Group Dynamics

I think it's something about the very nature of a wind ensemble, with it's multitude of instruments, sounds and colors, that made me think of the parallels between a group of musicians making music together and the study of "group dynamics" in psychology and sociology. Group dynamics considers the relationships between the individual and the group and, amongst other things, the relationship between competitive and cooperative behavior. What could be a better case study than the motley assortment of some 40 musicians, all having to balance their own individual voice with the need for the group to work together as a whole? What I think is particularly interesting in such an ensemble is the rich variety of relationships there are. Yes, you can consider the individual, say the bass clarinet, as it relates to the entire group. But there are many other arrangements too. There is the breakdown of the whole into woodwinds versus brass versus percussion/piano and the struggle for dominance on the one hand and the need for finding ways to blend and balance on the other. Within the woodwinds, there are yet again other dynamic processes at work: the clarinets forming a strong group on their own as opposed to the saxophones, to take one example. Moving further down, within the clarinets, there is the further division of the high Eb clarinet, the Bb clarinets, and the bass clarinet. In Group Dynamics I explore many of these possible relationships and groupings. The relationship between cooperation and competition is of course central to us humans and crops up in diverse ways, from theories about the origin of our species to the central economic models of the 20th century. In my piece there is neither a sense that the one must ultimately submit to the needs of the many, nor some romantic narrative where the individual triumphs, but instead the constant play of dynamic forces created by the tension between these two great forces. The piece was commissioned by the University of Louisville wind ensemble.

- Sebastian Currier