th, 12:1-:20 a minor triad in first inversion, -:+:7:5 a first inversion dominant seventh& 4y the time he reached Stdy No& *+, Nancarrow had pro!ressed alon! the overtone series to arrive at these ratios, which are tantamont to a clster of minor seconds (+%7.& 9nlie Stdy No& 5, this piece is notated metrically& Nancarrow taes fll advanta!e of the ad6stments that were made to his pnchin! machine# the score is replete with florishes of *2nd and even +th notes, and li!htnin!%fast !lissandos that cover the pa!e in "lac in& As ann (1))-. points ot, tempo canons have "een arond since the ;enaissance, "t the sheer volme and variety that e$ist within the annals of Nancarrows otpt have reBired the development of a related nomenclatre& >aramont amon! them is the term “conver!ence point' which he defines as “the infinitesimal moment at which all lines have reached identical points in the material they are playin!' (ann 1))-, 21.& 3he conver!ence point in Stdy No& *+ occrs almost symmetrically, with each of the for voices havin! played -0&1K of their total notes "y that moment& 3he voices are transposed lie a widely spaced ma6or seventh chord, with respective entrances p a ma6or tenth, minor tenth and ma6or tenth from the pitch of the ori!inal voice (ann 1))-, 155.& 3he lowest voice enters first at the slowest tempo, followed " y the ne$t voice at the second slowest tempo, ntil all for voices have entered& 3he hi!hest voice, at the fastest tempo, is the first to reach the end of the canon, followed "y the second hi!hest voice& 3he lowest voice is the last to reach the conclsion& 3ho!h the term “e$perimental' in discssions a"ot msic often incldes the
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mention of Fohn Ca!e, Nancarrow had "een sin! it since the 1)0s in relation to his own msical e$plorations (ann 1))-, *.& 3aen as a whole, his Studies for Player Piano are an nparalleled voya!e of discovery thro!h ncharted rhythmic frontiers that no"ody else has ever attempted to conBer& /n fact, Nancarrow himself reinforces this notion of forward momentm "y continin! to for!e new paths of possi"ilities rather than revisitin! sites of earlier accomplishments (ann 1))-, .& =ith each wor, he wold set ot on an nfamiliar corse, !ided only "y the sonds of his last completed msical 6orney, which wold in trn then lead the way toward the ne$t potential "reathro!h (;eynolds 1)), 2.& >erhaps it is Ca!e who "est e$presses the impact of Nancarrows pioneerin! process and prodct in “A ?on! ?etter', reprodced here:
the msiC y mae isNt ?ie any ther: thaN yo&
oNce yo sAid wheN yo tho!ht of msiC yo Always tho!ht of yo; own neve; f any"ody elses& thats ho= it happens& Fohn Ca!e
(from Conlon Nancarrow: Selected Studies for the Player Piano& 1))7& Ld& >eter arland& 2.
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References
Carlsen, >hilip& 1)55& The Player-Piano Music of Conlon Nancarrow: An Analysis of Selected Studies. 4roolyn: /nstitte for Stdies in American sic, Conservatory of sic, 4roolyn Colle!e of the City 9niversity of New or& Cowell, Henry& 1)*0& New Musical Resources. ;eprinted with notes and an essay "y ress, 1))+& ann, Gyle& 1))-& The Music of Conlon Nancarrow. New or: Cam"rid!e 9niversity >ress& Gann, Kyle. "Nancarrow, Conlon." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press, accessed March 7, 2017. http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.ezproxy.library.yorku.ca/subscriber/article/gro ve/music/19552. arland, >eter, ed& 1)77& Conlon Nancarrow: Selected Studies for Player Piano. =ith critical material "y ordon mma, Charles Amirhanian, Fohn Ca!e, ;o!er ;eynolds and Fames 3enney& 4ereley: Sondin!s >ress& reeson, Fames ;&, retchen 4& earhart, and Conlon Nancarrow& 1))-& MConlon Nancarrow: An Aransas ri!inal&M The Aransas !istorical "uarterly -, no& : -7%+)& doi:10&2*07J00275*0& Hocer, Fr!en& 2012& Encounters with Conlon Nancarrow. 3ranslated "y Steven ?ind"er!& ?anham, <: ?e$in!ton 4oos& Hocer, Fr!en& 2002& “y Sol is in the achine D Conlon Nancarrow D Composer for >layer >iano D >recrsor of Compter sic&' Music and Technology in the Twentieth Century. Hans%Foachim 4ran, ed& 4altimore: Fohns Hopins 9niversity >ress& Nancarrow, Conlon& 1)55 D 1))1& Studies for Player Piano #ol. $$$ % #ol. $#. ain, ermany: =er!o& ;eynolds, ;o!er& 1)5& MConlon Nancarrow: /nterviews in e$ico City and San @rancisco&M A&erican Music 2, no& 2: 1%2& doi:10&2*07J*0-1+--&
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