8
WedNEsdAy, M arc I i 8, 2000
Feature
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CL aç I î AMAS
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Ostin
Former Clackamas Student bares his
soul through music composition.
JOELP. SHEMPERT
Contributing Writer
The 24-year-old with tousled orange
locks and a nervous smile may seem
unassuming, even shy—but Ostin
Drais, composerand formerClackamas
student, is quite open as he sits with
his manuscript, ready to share his love
of music with the world.
“It’s just another part of my life,”
Ostin claims of his musical endeavors.
“It’s not every part ofmy life.. .people
who associate someone with one par­
ticular aspect ofthem—it’s limiting; it’s
really limiting.”
How ironic, then, that my talk with
Ostin ends up focusing so much on
the music, flowing inevitably toward
the creation and not its creator.
As we talk, we conjure amemory of
old days, offifty voices stirring Ostin’s
brilliantly placed notes to life, of danc­
ing across hardwood as Ostin coaxes
beauty and love from 88 keys.
Ostin studied music at Cleveland
High School in Gladstone, and sang in
toe choir, while from 6th grade through
High School he took piano lessons,
which were key to his musical and per­
sonal development
“Piano technique helped me out a
lot,” Ostin recalls, adding that his own
improvisations were “one of toe joys
that I had” in high school, one which
continues to this day.
Ostin’s sudden prominence is due
largely to his completed Mass No. 1 for
mixed choir, a labor four years in the
making, and a labor which will be con­
summated in its performance by Ostin’s
alma mater the Clackamas Chamber
singers fois Sunday.
Ostin is a product of Clackamas’
music department, and one of the fin­
est creditstothatprogram’sexceHence.
He is a veteran of toe Music Theory
course and choral ensembles, both of
which influenced him to put pen to
manuscript paper and create. The re­
sult is this Mass, a compilation of
smaller pieces written one at a time
since 1996.
In exploring toe movements in or­
der of composition, it can be seen just
how much ofheart, mind and soul toe
composer has invested in his first great
work. To know toe Mass is to know
Ostin.
I: Libera Me
Liberate us. Liberate us from death
eternal.
“I can definitely tell thattois is writ­
ten early in rity own writing,” reflects
Ostin. In fact, this movement repre­
sents toe beginning of Ostin’s com­
posing career.
“I remember one day I was sitting at
toe piano improvising, and we had
done Faure’s Requiem [in choir].. .and
1 remember liking toe Libera Me text
So I just happened to play a little lick
that I liked,” Ostin remembers.
And so Libera Me was bom. Natu­
rally toe next step, following creation,
was performance.
Little did he realize this dream would
soon become manifest.
“I was amazed,” explains Ostin,
upon completion of toe piece, “be-
causeithadkindofcomeoutofme. .
. [but] 1 didn’t think it would be ac­
cepted, for some reason.”
Nevertheless he played toe Libera
Me for Choral Director Lonnie Cline
and Clackamas alumn and Vocal Jazz
arranger Jason Womack, who both
liked it The piece was soon performed
by toe Clackamas Chamber Singers.
Ostin looks back with fondness on
this landmark of his musical life.
“This was one of toe first pieces that
gottoeball rolling, andl really appreci­
ate what [Lonnie Cline’s] done,” Ostin
shares. “I think it’s very rare that a
college would perform the music of a
student composer.”
H: Kyrie
Lord, have mercy. Christ, have
mercy. Lord, have mercy.
Sometimes toe barest suggestion
can spark toe greatest inspiration.
As Ostin began to stretch his com­
positional legs, his friend Lynn
Hastings (a longtime Clackamas cho­
rister) remarked, “You know, you
should write a Kyrie.”
As Ostin relates, “Two nights later,
I did. Ittook me four hours.”
This movement contains, no con­
test, toe simplest text of toe Mass.
“You have a very simple and very
beautiful melody, but. .outoffoisbeau-
tiful melody you get these harmonies
that are not ‘harmonic’ at all,” Ostin
explains.
IlI:Sanctus
Hofy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of
Hosts.
How does one present toe awe and
mystery of Sanctus, toe expression of
toe earth-shaking presence of toe Al­
mighty?
Unconventionally, of course.
“I use a harmony that you ‘cannot’
use—at least in Bach’s terms,” Ostin
relates, “and that's a suspension with
foe major third added.”
Which, in layman’s terms, translates:
“not what you’re expecting.”
“This piecedoesn’t really resolve,”
says Ostin, “untilfoe very ending har­
mony. . .everything else up to foatpoint
has been tension of some kind.”
IV: Agnus Dei
Lamb ofGod who takes away the
sins cfthe world grant them eternal
rest.
Now Divine experience gets per­
sonal. A relationship between humans
and their Creator unfolds, and again
music is called upon to express foe un­
fathomable.
“Agnus, Agnus, Agnus Dei. Lamb
ofGod,” mutters Ostin, exploring even
as he reminisces. “I think it might be
trying to find out who it is that wei’re
talking about Idon’tknow. I just wrote
what I wrote.”
His eyes flash as a spirit takes him.
“ I don’t write notes; I write colors,” he
declares, suddenly Ostin foe Sage. “I
don’t write music; I arrange notes.
“There’s a definite reason why Isay
that. The music is made when it is
performed.. .you never know what can
happen, because each individual mo­
ment is different, because each indi­
vidual is different moment to moment
People grow; people learn, learn dif-
Composer Ostin Drais sits in Clackamas’Skylight Dining Room, discussing his Mass No.1, a
compilation of early choral works.
ferent moods.”
V: Gloria
Glory to God in the highest, and on
earth, peace to men of good will.
Gloriais foe capstone of foe Mass,
both due to its emotive force and it’s
placement—last rather than second.
It is also foe only piece with instru­
mentation.
“I felt because of foe power of foe
text it needed to be accompanied,”
saysOstin. The result is a marriage of
reverent and joy fol voices with a lush
and heartbreaking piano.
But too much joy can be a bad
thing.
“To me, this piece needs to be so
contained,” Ostin insists. “That’s
where foe power comes from.”
This reserve is perhaps better ex­
plained in spiritual terms: “It’s almost
like this person who is glorifying God
is scared of Him, br does not want to
look, does not want to open their eyes
for fear of being blinded; I’m not sure.
That is foe way I hear this particular
piece.”
VIrCredo
/ believe in One Gdd, the Father
Almighty, maker of Heaven and
Earth, and of all things visible and
invisible.
The Credo is perhaps foe most
daunting portion of foe Mass No, 1,
and likewise represents Ostin’s great-"
est hurdle in completing foe work.
“This is where I really experimented
in painting, because every single thing
I’ve written is taken straight away from
foe meaning of foe text, and my own
interpretation of it,” shares Ostin.
“Judicare vivos et mortuos. ‘Who
judges foe living and foe dead,”’ he
translates, pondering, searching for
words. “You have this celestial being
who works with, or understands and
talks to, both foe living and the dead.
It kind of brings everything back to
earth.”
* * *
It is a high honor, indeed, for one’s
inmost thoughts to be given life in the
voices of friends.
“I don’t know if I feel like I don’t
deserve this,” confesses Ostin. “I
don’t like people with swelled heads,
and I think what could be happening
is, I am purposefully keeping my ego
down.”
Confidence is also a factor. “For a
longtime, I didn’treallythink highly of
my own stuff,” Ostin admits. “Ittook
some people drumming it in [to con­
vince me] that, ‘you write good stuff.”’
The pull of these forces results in a
strain between artist’s humility and
supporters’ encouragement, and foe
ensuing tightrope walk is precarious
to foe very self.
“What I’m trying to do is keep me
who I am, instead of being influenced,
or tainted, if you will,” says Ostin.
After all, who would want an Ostin
Drais any other way?
World premiere performance of
Mass #7 by Ostin Drais:
Performed by the Clackamas Community
Chamber Choir
Date: March 12, 2000
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Place: St. Mary Cathedral in Mount Angel
Admission: $6 adults, $3 students