The role of narrative—whether indirectly or overtly applied to the final composition—is a central factor in Stacy Garrop’s typical working process. In it, she had found a way to shape and chart the sonic image she wants her music to ultimately project to the world beyond her studio.
The longest day of the year is observed by the San Francisco Bay Area new music community with the annual Garden of Memory event at the Chapel of the Chimes in Oakland. Sidney Chen brings us this video digest.
One of the reasons many artists involved in JCW feel that it is one of the high points of their year is that it’s not an institutional environment that needs to negate intuition and passion, but rather a learning environment that fosters and salutes them. It’s a bridge between the traditional and modern approaches to jazz education, where the former was steeped in mentorship and the latter in academic meritocracy.
The incorporation of video as part of the creative process is slowly becoming a new and important aspect of new music in general. As technology becomes even more pliant and simple to use, we’re only going to see more innovations in this area in the years ahead.
A.J. McCaffrey has been named the winner of the American Composers Orchestra’s 2013 Underwood Commission, bringing him a $15,000 commission to compose a work that will be premiered by ACO during the 2014-2015 season.
The National Endowment for the Arts has announced the 2014 NEA Jazz Masters: Jamey Aebersold, Anthony Braxton, Richard Davis, and Keith Jarrett.
Are we really the best judges as far as what should and should not be shared with the outside world when it comes to our own music? Are our present selves overly critical of the pieces our past selves have labored over? What is the real purpose behind our attempts to so closely control how, when, and what part of our creative output reaches beyond our individual perimeters?
Throughout my life, it had been drilled into me that jazz was created by blacks and represented the apex of African-American musical civilization. Against that historical backdrop, I also practiced a form of racial profiling of musicians. To like a “white sound,” or worse, a white musician who “sounded black,” was cultural treason. But jazz at the beginning of the 21st century is appropriately black, brown, and beige.
When I think of what I want the experimental music scene to look like in the future, this would be an excellent model.
Chamber Music America has announced the recipients of its 2013 commissioning grants, supporting the creation of new works for small ensembles.
As a composer in the 21st century, I know that I “stand on the shoulders” of creators of both genders from all over the world.
Spiritual Sketches, the new recording by tenor Lawrence Brownlee, is, in essence, a showcase for singing; and Brownlee’s singing is worth showcasing. But it was the arrangements, by pianist Damien Sneed (who also performs), that really caught my ear.
What the nief-norf Summer Festival seeks to accomplish is a merger of the fields of performance, composition, and scholarship. In effect, nnSF pushes performers, composers, and researchers into the same room and locks the door. What may sound like a chaotic situation, however, is far from it; the effects are outstanding, invigorating, and inspiring.
Jazz pianist Cecil Taylor is among the three 2013 Kyoto Prize Laureates announced by the Inamori Foundation during a press conference at Kyoto University.
This past weekend I live-blogged my third Bang on a Can Marathon concert experience. This year in particular was interesting because of the change in locations, as this presented the opportunity to compare and contrast the same event in two very different performance spaces.
A few months after seeing the potential of the guitar/percussion duo during the Living Earth Show this past spring, I stopped in to hear Houston’s Liminal Space present a concert that included two commissioned premiers.
Composer and electric guitarist D. J. Sparr draws energy and inspiration from interacting with other musicians. “That’s why I compose,” he says, “to get to the point where I can be actively working with other musicians.” A full schedule of composition commissions, performances of his own music and that of other composers, and educational residencies ensures that he gets his fill of that vitality.
Nineteen American orchestras have been recognized with 2012-13 ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming at the League of American Orchestras’ 68th National Conference in St. Louis.
In total, the music included on the disc spans some ten years of compositional activity, and Amy Williams’s experience as a pianist and her work in The Bugallo-Williams Piano Duo has likely contributed to her sensitivity and skill when it comes to composing chamber music.
We’re less than halfway through the year, but by this time next week I will have been in a total of 12 cities in 4 different countries. I believe I have gained many valuable experiences from these trips, but I haven’t had time to completely process all of them.
Ready for nine hours of new music? For those who can’t be in the crowd for the 2013 Bang on a Can Marathon in New York City on Sunday, June 16 (Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts @ Pace University), we’ve embedded intrepid NMBx columnist Rob Deemer to keep you apprised of the goings on. So get ready, get set…
New Music USA and the League of American Orchestras have announced that five orchestras will be receiving financial support for composer residencies through their jointly administered Music Alive Program. In addition, New Music USA has announced that 36 new music organizations will be receiving support through the 2013 Cary New Music Performance Fund.
As more of us understand the new reality and forgo the perceptions of the past, the more we will all be attuned to the various aspects of opportunity, including when it doesn’t exist, how to make sure it does exist, and how best to proceed once that opportunity is available.
One of the common complaints about current pop music is that it’s all hopelessly retro, and that we haven’t seen anything genuinely new in about 20 years. Pop music is eating its own tail. The irony is that this kind of self-aware self-referentiality is exactly what was prized and heralded as a savior of concert music a few years ago.