Neal Todten bringing Steve Reich's music to New Orleans
Set Phasing to Stunning: an interview with Neal Todten
talking to Paul Oswell
This Friday (April 19th), Neal Todten will arrange and perform (with his ensemble) 'Music For 18 Musicians' (listen while you read, above!) at the Happyland Theatre. The piece was originally composed by contemporary minimalist composer Steve Reich, and its complexity means that it's rarely performed live. Neal will also be performing some of his own works. We caught up with Neal mid-rehearsal to find out how things are progressing and to talk about everything from the challenges and joys of Steve Reich's work, to the inspirational sounds of a frogs' chorus.
Out All Day: Hi Neal, thanks for taking time out of rehearsals to talk to us - how are they going?
Neal Todten: No problem, Paul. We are in the middle of our heavy rehearsal week. And I can say it makes things a lot easier when everyone is present. We were having some sectionals leading up to this week, but doing this piece without the rest of the ensemble present can be rather difficult because of how interlocked the writing is. There is no conductor, so it relies on cueing between different members of the ensemble to function.
I imagine a piece such as 18 Musicians is quite intense to practice for and perform, are there particular challenges involved with something like this compared to more 'traditional' classical music, would you say?
Well like I mentioned, there is a particular interlocking nature of this piece between members of the ensemble having a shared responsibility in giving directions. This piece was designed to function without a traditional conductor, but that distributes the responsibility of tempo, and generally not getting lost to every member of the ensemble. And as is true a lot of Steve Reich’s music, there is the matter of endurance. The piece lasts for about an hour, and four players are essentially playing every pulse of that entire hour, so mental and physical stamina is very much tested here. This is in addition to rhythmic syncopation in almost every part in the score, so I think having a good rhythmic feel is utterly necessary.
You've arranged and performed pieces by Steve Reich in the past, what draws you to him as a composer?
The first time I heard one of Steve Reich’s pieces was when I was studying music composition at Cleveland State University. Our graduate percussion department performed Six Marimbas¸ and I can say I was genuinely surprised that I had never encountered something like that before. Something in its musical effect...it very much put me into this state of highly stimulated meditation. A music that was totally novel to me. And I remember wondering why more music didn’t do that. It was a very unique effect that I later discovered is present in much of this early minimalist repertoire, so that ended up being where I was drawn to in terms of programing a concert series.
I kind of see him as a bridge between the classical and electronic music worlds in some ways - do you think that's a fair assessment?
His body of work was inspired by his early experiments with tape machines, but a lot of this piece is actually inspired by African drumming traditions as well as Balinese Gamelan ensembles. So while electronics like magnetic tape machines did inform this music, I’m under the impression that a lot a electronic music ended up being informed by this music. That being said, I’m not super familiar with the history of electronic music. But yes, Reich’s work grew out of experiments with early music technology, like tape loops.
Steve Reich pioneered a process called 'phasing' - could you briefly explain the concept to people who might not have heard it before?
I was near a water fountain in the French Quarter the other night, and there were hundreds of frogs ribbiting, and you could hear the rhythms all colliding and synchronizing at different times in this mesmerizing pattern. That is a kind of large scale phasing. But if you have ever seen two cars waiting at a stop light with their turn signals on, you have seen visual phasing. The lights are blinking at different rates so they will follow a pattern of slowing coming into sync with each other, then lining up, then slowly drift away from each other. This same sort of idea is explored acoustically in Steve Reich’s body of work, especially in his earlier works.
I know you're also performing some of your own compositions, which other composers and musicians do you look to for inspiration? I know Reich often says that he aspires to Bach.
As part of this concert series it ended up focusing on the three big minimalist composers, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and Terry Riley. But this whole process has led me to find other affiliated composers, namely La Monte Young as the real first pioneer of minimalism, and Julius Eastman as a kind of forgotten/posthumously discovered fifth. Dickie Landry is someone else I had discovered through the process. An early concert featured the music of Frederic Rzweski, who was sort of an avant-garde adjacent to these minimalist composers. He actually performed with Philip Glass early on, but Rzweski’s work a little more I’d say European Modernist meets John Cage. All this said, I have always had a rather strong jazz influence, George Gershwin being my first favorite composer, and Thelonious Monk as a composer/improvisor definitely encompassed my musical curiosity for long spans of time.
You're a multi-instrumentalist - do you feel more comfortable with any particular instrument or does it depend on the piece or your mood?
I have the most recent experience as a pianist, having almost exclusively performed on piano since my move to New Orleans. But I had actually entered college as a percussionist. I had spent ten years performing and learning percussion, but in college I shifted my focus to piano, namely because I was studying music composition. I was being drawn to the harmonic aspect of it. That being said I defiantly see myself approaching the piano as a drummer. It has very much informed my technique on the instrument.
Are you a born and raised New Orleanian? Reich says that all music comes from a time and place and that New York always informs his music...do you feel the same way about your music and your geographical roots/being here in this city?
I was born in the Cleveland, Ohio area, and I went to school at Cleveland State University. So bringing this rather New York-centric music to New Orleans seems like kind of an odd fit, but I can say it really grew organically. The first concert I did in 2018 was pretty much a solo piano concert, minus one piece, featuring several minimalist works. It had just been something I was practicing on my own and I wanted to perform it. I rented this small local public theater and put flyers up on telephone poles. Some friends came out and people who had seen the flyers. And since that concert there was a connection. The audience was extremely receptive to the music, this concert series is an example of that.
Firstly the music is rhythmic. Almost all of this early minimalist repertoire is a heavy investigation into rhythmic structures. And we all know how important and vital rhythm is New Orleans. So it's easy for people who appreciate this city and its rhythms so find similarities in these minimalist works. A lot of this music is informed by musics from all over the world. Indian classical music, African drumming, Balinese Gamelan, jazz, in addition to the classical influence. People are always reveling in how much New Orleans culture is a gumbo of cultures from around the world, and I think this music is in a similar sentiment, it was just cooked up in the New York City artist loft scene.
Another aspect is that this music is very meditative, and almost trance inducing. This is perhaps the most potent characteristic of the music. It feels almost religious. And I believe that is where a lot of people take joy out of living in New Orleans. Maybe not a meditation, but a sort of grand feeling of being apart of a spirit that lives in the city. Like getting so caught up in carnival season that you find yourself having a spiritual experience. This music very much carries a spiritual element, that while is not directly written into the music, it is very much the effect.
What was your musical education like? Are you self taught?
I grew up in a city with a large public school music program, so that was where my musical experience started. Playing in school band and drumline in marching band. I also jammed with a friend in sort of rock/punk band. I received my Bachlor’s in Music Composition at Cleveland State University where I studied jazz piano and classical percussion. This being said, I have always been good at teaching myself things. So lots of my improvisation comes from that place. And this informs my composition. My composition professors were very open minded, so they let me sort of investigate my own interests rather than force that I write in a very European classical style. We did study works from that tradition, but I was never really forced to write in that manner.
Tell us a little bit about the venue, Happyland Theatre, and what you like about it.
The Happyland Theater was built over one hundred years ago as a silent film theater. All of the structure is built with pre-world war timbers. Wood rafters, wood floor, and framing. This makes the space a very special acoustic environment. It feels like a relic of the past that has been saved by the theater operator. The space functions as a sort of DIY art space, hosting rather experimental works, and this has always been where my community has come from. And as an added interesting aspect, many of these early minimalist works that I have programmed at the Happyland were cooked up in a kind of raw artist loft scene in New York City in the 1960’s. A lot of these pieces were first performed in loft spaces, so I like to think this work in this space feels like a return to the origins of this music.
You perform a fair amount around the city - what are your other musical projects?
I work most with the Theater and Dance Department at Tulane University, working as a dance accompanist. This has been my sort of day hustle as a musician, something I got into in college. But I also have performed extensively as a pianist in the New Orleans gigging scene. Traditional jazz, Ethio-Jazz with the Afrodiziac’s Jazz, and I sometimes front a James Booker inspired New Orleans R&B combo called the Boilermaker Combo.
I'll end with another Reich quote - he says he doesn't care how much people understand what it is that he's doing, he just wants people to be moved by the music. Is that a sentiment that you're on board with?
Very much. I have spent much of my life wondering if I was doing music the wrong way. Not composing as I should. Not learning piano the right way. But this is all because I have always had very strong musical instincts that kept me moving in a certain personal direction. And I think when I am doing a good job people can hear it. And I can see it on their faces. It doesn’t really matter how I am doing it, but I can recognize that people are really listening. And this is what I am after. I think this comes most directly from my family. We were not a musically trained family, but my father held music to a very high importance, strictly as a listener. And I think this is my most foundational relation to music. As a listener.
Thank you so much, Neal, I really appreciate your time and I'm looking forward to a great night on Friday.
Neal Todten arranges and leads Steve Reich's 'Music for 18 Musicians', as well as some of his own compositions at the Happyland Theatre this Friday, 19th April. For more information (on their Instagram account), click here.
Link to buy tickets for Friday via Eventbrite
You can also keep up with Neal's projects via his own Instagram here.
