Makholm, J :: Music for the Middle of the Day

From the publisher, Gerard Billaudot, Joseph Makholm’s Music For The Middle Of The Day for flute, clarinet and piano is a set of four beautiful pieces, approximately nine minutes in length and intermediate in difficulty. Makholm states, 

"Two of the four pieces included in Music For The Middle Of The Day (‘Late One Afternoon’ and ‘You Think You Know, But You Don’t’) involve a ‘swing’ interpretation, which is commonly understood for example as straight eighth notes performed as a quarter note to eight note triplets.

The equation oversimplifies what ‘swing’ truly is-an inequality  of a certain rhythmic value which appears equal on the page, usually the eighth-note. There is always a large dose of interpretational latitude based, in the case, on what the performer understands of the rhythmic character of jazz in the 20th century, and beyond.

This inequality of eighth-notes is impossible to describe with precision, but what you can say is that when the 4/4 measure begins to feel like 12/8 it’s wrong. What is generally true of ‘swing’ eighth-notes is that, as the tempo increases, the inequality decreases. At fast tempos, the eight notes are almost equal. Thus, eighth-note phrases in ‘You Think You Know…’ will be smoother than in ‘Late One Afternoon.’

What is absolutely essential is a steady tempo, without which ‘swing’ is impossible. In rubato passages, as well as passages involving accelerando or rallentando, eighth-notes are assumed to be equal. The one place in the four pieces where this happens is during the ‘rallentando...rallentando moltissimo’ near the end of ‘You Think You Know…,’ where what is implied is a smooth and convincing transition from the ‘swing’ eighth-notes in measure 90 to the even and insistent eight-notes just before the fermata in measure 94 (‘swing’ resumes at ‘a Tempo’)."

Grab a couple friends and have a lovely afternoon, playing these delightful pieces! Joseph Makholm is a prolific 21st century composer and jazz pianist and trombonist.