General Information

Playing Outside

Program Notes

Playing Outside was conceived in 1996 and composed from January to August 2001. It is scored for about 65 musicians (chorus, orchestra, and four improvisors) and the Eastman Balinese gamelan "Lila Muni." playing solos and concerted music in ten locations in Webster Park. The musicians move from one location to another to form different ensembles within the 100 minute timespan of the piece. Sometimes they play in transit from one place to another.

Playing Outside has about 40 sections of music, each of which has a name, location, starting time, and duration from one to eleven minutes. (For instance, section 19 is called "Symphony 1 (The Altus)," played at Onondaga cabin (location E), starts at 2:08 pm (or in the second performance at 5:08), and lasts ten minutes. Many sections are played at the same time, but in different locations.

The conception for this piece occurred to me while hiking on the intricate web of ski-trails in Webster Park in the summer of 1996. I was so fascinated by these trails I made a map of them with a friend. I felt a connection between these trails and the kind of music I write, so I thought it would be interesting to bring them together in a musical composition. This music would not be concert music per se, but something like ambient music, where the music blends into the environment—in this case, into the sounds and sights of the fields and forests of the park.

While many of my initial ideas for the piece had to be refined or dropped to make the piece practical for performance, one thing has remained unchanged from the beginning.  The music is not concert music played outdoors, even though it is written for musicians who ordinarily play concert music. The music is less formal than concert music and employs special notation to permit various degrees of improvisation. The pacing of the piece is often relaxed, spacious, and sometimes ritualistic, in contrast to the social rhythms of music in most cultural settings.

I chose the title Playing Outside since it so pertinently suggests my musical conception. In jazz, playing outside denotes the practice of playing without chords, either modally or atonally, and without clear meter or even beat; the emphasis is on gesture and timbre. The allusion of the title to sports such as baseball suggests a conception of time where there is a distinction between "time in" and "time out." A baseball game, for instance, has times in which the game action takes place versus times between these actions, between innings, batters, pitches, etc. Thus the 100 minute span of the piece contains people making music, but also people moving from one place to another, enjoying the natural setting, sharing all the sights and sounds in the park. Furthermore, this music has no musical "themes" or  "accompaniments", no clearly articulated voices, no sections, nothing exactly repeated. Its form is flow. Not the fixed forms or formulas of some traditional music, but formation and transformation, multiple processes of growth and decay, continuously developing, not without points of repose or abrupt change. No one will be able to hear all of this piece, part of it is always imagined.

I composed Playing Outside in Webster Park, writing the music exactly where it would be played. The only difference would be the time of performance, autumn. While I composed, I was often visited by animals, especially deer. Autumn and Deer suggested texts for the singers to sing. I used fragments of Japanese Haiku, the Chinese classic I Ching, the Old Testament, Kalidasa's play Shakuntala, and texts by Ralph Waldo Emerson and Samuel Becket.

—Robert Morris


Enjoying Playing Outside

Playing Outside is conceived for an audience that will explore the performance space strolling from one place to another to hear various sections of music performed in natural environments such as fields, meadows, groves, and wooded paths.

Keep in mind that there is no way to hear all the music in the piece, even if one attends both performances, so there is no need to rush about trying to hear as much as you can. You might only hear ten different sections, but that's certainly enough to get a feel for the diversity and character of the piece. As a result, each person's experience of Playing Outside will be different. (This happens even in the concert hall where everyone is listening to the same performance of a piece.)

To help you get around the performance space of the piece—about a half a mile square, I have listed below the ten locations of the piece, provided a map, and listed the sections of the piece in the order in which they occur. By consulting the map and list, you can plan to be at a time and place to hear a particular section. Or you might want to stay a particular location for a while and have the musicians assemble there to play more than one section of music. You will also see musicians walking to their next playing location; you can follow them around the park to hear the various sections they play. We also have guides to lead audience members to some of the musical sections. Some of you might just want to walk about, coming upon music fortuitously.

The information table at the main road will have further information about the piece; this is the place to assemble before the performance to be guided through the piece.

I hope you enjoy this experience.  Good luck!

—Robert Morris


Locations

A

West Field

B

Brook Slope South of West Field

D

Mohawk Cabin

E

Onondaga Cabin

F

Field with Flag Pole

G

Ryan's Point Tenting Area

I

Grove near Seneca Cabin

J

Catteraugus Cabin

K

Grove North of Catteraugus Cabin

L

Mid Way Picnic Area


Playing Outside

Schedule of Events (Sorted by time)

Name

Starting time

Location

Concerto by the Brook

1:30  4:30

B (Brook South of West Field)

Forest Ritual

1:30 4:30

L (Mid Way picnic area)

Calls amid Sky

1:30 4:30

F (Field with Flag pole)

Vines and Undergrowth

1:30 4:30

I (Pine grove near Senena)

Autumn Shade (Gamelan)

1:36 4:36

D (Mohawk cabin area)

Bones on Meadow

1:40 4:40

F (Field with Flag pole)

Stream Walk

1:41 4:41

B to L

Dryad, Low and Gruff

1:40 4:40

I (Pine grove near Senena)

West Field Duet

1:45 4:45

A (West Field)

From "Woodnotes"

1:47 4:47

G (Ryan's Point tenting)

Shadows Disagree

1:49 4:49

L (Mid Way picnic area)

Mohawk Fanfare

1:49 4:49

D (Mohawk cabin area)

At Crossroads

1:49 4:49

F (Field with Flag pole)

Point, Circle, and Line

1:54 4:54

F (Field with Flag pole)

Trellis

1:54 4:54

J (Cattaraugus cabin area)

Horns Alone

1:55 4:55

L (Mid Way picnic area)

Autumn Smoke

1:55 4:55

I (Pine grove near Senena)

Mohawk-Onondaga March

1:56 4:56

D to E

Bedrock with Thorns

2:04 5:04

J (Cattaraugus cabin area)

Autumnal Voices

2:06 5:06

G (Ryan's Point tenting)

Symphony 2

2:08 5:08

G (Ryan's Point tenting)

A Prelude

2:07 5:07

E (Onondaga cabin area)

Symphony 1 (The Altus)

2:08 5:08

E (Onondaga cabin area)

Symphony 3

2:08 5:08

J (Cattaraugus cabin area)

Autumn Shade/Running Deer (Gamelan)

2:20 5:20

D (Mohawk cabin area)

Canon at Cattaraugus

2:23 5:23

J (Cattaraugus cabin area)

Moss (with Squirrels)

2:25 5:25

L (Mid Way picnic area)

Usurpation

2:31 5:31

L (Mid Way picnic area)

Hidden Frogs

2:26 5:26

I (Pine grove near Senena)

Capriccioso I.

2:27 5:27

F (Field with Flag pole)

Capriccioso II.

2:30 5:30

F (Field with Flag pole)

Insect Walk

2:27 5:27

E to D

Gamelan March

2:29 5:29

D to E

Lost

2:32 5:32

K (Pine grove North of Cattaraugus)

They Listen to Apollo

2:35 5:35

I (Pine grove near Senena)

Drumming Paths

2:37 5:37

D (Mohawk cabin area)

Three Roads

2:40 5:40

Between I and J

Running Deer (Gamelan)

2:40 5:40

E (Onondaga cabin area)

Chanting/Shakuntala

2:43 5:43

A (West Field)

Recounting Miracles

2:43 5:43

D (Mohawk cabin area)

"It"

2:43 5:43

G (Ryan's Point tenting)

Taking Leave

2:54 5:54

G (Ryan's Point tenting)

The Rest Stop

2:56 5:56

Between L and G on main road

On the Edge

2:58 5:58

F (Field with Flag pole)

The Gathering

3:03 6:03

F (Field with Flag pole)

Cadenza on the Field

3:08 6:08

F (Field with Flag pole)


Map



site last updated:
Wednesday, September 19, 2001
dennis@minimumsecurity.org