Fran Richard: An Appreciation
Eve Beglarian pays tribute to Fran Richard, Honorary Board member at New Music USA, Founding Director, Vice President of Meet the Composer, and former Vice President and head of ASCAP’s Concert Music department, who passed away on February 8 at the age of 87. Fran is sorely missed by Board and staff, past and present,… Read more »
Other Minds Archives Goes Live January 26, 2024
The Other Minds Archives hosts thousands of audio and video recordings, rare photographs, and ephemera documenting the history of 20th and 21st century experimental music, including interviews and musical recordings by such new music luminaries as George Antheil, Anahid Ajemian, John Cage, Henry Cowell, Laurie Anderson, Anthony Braxton, Conlon Nancarrow, Morton Feldman, Pauline Oliveros, Nicolas… Read more »
Even Sweeter the Second Time Around
Life can be unpredictable at times, and that is how I came back to playing baritone saxophone after twenty years of the horn collecting dust in my attic. It was the most unlikely course of events, but I am a firm believer that those are the times to make adventurous choices.
Waking Up From The Dream Job
After nearly a quarter century of continuous work as the Editor of NewMusicBox and also eventually as Composer Advocate for what was originally the American Music Center and which in 2011 became New Music USA, I am resigning from full time work for this organization to devote more of my energies to being an educator.
Releasing the Composer Within
No matter how little training or “talent” we have, something speaks to us to foster the need to create. The big question is how to find the inspiration and courage to compose music.
Your Music, An Open Letter to My Child
I understand that you are only 16 months old, and so your ability to fully comprehend this letter may take some time. Writing about you is as hard as writing about music. What if you yourself were music? What would you be? You would be a formless soundscape of abrupt shifts and prolonged repetition, never truly starting or ending.
Rhapsody in Discomfort
I’ve been a violinist for forty years and I have made a living from it since completing school twenty years ago. I’ve also been afflicted with chronic neurological Lyme Disease and co-infections for thirty-three years, and boy oh boy, does it get in the way. So, how do I deal with it, you ask? Well, write a trio about it, of course.
GLFCAM -- Rain, unreal and biblical
Formerly pretty solitary when I was still a Bay Area urbanite, the reality of the climate crisis has had me creating more local community than I have ever done. That’s not necessarily comfortable for me but I think the crisis will only be effectively addressed en masse.
GLFCAM -- NoMowMay
Those with a lawn are encouraged to mow less, and to not mow at all in the month of May, a critical time especially for butterflies, bees and other bugs to feast on wild flowers. Sadly, we seem to be the only people participating in our neighborhood. Next year, I hope we can have a #NoMowMay sign put in our yard, both to let the neighbors know why our house looks like a meadow, and to spread the word and hopefully encourage others to consider doing the same.
GLFCAM -- Sustainable practices: the discipline of rest
As a musician I feel that I have been cultured to believe in hard work, achievement, etc. “Become an excellent musician so that you can receive attention, money, respect, or even more dire so that you can survive, make a living, not have to work a side hustle that (potentially) crushes your soul.” The artistic purpose of “personal-achievement” seems divisive and destructive to me.
Naming The Future
I had a hard time accepting my name when I was younger because it felt so White and so old on my young, Black frame. Amongst my classmates—Brittney, Takeisha, Kimberly, Latoya, Michelle—I felt like an oddball. I’d only met old White women named Donna. The day I met a young Black Donna at an IHOP was the day I met with a major symphony orchestra timpanist to talk about an unfair situation that affected my career as a percussionist.
GLFCAM -- Following the Interspecies Gaze in Shaun Tan’s Illustrated Stories
I think the idea of telling a story with images alone reminded me of the challenge that composers face when writing instrumental music: how can we weave a narrative without words?
Orchestrating Ellington
Until now, everything that has gotten performed under the rubric “symphonic Ellington” was overseen by relatively conservative orchestrators. It was all more practical than anything else. Working with a full symphonic orchestra may have been a good way to remain “beyond category,” but there is little to suggest that Ellington treated the submitted orchestrations as more than an easy way to fulfill commission requirements.
NewMusicBox Call for Content Pitches
Guidelines for how to pitch to NewMusicBox. We’re looking for original material that offers significant value and takeaway benefits for the new music community. We’re excited to share special knowledge that will uplift others!
GLFCAM -- To lay down in a bed of yesteryear
The Cabrillo Music Festival admin asked, in a Zoom with my agent, if I’d write something about the wildfires and I blurted out yes. But I underestimated the time needed to figure out how to address the CA wildfires. In truth, I had been putting off the work, rusty from COVID disuse, but also apprehensive to tackle the subject. I have been living in near constant terror here in rural Boonville. Yet, something inside, deep in one’s spirit, simply perseveres while surrounded by unimaginable chaos.
I Am The Gatekeeper (And That’s Okay)
AI and algorithms work on logic. Music, and discovery, work beyond logic, in the realm of intuition and inspiration and chance.
Minding the Gap: Why Targeted Action is Still Needed
I want to mark this year’s International Women’s Day with reflections on what we’ve learnt from the gender equity programs I’ve led in the UK and the US over the past 12 years. I also want to use this opportunity to celebrate the incredible women and gender-expansive creators these initiatives have supported. Back in 2011… Read more »
Going Beyond the Headlines from the 65th Annual Grammy Awards
The big headlines from the 65th Annual Grammy Awards, which were announced yesterday in Los Angeles, are mostly either about Beyoncé now being the recipient of the greatest number of awards in Grammy history (a total of 32) or the surprise win of Harry Styles (beating out Beyoncé) for “Album of the Year.” But there are many other significant wins from last night.
Artists in Occupation
Trying to learn more about Yurii Kerpatenko, the conductor of the Kherson Philharmonic Orchestra who was murdered for refusing to participate in a twisted propaganda concert meant to demonstrate that peaceful life had returned to the city the Russians were occupying, I interviewed a number of artists who lived through months of occupation before finally fleeing. Though none of them were targeted for being artists, their stories weave a chilling narrative of survival and resistance in a region the Russians came to “liberate” from bogeymen of their own creation.
Different Cities Different Voices - Omaha
For our latest edition of Different Cities Different Voices, a series from NewMusicBox that explores music communities across the United States through the voices of local creators and innovators, we are putting the spotlight on Omaha, Nebraska. The series is meant to spark conversation and appreciation for those working to support new music in the… Read more »
How to Commission New Works and Where to Find New Pieces
I’m very passionate about encouraging my students and friends to find new repertoire for their instrument. If you have never commissioned a piece before, this article should be a good place for you to start. If you are already commissioning new pieces as a part of your musical practice, perhaps you will learn something new that you can incorporate next time.
dublab - Composing to the Tempo of Time: The Philosophy of Musical Transcendence in the Ancient Griot World
The implications of the surge in interest in West African traditional griot music in the United States, Europe, and throughout Africa in the past decade offer much in this analysis of how these cultures intersect and relate to the study and experience of music.
Different Cities Different Voices - Boston
Boston has the most classical music per capita of any U.S. city (using “classical” in the broadest sense of the word). On the contemporary front alone, we are home to over 40 ensembles with a mission that specifically includes new music! Plus we have independent record labels such as Disposable America, art and culture publications like Boston Hassle and Allston Pudding, and a thriving house show scene that encompasses mostly the Allston/Brighton neighborhoods but extends into Jamaica Plain and Dorchester.
dublab - Who Gets to Compose?
As we launch dublab’s collaboration with New Music USA, we welcome the opportunity to feature the work of many musicians we believe represent the current landscape of contemporary music composition as well as to bring up questions that are uniquely relevant to our current times.
