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J.D. Wall’s Recorder Music: The Early Days with Sonya and Gerald Burakoff by Don Muro
with Sonya and Gerry in the early 90s
I first heard of Gerry Burakoff through Willy Strickland, my first composition teacher. Willy and Gerry had formed Consort Music in the 1960s and I recall seeing both of their names on “The Duet Recorder,” a Consort Music publication. Gerry and I met on the conference circuit and became friends. I had become a great fan of early music in college (where I sang and played continuo in the collegium musicum) and Gerry was very interested in the new world of electronic music. In 1978 we were chatting at a party during the MENC national conference in Chicago. Gerry asked me to compose a piece for recorders with a synthesizer accompaniment. Through his efforts, I received a commission from the Long Island Recorder Festival.
“The King’s Highroad” was composed in November, 1978. Gerry and Sonya made their first visit to my studio on January 30, 1979, bringing alto, tenor, and two or three soprano recorders with them. I had an 8 track reel-to-reel tape recorder and had already recorded the accompaniment and mixed it down to two tracks. This left 6 tracks open for Gerry – two each for the soprano, alto and tenor recorder parts. Gerry was very demanding of himself, and we spent a few hours recording the parts. I gave Sonya a set of headphones and she took an active part in discussing Gerry’s performances.
“The King’s Highroad” was the only piece recorded on 8 tracks. “A Touch of Spain,” the next piece, was recorded in June of 1981 on my 16 track tape recorder. This made it easier to adjust the balance of all of the parts, and it also gave Gerry more tracks for recording.
Gerry suggested the concept for the next piece – “Capriol’s Caper.” This was the first recorder piece where I used a sequencer to record some of the synthesizer parts. MIDI was not introduced until 1983, but I had the Oberheim “system” – a polyphonic synthesizer (OBX), a drum machine (DMX), and a digital sequencer (DSX). These instruments communicated with each other through multi-pin connectors. The sequencer had a “quantize” feature which put notes precisely on the beat. This was a new sound at the time and you can hear the effect in the accompaniment – it sounds quite different from the two earlier pieces. I’m sure that we used all 16 tracks for the accompaniment and for Gerry’s tracks on soprano, alto, tenor and bass recorders.
On “Recorder Rock” I used the Yamaha RX11 drum machine to trigger the bass synthesizer rhythms – I still had to press the notes on the keyboard, however.
“Simple Serenade” was recorded in 1987, and it was the first piece where all of the synthesizer parts were recorded using a computer. I used a sequencing program called Sequencer Plus together with a MIDI /SMPTE interface which allowed me to record a sync signal on one track of the 16 track tape recorder. This sync signal would then control the timing of the computer playback and synchronize the synthesizer parts (on the computer) with the recorder parts (on the tape recorder). After Gerry recorded the parts, I could now (for the first time) adjust the sounds of the accompaniment parts without having to play them again. I should also mention that “Simple Serenade” was the first recorder piece to use a sampled acoustic sound – the mandolin sound heard in the B sections.
This recording technique was used for the next two pieces in the series – “Rockin’ Easy” and “Swingin’ Easy.”
EASY 8 The response to the recorder music was very encouraging. Teachers seemed to enjoy the colors of the accompaniment recordings. The one request I received over and over in my travels was to compose simple music for beginners. Gerry and I discussed this and in August 1991 came up with the idea of "Easy 8" – eight simple add-a-note pieces. I composed several of the pieces while on the road, using the small sequencer built into my keyboard workstation. Here is a very rough recording of the first song in "Easy 8" – All Alone. This piece was undoubtedly composed as I recorded – trying different chords and bass lines along with the recorder part to see what worked. I’m sure this process took no more than ten minutes. Even with mistakes, however, the basic feel for the song is there.
The success of "Easy 8" prompted the creation of several other add-a-note song collections. "Introducing BAG" was recorded in 1995. This was also the first time I recorded Gerry’s parts into the computer using digital audio software. He was a little hesitant at first – this was our first recording session in 15 years without the 16 track tape recorder. I showed him what could be done with digital audio and he was amazed.
FINAL THOUGHTS
"Introducing BAG" was our last collaboration. I had composed the music for "8 More Easy 8 Songs" and had sent rough mixes to Gerry. We had planned to record his parts in early 1998, but it never happened. Gerry passed away on January 6, 1998.
Working with Gerry and Sonya was a great joy. I often made guest appearances at Gerry’s workshops when we were both presenting at the same conference. We had lots of laughs during the recording sessions. I remember Sonya waving her hand at me and pointing to my four-year-old daughter Deidre, who had taken a felt pen from my desk and was busy coloring the carpet – while Gerry was recording! (Fortunately, it was a red pen and closely matched the color of the carpet.)
As I mentioned earlier, Gerry was very critical of his playing. I always had to remind him to keep playing during a take, even if he thought it was terrible (it never was). One of my favorite recordings of Gerry’s playing is "Friends Are Always There," where his tone is especially warm with just the right amount of vibrato. He was a great recorder player, a smart business man, and a good friend. I think of him every time I start working on a new recorder piece. |
