Composer Ted Moore was commissioned by AVIDduo through funding from the Mu Phi Epsilon Foundation to write for the 2013-2014 season.  We included his piece "deepities" on our debut CD "Interactions". Additionally, we toured throughout Iowa with Ted in March 2014, performing his pieces "Is himself no more" and "of circumstance" in addition to our commission and a few other works. We hope you enjoy Ted's music as much as we enjoyed performing it over the past year! This interview was transcribed from an interview with Ted in March 2014.
-BP & KH

AVIDduo: You are a Minneapolis based composer, sound designer, and music educator. What are your current musical projects and how would you describe your style?
Ted Moore: I am writing a piece for a dance performance that is going to happen at Luther in May. I'm collaborating with a choreographer that teaches at Luther. I am writing a piece for Sarah Porwoll-Lee, a bass clarinetist. That piece is being premiered in June. I am writing a piece for the Spektral Quartet and Tim Monroe, the flutist of Eighth Blackbird. I'm also working on a project that is going to be in the Northern Spark Festival, a Twin Cities Arts Festival that happens every summer from dusk until dawn. And my style- I often describe my stuff as electro-acoustic because it uses electronics and acoustic instruments. I really like trying to find new sounds and techniques and things to use in my pieces, which is why electronic music is appealing because it lets me do that. 

AD: You often collaborate with theater groups and dramatic productions; when did you start these partnerships and what are they? 
TM: I started in the fall of 2011, when I moved to the cities.  The group is called Sound Design, so it's creating any and all of the sounds that happen on stage. So, if there's a telephone call on stage, I have to get the speaker placed and make that sound happen. That's part of it. The other part of it, the more creative part, is composing music to support the story, underscore certain scenes, help with transitions, create sound cues that create and release tension, build suspense, create emotions, or set the scenes. For example, a scene in a TV studio- what does that sound like? So, I like it because it's thinking about making art, but perhaps with more plot and more character driven art making and I think that thinking about it in that way helps me with my music, as well. And collaborating is something that helps me think about my stuff and other peoples work in a different way and makes me a better artist. 

AD: You began your musical career by playing trumpet. When did you start composing?
TM: I started writing songs and sort of playing guitar and creating on the guitar in high school. It was just for fun and I didn't write it down, but it was the spirit of starting. And then in college, in Theory II, one of our assignments was to write a piece. We were given some text and told to write a piece. I really liked it and then Spring of my sophomore year I started taking comp lessons and the rest was history. 

AD: AVIDduo won a sizable grant to, among other things, commission you to write a work for flute and saxophone. Tell us about your piece and the inspiration for this work, which is now on our debut album Interactions. 
TM: The piece is called deepities. The inspiration started from the face that the two instruments are pretty similar in range, and by comparison of most instruments, they are pretty similar in timbre, too. So I was thinking a lot about how to use that or emphasize those similarities and de-emphasize those similarities. The piece became about playing in unison and what that sounds like and changing the timbre and how that timbre changes. The piece starts on a unison pitch and then diverges from the unison and there is a big shout section in unison. And at the end of the piece, extended techniques take the two instruments and separate them even more by using unique timbres that are unique to each instrument.  The form of the piece is- I think as many juxtapositions of pretty contrasting material, so by analysis, by some sort of traditional analysis, one might find it to be disjointed. But I think it works. A deepity is something that on the surface appears to be true, but isn't. That is where the title came from. 

AD: How was it working with AVIDduo? What did you think of the instrumentation?
TM: Working with AVIDduo was great because they were really receptive to working through the piece and taking feedback and working on it together in rehearsal. I really feel like this piece in particular benefitted from getting to work with the performers that way. The piece turned out the way I wanted it to because of that reason especially. It's about exploring what you have with the instrumentation and being about to create something out of that. 

AD: Where can musicians go to hear your work, obtain your scores, or commission you?
TM: They can visit www.tedmooremusic.com

AD: Do you have any advice for young composers?
TM: One of the mantras I use, which comes from a friend of mine, is "Keep the notes that sound good and get rid of the notes that don't"

Composer Anna E. Garman was commissioned by AVIDduo in 2012 to write for the 2013 season.  We chose to include her piece, "Cracked Brick", in our debut album, "Interactions".  We thoroughly enjoyed working with Anna and hope you all enjoy meeting her and hearing all of her marvelous work.
-BP & KH

AVIDduo: You began your musical studies on bassoon. How did you get started in composition?
Anna E. Garman: I was lucky enough to have a private lessons teacher who recognized that I was utterly bored with the middle school bassoon repertoire (of which there is basically none). He dabbled in composition himself, and introduced me to the idea of writing music when I was only a year into my studies. He told me where to download Finale Notepad, and the rest is history.

AD: What was your inspiration for Cracked Brick?
AEG:  I can't say there was any one specific thing that inspired me for Cracked Brick. When I started the piece I just knew I wanted to stretch my own boundaries as a composer. Knowing I would have a dedicated duo to perform the work gave me a lot of freedom to try new things without the fear of it being off-putting to the performers. AVIDduo was on the receiving end of that freedom.

AD: How was your experience writing for AVIDduo? Were there any advantages or disadvantages in writing for flute, piccolo, and saxophone?
AEG: I had a great time writing Cracked Brick. The instrumentation did present a few unique challenges, but overall I really like the combination of flute and saxophone. The biggest obstacles for me were the different dynamic capabilities of the two instruments and the relative lack of a bass register (as a bassoonist, I tend to gravitate towards low registers), but neither presented any serious problems. In fact, one of my favorite moments in the piece is when I completely forsake the low register and have both the flute and saxophone way up in the stratosphere.

AD: What are your current musical projects?
AEG: I am currently in the final semester of my masters degree, so at the moment all of my time is eaten up by my thesis. It's an as-of-yet untitled work for full orchestra and solo Tenor and Baritone. I'm using two texts, one is Psalms 139 and the other is A Wasted Illness by Thomas Hardy. It should be finished by April 2014.

AD: Your husband, Michael A. Garman, is also a composer. Have you ever collaborated?
AEG: We collaborated once, and had a lot of fun doing it. We each wrote one movement of a three movement miniature for bassoon and clarinet (our instruments) separately, and then came together to write the final movement. If anyone has ever participated in an “exquisite corpse” exercise, that is basically how we approached the last movement. I would write about four measures of clarinet music, then he would write four for bassoon, overlapping and getting ahead of me. It was quite a challenge to get into someone else's mind and try and keep the motives and harmonic language consistent. We performed the work at the University of Redlands in 2011, but the last movement has since been lost. My second movement is now a standalone work, entitled Wonderings Subdued.

AD: How can musicians commission you, purchase your scores, or hear samples of your work?
AEG: Everything can be found on my website at www.annaegarman.com. If you don't find what you're looking for there, I'd be happy to field your emails at composer@annaegarman.com. I have no problem handing out scores, parts, and recordings, so don't be shy.

AD: Do you have any advice for young composers?
AEG: I'd say that just like learning an instrument, composing is about practicing. Don't be afraid to try new things, make mistakes, and most importantly, learn from other composers AND musicians. You should always be thirsty for new information.

Anna E. Garman graduated from the University of North Texas summa cum laude with a BM in Composition, where she studied with Joelle Wallach and Joseph Klein among others. While at UNT she received a Presser scholar nomination, was a Concerto Competition finalist in composition, and was named Most Outstanding Undergraduate Composer. In addition to composition, she studied bassoon with Kathleen Reynolds, performed with various ensembles at UNT, worked for two years as a Supplemental Instruction Leader in music theory, and was a board member and officer of the UNT Composer's Forum.  Her music has been performed throughout Texas, as well as in California, Kentucky, and Minnesota. She is currently pursuing a Master of Music in composition from the University of Louisville as a Bomhard Fellow, where she studies with Steve Rouse.