Elliot Cole (b. 1984) takes the omnivore’s approach: he has sung in pop groups and musical theater, written concert music, worked as a commercial and hip-hop producer, played bass and piano in jazz combos, and written music software. He has a B.A. in Cognitive Linguistics and a B.Mus. in Composition from Rice University, and his interests in strict counterpoint and 19th century pedagogy also led him to study at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris. Currently focusing on dramatic work, he has collaborated with Mildred’s Umbrella Theater Company, the University of Houston Center for Creative Work, Divergence Vocal Theater, and his own chamber-pop ensemble. With bassoonist and rapper Brad Balliett he created the Rake’s Progress, a hip-hop reinvention of Stravinsky’s opera, which is being produced for live performance by the Metropolis Ensemble in 2011. This summer he is moving northward; he will begin doctoral work in composition at Princeton University in the fall.
I am following three paths in my work. First is a long-term project to define musical form in terms of procedures, rather than results. This thinking draws heavily on metaphors with the natural world, as well as the ideas of Deleuze, Serres, Manuel de Landa and Sanford Kwinter. Working on the procedural level has many advantages. Procedures are abstract, and as such extensible, scalable and consistent. Most important for me, however, is that by standing farther back, I have more leverage over the unknown. I write things I never would have imagined thinking note-to-note. And so my relationship to my work is not as a master imposing his masterpiece, but a gardener sprouting an unidentifiable plant. See Endgame Study, 0/1, Parable of the Sower, Ouroboros, Orgins Etudes.
The second path extends from the social power of music. I grew up in a town where it seemed like everybody knew how to play guitar. Making music was part of every get-together, our afternoons at the creek; we developed a canon of work we shared; we made records in our bedrooms and connected with each other through our work. In a culture where free time is increasingly devoted to prepackaged leisure, it was a way for us to spend time together off the grid, and to have a sense of creating and owning our culture. I strive to balance my institutional involvement with a strong commitment to the informal, the amateur, the tribal. Different values shape this type of music. It is simple and generous, modest in its attempt, easily shared and remembered. See 30 Rounds about Egypt, Babinagar
The third path is toward music as my own church without words. As an experience that resists my understanding, my impatience, my judgment and desire, it is precious to me — those parts of me are used to being indulged, and appreciate some peace. See Parable of the Sower, O.
Elliot Cole
September 30, 2009Elliot Cole (b. 1984) takes the omnivore’s approach: he has sung in pop groups and musical theater, written concert music, worked as a commercial and hip-hop producer, played bass and piano in jazz combos, and written music software. He has a B.A. in Cognitive Linguistics and a B.Mus. in Composition from Rice University, and his interests in strict counterpoint and 19th century pedagogy also led him to study at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris. Currently focusing on dramatic work, he has collaborated with Mildred’s Umbrella Theater Company, the University of Houston Center for Creative Work, Divergence Vocal Theater, and his own chamber-pop ensemble. With bassoonist and rapper Brad Balliett he created the Rake’s Progress, a hip-hop reinvention of Stravinsky’s opera, which is being produced for live performance by the Metropolis Ensemble in 2011. This summer he is moving northward; he will begin doctoral work in composition at Princeton University in the fall.