MEOWMEOWBEENZ // Eden Longson [Jasmine Brown, Sam Gee, & Leah Waddington]

Описание: Meowmeowbeenz [2022] for saxophone orchestra
Eden Longson
Performed by Leah Waddington, Jasmine Brown, and Sam Gee in a practice space in Manchester.

Originally written as a commission for the RNCM Saxophone Orchestra [see live performance on my channel] and premiered in April 2022.

I got together three of my saxophone playing pals to multitrack the chart, and I'm super proud of the result. The result is also very much the work of Sam Gee who filmed, recorded, and edited this all together.

I hope you enjoy!!

My website // https://www.edenlongson.com/
Sam's Website // https://www.samgee.co.uk/
Jasmine's Insta //   / jasminebrow.  .
Leah's Insta // https://www.instagram.com/sax.l.a/?hl=en

...

... would you like a programme note?

well here you go:

This piece takes its name from a social media app featured in an episode of the American sitcom Community. The app - MeowMeowBeenz - allows people to rate others using 1 to 5 'Beenz', quickly causing a dystopian Brave New World/Animal Farm micro-society to form at the community college campus of Greendale.

In this newly formed dystopia the fives rule over the campus and are fed grapes by the fours, whilst the threes provide security to keep the twos in check, and the ones are cast out into the outlands [aka the parking lot].

I wanted to write a piece inspired by this episode because I think it provides two apt metaphors: It shows how social media - which looks like harmless fun at first glance - could be the downfall of humanity and also how popularity dictates the political system.

This piece starts off quirky and fun, but as it progresses the harmony becomes more and more dense, whilst the rhythm becomes more varied and less static. The piece tumbles through chaos before reaching a conclusion.

For the structure of the piece I took inspiration from Dan Harmon - the creator and head writer for Community - who used a Story Circle to structure his writing process on the show. The story circle features 8 steps that a protagonist goes through in a compelling story.

I took the notes of the Eb Lydian Dominant scale [Eb F G A Bb C Db] and used each one as the tonal centre of a different section [or step of the story circle]. The piece moves through these 7 tonal centres before reaching a final section in Eb providing a conclusion to our story.

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