CFAMC LISTENING PAGE #35: Jesse Ayers

A monthly musical offering by a composer member of the Christian Fellowship of Art Music Composers. Both your listening and comments are encouraged.

SEPTEMBER 16, 2007

Jesse Ayers: "Jericho"

STATEMENT OF FAITH

In the Old Testament, God ordained that every fiftieth year (after seven cycles of seven years) was to be a Year of Jubilee: all debt was cancelled, indentured slaves were set free, and inheritances (land) were restored. It was to be a year of fresh starts and new beginnings. Jesus affirmed that He was the permanent fulfillment of Jubilee in Luke 4 when he read the Scripture in the temple beginning with the words "The Spirit of the Lord in upon me,"and concluding with the words "to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord" (adirect reference to the Year of Jubilee).

My experience has been that Jesus is still in the business of fresh starts and new beginnings. My debt to the enemy (Satan) was paid in full atthe cross; I am in the process of being set free from slavery (slavery to sin,slavery to other's opinions of me, slavery to the emotional baggage of oldwounds); and my inheritance (the Father's plan for my life) is being restored. I am Ezekiel's dry bones being breathed back to life -- all because of the incomprehensible mercy and love of Jesus and His direct intervention in my life.

THE WRITING OF "JERICHO"

Jericho was the first work I ever began with prayer and fasting. I had been granted a sabbatical leave to compose a new work, and it occurred to me (I believe at the prompting of the Holy Spirit) that I should ask the Lord if He had anything in mind for this piece. My prayer was *that* simple, "Do You have anything in particular in mind for this piece, Lord?" To be honest, I didn't really expect that He would, after all, He is busy redeeming lives and I think I was expecting Him to pat me on the head and say "run along and write your little piece and don't bother me right now." Well, that is not how it turned out. About six weeks later, He began "downloading" ideas, usually one at a time, followed by several hours to digest the idea. Then there would be an another "download," followed by more "digesting" time. I did not hear an audible voice, but thoughts or impressions would enter my mind that were not of my own doing, and which sometimes pushed me far beyond any comfort zones.

For instance, I was having lunch at the Chi-Chi's in Bowling Green, Ohio, when He spoke to me about the shout. The way the thought entered my mind, I could almost "hear" the twinkle in His eye as He prepared to stretch me. "You know, it says in Joshua that after the trumpets sounded, the people were to shout a great shout." I remember saying out loud, "No, Lord, they won't do it."

The people at the next table looked my way and began moving their dishes to another table.

I continued to explain concert etiquette to the Creator of all the Earth. "We train audiences to sit quietly and not make a sound. When its time to shout, they will sit on their hands and refuse to play ball."

"Trust me, they'll shout."

"No, Lord, I'm the professional here, I understand concert audiences better than..."

"Oh???"

My apologies if that transcript of the conversation offends anyone's religious sensibilities, but that IS how it went. Asking an audience to shout was a big stretch for me, and I really doubted that I would ever get a conductor to agree to perform it, much less hear if a real audience would shout a battle shout. But I realized that whether or not it were ever performed was totally beside the point; my option was to obey or disobey, clear and simple.

I am indebted to the two conductors to date who have shared my visionfor Jericho and brought it to the stage: Jeff Doebler of Valparaiso University and Rich Fischer of Concordia University Chicago (formerly River Forest).

PROGRAM NOTES

Jericho is a surround-sound piece employing expanded instrumentation,multiple antiphonal effects, narration, and extensive and unorthodox audience participation. It is based on the Biblical account of the Battle of Jericho(Joshua 6) in which the famed walls of Jericho fell down flat. The work wascomposed over a 17-month period from October 2004 - February 2005, and waspremiered April 22, 2005, by the Valparaiso University Chamber Concert Bandunder the direction of Dr. Jeffrey Scott Doebler. The score carries the dedication "to Ted, from whom I learned about risk taking and breakthrough." The composerthanks the administration of Malone College for their generous support of this project by the granting of a sabbatical leave the fall of 2004. This project is also funded in part by a Copying Assistance Grant from the American Music Center.
Compositionally, Jericho makes extensive use of the 15th century melody "Veni Emmanuel" ("O come, O come, Emmanuel"). It is used to generate motivic ideas, such as the horn and trumpet fanfare figures; it appears as a cantusfirmus in the synth bass in the long pedal tones; a three-voice, fifth species harmonization of Veni is used to generate harmonic cycles; and finally it is quoted directly in the last section of the piece as the audience sings thephrase "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel."
Several archeological excavations at Jericho (1909, 1957, 1997) havediscovered that the mound, or 'tell' of Jericho was surrounded by a great earthen rampart, or embankment, with a stone retaining wall at its base. The retaining wall was some 12-15 feet high. On top of that was a mudbrick wallsix feet thick and about 20-26 feet high, or 32-41 feet above ground level. This embankment behind the wall sloped upward to the a third wall surrounding the inner city, whose base was base was some 45 feet above the ground level outside the city and may have been another 12-20 feet high. This is what loomed 60-85 feet above the Israelites as they marched around the city each day for seven days. Excavations in different locations have found the same phenomenon: piles ofbricks from the collapsed outer wall formed a ramp against the retaining wall so that the Israelites could merely run up. ("The people went up into the city, every man straight ahead." Joshua 6: 20) But there is more. The German excavation of 1907-1909 found that a short stretch of the outer wall on thenorth side did not collapse, but was still standing [some 3300 years later!], andthat there were houses built against this section of wall. It is quite possiblethat this is was the location Rahab's house. (Joshua 2: 15). The Biblical account states that Rahab was spared because she hid Joshua's spies and helped themescape. The timing of the probable earthquake that felled the wall, coming as it did on the heels of the seventh march, the blast of the seven ram's horns, and the shout, would seem miraculous enough, but this was apparently a selective earthquake that left the favored house standing.

SURROUND STAGE SETUP

A few words about placement of the musicians will help you imagine the recording as a live concert.
Some of the musicians begin the work in their surround-sound positions while others begin on stage and move later in the piece. The eventual placement of the forces is:
1. Six percussion stations surround the audience: left and rightfront, left and right middle, and left and right rear. These are not elaborate set-ups; each has a bass drum or large tom-tom, a suspended cymbal, and onetubular chime each removed from the rack. 2. Two trumpets are in the right and left rear corners of the hall, on the balcony if one is available. They play a number of offstage fanfare figures which are answered by the four trumpets onstage.
3. The horn section begins onstage, but eventually moves to surround the audience: one on the left, one of the right, and two in unisonin the rear. This is for the sounding of the seven ram's horns (Joshua 6:4). The other four ram's horns are the two offstage trumpets in the two rear corners andtwo trombones which move to the two front corners of the stage.
4. There is an an additional woodwind choir in the rear balconythat plays long notes during the final slow section of the piece to augmentthe swirl of sound all around the audience.

BIO

Jesse Ayers (b.1951, Knoxville, TN, USA) has had his music performed in 75 U.S. cities, as well as venues in Europe, Japan, New Zealand, and Russia, and has twice had his music selected by the International Society of Contemporary Music to represent the United States at the prestigious World Music Days festival (Slovenia 2003 and Warsaw 1992).
His more important works explore the interaction between the spiritual and natural worlds and the redemptive intervention of God in the affairs ofthe human race. Ayers' works engage his listeners, transforming them from spectators into participants. Born in East Tennessee, Ayers began composing around age 14. He earned the Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the University of Tennessee and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Kentucky. He has studied composition with David Van Vactor, John Anthony Lennon, Guy Bachman, and Allen Johnson; choral conducting with Donald Neuen; and percussion with F.Michael Combs. Ayers has had master classes with composers Karel Husa, Norman Dello Joio, and Vaclav Nelhybel.
Ayers maintains a full teaching schedule at Malone College in Canton,Ohio. He has received the college's Distinguished Faculty Award, 15 awards from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), and grants from Meet the Composer, the American Music Center, and the Ohio ArtsCouncil.

SOLI DEO GLORIA!

For comments, e-mail Jesse directly at: mail@jesseayers.com

Visit Jesse's website at: http://www.jesseayers.com/

For more information on "Jericho" visit it's webpage at: http://www.jesseayers.com/Works/Jericho/Jericho_home.php

If you are a member composer interested in submitting a composition for an upcoming monthly CFAMC listening page, please contact Bill Vollinger at: WilliamVollinger@aol.com

For recent CFAMC Listening Pages, go to the following links:

August 2007: Carol R. Daggs
"Loveable"
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cfamc/message/1704

July 2007: Mark Hijleh
"O Ignis Spiritus"
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cfamc/message/1693

June 2007: David Horace Davies
"A Minimally Conscious State"
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cfamc/message/1689

May 2007: Adam Sovkoplas
"Sorrow"
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cfamc/message/1685