Bang on a Can

I've been working in theatre for several years, and it's changed my aesthetic completely - when you compose soundtracks you're actually allowed to write melodies! Before, very often I used to hold things back, keep ideas out that didn't conform to my original idea - but in this piece I wanted to have no barriers - if any part of me wanted something to change in the music, I changed it. I want to merge things rather than seperate them.

I'm interested in extremes, in breaking the rules, even though there aren't any rules in new music anymore. I use straight rhythms, very direct, and I also use the instruments in a conventional way. My aim is to make the normal sounds sound a little less normal. I was told that you should never be able to tell what instrument is playing, but later on I realized I actually wanted to hear each particular instrument in its particular way. And I have the whole group playing at all times - I could have held things back, perhaps kept the guitar out until half-way through, but I don't like to save things. The piece is always in motion, because people are always in motion, changing all the time.

I think composing should be human - the music has to have the same human aspect, never cold, and always from the stomach. Most of all I prefer writing for friends, because I know what they're like. In this case it was a bit harder, because I hadn't met most of the players - I don't even have a photo. I have my own ideas about what is Bang On A Can. So I'm interested to see if I was right. -Elena Kats-Chernin