In Conversation with Composer Alvin Singleton
By Michael Kurth
I recently spent time talking with Alvin Singleton, who served as the ASO’s Composer-in-Residence under Robert Shaw from 1985–88. The ASO has performed many of Singleton’s works since then, and recorded several, including After Fallen Crumbs, written in memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Singleton is something of an elder statesman among living composers, always willing to share a story, often told with a wry laugh. His music seems complex, but in unexpected ways: it charms and disarms musicians and audiences alike with its sparse economy. It’s a bit like musical judo, cannily using a listener’s own expectations and then leveraging them against themselves to win them over.
Michael Kurth: There are so many ways to describe your music. I think “compelling” is maybe the best word I can think of. What do you think it is about your music that is compelling to people?
Alvin Singleton: Perhaps because it’s structurally filled with surprises, a lot of silences and spaces in my compositions. Orchestral colors are another favorite comment.
MK: It seems to me like your music has time and space to move around inside a person before it moves on.
AS: That’s correct, ideas need time to develop. And this gives the listener time to reflect.
MK: Tell me about your compositional process. You say you “hear it,” but where does it come from, and how does it interact with the moment? Are you projecting it into the future as you write it, or are you just living in the moment that it exists in your head? I don’t know if that makes any sense…
AS: Well, yeah, sure it does. I’m really one who thinks in the moment. Once an idea surfaces, I start working with it, from one note to the next. Along the way, I figure out the rest with add ons, extensions until I reach a point to develop what I’ve come up with. That’s then the “aha!” moment. That’s what’s exciting about composing. The improvisational search for answers relating to an original idea. All art is about ideas that often come from the kind of culture that you’ve lived, and your life experience over time. I have heard so many new compositions, seen so many new visual art works and theater. Ideas upon ideas accumulate in my experience bank, and along the way, I make a withdrawal. When an idea comes to mind, it doesn’t leave my thoughts until I do something with it.
MK: Do you think Atlanta should have a conservatory?
AS: Oh, yes, they should have had one long ago. In fact, I discussed that with Robert Shaw. Because there is no institution like that in the whole Southeast. The nearest one is in Baltimore, Peabody. If we had a conservatory, a lot of people in the Atlanta Symphony would get more work, and not only that, we’d have ensembles being formed, old music ensembles, new music ensembles…
MK: What do you think about the current push to make symphonic programming more equitable, like programming more composers of color, more women composers, under-represented composers?
AS: First of all, I would not use color, age, or gender for programming. I think it ought to be based on talent. And secondly, programming in general — often ignores contemporary music. It’s because people have one idea about contemporary music — they think it’s not like Beethoven, or it’s nothing they can understand, which is a misnomer, many of these same people don’t even understand Beethoven! So, what are they talking about? And also, they forget the fact that when Beethoven lived, his music was new music! It’s a question of education, you know, symphony orchestras of today must be creative with their programming. If audiences tell them that what they played was too modern, then they have to step in and do some sort of education.
