Fame met fun this week at Hart House as renowned and well-travelled Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer stopped by the Great Hall Monday night for a workshop with the Hart House Singers.
In town for the Canadian Voices gala concert this Sunday at the CBC, Schafer worked with the Singers on his widely-performed classic, “Epitaph to Moonlight,” as part of his Soundstreams Educational Outreach program.
Schafer wrote this ethereal piece for choir and percussion in 1969, fearing that the lunar landing signaled the “death” of the moon as a mysterious force and giver of light. Thankfully, the moonlight remains (though not, as Schafer pointed out, in a big city like Toronto) and the piece does too, to be performed by the Hart House Singers at their April 3rd spring concert.
With a storied and eclectic career as a composer and educator, it is fitting that Schafer should work with the Singers, a spirited bunch of students, staff and senior Hart House members (non-music students all) who, led by conductor David Arnot-Johnson, bring a steady professionalism and enthusiasm to their work.
Schafer promptly set to work fleshing out his unique score. “Epitaph to Moonlight” was the first piece written in “graphic notation,” a system he invented that pictorially represents notes, rhythm and dynamics. The choristers had some trouble following this new notation, but Alex, a first year Singer, wasn’t surprised that a song with “such a distinct sound” needs its own system. Sharon, also a first-year member, enjoys the freedom the piece allows singers in performance and interpretation.
Once Schafer decoded a few finer points of the score (which resembles a piece of abstract art more than it does sheet music), the choir performed this evocative piece with great energy.
This visit was in fact a return for Schafer, who attended U of T in the mid-’50s. His stay was brief but eventful. As a student at the Faculty of Music, he began exploring the idea of the acoustic soundscape, an aural map of surrounding environment. This interest would become a life-long passion and the subject of extensive experimentation, including the innovative World Soundscape Project he founded to explore the world’s varying soundscapes.
U of T also put the young Schafer in touch with professor Marshall McLuhan, who was himself interested in a return to a societal “aural conscience.” In the classroom and at gatherings at the professor’s house, McLuhan supported Schafer in “investigating soundscapes and the total acoustic environment,” and became a main influence on the World Soundscape Project, Schafer recalls.
Schafer admits that McLuhan’s mantra “the medium is the message” had a profound impact on him. Soon after university he began his composing career and strove to use his score, the music and the soundscape (in essence, the medium) to convey an image or a particular impression (the message). He describes his work as a type of program music, using sound to tell a story.
Although he attended U of T almost 50 years ago, Schafer doesn’t think the place has changed all that much, especially from what he hears. “U of T has always been a little enclave, protected from the hostile city sounds,” he explains, a peaceful characteristic of the campus still true today.
In an ironic twist of fate, Schafer was expelled from the music program midway through his second year. Though he admits it was his fault, Schafer explains it was a mix of his smart-aleck humour and the rigidity of his teachers that landed him in the Dean’s office. Though he was expelled, he was motivated enough to begin a lifetime of involvement in education.
In teaching all over the world to students in grade school and up, Schafer has sought to “create more latitude in education to allow for different answers to the same question.” Exploration and comparison encourage further creativity and spontaneity, elements he believes are lacking in education today at all levels.
The Singers certainly appreciated Schafer’s open, low-key approach, making what could have been a very intimidating session quite encouraging and rewarding for the group. “He brings a new energy to the piece,” explained Sharon. Alex agreed that the charismatic Schafer made a big impression on the group and guided them through a piece “unlike anything I’ve ever done.”
While the Singers are busy practicing “Epitaph to Moonlight” for their April show, Schafer’s music will be heard this Sunday, Feb. 29 at the Canadian Voices concert in the CBC’s Barbara Frum Atrium.
“A Fall Into Light,” described by Schafer as “a large, sacred, Gnostic piece” centring on the classic struggle between good and evil, will be performed by six professional choirs from across the country. The concert is in honour of Schafer’s 70th birthday, and will include works by Mahler, Garecki and the Renaissance period. (For tickets, call 416-366-7723.)
