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12/09/2003
Twin Violinists Fiddle with Christmas
What started out as an experiment has turned into a grand project for Honolulu Symphony violinists Dan and Duane Padilla.
The pair, known also as the Gemini Duo, recently released A Fiddler's Christmas, a virtuosic yet folksy take on standard Christmas tunes.
Honolulu Advertiser Entertainment Writer, Wayne Harada, gave the CD a warm review in his picks for holiday music, and recently, one of the arrangements on the CD has been adapted for solo violin and accompaniment and was choreographed for student dancers of the Punahou Ballet Studio.
Dan tells us about the project and what's up next for this dynamic duo.
What inspired you to produce this album?
The Gemini Duo has attempted recording projects in the past. Around 1999-2000, to commemorate the new millennium , the group commissioned half a dozen new pieces by art composers with a very avante-garde and experimental style. We toured with these pieces for a few years and they were very well-received by our audiences, and we had planned to make a CD to record these works. After several attempts, however, it was very apparent that most of these pieces were interesting due to some "theatrical and performance" elements that couldn't really be captured on audio CD alone. We actually sent a demo recording of these pieces to an international violin competition in New York City, and one judge's comment was "fine performances, but I wouldn't want to listen to a whole concert of this stuff!" One of the pieces written for us, however, perhaps planted the initial seed that would turn into this CD. The piece is called "My Mister Never-Ending Bliss" by our friend Padma Neusume, who is the leader of an alternative band called "The Clogs." To play this piece, we attached clip-on microphones to our regular violins which enabled us to make "non-traditional" sounds on our instruments. We were able to sound like Indian table drums, an eastern drone box and rattles. Through other computerized and multi-track effects, we were able to sound like a choir of violins and even recreated the sound of a rainforest. This was our first real introduction into the use of the violin in a non-classical style, which made use of technology and other devices to create a full sound. Our goal in this CD was to use some of these "production techniques" to create a style that was fun and easy to listen too. So we basically studied the recordings of some of our favorite artists and made experiments and settled on a style that our friend Nancy Shoop-Wu has playfully described as "Jiddle-Jaddle" - a jazz, folk and fiddle style with the discipline and intellectual rigor of classical training.
Which twin did which tasks in the production?
After working as the Gemini Duo for over ten years, we have a pretty well-defined idea about the division of labor when we take on a project like this. While we collaborate equally in every aspect of the project, it is assumed the each of us is ultimately responsible for certain aspects in the final product. As the Artisitic Director, Duane is in charge of most things creative. He basically decides on the pieces we will play and in this case the style and flavor of the CD as a whole. It is his job also to tinker around with the equipment and see what the creative possibilites might be and to experiment with new styles. While I will work with him making arrangements, listening to tracks in the sound booth, and critique our various takes, etc. it is ultimately Duane's responsiblity that the final disk sounds great. As the Managing Director, I am responsible for most things practical. I will be the one to make sure that we have the supplies that we need and to monitor our cash flows and see if we can really afford some of the gear that Duane feels we might need. I am also in charge of researching copyrights and licensing issues which is especially important for a CD project like this that includes covers of other artists' songs. I am also basically in charge of writing our contracts, dealing with our distributors, managing our CD inventory, making sure our materials are sent to the media on time, and other sorts of nitty gritty things. While Duane certainly is a big help with all of these things, I know that I am the one ultimately responsible for keeping our bottom line and making sure that we have all the resources and support to do our best creative work.
How did you come up with the arrangements?
This is the first time that either of us has ever tried to arrange or compose any sort of music. So we don't really have an organized "work process." Most of the arrangements came from endless experiments. We studied several introductory books on jazz piano and Irish fiddle and listened to so many different sorts of pop artists, from Sarah Maclaughlin to Carlos Santana. After finding an intitial "groove" or rhythm to govern the song as a whole, we would just play in tracks one by one, layering things as we went along, keep tracks that "sounded good" and deleting tracks that were "a little strange." While the songs on the CD are relatively short, between two and four minutes, the cleanest one has at least 200 edits - places where adjustments were made to make things sound just right.
Are you working on other recording projects?
At the moment, we are look forward to the publishing phase of this current CD. Our plan is to transcribe most of these pieces for violin choir and accompaniment geared mostly for intermediate and advanced level violin students. A small mainland publishing company has shown some interest in the arrangements but no firm commitments have been made. Locally, however, one of the arrangements has been arranged for solo violin and accompaniment and has been choreographed for student dancers of the Punahou Ballet Studio. Their performance of the piece with dancing will take place later this month.
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