(visit http://www.carlschimmel.com to purchase score and parts)
How to Play Well With Others began with the idea of involving the audience in the process of music-making, and was inspired by the ideas of the ethnomusicologist John Blacking. In my music, I try always to engage the audience from moment to moment, usually through the use of dramatic change and recognizable gestures. Another way to engage the listeners is to welcome them to join in. To construct the piece, I did not rely on popular music influences – in fact, throughout the piece I used a mathematical method which consists of sets of notes and their combinations. The initial section is very static and aloof, but halfway through the piece the music begins to shift toward a more engaging style. With the incorporation of stomping, I intended to recapture the attention of the entire audience, and within a single work convey a spectrum of musical possibilities and, in a sense, philosophies.
