Name: Mark Kirschenmann
Nationality: American
Occupation: Composer, performer, trumpet player, scholar of creative improvisation
Current release: Mark Kirschenmann's new album Tonics: 7 Melodies for Trumpet with Bamboo Mouthpipe is out via Infrequent Seams.
Recommendation for his current hometown of Ann Arbor: There are many lovely parts of Ann Arbor, such as the Nichols Arboretum, Matthei Botanical Gardens, and the Huron River. The University of Michigan—where I teach—is impressive to behold.
Topic I rarely get to talk about: I’m very interested in the composer / performer / improviser because I see these relationships as interwoven. Of course, there is a long history of it: Landini – J.S. Bach – Handel – Beethoven- Chopin – Liszt - Messiaen – Zappa – Zorn – and everywhere in jazz, rock and all around the world. The very first music ever made by humans had to have been improvised.
I’m particularly interested in composers who improvise to generate material and especially in those who compose while improvising. And, most of all, can we uncover evidence of someone’s compositional language embedded in their improvisations? Yes, we can! Messiaen’s Mass of the Pentecost and John Coltrane’s Giant Steps are excellent examples.
I’m also very interested in jazz improvisers who are willing/able to incorporate the melody as a portal for improvisation. I hear so many jazz improvisers negotiating the changes (harmony) to the exclusion of the melody. Of course, we have to understand and acknowledge the harmony, but that doesn’t mean we have to abandon the melody. I’m not suggesting that the melody needs to be quoted in an improvisation, but it can be kept close at hand as a reference point. It’s there for a reason!
This way of melodic improvising is validated by the great masters such as Sonny Rollins, Stan Getz, and Ella Fitzgerald, amongst many others. Lee Morgan’s improvisation on "Ceora" is a great example of playing to the melody.

If you enjoyed this Mark Kirschenmann interview and would like to hear more of his music, visit his bandcamp account.
 


Are there examples of minimalism in music – and outside of music - that impressed you early on?

Early on, I was drawn to Steve Reich’s phasing and tape pieces. By the time of Autobahn, the ultra-sophisticated minimalism of Kraftwerk had a hold on me and still does. I’ve long studied and admired Morton Feldman’s music for its “ambient” minimalism, such as Why Patterns and Triadic Memories, etc.

Miles Davis’s “He Loved Him Madly” is a gorgeous example of ambient minimalism.



[Read our interview with Denis Blackham about mastering Kraftwerk's Autobahn]

My album Tonics leans toward ambient minimalism, which is quiet and transparent, with non-motoric rhythms, although Tonics is more overtly melodic.

Were you ever interested in minimalism as a style – from the Philip-Glass-variety to solo instrumental work to minimal techno? If so, tell me a bit about your interest in this.

Somewhat, although I’m not exclusively committed to it. I equally like and create maximal, high-density music. I’m a big fan of Squarepusher and J.S. Bach.

I like noisy stuff; Wolf Eyes are local legends.

[Read our Wolf Eyes interview]

Do you tend to find that, as many claim, “less is more?” Are the notes you don't play really as important as the ones you do play?

YES! Because of Miles Davis, this lesson is embedded in my soul, and I continue to draw from it every day! Silence is a sound unto itself, and we can hear it! Silence provides contrast, it breathes and enables the ego to unravel. Miles Davis proved it, Kraftwerk too!

Miles Davis: “Some day I’m gonna call myself up on the phone, so when I answer, I can tell myself to shut up.”

Kraftwerk has created a pristine minimalism. I’ve yet to find a single wasted note in their entire catalog, which further applies to their lyrics, vocal delivery, and visual imagery!

Do you feel as that making music is a process of adding elements until it is done – or one where you chisel away pieces from something that is already there?

I freely draw from both of these principles as needed. I often find myself chiseling away to reveal something that was there all along, subtracting like a sculptor. Chiseling helps me to distill a melody to its essence.

For instance, “Vulnerable Yet” is an example of melodic chiseling. But, adding on often enables me to connect musical phrases into larger structures and blend colors, like a painter.



"Downtempo Nocturne" and "Episodes in Blue" are examples of adding phrases and blending colors.

Many artists are becoming more minimalist in their music as the years go on, focusing on the “essence.” How is that for yourself and how would you describe your development in this regard?

That’s interesting; it hadn’t occurred to me that many artists are becoming more minimalist over time.

Although I greatly respect it, Tonics doesn’t embrace rhythmic minimalism, ala Reich/Glass. I’m striving to create clear and transparent music where nothing is wasted, where every note and sound matters. Tonics emphasizes Feldman-like ambient minimalism and is melody-centric.

For physical reasons, I’m also learning not to waste notes because playing the trumpet can be physically taxing. In fact, I’m now playing as few notes as I can get away with!

What were some of the starting points for your most recent release?

For Tonics, the melodies and the sound of the horn with bamboo were the starting points. Once those were in place, I was ready to proceed with developing the surrounding ensembles and recording.

But these starting points also had their prompts. The sound of trumpeter Jon Hassell is an ongoing starting point.



For many years, I’ve been listening to and transcribing the Indian bansuri flute master Hariprasad Chaurasia, as well as the shakuhachi flute.



I’ve studied raga with a master teacher for several months, which showed me how little I know. I’m not at all qualified to make authentic contributions to these illustrious traditions, though I admire them. These influences surely hover in the recesses throughout Tonics.

How did a minimalist mindset possibly inform the creative process?

I started by trying to achieve a transparent, clear sound, which was born of necessity because the trumpet is very quiet with the bamboo interface. The minimalism was, therefore, a result of problem-solving.

I knew from the outset that I wanted to keep the melodies and sound of the horn as the focal point, that I wanted to explore linear, modal melodic shapes, flickers of non-functional modal harmony, and rhythms off the digital grid that pertain more to pacing than the marking of time.

My commitment to these premeditated materials may elicit a sense of minimalism, but it’s also about practical problem-solving and being concise.

Do you like to set yourself limitations? If so, which were some of those limitations for the new pieces?

Yes, the pieces on Tonics were deliberately limited so that the melodies and sound of the bamboo trumpet would remain the focus, without distraction.

The melodies are primarily diatonic to their parent mode/scale, which seemed to integrate best with the organic sound of the bamboo. My use of chromaticism was quite sparse, which was challenging because I have a high threshold for dissonance.

You can hear me embracing the limitations of modal diatonicism on “The Breathing Room,” “Butterfly Garden,” and “Streamlines.” I found this limitation to be liberating and fresh.



Thanks to sampling and digital synthesis, there are endless possibilities for sculpting the sounds and overall sound design of a piece or album. What are your considerations in this regard?

It’s a great time to be alive! Sound design is fully integrated into my compositional process, and I’m fascinated by it.

I’m always thinking about, listening for, and designing sound to match my compositional needs at any given musical moment.

Would you say that you approach your creative tools with a minimalist mindset? Or do you need a wide choice of instruments and tools to make music?

On Tonics, my approach to ambient minimalism resulted from the quiet, delicate nature of the trumpet with bamboo.

I hear sound in my mind’s ear all the time. Once I have a clear idea of how I might realize it, I will choose tools appropriate for the task. I will often try a particular sound only to find that it doesn’t work, so I’ll reiterate and try other tools, which are often plugins these days. The options available to us now as sound designers are wonderfully vast (maximal), but that vastness can sometimes become overwhelming and counterproductive.

Therefore, I limited my creative tools to only use what I needed. Across the entirety of Tonics, I tried to paint with a palette of melodies, colors, and sounds that were focused and complimentary.

What were some of the most important pieces of gear or instruments for this release?

First and foremost, a trumpet and a piece of bamboo that fit the horn were ground zero: minimal!

I tried many pieces of bamboo until I found one that tuned well without too many resonant nodes. I used a single Neumann KM 184 small diaphragm condenser microphone on the trumpet, Ableton Live as a recording device, and several plugins for the sampled ensemble sounds, which I played from a MIDI keyboard after recording the trumpet parts.

The ensemble samples included prepared pianos, strings, percussion, and voices. On the horn, I did some timbral shaping with transient EQ but used no compression. I added a touch of reverb to the horn.

I’ve concluded that I cannot master my work because I'm too close to it at that final stage and have lost objectivity. I have someone else master my recordings, but I have to trust them!
 
Reducing one's options and techniques often implies a different way of working with the materials. Tell me about yours, please.

Agreed. On Tonics, I tried to ensure that the surrounding ensemble sound did not distract from the bamboo trumpet melodies. Less is more.

You can hear this on “Butterfly Garden,” “Streamlines,” and “The Breathing Room.” I think it’s a reflection of being ergonomic and transparent, which appeals to me as a form of minimalism.



As mentioned, I also “reduced” the pitch content of the melodies by chiseling, and by adhering closely to the diatonic parent mode/scale.

On the other hand, I’m beginning to explore microtonality, which is endless.

French producer Guillaume Duchastel told me: “Minimalism is about more than owning fewer things. It’s about focusing on what truly matters.“ What are some of your strategies for separating what matters from that which doesn't?

I like that. I focus on distilling my music to its fundamental message, which in this case of Tonics was melody and the horn sound.

For instance, when mixing the album, I would sometimes listen with the volume so low that I could only hear one thing, which needed to be the horn. I would ask myself, what is the last thing I can hear until I don’t hear anything at all? If I could still hear the horn at the threshold of inaudibility, and nothing else, then I knew that the mix was true to what mattered most.

This can be heard on “Downtempo Nocturne,” and “Episodes in Blue,” which have a more colorful ensemble sound that I carefully balanced.



With so much incredible music instantly available, are you finding that you want to take it all in – or that you need to be more selective? How do you pick the music you really want to invest in?

I do like to take it all in. Streaming and the Internet are incredible resources for learning.

I find that when I’m imagining a project or piece, I’ll reference music that’s related. But, once a project or piece is underway with composing and/or recording, I almost stop listening to music altogether, or at least to similar music because it will start to clutter my ear. At that point, I just need to listen to myself. I pick music to invest in by following what appeals to me or piques my curiosity.

I also like to literally invest in the music of artists who I believe deserve wider recognition. For me, listening to music is very often a form of study, and I’ll never be done learning.

Would you say that minimalism extends into other parts of your life as well?

It does. I now find that I don’t need or want much from materiality or consumption outside of what’s essential for us to live.

I think that self-sufficiency and sustainability are forms of minimalism, as are modesty, humility, and quiet. Waste not, want not.