Composer Danny Clay’s Music for Hard Times began as a partnership with The Living Earth Show (TLES), the duo of percussionist Andy Meyerson and guitarist Travis Andrews. The project began around the time of the first reports of COVID-19 but two days before the “Shelter in Place” order was officially imposed by the San Francisco Health Officer on March 13, 2020. The objective was to explore what Meyerson called “a fundamental research question: ‘is it possible for us to use the tools of our discipline—classical art music—to make people feel better?’”
from the Bandcamp Web page for the recording of the composition being discussed, released in conjunction with the world premiere performance
After about three months Music for Hard Times was ready for its world premiere, which took place on the evening of June 26. The score provided its own description as “a series of composed ‘calming exercises’ used to create every sound in the piece.” Each of the exercises was described through some combination of text, images, and music notation. The introductory note included the following:
While originally conceived for specific instruments [played by TLES] (guitar, vibraphone, assorted percussion), these strategies can be realized using whatever a person has at their disposal, regardless of musical experience. In strategies where musical notation has been employed, an alternate “text only” version is offered as well.
The premiere performance was presented by Nadine Sirota as a video “projected” through her Facebook site, Living Music with Nadine Sirota. The moving images associated with that performance were provided through an ambient film created by Jon Fischer. The overall duration of the performance was a little over 40 minutes.
The flexibility provided by that introductory note was exercised early in the following December. Through one of the Artist Partner Programs presented by the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center and the University of Maryland (UMD) School of Music, TLES and Clay were able to work with the UMD Wind Orchestra and its conductor Michael Votta to prepare a new interpretation of Music for Hard Times. The result was a new “video document,” which was posted for viewing on Vimeo but is no longer available for viewing. Once again, the images themselves came from Fischer’s film.
Clay, Meyerson, and Andrews are all alumni of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM). Since the beginning of this year, they have been working on a larger-scale realization of Music for Hard Times. That realization will bring together SFCM instrumentalists, led by SFCM Orchestra Music Director Edwin Outwater, and vocalists of the San Francisco Girls Chorus, led by Valérie Sainte-Agathe. Once again, the performance will also incorporate Fischer’s ambient film.
That performance will take place at the end of this month on Thursday, May 27. It will begin at 7 p.m. It will take place on SFCM’s Vimeo channel, and the hyperlink for viewing has been installed on the SFCM event page for the occasion. There will be no charge for streaming the performance.
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