The aim of this project is to utilise relatively easily well known quotations and ideas in different and/or unusual settings.
Many composers have made use of more or less well-known ideas from other composers or from the 'public domain' - for instance folk songs or popular songs.
Common instances are:
Bach Chorales and Chorale Preludes which make use of hymn tunes/plainsong tunes amidst original compositions.
Bach in the Goldberg Variations.
Berlioz used the plainsong Dies Irae in the Symphonie Fantastique
Brahms used the student song Gaudeamus Igitur in the Academic Festival Overture.
Tchaikovsky used the French and Russian national anthems in the 1812 overture.
Vaughan Williams and Malcolm Arnold have made extensive use of British folk material in their music.
Bartok used elements from Shostakovitch jokily in his Concerto for Orchestra.
Berio used many quotations from the classical and popular repertoire (as well as many written and verbal quotations) in the third movement of his Sinfonia.
Michael Nyman 3rd String Quartet.
etc., etc.,
Note that I am referring to cases of actual quotation of specific material, rather than the use of textures or sounds.
The Rules
As usual, this project has rules, which you must obey. They are designed not primarily to restrict you but to break you out of learned and tedious habits that themselves restrict your depth and variety of expression.
Create a short piece which makes creative use of between one and three quotations from other people's work.
The original pieces should be generally recognisable to all people in the group.
Your newly composed pieces should put these quotations into a significantly different context.
Humour is perfectly acceptable as a criteria for inclusion and characterisation, but be careful to avoid simply 'making fun' of something.
Ideally, your use of the quotations should enable surprising, interesting and poignant associations to arise.
You may go on to make further use of or developments of the material that is original, but be careful to maintain a distance from the original in terms of style and atmosphere.
The pieces may be for any instrumentation, although the usual rules concerning performance apply.
The pieces will be performed in the relevant workshops.
Duration should not fall outside the following formula:
average tempo * approximate number of beats > 4800 and <20000.