By Frank J. Oteri
There still are gatekeepers, just different ones: the folks who are calling the shots and making lots of money in the new marketplace are the technology companies and the internet service providers.
By Frank J. Oteri
How can we use Foursquare’s badge system to increase people’s awareness of new and unusual music that is off the beaten path?
This is about the most fun I’ve had on any project in my life so far, and I’m only half-way done.
By Alexandra Gardner
Amy Chua, the “Tiger Mother,” started quite the firestorm with her Wall Street Journal essay, especially among mothers utterly appalled at the militaristic approach Chua has taken towards the musical education of her two daughters.
BY Dan Visconti
Here are a few of the more negative comments I’ve been accosted with following performances of my music, some just plain out of line and some richly deserved.
Fourteen unrestricted grants of $25,000 each, a total of $350,000, are to be awarded to artists in the fields of dance, music/sound, poetry, theater/performance and visual arts.
The grants will go towards the creation and world premiere of six new works by California composers, created in collaboration with another California artist of their choice.
Alan Pierson has been named the new artistic director of the Brooklyn Philharmonic, effective immediately.
By Colin Holter
A parent who harasses his kid toward excellence in music may in fact be creating a very dangerous kind of individual: A negamusician, if you will, who resembles a musician in every respect except the capacity for critical thought and social engagement.
By David Smooke
When I was in my mid-twenties, I attempted to train myself to survive on as little sleep as possible and over time reduced my sleep time in half to have more time for composing; my experiment ended with a near-fatal bout of pericarditis followed by two years of exhaustion with little ability to concentrate as I healed.
Mark Dresser’s CD/DVD Guts: Bass Explorations, Investigations, Explanations is much more than a new release, it is an important treatise on the state of music making.
Composer Missy Mazzoli has become the newest addition to G. Schirmer, Inc.’s roster of composers.
As a co-founder of the New Amsterdam record label and the NOW Ensemble, composer Judd Greenstein thinks deeply about the changes he wants to see in the field and dedicates his time and talents to putting them into action. He is by turns idealistic and pragmatic, motivated by a desire to challenge artists and audiences, but also to keep pace with economic and social developments. “The world that we as composers and performers were operating in expanded exponentially,” Greenstein explains. “Now the conversation is with everyone.”
By Mark Carlson
Ensembles that perform only traditional music appear to be the exception now; new music is everywhere, a part of the general consciousness of ensembles and presenters, and the younger performers seem to thrive on it—or at least to think of it as just a normal part of their lives.
By Mark Carlson
It reminds me of going off to college, or of going to my first gay pride event, when I suddenly realized that there were other people in the world like me.
By Mark Carlson
I’ve lost count, but I think this is the 13th or 14th conference of Chamber Music America that I’ve attended over the years, starting with my first in 1988, when it was once held in Los Angeles; obviously, I really enjoy them.
By Alexandra Gardner
Situations ranging from a bout of the flu, the needs of family members, or forces of nature can and do occur at totally unpredictable times, causing scheduling snafus ranging from missed events to having to push back composing deadlines—the ultimate forms of life dissonance.
By Dan Visconti
I’ve been to enough concerts of my music to have heard all kinds of comments from listeners, positive, critical, nonsensical, and everything in between.
By Ratzo B. Harris
I used to think that the institutional codification of jazz pedagogy was watering down the vitality of the music, but not any more.
By Ratzo B. Harris
I’ve been involved in a bit of session playing over the years and find that open/no restrictions sessions are the most interesting, yet challenging, format.
By Colin Holter
Before the technical innovation of multi-channel magnetic tape, recorded sound could be captured from a single perspective only: Now, on the other hand…
If instrumentalists are not exposed to new music when they are learning to play, they are naturally going to be much more inhibited about trying it when they are done with their studies.
Eric Nathan has been awarded the ASCAP Foundation’s Rudolf Nissim Prize for his orchestra work Icarus Dreamt, which was selected from among 260 entries.
At a trim 33 minutes, the album version of Richard Einhorn’s The Origin (an evening-length multi-media piece built up around the life and work of Charles Darwin) focuses on just six excerpts scored for vocal soloists, drawn from the full production which also includes chorus, orchestra, and projected film.
