Orchestral Ocean: JLA Makes a

Sea of Sound
Christian Meyer
Professor Mehnert
FAM3000
11 December 2015

John Luther Adams, a modern American composer based out of Alaska, has a distinct
compositional style that has been described as a way to explore and understand the world
around him, regardless of border real and imagined. 1 He has recently gained popularity because
of his Pulitzer-winning piece Become Ocean, which was premiered by the Seattle Symphony
Orchestra on the 22nd of June, 2013. Just like all of his other pieces, in Become Ocean Adams
draws inspiration from the landscape around him, specifically from the oceans he experiences in
Alaska. Additionally, Adams notes that he had an image of melting polar ice in his mind while
creating the piece, stating that all life came from the ocean and, some day, may return, in which
case all life will literally become ocean.2 Adams is able to recreate landscapes via his music,
using interesting techniques and unorthodox composition styles. In Become Ocean, John Luther
Adams utilizes symmetry of dynamical variance and changing instrumentation to create a
musical equivalent to listening to the ocean.
Born in Meridian, Mississippi in 1953, Adams spent most of his youth moving to suburb
after suburb all over the United States, as his father was climbing the corporate later with a large
telephone company3. In 1969, Adams family settled in Macon, Georgia, and Adams enrolled in
Westminster Academy, a prestigious high school in the area. However, he never actually
1 Adams, John Luther. "John Luther Adams: The Music of a True Place." By Molly Sheridan.

NewMusicBox. Last modified March 1, 2011. http://www.newmusicbox.org/articles/john-luther-adamsthe-music-of-a-true-place/.

2 Adams, John Luther. "An Inviting Apocalypse: John Luther Adams On 'Become Ocean'." By Arun Rath.
NPR. Last modified September 28, 2014.
http://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2014/09/28/350911062/an-inviting-apocalypse-johnluther-adams-on-become-ocean.

3 Adams, John Luther. "A to Z: Interviews with John Luther Adams." By Mark Alburger. 21st-century
Music 7 (January 2000): 1-12. Accessed December 6, 2015. http://www.21stcenturymusic.com/ML210001.pdf.

graduated from the schoolinstead, due to his bad behavior, the school offered to get him into
any school he desired, provided he left Westminster. So, he chose to go to California Institute of
the Arts, a college on the complete opposite side of the country. Adams has described his time at
CalArts saying [CalArts] was very, very important to me. I was there in what Im told was the
golden era It saved my creative life.4 While there, he studied under several well-known
composers, including James Tenney, Harry Partch, Conlon Nancarrow, and Lou Harrison.
During his time in southern California, Adams became involved with the environmental
movement in the early seventies, joining several organizations that fought for the environment.
Specifically, he became particularly involved with fighting for the near-extinct California
condor.5 Through his work trying to preserve the life of the California condor, Adams was
inspired to make a piece that drew inspiration from Native American birds, entitled
songbirdsongs, and released it in 1974. This type of inspiration from nature is indicative of the
direction Adams music would take in years to come. That same year, Adams released another
Native American inspired piece titled Green Corn Dance.6 It was that year that Adams has said
that he found his voice in his music.7
4

Adams, John Luther. "A to Z: Interviews with John Luther Adams." By Mark Alburger. 21stcentury Music 7 (January 2000): 1-12. Accessed December 6, 2015. http://www.21stcenturymusic.com/ML210001.pdf.

5 Herzogenrath, B. "Song of the earth." In The farthest place: The music of John Luther Adams, 13-22.
Boston, OH: Northeastern University Press, 2012.

Adams, John Luther. "A to Z: Interviews with John Luther Adams." By Mark Alburger. 21stcentury Music 7 (January 2000): 1-12. Accessed December 6, 2015. http://www.21stcenturymusic.com/ML210001.pdf.

Adams, John Luther. "John Luther Adams: The Music of a True Place." By Molly Sheridan.
NewMusicBox. Last modified March 1, 2011. http://www.newmusicbox.org/articles/john-lutheradams-the-music-of-a-true-place/.

During the summer of 1975, Adams made his first trip to Alaska to work as a wilderness guide,
and to fight for the Alaska coalition.8 Entranced by the landscape, he returned the following two
summers (76 and 77), and finally in 1978 he moved into a cabin in the Alaskan back woods, a
mile away from the nearest road, and completely devoid of any electricity or plumbing. Adams
has said that at that time he had an almost innate desire to find a home; not just in a geographical
sense, but more so in a spiritual sense,9 likely due to the fact that he never really had a permanent
home while growing up. This led Adams to Alaska, which didnt just give him that place to live,
but it also gave him a lifes work,10 as it inspired Adams to write distinctive works influenced by
his surroundings, and continues to do so to this day. Adams felt most inspired to make music
when he was flying to teach a fall semester at Oberlin College, and upon seeing the Alaska
Range, he felt an intense, almost erotic love for the landscape. 11 However, because he was still
working as an environmental activist, as well as teaching at a few colleges (Oberlin College and
the University of Alaska, to name a couple), he was never truly able to dedicate himself to his
music. He still composed some pieces, but they were few and far between. However in 1982,
after nearly a decade of environmental activism, he fell very ill. He was sick for a long time, and
8 Feisst, Sabine. "John Luther Adams An Avant-garde Composer in Alaska." Beyond the Centres:
Musical Avant-Gardes Since 1950, January 2010. Accessed December 6, 2015.
http://btc.web.auth.gr/_assets/_papers/FEISST.pdf.

9 Adams, John Luther. "A to Z: Interviews with John Luther Adams." By Mark Alburger. 21st-century
Music 7 (January 2000): 1-12. Accessed December 6, 2015. http://www.21stcenturymusic.com/ML210001.pdf.

10

11 Ibid.

Adams, John Luther. "John Luther Adams: The Music of a True Place." By Molly Sheridan.
NewMusicBox. Last modified March 1, 2011. http://www.newmusicbox.org/articles/john-lutheradams-the-music-of-a-true-place/.

it was during that introspective period that he decided that someone else could lead the
environmental crusade, but no one else could produce the music that he wanted to produce. It
was then that Adams decided that he would dedicate himself to music full time; however, it still
took him several years to put this decision into motion.12
In 1995, after several years of being the composer-in-residence for the Anchorage Symphony
Orchestra, Adams was tasked with composing a piece to celebrate the Orchestras 50th
anniversary. Having just finished a percussion piece (as Adams was familiar with percussion,
having played as a drummer in several rock bands growing up), he decided that this was his
opportunity to try his hands at writing a piece for a full Symphony Orchestra, a piece that would
be called Sauyatugvik: The Time of Drumming. This piece, like many of the composers other
works, drew from the Native American tribes in Alaska.13 It was also the first time he wrote for a
Symphony Orchestra, the same arrangement that Become Ocean is written for.
Adams style of composing certainly sets him apart from most if not all other composers of his
time. His style could be described as experimentalmany of his works use clusters, modal
harmonies, static textures, just intonation, complex rhythms, elements of Non-Western music,
recorded natural and electronic sounds, and extended length to make for a distinctive sound. 14
12 Adams, John Luther. "A to Z: Interviews with John Luther Adams." By Mark Alburger. 21st-century
Music 7 (January 2000): 1-12. Accessed December 6, 2015. http://www.21stcenturymusic.com/ML210001.pdf.

13 Adams, John Luther. "A to Z: Interviews with John Luther Adams." By Mark Alburger. 21st-century
Music 7 (January 2000): 1-12. Accessed December 6, 2015. http://www.21stcenturymusic.com/ML210001.pdf.

14 Feisst, Sabine. "John Luther Adams An Avant-garde Composer in Alaska." Beyond the Centres:
Musical Avant-Gardes Since 1950, January 2010. Accessed December 6, 2015.
http://btc.web.auth.gr/_assets/_papers/FEISST.pdf.

Adams, however, isnt driven by any desire to make music that has an individual sound to it.
Instead, his goal is make music that gives a sense of spacehis desire is that a listener is able to
enter into one of his compositions as one would enter into a new space, and to be just as free to
explore the musical piece as they would be to explore a physical space. 15 However, Adams, who
says the world in which he lives is the deepest, most inexhaustible source for his work, has
noted that his goal is not to represent or reproduce the sounds of a particular place from which he
draws inspiration. Rather, the goal is to find in music an equivalent to the experience of being in
the place of inspiration.16 Writing the music, according to Adams, is a very introspective, lonely,
and solitary experience, during which he strives to make the best musical equivalent to a
particular space, sometimes taking years to discover exactly what it is he is searching for.17 His
2013 piece Become Ocean, for example, is the culmination of a 40 year-long work-in-progress, 18
and has been described as a haunting orchestral work that suggest a relentless tidal surge,
evoking thoughts of melting polar ice and rising sea levels.19
15 Adams, John Luther. "An Inviting Apocalypse: John Luther Adams On 'Become Ocean'." By Arun

Rath. NPR. Last modified September 28, 2014.

http://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2014/09/28/350911062/an-inviting-apocalypse-johnluther-adams-on-become-ocean.

16 Adams, John Luther. "John Luther Adams: The Music of a True Place." By Molly Sheridan.

NewMusicBox. Last modified March 1, 2011. http://www.newmusicbox.org/articles/john-luther-adamsthe-music-of-a-true-place/.

17 Ibid.

18 Adams, John Luther. "An Inviting Apocalypse: John Luther Adams On 'Become Ocean'." By Arun

Rath. NPR. Last modified September 28, 2014.

http://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2014/09/28/350911062/an-inviting-apocalypse-johnluther-adams-on-become-ocean.

19 Ibid.

The piece begins with a slow swell, with the strings playing a low drone that gradually
increases in volume, while a piano plays an almost indistinguishable melody at a low pitch level
that adds a certain depth to the piece. A harp plays in the background, moving in an up-anddown, wavelike fashion, and at a higher register than the piano, providing for a welcome
contrast. This creates an oceanic feel, as the motion of the harps melody is reminiscent of the
waves that one hears while observing the ocean. This sort of resonant, background noise
continues for several minutes, gently peaking several times. At 3:03, there is a small dynamical
peak that is comprised mainly of the strings playing a low drone and the piano playing its
melody; at 4:04 theres another small peak, formed by an increase in volume in the strings, as
well as what sounds like the woodwind section, while the harp continues to play its gentle
melody; at 5:06, a third peak is provided by an increase in the volume of the drone and the piano,
playing its simple theme. The first large climax occurs at 7:03, and its at this point that the
piece makes a very acute and dynamic peak, increasing in volume drastically, and much more
than the three previous peaks. The strings are the largest contributor to this increase in volume,
accompanied by all other instruments, which work together to make for a dramatic climax that is
crowned with a single swell of the brass section. The climax falls off, and the piece returns to its
original volume until 9:06, which is when the piece has another small climax with the strings and
the piano, similar to the climax at 5:06. At 11:04 there is a fifth climax, made up simply by the
strings and what seems to be the harp playing gently in the back ground, providing the wavelike
melody that it provided at the beginning of the song. Finally at 13:03 there is one more very
small peak that is made of the string section and the harp. A silence is then formed at 13:51, with
just a quiet drone of strings to keep the music moving.

This silence marks exactly one third of the way through the song. This first third of the piece
exemplifies the symmetry that Adams employs throughout the entire song. The section could be
thought of in the form a-b-a-c-a-b-a, where each letter represents either a difference in the
volume of the climax, or a difference in the instrumentation of the climax. Looking at Figure 1
makes the symmetry of the piece very graphically clear, at least with respect to the volume of the
individual peaks. However, the symmetry of the piece does not end herethis fourteen minute
section is then repeated two more times, making for the full forty-two minutes of piece. The
middle repetition of this 3-1-3 peak organization is different from the other two, however, and
the overall construction of the piece can be represented as A-A-A. So what is it that makes the
middle third different from the first and last? To begin, it is played at a higher pitch level than the
other two, shedding the low-pitched piano melody that tends to remind one of the darkness of the
deep ocean, and instead opting to focus on the brass, woodwind, harp, and strings, which play at
a higher register, further differentiating this section from the rest of the piece. Additionally, it
seems as though the strings take on more of a trill throughout the middle third as opposed to a
drone; this adds to the overall oceanic sound of the song, as the oscillation of the trill reminds
one of the oscillation of the ripples of water. Finally, the middle peak of the section, occurring at
21:03, exactly halfway through the song, is much louder and robust than any of the other peaks,
including the middle peaks of the first and last third. This middle peak is not only louder, but also
includes instruments not heard in any of the other peaks, such as a tuba and a drum, both of
which add a resounding depth to the piece that is not present elsewhere in the piece. All of these
elements set the middle third apart from the first and last, once again adding to the symmetry of
the piece as a whole; this symmetry can be seen in Figure 2.

The main driving force behind this piece is the concept of waves. The first thing that most
people would associate with the ocean is its waves, whether observing from a distance, or
experiencing the water up close. Adams recognizes this, and uses several techniques to emulate
waves in order to create the experience of listening to the ocean. To begin, each individual
climax has a slow build up, a peak, and a recession back to the normal volume. Each one of
these climaxes can be thought of as a wave of sorts, resembling the water slowly crashing onto
the shore, then gently receding back into the ocean whence it came. The middle peak within each
section serves break the monotony in dynamics of the individual waves, whereas the second and
fifth peaks serve to break the monotony in instrumentation. The middle section (A), with its
higher pitch and louder volume, also reduces the monotony, perhaps representing the high tide.
As mentioned above, Adams music is not meant to resemble or represent, its meant to
recreate the experience of being near the ocean. Thats precisely what occurs in Become Ocean
using peaks in dynamics and alterations in instrumentation, Adams creates a musical ocean full
of waves that the listener is allowed to travel through. The gentle push-and-pull of the dynamic
and pitch variances create a sense of disorientation, a sense that can be likened to floating in the
middle of the ocean, subject to the forces of the ever-changing forces of the water. Its this
disorienting effect that it seems Adams was searching for in the piece, as it lends itself to his goal
of making a musical piece that is a place; because theres no clear direction, a listener is free to
explore all of the notes, the instruments, and the dynamics of the piece, focusing on what
interests them throughout the entirety of the song. Starting with the simple notion of waves, and
using nothing more than some simple symmetry in the change in dynamics and instrumentation,
John Luther Adams creates a forty-two minute work that truly does make for a musical
equivalent to the experience of the ocean.

Bibliography

Adams, John Luther. "A to Z: Interviews with John Luther Adams." By Mark Alburger. 21st-century
Music 7 (January 2000): 1-12. Accessed December 6, 2015. http://www.21stcenturymusic.com/ML210001.pdf.
Adams, John Luther. John Luther Adams: Become ocean, Ludovic Morlot. Cantloupe B00L5VZL4S.
CD. 2014.
Adams, John Luther. "John Luther Adams: The Music of a True Place." By Molly Sheridan.
NewMusicBox. Last modified March 1, 2011. http://www.newmusicbox.org/articles/john-lutheradams-the-music-of-a-true-place/.
Adams, John Luther. "An Inviting Apocalypse: John Luther Adams On 'Become Ocean'." By Arun Rath.
NPR. Last modified September 28, 2014.
http://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2014/09/28/350911062/an-inviting-apocalypsejohn-luther-adams-on-become-ocean.
Boyd, Michael. "The place where you go to listen: In search of an ecology of music." Computer Music
Journal 35, no. 2 (Summer 2011): 92-95. Accessed December 6, 2015.
http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=80c3ad2f-1120-448d-9ad0a4e23e75d89f%40sessionmgr4003&vid=16&hid=4107.
Feisst, Sabine. "John Luther Adams An Avant-garde Composer in Alaska." Beyond the Centres:
Musical Avant-Gardes Since 1950, January 2010. Accessed December 6, 2015.
http://btc.web.auth.gr/_assets/_papers/FEISST.pdf.
Herzogenrath, B. "Song of the earth." In The farthest place: The music of John Luther Adams, 13-22.
Boston, OH: Northeastern University Press, 2012.
Tuttle, Raymond, and Robert Carl. "Become Ocean." Fanfare 38 (January/February 2015): 221-222.
Accessed December 6, 2015.

Figure 1

Figure 2