R. Murray Schafer (1933-2021): A Personal Reflection

The great Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer died on August 14. Here's the article which appeared on the CBC's website; you can find many other tributes online and in various newspapers published in August.

My first encounter with Schafer's music took place in a university music education class when we read through Statement in Blue, his 1966 composition for youth orchestra. I don't remember the other pieces we looked at in that class, but I have a vivid memory of Schafer's work: it was my first experience of graphic notation. For a composition which left so much up to the performers, it was (to me) surprisingly effective, and it was fun to perform.

After I finished university, I began working at the Canadian Music Centre (CMC), an organization which promotes, preserves, and celebrates the works of Canadian composers. I met many composers while working there, including Schafer. In June 1984, when the CMC moved to its current headquarters in Chalmers House on St. Joseph Street, one of my tasks to help prepare for the grand opening was to help Schafer investigate locations for the brass players who were to perform a fanfare he had written. It was with some trepidation that I arranged to meet with him – he seemed to me to be such a grand person – but he was perfectly courteous and friendly and obviously pleased that his music was to be part of the festivities. We walked around the area of Chalmers House and Schafer pointed out various balconies and rooftops where brass players could be positioned. I remember that the performance of the fanfare was one of the highlights of the day.

Over the years, my main encounters with Schafer's music have been his choral works, both those I have personally performed with the Exultate Chamber Singers and those I have heard other choirs perform, including Epitaph for Moonlight, Snowforms, Gamelan, Felix's Girls, A Garden of Bells, Miniwanka, and Sun. His scores are beautiful to look at, and the music is so evocative. I remember every performance of his music so clearly, and I have enjoyed singing his music. When you first look at his scores of graphic notation it can be a bit daunting, but on closer examination you realize that the notation and the accompanying instructions are very clear. The texts which he sets are interesting; for example, the text for Epitaph for Moonlight consists of words for moonlight made up by grade seven students; the text for Sun consists of words for sun from around the world, starting in the Far East and travelling, via Asia, Europe, and Africa, to the Americas.

A page from Apocalypsis Part One: John’s Vision by R. Murray Schafer (photograph by Janice Kerkkamp)

In 2015 the Exultate Chamber Singers were invited to participate in the Luminato Festival's performance of Apocalypsis, one of Schafer's grand theatrical musical pageants. I jumped at the chance to be involved in this rare performance of such a colossal work. Exultate was one of the choirs performing in Part Two. (We were Choir 4, the “Emerald” choir; each of the twelve choirs was to represent one of the 12 gates of the new Jerusalem.) It was an amazing experience! Many of the singers for Part Two remained backstage during Part One, but I enjoyed the opportunity to sit in the balcony and watch the performance of Part One, following along in the score which I purchased. It was an experience I will always remember and treasure. Schafer was by this time suffering from the onset of dementia, but he attended the performance and was obviously thrilled that the work was being performed and appreciated by so many people.

When Schafer died in August, I decided to read a few of his many books. After all, this blog is mainly about the books I read!

One booklet of Schafer's which I own is Ear Cleaning, notes for an experimental music course. I purchased (and read) the booklet when I was pursuing my Bachelor of Education degree. It contains some fascinating ideas for getting students to listen to the sounds around them and create their own compositions using a variety of sounds.

Another booklet from the same series which I was able to borrow from the library was When Words Sing. This booklet contains ideas for teaching students to consider the sounds of words and how they are set to music. The goal, once again, is to encourage students to work with words and create their own compositions.

I also read My Life on Earth & Elsewhere, Schafer's memoir, published in 2012. What a fascinating read! Schafer was very articulate and witty, and he had such an interesting life as a freelance composer and educator. He makes many astute observations about music and life in general in this book.

Schafer founded his own publishing company, Arcana Editions: you can find his published works here. One interesting feature of the website is the downloadable PDF of his own program notes to his works. Check out, for example, his description of his orchestral work No Longer Than Ten (10) Minutes, a work which was commissioned by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. (As Schafer writes, it was intended to be what composers refer to as the “pièce de garage”, the work played by the orchestra while many of the audience members are still parking their cars.)

In 1969, the National Film Board of Canada produced a short documentary film of Schafer working with a class of 9-year-olds over a week of activities, culminating in the children conducting and performing their own compositions. You can watch the film online to get some idea of the sort of activities he describes in his music education booklets:

Joan Henson, NFB: Bing Bang Boom

In the first episode of Yehudi Menuhin's 1979 television series, The Music of Man, Menuhin discussed soundscapes with Schafer and had the opportunity to play with a sound sculpture Schafer had created in his barn. You can watch the episode on Youtube:

The Music of Man, episode 1 “The Quiver of Life” (the interview with Schafer begins at 17.38)

When studying the music of the 20th century, R. Murray Schafer's music is almost always the principal Canadian content. In the current RCM theory syllabus, he is represented by his choral work Snowforms in the ARCT History book. The piece began as a series of sketches of snowdrifts; the text consists of Inuit words for various kinds of snow. Here is a beautiful performance by the Vancouver Chamber Choir, with the additional advantage of being able to follow the score as you listen:

R. Murray Schafer: Snowforms (Vancouver Chamber Choir)

Here are some of my other favourite Schafer choral works (all recorded by the Vancouver Chamber Choir, with the scores in the videos):

R. Murray Schafer: Sun (Vancouver Chamber Choir)

R. Murray Schafer: Epitaph for Moonlight (Vancouver Chamber Choir)

R. Murray Schafer: Gamelan (Vancouver Chamber Choir)

R. Murray Schafer: Miniwanka or The Moments of Water (Vancouver Chamber Choir)

He's written some works for flute, too; here’s one of them:

R. Murray Schafer: Sonatina for Flute and Harpsichord (or Piano): Movement One, Movement Two, Movement Three (Amy Hamilton, flute; Beth Ann de Sousa, piano) (movements 1 & 3 are RCM Level 7B)

Schafer wrote many works for string quartet. A few years ago, this was one of the required works for the ARCT History examination:

R. Murray Schafer: String Quartet No. 2 ('Waves') (Molinari Quartet, for whom Schafer wrote many works)