By David Smooke
To me, one of the most interesting aspects of the composerly life is the continuing search for balance between quiet time alone and periods of social activity.
The board of directors of the Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard University has announced the twelve composers selected to receive 2010 Fromm commissions.
By Frank J. Oteri
I don’t think I’ve turned on the TV once in 2010 and have yet to do so in 2011 other than to use the TV set as a video monitor for watching DVDs.
By Ratzo B. Harris
The JEN conference isn’t as well attended as the conventions held by the now defunct International Association of Jazz Educators once were, but this is actually a good thing; now we see who the players in the jazz education community that mean to keep that community thriving are.
By Ratzo B. Harris
On the night before the 2nd Jazz Education Network conference begins in New Orleans, what a GREAT band: 2 tenor saxes, 2 alto saxes, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, a sousaphone with a microphone hanging in the bell, a cellist, 2 snare drums, 1 bass drum with cymbal attached (New Orleans brass bands don’t use drum sets), a tambourine, and a singer who held his bottle of Corona throughout his performance.
By Alexandra Gardner
It seems that the older generation should be proud of, not to mention reap the benefits of, the years they spent building musical roadways, while the younger generation, which is (and should be) taking advantage of those routes and repaving them using their own materials—as the generation after them will surely do—can always be learning from the past.
By Dan Visconti
Strads don’t immediately reveal their greatness when played like any other instrument; it is only when the performer ceases to play “normally” and lets up a bit that the Strads begin to shine.
Teenagers love playing new music; I know this because I run a contemporary chamber orchestra for teens which in its sixth season can hardly keep up with the enthusiasm of its members.
By Colin Holter
I wonder whether this clarity of authorship will lead to an even more fortified concern with textual fidelity, and performers will be too careful to follow the letter of the score.
The dichotomy between the realms of classical and pop music has already been all but shattered for a generation, and the shards of genre distinction that are still perceptible dissolve upon multiple listenings to Flutronix, the eponymous release of a pair of classically trained flutists—Nathalie Joachim and Allison Loggins-Hull—who perform their own post-minimalist and techno-influenced compositions for flutes and electronics.
By David Smooke
I am heartened to learn of the relatively new and surprisingly powerful tools for matching visionaries with sympathetic audiences.
By Frank J. Oteri
As most scientists know, it’s a heck of a lot easier to prove something exists than that it doesn’t.
Mikel Rouse has been making extremely complex music using the language of contemporary popular culture decades before “bandsembles.”
By Dan Visconti
This holiday season I have become acquainted with a 35-year-old tradition a great deal more fun than roasting chestnuts on an open fire. This would be TUBACHRISTMAS, a very special ceremony of timeless carols and extremely low, ponderous sounds.
By Alexandra Gardner
I thought I would put together a selection of iPhone apps—in no particular order*#8212;that have made their way into my musical life this year, to inspire those of you who may find iTunes gift cards in your stockings.
By Colin Holter
Our music isn’t just weird and incomprehensible, it’s dangerous.
The music of Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon is, for me, a satisfying challenge that requires the player to engage in intent chamber music—his own part is only a small portion of his concern, as at every moment an intricate contrapuntal structure is being advanced.
Never turn down an invitation to eat, drink, or dance
For me, performing the music of Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez is risky. To say that his works are touchy is an understatement—in performance, they have the feel, for me, of being held together only on faith. Irregular patterns, unexpected accents, and awkward grace notes give the impression of a mechanism operating near its breaking point.
For me, performing Bob Morris’s music is a tricky balancing act.
I owe most of the stamps in my passport to my trips with the Eastman BroadBand.
The BroadBand is one such labor of love, a project that on the one hand requires an enormous commitment of time and energy—but on the other promises an experience that is worth twice the work. What’s better than performing with these old friends, participating in the premieres of exciting new works, traveling internationally?
This past November, the Eastman BroadBand performed six concerts in four cities during a rapid-fire one-week tour.
With his latest venture, the group Slow/Fast, saxophonist and composer Ken Thomson seeks to combine the disparate areas of his musical life—contemporary classical, rock, and jazz—into one integrated whole that he calls “21st Century Third Stream.”
