HCP 20: Mark Buller and Leah Lax on writing Overboard and collaborating with artists of other disciplines

Collaborating with other artists is such an enriching opportunity. Mark Buller and Leah Lax tell us everything about their collaboration in Overboard, a choral piece commissioned by Houston Grand Opera. Their advice, thoughts, and process to create this ten-minutes piece and more in this episode.

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In this episode, you will learn:

• Mark paper route and Best Buy cd collection 
• Leah responses to ópera in her house (both music and paintings of opera)
• Why Leah played and still plays the cello
• Leah first work with Houston Grand Ópera
• “When you write for music, you have to imagine music that has never been written before. That’s not yet exist and as a librettos you have to imagine the music.” Leah
• What Leah thinks when writing words that will be set to music
• Mark thoughts about collaborating with living librettists and the counterpoint of ideas between writers and composers
• Leah’s philosophy of negotiation to keep the project as a collaboration
• Mark’s thoughts about learning to collaborate and it’s importance
• “you have to be very flexible so that when you come out on the other side of the creation what you have…it has to be something that can flex and can take into account the other person’s idea as well.” Mark
• Leah journey to learn to collaborate with other artists
• “You get that humility before the collaborative process” Leah
• Mark process after receiving the text from Leah
• Who wins in a writer composer disagreement according to Leah
• “Oh, believe me. The first time that I pushed back with a composer I was terrified.” Leah
• “It is not a collaboration unless you both come to the table. Trust one another and speak to one another. ” Leah
• The importance of the writer to know the composer they are writing for
• The joy that Leah feels when a composer calls her and shows her the music and being able to speak her mind
• “When you wrote the words is this how you felt?” Composers would ask Leah
• The story behind overboard
• The response of Leah towards the first idea of the project
• “The voices are to me like music. I don’t see much difference between speaking and choral music.” Leah
• How Mark’s experience writing opera and art songs helped him to have more tools to write a more suitable rendition to Leah’s text
• Their first encounter when collaborating
• How the project changed on the way 
• The success of the piece afterward, including the performance of Grammy-winning Houston Chamber Choir
• Leah’s writing of the last movement and Mark’s explanation of why an aleatoric section to end the piece
• Their advice for composers and poets looking to collaborate 
• Why is it important to collaborate with people outside your field

Share it with me

• Do you collaborate with other disciplines? How was your experience?

Links mentioned in the show:

• Mark Buller Website
• Leah Lax Website
• Houston Grand Opera Website
• Houston Chamber Choir – By Local
• Area composers celebrated with Houston Chamber Choir’s By Local concert
• Overboard – Veteran Songbook Project
• Overboard Link

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Produced by Carlos Cordero.

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Hugs,
C.