My Cells (Part 1)

"My Cells" - title page to James Brandon Lewis' notebook

While at ACA, I've been enjoying my interactions with concurrent residents in the fields of music composition and poetry.

By sitting in on jam sessions with the musicians here, and attending a performance at Timucua White House in Orlando by Matthew Shipp, I've become fascinated with how composers have different ways of writing and visualizing their music.

I asked associate artist-in-residence James Brandon Lewis about his process and notations.  He spoke to me about composing not just from hearing and sound, but also from kinesthetic memory...how the keys on his saxophone feel and the memory in his hands. 

James has a very organized, systematic method of practicing and building a personal vocabulary through which he translates his emotions to music. His "study material" includes a notebook where he writes down music notations in numbered "cells." He's not fully certain yet how his meticulous documentation leads to his intense, passionate improvisation that I've been privileged to listen to over the past 3 weeks, but he is sure that his studies feed his end results.  In looking at his notebook, I was also sensitive to the delicate, pencil drawn marks he uses to note his music, and recalled again the volume and energy of his sound. It's a beautiful contrast.

 James titled his notebook "My Cells."  In thinking about my own work and growing interest in the body and memory, and investigating my own sensorial way of recalling specific events and people, I enjoy the intimacy of looking into composers' notebooks.