Molly Joyce: Music of disability
Read my interview with US-based new music composer and performer Molly Joyce. She is a composer based in the United States. She had been involved in a car accident which resulted in almost losing her left hand and she identifies herself as disabled. Using her own personal experience in her work, Joyce wants to make music that exceeds limitations and that everyone can feel and perceive, using different elements for various audiences with disabilities. The composer creates a platform that embraces disability and gives disabled people a voice. The interview is co-created by Armands Stefans Sarguns who created text version of video interview.
Molly is currently a Dean’s Doctoral Fellow at the University of Virginia, focusing on Composition and Computer technology. Her creative projects have been presented and commissioned by Carnegie Hall, TEDxMidAtlantic, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Bang on a Can Marathon, Danspace Project, Americans for the Arts, National Sawdust, Music Academy of the West, Gaudeamus Muziekweek, National Gallery of Art, Classical: NEXT, and featured in outlets such as Pitchfork, eBay, Red Bull Radio, WNYC’s New Sounds, and I Care If You Listen. Her compositional works have been commissioned and performed by ensembles including Vermont, New World, New York Youth, Pittsburgh, Albany, and Milwaukee Symphony Orchestras, as well as the New Juilliard, Decoda, Contemporaneous ensembles, and Harvard Glee Club. She has also written for publications 21CM, Disability Arts Online, and Women in Foreign Policy, and is a member of the Americans for the Arts Artists Committee.
How would You define a good musical composition?
It is a tough question. Personally it is something that keeps my attention and takes me to unexpected places. At least with my own music I sometimes try to give an element of surprise to the listeners . Some of the pieces I have composed have a form that might turn out to be different from what one could have expected at the beginning.
What is Your musical idea?
My musical ideas vary with the specifics of each piece. I am influenced by minimalist and post-minimalism composers. My work has a constant pulse or a lot of repeated figures. When it comes to the instrumentals and technical aspects of a piece, I involve electronics, reverbs and I also perform on a toy organ. Its sound has become a crucial part of my style and, in a way, others can learn a lot about my music by understanding the instrument itself, for example, chord buttons that are located on the left hand side, which includes six major and six minor chords, so it is not fully chromatic. Because of that I explore various chord progressions before I decide what fits in each piece.
You put disability in the centre of your compositions. Could you elaborate on that?
I identify as disabled because of a car accident that happened a little more than 20 years ago, when my left hand was nearly amputated. Since the accident, I have been on a journey of acceptance. It all started off with denying the accident and my disability to embracing it. I have had to come a long way, while unfolding my disability, and it has paralleled the progression of my artistic practice. During this time, I enriched my knowledge of music composition by composing for others, which was my main focus for a period of time. I also started exploring further into the realm of performance collaboration and that correlated to my involvement in different communities and highlighting the voices of other disabled people. The more I learn about disability, the more I see it as a creative source, which inspires me to explore different ideas and ways of reckoning with disability in society, the social construction of it and the realms of accessibility to the largest audience possible.
Watch full interview:
Initially I started performing with videos of my work, for example, when I did solo performances they had captions with the lyrics I was singing, which I hope was especially helpful to the people who are Deaf or hard-of-hearing. I have expanded the different types of sensory experiences to be inclusive of further disabilities, which has become apparent in my collaborative work. This includes audio description, which helps understanding visual movements to blind and low vision users or just audio description users in general, as well as, sign language interpretation which I have done for videos and live performances. It is one of my dreams to have more tactile and haptic outputs of the music, for example, vibrational objects or technology, which has an interesting cross-section with Deaf and hard-of-hearing and blind and low vision users. These accessibility facets are often viewed as add-ons, so I like the challenge of integrating it in my art in a way that it seems undetachable from the experience.
Do You collaborate with disabled performers as well?
Yes, quite often. I would say my most frequent collaborator is Jerron Herman, who is a dancer. We both have impaired left sides through different sources. Mine was acquired through my car accident, but his is congenital from cerebral palsy, so he was born with his disability. We love exploring that kind of shared terrain and similar experiences we have had through life in our work, keeping in mind our different sources of disability. We have made different kinds of works and done everything from just focusing on video work or the live performance, even taking video to live performance and everything in between, starting to open up our projects to other collaborators as well.
What does Your approach, to Your mind, bring to the music industry?
It is a question that I need to think about below surface level and dig deeper into it. I believe that one of the things that stands out is the focus on visual impression and how fast the performer can move. From where I stand, it ties with the idea of almost Olympian-like virtuosity and I like to find ways of including disability in that intersection. For me it is about getting away from that normative and ableist idea of virtuosity to really open it up to each individual. I would like to add that aesthetics and accessibility naturally involves different sensory and multimedia outputs and I believe that people who do multimedia or multidisciplinary work take that into account when working on different projects.
Are you considered a multimedia composer?
I am not sure, because I feel like artists are not comfortable with labels. I involve myself in a many parts of the production process, such as video editing and creating captions. I am not the best editor out there, but indulge myself in the process especially when doing my own solo performances with video, so I appreciate having the option to do so. My involvement depends on the form of expression, for example, if the piece requires only captions or text, then I do it myself. But I also like collaborating with filmmakers to get their perspective and expertise. I believe it is interesting, if the composer is fully participating in each part of their work, from composing to editing it, because they know every detail and pacing of the piece and can see the progression of it as well as the changes that need to be made. When I edit my own videos I try to evolve the musical form by showing certain shots that expand over time, but I feel like creating each piece is a learning process during which I can hone my skills and learn new things too.
Why did you start creating multimedia or multi-sensory pieces?
I think it was a gradual evolution. I have started creating videos for various projects and I have worked a lot with the Philadelphia-based company called Four/TenMedia and I love their work. Often when I have a solo piece I like and the performer is willing to do it, we make a music video out of it. We work together successfully and I enjoy learning things from them, and as time passes I have realised that it is nice to have a video product out there. When I am performing, I am the only person on the stage playing this toy organ and singing, so ultimately the main thing that is keeping the attention of the audience are my hand movements. I perform with a profile view to the audience, but I realised that a video makes the performance more complete. It is about getting a more intimate connection with the audience, showing my disability, my hand and the scars on it and that is a view one might not get often. Combining it with the musical parts and captions of the lyrics, more people can understand and delve into my music, especially those for whom English is not their native language and for Deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences as mentioned earlier.
What kind of technological artefacts do You use most often?
As for hardware, the common theme in my work is the toy organ and then an audio interface microphone, although I have started to perform with a musical glove more. Basically it is a MIDI controller, so I can change my sound a bit more to get away from playing the toy organ. I have also bought a music sensor called MUGIC, which is made by Mari Kimura, and it senses movement, therefore I can attach it to my left hand and make music through it. The software that I use most frequently is Sibelius for notation and Logic is my digital audio workstation, but for live programming I have started to learn Max MSP. For video editing I use Adobe Premiere.
How has Your music changed over time?
At the beginning it definitely involved a lot more electronics, but the most noticeable and significant progression would be the use of the organ and my voice as well. I have also started to incorporate spoken text in my music, while collaborating on a project that features voices of disabled people.
What is Your process of composing like?
It depends on the idea and the specifics of each piece, the task at hand or the commission and who I am writing for, because sometimes I work with writers and I receive a text beforehand. A lot of my pieces are fueled by binary forms or two opposites, for example, I want the range to go high and low or texture to go from thin to thick, etc. I feel that is what helps me through the writing process without feeling like I am put into a box too early on, so the progression does not feel forced and it is open to various continuations as I am writing. My interest in binaries probably comes from my hands in a way that they feel very similar and yet very different from each other, so that is a big inspiration when it comes to composing.
If the accident had not happened, would Your music be any different?
There is a solid chance that I might not have started to focus on composing. Before the accident I played violin, but after that I started learning cello and trumpet. However composing was more accessible to me, because I could do it all on the computer as my left hand was significantly weaker and I could not hold the instruments or play them, etc. The accessibility was a big part of why I started getting interested in composing, but I also gravitated towards it, because it felt like there were no limitations and I could let my imagination run free.
What do You fear as a composer?
It may seem a little career-oriented, but it is mostly about getting my music out there and reaching an audience. I think because of the fact you work so hard you just hope to share your work as much as possible.
Why do You compose?
To me it feels like both the most challenging but also the most natural thing I know how to do. It gives me a lot of joy yet there are moments when the process becomes very frustrating. It is challenging in a good way andI am addicted to it. For example, if I take a break, I will always feel ready to get back to work especially when something does not feel right.
How has music and the audience in the US changed in the last few decades?
It has become more equitable and diverse, because it represents a wider range of genres and sounds as well as representation of different voices or identities. I am biased, but I would like to see the extension more towards disabled voices and composers. I think people are also more open and receptive to new music and experiences that they have not seen before.
What direction do you think music is going in?
I think some of the most interesting output is on albums and how composers perceive these projects. Judd Greenstein, one of the co-founders of the New Amsterdam record label, has said that the “album is the new symphony.” I love that saying, because an album is a strong statement and I am interested to see if this development will continue.
What is the role of new music in the USA?
I believe the role is to highlight diversity and different standpoints of musicians and composers who are reflecting on what is happening in the world. And from where I stand it is also about giving a platform to marginalised communities of the society as well.
What advice would You give to young composers?
Remembering your roots and why you started composing in the first place, because it is very easy to lose yourself in the business and stress of it all. Additionally, I always loved this saying by my former teacher and mentor Missy Mazzoli : “Have a life, not a career”.
Selection of music composed by Molly Joyce:
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