George Crumb
It wasn't until I was finishing this site that I discovered the effect that my relationship with George Crumb's music had on me. It had been years since I had spent much time listening to his music, so it was quite a shock to see some of the methods I learned from him nearly 20 years ago suddenly start reappearing in things I was working on. The whirlpool image appears a few times in these pages. It never dawned on me that the picture of a Crumb score I found somewhere on the web was itself a whirlpool until I had been using it for weeks.
George Crumb was the first composer who had a strong influence me during my teenage years, when music was just about the only thing I thought about. I discovered him when I was about 14 years old, while reading a Newsweek article about the debut of one of his works by the New York Philharmonic. The article had a picture a portion of the score. The score ordered the string section to sit at the back of the stage, and play the same 30 or 40 bars of music continuously throughout the piece. To demonstrate the continuum effect he wanted, Mr. Crumb actually drew the music score in a large circle. When a player began playing the piece, the music just went on and on. I thought this was so amazing, that I grabbed a protractor and drew my own circular music paper so I could try it myself.
Mr. Crumb's music also helped me learn non-linear ways of thinking that are a great boon to doing work on the Web. During a performance, different players might be simultaneously playing music from scores in all kinds of different shapes, with many different tempi and meters. He orchestrates using instruments from all over the world, and he asks performers play these instruments in some very strange ways. Sometimes they don't play their instruments at all, but moan and chant while a piano pedal stays open to catch the overtones. There might be strange lighting for the stage. The players might have to wear black clothes and put on ancient masks. When it all comes together, it's some of the most beautiful music I know.
Perhaps the influence continues in some magical ways: I recently discovered that as I was living the life that is documented on many of these pages, Mr. Crumb completed a piece for the guitar, and the name of that composition is "Quest". Try to make that one up!
For many months, the page you are reading had among the only references to George Crumb on the Web. As a result, I received many messages inquiring about him, and a few asking if I could put them in touch with Mr. Crumb himself. I don't know him personally, and I'm far from being an expert on his music. Jaco Van der Merwe has created this wonderful little site for those wishing to learn more about him and his music.