Vincent McDermott
Encyclopedia
Vincent McDermott (b. Atlantic City
, New Jersey
, United States
, September 5, 1933) is a classically trained American composer and ethnomusicologist. His works show particular influence from the musics of South
and Southeast Asia
, particularly the gamelan
music of Java
. He is among the second generation of American composers to create and promote new compositions for gamelan.
(1959), an M.A. in music history from the University of California, Berkeley
(1961), and a Ph.D. in music history, theory, and composition from the University of Pennsylvania (1966). His composition instructors included Constant Vauclain, George Rochberg
, Darius Milhaud
, and Karlheinz Stockhausen
. In 1980, McDermott became friends with Lou Harrison
, the godfather of American gamelan
. It was Harrison who encouraged McDermott to start composing for gamelan.
McDermott first encountered gamelan c. 1965 in Amsterdam
. He later studied Javanese gamelan in Indonesia at the Akademi Seni Karawitan Indonesia (now Sekolah Tinggi Seni Indonesia Surakarta
) in Central Java
(1971, 1978, and 1984). He has studied or worked in Surakarta with Sumarsam
and Rahayu Supanggah
, and later, in the United States, with Pak Cokro
and Midiyanto. In the 1970s he made an intensive study of Hindustani classical music
, studying with sitarist Ira Das Gupta, and with renowned tabla player Zakir Hussain
.
), focusing primarily on encouraging new compositions for gamelan. He has received several Fulbright grants and National Endowment for the Arts
commissions. He was a recipient of a "Master's Award" from the Oregon Arts Commission
.
McDermott's compositions have been performed in North America, Europe, and Asia. From the earliest period he was drawn to cross-cultural works, multimedia, and theatrical music. These interests continue to this day. Two of his operas, The King of Bali and Mata Hari, juxtapose gamelan and Western ensembles. Both were written and performed in the U.S. with English texts in the 1990s, and in the new century have been translated into Indonesian
and performed in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
His musical styles have swayed in different directions. His generation witnessed the onset of a wealth of new styles, and in his early days he tried his hand at many of them. By and by he eschewed the poles of abstract atonality and indeterminacy that were much in favor in the 1960s and 1970s. Instead he turned increasingly to modality, melody, and counterpoint, which styles have continued since. His compositional goals are expressivity, depth, and spirituality, yet often with a light heart. In Asia, he advises young composers to borrow what they can from western traditions, saying it will help them speak to international audiences. But he insists the soul of their music as well as many of its techniques must come from their own soil.
(now Hampton University) in Virginia
(1966–67) and at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music
in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
, where he served for a time as dean and director (1967–1977). In 1977 he began teaching at Lewis & Clark College
in Oregon
; he retired in December 1997 and is now a professor emeritus. While there he began the college's world music program and in 1980 founded its first gamelan, Venerable Showers of Beauty, which was purchased in Java with the help of Rahayu Supanggah
and Nyonya Nora along with an American patron, Loraine Fenwick. He directed the gamelan and later invited Javanese musicians to teach (including Midiyanto, Supardi, and Darsono). He also instituted classes in Indian and African music performance with Nisha Joshi and Obo Addy
. He has since helped to establish gamelan programs at the College of William and Mary
and the University of Puget Sound
. Among his composition students at Lewis and Clark College were Greg Bowers, Erika Foin, Hoe Yeong KIm, Duncan Nielson, Myrna Schloss, and Sophia Serghi.
, Java and the United States. In Yogyakarta, he directs an ensemble called Musica Teatrica Nova.
+1978 - Smoke of Burning Cloves, solo instrument
Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States, and a nationally renowned resort city for gambling, shopping and fine dining. The city also served as the inspiration for the American version of the board game Monopoly. Atlantic City is located on Absecon Island on the coast...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, September 5, 1933) is a classically trained American composer and ethnomusicologist. His works show particular influence from the musics of South
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
and Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
, particularly the gamelan
Gamelan
A gamelan is a musical ensemble from Indonesia, typically from the islands of Bali or Java, featuring a variety of instruments such as metallophones, xylophones, drums and gongs; bamboo flutes, bowed and plucked strings. Vocalists may also be included....
music of Java
Java
Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...
. He is among the second generation of American composers to create and promote new compositions for gamelan.
Education
He received a B.F.A. in music composition from the University of PennsylvaniaUniversity of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
(1959), an M.A. in music history from the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
(1961), and a Ph.D. in music history, theory, and composition from the University of Pennsylvania (1966). His composition instructors included Constant Vauclain, George Rochberg
George Rochberg
George Rochberg was an American composer of contemporary classical music.-Life:Rochberg was born in Paterson, New Jersey. He attended the Mannes College of Music, where his teachers included George Szell and Hans Weisse, and the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Rosario Scalero and...
, Darius Milhaud
Darius Milhaud
Darius Milhaud was a French composer and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as The Group of Six—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions are influenced by jazz and make use of polytonality...
, and Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. Another critic calls him "one of the great visionaries of 20th-century music"...
. In 1980, McDermott became friends with Lou Harrison
Lou Harrison
Lou Silver Harrison was an American composer. He was a student of Henry Cowell, Arnold Schoenberg, and K. P. H. Notoprojo Lou Silver Harrison (May 14, 1917 – February 2, 2003) was an American composer. He was a student of Henry Cowell, Arnold Schoenberg, and K. P. H. Notoprojo Lou Silver Harrison...
, the godfather of American gamelan
American gamelan
American gamelan could refer to both instruments and music; the term has been used to refer to gamelan-style instruments built by Americans, as well as to music written by American composers to be played on gamelan instruments...
. It was Harrison who encouraged McDermott to start composing for gamelan.
McDermott first encountered gamelan c. 1965 in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
. He later studied Javanese gamelan in Indonesia at the Akademi Seni Karawitan Indonesia (now Sekolah Tinggi Seni Indonesia Surakarta
Sekolah Tinggi Seni Indonesia Surakarta
Institute Seni Indonesia Surakarta is an arts university in Surakarta, Indonesia.It was founded in 1965 as the Akademi Seni Karawitan Indonesia . In 1983 it merged with the Akademi Seni Tari Indonesia to form the Sekolah Tinggi Seni Indonesia Surakarta...
) in Central Java
Central Java
Central Java is a province of Indonesia. The administrative capital is Semarang. It is one of six provinces on the island of Java.This province is the province of high Human Development in Indonesia and its Points Development Index countries is equivalent to Lebanon. The province of Central Java...
(1971, 1978, and 1984). He has studied or worked in Surakarta with Sumarsam
Sumarsam
Sumarsam is a Javanese musician and scholar of the gamelan.-Life:Sumarsam was born in Dander, Bojonegoro, East Java, Indonesia. He first performed gamelan at the age of seven. He began his formal gamelan education in 1961 at the Konservatori Karawitan Indonesia in Surakarta...
and Rahayu Supanggah
Rahayu Supanggah
Rahayu Supanggah is an Indonesian composer of more than 100 pieces, known mostly for his part in the international collaboration Realizing Rama and the music score composed for Robert Wilson's I La Galigo. His compositions for Opera Jawa won the Asian Film Award in 2007. Since 2007 he is resident...
, and later, in the United States, with Pak Cokro
K. P. H. Notoprojo
K.P.H. Notoprojo, also known as Tjokrowasito, Wasitodipuro, Wasitodiningrat, among other names, was one of the most highly respected performers of Javanese gamelan. He led the Paku Alaman palace gamelan as well as the gamelan for the Radio Republik Indonesia Yogyakarta, and taught gamelan in...
and Midiyanto. In the 1970s he made an intensive study of Hindustani classical music
Hindustani classical music
Hindustani classical music is the Hindustani or North Indian style of Indian classical music found throughout the northern Indian subcontinent. The style is sometimes called North Indian Classical Music or Shāstriya Sangeet...
, studying with sitarist Ira Das Gupta, and with renowned tabla player Zakir Hussain
Zakir Hussain (musician)
Zakir Hussain , , is an Indian tabla player, musical producer, film actor and composer.-Early life:Hussain was born in Mumbai, India to the legendary tabla player Alla Rakha. He attended St...
.
Compositions
Many of McDermott's works are written for standard Western ensembles (e.g. chamber, orchestral, choral, solo, and electronic). In 1969 he began to incorporate sounds and ideas from North Indian music. In 1980 Lou Harrison encouraged McDermott to begin composing for gamelan. He has since composed a number of works for gamelan (some in combination with Western instruments), and has presented gamelan workshops in several Asian nations (including Malaysia and JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
), focusing primarily on encouraging new compositions for gamelan. He has received several Fulbright grants and National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
commissions. He was a recipient of a "Master's Award" from the Oregon Arts Commission
Oregon Arts Commission
The Oregon Arts Commission is a governor-appointed body of nine commissioners who allocate grants for artists based in the U.S. state of Oregon. It receives the bulk of its funding through the National Endowment for the Arts, the state, and the Oregon Cultural Trust.-History:Established in 1967,...
.
McDermott's compositions have been performed in North America, Europe, and Asia. From the earliest period he was drawn to cross-cultural works, multimedia, and theatrical music. These interests continue to this day. Two of his operas, The King of Bali and Mata Hari, juxtapose gamelan and Western ensembles. Both were written and performed in the U.S. with English texts in the 1990s, and in the new century have been translated into Indonesian
Indonesian language
Indonesian is the official language of Indonesia. Indonesian is a normative form of the Riau Islands dialect of Malay, an Austronesian language which has been used as a lingua franca in the Indonesian archipelago for centuries....
and performed in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
His musical styles have swayed in different directions. His generation witnessed the onset of a wealth of new styles, and in his early days he tried his hand at many of them. By and by he eschewed the poles of abstract atonality and indeterminacy that were much in favor in the 1960s and 1970s. Instead he turned increasingly to modality, melody, and counterpoint, which styles have continued since. His compositional goals are expressivity, depth, and spirituality, yet often with a light heart. In Asia, he advises young composers to borrow what they can from western traditions, saying it will help them speak to international audiences. But he insists the soul of their music as well as many of its techniques must come from their own soil.
Teaching
McDermott has taught at the Hampton InstituteHampton University
Hampton University is a historically black university located in Hampton, Virginia, United States. It was founded by black and white leaders of the American Missionary Association after the American Civil War to provide education to freedmen.-History:...
(now Hampton University) in Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
(1966–67) and at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music
Wisconsin Conservatory of Music
The Wisconsin Conservatory of Music is an independent music school located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The conservatory teaches many types of music, including classical, jazz, rock, folk, and blues...
in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...
, where he served for a time as dean and director (1967–1977). In 1977 he began teaching at Lewis & Clark College
Lewis & Clark College
Lewis & Clark College is a private institution of higher learning located in Portland, Oregon. Made up of an undergraduate College of Arts and Sciences, a School of Law, and a Graduate School of Education and Counseling. Lewis & Clark is a member of the Annapolis Group of colleges with athletic...
in Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
; he retired in December 1997 and is now a professor emeritus. While there he began the college's world music program and in 1980 founded its first gamelan, Venerable Showers of Beauty, which was purchased in Java with the help of Rahayu Supanggah
Rahayu Supanggah
Rahayu Supanggah is an Indonesian composer of more than 100 pieces, known mostly for his part in the international collaboration Realizing Rama and the music score composed for Robert Wilson's I La Galigo. His compositions for Opera Jawa won the Asian Film Award in 2007. Since 2007 he is resident...
and Nyonya Nora along with an American patron, Loraine Fenwick. He directed the gamelan and later invited Javanese musicians to teach (including Midiyanto, Supardi, and Darsono). He also instituted classes in Indian and African music performance with Nisha Joshi and Obo Addy
Obo Addy
Obo Addy is an Ghanaian drummer and dancer who was one of the first native African musicians to bring the fusion of traditional folk music and Western pop music known as worldbeat to Europe and then to the Pacific Northwest of the United States in the late 1970s...
. He has since helped to establish gamelan programs at the College of William and Mary
College of William and Mary
The College of William & Mary in Virginia is a public research university located in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States...
and the University of Puget Sound
University of Puget Sound
The University of Puget Sound is a private liberal arts college located in the North End of Tacoma, Washington, in the United States...
. Among his composition students at Lewis and Clark College were Greg Bowers, Erika Foin, Hoe Yeong KIm, Duncan Nielson, Myrna Schloss, and Sophia Serghi.
Current activities
He presently divides his time between YogyakartaYogyakarta (city)
Yogyakarta is a city in the Yogyakarta Special Region, Indonesia. It is renowned as a centre of classical Javanese fine art and culture such as batik, ballet, drama, music, poetry, and puppet shows. Yogyakarta was the Indonesian capital during the Indonesian National Revolution from 1945 to...
, Java and the United States. In Yogyakarta, he directs an ensemble called Musica Teatrica Nova.
Selected works
- 1967 - Five Bagatelles, piano
- 1970 - Three for Five, flute, sax, tabla, vibes, piano
- 1972 - Komal Usha-Rudra Nisha, sitar, flute, guitar, and double bass
- 1972 - He Who ascends by Ecstasy into Contemplation of Sublime Things Sleeps and Sees a Dream, piano and tape
- 1973 - Time Let Me Plan and Be Golden in the Mercy of His Means, guitar and harpsichord
- 1975 - Magic Grounds, piano
- 1975 - Orpheus, tape and video
- 1975 - Pictures at an Exhibition, tape and slide projections
- 1976 - Siftings Upon Siftings, orchestra
- 1977 - Slayer of Time, Ancient of Days, (cantata), voices, E. horn, harp, cello, percussion, texts from Bhagavad-Gita and Rabindranath Tagore
- 1978 - Rain of Hollow Reeds, tape
+1978 - Smoke of Burning Cloves, solo instrument
- 1978 - A Perpetual Dream, opera for solo voice, tape, dancers/mimes, bonang, and toy piano
- 1979 - Solonese Concerto, piano and chamber orchestra
- 1980 - A Stately Salute, in honor of Lou Harrison, pelog gamelan
- 1980 - Laudamus, chorus
- 1981 - Kagoklaras (A Different Song), gamelan and prepared pianoPrepared pianoA prepared piano is a piano that has had its sound altered by placing objects between or on the strings or on the hammers or dampers....
- 1981 - Tagore Songs, soprano and guitar
- 1982 - Sweet-Breathed Minstrel I, a mystic poem of Rumi, slendro gamelan, two solo voices, and viola
- 1983 - The Dark Laments of Ariadne and of attis, 2 songs after Catullus, soprano, narrator, viola, tape
- 1984 - The Bells of Tajilor, gamelan slendro/pelog
- 1986 - Fiddles, Queens, and Laddies, soprano, tape, and drums on texts by Laurence Sterne and Robert Burns
- 1990 - The King of Bali (opera), gamelan and orchestra
- 1991 - Fugitive Moons, string quartet
- 1994 - Mata Hari (opera), chamber music group and gamelan
- 1994 - Titus Magnificus, orchestra
- 1997 - Sweet-Breathed Minstrel II, pelog gamelan, two solo voices, and male chorus (3-4 voices), text by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad RumiJalal ad-Din Muhammad RumiJalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Balkhī , also known as Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī and popularly known as Mevlānā in Turkey and Mawlānā in Iran and Afghanistan but known to the English-speaking world simply as Rumi was a 13th-century Persian Muslim poet, jurist, theologian, and Sufi mystic...
- 1999 - Quartet for trumpet, sax, piano, percussion
- 2002 - The Spirit Takes Wings and Soars (or Dragons in the Grachten), 12-tone gamelan and saxophone quartet
- 2003 - Divine Songs for voice and gender/vibraphone
- 2005 - A Little Concerto, gamelan slendro/pelog
- 2005 - The Blue Forest, gamelan, chorus, dancers, and shadow puppetry
- 2006 - Cahaya Jiwa (Light of the Soul), solo voice and instrument
- 2008 - "Mimpi Solo (Solonese Dreams)", gamelan
Published writings
- McDermott, Vincent (1966). "The Articulation of Musical Space in the 20th Century." Ph.D. dissertation. University of Pennsylvania.
- McDermott, Vincent. "A Conceptual Musical Space." Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, v. 30, no. 4 (Summer 1972), pp. 489–94.
- McDermott, Vincent, with Sumarsam. "Central Javanese Music: The Patet of Laras Slendro and the Gender Barung." Ethnomusicology 19:2 (1975).
- McDermott, Vincent. "Gamelans and New Music." Musical Quarterly, v. 72, no. 1 (1986), pp. 16–27.