Special note for May 16 until May 26. 2012:
if you have purchased PAPER CUT and would like the access codes for the click track and other files, please emaiil Suzanna Altman at:
SAltman@composersforum.org.
Thank you!
Welcome! Here's a page filled with helpful information and materials for Alex Shapiro's electroacoustic band piece, PAPER CUT.
Enjoy exploring, and email Alex to let her know if you perform the piece: she'll post your information on this website!
PAPER CUT
for wind band,
recycled printer paper,
and prerecorded electronics
composed by Alex Shapiro
2010; Duration 5:17
Commissioned by The American Composers Forum for its BandQuest series.
Published by American Composers Forum and distributed by Hal Leonard Corporation.
PAPER CUT ripped it up at the 2011 Midwest Clinic!
The VanderCook College of Music Symphonic Band, conducted by Charles Menghini, performed PAPER CUT on December 16, 2011 at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic held at McCormick Place West in Chicago, Illinois.
Conductor Charlie Menghini writes:
"Paper Cut is a must for any director wanting to expand the musical horizons of their ensembles. A crowd pleasing work, every young band needs to add this to their repertoire as soon as possible. Your crowds will LOVE it...and so will your students. Enjoy and BRAVO to Alex Shapiro for this great addition to the educational band repertoire."
Alex rehearsing with the students at Friday Harbor Middle School on San Juan Island, Washington.
ABOUT
Program note for Paper Cut
What do teenagers like? Video games, TV, and movies. What do all these media have in common? Music!
I was thrilled to have a chance to add to the educational band music repertoire, thanks to the American Composers Forum's terrific BandQuest series. In my desire to compose something relevant to younger players, I decided to create a piece that sounds somewhat like a movie soundtrack, to which the musicians can imagine their own dramatic scene. I also thought it would be fun to make the kids themselves part of the action, and so "Paper Cut" has the band doing choreographed maneuvers that look as compelling as they sound. In fact, the band members don't even play their instruments until halfway into the piece.
Music isn't just melody; it's rhythm and texture as well. The unusual element of paper and the myriad sounds that can emerge from something so simple, offer a fresh view of what music-making can be and opens everyone's ears to the sonic possibilities found among everyday objects.
With a nod to environmentalism, "Paper Cut" might even remind people to avoid waste and recycle. Players can collect paper that would have otherwise ended up in the trash, and bring it to rehearsals. The piece might even be therapeutic, as students can take out their aggressions by ripping up bad grades and test scores!
Although "Paper Cut" was composed with middle schoolers in mind, it's also suited to more advanced musicians, since the paper techniques and the skill of playing against a prerecorded track are interesting for all ages. I'm delighted to introduce a new approach to concert wind band repertoire, and I hope that conductors and band members have as much fun with this piece as I had creating it.
Alex Shapiro
Summer, 2010
PAPER CUT is distributed by the Hal Leonard Corporation.
U.S.Ordering information:
Score and parts: HL04003021
$60
Conductor score: HL04003022 $10
Please click on the logo to easily place an online order for the score, CD and parts set.
NOTES
Click on the icon at right for the Paper Cut instrumentation list, program notes, rehearsal suggestions, and a diagram of the audio setup. See what this piece is all about!
Please note that this is a REPLACEMENT for the notes currently published with the first edition of the score set, and we encourage you to download it.
As a band director, please feel free to be as experimental and creative as you wish with this piece! It naturally lends itself to visuals, since the paper is held above the students' heads, and any lighting, choreography or other multimedia additions are welcome!
Rehearsal track playback:
Band rehearsal rooms tend to emphasize the bass frequencies in the accompaniment track. If the playback system you use has a way to boost the treble response and somewhat lessen the bass response, please do so if desired.
A version of the accompaniment track with a click for rehearsal and for the conductor can be obtained here
The addition of a drum set part is encouraged:
If one has strong percussionists in the band, feel free to add the equivalent of a rock-style drum set part beginning with an intro fill on toms starting at measure 52 that leads into a steady rock beat at measure 53 (when the instruments first enter). Add fills at phrase endings. The part can be split between separate players on hihat, snare, and toms, but if you have a drum set handy and a solid player, that works best. Once the drummer is tied in well to the tempo and feel of the track, it helps keep the band together. A printed drumset part will be published with the next printing of PAPER CUT, and meanwhile, you may download a pdf of the part here:
ERRATA:
Electric bass, measure 88: raise Eb up an octave assuming that the player's instrument doesn't go that low.
Alto saxophone part at bar 35: everyone who previously (at bar 32) crumpled paper, needs a new flat sheet to rip at bar 36. So it should say "TO NEW FLAT SHEET" at bar 35, and then at bar 36 the box should read, "NEW FLAT SHEET: crescendo rip down length of paper". Delete the "TO NEW FLAT SHEET" indication at bar 38, and change the box indication at bar 39 from "NEW FLAT SHEET: crescendo rip" to "SAME FLAT SHEET: crescendo rip".
Tuba, measure 93: can be taken down an octave if preferred.
Vibes, measure 72: hard mallets will sound best.
A rehearsal suggestion: During the paper playing sections beginning at bars 20 and 28, musicians often have a tendency to rush! Here's a helpful technique: after the group that first raises the paper above their heads to play the initial tapping figure lowers their hands to their laps before raising them again, have them subtly continue to tap the "answer" figure as the responding players do so over their own heads. This may help to keep players from rushing to the next entrance, and therefore keep everyone aligned with the track.
Student encouragement: The goal is for the track and the band to be at about the same volume level, so that the audience hears them as one instrument. However this balance will never be quite as apparent to the musicians! Playing to a track that is difficult to hear is a challenge, and it helps to encourage the students by reassuring them that, like movie actors who must perform on an empty stage in front of a green screen so that effects can later be added behind them, they are the musical equivalent of these actors!
Bring Alex right into your band room: Alex Shapiro loves to use Skype video sessions to interact with bands! These "Skypehearsals" allow her to talk with the students about the origins and creation of this unusual piece, answer any questions the musicians might have, and offer them a genuine connection with a living composer. The fee for one or more Skypehearsals is very reasonable-- email Alex if you would like to schedule one for your band.
LISTEN
STREAMING MP3 file of the full recording of PAPER CUT.
DOWNLOAD MP3 file of the full recording of PAPER CUT (8MB).
HIGH RES (large! Give this time to download) AIF file of the full recording of PAPER CUT (86 MB).
Recording credits:
The University of Minnesota Symphonic Band was recorded on October 29th, 2010 at Ted Mann Concert Hall, with Craig Kirchhoff, conducting.
Alex Shapiro, electronics and mix engineering. Jerry Luckhardt, session producer.
Alex addressing the audience at the Friday Harbor, WA premiere, 5/25/10.
VIEW
Click to enlarge these pages from the conductor score for PAPER CUT.
Email Alex Shapiro for the password necessary to download the free accompaniment track for Paper Cut. Two versions are available: one for performance, and another that has a click track mixed in with it, along with separate tracks at each rehearsal letter, to make preparing the piece even easier.
For conductors: this will come in handy should the CD that comes with the score ever get lost or damaged.
For players: now you can practice the piece at home!
Each file is large, and will take a few minutes to download.
.aif file of the accompaniment track recording for PAPER CUT (86MB).
Alex Shapiro, electronics.
.aif file of the accompaniment track recording for PAPER CUT, with click track (87 MB).
For the files with rehearsal tracks, please email a request to Alex Shapiro.
Alex Shapiro, electronics.
Paper Cut conductor Craig Kirchhoff and Alex, crumpled ball of paper in hand,
at the University of Minnesota recording session, October 2010.
PURCHASE
PAPER CUT is distributed by the Hal Leonard Corporation.
U.S.Ordering information:
Score and parts: HL04003021 $60
Conductor score: HL04003022 $10
Please click on the logo to easily place an online order for the score, CD and parts set.
CONTACT
For questions, or press information, please contact:
Suzanna S. Altman
Manager of Education and Community Engagement
American Composers Forum
(651) 251-2840
email:
SAltmanATcomposersforumDOTorg
Alex Shapiro is available for residencies to work with school bands. The
best way to reach her is
through email, by clicking here
You
can also leave a voice message or a fax at:
(270) 916-0093.
Alex flanked by University of Minnesota conductor and Paper Cut recording producer Jerry Luckhardt, left,
and Owatonna High School band director Peter Guenther, right.
WATCH
Watch the unusual, creative black-light treatment that band director Peter Guenther used when his students in the Owatonna 9th Grade Band performed "Paper Cut" at the Minnesota Music Educators Association Mid-Winter Clinic, at the Minneapolis Convention Center on February 18th, 2011 (clip length: 5:51):
Peter Guenther started a trend! Here's another choreographed, black-lite performance of "Paper Cut" all the way from Singapore, with the Singapore American School Tiger Band conducted by Brian White, in May 2011: (clip length: 5:40):
And in case you're wondering what this piece looks like in the light, here's VanderCook College of Music's performance of "Paper Cut" at the 2011 Midwest Clinic, conducted by Charles Menghini: (clip length: 6:10):
Want to learn the paper playing techniques? See Alex explain how to be a paper virtuoso (clip length: 4:48):
Alex demystifies the electronic element of PAPER CUT (clip length: 1:22):
Alex describes the process of working with a prerecorded track (clip length: 1:27):
Alex describes the process of conducting to a prerecorded track (clip length: 2:09):
Alex discusses the inspiration behind PAPER CUT (clip length: 00:34):
Alex talks about what students can learn from PAPER CUT (clip length: 1:31):
Guess what would Alex like to do next with PAPER CUT? (clip length: 1:41):
THE REHEARSAL and PREMIERE
Watch Alex work with the 7th graders at the Friday Harbor Middle school:
Watch Alex talk to the audience and introduce PAPER CUT at its Friday Harbor, WA premiere, May 25, 2010:
THANKS
PAPER CUT was given its world premiere on May 25th, 2010 by the Friday Harbor Middle School Band, and was rewarded with a standing ovation from a packed house of over 300 people at the San Juan Island Community Theater (hey, that's a significant percentage of the tiny island's residents!). Thanks to all the students, and most of all to band director Janet Olsen!
Special thanks to Carey Nadeau, Suzanna Altman, Craig Carnahan and John Nuechterlein of the American Composers Forum for making this project possible, to Craig Kirchhoff and Jerry Luckhardt for making the recording a success, and to Thomas Duffy for his continuing vision for the BandQuest series.
Janet Olsen rehearsing with the students at Friday Harbor Middle School, San Juan Island, Washington.
