Racer Session #213 | Bryan Van Pelt | March 9, 2014
Bryan Van Pelt – saxophone
Mike Gebhart – drums
Dune Butler - bass
For my curation I wanted to present a mish mash of things that I have been investigating. This curation might not be ground breaking, but nonetheless, it will contain ideas that are important to me at the moment.
About a month ago I started experimenting with doodling. I would sit in Parnassus, or at work, and draw whatever came to mind. None of these pieces were recognizable, as I didn’t try to draw specific objects. I would freely improvise something, however the medium was a pencil and paper. As I started doing more and more of these doodles I started seeing the music inside of them. I started noticing the form.
Form is something that I think about a lot. I would say that it is one of, if not my top priority when improvising, writing and listening to music. I’m constantly searching for structure. The cool thing is that this structure is everywhere, like in the doodles. During my curation the trio, called “Bup”, is going to improvise two interludes on these doodles. Our goal is to take something that isn’t music, find the form that makes the piece coherent, and then use those structures in our improvisation.
As a music ed major I have spent the last twenty weeks singing children’s melodies. Everyday I find myself humming these simple, coherent little pieces of music. This has been an influence on me because now when I write music, I try to create a melody that sticks.
The trio, called “Bup,“ will be playing a suite of music. There are two classical pieces adapted for the trio, one original of my own, and two freely improvised interpretations of my doodles. It’s a lot of information to take in, but I believe Racer can handle it.
Lincolnshire Posy mvt. 4, “The Brisk Young Sailor” by Percy Grainger
Doodle #1
Mahler 5 mvt. 4, “Adagietto” by Gustav Mahler
Doodle#2
“OMG! It scrolls down!” by Bryan Van Pelt
Hope to see you there!
Bryan