James Sclater

James Sclater grew up in Mobile, Alabama and graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi with a B.M. and M.M. in Theory-Composition. At U.S.M. he studied clarinet with Gomer Pound. He earned the D.M.A. in Composition from the University of Texas at Austin in 1970. Sclater has been a faculty member at Mississippi College since 1970 and retired from the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra in the year 2000 after serving in the clarinet section for 29 years.

Sclater’s compositions have been performed both nationally and internationally. His chamber opera The Christmas Gift is a regular feature of the Children’s Musical Theatre in Cheropovets, Russia. He won the Ostwald Prize in 1974 and has been honored for thirteen straight years with a Serious Music award from ASCAP. Recent works include Images of Southern Religion for Organ and Brass Quintet, commissioned by the AGO, Region IV.

Sclater performs with colleague Angela Willoughby in the chamber duo LYRICAS. He is married to Judy Davis, a multi-talented musician who also dyes Ukrainian Easter eggs. They have a daughter, Patricia Ann, who lives and works in Kansas City, MO.

Taking Musical Chances
by James Sclater

Having been involved with the realm of composing for almost 45 years has taught me a lot about music and the people who perform it. When I was much younger, I assumed that composing would become easier as I got older. Needless to say it has not gotten easier; it has become more demanding as I seek to grow and develop my work. As it happens, the works of which I am most proud are the ones which were the most demanding of my skills and into which I put my most adventuresome ideas and concepts. I tell my students the truth when I tell them that composing is the most difficult thing I do.

Having said this, naturally I want the performers to share in my sense of adventure and growth as they prepare a new work of mine. I will state now that I have been blessed with many individuals and groups who got into that spirit of adventure and put themselves into the shaping of the piece. When this occurs, composer, performer and audience usually come away from the performance fulfilled.

On many occasions, however, I am reminded that one must take chances to make music. I have heard many performances of my works by talented performers which were nothing more than notes, rhythms, and dynamics. The personal involvement was missing. Too often I hear performers of contemporary music so conscious of meeting the technical demands of a work that the need to “sell” the work to the audience through personal commitment to the shaping of the work falls short. A performer must take chances to develop an interpretation whose goal is communication.

This idea came home to me again in class just the other day. We were studying the famous Chaconne in D minor for solo Violin by Bach. After examining the various elements which contributed to the shape and direction of the piece I asked the class to comment on what was absent from the score. They readily saw that there were no dynamic markings, no accents, and no indications of tempo or tempo fluctuation. Yet, the performance we heard on the recording was rich and full because the soloist shaped the piece with all those elements we did not see printed in the score. He took an active role in bringing this piece to life, not just playing what was on the page. He showed relationships which were present, waiting to be highlighted for the listener.

This is, in essence, what I want performers to do with my music. Become involved - take chances. Show me things about my piece I might not have seen when I wrote it. If it is a good piece, there will be many different valid interpretations of it. I want to hear the “you” in it, not just my notes and rhythms and dynamics. I feel as if I always learn more from interpretations of my music which surprise me in any number of ways. If I am to grow as a composer, it is important to see the facets of my ideas which I have overlooked or underestimated.