Smooth Sailing: Remembering Francis Thorne (1922-2017)
When asked to write a memorial essay about F—a.k.a. FT, Franny, or Fran to me and his many friends and acquaintances—I initially refused for fear that my memory would forsake me. But it didn’t take long for me to relent.
Support Systems
Art exists within the context of the life and beliefs of the artist who created it, and everyone who helped to shape that person’s life and beliefs.
ASCAP Announces 2017 Morton Gould Young Composer Award Recipients
Details for the 19 winners of the 2017 ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Awards and, wherever possible, complete recordings of the award winning musical compositions.
My Musical Life in the United States
It has been exactly ten years since I came back to Hong Kong from the United States, now that I think about it, and the three and a half years I spent there were truly life-changing.
Up Next
What started as a short-term venture among friends is quickly expanding to a nationally-reaching collaboration between composers and school music programs.
Course Corrections
Within six months of starting my new freelance life, things had gone off the rails a little bit. As a result, I’ve found my freelance life to be an exercise in course correction.
“World Music” in the Era of Travel Bans
Now seems like an opportune moment to consider the meaning and relevance of what has been called “world music,” as a global refugee crisis and a rise in nationalistic fervor in Europe, Russia, and the United States newly threatens open cultural exchange.
One Size Doesn’t Fit All, but Can You Hand Tailor a Consortium?
Even with our modest instrumentation guidelines for the composers to work with as a core ensemble, there were plenty of schools that simply didn’t have the instruments or resources to participate.
Pitfalls of Living the Freelance Life
One of the things about being a freelancer is that your time is entirely your own. Sixteen-plus-hour days can come to be commonplace and the concept of “weekend” loses all meaning. Yet without structure, it’s also very easy to slide into laziness.
Trump Budget Proposal Eliminates NEA
President Trump’s proposed budget includes the elimination of the National Endowment for the Arts. Arts groups are urging their constituents to contact their representatives.
Inspect the Unexpected: 10 Years of Counterstream Radio
Happy Birthday, Counterstream Radio! Today we’re celebrating 10 years of broadcasting to listeners around the globe.
Greg Lewis (a.k.a. Organ Monk): Music is a Weapon
Greg Lewis (a.k.a. Organ Monk) has been drawn to jazz specifically because it has been such a socially conscious music. His third album features five pieces he created in memory of those killed during altercations with the police, which he collectively calls The Breathe Suite in honor of Eric Garner’s tragic last words.
Banding Together
While we wanted to provide a wide variety of music for the band directors, we knew that we still needed to pay the composers for their time and thus keep the number realistic. In the end, we settled on five total composers—myself, Max, Scott Senko, Neil Quillen, and Dylan Carlson.
Taking The Plunge
I composed on evenings and weekends when I had the energy, and stole time away during the day job to handle some of my musical admin tasks and to “network” on Twitter. The 10-to-6 thing didn’t bother me overmuch, but more often than not I came home from the job frustrated and angry and in no mood to be creative.
Who are you championing today?
We’ve profiled the work of many female creators on NewMusicBox. In celebration of #InternationalWomensDay, here are just a few examples for your back pocket the next time you meet someone who is having trouble finding any ladies in the house. There are plenty more in the archives!
New Music Wants to Help
In the wake of the presidential election, many in the new music field have demonstrated a desire help marginalized and vulnerable communities. Jack Curtis Dubowsky applauds these moves, but also urges us to explore what improvements we can make towards broader inclusivity within our own organizations even as we support the important work of others.
Collective Arrangements: The Story of the Libera Composers Association
Putting together a consortium with alumni band directors was a smart idea, but putting together a consortium collective with alumni band directors AND alumni composers was a great idea.
Creating Music about "The Greatest": Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali was so much more than a boxer, so much more than even just himself; he is a symbol and has a story that leads to broader implications and subjects.
Music and (Social/Cultural) Resilience
It is no coincidence that Caribbean musical genres inspire joy in those who listen to, play, and dance to it—this music has always been deeply connected to the patterns and rhythms of nature which stand in stark contrast to the oppressive system of plantation slavery which brought so many people to the Caribbean in the first place.
Featuring Female Composers
One of the questions that I get all the time is “Where are the female composers?” While there were a number of female composers of note, they were often overlooked compared to their male counterparts. Fortunately today, that seems to be changing. As part of this year;s festival, we’re showcase the extraordinary range of American female composers.
“Where Is Evil?” (a reaction to anatomy theater)
The most immediate confrontation leveled upon its audience by David Lang and Mark Dion’s 75-minute chamber opera anatomy theater proves to be the confounding experience of witnessing outright, unflinching, center-stage misogyny. Lang and Dion lead the audience through a normalization process that allows us to accept atrocity.
Composing Interdependence—Songs Along the Nile
Bringing people together is not a side benefit of the Nile Project; it is its primary goal. In dramatic contradiction to the dynamics of global environmental politics, common humanity is regarded by the Nile Project as THE mechanism through which true sustainability takes place.
2017 Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Awards Announced
The ASCAP Foundation has announced the recipients of the 2017 Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Awards. The recipients, who receive cash awards, range in age from 15 to 30, and are selected through a juried national competition.
The Role of the Mentor
Music is one of the remaining professions where the master/pupil relationship still thrives, but it’s extraordinarily rare for the conductor/music director of a major city’s orchestra to make the effort to be a mentor to a young musician.
