Rubber Chicken Rag
Rubber Chicken Rag draws upon American roots music; however, it is not a traditional kind of rag. It is meant to be fun and audacious. Listen for the shifting time, fragmented phrases, and other craziness. Performers can take the music in any creative direction they want to go with it. Recorded by Amy Leonard, violin; E. Shawn Qaissaunee, guitar; and Peter McCarthy, bass.
I compose in a variety of ways. Some pieces have such a strong creative flow that they practically write themselves. Whereas, others require a great deal of work and revision. Rubber Chicken Rag is one that took quite a bit of work. In the initial draft of this piece it was entirely in 4/4. I had already written several rags that were in a traditional style (more or less). Wanting to take it in another direction, I began to envision Rubber Chicken as a radically different kind of rag.
With my trusty pencil and eraser, I began to remove notes here and there. This was not done in a random way. Rather, it was methodical. As notes were removed as being unnecessary the revised phrases and the resulting shifting time felt more natural to me and, above all, funny. I was laughing to myself through this whole process. From single notes, I graduated to removing entire measures. This resulted in having fragmented phrases in certain places. I think of this process as being similar to sculpture in chipping away at everything from around the finished work.
In the second part of my revision process I used the A-B-C sections, or parts of sections, in what I think of as modular assembly:
First part: The A section is 8 bars. The B section is 5 bars followed by the first 2 bars of A. The C section is 7 bars. A 4-bar interlude connects the first and second parts. Second part: The A section, 8 bars. Instead of the B section following A, a permutation takes place with 6 bars of the C section. Then, a variation of the 3rd measure of B (first part) is used as a connector to the first 2 measures of A followed by 4 measures of B. This leads to 5 measures having repeated variations of the 5th measure of B (first part). Finally, the 4-bar interlude is used again (this time over a pedal point) to lead into solos or the DS. This is the 56-bar structure.
Solos can be played on the 56-bar structure. (They were not used on the recording.) The DS goes to the C section in the second part (measure 35). For the ending, the coda has collective improvisation around melodic fragments of the piece.
While this rag has traditional aspects, such as the old-sounding harmony, it is intended to be OUT. The funnier and the more outrageous, the better.
I compose in a variety of ways. Some pieces have such a strong creative flow that they practically write themselves. Whereas, others require a great deal of work and revision. Rubber Chicken Rag is one that took quite a bit of work. In the initial draft of this piece it was entirely in 4/4. I had already written several rags that were in a traditional style (more or less). Wanting to take it in another direction, I began to envision Rubber Chicken as a radically different kind of rag.
With my trusty pencil and eraser, I began to remove notes here and there. This was not done in a random way. Rather, it was methodical. As notes were removed as being unnecessary the revised phrases and the resulting shifting time felt more natural to me and, above all, funny. I was laughing to myself through this whole process. From single notes, I graduated to removing entire measures. This resulted in having fragmented phrases in certain places. I think of this process as being similar to sculpture in chipping away at everything from around the finished work.
In the second part of my revision process I used the A-B-C sections, or parts of sections, in what I think of as modular assembly:
First part: The A section is 8 bars. The B section is 5 bars followed by the first 2 bars of A. The C section is 7 bars. A 4-bar interlude connects the first and second parts. Second part: The A section, 8 bars. Instead of the B section following A, a permutation takes place with 6 bars of the C section. Then, a variation of the 3rd measure of B (first part) is used as a connector to the first 2 measures of A followed by 4 measures of B. This leads to 5 measures having repeated variations of the 5th measure of B (first part). Finally, the 4-bar interlude is used again (this time over a pedal point) to lead into solos or the DS. This is the 56-bar structure.
Solos can be played on the 56-bar structure. (They were not used on the recording.) The DS goes to the C section in the second part (measure 35). For the ending, the coda has collective improvisation around melodic fragments of the piece.
While this rag has traditional aspects, such as the old-sounding harmony, it is intended to be OUT. The funnier and the more outrageous, the better.
