MUSIC OF CLASS V-LCDT

LONDON CONTEMPORARY DANCE THEATRE

THE MUSIC OF CLASS V

The music for London Contemporary Dance Theatre’s CLASS, was composed between 1975 - 1985. During the time of it’s development, Robert Cohan commissioned Jon Keliehor to create a percussion score for live performance. There were five versions of the music in all, plus one different piece of music by composer Geoffrey Burgeon. The last version of both the music and the choreography has rested with the score known as CLASS V, a version for three or four musicians. The decision to create this fifth and final score was due to the need for an economically sustainable touring version. Performed by three percussionists, with conductor occasionally playing a fourth part, it resulted in a version that challenged both musicians and dancers, brought audiences to their feet, and produced an extraordinarily dynamic music.

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photo: Anthony Crickmay

CLASS V is an enormously challenging piece for a musician, an ensemble or a conductor. It is difficult to play and perform. Although the music is notated, it requires expert improvisational skills from the musicians, much preparation, memorisation, and abundant rehearsal with the dancers. A more accurate understanding of the musical requirements for performance can be gained by listening to the studio recordings, made by musicians who had benefited in playing various versions of the music in years prior to the recording. The musicians playing on these sessions were cross-genre players. They had classical skills, and far more important they had virtuostic hand drumming skills as well as a knowledge of world music idioms. Like his own skills, Keliehor wrote the music with these capabilities in mind.

Part of what makes the music so challenging is that it is comprised of many small sections, each with contrasting instrumentation. Tempi and meters change frequently. The changes from section to section are instantaneous, with little chance to prepare. New musical styles and instrument groupings appear from nowhere. The music mirrors the unpredictable directions that the dance takes, and these capricious changes make the choreography and music riveting.

This kind of highly synchronistic dance and music puts a great burden on the musician. The piece is long and physically demanding. Endurance is an issue. The effect of the dance and music is like a three-ring circus, with events cascading one upon the other for 30 minutes. The music follows every part and requires a virtuostic conductor. This is complicated by the fact that the conductor will have to devote at least 50% concentration, or more, to the dancers on stage.

The melodicism of CLASS V was achieved by tuning ALL of the percussion instruments to the specific pitches suggested in the score. Tuned instruments, including the bells and cowbells, were carefully selected for their timbre, tone and pitch. No instrument escaped this scrutiny, including the instruments that are shaken. Even they were chosen according to their relative pitch density. Instruments of differing volume levels, such as kalimba and conga drums, blend together because of the use of microphones, which give instruments with small voices the possibility of playing more important roles. This kind of aural focus creates a unique realisation for the music.

Audio engineering decisions were made to enhance instruments, to create a sense of presence or distance, and to create a changes of ambience. In general, distant, overhead mics were avoided to keep the sound from becoming too ‘boomy’. Instead, microphones were placed close to selected instruments. In live performance, reverberation from the mixing desk was used to further unify the space of the music. Therefore CLASS V became the realisation of the audio engineer as well. In live performance we were able to achieve many of the nuances that you hear on the studio recordings. In fact the live performances were both a model of, and a model for the recordings. Class V is an exciting music to perform. It is a remarkable achievement in percussion based music.

07 November 2005

photo: Anthony Crickmay