Score: Pandit
For solo clarinet and Tanpura app [2023]
Duration: c. 3-10 mins. / variable
Commmissioned by Sarah Watts and Núria Bonet with financially support provided by the British Academy Early Career Researcher Network.
Notes:
Pandit is one of ten solo pieces commissioned as part of the ‘Ten Wee Devon Pints’ collaboration between clarinettist Sarah Watts and Devon breweries. The title of the piece shares the same name as a popular beer brewed by the New Lion Brewery in Totnes which, in turn, was inspired by Pandit Ravi Shankar’s visit to Dartington. The beer’s original label included a quote from his book My Music, My Life, “In the summer of 1936, we spent a few months at Dartington Hall, in Devonshire, England, a beautiful, open place. I felt that I was coming close to music and that this music is what I was meant to devote my life to”.
As a student at Dartington College of Arts (1989-91), I was often intrigued by the integration of world-music within the musical activity being performed and studied. I wanted to bring that fascination into this piece in a way that touches on the Dartington spirit of exploration, identity, community and inclusivity, the presenting of work in unorthodox spaces, and the aspiration to think outside of the box.
Pandit consists of short musical cells created from Shankar’s kameswari raga. However, one particular cell which has a foreign note for special effect. These cells are performed over a drone played from a tanpura app on the audience’s cellphones creating an inclusive spatial sound environment within which the soloist performs. In a similar manner to the improvisational and ornamental nature of Indian music, the performer is free to navigate through the musical cells ad lib. although the ornamentation (known as gamaka in Indian music) is heavily notated.
The term pandit refers to an expert in a particular subject or field who is frequently called upon to give their opinions to the public. In this respect, my piece is a tribute to Pandit Ravi Shankar, clarinettist Sarah Watts and to Núria Bonet who all share my belief in the importance of community music-making.
© Patrick Nunn 2023
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