Context
The Jester from Archetypes
Clarice Assad is an award-winning Brazilian-American composer who has worked with world-renowned musicians such as Evelyn Glennie and Yo-Yo Ma. In 2022, Archetypes was nominated for two Grammy Awards.
The Jester is included in the album: Archetypes, a collection of twelve pieces describing the different ‘archetypes‘ (created by Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung) through music. This collection is a collaboration between Clarice, her father, Sergio Assad, and Third Coast Percussion. Clarice composed ‘The Jester’.
Listen For
- Unusual instruments (e.g. mouth harp at the beginning, slide whistle, kazoo and flexatone.
- The build up of excitement, reflecting the entertaining role of a jester.
- The layered rhythmic ostinato patterns.
- The change of pulse – sometimes there’s a strong sense of pulse and at other times it is much more fluid.
As you continue watching and listening think about how the ensemble communicate during the performance. Do you think it would be the same if they were to perform the composition again? How much of the music do you think was improvised and how much was composed before the performance?
Things To Consider
- Look at the other eleven archetypes. Could you create a composition to represent a different character? What instruments would you choose and why?
- Have you ever composed a group composition? What challenges might be presented? How could this piece be written down for other performers to play?
- Have a go at composing a piece for percussion instruments. You could start by creating some rhythmic ostinato patterns.