Guelph’s Contemporary Music Ensemble Performs End of Semester Concert

 Beth Purdon-McLellean

A new sound swept across the stage as the Contemporary Music Ensemble preformed at MacDonald Stuart Hall last Saturday, Dec. 4. Guelph students improvised on a multitude of different instruments to deliver an hour of dynamic and sophisticated music.

The Contemporary Music Ensemble was the last of five ensemble concerts presented by the School of Fine Art and Music. Other concerts featured the Choir, Chamber, Jazz and Concert Winds ensembles, which performed earlier this year. Guelph’s College of Arts will continue to showcase its array of talent next semester, hosting both ensemble performances and another noon hour concert series.

Directing Saturday’s performance was Joe Sorbara, who began working with the University of Guelph in 2007.  Though this is his fifth semester with the Contemporary Music Ensemble, Sorbara continues to push the creativity of his students and further explore the world of improvisational music. This year, Sorbara experimented with a directive style called “soundpainting,” a sign language developed by Walter Thompson for guided improvisation.

For those who are new to the music world, improvisational music is played spontaneously. Developed on the spot, musicians have to be listening to the entire group at all times, and be responsive to the sounds they hear. The effect is that the music never sounds the same, and evolves throughout the performance. The Contemporary Music Ensemble not only used musical instruments, but electronics, sound effects, and even laughter to create an effect both original and engaging in its delivery.

Sorbara serves as a navigator for the ensemble. The gestures within soundpainting can range from vague to specific in their meanings. Sorbara can ask for specific notes, or simply ask musicians to play something “sometime within the next five to ten seconds.”  To create the perfect sound, it is up to the director to use discretion when picking the right actions at the right times.

“I think that a good soundpainter knows how to use the strengths and weaknesses of the musicians in a group,” said Sorbara. “It mostly involves listening in a very intense way and setting up different situations where music can happen that wouldn’t otherwise.”

Sorbara isn’t the only one using soundpainting, as Adam Malcolm, a member of the ensemble used this technique in conducting his own work “Sonata No. 1.”  The audience was fortunate enough to hear a collection of works created by students as well. Keegan Lutek composed and performed “The Day the Sun Shone Blue,” along with other ensemble members. Taylor Moran and Lindsay Wilson created an interesting sound space, mixing electronics and the violin in “If the Cats Don’t Mind…” and Sandro Manzon directed his “i-ACY,” which was both detailed and dynamic.

The concert proved to be an opportunity for these ensemble members not just to show their strengths, but to develop as musicians as well. The Contemporary Music Ensemble give musicians the freedom to decide which direction the music takes.

“That’s the whole thing,” said Sorbara. “We all have our own music and, for me, improvisation is the beginning of each of us finding out what our music is.”

As the last concert in the ensemble series, the Contemporary Music Ensemble proved to be a wonderful finish to a semester of music. Those of you who want to branch out into the musical world can attend the next set of concerts debuting in the New Year.

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