In 1970, an experimental music ensemble began meeting at the home of Herbert and Norma Marder on West Church Street in Champaign. Called the New Verbal Workshop, the group explored “speechmusic”—using human voices “to explore the musical possibilities inherent in verbal combinations.” As a professor of English at the University of Illinois, Herbert was interested in poetry and jazz, while Norma was a classically trained opera singer who turned to avant-garde performance during the 1960s.
Photo caption: New Verbal Workshop. They call their productions “speechmusic”—a combination of theater, music and poetry, based on improvisation. They will perform at 8 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Channing-Murray Foundation, Matthews Avenue and Oregon Street, Urbana. Members l–r, are Joan Korb, Fred Simon, Norma Marder, Herbert Marder and Janet Gilbert. Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette, April 29, 1975, section 2, p. 16. Photo by Joe Wilske.
The Marders recruited four others—two graduate students in music, a professor in educational psychology, and a social worker—to form a company of six. For several hours each Sunday evening, the participants sat in a circle on a floor in the Marders’ home. In that context, they generated new works through an iterative process: improvising in response to a prompt, listening to a recording of the improvisation, discussing the recording to identify aspects of interest, then improvising again while prioritizing those aspects. In such a way, a structure would condense around which improvisation could still take place—even in contexts of live performance. That approach related both to works by composer John Cage, who the Marders knew well and in whose works Norma had performed, and to research in mathematics, information theory, and cybernetics being pursued at Illinois since the mid-1940s.
The New Verbal Workshop members evolved over time, but six was considered the ideal number. Grants from the Campus Research Board supported early efforts. Over twelve years, a significant body of “speechmusic” composed in the Marders’ home was disseminated to campus, community, and beyond through recordings and live concerts, including collaborations with dancers and media artists. As musicologist, composer, and original ensemble member William Brooks remarked, “a whole lot of exploratory initiatives … were possible in that environment that might have been either unnoticed or unattainable in others.”
Prompts used by the New Verbal Workshop at a meeting on October 30, 1977. Reproduced with the permission of Michael and Yuri Marder.
October 30, 1977 New Verbal Workshop
1. First we did a free improv. for the airplane series, which featured the Blue Angels, Captain Mummy, and the Lost Kid.
2. We repeated the unison exercise from the previous week, which employed the rotating triangles: (see Sunday Oct. 23--Unisons and Progressions V1.)
We then did an improvisation maintaining the structure within the two trios but without coordinating between them. This allowed for more variety in timing and occasionally the interlappings were very interesting.
3. "Checking for Razor Blades", a free improv on the fun of Halloween.
4. In an attempt to work with Monotony we each chose one word and used that word in an improvis[a]tion in which we did not vary any quality in our speech. We did this exercise three times and the groups of words chosen were:
1. apple tree, collect, sherbet, innocence, singapore
2. subsidiary, cowboy, rattail, cacophony, gardening
3. brouhaha, carolina, zigzag, into, communicate
5. We wanted more Monotony, so we all decided on one word for the whole group: lovely. This time we tried not to repeat the word over and over again individually. It was pretty but dull.
next week: a long lecture on dog food
Recordings
Note: All works except “Maledetto” were composed by the New Verbal Workshop. All recordings courtesy of William Brooks, with permission from the Marder Family Trust.
Master I
Track 1: “Alone” (5m04s)
Track 2: “Time” (5m01s)
Track 3: “National Geographic” (6m55s)
Track 4: “Naked” (4m58s)
Track 5: “Goodbye” (5m12s)
Track 6: “Circle of Themes” (9m25s)
Recorded fall 1973. Performers: Dale Cockrell, Janet Gilbert, Joan Korb, Herbert Marder, Norma Marder, and Richard Wagner
Track 7: “Gronk” (8m00s)
Recorded 1972–73. New Verbal Workshop personnel in 1972–73 included Carol Ames, William Brooks, Dale Cockrell, Joan Korb, Herbert Marder, Norma Marder, and Richard Wagner.
Master II
Track 1: “To Do” (12m48s)
Track 2: Probably “Ante-Axis” (2m58s)
Track 3: Probably an alternate version of “Ante-Axis” (5m43s)
Track 4: “Nightmusic” (7m11s)
Likely recorded 1973–74. New Verbal Workshop personnel in 1973–74 included Dale Cockrell, Janet Gilbert, Joan Korb, Herbert Marder, Norma Marder, and Richard Wagner.
Master III
Track 1: “Circle of Themes” (5m58s)
Track 2: “Hands” (8m12s)
Track 3: “Lies” (6m51s)
Track 4: “Gothic Piece” (9m44s)
Recorded spring 1974. Performers: Dale Cockrell, Janet Gilbert, Joan Korb, Herbert Marder, Norma Marder, and Richard Wagner. These four works were performed in a concert at The Depot, 223 N. Broadway, Urbana, May 10–12, 1974 (see program in exhibition).
Master X
Track 1: “Truth or Consequences, New Mexico” (14m45s)
Performers: Dale Cockrell, Janet Gilbert, Herbert Marder, Norma Marder, and Fred Simon.
Track 2: “Taboo” (11m38s)
Track 3: “Gryphics” (12m07s)
“Gryphics” premiered March 31, 1977, at Graphic Music: A Spectrum of Sound and Design, Concert II, organized by the University of Illinois School of Music at the University Auditorium (Foellinger Auditorium). Performers: Michael Blair, Dale Cockrell, Janet Gilbert, Joani Krohn, Herbert Marder, and Norma Marder.
Likely recorded 1975–77.
Master Maladetto
Track 1: Kenneth Gaburo, “Maledetto.” Full title: “Lingua II: Maledetto (Composition for 7 Virtuoso Speakers),” 1967–68 (46m29s)
Recorded May 1973. Performers: Dale Cockrell, narrator; William Brooks and Norma Marder, hecklers; Carol Ames, Joan Korb, Herbert Marder, and Richard Wagner.
Master Midget Mass
Track 1: “Midget Mass” (20m10s)
Recorded live at Festival Concert, Great Hall, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, March 18, 1975. Performers: Janet Gilbert, Joan Korb, Herbert Marder, Norma Marder, and Fred Simon.
Daily Illini Review
Danl Ruby, “Verbal Workshop Offers New Offbeat Entertainment,” Daily Illini, May 11, 1974, p. 15.
Verbal Workshop Offers New, Offbeat Entertainment
The New Verbal Workshop (NVW) is a jazz band that uses the human voice as its instruments and the English language as its musical scale.
Comprised of six University students and faculty, the NVW opened a three night engagement Friday night at the Depot.
Their performance included eight pieces of nonsense dialogue, cacophonic speechmusic, free improvisation from audience suggested themes and a recorded selection of poems accompanied by an excellent slide show.
Typically their pieces begin on a certain understandable theme, but soon fall off into humorous and non-sensical juxtapositions of phrases and sentences, and eventually erupt into startling musical harmonies. The members seem to have a full understanding of their combined capabilities, and the possibilities of the form they are working with. Their ideas are not limitless, but more often than not their improvised pieces come off fresh and interesting.
Herbert Marder, professor of English and leader of the group, explains that “like jazz, we are working within certain prescribed structures and limitations. But we have found a lot of room for growth and movement within these.
“The pieces range from fairly structured to some that are basically free. In each case we have set the parameters of the piece and know what we can or cannot do. The amazing thing is the energy that is generated between us,” Marder added.
Although the group has performed on few occasions, they are surprisingly professional in their stage presence. Marder explained that they have been working together for three years and have come to know each other very well. They have recorded extensively, and their tapes have been played at avant-garde festivals around the country and in Europe.
Of the pieces they performed last night, perhaps the most interesting was “Lies,” in which each of the members alternately told untruths about themselves and their families. When it was over I felt that I knew what was true about them by subtracting what wasn't.
Perhaps they are making a comment about the way we communicate. Whatever they are saying, the NVW provides exciting, offbeat entertainment.
