MUSIC PROF HITS THE NOTES
The pandemic may have made teaching more difficult, but writing gains new inspiration
In February, University of British Columbia’s School of Music was scheduled to feature a grand program of works by composer Stephen Chatman, since he was turning 70 that month.
Well, that, along with so much else, didn’t happen. Even so, concert or not, celebrating the dean of B.C. composers is still a real pleasure.
Minnesota-born Chatman came to UBC in 1976. I have known and admired him ever since.
“I was the youngest faculty member then, and I’m pretty much the oldest now,” he says.
UBC was certainly prescient in bringing him into the fold, given how young contenders used to scurry up the academic ladder, his settling in Vancouver is the real story.
“In that first year, I told one of my colleagues ‘This is a great first job,’” Chatman says with a laugh. “Then the longer I stayed, the better I liked it. In 1979 I was supposed to be interviewed at the Eastman School of Music, but decided not to go.
“The UBC department of music was thriving: we made some very good hires; we started a master’s program in composition; and it grew from there. All the advantages of Vancouver in those days, especially the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and government support through the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, really made my career.”
Back in the middle decades of the 20th century there was great academic enthusiasm for the thenavant garde. Young Chatman was part of that world, but wanted more. “I’ve always had an interest in all kinds of music, in tonality, in all sorts of musical traditions. When I was a student there was tremendous pressure on taking the cutting edge and experimental path, but I also was interested in the traditional path. The two sometimes intersect, but most often didn’t, at least not then.”
One way to buck the trend was writing for music aimed at learners, and the general musical community of choirs and bands. It proved a good plan. Kids all over North America now play Chatman’s imaginative keyboard pieces, and his striking choral work is renowned and almost ubiquitous.
“This is not a boast, just a statement of fact: my choral sheet music sells nearly 20,000 copies a year. How many choirs does that make? I really have no idea. Sometimes I go online and see some coverage of amateur performances in smalltown newspapers, but obviously most school performances go unrecorded.”
Choirs have, alas, been silenced by COVID-19. Yet Chatman is, as ever, hard at work.
“I’ve been more prolific since March this year than at any other time in my life because I no longer have those constant interruptions. I’ve actually been inspired by the pandemic.”
Chatman’s works referencing our current sadness, anxiety, and hope are being created and slated for future publication.
As well as composing for the broadest possible community, Chatman has written many works that directly reference the Vancouver scene, including Grouse Mountain Lullaby for orchestra, Varley Suite for solo violin or viola, and (a particular favourite of mine) In Memoriam Harry Adaskin for violin and piano.
“I’m here, and this is just what I do,” Chatman says with characteristic modesty.
“A Canadian composer is someone who lives in Canada and writes music. I tell my composition students not to worry about style, just express what you want to express. And, of course, so much in music stems from your immediate physical environment.”
Chatman intends to keep up his enhanced composing schedule.
“I’m working on small pieces right now because so many orchestral players are forced into doing solo music.”
A recording of his A Song of Joys for solo timpani, solo percussion, choir, and orchestra is in the works, conducted by UBC colleague Jonathan Girard.
“Then I’d like to write a song cycle for a fabulous New York new music duo, soprano Sharon Harms and pianist Joan Forsyth, who visited the School of Music just before lockdown happened.
“And I’d like to do another book of piano etudes,” Chatman adds. “After all, if you write a Book One, you pretty much need a Book Two.”