For Reuben Radding

Reuben Radding, contrabass. Tom Swafford, composer. Reuben is a very experienced improvisor and has developed a vast repertoire of extended techniques. He demonstrated many of them for me and I then created a graphic score that indicates which extended technique to use and the duration and volume of each technique. I worked out a simple form for the piece and considered the relationships between the various sounds as I created the score. I feel comfortable taking credit for the composition although it is Reuben's excellent performance that makes the piece work. But any composition is really just a set of instructions and any piece's success is of course dependent upon the performer. I like to think about what constitutes a composition, how much comes from the composer and how much from the performer.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• For
• Reuben
• Radding
• contrabass
• extended techniques
• composition
• improvisation
• solo