Ed Mascari on Composition and Teaching
Whether you're thinking of Billy Joel, Elton John, Stevie Wonder or the Beatles, you remember the music they composed as well as their performances. The same is true for Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Chick Corea or Wynton Marsalis.
As a result, it may not surprise you to know that Bach, Mozart, Beethoven or Chopin were known more for their playing than for their compositions during their lives.
Although I wrote many jazz pieces in my younger years, my career as a composer of concert music (i.e. written classical music) has not only helped me to improve my overall musicianship, but it has also revolutionized and advanced the level and method of my piano teaching.
When you compose music, two important things begin to happen:
1. The very act of putting the notes on the staff (music paper or computer software) forces you to clarify and crystallize your musical ideas. This is similar to what happens when you write a report, essay, poem or short story.
2. Many questions come up in the process of writing that lead you to start searching for everything you can find to inspire and guide you.
How will my composing experience benefit you as a piano student?
Since I have spent so much effort and energy studying what was necessary to sort out and solidify my musical ideas, I now am able to bring a unique perspective and overview to your learning process.
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As you are learning, I can help you with:
- Musical Form and Structure
- Chord progressions, key and harmonic patterns
- Articulation, phrasing, dynamics, expression marks and tempo
- Shape and direction of the melodic line, construction of motives as well as voice leading in the secondary parts
- Timbre, character and mood
In the process of learning each song, you'll discover how to unlock the door to effective piano playing. You'll be able to do this because you'll become aware of the many musical details built into every piece. And you'll start thinking differently about music in general.
Selected Compositions
Canzone for Flute and Piano
Piano Score and Set of Parts. Duration 5 minutes.
"Canzone for Flute and Piano" is a short instrumental piece with a song-like character. It was inspired and influenced by Samuel Barber's composition of the same title. This work is in ABA form with the contrasting middle section marked "Grave," i.e., solemn to create an elegiac mood. The piece features imitative writing and the language is tonal with some jazz-influenced harmonies. In addition, the flute part enhances the mood of the piece by including trills as well as the colorful effect of the fluttertounge technique.
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Five Short Pieces for Clarinet and Marimba
Score and Set of Parts. Duration 13 minutes.
Commissioned by Liz Leehey (clarinet) and Sarah Tenney (marimba), this composition is designed to exhibit the individual characteristics of each instrument. At the same time, by employing the similarities as well as the differences between the clarinet and the marimba, the goal of the work is to explore the possibilities inherent in this unique instrumental combination.
Prelude: The opening section introduces both the theme of the movement as well as the introduction to the two instrumental characters who will be taking part in this musical adventure.
The Far East: The pentatonic scale (five-note scale with an oriental character) is used for the melodic material of this movement.
Meccanico: The title means mechanical in Italian. The music suggested this title because of its mechanized machinelike feeling.
Hymn: At the request of Sarah Tenney, I composed a movement which employs the marimba's rolling technique. This movement is an eleven-measure chorale which is stated four times in succession.
Calypso: The idea for this movement came to me as I was arranging the accompaniment for a praise chorus to be sung by my church congregation.
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Capriccio for Solo Flute
Solo Part. Duration 3 minutes.
This composition, commissioned by flutist Laura Vincent, is in ABA form. The A section features a motive which is expanded and varied in several different ways. The central B section is characterized by a jazzy swing melodic line which is interspersed with an um-pah type of accompaniment (reminiscent of the stride piano style). The technique of singing the notes while playing (at pitch or an octave lower) is employed to emphasize the jazzy nature of this section of the piece. The musical language is tonal and the mood is upbeat.
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Meet the Orchestra
Orchestra. For Narrator (optional), Piccolo, Timpani. Percussion and Strings. Full Score. Duration 20 minutes.
Revised in 1997 Commissioned by New England Philharmonic Winter 1995. Moravian Philharmonic. Vit Micka, conductor. Ruth Ray, narrator.Meet the Orchestra is a composition designed to introduce children (and the child in all of us) to the instruments of the orchestra. The text is drawn from a book of the same title by Ann Hayes. Having read this story many times to my grandson, and calling to mind his enjoyment of the "March" from Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker, I decided to combine both of these sources into a set of variations for orchestra and narrator.
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St. Peter's Suite for Solo Cello
Solo Part. Duration 13 minutes.
Commissioned by cellist Myron Schwager, the goals were to create a piece which emphasized the lyrical qualities as well as the rhythmic potential so characteristic of the cello.
Tango: Alternates between a rhythmic bass line and the theme (which is a varied version of the hymn tune).
Lament: Features a minor key harmonization of the hymn tune played as a chorale with sustained two and three note chords.
Swing: Provides a contrast to the previous movement in its rhythmic character and obvious jazz influence.
Chorale and Chaccone: Inspired by the cello suites of Benjamin Britten.
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Suite for Flute and Guitar
For Flute, Guitar. Score and Set of Parts. Duration 16 minutes.
Commissioned by Laura Vincent (flute) and Aaron Caplan (guitar), this composition is designed to exhibit the individual characteristics of each instrument as well as to explore the possibilities inherent in this delightful instrumental combination.
Samba: This movement is in ABCA form.
Pas de Deux: Originally begun as a slow blues in a minor key, this movement evolved into a romantic interchange between the two instruments.
Swing: Set in 12/8 meter with a direction to play with a feeling of swing, the jazz influence on this movement is clearly evident from its beginning.
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Three Sacred Songs
For Tenor Solo, Flute (d Piccolo), Cello, Piano. Score and Set of Parts. Duration 14 minutes.
Commissioned by the Essex Chamber Music Players under the direction of Michael Finegold. All three hymn texts are found in most Protestant hymnals. The verses of these hymns, however, have been edited and adapted to fit into this context of a song cycle for vocal soloist and chamber ensemble. For many years in my work as a church organist, I have enjoyed accompanying my congregation in the singing of the familiar hymn tunes often associated with these texts.
I Sing the Mighty Power of God: This movement is in ABA form. The two outer sections have a march-like character which is emphasized by a rhythmic ostinato played by the cello in unison with the left hand of the piano.
All Things Bright and Beautiful: The volume softens, the tempo slows down and the meter changes to 3/4. The Lydian mode, often associated with a pastoral mood, is emphasized by the opening F pedal point. Above this, the piano plays 3rds in quarter notes on the 2nd and 3rd beats of each measure which help to emphasize the waltz feeling of the movement.
The Heavens Declare Your Glory, Lord: The cello's energetic and rhythmic bass line begins this final movement which is in ABCBA form. In the A sections, the concepts of God's power and majesty are expressed by the broad vocal line which is supported by the piano's block chords.
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Recordings
The first section of Meet the Orchestra, from this CD, introduces the four families of instruments: percussion, strings, brass and woodwinds. Each family offers a variation of the theme. 
What follows are nine variations starting with the double bass and finishing with the piccolo.
What follows are nine variations starting with the double bass and finishing with the piccolo.The finale begins with the composition's only literal presentation of the theme. At first, French horns and oboes share a melancholy statement. Almost immediately, a solo trumpet bursts in brightly setting the familiar march tempo. The intensity builds as the brass section, enhanced by the percussion, creates the solid foundation upon which the remainder of the work is built.
Listen to a sample of Meet the Orchestra from the CD.
Listen to a sample of Meet the Orchestra from the CD.
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This short composition for full orchestra builds an imposing brass statement out of the
hymn, This Is My Father's World. It is an image-evocative tone poem which could comfortably serve as a film score.
Ed's use of a unifying rhythmic motive reveals the influence of Beethoven while jazz based harmonies are expressed
through colorful orchestral textures.
Listen to a sample of Hymnody No. 3 from the CD.
Listen to a sample of Hymnody No. 3 from the CD.
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A fourteen-minute symphonic poem in one movement (inspired by a hike up the New Hampshire mountain), Mount Washington contrasts granitic and propulsive energy with pastoral calm in a tonal language and sumptuous orchestral dress that shows an affinity to such twentieth-century masterpieces as Gustav Holst's The Planets and Arthur Honegger's Symphonie Liturgique.
Listen to a sample of Symphonic Poem Mt Washington from the CD.
Listen to a sample of Symphonic Poem Mt Washington from the CD.
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More Information
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