Close Listening: Music and Us
Is the idea that musicians should be allowed to participate fully in our country’s economy unrealistic? A meditation on reversing the devastating effects that the digital age has wrought.
Positive Power: Develop the Growth Mindset of Success
Musicians feel intense pressure to excel, but positive psychology offers strategies to help deal with and overcome the obstacles.
Should Composers Read Music Critics?
A conversation between composer John Supko and critic Jeffrey Edelstein
André Previn: How Lucky I Am Now
Composer, conductor, and pianist André Previn has been equally comfortable making music in and for concert halls, jazz clubs, opera houses, Broadway theaters, and the silver screen for three quarters of a century. But now he’s composing more prolifically than ever before.
Hamilton Creator Lin-Manuel Miranda Named 2015 MacArthur Fellow
Playwright, composer, and performer Lin-Manuel Miranda, 35, was recognized for his work which reimagines “American musical theater in works that fuse traditional storytelling with contemporary musical styles and voices.” Mimi Lien, a set designer for productions such as Dave Malloy’s Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812, was also among this year’s round of 24 fellows.
Four Emerging Composers’ Works Premiere in Columbus Through EarShot
Four emerging composers have been chosen from a national candidate pool to participate in the 2015 Columbus Symphony EarShot program. Activities will include two intensive reading sessions/rehearsals, feedback sessions with orchestra musicians and mentor composers, a final dress-rehearsal, and a public concert that is part of the CSO’s Happy Hour Concert Series.
Indeterminacy 2.0: The Music of Catastrophe
Perhaps writing indeterminate music can be both a rewarding end in itself, and a path to finding that which indeterminacy can’t give us.
Do Candidates Have the Right to Conscript Songs for Political Purposes?
It’s another presidential election cycle and—in addition to PAC moneymen, countless commercials, polls, trolls, sound bites, and sniping—there’s the new tradition of one candidate or another pissing off some well-known recording artist by using the artist’s song without consent.
Five Takeaways from the Conversation on Female Composers
If that incendiary Spectator article actually had anything to teach us, it’s that there’s intense interest in female composers!
Indeterminacy 2.0: Under the Hood
This week, I want to talk about some of the actual work I’ve done with indeterminate digital music, with a focus on both the technologies involved and the compositional methods that have proven useful to me in approaching this sort of work.
Andy Milne on Star Trek
Andy Milne explains how he wound up in the captain’s chair on the Enterprise.
Are Transformative Fair Use Principles Foul to Musicians?
Music seems to have more restrictive standards for fair use than other creative arts because there’s a well-established market for licensing arrangements, reprints, synchs, and samples, all of which are treated as derivative works. And courts are very reluctant to disrupt the marketplace—even one as dysfunctional as music licensing.
Andy Milne: Putting the Theory Into Practice
Being an astute listener to the world around him and playing in a wide array of styles throughout his career has enabled Andy Milne to operate fluently in all of them, whether its his hip-hop infused jazz combo Dapp Theory, a collaboration with traditional Japanese koto players, or his soundtracks for William Shatner’s series of Star Trek documentaries.
Indeterminacy 2.0: In Which We Agonize Over Terminology
I have a certain tendency to refer to my indeterminate pieces as “my indeterminate pieces.” But wait, aren’t they generative? In this week’s episode, I want to try to hash out some of the terminology floating around this sort of music.
Build the Playground: Carolyn O'Brien on composing through depression
Composer Carolyn O’Brien calls on her ingenuity and strength to create through, and with, severe depression. Read her on the importance of formal structure, a sense of play, and a great husband.
The Best and Worst Thing: A conversation with Keeril Makan and Daniel Felsenfeld
Two composers sit down and talk about depression, PTSD, and how social media can increase isolation.
Do You Have the Chutzpah to Take a Gamble on Fair Use?
Everything you’ve heard about fair use is probably wrong. It’s always a gamble as to whether something is or isn’t a fair use and, in my humble opinion, courts have recently shown a lot of chutzpah in making the determination.
My Neck, My Back: Composing through PTSD and Chronic Pain
A composer ventures into deeply personal territory, sharing her unique experience of sound, color, trauma, and the body.
Productivity, Pressure, and the Power of Listening: Marcos Balter
In the first installment of our first-person series on music & mental health, Marcos Balter opens up about anxiety, composition deadlines, and each person’s singular path towards happiness.
Indeterminacy 2.0: How to Burn Your Harpsichord
Why should a recording be the same every time you listen to it? Until recently, this question wouldn’t even have made sense. But today there’s no reason why this must be the case.
This Week: Musical Creativity and Mental Health
A series of interviews and essays on depression, anxiety, and making music.
New Music USA's Six Submissions to the 2016 ISCM World Music Days
New Music USA has submitted six works for consideration in the 2016 ISCM World Music Days. All are works that received funding through our grantmaking programs and all are works composed since 2010.
Bernd Klug: traces of [dis]location
Brooklyn-based sound artist and composer Bernd Klug has turned the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York into a social musical instrument. His art installation, traces of [dis]location, spans three floors and uses the architectural structure of the building to create multiple points of engagement. traces of [dis]location runs until September 16 and is free and open to the public.… Read more »
Copyright Conundrums for Collaborators
Here’s a situation that’s commonly misunderstood among creative collaborators: Jack and Jill agree to write a song together. They call it “Tumblin’ Down the Hill.” Jack writes the music and Jill writes the lyrics. Who owns what?
