Published: Oct. 13, 2020 By

Conor Brown and Derrick SpivaLater this semester, the culmination of several months of work by several different people to put music to two of 2020ā€™s biggest headlines will be coming to a streaming device near you.

Itā€™s a long-distance journey in artistic creation that started back in June, and one whose magnitude and potential have not been lost on the players involved.
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Music for the moment

In the spring, as Director of Bands Donald McKinney planned and programmed for a most unusual fall semester of music making, he knew there were events happening in the world that he and his colleagues could not ignore.

ā€œOur original discussion centered around creating a piece of solace that would allow our students to deal with the isolation of COVID. After the murder of George Floyd, I felt like there needed to be a larger goal than just COVID,ā€ McKinney recalls.

The only trouble was, the existing repertoire that spoke to this moment in timeā€”one shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic and the movement for racial justiceā€”didnā€™t really exist. McKinney saw an opportunity. So did longtime College of Music advisory board member Jan Burton.

ā€œJan contacted me in early spring and wanted to commission a piece of music for the Wind Symphony,ā€ McKinney explains. ā€œI told her that our immediate need would be for music that could be performed with a smaller instrumentation. Jan suggested Conor Brownā€™s name.Ģż

ā€œI knew about Conorā€™s work as a composition student. He is a wind player and I knew that he was familiar with our ensemble and would create an amazing piece of art.ā€

ā€œI am a mission-based donor,ā€ Burton says. ā€œI give money when I see a purpose that I relate to. When the pandemic came about, I was worried about musicians and how they would perform with others. But I also wanted to support a composer, so to be able to commission a piece from a Colorado composer was a positive as well.ā€

Brown, pictured above at left, who received a masterā€™s degree from the College of Music in 2018 and was part of the collegeā€™s CU at Carnegie concert in 2018, was up for the challenge. But as a White composer, he knew that in order to do this important piece justice, he needed a different perspective.

ā€œFrankly, as a White person, for me to address systemic racism through music without input from anyone that racism actually targets would mean I am just part of the problem rather than the solution,ā€ Brown says. ā€œWorking with a collaborator who understands racism in a way I simply canā€™t felt like the right way to engage with this issue.

ā€œImportantly, I absolutely love Derrickā€™s music: When I first heard his compositions years ago, it was immediately obvious to me that we are musical ā€˜kindred spirits.ā€™ā€

Derrick Spiva (aboveĢżright)Ģżis an American composer with Ghanaian, Nigerian, British, Irish and Native American ancestry. He often incorporates non-Western music into his compositions. He and Brown met when Spiva curated a concert for the LA Chamber Orchestra and after a successful collaboration there, Brown brought him into the fold.

ā€œWe wanted to make sure everything that was going on got addressed, so I reached out to Derrick to start that discussion,ā€ he says.

ā€œAny collaboration, through art or otherwise, that conveys the state of affairs in this country could always benefit from including a diverse set of voices,ā€ Spiva says. ā€œIt is part of the identity of the country. Simply, the United States is not a monolithic country, and it never has been. Itā€™s always been a pluralistic place and collaborations do a great service to show that.ā€Ģż

Reinventing the wheelDonald McKinney

From a distanceā€”Spiva is in LA and Brown is in the Boulder areaā€”the duo began work on a piece in multiple movements, each one addressing through music either the pandemic or the racial justice movement. Though both are familiar with collaborative composing, the safer-at-home conditions made for a brand new process with its own difficulties and rewards.

ā€œThe most collaborative part has been coming up with the general programmatic tone to the piece,ā€ Spiva says. ā€œIt has to convey the human experience, as it relates to this moment, and the fact that this moment has occurred before.ā€

ā€œItā€™s been more conceptual than writing different parts and putting them together,ā€ Brown adds. ā€œIā€™ve personally also been learning more about the history of policing in this country, thanks to some recommendations from Derrick as weā€™ve started putting our ideas together. I view Derrick as an inspiration and as a mentor and itā€™s been so fulfilling to work with him on this project.ā€

Musically, Spiva says the work itself must strike a balance between hopefulness and division. ā€œI want to convey the tension thatā€™s involved in our community, but I donā€™t want to do it in a way thatā€™s just another source of stress for the listener. Thereā€™s already enough dissonance going on as it is. So itā€™s been about balancing the dissonance in the music so that itā€™s realistic and hopeful in the same breath.ā€

Instrumentation, as a matter of course, has been its own challenge for the composers. Brown says the nature of a socially distanced rehearsal and performance has meant a shift in style for both him and Spiva.

ā€œEach movement will be performed by a small group,ā€ Brown says. ā€œWeā€™ve had to cut back from initial plans for the instrumentation because cases have been rising, and thatā€™s put even more pressure on musicians to distance and take other precautionary measures.

ā€œWeā€™re both into rhythm, especially multiple rhythms lining up in complex ways, and itā€™s hard to do that when performers are spread out or isolated. They canā€™t play off of body language or hear as well across the ensemble. So weā€™ve had to adapt to that as well.ā€

Healing and action

Brown and Spiva hope that all of those elementsā€”instrumentation, rhythm, tonality and themesā€”come together in a heartfelt musical take on the social change occurring around the world. But it is also a call to action.

ā€œThe interesting thing about COVID is that it wiped away all the other distractions in our lives when George Floyd was murdered,ā€ Spiva says. ā€œYou couldnā€™t go watch a basketball game or go to a movie theater. There was nothing anyone could do but to confront the monster thatā€™s always been there: that people are being treated differently.Ģż

ā€œRelating it back to music, we have an opportunity to continue the conversation so that the past isnā€™t repeated on loop, continually inflicting pain on people. The more we can articulate that through music, the more impactful the piece can be to the players and the audience.ā€

And at a time of so much disruption and uncertainty, perhaps the piece can provide some solace as well.

ā€œI think itā€™s important that we bring that to these musicians who arenā€™t able to really be musicians right now,ā€ Brown says. ā€œI havenā€™t performed live as a clarinetist since March. I hope this is a way to help this community of musicians come together through musicā€”to feel like a community again.ā€Ģż

Adds McKinney, ā€œThe collaboration between Conor, Derrick and Jan has been a convergence of energy that demonstrates the incredible power of music, community and the impact of our donors.ā€

At the time of this writing, ā€œCode Switch Mixtapeā€ is intended to premiere during a Wind Symphony streamed performance later this year.