For So Long It's Not True - Chamber Orchestra
The University of Texas New Music Ensemble
www.facebook.com/pages/University-of-Texas-New-Music-Ensemble/273083699375695
performs*For So Long It's Not True* for Chamber Orchestra - Feb. 15, 2012
composed by Steven Snowden
For more info, go to:
stevensnowden.com/FSLINT.html
Program Notes:
My earliest memories of music come from the countless hours I spent on the construction site with my father. Just before beginning our day of hanging ducting or wiring thermostats, he would often plug in his ragged old boom box and set the dial to the local classic rock station. Amidst a backdrop of skill saws, nail guns and power drills, the air was saturated with the songs of bands that I eventually grew to love like Led Zeppelin, Lynard Skynard and Pink Floyd.
I eventually came to know every subtle nuance of the recordings that came blaring through that radio. However, because of frequent interruptions from construction noise and spotty reception, I could often only remember short segments of them for the first couple of years. Because this was my only consistent exposure to music at the time, I would often get these fragments stuck in my head with no idea of what came before or after them. Continuously looping through my mind, these bits and pieces would begin to lose all context and eventually mutate into something that hardly resembled what I had originally heard. (similar to the effect of saying a word over and over until it no longer makes sense)
Recalling those musically formative years, I wrote this piece based on one of my favorite songs, Dazed and Confused, recorded by Led Zeppelin in 1968. I took the title for this piece from its first line, “Been dazed and confused for so long it’s not true” and nearly every musical aspect of this work is derived from that song in some way. Along with melodic and rhythmic components from the original recording, I’ve incorporated reconstructions of more abstract musical elements like vocal style, guitar tone and drum fill patterns. Just as my mottled memory had warped them years ago, those bits and pieces quickly devolve into something far removed from those origins and eventually take on a life of their own.
