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Everything was planned out. Tin-Shi
Tam can still see Central Campus complete with a symphonic orchestra
and concert patrons.
"I imagined it as a beautiful scene," said Tam, assistant professor
of music and University carillonneur.
"An entire symphony orchestra would be on Central Campus underneath
the Campanile."
Everything was perfect...that is except for Mother Nature.
A cold spell swept through Ames in early October forcing the cancellation
of the orchestral segment of the ISU Carillon Festival.
It also forced the cancellation of the world premiere of "Star Bells,"
a musical suite for carillon and symphony orchestra commissioned by the
Stanton Memorial Carillon Foundation at Iowa State, and composed by Jeffrey
Prater, professor of music and the current Iowa State Distinguished
Humanities Scholar.
Instead of bemoaning the cancellation, Prater, Tam and Mark
Laycock, assistant professor of music and conductor of the Central
Iowa Symphony, began thinking of ways that the composition might still
be performed.
After consulting with Iowa State telecommunications and instructional
technology experts, the answer to staging the premiere of "Star Bells"
finally came clear.
A performance of Prater's original composition will take place Monday,
Dec. 16, at 7:30 p.m. in Stephens Auditorium by the Central Iowa Symphony,
conducted by Laycock, with Tam at the Stanton Memorial Carillon on Central
Campus. Tam's performance will be teleconnected live to Stephens Auditorium
in broadcast quality audio and video.
"When Jeff first mentioned to me a performance possibility on Dec.
16, I thought the weather would be prohibitive for that date as well,"
Tam said. "Then I found out that the orchestra and the audience would
be indoors. I had always imagined that someday we carillonneurs might
be able to perform for indoor audiences in this way, and not only with
this piece, but with other carillon/ensemble and solo carillon works."
Supported by grants from the Office of the Vice Provost for Research and
Advanced Studies, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and the Department
of Music, a live and broadcast-quality audio-visual telecommunications
link will bring the sounds of the Stanton Memorial Carillon into the auditorium
for "Star Bells." Fiber optic cables are being activated between
the Campanile and Stephens Auditorium for this special performance.
Audience members will not only be able to hear Tam's performance, but
view her through a large video display as she plays. A separate fiber
optic circuit and television monitor will allow Tam to watch Laycock conduct
and to simultaneously hear the Central Iowa Symphony, a 70-member community
orchestra whose membership includes professional musicians, music educators,
student performers and accomplished amateurs from Ames and central Iowa.
"This is an example of cutting-edge technology being employed to
help solve a practical artistic problem," Prater said. "We couldn't
move the carillon so we brought the carillon to the orchestra via modern
telecommunications. This is one very visible way in which Iowa State University
of Science and Technology works hand-in-hand with and helps advance the
performing arts."
"Star Bells" is an eight-minute musical work that is divided
into three major sections - each with a different focus, form and musical
character. The three sections are entitled "Bells of Contention,"
"Bells of the Dance," and "Bells of Celebration."
"Despite the differences in style and role among each of the three
sections, all share the use of specific musical motives that help to bridge
the diversity between the sections and to unify the entire work,"
Prater says.
The initial inspiration for the piece and its title was visual.
"One day I chanced to observe a festive holiday decoration made of
small, flat-faced metal bells like small square cowbells with five-point
star openings cut into each face. Ten bells were strung together with
a small twisted wire cable that supplied electric power to a tiny light
bulb inside each bell," Prater said. "As I looked at and studied
the visual effect of this simple decoration, my imagination wandered through
a succession of life scenarios.
"'Star Bells' is a musical distillation of some of the ideas that
came to me while looking at that set of decorative bells."
"Bells of Contention" employs strong punctuated dissonances,
rhythmic and metric syncopation, and a modified five-part rondo form,
where a refrain-like musical texture is alternated with contrasting materials
and instrumental forces.
"Bells of the Dance" is a scherzo-like musical caricature of
many typical Baroque dance forms.
"Bells of Celebration" features three well-known hymn tunes
(several of which are popular at holiday time), which provide the melodic
basis for much free variation and melodic mixture.
"This is a wonderful piece of music," Laycock says. "It's
exciting and will be accessible to a wide-range of audience members."
It has also been a challenge to move the performance from outside to inside
Stephens Auditorium.
Tam has performed "Star Bells." The Central Iowa Symphony has
rehearsed the composition as well. The two haven't had an opportunity
to rehearsal in this particular setting.
"I tried out closed-circuit television coordination, with Tin-shi
in the playing cabin of the carillon and me standing below on Central
Campus," Laycock said. "I was impressed with the level of musical
coordination we were able to maintain. Until that point, I wasn't convinced
that it would work."
"There are a lot of challenges and risks involved in a project like
this, but I think this kind of performance will open up numerous opportunities
for 'Star Bells,' nationally and internationally," Tam said.
Along with "Star Bells," Tam will provide 20 minutes of holiday
music selections direct from the carillon via telecommunications to Stephens
Auditorium as audience members arrive before the Central Iowa Symphony's
"Sounds of the Season" concert.
Tickets are $15 for adults and $5 for students and can be purchased through
TicketMaster.
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