Q & A Compositional Study: Kevin Ramsay 'A Pin Drops Like A Pungent Odor' (2022)
Kevin Ramsay is a composer, producer, recording/mixing/mastering/sound engineer, and musician on several critically acclaimed international albums. Brooklyn born and based, Ramsay’s work primarily focuses on theoretical, practical aspects of sound recording/reproduction with unpredictable pairings of acoustic and electronic instruments.
Kevin’s current works explore new ways to capture, mix, and process immersive audio for playback, on multichannel sound systems. He continues to collaborate with a variety of international artists committed to using sound as their main creative medium. Kevin has worked with notable artists such as Michael Byron, Henry Threadgil, Art Jones, Joan Jonas, Pauline Kim- Harris and Conrad Harris (String Noise), Anne Tardos, Danilio Correale, Maria Grand, Prince Harvey, Emilio Vavarella, Malik Ameer Crumpler, Daniel Belquer, Jon-Carlos Evans and many others.
Most recently, Kevin debuted his first chamber work, ‘A Pin Drops Like A Pungent Odor,’ as commissioned by International Contemporary Ensemble. Josh Modney (violin), Marina Kifferstein (violin), Carrie Frey (viola), Meaghan Burke (cello), and Randy Zigler (bass) performed its world premiere on October 28th, 2022 at Target Margin Theater in Brooklyn. His work is a prominent example of one’s devotion to active listening and how learning by doing informs others about the value of being autodidactic. ‘A Pin Drops Like A Pungent Odor’ is a new work of astute nuance that exemplifies Ramsay’s unique process as an insightful way forward for all.
Not in Print (NP): How did the name of your piece, ‘A Pin Drops Like A Pungent Odor,’ come to you?
Kevin Ramsay (KR): I chose it from a series of album titles, based on several collages that influenced my process for developing themes and narratives within the composition. This particular title has a double meaning, it’s a reference to Basquiat’s SAMO graffiti text(Tag), “A PIN DROPS LIKE A PUNGENT ODOR.” Initially, I wanted the coordinates of Basquiat’s grave-site at Green-Wood Cemetery to be the title of this piece. But, instead I wanted the title to sound more poetic and also help me remember the creative direction from that to this and this to that, via sampling techniques, recapitulations of rhythm structures, unpredictable edits and so on. In a certain way, naming reminds me that process is memory. When I read, ‘A Pin Drops Like A Pungent Odor,’ it reminds me of the process I wanted the audience to experience when I composed it.
NP: This being your first chamber work to ever write, how would you describe your research process? What has influenced you the most?
KR: Hip Hop gave me the courage to write this piece. ‘Life After Death’ was the first album I bought with my own money. I remember reading through the liner notes in the cd booklet. I wanted to know more about everyone sampled in the production credits, including Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, A Tribe Called Quest’s ‘Low End Theory,’ jazz guitarist Grant Green, and double bassist Ron Carter. I wanted to know more about who and how these names were associated with the artist. Much later I began to research and develop my own sampling techniques. As my curiosity grew I became aware of Plunderphonics and the Cut-up technique. For me, Hip Hop’s aesthetic of making something out of nothing and its juxtaposition or melange of musical styles is High Art. That approach really influenced me and gave me the courage to realize that whatever I put my mind to, I could do, no matter the idiom, in my experience and research it’s about just doing it. When I put my mind to it, I can use these tools to express what Hip Hop’s aesthetic has given me. Also, mixing a little bit of courage with a little bit of ignorance (in relation to being fearful in new experiences) can be a good thing. If you don’t know how to be fearful of something, then fear doesn’t get in the way. This is why I believe in just doing it. Through my own curiosity, self-study and exploration, I’ve consistently been able to make something out of nothing.
NP: How did you make ‘A Pin Drops Like A Pungent Odor’ to be this incredible hybrid of Hip Hop and High Art that is very much your own voice?
KR: I used my imagination. I’ve also been a sound engineer for twelve plus years, listening to and working on projects with a variety of artists has given me an invaluable form of ear training. I’m an autodidact and believe in the power of self-study. I always recall something my mom used to say to me when I was young, “Go look it up.” I used to ask her everything because I thought she knew everything and at the time my eldest brother had the full collection of Britannica encyclopedias. This was the equivalent of having the internet in your home. Back in those days, I’d look up anything I wanted in those Britannica books. Nowadays, I have the blessing and luxury to ask a highly respected composer and friend Michael Byron for book suggestions. I usually ask him about books I should read to learn more on any topic concerning composition, and I always remember what my mom said, so I definitely look up everything I can. I listen to a lot of music, records and sound mediums.The breadth of people I have worked with over the decades, trained my ear and informed my sonic palette.
NP: What was your biggest challenge to overcome when writing this piece?
KR: To be honest, the most challenging part of the writing process was overcoming long-covid and severe lung damage during the process. My memory was not the same as before covid, so the concept of the piece continuously escaped me. Like in the film Memento (which I saw way before my ailment) all throughout my writing process I kept memos and files on my desktop just so I could remember what I wanted to sample in this piece. I had to leave notes everywhere just to remember. My desktop was littered with transcription notes, mp3 clips, digitized vinyl audio files, notes on book covers, anything everywhere, which made my process of archiving ideas easier, because all I had to do was to remember which folders they were in. It’s hard to express how the mind is with Covid because recovery was such a difficult physical challenge. I lost a lot of weight, I was very weak, I couldn’t walk, I was on a breathing machine. All of this trauma took a psychological hit on me. I was not in the mood to write because of the physical and mental trauma. My brain literally didn’t want to work, but I eventually got it done. My will to complete this piece and get back to some sort of normal, was my main motivation. This was also my first time using Finale. There was a lot I had to learn while writing that made this process a challenge worth overcoming.
In regards to other difficulties, to anyone out there seeking advice, I’d advise that you not attempt to learn the software OpenMusic as you’re composing.
NP: Who are your favorite composers to reference? Do you have a compositional style that resonates most with you?
KR: The composers that are my main references are Henry Threadgill, Michael Byron, James Tenney and Tania Leon. The plunderphonic, collage sampling cut-up techniques really hit home for me.
NP: How did you choose this work’s instrumentation? What specific artists came to mind for your ensemble and why?
KR: Well, initially I proposed the string quintet with a variety of percussion instruments, but due to schedule conflicts I reduced the piece to String Quintet. In essence, it was another challenge I wanted to explore, being that I have never done it before. The artists that came to mind in the beginning of the process were Pauline Kim-Harris, Conrad Harris, Luke Stewart, Lester St. Louis, and Stephanie Griffin.
NP: How did you develop your ideas based on improvisation to a traditionally notated score?
KR: To be honest, I just like a good challenge. I’ve worked within various improvised contexts and I also gave myself a time restriction for this piece.I wouldn’t say that I fell out of love with improvised music, but at the time of composing A Pin Drops… I had lost my taste for some forms of it. This impacted my process because I also switched my listening habits. There are certain tropes in improvised music that come across in this piece, but I didn’t want it to be too performative. However, there are parts that have a randomized rhythmic quality culled from particular sampled sources.
NP: I feel this piece is very impactful with just strings. Do you think your next composition will be similar in this way or do you want to introduce percussion?
KR: At some point I want to revisit the piece with percussion but the next few ideas I want to work on feature a large chamber ensemble without percussion. The way I wrote ‘A Pin Drops Like A Pungent Odor’ features the contrabass in my mind as a percussion element. If you concentrate on the bass, I wrote for it like it was a hand drum.. In my new works I want to explore a piano, violin, cello, daxaphone( with electronics), alto flute, contrabass clarinet, piccolo trumpet and B-flat trumpet.
NP: Do you feel your listening techniques evolved while writing this piece?
KR: I don’t think my listening evolved, I think that it activated. You don’t know something until you explore and challenge yourself to learn more about it. I didn’t know where to begin the process, because I had never written a quintet piece or anything in large form before. But, I knew I needed to do this now, in this moment, given this circumstance, it felt like the right time for me to express myself in this way. Stress is a good motivator in this instance.
NP: Was there a particular sound world you wanted for ‘A Pin Drops Like A Pungent Odor’? Could you hear it before you wrote it? Or did you use a more methodical approach?
KR: The idea of the sound came to me on one of my daily walks to a nearby park where I usually go sit and listen to cicadas. To my ear, it sounded like they were at four different positions, in relation to where I sat. It also appeared that a timed dialogue was happening. Following this, I wanted the piece to have the same conversational aspect as the cicadas. While listening to the cicadas’ conversations, it was more like each section was repeating the same rhythm. I could hear the spatial feel of each section based on its distance from where I was sitting. It became a wide and protruding rhythmic sound. This is how I came up with the idea of having four instruments coming from four different spots. Capturing the cicada cadences along with the positioning of the instruments was very important in this piece. Also, I wanted to further explore auditory phenomena. These auditory phenomena helped me to arrive at arranging the cicada sounds for strings that I initially heard in the park. If you were in the room for the premiere, these aesthetics were an important component of the piece. I firmly believe it was the placement of the instruments that made this piece bloom. In that regard, I could not hear it necessarily before I wrote it, but I had a structure in mind. The main approach in conceptualization was the Plunderphonic influenced by the cut-up technique.