"Elasticity" and "Ogeechee" by Nicole Chamberlain: A Beatboxing Flute and Chinook Helicopters

When Nicole Chamberlain sent me her music, I didn't know what to expect. From the moment I pressed play, I was gobsmacked by her use of extended techniques. For the first time ever, I couldn't choose between two pieces - so I'm featuring both.


First up, there's "Elasticity" for flute, viola, and cello, which is such an effective and delicious grouping that I wish it was a standard ensemble. Take a listen:




Here's what Nicole has to say about this piece:

"Elasticity" was written for Cuatro Puntos specifically for the ensemble’s 2013 Fall tour in Bolivia. The composer, who is also a flutist, has always been enviously of string players who could drastically change sounds their sound by using different bowing and plucking techniques. This composition challenges the flutist to mimic those sounds using various techniques including beat boxing and pitch bending.The Merriem Webster dictionary translates elasticity as the capability of a strained body to recover its size and shape after deformation. Throughout this piece the tonal center struggles to move away by a quarter tone or more using pitch bending, glissandos, and modulation. No matter what develops throughout the piece the musicians always find themselves at C, right where they started in the beginning.

Musically Notable: In "Elasticity," the extended technique in the flute part is absolutely astonishing. Did you take any inspiration from other pieces, or did you come up with this particular sound on your own?

Nicole Chamberlain: As a flute player, I've had to study and use a lot of extended techniques. I love playing them. Naturally, I am influenced by flutists like Robert Dick and Ian Clarke. Greg Patillo actually came down to Atlanta and gave a workshop on how to beatbox. I loved it, and I wanted to experiment with it more. Its been fun to play with those extended techniques the way string players use different bowings and plucking in their music.

And now we have "Ogeechee," for orchestra - this is probably one of the best modern compositions for orchestra that I've heard in the past several years. 

Delicious, am I right? Here are Nicole Chamberlain's program notes for this piece:

Ogeechee (2012) was inspired by the composer’s parents’ home near Richmond Hill, Georgia, which sits on Ogeechee River marshland. The Ogeechee and its major tributary, the Canoochee, flow through eastern Georgia, draining a river basin rich with wetlands, forests, farms, and cities, Statesboro and Savannah among them. The composer writes: “My parents always wanted to live on the water and enjoy the peace and quiet. Mother Nature, however, had other plans. Sometimes it seems louder sitting on their back deck or front porch than sitting in the middle of NYC traffic. At times (especially at night when the frogs get going), you can’t even hold a conversation outside. The type of raucous noise changes throughout the day depending on what time of day it is, and in the distance you can sometime hear the cannon fire from Fort Stewart.” Ogeechee, a one-movement work, represents morning, afternoon, and evening on the Ogeechee River marshlands. 

Musically Notable: I see that "Ogeechee" was inspired by your parents' property, but I am wondering what your method of composition was. Did you have a particular sound in mind, and did you have to play around with techniques and sonorities until you found what you wanted?

Nicole Chamberlain: I knew I wanted to interpret the 24 hour cycle of the day at the marsh. I knew I wanted birds in the morning, bugs in the afternoon, and amphibians and alligators at night. My dad was a chinook helicopter pilot, and you could hear the helicopters leave in the morning and come back in the evenings. I wanted to add that as well. This was my main mission. I felt this helped make the extended techniques by vital and not just something I was using for the sake of using them. Does that make sense? So basically, there are 3 sections - morning (birds), afternoon (bugs), evening (frogs and alligators), separated by chinooks coming and going. 

Musically Notable: Are there any upcoming performances of either of these pieces?

Nicole Chamberlain: I'm afraid not. Getting an orchestra piece performed once is a rare achievement. I've not been able to get it performed anywhere else. I wish though! I think "Elasticity" might be shelved for a while. Cuatro Puntos played it quite a number of times with the last being in NYC in April. Hopefully someone else might play it, but nothing yet. The next performance of a piece of mine is a premiere of a tuba and piano work "Surus" which will be premiered by Bernard Flythe (I don't know the pianist yet) the first week in June at Kennesaw State University. Looking forward to that!

***You can catch Nicole on her website, NikkiNotes.com, or on Twitter @NikkiNotes!***

(If you know of some notable new music, please submit it through my website, or on Twitter @AngelinaPanozzo)