The Future of Classical Music

Farewell!

2011-12-06T09:41:00.003-05:00

As my colleagues have done, I will begin my farewell post with some concluding remarks about what we have discussed this semester. Classical musicians now have to be individuals, who form an identity that is not entirely centered on their technical skills, but more related to the way they present themselves and their music (and perhaps their Twitter accounts). Using non-traditional venues, incorporating technology into performance, and willingness to blur genre boundaries are increasingly common tactics for remaining relevant and reaching out to audiences. But perhaps more important than following current trends is simply knowing what those trends are. An awareness of the classical music landscape is vital for musicians, now more than ever before. The business is changing, and knowing how it is changing is important for us as we prepare to enter that business ourselves. Our own contributions will be more effective for knowing what and how others are contributing to classical music.

It has been enlightening to have such a forum where my colleagues and I can discuss current topics and events in classical music, as well as the prospect of what lies before us as we embark on careers in classical music. I have been able to gain insight about the classical music world from both my own reading and research and from my colleagues' perspectives that I would not have discovered on my own. So, to the next Future of Classical Music class: I hope your experience is equally as enriching. I now pass the discussion on to you!

So long for now

2011-12-06T07:58:00.000-05:00

I can not say for certain if this is indeed my last blog post or not. The landscape of classical music in this day hangs amidst a constant state of validation and scrutiny. So long as there are those of us that recognize that and use the gifts we are given to keep music relevant than it will continue to survive.
The messages of urgency, validation, and authentcity that are presented that are considered when examining the future of classical music are meant to provoke an introspective view point on the body of that encompasses classical music. The message is not to take music or audience appreciation for granted. The artist must always progress to keep relevant. Partly this is due to the temporal nature of music. It is also important for music to connect with the culture listening to it. This is not to say we all need to drop what we're doing and play hip hop. The solution is to be far more creative, clever, and artistic than anyone before.

Cautious Optimism for the Future

2011-12-05T21:29:00.001-05:00

I was interested to find that despite the differences of tone and focus of Cook and Hewitt, they both conclude with some of the same points. In a general sense, each author attempts to move past the broad assertions about classical music’s imminent death and proceed with “cautious optimism,” as Cook puts it. In our blog posts and class discussions, we seem to have gone through a similar process, beginning by criticizing the marginal nature of classical music, then attempting to move past complaints and into insight. On a more specific level, both Cook and Hewitt conclude that the locus of information of classical music, and its potential for future existence, lie with re-imagining our listening experience.

This said, there are some differences in the implications of their conclusions. Hewitt writes that we often feel a lack of “emotional intensity” in current music, but “we never think that its lack may be partly in ourselves, and with the way we relate to music.” (2003: 266) Our listening habits have become too passive, and we must actively engage with the music. Hewitt claims that classical music is especially well suited to active listening, since it gives its conception of the musical realm “some substance, in the form of a set of pieces and techniques, and an entire metaphysics of music, that one can share and pass on, even to people in cultures far distant to our own.” (2003: 263) By mentioning “a set of pieces and techniques,” he appears to suggest that music education based on theory and the canon of works still has an important role to play in classical music’s future. For Cook, on the other hand, fighting off our passivity involves the recognition that music is a way of “creating meaning, rather than just of representing it.” (1998: 125-6) This recognition is not so much the realm of music theory, but more of critical theory: “critical theory omits music at its peril; music has unique powers as an agent of ideology. We need to understand its working, its charms, both to protect ourselves against them and, paradoxically, enjoy them to the full.” (1998: 129) While Hewitt is concerned that the philosophy of fusion and “breaking down barriers” is disingenuous, Cook does not condemn these forms, saying instead that we need to understand what is at stake in listening to this music (or, conversely, rejecting this music as trash). Put in the broadest manner, Hewitt believes that music should be understood by its internal logic, whereas Cook suggests looking through an outside logic to question the internal one.

Either way, these are high expectations for us as both performers and listeners. Hewitt even suggests that his vision may be an impossible one. What do we do to become more a more active audience? Unfortunately, this seems to be a topic that often goes missing from our blog posts. We’ve written extensively on different types of concert programming and presentation, on film music, on fusion, and whether art can be democratic, but relatively little on modes of listening (ours, or others’). How can we listen in a way that is both informed and unintimidating, to abandon our hierarchical status as musical specialists (performers) without falling into passive listening? For me, a small part of resolving this involves listening to more music played by other instruments (as a cellist, this means solo piano music, lieder, or l’Histoire du Soldat, all things I will probably never perform myself). I do not abandon my knowledge of the musical logic, or the associations and ideology it brings to mind, but I am no longer listening for specifics of technique and execution that seem to be inevitable when I listen to string music. Positioning myself as an audience member, I am more able to understand and enjoy the activity of listening.

To some extent, we must re-imagine our own listening experiences before we think about how we might convince others to do the same.

Farewell, fair friends!

2011-12-05T21:15:00.003-05:00

Hopefully this will not be my final post to this blog. I have thoroughly enjoyed discussing classical music and where its future is headed during our class sessions. Where our future is headed, really. It was wonderful to have a place to discuss the issues that pertain to this future as well as to have an instructor who asked pertinent questions.

It was quite interesting to hear Dean Chin's opinion on competitions last week. There were two vocal seminars this semester that were dedicated just to competitions and young artist programs. These competitions have their place and value, but it is good to hear that there are other ways if these programs are not an option.

Random interjection: at Friday's orchestra concert, the pianist and composer Timothy Andres, did not use a "regular" musical score during the performance of his piano concerto Home Stretch. Instead, he used his iPad. He had it right on the piano as if it was a regular notebook. I had never seen anything like it. Perhaps this is part of the future of classical music? I'm sure it is. As long as one does not have any quick page turns...

Have a wonderful winter break! Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy New Year.
I hope to see you all in the spring and at my recital on April 29th at 5pm in Pickman Hall. Yes, that was a shameless plug. =]

Sincerely,

Aimée

Prospect

2011-12-05T18:13:00.003-05:00

Scrutinized, but unaware of the outcome proceeding this examination. What is this knowledge, other than cultural, political, and philosophical "lore"? It's an interesting question. And although I possess an antiphon, I refuse to share. It is simply an interesting question.

Thank You for reading,

Kwaumane Brown

Longy School of Music

UD in Composition ('12)

More Thoughts on Classical Music in Film

2011-11-29T09:57:00.005-05:00

After reading some of my colleagues' thoughts on film music, I wanted to add more thoughts regarding the inclusion of classical music in films. In Healing the Rift, Hewett postulates that perhaps we are returning to a Baroque philosophy on the inseparability of music with words and images (245), and that music has been transformed from a social to a solitary experience (246).
But is it really a negative that it is increasingly more common for music to be linked to words and images? Would not the association of classical music with a film bring the music into a larger shared experience and out of a completely autonomous existence?

Hewett remarks that much of the current philosophy of art music is that it "exists above history" (251). One could argue that the inclusion of classical music in films gives the music a certain historical and cultural association, even if that association is with a fictitious work. When classical music is included in a film, it gains a "place" in history and shared experience. Perhaps it may be used in a way that is symptomatic of tendencies towards expressivity or evocativeness. But it is not merely a personal experience, summoned by the listener, as Hewett describes.

Also, while classical music in films may lose some of its independent identity, it does gain a social function, rather than existing in a separate autonomous realm. Some may view this as a negative. But perhaps the reverence of the autonomous realm is already disappearing from the current perception of classical music. In a time when classical music performance is frequently accompanied by the use of technology for a visual experience, the "image" of the performer, and the tendency towards "boundary-crossing" performance, the close association of music with words and images is inevitable. Therefore, whether one chooses to view the inclusion of classical music in films as a negative or a positive, it is not a significantly different presentation from that found among the current trends of classical music performance.

Hewett, Ivan. Healing the Rift. New York: Continuum, 2003.

Contemporary Classical Music at the Movies

2011-11-29T03:04:00.001-05:00

As a class, we’ve been writing and talking a lot about film scores recently: Nate and Aimée already posted on this topic this week, and I just finished my Wikipedia article on composer Richard Wernick, who has written both for the screen and the concert hall (unfortunately, there do not appear to be many sources documenting Mr. Wernick’s film career; I only have anecdotal evidence that he wrote music for The Bullwinkle Show).

Most of our thoughts on this topic have involved music written for the screen. Can film music stand alone as composition? Are pops concerts featuring movie music cheap populism or real outreach? Have film scores made the general public more receptive to the “dissonance” of contemporary classical harmony?

However, it’s also worth considering the instances in which music moves in the other direction, from the concert hall to the screen. Certainly there are plenty of examples of the standard repertory being used in film, but what about contemporary music? Penderecki’s concert music has been appropriated by many filmmakers, usually in horror films (The Shining, The Exorcist) or works that exploit the viewer’s sense of the surreal or the uncanny. Likewise, Ligeti’s music is featured in The Shining, Shutter Island, and 2001: A Space Odyssey (though it stands in sharp contrast to the better-known Strauss quotation repeated throughout the film). Here again, contemporary music augments the unsettling aspects of the film. It becomes unclear whether the filmmakers are doing the composers a service or not. On the one hand, these films present otherwise niche works to a mass audience; on the other hand, the compositions are being pigeonholed into relatively limited frames of meaning. We recall Hewitt’s critism of Stockhausen’s electronic works, that they seem unable to suggest anything other than space travel and dystopian angst. If these are the only images we are left with for such composers after their work has been used on screen, the notion of a free-standing work is destroyed. Of course, sometimes the problems go beyond aesthetics: Stanley Kubrick never secured the rights to use Ligeti’s music in 2001.

These examples suggest many of the same problems that arise with listening to music written for film as classical music – can the music retain an essential (authentic) identity, regardless of context?

Response to Nate: Distant Worlds are Coming to Boston

2011-11-28T22:53:00.002-05:00

This past summer the Pacific Chorale (a professional chorus based out of Orange County) sang a concert series where the audience watched Peter Jackson's film "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" to live music. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy is one of my favorite book collections and though I was a bit wary at first of what Jackson would do with such an epic fantasy, I was pleasantly surprised with all of it. As for the soundtrack, I think Howard Shore's score is perfect! In our last class before Thanksgiving break, Dr. Jackson was asking us about music in movies. Does a film's music have the ability to stand on its own two feet? When asked to think of examples of film music we connected with, my first thought was "Liz on top of the world" from Pride and Prejudice. However, when I went to describe the music itself, I found it difficult to do so without including (and explaining) the storyline. I then understood Dr. Jackson's point about film music's connection with the story and imagery of the film it accompanies. Can film music accompany a film's story and images and stand alone as non-film music?

I believe Howard Shore's score for the Lord of the Rings trilogy is able to stand by itself. There have been several instances where I have listened to the soundtrack just to hear the music. I do not necessarily remember exactly what part of the film it coincides with, but that is not why I listen to it. I listen to it because of the emotions that stir when I hear it.

During my time at CSUF, my school choir sang a Final Fantasty concert at Universal Studios. I did not know much about Final Fantasy (other than my dad enjoyed playing it on the weekends), and was shocked at how many people were at the concert. I was not privy to the storyline of the game and had a difficult time connecting to the music. Does this mean the music is not able to stand on its own? Or is this music simply not for me?

Distant Worlds are coming to Boston

2011-11-28T12:41:00.001-05:00

Two of the composers of music from video gaming’s most beloved interactive series, Final Fantasy, are coming to Boston’s historic Symphony Hall. The music of Japanese composers Nobuo Uematsu and Masashi Hamauzu will be making its first appearance in New England for the 2012 tour titled “Distant Worlds.” The concert will take place at Symphony Hall on Saturday, March 10th of 2012 featuring the Boston based Video Game Orchestra and Mr. Hamauzu will be present for the performance and attending a meet and greet after the concert for audience members purchasing VIP tickets.

The program consists of selected orchestral works from the Square-Enix video game franchise that are memorable to anyone who has played the 26 year old epic series. For outside the world of gaming it presents an opportunity to hear some masterfully scored modern classical orchestrations.

A rehearsal of the opening to Final Fantasy VIII in Chicago

Tickets are now available on Symphony Hall’s new website. Standard tickets start at $43 and VIP tickets are $126. Its sure to be an event you won’t want to miss. For anyone wondering what the future is for classical music, this is a good place to start. Check out the links below for more information.

Distant Worlds

Symphony Hall, Boston

Rated M for Mature

2011-11-27T14:26:00.002-05:00

Is it me, or are the “classical” music concerts becoming increasingly boring? I was thinking about this as I reflected upon my recent classical music concert experiences. It is not an original thought because I am aware of this presumption, sometimes bluntly expressed by my acquaintances. So, why not address the issue?

The audience, often sparse, varies the look of its cast. You will notice; the professors, the college students (nerds); the affiliates; the donors and trustees; the composers (depending on the concert); the usual suspects (white wigs); the performers; the visitor(s); the family and friends (supporters); the one family (with a child or two) and then me. I would like to consider myself an observer, the person who watches, that is entertained, and patiently awaiting that outer body experience that would enlighten my naive perception of contemporary classical music.

Who doesn't love a good experience? But why would you go to a classical music concert? I never ask myself this question. I attend these concerts because I want to. But, it is a good question when juxtaposed to another musical experience. Why go to these concerts when you can go to a comedy or night club where you can drink with your friends and laugh for 3 hours straight. Why listen to Beethoven in a hall when you can attend a rave, get F***** up on E and feel the bass of Skrillex's Kill Everybody Dubstep. It's not the 60's or 80's but we can not forget about the hippies rocking to some Hendrix on pot, and Emos doing coke while swaying to punk. (I wonder if people still get high while listening to minimalism?). The point is that you will not find drugs at a classical music concert. This is what the classical scene is up against [drugs and alcohol].

Apart of the experience of these concerts is to become educated, which is becoming, borderline, too dry and arduous of an experience. Many “professionally” organized concerts would have countless pages of program notes and bios, an exhausting hour of a pre-concert talk or lecture and the awkward silences that occur between the oddly paced and unorganized stage changes.

In the end, I have stated the facts, made comparisons, complained and probably came off as an asshole. But, can you see the problem? I do not support or condone the advertisement of hard drugs and alcohol. I am generalizing. But the lack of interest in these concerts can be found in the experiences that they provide. People experience things to escape loss, pain, suffering, and reality so that they can remember what it feels like to laugh, to sing and to dance. A concert experience should be a gratifying experience.

And, of course, anyone can go on and on about this topic, but this is not a paper, this is a blog.

A Recent dialog between a friend (19) and I (21):

21: I went to a concert yesterday.

19: Oooo...where did you go?

21: It was some concert at NEC.

19: Oh... I thought you meant like a real concert.

21: Oh?......... (dumbfounded)

Thank You for reading,

Kwaumane Brown

Longy School of Music

UD in Composition ('12)

Congress' Censorship Bill

2011-11-25T06:19:00.003-05:00

Hello, all!

My sister alerted me about this last night. It is exactly what we were talking about in class last Tuesday. I strongly suggest we all look into it as it directly pertains to us as musicians and Future of Classical Music students!

http://americancensorship.org/

See you all on Tuesday. I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful. =]

UPDATE:

Upon my initial post, I failed to mention that this bill brought up quite the interesting discussion over our Thanksgiving table last week. There were several musicians present and it was interesting to hear the opinions on piracy vs. copyright infringement and ideas on how we are affected as musicians.

The topic rose again on Friday evening while at a rehearsal. Quite the popular topic of late. If you have not looked into this bill yet, please do. It does not only affect musicians, but blogging, youtube, and even facebook. The future of this Future class may depend on the whether or not this bill passes.

Not so passive

2011-11-20T23:30:00.002-05:00

At least one listener took great issue with a recent Bruckner performance. Alex Ross discusses it here.

Technology in Music: Combining the New and Old in Classical Music

2011-11-15T10:14:00.005-05:00

I was reading PianoMorphisis, an ArtsJournal blog by Bruce Brubaker, the chair of the piano department at New England Conservatory, and found a link to a Boston Globe article about a recital he gave in February. The article, written by David Weininger and titled "Onstage, a grand piano and an iPod," is based on a phone interview with Brubaker, in which he discusses his programming for the recital.

His recital contained the Boston premier of composer Nico Muhly's "Drones and Piano," a piece written for Brubaker by Muhly. The drones mentioned in the title are tracks that have been pre-recorded by Muhly which Brubaker plays on a sound system through his iPod. The backing track also contains rhythmic punctuations, a viola solo, and additional layers of "odd sounds" as Weininger described them. Despite the variation contained in the backing track, the score does not specify how it should be coordinated with each section of the five-part piece. In fact, the piece is designed so that if one of the sections is finished before the track stops, the pianist can skip to the next track on the iPod.

In his programming, Brubaker did not follow the two paths Weininger says most performers would: he didn't create an entire evening of new music around Muhly's piece, and he also didn't use Muhly's piece as an introductory first piece that would be followed by a familiar program. Instead, he filled the rest of the program with a variety of old an new: Schumann's Fantasy Pieces Op. 111, nos. 1 and 2 were alternated with short works by Philip Glass (Etudes nos. 4 and 5), and works by Alvin Curran and more by Philip Glass made up the rest of the program.

Why the inclusion of the Schumann in a program of relatively new works? Brubaker says that the he noticed some "interesting connections" between Schumann and the Muhly work, including the presence of drones in one of the Schumann pieces. As Weininger says, "The point isn’t to suggest a clear lineage from the Muhly work back to the Schumann; it’s to create a listening experience where similarities can emerge subtly out of dissimilar parts." Brubaker elaborated on the combination of the seemingly "old" with new music on a program, mentioning that at the time of their composition, works of the classical repertoire were new music themselves:

that kind of programming allows us to be more comfortable with the new, but at the same time, to be a little less comfortable with the old. We start to recognize, actually, [that] all music is new music. It’s just that it ages and eventually becomes something we think we know.

Brubaker drew an interesting parallel between the use of technology and Liszt, mentioning that Liszt's recital programs from the 1840s rarely contained music of previous generations, but were presentations of "music of the moment," as Brubaker says. The connection to technology is that it was "new music delivered through the vehicle of the latest high-technology instrument — the modern piano." Therefore, perhaps the use of technology isn't something contradictory the classical music tradition. In fact, as Brubaker suggests, including the latest technology in new music performance may be an "authentic" way of adhering to tradition, and creates continuity between new and old when combined in a program with more "traditional" works:

“To really honor what Liszt did, or to really get in there and experience what that would be,’’ he continues, “well, you’d have to play with high technology, you’d have to play new music, and you’d sprinkle in something else to represent where it came from.’’

Sparsity

2011-11-15T07:40:00.006-05:00

I attended a new music concert yesterday. The size of the audience was, in this case, respectable. Maybe ten people attended the concert. I often query, who was in the audience? But, maybe that is the wrong question. Perhaps the question should be, why was there only ten people here?

I expect the attendance to be lacking in quantity. I have attended many new music concerts, and the audience number is easily countable by sighting the sparsely seated attendees. These numbers do vary. College New Music had a performance in the Edward M. Pickman Concert Hall at The Longy School of Music, and the number of attendees dwarfed the size of the audience that I sat with yesterday. Perhaps Collage is more popular.

But, if we observe BMOP, which has become one of the most daring orchestras strictly dedicated to performing new music, we can find a common feature. Although they have established status, a cult following, and adventurous programming, they still fail to fill the bottom section of Jordan Hall.

It isn't sad anymore. I have grown to enjoy the intimacy of these concerts. It is interesting that you may find a nearly empty house at a new music concert, but meanwhile, in Jordan Hall, you may observe that there isn't one seat that is empty as people enjoy the performance of a Mahler Symphony.

Thank You for reading,

Kwaumane Brown

Longy School of Music

UD in Composition ('12)

Paying homage to Gorecki

2011-11-15T07:23:00.004-05:00

One year ago on November 12th, the amazing Polish composer Henryk Gorecki passed away. I received a CD of Gorecki's Third Symphony, with Dawn Upshaw as soprano soloist, on my 20th birthday. After first listening to the Symphony, I cried and cried, lost in Gorecki's beautiful mournful tones. I was amazed at the connection I felt with this work though I knew nothing about Gorecki or his music. As a classically trained musician, my classical music exposure has been more intense than the average person of our popular culture. My connection to this piece, however was similar to the reaction mentioned by Kozinn regarding the 1992 release of Gorecki's Third Symphony.

Though Gorecki was relatively unknown to popular culture upon release of this CD, the recording sold around one million copies and was on the British pop charts. Gorecki's music is not exactly pop music but he struck a nerve somewhere, touching people in a way they needed. That is exactly what I experienced upon listening to this wonderful recording.

That being said, his death was greatly mourned. This year, he and his music was celebrated with a free concert at Le Poisson Rouge in New York. The two featured pieces were his Second String Quartet, performed by the JACK Quartet, and his "Kleines Requiem für eine Polka," performed by the Signal ensemble. Kozinn notes that 45 minutes before the concert, there was standing room only which attests to how much Gorecki touched people of popular and classical culture with his music.

Here is a link to the original article:

http://tinyurl.com/7g6uydn

Copyright and the future of music

2011-11-14T23:02:00.003-05:00

Last week, when Paul Brust was visiting class, he mentioned that he does not have a website. His reason was that he did not want to open up his music to theft and copyright violation by posting it so openly online. He cited other composers who have found bits of their compositions sampled in hip-hop beats after posting on their website.

On a side note, the fact that music by Brust’s collegues has ended up in hip-hop speaks nicely to one of Ivan Hewitt’s points this week. Addressing what he calls classical music’s “un-classical” side, he talks about non-functional repetition, first with regard to minimalism and rock, and then with regard to hip-hop and some art music such as Amelia, Flying (performed by the Bang on a Can All-Stars). In the latter case, “even the bare requirement of euphony is dispensed with... Because the mere fact of 4x4 regularity is a sufficient defining feature, anything can function as a ‘lick,’ even a fragment of a Schoenberg tone-row.” (Hewitt 2003: 230-1) Indeed, Brust’s experience proves the point: non-tonal music can and has been appropriated into hip-hop.

Of course, Brust’s opposition to this is not that he believes that non-tonal classical music and rap shouldn’t mix. Rather, it is that these particular uses were not authorized by the composers themselves (though I would be curious to hear how various composers would react if a hip-hop producer requested the rights to sample their music - and was willing to pay accordingly. Perhaps this contains the makings of the next great underground mixtape; I’ll call it Kanye vs. Kurtag). The response I offered at the time was my summary of a blog post by Andrew Dubber, Reader in Music Industries Innovation at Birmingham City University. The short version is that the people who steal your music online were never going to buy it in the first place. This statement is a bit willfully perverse, so I will let Dubber explain. Dubber begins by explaining a distinction between “unauthorized copying” and “piracy.” While unauthorized copying includes burning a CD for a friend, or downloading a file from peer-to-peer networks such as Limewire, piracy means selling copies for personal gain. Actual piracy is much rarer than unauthorized copying, so the real question focuses around copying:

When asking ‘Should I be worried about piracy?’ the real underlying question is about whether there is a significant potential loss of income as a result of unauthorised copying. And here we’re talking about what’s generally referred to as the ‘Lost Sale’.

The Lost Sale is the idea that because someone came into possession of a track of yours as an mp3, then that is one less copy that will now be sold, thereby depriving you of your rightful income. (Dubber 2008: http ://newmusicstrategies .com /2008/04/03/should -i -be -worried -about -piracy /)

One would do best to read Dubber’s entire post, as it is not very long. However, his three conclusions as to why the “Lost Sale” concept does not work are:

1) People who share your music are recommending you to people who respect their taste and opinion;

2) The vast majority of people who have unauthorised copies of your music would not have ordinarily paid for it anyway;

3) Do you really want for people who cannot afford your music to be prevented from ever hearing it? (Dubber 2008)

As a solution for those who are worried, Dubber suggests that if mp3s do not effectively work for an artist’s profitable distribution because of unauthorized copying, that the artist should instead use mp3s for promotion and use CDs or concert tickets as their profitable realm. This is all well and good in theory, but of course mp3s are the primary profitable source of music. We seem to have no choice but to take the risk of copying once we go online.

These concerns about artists copyright are, as we know, very old. The first music patents date back to the early renaissance. This said, the purpose of early music copyright was very different. Most of the earliest copyright agreements were in fact patents for music printing technology. The printers held the patent to ensure that no one else would have the technical means to print the music they were printing. The emphasis was on the means of production, rather than the artistic rights of the composer. Even in the renaissance, pirate copies abounded, especially as printing technology became more available. By the time William Byrd and Thomas Tallis secured their music patent, however, the emphasis in patent language was placed squarely on the composers. Currently, the democratization of computers and the internet allows anyone to become a publisher. Patenting the means of production has become a non-issue; on the other hand, unauthorized copies have become exponentially more available.

Technology and Music

2011-11-14T22:08:00.001-05:00

I bet I’m not the only glowing with anticipation over the soon to be revealed, newly designed website for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The website went down on November 12th and will re-launch with a major facelift at 10:30 this evening (11/14/11). They aren’t the only orchestra that’s creating a new experience for their digital audience.

2011 is the year of technology in classical music. Nearly every performing group in Boston has a strong social media presence with Facebook and Twitter.

Probably the most interesting trend is live streaming. Companies like Live Station, Concert Window, and UStream allow events all over the world can be broadcast to anyone with a computer or smart phone. The New York Metropolitan Opera has even used this technology to increase sales. The stream from the Met is broadcast in over 30 countries in high definition at cinemas worldwide. The Boston Philharmonic also broadcasts behind the scenes videos on their site which add a new perspective on the orchestra world.

Since the plunder of Napster in the late 90’s, technology has been viewed very carefully and often seen as adversarial. The decade stands testament that advancements in technology can enhance the audiences experience without undermining the integrity of creative minds that forge them.

Response to Sarah: Classical artists and media image

2011-11-08T08:39:00.004-05:00

The media has definitely had a hand in the way audiences view classical musicians in the recent past. I remember looking at my parents' CDs and records and wondering why only some of them had pictures of the artist performing the music. Two I remember specifically were Mozart's String Quartet in Bb and a Sandi Patty record. Sandi Patty's record had a picture of her right on the front (as most of her albums do) whereas the Mozart had a picture of a star fruit....Two completely different images for two completely different kinds of music. But why would Sandi Patty have a picture of herself whereas the Mozart, played by the wonderful Quatuor Ysaÿe, had fruit on the cover?

My immediate reaction is one of confusion. Now when I looked into Quatuor Ysaÿe, I discovered that they did a similar cover with wood pieces on their recording of Mendelssohn's string quartets. Still, who would you find more accessible to the mainstream? One classical musician who stands out to me as one who's reached out to the larger public in recent years is Yo-Yo Ma. He is on the front of almost all of his CD covers. This act alone makes him a more tangible figure to the public because a face is now associated with the music he makes. Is this one of the reasons why we are drawn to more "popular" artists? Not only because they are more accessible, but because they are more tangible and "real" to us? As Boyle and Sarah mentioned, many classical artists are attempting to "bridge the gap" and cross over into the more popularized realm in order to spread awareness of themselves and their music. Some of them do remarkably well where others are not so successful.

Here is an example of a crossover by Renée Fleming.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyceTZ2SJo8

Here is a wonderful video of Yo-Yo Ma working with dancer Lil Buck. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9jghLeYufQ

The plight of today's musicians is this: how do we maintain the "authenticity" and "integrity" of the music we perform while still maintaining our artistic freedom and not alienating our potential audiences?

Text, Graphics, Machines, Music

2011-11-08T00:46:00.002-05:00

Nate recently posted on this blog about charting the influences of various styles of music, and has in fact supplied us with his own influence map that connects a variety of popular styles from Jelly Roll Morton to Justin Bieber (albeit with several degrees of separation between these two artists). His chart reminded me of the work of artist and music critic Andrew Kuo. Kuo’s love of text, graphics, and music in turn brings to mind some passages from Hewett’s chapter, “Text, Body, Machines.” Kuo’s work is frequently published in The New York Times. His “reviews” consist of highly complex diagrams and flow charts that express his moment-by-moment experience of a concert, or, most recently, a retrospective of early 1990s punk music. For those who are curious, here are some links:

“Reassessing the Year that Punk Broke” http://nyti.ms/sMu4LG

Archive of Andrew Kuo’s New York Times work: http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/author/andrew-kuo/

Kuo’s charts are not particularly serious works. While the opinions represented are (presumably) true to Kuo’s own experiences, he makes no claims to authority. The language accompanying the charts is usually tongue-in-cheek. For example, in “Reassessing the Year that Punk Broke,” one segment of the chart is labeled “Wait, Did Punk Ruin My Life?” Beyond the language, the mind-numbing complexity of these graphics is in itself a joke. For all the information that Kuo supplies, much of it is incomprehensible, and ultimately meaningless (I still can’t figure out how to read the “Did Punk Ruin My Life?” section of the graphic). Complexity, Kuo reminds us, does not necessarily make for better analysis. While it may not be intentional, this seems like an appropriate skewering of both Schenkerian analysis and the Billboard music charts.

Kuo’s comedic use of complexity is reminiscent of what Hewitt sees as Ligeti’s unintentional comedy in his Cello Concerto. “The increasing complication of texture and detail goes hand-in-hand with an ever-increasing specificity of instruction to the performer, often expressed verbally. The tendency reaches an almost comic hypertrophy on the last page of Ligeti’s Cello Concerto, where there are more words than notes on the page.” (2003: 129) Hewitt uses this comic over-description of the music to suggest the slippage in the equation of “artistic quality” with “technical sophistication.” (Hewitt 2003: 122) Similarly, Kuo undermines the equation of technical sophistication with the proper reception and analysis of music. However, as Hewitt points out, rejecting modernist complexity leads in a variety of directions that are still rife with contradictions.

News from the Front: Image and the Young Classical Musician

2011-11-07T21:16:00.009-05:00

This weekend I found an article from The Washington Post on ArtsJournal by Katherine Boyle titled "Young Classical Musicians Easy on the Eyes and the Ears." The article's title is a bit misleading, as the majority of the article is not spent merely reflecting on the attractiveness of today's young classical artists, but discussing the concept of image, especially as spread to the public through social networking and digital media. Specifically, Boyle focuses on how media has changed the way in which classical artists' images are presented.

The point Boyle dwells on the most is that of social and digital media's ability to make classical performers accessible in a seemingly personal way. "In today’s open-source, over-sharing, follow-and-friend frenzy, elite classical musicians, like every other sector of performers, are nothing if not familiar," writes Boyle. Besides the plentiful performance and interview videos found on YouTube of emerging young artists, there are also Facebook pages and Twitter accounts on which musicians can "reveal that they too can be ordinary" and make themselves identifiable as individual personalities, rather than stuffy, "highbrow" artists.

In fact, an individualized image is even necessary in the current climate, where being both a talented artist and having an authentic image is required for any kind of distinction:

Once respected for ethereal album covers and arresting performances taped for PBS, classical soloists are venturing into Rebecca Black's viral video territory. They share the stage with talking animals. They compete with political campaign managers who light up in jest.

Violinist Charlie Siem, one of the young artists featured in the article, commented on the necessity of marketing one's image with a personal touch: "You can now know the personalities, and you have to meet the audience halfway. In the past, people knew the music. Now, they might not, so you have to draw them in with something." The "something" could be anything from appearances in fashion magazines (Siem has appeared in Vogue) or personal minutiae shared on a Twitter account. Distinguishing oneself as an individual that audience members (especially younger ones) can relate to yet still view as an accomplished artist results in a quasi-celebrity status, unlike the reverence given to classical performers of previous generations. However, as Boyle remarks, "while the glut of virtual content exists to tease and lure in an amateur audience, it doesn’t bother the gray heads paying for prime orchestra seating." According to this statement, social and digital media may be the "magic formula" for promoting classical performers: it brings in new audiences, but does nothing to turn off the consistent demographics of classical music audiences. As Boyle puts it: "highbrow or lowbrow, everyone is pleased."

In the end, Boyle concludes that YouTube and Facebook may not be quite as much of a "seismic shift" as many believe, because they have not yet affected the process of filling concert hall seats in a measurable way. Of course, it is logical to assume that a musician who has a significant following through media is likely to draw some of that following to the concert hall, but to be booked as a performer in the first place requires more than internet notoriety. In the scope of classical music history, Boyle does not see digital media as completely revolutionary, which she expresses through her quip remark at the end of the article: "it's not like this technology replaced the harpsichord."

Investigative Series

2011-11-07T18:30:00.017-05:00

Anonymous Letter Z423 #5

Recovered: February, 09 2009

Tract: Boston, MA (hyde park) 02136

- - - - -

Dear ,

I'm not sure what to say about music anymore. I think about things and I know, and often discover that what I believe is an original concept, actually has been conceived by a 14-year-old boy in New Castle, Australia four years ago. It does not surprise me.

Inspiration penetrates my soul, and through constant reflection, soul searching, contemplative silence and so forth - I deemed the possibility that I may have something new to say with my art. The reality of my situation has dawned a burden worth revealing:

"I have stumbled upon a rock - one unlike any other - until I walk a mile and trip over the relative."

Sincerely,

- - - - -

Thank You for reading,

Kwaumane Brown

Longy School of Music

UD in Composition ('12)

On the Subject of Evolution

2011-11-06T16:07:00.001-05:00

With the seemingly endless debate over evolution of species, it is not surprising that a similar debate permeates the music world. The fundamental problem with this debate is that it threatens each side’s belief systems. In the case of evolution of species it is thought to undermine the existence of a single powerful architect of the universe whereas evolution’s model is more akin to a line of dominos that keep splitting into more complicated designs. The dominos start somewhere but every subsequent domino falling is a result of the initial one, that is to say every creature is descendant of the creature that came before it.

When it comes to music, the same complications exist. What music came first? Where did it come from? For many in the classical and jazz world, pop music is threatening. It doesn’t observe many conventions of pure jazz and classical forms. If it isn’t readily recognized by musicians in classical or jazz then what is it and where are its origins?

To find possible leads to these questions, I made a map using the slightly modified concept of Rhizomes from A Thousand Plateaus by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guatarri. The map doesn’t imply that connections are parents or children of one another. It instead represents influence. I started at the end of the map with Justin Bieber and found some illuminating connections. Even if you aren’t a fan of his music, the line connecting his influences speaks for itself.

Probably the only time classical or jazz has to feel threatened is when their scenes reject new music and young musicians. While it is agreed by most that Justin Bieber is certainly not jazz, the roots are strong and deep with the musicians he found influential and inspirational. By proxy, today’s pop music can be connected back to early jazz with relative ease. Musicians can either accept it or reject it but the truth is they partially responsible for the synthesis and proliferation of pop music.

Wikipedia Topics

2011-11-03T21:40:00.002-04:00

1. eighth blackbird (a new music chamber ensemble, featured in SONiC Festival - existing article is a stub needing expansion and citations)
2. Ahn Trio (piano trio of international fame - existing article is a stub with no citations)
3. Igudesman & Joo (classical music comedy duo - existing article is a stub with no citations)
4. Marilyn Nonken (pianist - article does not exist)

Possible Wikipedia topics

2011-11-03T17:39:00.004-04:00

Here are the topics I have been pondering:

1) Ornamentation in Verdi's opera arias, specifically "Caro Nome" from his Rigoletto.
2) Breathing in singing - The existing section of the Breathing article needs expansion.
3) Body Mapping for the singer - New.
4) Eric Whitacre, composer - His existing article needs to be cleaned up.

Though these subjects are interesting, I will continue to look into additional possibilities.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Wiki Topics

2011-11-01T11:56:00.002-04:00

1. Jeremy Van Buskirk (does not exist)
2. Pro Musicis (does not exist)
3. Meta Instruments (does not exist)
4. Film scoring (add software)
5. Collage New Music (does not exist)

Topics for Wikipedia

2011-11-01T11:17:00.001-04:00

Here are a few of my possible Wikipedia topics.

1. Pro Arte Orchestra page is outdated and doesn’t have the current conductor.

2. Norman Bolter doesn’t have a page at all.

3. Frequency Band (Norman Bolter’s trombone choir)

4. UML’s Marching Band page is marked for deletion as of 2010

5. Brockton High School’s Music Dept.’s page needs updates and citations.

On a Personal Note...

2011-11-01T10:35:00.007-04:00

I don't like reading program notes that were written for a new work. I do enjoy reading program notes written for older pieces (e.g. The creation by Haydn). The obvious difference between the two is that today, the contemporary pieces are written by the living composers and the older pieces are written by someone else (e.g. a musicologist).

The advantage that older music has over new music is the context in which the music was produced. The creation was written between 1796 and 1798. That is a historic fact, and it is the history that will be provided, heavily, to complete the program note.

The composers program note dwell on theory, form, analysis and so forth – bordering the edge of complete boredom. Listeners today are smart, and can follow music, point out the obvious, and criticize. I'm not sure what it is, but many composer believe that they have to “geek” out and provide an excessive amount of information about their piece. I don't mean to generalize, but these things do commonly occur.

I chose this topic today because I have to write my own program notes. Personally, I hate talking about my music (describing its form, aesthetic and etc.) – I rather have the listener experience or hear these things, and if they can not, then I know that my music was not clear, and I have failed as a composer.

Program note for Eru Po ('11)

I revere Beethoven and Chopin. I used to sightread their piano repertoire, and listen to their music for hours. I loved playing their music, but I was an adequate pianist. I would struggle with the tempi and the voicing of chords – even playing forte was difficult. Most of my struggle came from the lack of power and technique I possessed. (I was always shy and nervous.) As the result of my frustration, passion, and impotence - filtered a new expression of their music. This piece embodies that emotion and expressive content I found within my own interpretation of their music. – Kwaumane Brown

Program notes written by Linda Mack: http://tinyurl.com/42c9t8v

Program note written by Phillip Huscher: http://tinyurl.com/3j3ygg5

Gnarly Buttons by John Adams: http://tinyurl.com/6h8tpcu

Thank You for reading,

Kwaumane Brown

Longy School of Music

UD in Composition ('12)

Pro Arte on a lovely Sunday afternoon

2011-11-01T09:41:00.002-04:00

At 11:45 Sunday morning, I received a text message from Nate informing me that he had an extra ticket to the Pro Arte Concert that afternoon at Harvard's Sanders Theater. Was I interested in attending? Yes! As many concerts are quite expensive, and I am a "starving student" (and artist), I jumped at the chance to attend. The last orchestra concert I saw was the Longy Orchestra concert last year. It had been a while.

My husband and I have often driven past Quincy Street and wondered what the purpose of the large red building on the corner was. There were no signs to give us clues, but today I have discovered it! The building is Harvard's Sanders Theater. Upon entering, I was taken by the sheer size of the space. I do not know what I was expecting, but I was not disappointed. Upon entering the concert hall (my tickets were on the side of the top balcony), I was taken by the beautiful wood and the light from the windows. Not often are there windows in concert halls, at least in my experience.

Before the concert began, the artistic director emerged, welcoming the audience to the concert. She acknowledged that concert attendance was down according to statistics (I am unsure as to what source she was specifically referring) and she was pleased with the size of Sunday's audience.

The concert began with the overture to Rossinni's Barber of Seville. (I was first introduced to this opera as a child through Looney Tunes: http://tinyurl.com/69hcdr4.) The second work was Strauss' Serenade for Winds from his Opus 7. I only recently discovered Strauss' orchestral abilities, specifically when I began to study the Lieder "Amor" from his Opus 68 which is orchestrated.

My first observation about the concert audience was the fairly wide range of ages. Though the majority of concert attendees were between the ages of 40 and 70, there were several younger audience members including a number of remarkably well behaved children.

After the Rossini, the conductor turned and welcomed the audience. His first request: if you were a first time attendee of one of their concerts, please raise your hand. He then had the audience give themselves a round of applause. I was pleasantly surprised! One of the first things I noticed upon his entrance was that he wore a suit rather than the usual tuxedo. His suit and friendly address of the audience made for a welcoming environment for the audience which I greatly appreciated.

As we have discussed in our class sessions, concerts are often stuffy and can be awkward to those who are not within the "inner circle." If this concert is any indication of what Pro Arte's concerts are like, this orchestra is indeed working hard to break down the barriers that have been erected within the classical music realm. Bravo!

The Jazz Threat

2011-11-01T08:58:00.001-04:00

When I was reading Ivan Hewett’s Music: Healing the Rift I was amused that the stereotypical fear of jazz music overwhelming the classical scene was present. If there is really any question about it, just count the number of jazz stations there are on the radio. Stations that play jazz only on certain days or at certain times don’t count in this case because there are classical stations that play classical almost nonstop.

The music popularly referred to as classical music has lasted a test of time that jazz has yet to see. Most of the pieces in the repertoire of “classical” are at least as old as the United States while the appearance of jazz is a little more than one-hundred years ago.

While classical and jazz have their own smaller circles when compared to the unyielding market of popular jazz influenced music that is heard on every radio/television station, the circle that supports classical is hardly threatened by that of the jazz. Both genres are struggling to draw audiences on the same scale that they used to.

As Hewett describes the time in classical history where technique started to become more important and surpassed that of most amateur musicians, bop and cool jazz brought about similar characteristics that alienated their listeners just the same as classical.

The proliferation of art music is imperative but musicians and artists can’t forget the audience for without an audience, does it even exist?

Final Project Wiki Topics

2011-11-01T01:32:00.002-04:00

Here are my topics that I am considering for the Wikipedia contributions:

-Richard Wernick, composer (current article needs expanding)

-Harp extended technique (WikiProject Classical Music, "needs creation")

-Erica Goodman, harpist (article does not exist)

-Elliott Carter, Quartet No. 2 (WikiProject Classical Music, "needing attention" "please expand")

-Concord String Quartet (current article needs expanding)

-A Far Cry (article does not exist)

Multiculturalism, Music, and Violence

2011-11-01T01:17:00.000-04:00

Just before I was about to post my thoughts about Hewitt’s chapter “Things Fall Apart,” on multiculturalism in 20^th century classical music, I took a look at the Arts section of The New York Times. Immediately, I was struck by an apt headline: “In a Meeting of Cultures, Politics Pushed Aside.” (http://nyti.ms/twPSoi) Of course, I had to comment on both.

The article is a review by Zachary Woolfe of “East Meets West,” a concert by violinist Daniel Hope. While Woolfe considers the performance “likeable,” the real interest is in his critique of the politics of the performance (or rather, its lack of politics):

A larger problem was the concert’s presentation of multiculturalism as reassurance. ‘Long before the invention of digital mass media,’ Mr. Hope’s program note said, ‘there were connections between distant places with reciprocal influences and inspirations.’

Nothing troubled this account. In neither the written notes nor in Mr. Hope’s onstage commentary was there even a passing mention that the forces that brought together these different cultures were often violent.

Indeed, our love for fusion, multiplicity, and multiculturalism can all too often become naïve. Beyond merely being uniformed, smoothing over the violence (whether literal or ideological) of colonial history tends to assuage white guilt. Nicholas Cook is certainly aware of the ability of music to craft (or avoid) political narratives. His example of the South African national anthem “Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrica” as an enactment of anti-apartheid politics stands as a central part of his book.

On the other hand, how does Hewitt deal with this topic? After all, early in Music: Healing the Rift, he claims that sociological perspectives on music are too limiting, and that he intends to bring the discussion back to the music itself (2003: 3-4). Despite his condemnation of social theories of music, one of his points about the dangers of western composers borrowing from other cultures could have come straight from a sociology text. “However the encounter happens, the stranger always has to be ‘naturalized,’ made fit for civilized company. The ‘net’ is no neutral thing at all, but rather a mechanism for engorging exoticisms… Viewed this way, the system seems coercive rather than hospitable.” (Hewitt 2003: 73) The violence and coercion of western borrowing becomes inextricable from colonial violence in this example.

If we simply alter Hewitt’s statement to encompass visual art, we get an even stronger statement of violence. Here is an equivalent statement by anthropologist Wyatt MacGaffey: “The process by which an African object becomes art includes removing it from its context of origin to the accompaniment of varying sorts and degrees of violence. Besides the literal violence of theft, confiscation, and the like, we must include violence done to the object itself, which is often stripped of its accouterments, varnished or even remodeled.” (224 from “Magic, or as we usually say, Art”, available at http://bit.ly/vGUJ96)

Hewitt uses examples of classical music borrowing from other cultures as indicative of its tendency to “fall apart” into greater and greater multiplicity throughout the 20^th century. Multiplicity, he claims, also means that each piece of new music (of the classical sort) is its own whole system, rather than participating in a united system, or common practice. “Thus every new music concert – at least, every one containing modernist music – becomes a battleground.” (Hewitt 2003: 117) Violent imagery returns here again.

However, Woolfe’s article reminds us that the battle may not only occur between warring ideologies of different new music composers, but also between multiple traditions that may be expressed in one piece. However, even in “the music itself,” the violent undercurrents of Hope’s concert were minimalized: “The works and performances were just as pleasant as this vision of history, with harmless agreement between Mr. Mazumdar’s consummate sitar playing and Mr. Hope’s violin. Their dialogue took the form of genial synchronization or tame call-and-response, without productive tension or much variety.” By not recognizing the historic tension between the styles it sought to reconcile, the music became boring.

(One last note: this becomes even more complicated when we address classical composers from outside the west who are writing music with fusion, such as Toru Takemitsu, whose works were also featured on Hope’s program. When we are dealing only with western composers appropriating the “other,” it is easy to condemn their work as examples of colonial violence. However, if we level the same criticism against Takemitsu, we run serious risks. Are Japanese composers only allowed to write in a “purely” Japanese style to be considered authentic? This view would reduce Takemitsu to being a timeless native, denying that Japanese culture is also being shaped in the present.)

From the Front: Digital Album Releases by Naxos

2011-10-31T20:20:00.007-04:00

In the Los Angeles Times, Marcia Adair wrote an article entitled "Naxos goes bold with digital-only classical music titles," which features two distinctive recent releases by Naxos: "Bleeding Chunks of Wagner" and "Music for the Zombie Apocalypse." The first of the two attention-grabbing titles refers to the removing of a musical excerpt from its context, the veritable definition of a compilation album. The term originates from a frequently quoted passage from Essays in Musical Analysis by classical music critic Donald Tovey, who spoke specifically of excerpts of Wagner's operas being "bleeding chunks of butcher's meat" that had been "chopped" from their original context (72; vol. II). But perhaps the most striking aspect of the "Bleeding Chunks of Wagner," which is really nothing more than a "best-hits" type of compilation, is its album cover. The piece of steak against a background of chartreuse carpet is kitschy and quite a contrast to the usual aesthetic of a Naxos album cover, which is normally recognizable by its "white background and blocky typeface and small, out-of-copyright images" (Adair).

The second album, "Music for the Zombie Apocalypse," also shares the shock factor of the first in its album cover, designed by a young artist named Devon Gilbert. The album is more creative in its content, consisting of a compilation of various choral selections, ranging from works of Fauré to Thomas Tallis. The theme of the compilation seems to be "chosen to make the last moments before zombies relieve you of your brains as haunting and ethereal as possible," as Adair humorously states.

What is the purpose of the shocking, kitschy titles and cover art of these two albums?

The downloads are more than a publicity stunt, said Naxos' gleefully contrarian Chief Operating Officer Andrew Doe.

"I could come out with something pretentious about using this to bring classical music to more people, but that's not really the goal here," he said. "[We're making] products that are fun and that people are interested in. Most people like classical music to some degree. The struggle is often finding an entry point, a product that will give people something they can relate to."

With a zombie-themed album, Naxos is potentially appealing to followers of zombie fan blogs and fans of Devon Gilbert's art. In other words, Naxos isn't trying to make classical music more accessible merely through marketing genre-crossing artists to make classical music more appealing, but through "aiming to meet people where they are, on their own terms instead of expecting listeners to come to them" (Adair).

The two albums fared well in the classical music charts: "Music for the Zombie Apocalypse" rose to No. 15 on the iTunes classical music chart, and "Bleeding Chunks of Wagner" reached No. 14. The success has led Naxos to consider releasing a physical disc of "Music for the Zombie Apocalypse" next year.

Part of the reason why Naxos was able to take such an unusual thematic and aesthetic risk with these two albums is that they are digital-only releases, which cost little to a record company which already owns the selections found on the albums. Also, the warehouse and distribution costs associated with physical disks are not an issue. With such low risks, the possibilities for future albums with such themes are endless.

What concepts are ahead for Naxos? A"'dark' Christmas album and another devoted to music that inspired violence at its premiere," according to senior digital marketing manager Collin J. Rae (Adair).

Tovey, Donald. Essays in Musical Analysis. London: Oxford University Press, 1946.

"Well, rules are meant to be broken... or... stabbed with spikey shoes. "

2011-10-25T10:36:00.005-04:00

During a composition seminar on friday, the composer Davide Ianni presented his philosophy about music. He spoke eloquently – defending his opinions so well that he kept forgetting to keep his slide show in sync with his topics. As the class began to show enthusiasm for his working methods, he stopped on a slide that inspired todays blog.

The slide was an old picture with handwritten drawings of lines, blocks and written text. This was, on a micro level, the basis for his computer generated score. What I immediately thought, and whispered to my colleague was “...it's amazing that there isn't a single note written down... and to think that we've come from fully notated pieces – yet this is the score!”.

It sparked an idea or realization that for years, musicians have been advised to study conventions. The conventions could have either been textbook material, harmony, counterpoint, performance practice and etc. But as years progressed, the modifications associated with this Art has become more apparent: Dufay's Nuper Rosarum Flores; Monteverdi's Ofeo; Stravinsky's Rte of Spring; Ligeti's Atmospheres; Terry Riley's In C; John Cage's 4' 33'' and Phillip Glasses Einstein on the Beach, respectively.

Each piece broke new grounds, either utilizing conventions or completely disregarding them. Each piece was also written in a society that established fundamental values. People were surprised to witness the ambitious rise of the musicians/composers that dared to defy the status quo.

But now, after centuries of “modification”, experimentation and social significance – what is next? More specifically, in the United States of America, art seems be as free as it can be. In this “world” where art seems to be more pleasurable rather than radical, dangerous, or significant. What is the next step for artist?

Thank You for reading,

Kwaumane Brown

Longy School of Music

UD in Composition ('12)

“New Music Week”

2011-10-24T21:47:00.003-04:00

This week has turned out to be “New Music Week” for me as a performer, as I will be playing three radically different works that have been composed in the past year. Perhaps some insight on the future of classical music can be gained by looking at these three compositions together.

This Sunday, I performed in a concert featuring two new chamber music pieces by John Weinland. Weinland studied composition and organ at Yale, but ended up pursuing a career in the petroleum industry while composing on the side. Now in retirement, he has focused more fully on his music and arranged for this premiere of two pieces. Short Concert, for string quintet, and Continuous Music for string trio are both made up entirely of glissandi. “Continuous Music” is intended to reflect Weinland’s interest in John Cage, by featuring extended rests as part of the musical texture. Short Concert, which I performed in, is more contrapuntal in nature, as thematic sets of glissandi are played in inversion, rhythmic augmentation, and retrograde. Interestingly, none of the other performers in the group, established professionals from Boston’s North Shore, had any experience playing “modernist” music.

Toward the middle of this week, I will begin rehearsing Highway 12, a string quartet by current Longy student Kaley Eaton. As the title might suggest, Highway 12 reflects Eaton’s background in blues guitar. The violinist is instructed to play “as an old-time fiddler,” while much of the cello part consists of strummed pizzicato “as a guitar.” Though of course I have not yet heard the piece, from the score it looks like it is not strictly a tonal work, but that it includes references to triadic harmony.

Friday, as I am sure others from our class are aware, is the Longy Conservatory Orchestra’s October concert, which will include the second performance of John Williams’s Concerto for Oboe. A side note about this title: this is the only piece I have mentioned so far that uses a traditional genre-defining title. There is something about using the word “concerto” that suggests that this is not merely a piece of music, but an oeuvre. This is not to say, that the other pieces are less intellectual, but just that they are less self-consciously tied to older genres and the sense of the masterwork. Regardless of the title, then, how does Williams’s piece sound? As seems to be typical of Williams’ concert works, the music is much harder to pin down tonally than his film scores. In the outer two movements, triads are omnipresent, but are constantly undoing themselves functionally as they leap from one key center to another. The second movement is tinged with both medieval and classical Chinese sounds, featuring slow-moving open fifth sonorities, as well as a cello solo that sounds like it could have easily been performed on the erhu.

For the most part, I have focused on the stylistic differences of these pieces. However, they are bound together by at least two important principles. The first and most straightforward similarity is that they all stay well within a tradition that values the authority of the compositional text. Hewitt discusses the problems with this tradition, as well as with the attempts to counter it through improvisation, in Chapter 5, “Text, Bodies, Machines.” Eaton’s work is particularly interesting in this respect. Like Berio, Eaton “invokes those old collective idioms that once made us move to music,” that is, using folk and popular idioms (Hewitt 2003: 143) (Of course, Eaton’s blues references are not really so old. For that matter, neither are Berio’s references: ethnomusicologists would remind Hewitt that folk performances are still modern and not trapped in some traditional past. We did not “once move to music.” We still do move). The problem is that the improvisatory freedom of this music is really an illusion, carefully written into the music by the composer (Hewitt 2003: 143).

The other similarity is that all three pieces seem to be distinctively (even consciously) “American” in their style. This is, of course, much more subjective, and usually such nationalistic thoughts about music would make me cringe. However, each piece seems to conjure up images of different parts of American culture. Eaton’s piece naturally projects an “American” vision, because it draws on American blues and folk idioms (just as Dvorak did with both Czech and American music, for example). Williams tends to conjure up images of “America” simply because of his own notoriety as a film composer. Since Williams’s compositional style is so familiar as an evocation of Hollywood, it seems to seep through even in his concert pieces, whether he intends it or not. Even the erhu-like solo in the Concerto for Oboe does not evoke Chinese classical music so much as Yo-Yo Ma’s performance on the soundtrack for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (which is, after all, an American take on Hong Kong action movies). Even Weinland’s work is American in his interest in John Cage, who epitomized American individualism in composition while Weinland was completing his studies. In a more trivial way, Weinland’s biography is reminiscent of Charles Ives, usually recognized as the first American modernist.

From the Front: One Writer's Views on "Classical" Labeling

2011-10-24T21:10:00.006-04:00

The article "Just Don't Call it Classical" by Micahel Zwiebach appeared on ArtsJournal's recently featured music articles. In the article, Zwiebach focuses on the phenomenon of classically trained musicians who avoid the "classical" label, instead focusing on experimenting with genres and styles. Though performing or composing works that push genre boundaries and take influence from non-classical sources, these musicians are still inevitably informed by their classical training. An example of a venue for such non-classically-labeled music is the SONiC Festival we discussed last week. Most of the composers and performers featured were classically trained, but the festival's music was not marketed as new "classical" music. Instead, the festival's musical offerings were frequently of the genre-crossing kind.

Zwiebach asks two questions about the trend:

So, what comes out of this attempt to relabel or retire the word classical from the music made by classically trained and influenced contemporary musicians? Is it merely an attempt to avoid association with a term that seems to turn off large segments of potential audience?

Zwiebach does not believe the answer to the latter questions is a "yes." In fact, he thinks the avoidance of classical labeling may be a good thing for contemporary classical music.

Zwiebach attempts to define what makes music "classical" by pointing out a unifying compositional thread found throughout the classical music canon. In Zwiebach's view, the primary factor that determined the classical canon was the study of counterpoint on the part of classical composers. Those that were most adept at utilizing their counterpoint training were able to create numerous works in short periods of time with beautiful, well-structured melodies and voice leading. Those composers are the ones considered masters in the classical canon. In Zwiebach's view, their rigorous training in counterpoint united them all into one tradition. "Another result of that training," according to Zwiebach, "was an identifiable European tradition, which has certain continuities through the changes of style. Despite the differences, Bach’s keyboard concertos and Schumann’s Piano Concerto are recognizably from the same tradition. Edgard Varese’s Ameriques, not so much." Therefore, even contemporary composers of what is unarguably "art music" may not entirely fit the classical label.

Today, classically-trained composers are not presented with counterpoint studies as the primary compositional training tool. Instead, they are presented with various contemporary styles in addition to traditional counterpoint. Also, their music will most likely be influenced by the West's greater awareness of non-Western musical traditions, as well as the influence of popular music (Zwiebach mentions Louis Armstrong and The Beatles).

In conclusion, Zwiebach's view is that contemporary musicians and composers who are experimenting with crossing genre boundaries are not doing a disservice to the classical tradition, but are instead displaying their respect for it. Through combining styles and avoiding the classical label, Zwiebach claims that "they are naturally exploring the ways in which [classical] music has meaning to contemporary society and to what they do. In the process, as artists always do, they are leading us to a better understanding of what classical music meant in history and why it is still valuable."

Zwiebach's perspective on the current classical music landscape is perhaps somewhat simplified, but valuable to consider. With the multiplicity of styles available to up-and-coming classically trained composers and performers today, is the avoidance of a strictly "classical" label merely a concession to the way things are, an actual benefit to the promotion of the classical tradition and new music, or a combination of both? Zwiebach seems to think the answer may be "both." In his words, today's musicians "obviously want an open-ended term that will allow for the limitless combinations and collaborations that are now the norm."

"Ripping up Concertos at the Harvard T stop"

2011-10-18T10:52:00.035-04:00

Music was integrated into the church, moved into the concert halls, opera houses, private rooms, and eventually onto a digital device. What has managed to stay prevalent throughout history is the art of street performance – an art form that has grown to become a meaningful and powerful form of expression.

While many musical experiences been modified, street performance has maintained its methodology (the musician finds a pitch, and sets aside an object for gratuities). The context is also unique compared to other performance practices. The musician often performs in public, usually providing a welcoming atmosphere for pedestrians and/or tourist – these are general observations.

“In a stunt organized by The Washington Post, the classical violinist Joshua Bell played as an incognito street busker at the L'Enfant Plaza Metro station in Washington D.C. on 12 January 2007. Of the 1,097 people who passed by, only one recognized him and only a couple more were drawn to his music. For his nearly 45 minute performance, Bell collected $32.17 (not counting $20 from the passerby who recognized him). He did this using a Stradivarius violin valued at around $2,000,000.” (Wikipedia, Street Performance)

It is an interesting state of affairs for street musicians. Not only do they exercise musicianship, but within their context, the embedded passion, authenticity, and humility are some of the underlying principles that provide the foundations of a street musician; a unique performance. The Joshua Bell experiment proved that you can be regarded as one of the greatest musicians in the world, but when placed back into a society where everyone is a critic; degradation ensues.

The fourth wall of the concert hall does not exist, which enables a more intimate performance within its social context. A personal contribution is also made as money is given directly to the performer and not to a box office.

To stumble upon a street performance is to experience something unique (i.e. an instrument or type of music you never heard before). The composer, Lisa Bielawa, utilizes this concept in her piece "Chance Encounter".

"A single musician sits down and begins to play the opening... Several minutes later, another musician shows up at the site... pulls up in a taxi or comes out of the subway or bus, comes out of a nearby deli or store. This person begins playing, across the street or plaza from the cellist. Some people on the street can only hear one player. Walk across the site, or across the street – the piece changes." (Bielawa, Lisa)

The street musician is easy to define as, simply, a street musician. What is often overlooked is the audacity, desperation, passion and human quality that we absorb passively as we walk by the man playing the Stradervari.

Talk of the Nation: NPR: http://tinyurl.com/6zjaxec

Wall Street Journal (Ten rules for Street Musicians): http://tinyurl.com/4dufx2x

The Washington Post (Joshua Bell): http://tinyurl.com/3x9s2a

Chance Encounter (excerpt) by Lisa Bielawa: http://tinyurl.com/3v4d4ae

Play For Change website: http://playingforchange.com/

Wikipedia (Street Performer): http://tinyurl.com/6agv2ug

Thank You for reading,
Kwaumane Brown

Longy School of Music
UD in Composition ('12)

Love and music

2011-10-18T08:50:00.000-04:00

While perusing yahoo.com yesterday, I came across a proposal video. Yes, they are everywhere, but I still watch them because they make me happy. When my husband proposed to me, it involved an intricate collaboration of a total of 13 people! The proposer is Josh. His soon to be fiancee is Katrina. Josh had decided to propose by singing a song he wrote for Katrina. The place: the middle of a karaoke contest at the L.A. County Fair. After slinking off with a "I have to use the bathroom" excuse, Josh appeared on the stage, taking Katrina completely by surprise, and sang his proposal to her. Their family and friends appeared on the stage about half-way through the song with "Say Yes" T-shirts on. Audience members soon started holding up "Josh and Katrina" signs as Katrina cried in disbelief.

Now Josh may not be the most talented musician, but he put himself out there in order to give the woman of his dreams the "ultimate proposal." Right after my husband proposed, we climbed a hill and discovered a choir of our friends who proceeded to sing an arrangement of Ben Fold's "The Luckiest" as well as a setting of Shakespeare's Hamlet (an exerpt from his letter to Ophelia) that my husband had written specifically for the occasion. Having a piece of music written specifically for you, especially if it is by someone who loves you. I stared in disbelief that he would spend so much time and energy to create that special piece for me.
One of the reasons I love music is its ability to help us express our emotions with or without text. When I am singing, I can communicate in ways that I am unable to with words alone. These proposals had an extra "umph" because of the music incorporated into them.

Report from the Front: 21st Century Composition

2011-10-17T23:39:00.002-04:00

This week, I read an article in The New York Times titled “The Century’s Sounds, So Far,” Anthony Tommasini’s review of the opening of the festival “SONiC: Sounds of a New Century.” As the title suggests, it is a festival entirely made up of 21^st century music. In addition, all 100 featured composers are under 40 years old.

Here is the link: http://nyti.ms/pv4b9O

Near the beginning of the article, Tommasini confirms what we have often put forward in class: the future of classical music appears to include a wider set of musical references and styles that disregard “high” and “low” classifications.

From just the opening concert I am not ready to venture an overall impression about the state of music in the 21st century. Still, one theme did emerge. Young composers today, born after the stylistic battles that stultified creativity during the 1960s and 1970s, exude independence and feel entitled to draw from, borrow, use (or abuse) any style of contemporary music that interests them.

I commented two weeks ago on how this celebration of fusion is not bad in itself, but may willfully ignore classical music that does not choose to integrate other genres. Tommasini likewise appears to reserve judgment on the trend he notices: contemporary styles may be “used” just as easily as they are “abused.” We can also find these concerns in Nicholas Cook’s conclusion, not with regard to composition, but to musical culture in general. “If we find the music of other times and places too easy to hear, too well adapted to our own modes of understanding and pleasure, then we are all too likely to assimilate it to our own values… [Music] cannot abolish cultural difference at a stroke.” (1998: 127) As fusion is more and more embraced as a practice, we see more critics cautioning against abuse of these techniques. However, these are points I have already touched on to some extent.

What I thought was particularly interesting in Tommasini’s article was his suggestion that these new works definitively mark the end of the “stylistic battles” between composers. We have not only achieved a pluralism of styles within the works themselves (where twelve-tone rows can exist alongside tonal chords and driving rhythm, as in Christopher Stark’s work), but also a pluralism of styles between works (where two different styles of classical composition are considered equally good).

Tommasini clearly thinks it is good that the composer battles have been left to the past. This seems to be a reasonable claim. However, looking ahead in the reading, it appears that Ivan Hewett would not agree. He claims that some pieces, such as John Cage’s Variations III, have such a strong compositional worldview that they obliterate any other piece on the program (2003: 137). He suggests that pluralism may be a bit precious and polite; angry gangs of composers make for more interesting musical debates (2003: 118). Art and democracy are both born from heated debate. This has some truth, but I can’t help feeling, like Tommasini, that the bitter rivalries of 20^th century composition limited art more than it expanded musical possibilities.

Film Scoring, another outlet for “classical” Music

2011-10-17T21:03:00.001-04:00

I checked my Twitter as I rode into Boston today. There was an ad linked from Craig’s List asking for a film composer for a low budget horror film.

I heard in my head the sound of a horror movie with its dissonant string glissandi and stop-muted horn hits. The suspense created by the dark colors and sharp contrasts in dynamics are characteristics that make horror movies my favorite.

In 2008, I attended a film scoring master class near Smith College in North Hampton,MA. The clinician was Alexandar Janko, a local composer from Vermont who composed the score to the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding. I was new to the concept of composing for film and was fascinated by the different roles composers assign to their scores in film.

The concept of underscoring a scene and the various nuances that help evoke specific emotions was thought provoking. It made me wonder about my experiences watching movies. Just try listening to your favorite movie again with the sound turned off.

Music has a powerful place in the cinema experience. Movies insure the existence of the orchestra well into the 21st century and beyond.

SONiC Festival

2011-10-17T18:23:00.003-04:00

The SONiC Festival is a new music festival currently happening in New York City. It began on October 14 and its last performance will be on October 22. Two reviews in The New York Times of concert from the Sonic Festival directed me to research the festival itself. The Sonic Festival's distinguishing factor is that all of the music performed is written by composers who are now 40 years old or younger. The festival's co-curators, composer Derek Bermel and pianist Stephen Gosling, claim that their intention is to increase awareness of new music, especially that written in the 21st century. Bermel remarks that the festival is designed "to present a snapshot of the younger generation of music-makers, to showcase the richness, vitality, and diversity of the music being created right now – under our very noses here in New York and throughout the world" and also "to show everyone that ‘the composer’ is alive and thriving" (sonicfestival.org).

For the most part, the composers and performers in the festival are classically-trained. Some of the works involve genre-crossing elements, electronic effects, or inclusions of non-musical material (such as Mayke Nas's "DiGit #2" which includes choreography for the performers, described in this article), but all are written and performed from a classical orientation. Many of the chamber ensembles performing in the festival formed as students at leading conservatories. Interestingly, one of the performers is the MacArthur Fellow Francisco Núñez's Young People's Chorus of New York City. The SONiC Festival's website contains detailed information on all the featured artists and composers, as well as some audio clips from performances.

Links to the two New York Times SONiC Festival concert reviews:
"A Chemistry of Fresh Enthusiasms" by Steve Smith, October 17 2011

"This Century's Sounds, So Far" by Anthony Tommasini, October 16 2011

Why Not?

2011-10-11T09:42:00.008-04:00

I admire musicians, especially fearless musicians: those who play with passion; are not afraid to play contemporary music; make mistakes; and those who are willing to provide a free musical experience in the streets of Brooklyn. This is what Alan Pierson has done with the Brooklyn Philharmonic.

I'm not from New York, and have never been to Brooklyn. But, from Zacherys review, I was able to detect the importance of this situation. The area in which this concert was held was obviously an urban neighborhood, where the culture is well diverse and the thunderous sounds of the T is a constant reminder that life is about moving from one destination to the next.

Playing there was a fine step. It has also been apparent that classical music has been hard to bring into some peoples lives -- and on Saturday, this orchestra decided to take the initiative and bring the music to those who are rarely exposed to a live orchestra performance. It gave those an opportunity to stop moving, listen, think, and experience something, ironically, new.

It's a step in the right direction – following ensembles like the Discovery Ensemble who champion performance in urban communities and educating children about the importance of contemporary music, performance, instrumental practice and music in general.

"...classical music is not for the elites." Antonio Berdugo (M.M. '12)

I presented this story to my friend, and that quote above was his response. He showed great enthusiasm because he was aware of the orchestras significant achievement. There is no doubt that many orchestras have been leaving the concert halls (i.e. boston pops playing at the Esplanade). Either playing in colleges, suburban neighborhoods, or a park – It has become living proof that the traditional way of listening to classical music has broken down throughout the years, especially with the advancement of technology, which is a completely different topic.

New Yorks Times Article: http://goo.gl/Uo511

Discovery Ensemble Website: http://goo.gl/eEHvU

Thank You for reading,

Kwaumane Brown

Longy School of Music

UD in Composition ('12)

Primary Sourcing

2011-10-11T08:31:00.003-04:00

Nicholas Cook writes about the "Beethovenian model of the authoritative edition" (Cook p.89) as it developed as an ideal for score-writers and performers alike. Composers began finding their pieces more complicated than the score would allow and took it upon themselves to elaborate on the engraving conventions at the time. Musicians, likewise were met with rising standards in maintaining the integrity of the score and conveying the specifics of the music to the audience.

It is an unfortunate reality that our records of music aren't always perfect; multiple editions of pieces are actually quite common and are generally well received, especially in the notorious cases of Stravinsky and Liszt. The transcendental romantic ideal prompted the desire for the 'best' transcription, one they would feel comfortable leaving in the hands of history. Little did they realize the many versions of their pieces would actually end up preserved, and in some cases performed as pieces in their own right.

This practice of publishing revised editions comes as a response to a once-basic truth: notation is the only way to preserve and communicate music. Living in the age of recording technology, this is no longer the case. Notation software, forums and blogs, youtube and other social media websites are changing the way humans pass on their music. It is now very easy and affordable to arrange music and distribute sheet music, necessary for live performance.

It is interesting to listen to recordings of composers playing their own pieces. Hear Rachmaninoff playing: Rachmaninoff piano concerto no. 2.

While the recording quality is not pristine, you can still hear details in the piano playing. While enjoyable to listen to, I would not go so far as to suggest it is the definitive recording of the piece. Rather, it is one of many versions which come from informed study in the classical tradition of interpreting works. Likewise, it calls attention to the context in which a piece is composed--be it by the composer for their own performance, like Liszt or Bach, or for other people (Tchaikovsky's piano concerto for someone else, as he could not play the piano virtuosically). As Rachmaninoff plays expressively, we are allowed a glimpse into his compositional process as he phrases the melodies just as he intended (ignoring the massive amount of sound data lost in early recording).

Indeed, the high quality recording technology of today allows us to generate accurate representations and reproductions of musical ideas. Tools like the internet and social media allow communication of these ideas on a grand scale reliably and affordably. This phenomena will alter the development of all types of music and how it is received by audiences.

Salty Dog - Nico Muhly

In closing, consider modern composers such as Nico Muhly. While composing for and participating in live music productions, he publishes scores for performable works. On the other hand, he is also credited as a recording artist and for creating hard copies of his conceptions. Right away, we are given the "authoritative edition" musicologists have been searching for. This primary sourcing will serve to help future generations study the music being composed today.

Music from the Front: Inspiration

2011-10-11T08:17:00.000-04:00

This past week has been a hard one for me. I had several assignments to complete, school performances to prepare for, and family drama to top it off. While in the process of working on an assignment, I opened Firefox and stumbled upon an article entitled: Man Plays Guitar with Feet. Needless to say, I was quite intrigued, so I clicked the link. The man is Tony Melendez of Branson, Missouri. Born in Nicaragua without arms and with a club foot, Melendez came to the US at a young age to be fitted for prosthetic limbs. But instead of helping him, he felt the prosthetic arms got in his way and that he was better off using his feet. Music was a favorite past time of his. He became proficient in playing guitar and writing his own songs.

The video linked to the article, from the Huffington Post, showed Melendez and his band, The Toe Jam Band, performing for a high school in Florida. Though this specific video did not actually play their music, it caught my attention and I looked Melendez and the Toe Jam Band up online. This is the first video I came across:

http://tinyurl.com/3k979u9

Melendez performed for Pope John Paul II, and considers the performance his most memorable. I was touched by Melendez's happy spirit and determination. Though he was born with what many would consider a disability, he has not let it get in his way, instead choosing to challenge it, using it to his advantage.

Tony Melendez got me thinking about what music is, what it does, and how it defines us. For Melendez, music is a passion that kept him going. Though I do not face the same physical obstacles that he does, music has been my escape, a way to communicate when I don't know what to say. My connection to God and people. Truly inspired and fired up, I urge all musicians to return to why they love music and what it means to them. Everyone has down days, but it is what we choose to do with those days that defines who we truly are.

Link to the original Huffington Post Article: http://tinyurl.com/62szgnq

And to Tony Melendez's website: http://www.tonymelendez.com

I strongly recommend you check out Melendez and his band, particularly if you need inspiration.

In The Cat Ranch...

2011-10-11T02:08:00.004-04:00

If you are familiar with Marc Maron, then you are perhaps aware of his struggles as a comic, jew, romantic, and socializer. He is a comedian (a comics comic). His comedy is raw, personal and edgy, which led him to become a leading figure in the alternative scene in New York during the 90's. 15 years ago, you would not have known who Marc was – but now, he has successfully established a personality in the digital world from his Podcast “WTF with Marc Maron”.

Marc spent most of his life trying to find his “clown” – a catch phrase, look, persona – a sellable product. While unable to reach company standards and “make it” in the“industry”, he watched his friends become successful and fill rooms across the country and abroad. After jumping from job to job/show to show, he finally turned to Air America Media where he became the co-host of the radio shows Morning Sedition and Breakroom Live, which led to his inevitable breaking point once the shows were cancelled.

Thus, the creation of “WTF”

Having worked at the now bankrupt network; he still – somehow – had access to the company's recording studio and, weekly, snuck into the building to record his show and interview comedians with an agenda to address the philosophical question of the day [What the F^(#...?].

Knowing that he couldn't risk getting caught, and for the building would eventually close permanently – Marc moved back to his home in California: bought mics; a computer; adopted a few stray cats, and built a“studio” in his Garage. It, till this very day, is known as the cat ranch – the place where comics, actors, authors, and stars chat with Marc, setting aside the glamor of stardom and getting to the core of human relationships, drug addictions, parent problems, and becoming an adult.

Marc has successfully found an outlet in which he his not censored. Podcasting is a medium that allows you to start from scratch: create your own title; theme song; format/structure and more. He has found success that isn't lavish, a product of men in suits, or mainstream. And, with it's cult following, Marc has maintained integrity and proven that the thin line between success and happiness, in fact, do exist. While some mainstream provoke false expectations for children, teens, minorities and so forth; Marc has proven that there is humility to be sought after, and that finding your “clown” is secondary to what can truly be honest, righteous and raw... you.

“When you actually meet the devil and he offers you a deal most artist eventually negotiate.” - Marc Maron

Entertainment Weekly: http://goo.gl/7ZJem

New York Times Article: http://goo.gl/m7KA4

Marc Marons Website: http://www.wtfpod.com/

Theme For WTF: http://goo.gl/BTF6M

Thank You for reading,

Kwaumane Brown

Longy School of Music

UD in Composition ('12)

Technology and Performance: The New Trend?

2011-10-10T21:49:00.003-04:00

This Washington Post article by Anne Midgette is about music museums, but not necessarily in the sense of museums merely of music history or instrument collections. Instead, the article focuses on cutting-edge, innovative museum exhibits that present an interactive experience of music in more abstract terms. Exhibits combining sight and sound allow museum visitors to attain a new perspective about music and participation with music, and have appeared in such places as Vienna's Haus der Musik, and Seattle's Experience Music Project. Tod Machover, a composer and software creator at MIT, has helped designed many such exhibits around the world, and thinks that orchestras may be the next museums of music because most of them already have a permanent space that could be modified to create similar interactive experiences.

Machover's prediction is already partially coming true. Like technologically-innovative music museum exhibits, newly-built concert halls are beginning to feature multimedia capabilities. A prime example mentioned in the article is the New World Symphony's concert hall, which was designed with multiple screens for the simultaneous presentation of the symphony's performance and accompanying video. Performers are also becoming involved with the concept of a multimedia performance. Several examples of performers who incorporate a multimedia experience into their concerts are mentioned in the article about violinist Tim Fain's new project which we discussed in class a few weeks ago (read that particular article here). It seems that a multimedia presentation of classical music is an emerging trend, perhaps with a goal similar to that which Tod Machover has for his museum exhibits: "to [help people] think about music in different ways."

Anne Midgette, "Music museums of the 21st century: High-tech, cutting edge, interactive," The Washington Post, October 2, 2011, accessed October 10, 2011,
http://tinyurl.com/6zcqr4a

The How-To Special Effects for Brass Instruments

2011-10-10T12:48:00.002-04:00

While cleaning today I found my silent brass pick up mute. Usually the silent brass series of mutes are utilized as practice tools so one can practice almost anywhere at almost anytime of day and not disturb those in the next room.
There is another use for the silent brass. The pick up mute can capture the sound from the bell and convert it into electrical signal. That signal can be tweaked, modified, and reproduced through an amplifier. Earlier on this blog I referred to an experiment I was going to conduct using special effects, extended techniques, and the trombone. This tool is the missing link between the acoustic trombone and the electric trombone.
Now that I finally have access to my pick-up mute, I can test out various sound wave modulators to achieve my goal of expanding on the trombone’s modern repertoire.
I found a video of someone doing something similar to what I hope to accomplish on youtube. Check it out.

Cool implementations of electronic effects on the trombone.

Problems of Authenticity, Performance Practice, and my own work on Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations

2011-10-08T17:50:00.003-04:00

At various points in Music: A Very Short Introduction, Nicholas Cook emphasizes the importance of the performers and listeners in musical experience as a way of questioning the usual dominance of composers in the creation of aesthetic capital. His discussion of historical performance practice suggests that a view of music that values performers might be on the rise. “In demythologizing the scholarly practice of (so-called) historical performance, Taruskin has placed performance style at the centre of music history; never again, perhaps, will it be possible to publish a ‘history of twentieth-century music’ that considers only twentieth-century composition, ignoring twentieth-century practice.” (1998: 98)

However, some backtracking is necessary to explain the “demythologizing” that Taruskin has repudiated. While historical performance has in some sense broken with how we traditionally view performers, Cook points out that many historic performers are timid about admitting their own role in music. Instead of declaring their interpretive activities outright, performance practice movements use scholarly language as a veil of legitimacy, relying on period texts, treatises, and various versions of the score to formulate their vision of the music. Even when historic recordings are available, Cook notes, performers add their own gloss, choosing to avoid simply mimicking the recording. At the heart of historical performance practice, then, is not so much scholarship but “the interpretive freedom, the creativity, which performers and audiences both value.” (1998:98)

This is all well and good from an academic standpoint. As performers, though, what do we do with this information? What is the role of doing research, if our performance is also to be our own? Reacting with cynicism against historical performance practice would not be productive; Taruskin’s point (and Cook’s) was not to delegitimate the research that historical performers do. How can we re-evaluate in a constructive manner? I was reminded of my own cello studies, as I am currently working on Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations. This piece has been the subject of some historical debate, since multiple versions exist, with great difference between them. The historical performance movement took hold of this piece during the 20th century, pointing out that the most commonly played version had in fact been completely restructured by the first performer of the piece, Wilhelm Fitzenhagen. Looking at Tchaikovsky’s manuscript compared to the published version, we can see that Fitzenhagen re-arranged the order of the variations, also cutting one out. Those inclined to follow historical performance methods would probably cite the “authenticity” of the Tchaikovsky autograph. Of course, this reinforces the hierarchy of composer over performer. In fact, there were several stages to the editing process, some of which Tchaikovsky approved more readily than others (he appears to have changed his mind at least once about the structural re-organization).

When deciding which version of the Rococo Variations to play, I made sure to do my research on these versions. I chose to play the “original” version based on the manuscript, but not because I felt convinced that this version was better or more authoritative (as I think the last paragraph made clear, my research was fairly inconclusive). Instead, I thought it was an unusual and interesting experience to hear a familiar piece played differently, and I enjoyed the “missing” eighth variation. Ultimately my decision was based on what I thought would be interesting to perform and to listen to. Is this the new ideal that Cook and Taruskin would be aiming for? Somehow, my interpretive decisions seem too arbitrary to merit such a grand label. No matter what, we are stuck with several problematic definitions of “authenticity.” Is my individual interpretation “authentic” because I am being true to myself? Is hewing to the autograph score “authentic” because it represents Tchaikovsky’s work without any influence of Fitzenhagen? Both definitions are unsatisfactory, but as practical performers, throwing away authenticity as a concept does not leave us with much to work with.

2011-10-04T08:09:00.003-04:00

Attending concerts is one of my favorite pastimes. I am fond of all music: world music, new or "unusual" music, as well as the "classics." Last Sunday, Longy offered a concert of Chinese music with traditional instruments. I am glad I went, particularly because I now can recognize the instruments that make the sounds. There is a man who often sits at Park Street station playing the Erhu or Chinese violin, but the performers at this concert opened my eyes to the true abilities of the instrument. As there are not too many traditional Chinese music concerts advertised at the BSO or other, this concert was a wonderful opportunity to really experience Chinese music.

On the topic of not-so-common music, the article "Probing discoveries from adept ensemble" caught my attention. It focuses on a new group called "Discovery Ensemble" directed by Courtney Lewis. They performed Britten's "Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge," Frank Martin's "Jedermann," and Beethoven's Seventh Symphony (in that order). Of these three works, Beethoven's symphony is the most performed by far. Britten's Variations is what launched him into international recognition after its performance in 1937 at the Salzburg Festival. Martin is not as well known, but composed well into his eighties.

Discovery Ensemble is breaking out of the repetitive repertory that many classical ensembles are stuck in. The same symphonies, concertos, and operas have been performed over and over again. There is new music that has been composed and performed, but it makes up a small percentage of classical concerts. By including Beethoven's symphony, Discovery Ensemble is gently moving away from what has become the "regular" concert. Many larger ensembles are moving in this direction as well. The LA Master Chorale released a CD last year with compositions by Nico Muhly, a 2004 Julliard graduate.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with performing the "standard" works by great composers, but there are many more out there from the past to choose from, not to mention all the new compositions being written today. Some of them aren't necessarily groundbreaking, but then again many of the composers from 200 years ago weren't either.

Here is a link to the article:

http://tinyurl.com/5rtgp8p

New from the Front: Latest MacArthur Fellows

2011-10-03T22:15:00.003-04:00

Today, this article appeared in The New York Times about the latest classical musicians to be made MacArthur fellows. The article briefly discusses the backgrounds of the two musicians, cellist Alisa Weilerstein and choral conductor Francisco J. Núñez, and includes some material from interviews of Weilerstein and Núñez. Weilerstein, who plays with her parents in the Boston-based Weilerstein Trio, has performed as a soloist with orchestras throughout the world, and will have her debut recording released next year on the Decca label. Núñez is the founding director of the outreach-based Young People's Chorus of New York City, which involves around 1,200 children every year in its program from various ethnic and economic backgrounds.

The article is worth reading for its information about two classical musicians whose cultural contributions have been recognized, but the material I will focus on stems from the editorial parts of the article. Anthony Tommasini, the author of the article, mentions the qualities the MacArthur Foundation recognizes with its awards: “originality, self-direction and capacity to contribute importantly to society.” He then notes trends found among the classical musicians who have been recipients of MacArthur grants in recent years:

There are the musicians who cross genres and styles and break down categories; the performers who champion contemporary music; and those artists who excel at communicating with audiences and bringing music to people who have been left out of the cultural loop, especially in poor neighborhoods.

After citing various MacArthur fellows as examples of the above-mentioned qualifications, he then continues with some questioning of the tendency to recognize as most significant those who push genre boundaries:

All these artists are highly skilled and deserving. Yet with its emphasis on pushing boundaries, transcending categories and contributing to society, the foundation is implicitly acknowledging that these valuable attributes are easier to discern than, say, who is the finest young cellist, based on technical skills, musical insights and interpretive dynamism, which are subjective calls.
Classical music has for too long (and I think, unfairly) been perceived as a specialized art form. Of course it is crucial for composers and performers to reach out, to connect with music and musicians from other genres. Virtuosity and excellence are not enough.
Still, there is a tendency in classical music to overvalue cross-stylistic and genre-blending work. Composers who draw from and mesh widely diverse styles receive immediate credit for doing something daring, as are performers who present their works. It can be much harder to recognize the boldness of a composer who adheres to a specific style and idiom. In the early years of the program, the MacArthur Foundation made a point of singling out some unapologetically modernist composers who had scant interest in stylistic crossbreeding, like Milton Babbitt, Ralph Shapey and Charles Wuorinen.

Anthony Tommasini, "Two Chosen 'Geniuses' Reflect on Label," The New York Times, October 3, 2011, accessed October 3, 2011, http://tinyurl.com/6bnakr6

Tommasini concludes that despite his criticism of the MacArthur foundation's past choices, the organization deserves praise for awarding Weilerstein and Núñez with grants. The recognition of Weilerstein and Núñez is encouraging for classical musicians, because while both of them make significant contributions to the spread of classical music's influence, neither of them necessarily focus on blending non-classical and classical traditions as a means of connecting with audiences (or choir members in Núñez's case), and neither do they primarily champion contemporary music while ignoring works from the standard repertoire in their performances.

Although Tommasini doesn't mention the term, the concept of "authenticity" seems to be related to what he says about the MacArthur Foundation's past choices of award recipients. Are those who do something new and daring more original and therefore more authentic than those who remain within a tradition? Tommasini states that the mere act of presenting something new and genre-crossing can instantly bring praise, but the work of musicians who work primarily within a certain idiom may go unrecognized because of their work's lack of a novelty. The reality is that a majority of classical musicians are not necessarily specialists in areas that would frequently defy categories or cross genres, but rather are trained and skilled in the performance or composition of music within certain idioms. Perhaps classical musicians do not need to be concerned primarily about crossing classical/non-classical genre boundaries in order to be relevant to modern audiences, but should instead focus on how and to whom to present music of the classical tradition with the "boldness" Tommasini mentions.

A New Thought About Classical Music in America

2011-10-03T19:14:00.001-04:00

A book I read a bit of last month by Joseph Horowitz, Classical Music in America, referred to classical music as foreign to American culture. I thought about it and realized at least 90% of what is performed in concert programs throughout the country consists almost exclusively of works composed by Western-European composers.

It is not hard to recognize that the economic and social climate in America is changing; protests in major cities, our government at a political standstill, and hysteria about the alignment of the planets in 2012. With all that is happening outside of music, it’s not surprising that the world of music is going through it’s own changes.

Orchestras in all parts of the country are struggling to keep their budgets out of the red as they fight fewer donations, rising costs, and lower concert attendance.

There are many possible reasons for this trend. Ever since the first European exiles arrived on the continent, there has been a subconscious resentment for all things European. The biggest example of resentment are the events prior to, including, and following the American Revolutionary War. Even though the colonists were previously British subjects, many of them denounced the crown and from that rebellion rose the Union that became the United States of America.

Similar resentment exists today. When discussing the controversial subject of universal healthcare, a policy that many European nations have adopted, arguments against it claim it is socialist and therefore bad. When Americans think socialist, they think back to the Soviet Union and the Cold War which made many Americans fearful.

That is a whole different subject. With all the resentment that has been aimed at the European continent, why would it be a rational expectation that European music would thrive in an environment where it was not naturally contrived?

With all the problems classical symphonies face nowadays in the midst of economic crisis, I feel they have done extraordinarily well considering the factors against them. Works of Mozart and Beethoven have stood more than the test of time in America and even if they faded out this coming weekend, their success is a testament to the grand master composers and their music.

Democracy and the “State of Crisis” (or lack thereof) of Classical Music

2011-10-03T17:59:00.001-04:00

Nicholas Cook’s chapter “A State of Crisis?” does well to question one of the central assumptions we often make about the future of classical music. It seems that cultural commentators wherever one turns are suggesting that classical music is, in some sense, under siege. Sometimes, this is expressed by conservative critics as an intrinsically bad thing, that the greatness of culture is being swallowed by Justin Bieber (or whoever they think currently represents the nadir of culture). Levine’s epilogue of Highbrow/Lowbrow provides some notable examples of such conservatives: Allan Bloom, author of The Closing of the American Mind, as well as William Crutchfield, who claims that classical music “is more accessible than it ought to be already, because we have gone fairly far down the road of cheapening and diluting it in order to make it accessible.” (Levine 1988: 254) At other times, new accessibility and fusion in classical music are hailed as great changes, things that will revive the life force in an otherwise flabby and conservative tradition. In either case, the commentators are convinced that classical music as we know it has reached its endpoint, and can only change or die.

This claim is, as Cook puts it, “too sweeping.” Classical music, and specifically “modern” classical music, may only flourish in certain contexts, “but the point is that in those areas it does flourish.” (1998: 46) We can become so certain that fusion with other forms of music will be the future of classical music that we tend to condemn music that doesn’t choose to reference other genres, calling it conservative and inaccessible. As A.O. Scott suggests in the film articles I cited here previously, this line of thinking is just as narrow-minded as conservative elitism – we end up tarring each other as “snobs” or “philistines”. Around a century ago, many American classical composers were convinced that jazz was the true American idiom, and that national American music must reflect this, creating a brand of jazz-classical fusion. By now, this idea seems at best quaint and dated (American classical music continued both with and without the influence of jazz), and at worst essentializing and racist in its equation of primal expression and pure authenticity with African-American music. There is nothing wrong with fusion as a technique, but there is nothing wrong with working within a set of genres either.

Ultimately, whether we see classical music as undergoing a “State of Crisis” or not comes down to how we define democracy. Democratic political theory has often played out tensions between views of individual or collective freedom. On the one hand, Marx’s view of collective freedom, denied to an oppressed class and then gained through revolution, fits well with our view of Crisis in classical music. Large groups of people have been denied access to classical music, both economically and through cultural capital. The progressive fusion side of the “State of Crisis” mindset holds that we must make music available and understandable to all. Cook’s objection, on the other hand, is more in line with the individual freedom of John Stuart Mill, celebrating eccentricity as the realm of the truly free. Why should there be anything wrong with appreciating a niche cultural phenomenon? If we can throw away holier-than-thou ideas about classical music (an admittedly heavy assumption), can we likewise throw away the idea that everyone must love classical music for it to be viable?

Each of these approaches fails to account for the other. How can we fuse these ideas? Perhaps classical music needs to take its cues from the counterculture movements of the 1960s, which combined socialist-democratic politics with pride in living at the fringes of society. Can we both celebrate holding a minority taste and make our minority more accepting of others? Can we envision making classical music more accessible without aimlessly hoping for the notoriety and sales clout of pop icons?

Paulo Coelho and Tim Fain, using the 21st century's resources

2011-09-27T15:15:00.000-04:00

Two of the articles that we discussed today: http://bit.ly/nMKNJE.

Lewis Takes Off His Shirt

2011-09-27T08:20:00.009-04:00

Owen Palett is a young adult violinist building his career as songwriter, performer and recording artist. Armed with a violin and a looping pedal, he is able to accompany himself in solo performances. The link forwards to a recording of a concert of his during the 2009 Hillside Festival in Guelph, ON, Canada.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7WxTP3ger8

The evening was plagued by rain; the stage crew can be seen approaching Palett mid-song, telling him that he must stop playing to protect the expensive sound equipment. Disregarding their request and the safety of his own violin, he continues the song to its completion in an emotional performance. The crowd can be heard cheering him on as the rain increases in intensity.

What can we learn from this?

Palett takes the violin out of the concert hall into the stadium, giving it a new context with modern approaches to compositional technique. Minimalist in nature, the song relies of looping pedals to provide the background pulse. In combining percussive synthesizer, acoustic violin and voice, he pays homage to his experiences with video games (his award winning album is recorded under the artist name Final Fantasy) in an innovative, exciting way. The end result is an intriguing new sound for concert-goers, combining old-school conservatory training with modern technology and contemporary song writing.

Grouped under "Indie-Pop", the genre does not do his music justice; his songs are thoughtfully composed, with careful attention paid to basic elements such as harmony, counterpoint and texture. Established among the new-wave rockers of our generation, he holds an interesting niche in the context of the future of classical music.

Bordering the gap between classical and contemporary music, Owen Palett has the freedom to tap into either genre for inspiration. While not accessible and marketable to the general populous, he continues to draw a loyal and passionate following. He is able to move his audiences to cheer and jump with joy--performing in a rock venue gives his audiences the freedom to move, talk and more as they listen to the music.

Modern classical music composers and performers have much to learn from Owen Palett. Still young, he has his career ahead of him and the drive to make great waves. Already critically acclaimed, he continues to write and perform to this day. He has taken that great leap from the concert hall to the rock venue with finesse and has set the bar very high for others to follow. We find ourselves at the next step in the evolution of classical music as we know it. In the meantime, we get to watch a boy, a violin and a looping pedal make beautiful music.

“I am overrated” said the sculptor to the sea.
“I’ve been praised for all the ways the marble leaves the man and I was wrong to try and free him.”
And as for me I am a vector I am muscle I am bone.
The sun upon my shoulders and the horse between my legs
This is all I know.

My senses are bedazzled by the parallax of the road.
I concentrate to keep contained the overflow.
My knuckles grip so tightly my fingers start to bleed.
What I have is what you need
And I’m never gonna give it to you.

--- Owen Pallet, Lewis Takes Off His Shirt

The Early Music Scene

2011-09-27T07:53:00.001-04:00

While looking through my Early Music America magazine at Peet's Coffee and Tea in Lexington, I realized I was listening to Classical music through the overhead speakers. I did not recognize the composer, but it was a pleasant surprise to hear something other than the “usual” coffee shop music. (On a similar note, Russo's Market in Watertown plays Classical music in their store and is partial to string quartets. I must say, it does make shopping for produce and cheese more enjoyable.)

Halfway through the magazine, I stumbled upon an article on the recent success of the early music scene in New York City. It has really taken off in the past few years and for the most part, performers do not outnumber the audience anymore! According to the article, early music began to gain popularity with the founding of the New York Pro Musica Antiqua in 1952. Its fan bases grew quickly in many large cities throughout the United States, but the growth was slow in New York until a few years ago. As of today, there are over 130 early music ensembles in New York City alone.

Numerous welcoming venues have sprung up, giving early music ensembles the opportunity to play to a new audience. Le Poisson Rouge, a popular club in Greenwich Village, really brings back the original Baroque scene by “serving art and alcohol.” Bargemusic, another popular concert venue and provider of the musical arts to the community, has also added a “There and Then” series that focuses on early music. Furthermore, exposure to early music has been aided by new organizations such as the Gotham Early Music Scene (GEMS) which is a non-profit working to promote early music and its culture. They work with institutions and artists to put together concerts, events, and educational programs as well as providing marketing services to the early music community. They even have a booking agency they run through their website: http://www.gemsny.org.

They also have a Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/gothamearlymusicscene

As I read the article and sipped my coffee, I reflected on my most recent early music experience. I sang with the ensemble Jouyssance in West Los Angeles for the last two years I was in California. We performed works written before 1600, often a cappella, though we incorporated drums, recorders, and harpsichords when we could get our hands on them. At the majority of our concerts, the audience was maybe twice the size of us and we usually numbered around fourteen performers. Most of the audience members were regulars who had attended concerts for years. It was often difficult to build the audience, but it began to grow, albeit slowly, in the past year or so. Perhaps in the next few years or so, Los Angeles will see similar success with their early music scene.

Murrow, Gene. “Early Music in the city that never sleeps.” Early Music America 17, No. 3 (Fall 2011): 32-37.

No Worries

2011-09-27T02:41:00.005-04:00

I attended a concert last week, and to protect the innocent, I will not say which one.

It was long and boring. The program was exciting – the concert was depressing, and the performances were subpar. I have managed to sit through the entire concert . What does this mean or say about me? Please allow me to be frank about these statements and protest that this is not a concern, as this is merely an observation.

Someone asked me what my concern may be pertaining to the future of classical music.

I replied. But, what I did was try to over analyze the question – and as broad as it may be, I could have replied with a simple and honest answer.

My uncle says that he can not listen to classical music because he can't get into it.

He was referring to the lack of drum beats and rhythmic umpf that he associates with this genre. Surely I could have responded, argued and defended my thoughts on this particular subject – I did not.

What is this?

Is it tolerance, intelligence, or judgement? This raises no concern for me, but I do observe and reflect upon the decisions that I or others have made. It is apparent that we often become enveloped by our character; the one who studies for hours; the one who judges silently; who comprises an ilk of confidence and trash those that are unbefitting. What is embedded in all of this Is uncertainty, survival, denial, apprehension, isolation, and hierarchy. We break down, transform and realize our true disposition. We become humiliated and, for once, submit to our society and find that priorities were amiss. What becomes of this?

...our character. Who are we to judge, and dismiss? We rely on our community, culture, colleague, family, and friends to support our ideas – to talk to us; agree to disagree; improve; move forward; and survive. People forget who they are, where they come from and why they practice 8 hours a day.

Now, please allow me to be frank about these statements and protest that this is not a concern, as this is merely an observation.

Thank You for reading,

Kwaumane Brown

Longy School of Music

UD in Composition ('12)

The Future of the Trombone… and modern music

2011-09-26T22:25:00.002-04:00

Last night I attended my friend’s recital in Pickman Hall at the Longy School of Music. A few months ago I was fortunate enough to play a show with a fantastic Chinese Guzheng soloist who plays traditional Chinese music as well as contemporary world and American music. The concert contained beautiful melodies and harmonies from the distant lands in the far east as well as a few pieces that resembled harmonies and melodies reminiscent of Appalachia. She adapted traditions from a culture predating the United States of America by thousands of years in a way that fuses the music of Eastern and Western cultures to create something innovative and unique.
Innovation and music are words that consume my thoughts as of late. A few years ago I thought the obvious path for the trombonist was to move into rock music. I played many shows with a few Ska bands as attempted to define my place in the musical community. I often joke about the time my colleague and I played a show at the Palladium because for it was the one and only time the ladies in near the stage were cheering on the trombone players. Unfortunately, I discovered that a widespread interest in Ska music did not exist and the band broke up shortly after our arrival at the Palladium. Clearly Ska isn’t sufficiently innovative to revive interest in the trombone.
An idea came to me over the summer involving extended techniques and electronic effects. I was at my friend Erik’s audition for a local Metal band when the idea occurred to me. Heavy Metal speaks to me so why shouldn’t I be able to play it on my Trombone. I am currently formulating ways to apply heavy metal band timbres using the trombone in conjunction with electronic effects and extended techniques. The challenge I will face with this development is achieving untapped versatility while not diminishing the relevance of the trombone. The project could lead to a whole area of musical possibilities and innovations in performance practice. While it may not make the trombone the next electric guitar, it has potential to breath new life into the curiosity of a younger generation of musicians and listeners.

From the Front: A Far Cry

2011-09-26T21:28:00.004-04:00

This weekend, I attended a concert by A Far Cry, a self-conducted string orchestra founded 2007 in Boston by a group of New England Conservatory graduate students who refer to themselves as "criers." The concert was entitled "Divisions," as it entailed various reorganizations of the orchestra into smaller ensembles within the whole of the orchestra. Another changing factor in A Far Cry's performance was the position of concertmaster, which was filled by a different member of the orchestra for each work on the program. Guest artists (called "Guest Criers" in the program) appeared in several works where additional instruments where needed. The program represented a broad range of styles and time periods, ranging from Fratres by Arvo Pärt and Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Thallis to a selection from Bach's The Art of Fugue.

A Far Cry's performance dynamic strongly resembles that of chamber music, although they perform orchestral repertoire with a group of 18 or more players. The communication and sense of cohesiveness in their playing were truly extraordinary, and more like what one would expect of a small chamber ensemble, which is perhaps why I was struck with the personal element of the performance. The "criers" seemed to be simultaneously individuals and a single unit.

A Far Cry is unique primarily because of their rotating system of leadership in the ensemble, giving it a sense of communal contribution and variety not found in a typical orchestra. Perhaps this, along with their programming and energetic performances, has caused them to be successful in a time when many orchestras are struggling. Granted, they do receive a significant amount of support from donors, which they dedicate much of to outreach in the Jamaica Plain community where they are based. In terms of attendance, I would say they are doing quite well, judging from the crowd at their Saturday night concert in Jordan Hall.

For additional information about their performance, see this Boston Globe review.

My webpage

2011-09-21T22:22:00.002-04:00

In response to our discussion about webpages, here is my page.

Technical stuff for anyone who is thinking of making a website: Bandcamp is a great site for hosting your audio files. However, I have been feeling more limited by trying to make an entire site based out of their format, so I have been slowly working on building a different site through Wordpress that just uses Bandcamp for the audio. Ultimately I plan on having the new site promote wedding & event services more.

Sometimes we get excited about new technology, websites, or social networks and think they will totally change the musical world. To some extent, they do. But I've found that having a website doesn't make you nearly as visible on the web as we'd like to think. We still have to draw people to the website, which, more often than not, happens with people you meet in person, are referred to by others, in other words, old-school communication skills. In effect, I've found that my website functions mainly as an extension of my business card or my résumé: "for more information, see my website!" There are a few people from far-flung places who have visited my site after googling "Beethoven Sonata Op. 102 No. 1", but these are not particularly lasting relationships. In some ways this is an obvious point that's been made frequently, but it hits home a bit more when you see the effects in person, on your own site.

Study Questions for Cook, Music: A Very Short Introduction

2011-09-20T16:06:00.000-04:00

Foreword

In what regard does music function as an agent of meaning?

Chapter 1

What are some defining characteristics of musical authenticity in rock? In its construct, who is privileged and who is disparaged? What cultural work do such distinctions do?
What are our some of our transparent assumptions about music?
How do they reflect the structure of a classic industrial economy?

Chapter 2

What role does music play in the early nineteenth century’s construction of bourgeois subjectivity?
How does Beethoven differ from his predecessors?
What is the Beethoven cult?
Which two aspects of the Beethoven cult does Cook discuss? What is their significance beyond Beethoven?
What components of music’s mystical qualities does the Beethoven cult celebrate? How?
How does such spiritualization affect the historic relationship between words and music?
What irony ensued?

Chapter 3

1. How have 21^st-century realities inverted the basic assumptions of 19^th-century musical culture?

2. By what process did modern music become “modern music”?

3. In Cook’s view, what are some signs of vitality in classical music? Which aspects are “beyond resuscitation”?

Chapter 4

What is the abiding paradox of musical notation?
Discuss the following statement: “[N]otations…transmit a whole way of thinking about music.”
Why were 19^th-century writers inclined to believe specious incidents attributed to Mozart and Beethoven?
What is the underlying root metaphor of Western musical culture?
What does Cook see as the “basic paradox” of music?
How does Cook apply Dakwins’s “river of genes” image to music?

Chapter 5

How do our perceptions of “Nikosi Sikelel iAfrica” differ from our perceptions of the “Hammerklavier”?
What hierarchy ensues from the traditional understanding of classical music?
How does a reception-based approach alter our perception of music?

Chapter 6

Why is the concept of a definitive edition problematic?
Why can there be no certifiably “authentic” performance?
Conversely, how do “authentic” performances mirror our own time?
How did musicologists and theorists come to realize the necessity for engagement that had previously been the exclusive province of ethnomusicologists?

Chapter 7

What is a transparent system of beliefs? Examples?
What applications does critical theory find in music?
What is Cook’s antidote to Tomlinson’s extreme pessimism?

Conclusion

Comment on the following quote from Philip Brett: “[Music is] an enclave in our society—a sisterhood or brotherhood of lovers, music lovers, united by an unmediated form of communication that is only by imperfect analogy called a language, ‘the’ language of feeling.”
In what regards does music have “unique powers as an agent of ideology”?

Study Questions for Levine, Highbrow/Lowbrow

2011-09-20T15:42:00.002-04:00

Prologue

1. Our current hierarchical system of cultural categories (highbrow, midbrow, lowbrow) seems fixed and immutable. What cultural work is done by a historian who maintains these categories?

2. What error might ensue?

Chapter 2

What was the status of opera in Walt Whitman’s New York?
What does the prevalence of parodies and arrangements suggest about a popular familiarity with opera?
How had the perception of opera changed by the end of the 19^th century?
What was the relative status of bands and orchestras in the middle of the 19^th century?
When Jenny Lind, and other eminent European soloists, toured mid-century America, whom did they appeal to? How did Adelina Patti’s experience differ?
How were typical mid-century orchestra programs constructed? How did sacralization affect this paradigm?
How did Theodore Thomas manage to draw crowds for his New York concerts? How did his philosophy change when he went to Chicago?
Since the founding in the 19^th century of our country’s major orchestras, what has remained their abiding fiscal reality? Who now employs the Chicago Symphony’s funding model? How has that funding model changed, if at all, over the last century?
What are some of John Sullivan Dwight’s basic beliefs concerning the sacralization of art?
Through art’s sacralization in the course of the late 19^th century, what were some of the changes wrought in the public’s perception of music? musicians? the concert experience?
After a hundred years’ time, which of these perceptions have remained in place?

Chapter 3

1. Faced with industrialization and increasing cultural diversity, how did America’s cultural elites respond at the end of the 19^th century?

2. How might one characterize 19^th-century audiences? To what extent did arbiters of culture attempt to modify audiences’ behavior, and succeed?

3. What unintended consequences did more docile audiences create?

4. To what ends did 19^th-century champions of culture maintain and disseminate pure culture?

5. How did the Columbian Exposition’s Midway Plaisance and White City symbolize a growing gulf in American culture?

6. How was American culture perceived to compare with European examples?

7. What racial and cultural dimensions did the ideology of culture assume?

8. How did Matthew Arnold contribute to our understanding of Culture?

9. How did our invented notions of culture conflict with reality?

10. As cultural categories codified, how were new forms of expressive culture characterized? With what results?

Epilogue

What reactions have been provoked by the growth of cultural pluralism in the late 20^th century?
What is the logical fallacy of the cultural categories that we embrace?

The Future of Classical Music

Farewell!

So long for now

Cautious Optimism for the Future

Farewell, fair friends!

Prospect

More Thoughts on Classical Music in Film

Contemporary Classical Music at the Movies

Response to Nate: Distant Worlds are Coming to Boston

Distant Worlds are coming to Boston

Rated M for Mature

Congress' Censorship Bill

Not so passive

Technology in Music: Combining the New and Old in Classical Music

Sparsity

Paying homage to Gorecki

Copyright and the future of music

Technology and Music

Response to Sarah: Classical artists and media image

Text, Graphics, Machines, Music

News from the Front: Image and the Young Classical Musician

Investigative Series

On the Subject of Evolution

Wikipedia Topics

Possible Wikipedia topics

Wiki Topics

Topics for Wikipedia

On a Personal Note...

Pro Arte on a lovely Sunday afternoon

The Jazz Threat

Final Project Wiki Topics

Multiculturalism, Music, and Violence

From the Front: Digital Album Releases by Naxos

"Well, rules are meant to be broken... or... stabbed with spikey shoes. "

“New Music Week”

From the Front: One Writer's Views on "Classical" Labeling

"Ripping up Concertos at the Harvard T stop"

Love and music

Report from the Front: 21st Century Composition

Film Scoring, another outlet for “classical” Music

SONiC Festival

Why Not?

Primary Sourcing

Music from the Front: Inspiration

In The Cat Ranch...

Technology and Performance: The New Trend?

The How-To Special Effects for Brass Instruments

Problems of Authenticity, Performance Practice, and my own work on Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations

New from the Front: Latest MacArthur Fellows

A New Thought About Classical Music in America

Democracy and the “State of Crisis” (or lack thereof) of Classical Music

Paulo Coelho and Tim Fain, using the 21st century's resources

Lewis Takes Off His Shirt

The Early Music Scene

No Worries

The Future of the Trombone… and modern music

From the Front: A Far Cry

Related Reading and Viewing of Interest

My webpage

Study Questions for Cook, Music: A Very Short Introduction

Study Questions for Levine, Highbrow/Lowbrow