CoMA: Tell us a little about your musical life to date…
Janet Oates: Blimey… I didn’t study music for my first degree so wasn’t immersed in it until my thirties, though I always performed in different settings. I fell into conducting when I was involved in community music while still teaching in schools; I left work to do a Masters and then a Doctorate in composition, and continued with community music, which has stayed at the heart of my work.
I play multiple instruments but as a performer I am primarily a singer; I prefer music from before 1700 and after 1914, lead collaborative composition projects (especially writing new music for old instruments) and love to share contemporary music with as many people as possible!
How did you become involved with CoMA?
It was recommended to me by my then composition tutor Phil Cashian, so I attended a summer school and have never looked back!
What makes CoMA ensembles different?
They’re so un-hierarchical, with complete flexibility, and appreciation of everyone’s differing talents. Each ensemble is different from the other in form, content and output – but we’re joined by common goals of accessibility to new music.
How do you choose the music for each term?
We often have a loose theme – like ’theatricality’ or ’numbers and permutations’ – which suggests pieces from our established repertoire or inspires new pieces from our regular composers… The CoMA Singers don’t have a huge number of rehearsals so sometimes practicality influences our choices: splitting into smaller groups to rehearse different pieces, for example, or including solos and improvised elements to cut down on tutti rehearsal times. We try to include new pieces (whether new to us or newly written) in each of our events.
Which composers have you discovered by being part of CoMA?
Two come to mind immediately: Pauline Oliveros, very well known for her inclusive, community-based, deep-listening practices; and Tom Johnson. He wrote numbers-based pieces – spoken rather than sung – which are well outside most people’s idea of what music performance is!
What would you most like people to know about contemporary music?
That it’s so very varied. It can be quietly beautiful or noisily complicated; joyful and challenging, chaotic and easy…
Tell us about a concert or piece that has been a highlight for you…
The most recent Singers concert included several pieces with audience participation, and allowed for – indeed, expected – an element of wrongness and failure as part of its concept. The energy and fun was palpable!
How do you make everyone feel welcome at CoMA rehearsals and concerts?
Part of the CoMA style of music is that the boundaries between composer, performer and audience are not always clear! There is a sense of joint ownership, risk and exploration which can be very attractive to performers and audiences alike. New performers can always access the pieces in some way; we have had people trying us out, and then though deciding it was not for them, saying they had a brilliant time. We always engage the audience verbally with introductions and explanations, and most importantly, they ARE genuinely welcome and appreciated.
What challenges do you face as a group in learning and performing the pieces and how do you overcome them?
The most common challenge is also the best bit: approaching new pieces with incomplete or ambiguous instructions, weird notation, uncertain structure – and making music from it! We are often in contact with the composers, which is interesting for them as well as us; it raises questions about ‘ownership’ of completed pieces; of how flexible a piece can be and so on. In the Singers, I encourage everyone to contribute their ideas and interpretations rather than believing in one ‘correct’ version.
Why would you recommend people join a CoMA ensemble?
You will be genuinely welcome, with whatever skills, flaws and ideas you bring. It’s a different way of making music, with people at its heart rather than exactitude.
If you had the chance to learn another instrument and play it in a CoMA ensemble for six months, what would you pick?
Oooohhh! Harp please! Have you got one I can borrow?!
To find out more about CoMA Singers and all the other groups, visit our Ensembles page.
