tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18871740052303626152024-03-13T13:31:29.517-04:00Deconstructing Jim<p align="right">
Anonymous yet personal, this Blog chronicles<br>
the daily events and musings of Jim.<br>
It provides an easy way for his friends
and family to check in on him,<br>
and serves as a online repository for his random<br> thoughts, kaleidoscopic flashbacks, and
writings on an array of diverse topics.<br>
“Deconstructing Jim” is simply here to<br>
entertain you, but not intended for college credit.
</p>Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978950787428621702noreply@blogger.comBlogger419125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887174005230362615.post-8300478553436012632022-11-14T14:14:00.000-05:002022-11-14T14:14:12.061-05:00A Hypothetical Graduation Speech Directed to Composers<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
Dear Composers,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">You have achieved
wonders. Getting to where you are in life at this critical point in time
is not a simple or easy achievement. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Development of the
skills required to become proficient in the art and craft of musical
composition is without question an undeniably daunting task. Manipulating
and organizing sound distributed amongst multiple dimensions in a logical and
coherent way, and learning how to effectively communicate your detailed work to
trained musicians and the audience at large is no simple feat. <br />
<br />
It can be a gut-wrenching experience to initially find - and then mentally
extract - the abstract musical impulse hidden somewhere deep in your soul, and
to elevate this raw impulse to the level of notes and squiggles logically sketched
on the page in a configuration that is understandable and readily conveyable.
It can equally be taxing, laborious, and excruciatingly challenging to develop
those notes into definitive musical ideas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Your product will ultimately be deciphered by musicians who will realize
your precisely notated and edited score. <br />
<br />
Getting to a final compositional result is a mysterious process - beginning
with the abstract thought that originated deep in the recesses of your mind,
through all the intermittent stages of revision, to a perfected, complete work
that is worthy of hearing, well-articulated, and ready for performance. This
process is an amazing transformation that few people are equipped to see, hear,
or experience firsthand. Those who have studied Beethoven's sketches will
gain a glimpse into this elaborate compositional process - and perhaps even
insight regarding the trade secrets related to how the inner workings of music
is created.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At times you will have
to invent systems that do not exist as of yet. You will have to go beyond
your current training and delve into areas that have not been fully explored by
your predecessors or contemporaries. You will have to invent music
intended for the future while at the same time respecting the vast body of a seminal
musical canon of the past. Every composer has the responsibility to know
what came before them, going back many centuries in history if possible.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As a dynamic living
inventor of designs in musical sound, you may someday find yourself at a
critical juncture in life, where prior assumptions you've long-held about music
have suddenly become staid and stale. You will be forced to confront your
assumptions, beliefs, and even the established tenets of your solid musical
training. You will be forced to evolve your technique beyond what you
have learned as an artist. Only time will tell which creative path you
ultimately carve out for yourself in the long arc of your career. Do not
rush to find the first idea that hints of innovation. Look for the real
thing. You don't have to be a disruptor. You can further an
existing tradition if you wish. Innovation will find you if you work hard
every single day at your chosen craft. You will know it when you see
it. Don’t follow false gods. Fads come and go.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">After dedicating your
life to music, and channeling so much of personal energy to become who you are
today, we must pay tribute to you. Your persistence, hard work, and
selfless determination is what provides continuity to our complex
culture. Musical composition is a black art, a religion, rocket science,
a type of information theory. It is math, poetry, linguistics,
engineering, astrophysics, psychology, project management, alchemy, and cultural
anthropology all in one. Music is everything that makes us human. By
choosing to be a composer, you’ve placed a lot of weight on your
shoulders. You know the history of music. You are now part of
it. This is an awesome responsibility to bare. For-better-or-worse,
it is the career path that you have decisively chosen to follow. It will
be a challenging, swerving road, not a super-highway to stardom.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Most composers can
point to important people who encouraged and/or inspired them to follow this sometimes-treacherous
career path. But, if you think back to all the people in your life who
may have cautiously discouraged you from pursuing a career as a composer, you
can understand their legitimate concerns. It's a familiar story for most
of us. It is likely that close friends, family, and even trusted teachers
advised us NOT to become composers as a protective measure somewhere along the
way. "A career in music is difficult" they said.
Rationally, you can see why they thought this way. It’s no secret that music
- generally speaking – is not known to be a financially rewarding profession
for all. Contemporary composers of serious music composition face a poor
prospect of financial security. Personally, I reply to these detractors (and
sometimes a more pragmatic version of myself) with this quip: “If I were in
this for the money, I would have become a plumber.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The reward we get -
and the satisfaction we can reliably count on - is self-evident. When
"in the zone" of the creative act - the feeling of reaching beyond
the boundaries of our ordinary self to create something new and unique in the
world is highly gratifying. Composing can elicit a powerful feeling of
elation, a unique intoxication that few lay people ever experience in their
daily lives. Making new music, I assert, is a higher art-form and a far
more interesting profession than say, fitting pipes. It is something we
do because we must. It is something we chose to do while overriding our
better common sense and the practical advice of trusted others. It is who we
are. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Today, as you leave
the nurturing and supportive environment that has hopefully helped you along
the way with your goal to become a competent composer, you must have apprehension
for your substantial accomplishment. You must already know that your life
work, the music for which you have expended so much blood, sweat, and tears to
create, may not necessarily be in high demand in a commercial culture that does
not adequately value contemporary music as much as it should. Because
music temporarily fills the air and then dissipates into inert nothingness, its
monetary value is difficult to bottle up and package for profit. The
monetary value of contemporary music scores by known composers does not even move
the needle compared to what established visual artists can potentially earn.
Not even close.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">All of us fully
appreciate that at this important milestone in your personal history - your
graduation – that it is a critical important inflection point. The
societal pressures on you from here on out will be enormous. At times it
will seem that everything has conspired against you. Simply finding the time to
write your music will be hard. Time to compose will undoubtedly be sucked
away by routine priorities - such as earning enough money to cover the rent,
purchase food, and to pay those damn utility bills. Even finding ample
mental space to think about music offline can be hard to fit into the daily
grind. The discipline of music composition with all its complexities,
along with the mental and emotional energy needed to achieve it at an optimal
level, does not progress very well as a part-time activity. For many
working in the field, musical composition must be an all-or-nothing career
pursuit.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Career? Yes, I
did use that loaded word.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This is where my speech
gets more complicated, and for the uninitiated, perhaps a little dark.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">You may have observed
a bifurcation in your cohort: those who are becoming very successful as
composers, and the rest (the majority), who have not. The reality of that
bifurcation will become quite pronounced as the years and decades of your life
pass by - depending on which side of the equation you sit. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There are different
measures of success, and a small percentage of your class (perhaps one or two
percent) will ultimately make it into the upper echelons of that intensely
sought-after professional strata. That two percent cap is, at least in
the United States, a more-or-less hard limit determined by the ability of
society to adequately absorb the high numbers of serious composers of concert
music who desire to work in the field professionally. On the other hand, the
number of talented graduates increases in numbers every year. For the
arts, it's an embarrassment of riches.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Intuitively and
intellectually, you have known all along about this predicament. You are about
to experience it emotionally and at a visceral level. From the beginning,
people have warned you about this day of reckoning. That day is
here. It is today. It is now.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If this comes as a
surprise, please don’t shoot me. I am just a messenger from your
future. I am like you. I was in your shoes. I am in your
shoes.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If this message is a
downer and never got formally relayed to you, it may be because the emphasis on
composer training in higher education and at elite music conservatories today
is mostly geared toward training, support, and a well-intended nurturing of
your skills. The practical, and more importantly, tactical aspects about
what really happens after graduation - and how to survive in a post-academic
world - are typically avoided in polite conversation. It's essentially a "don’t
ask, don’t tell" policy. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">While some token
entrepreneurial skills are now incorporated into today’s modernized curriculum,
an honest conversation about the statistical likelihood of failure is a very
difficult pill to swallow and most teachers and institutions opt to look the other
way rather than broach this troubling subject. Reality is a bummer, so
why even bring it up? To bring it up also may raise uncomfortable ethical
questions about their own legitimacy and about why they continue to accept
compensation in exchange for providing guidance and instruction leading toward
an esoteric career in music composition which (by some accounts) no longer
exists.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But, as you know,
there are exceptions to the rule. Some composers beat the odds, thrive,
and succeed. While there are reasons for this which I will outline in a
moment, at least some aspect of career success can be attributed to randomness:
i.e., just plain luck. Being in the right place at the right time can pay
dividends. As Woody Allen famously said, “Half of life is just showing
up.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I am of the belief
that it is best to acknowledge the limitations of the system, to admit and know
up front that life is not fair. “Trust-fund composers” exist and have
always existed throughout the course of history. Some of our greatest
composers have come from a privileged economic class. More power to them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Some composers will
thrive because of their magnetic personality, excellent sales skills, active
self-promotion, personal networking, hard work, and a network of carefully nurtured
connections. That is human nature, and these important traits aren’t
strictly limited to the world of business and commerce. These rules apply
to everyone, even working composers.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It is likely that you
will have challenges not only composing music, but in getting it performed once
the score and parts are prepared. After one departs from the auspices of
academia the dynamics of program curation by professional soloists, ensembles,
and orchestras that specialize in new music becomes problematic and political,
to say the least. There is little incentive for them to perform or record
your sometimes complex and difficult music unless the project is a subsidized in
an academic setting, connected to external funding, or if it will advance
somehow their careers to be associated with your name. Most of these options are
rather unlikely scenarios for an independent emerging composer. The next few
years will be challenging for you on several levels, to put it mildly.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It took you decades to
develop and hone your skills as a composer. If all goes well, you will
spend many more decades developing your craft, improving, and moving forward in
the field both personally and professionally.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In the face of stiff
and persistent opposition you may even question your own sanity, self-worth,
and determination. You may feel defeated at times. Dealing with expected
wholesale rejection is difficult for anyone, but receiving an endless stream of
form-letters and disappointing email regarding your hard-earned musical efforts
can be psychologically devastating in the long term. You need to be prepared
for that. Even the finest of composers of national reputation get dissed on a
regular basis. It’s all part of the vicious and often absurd political
theatre we have subscribed to. We reluctantly agree to play along since there
is no other viable option available.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Know that rejection is
coming, and be ready for it. At some point you will be deemed too old to
be considered as an emerging composer, and henceforth arbitrarily excluded from
countless competitions and opportunities. At age 30 you may still be
maturing, but if you have not "made it" at 40, some will imply that
you should look elsewhere or find another profession.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Even if the stated
restrictions on the application for grants, fellowships, residencies,
workshops, or awards do not explicitly state a cutoff age as a prerequisite,
often there is an implied bias which in practice will have an intended result.
The long list of all-important resume-building milestones that are so important
for you to attain in the formative years of your career can require decades to
accumulate. These illusive but influential indicators of achievement often
come with an implied expiration date for acquisition. If you miss out on
attaining those important and established accolades of honor, your career may
be relegated to the status of burnt toast.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Think strategically.
Know that your life is primarily about writing the best possible music that you
can, and about creating something truly unique that only you have the capability
of creating. Do it consistently - whenever and wherever you can.
Survival for the long-term will in the end may be what is crucial to your
success. This may mean that you will be forced to compromise at times,
i.e., work day jobs at companies that you might find repugnant and draining -
just to get by. In order to write music, you first need to
survive. Employment compromise is not an uncommon situation for the artist.
Many professional musicians work odd jobs. Just remember who you are, and
that being a musician is first and foremost.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It is at the core of what you do.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">With luck you will
reach the narrow top percentile of fortunate composers who attain the honor of
a university professorship and/or one of those who is published, recorded, and
performed frequently by the leading musicians and top ensembles of our
time. If not, you will likely know a few of those who fall into that
elite and highly-treasured category of professional academic standing or
fame. You should honor and respect those people, and nurture your
relationship to them. Yes, they may be significantly more successful than
you, but they are your colleagues - partners in the higher crime of composing
new music. Beware of a human inclination toward professional jealousy,
since it is mentally unproductive and psychologically corrosive to accumulate anger
or frustration regarding their comparative success and your apparent lack of
it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ultimately your psychological
net-worth will be about writing great music. There is no culture cartel or
socio-political bias that will prevent you from writing exceptional and
outstanding music - if you are well-known or not. Whether your music ends
up being widely performed and acknowledged today, or is something that might
possibly be discovered at a future time, is an interesting and evolving open
question. Careers come and go. Fame is elusive. Nothing is
guaranteed or set in stone.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The notes you write on
the page are magic. Never forget that. Nobody will ever be able to
imitate what you do with accuracy or re-create the thoughtful and elegant music
you invent from scratch. Your musical signature is personal and
unmistakable. You will compose unique music, create one-of-a-kind art, and it
will in the end be priceless.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">You might have a
glorious career in music composition, but I also regret to say that you might
not. The determination of that outcome as an issue is separate and
distinct from the initial reason about why you choose to become a composer in
the first place. You have worked incredibly hard to get to the state of where
you are today. But keep in mind that the yet-to-be-determined long-term
outcome of your career is part of a chaotic world-order which we do not have as
much influence or control over as we would like to.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Today we celebrate the
achievement of your hard-earned goal. We welcome you to the club.
Congratulations! God speed!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wish you;
we all wish you, the best of luck!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Now the hard work
begins.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978950787428621702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887174005230362615.post-68917726994072526662020-02-05T15:50:00.001-05:002020-09-26T17:27:24.326-04:00Concert Announcement - David Holzman, pianist<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwESl7nxbmnPeo-EqPz1-aRasZeoh9CV7l9QVZYpYwWqh6r0-YJ969bxx1A4wHL60PJu0UMhV0ZghJtxSQjMJbnSxJ8ODJkz4qrT1TGtIPKRytWE-_4KZDlEDCBf0uNhfB9h5X0b1uvTQ/s1600/Project+142.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="742" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwESl7nxbmnPeo-EqPz1-aRasZeoh9CV7l9QVZYpYwWqh6r0-YJ969bxx1A4wHL60PJu0UMhV0ZghJtxSQjMJbnSxJ8ODJkz4qrT1TGtIPKRytWE-_4KZDlEDCBf0uNhfB9h5X0b1uvTQ/s640/Project+142.jpg" width="494" /></a></div>
<br />Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978950787428621702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887174005230362615.post-39779555280594958082020-01-01T12:34:00.001-05:002020-01-01T12:40:38.001-05:00contemporary conundrumIt’s been my observation that the number of people who regularly attend contemporary art museums far out number the number of people who frequent contemporary music concert events.<br />
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Why are contemporary art museums so successful at what they do while concerts of new music are often sparsely attended?</div>
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Perhaps new music presenters should embrace more of the standardly-used museum management tactics, such as: trendy cafes, gift shops with loaded-to-the-brim with merchandise, incentivized membership plans, social events, educational tours, forums and lectures, multimedia, corporate sponsorship, and high-profile special exhibits that famously travel around the world from one iconic museum to another.</div>
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While a few of these amenities and methodologies are tentatively finding their way into our still-antiquated concert culture, the global business of promoting commercial contemporary art clearly has a hands-down marketing advantage over the culture of new music creation, distribution, and presentation.</div>
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Perhaps this apparent discrepancy in public awareness between the two arts is rooted in the nature of the product. Artwork has monetary value in that it can be purchased, owned, and potentially sold at profit. Music is inherently abstract and merely a collection of transient sound waves in the air. By its nature, it dissipates into nothing in a matter of seconds after performance. </div>
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In recent times it has become virtually impossible to monetize something as intangible as that. Music’s intrinsic cultural value is relative, uncontainable, fluid, easily manipulated, and fundamentally non-materialistic.</div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br />Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978950787428621702noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887174005230362615.post-15422099268830813902019-04-05T16:05:00.000-04:002019-04-05T17:16:19.996-04:00"What kind of music do you write?"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn5L06nQGNBGek35f6WLHywXiEmlIZfE5b4SydjZPLn8lcPNX8guWffr2vQatbo8-6kglCIse8AOQJ97JsVcNTnENrLvjhxJLCMv_9tKR6TLyN2RahN4F0DvBTuh1-Wq2BlE0_1ZgQZzs/s1600/MusicPaper.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1196" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn5L06nQGNBGek35f6WLHywXiEmlIZfE5b4SydjZPLn8lcPNX8guWffr2vQatbo8-6kglCIse8AOQJ97JsVcNTnENrLvjhxJLCMv_9tKR6TLyN2RahN4F0DvBTuh1-Wq2BlE0_1ZgQZzs/s320/MusicPaper.JPG" width="239" /></a></div>
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<br />
I'm often asked, "What kind of music do you write?"<br />
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My response to this tricky question has not become any easier over the years...<br />
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After an uncomfortably long silence, I scratch my head, and only then do I begin the deliberate and arduous task of searching for the most appropriate words to reply with. Multiple versions of plausible verbal explanations bombard my weary brain with a chorus of anxious narrators who aggressively compete in vain for the attention of my wandering consciousness.<br />
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I say to myself silently, "Ah, THIS question again! How am I to respond?"<br />
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Now, put on the spot for a cogent answer, I carefully assess the context and nature of the innocent inquiry about my music and try to find a quick, honest, and suitable response. I dig deep for potential metaphors, search far-and-wide for appropriate comparisons, and hunt the surface of what I know of the humongous musical lexicon for a musical genre that closely relates to what I actually write (or attempt to write). I almost always fail in this process. As hard as I try, I cannot adaquately answer this simple question.<br />
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It's not that I don't know what kind of music I write, it's that I can't easily explain what it is or what it sounds like in the abstract to a stranger merely using words. Language falls short.<br />
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After I explain that I can't easily describe or label what kind of music I compose, the next question usually is: "Why?"<br />
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Here's why...<br />
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The fundamental reason why I choose to compose music rather that express myself some other way is that music is inherently an abstract medium. Music, broadly speaking, is about sound manipulated in time. It is also presented culturally as a shared aesthetic and a common emotional experience that is communicated between and within individuals and groups - often across time and place.<br />
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That's a broad high-level definition of music, but it doesn't tell you much at all about the individual signatures of its creators. Everyone thinks, speaks, and writes differently. Every voice is unique. Yes, we have our unique influences, hiccups, and biases, but almost by definition the artist as creator marches by a different drummer than everyone else - including other creators. The artist is out in left field trying something different than the pack, sometimes succeeding in what they do and sometimes not. The artist is an outlier. It goes back to the old and useful cliché about the artist as an individualist, a rebel, and nonconformist. What the artist does typically will not fit into neat and orderly categories. It's much more nuanced than that.<br />
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Clearly, a lot of composers will think and work differently than I do. But it's very common to read about new works that derive their genesis or inspiration from various non-musical influences. Literature, poetry, painting, film, nature, mathematical models, physics, and even video games have become oft-publicized examples of musical creation and inspiration. For example, you can see this in program notes and marketing brochures. I don't disagree with anyone's inspiration or motives. I just speak for myself. One should take inspiration from wherever they can find it. It's also important to consider that, as a listener, I find it generally irrelevant that the new piece I'm listening to found this or that inspiration while the composer was watching a sunset on a beach (perhaps while they were in residence at an artist's retreat in Europe, or somewhere else equally idyllic). If what the composer sets out to express comes through and is heard by the attentive listener, it really does not need to be articulated or explained by other means. The mood expressed in the music is not necessarily the mood the composer felt when the work was composed. These are separate and independent events in time.<br />
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For me, music is a self-contained, self-sufficient ecosystem. While I seek and enjoy stimulating ideas (artistic and otherwise) that exist in other realms, organized sound is my simple and happy sandbox. The musical environment is a unique medium that speaks for itself. New works sink or swim according to the rules we impose on the musical sounds we specify and the larger design we create using it.<br />
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My chosen sound world is intentionally abstract. I avoid external associations like the plague. I do not consciously reference text, images, or attempt to replicate processes in the physical world of any kind. Neither do I strive to create socially conscious or political music (although I do my part as a citizen in society). I do not subscribe to any of the countless "isms" floating around in the vast tribal-network of compositional styles and methods. I am not a card-carrying serialist, or spectralist. Nor do I associate myself as a member of the new-romanticism or post-modernist movements. My music is too busy to be labeled minimalist and too simple to fall within the field of new-complexity. The list of what I don't associate with is too large to enumerate.<br />
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I title my works in such a way as to minimize the possibility that a listener might read into the music something that it was never intended to represent in the first place. A title such as, "Three Pieces for Violin and Piano" in my view liberates the listener and frees them up to process ideas that actually may be embodied in the essence of the music - ideas that can be experienced directly and with a minimum of unnecessary distraction. It's about as neutral as you can get.<br />
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Avoiding the extra baggage of external association may be seen by some as an extremely ascetic approach. It's clearly a marketing issue from the perspective of music promoters. How do you sell "Composition IV" to a trend-seeking audience? But to preload expectations and unduly influence the psychological outcome of a perceptual experience I believe would be counterproductive to the primary intention of creating a truly unique musical expression. It could potentially distort and rob music of its ability to surprise. Music is powerful enough, and when done well, does not require a promoter's shoulders to stand on.<br />
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The clearest and most direct way to describe what kind of music I write is to share it. I think my work, if heard, will speak for itself.<br />
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And, although I shun most (if not all) external associations in my music (other composers are free to do as they wish), I do not see myself as living on an island. My music is informed by everything I've heard over the course of a lifetime. I've studied - and in some cases assimilated - elements of jazz, bebop, North Indian classical music, Javanese Gamelan, avant-garde, electronic, and world music from various regions. I once played in a rock band. I've also studied art-music of the European classical tradition and music of it's earlier incantations. All of this mixes together into a grand stew. Hopefully the resulting soup is something new and original, not just a mishmash of unrelated styles.<br />
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As strange as it seems, it is easier to say what my music is not. It is not, for example, Rock-influenced or derived from that of my teachers, friends, colleagues, predecessors, or mentors. In particular, I do not wish to latch onto labels or categories of any kind - even if they stem from a similar aesthetic-ballpark compared to what I do. For example, in this context, "Classical" means absolutely nothing.<br />
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I'm highly suspect of the magnetic draw of artistic schools and trends. They are too convenient, too conforming, and ultimately have a negative impact on the reception of one's work since it tends to impose a colored filter on the expected outcome. The field of music criticism creates labels and by doing so herds an audience into various defined containers.<br />
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The kind of music I write can and will change from piece to piece. Not only will I grow, learn, transform, and evolve over time, but I will likely express different ideas with each work that I create along the way. So, in this sense, each piece is intended to be unique. Often, the interior sound world of some works of music stand-off by themselves. These works reveal themselves as uncharacteristic compared to the others.<br />
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"What kind of music do you write?" is on the surface a very simple question. But, at least for me, I find the answer quite difficult to enumerate.<br />
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Perhaps the reason why I choose to create via organized sound comes down to the fact that there is no other way to express the particular thoughts I muse about using a medium other than the construction of thought via the formation of music.<br />
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*****</div>
Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978950787428621702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887174005230362615.post-29007938924469134712019-02-22T22:08:00.003-05:002019-02-22T22:08:40.927-05:00<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjprHGn1UkdZjS9e0NxD0O8nhZN-LyjUhUBJ-ow4_CdtL3q5522Wa9-k8gbC4x-4no6l3alvOZr0zJ49qsV2ruSXBBYJwquZ3itCBgv50JaSjD8B-rpHiCn-StChbFwbbzxdYquaOBgIkg/s1600/Holzman_Hamburg_2012_crop2_bw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="255" data-original-width="320" height="508" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjprHGn1UkdZjS9e0NxD0O8nhZN-LyjUhUBJ-ow4_CdtL3q5522Wa9-k8gbC4x-4no6l3alvOZr0zJ49qsV2ruSXBBYJwquZ3itCBgv50JaSjD8B-rpHiCn-StChbFwbbzxdYquaOBgIkg/s640/Holzman_Hamburg_2012_crop2_bw.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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David Holzman</div>
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<i>Romanticism still lives!</i></h2>
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The Music Department of Long Island University CW Post presents Grammy Award nominated pianist David Holzman in recital on Tuesday, March 5th, 2019 at 8:15 PM. The concert will be held at The Great Hall of Long Island University, CW Post Center at 720 Northern Boulevard, Brookville, NY. </div>
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A pre-concert lecture by the artist will take place at 7 PM titled, "A Pianist Confronts Hearing Loss and Epilepsy"</div>
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Holzman's performance will feature premiere's by four American composers: John McDonald, William Bland, James Ricci, and Jeffrey Hall as well as classics by Arnold Schoenberg and Frederic Chopin.</div>
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For more information about David Holzman, see <a href="http://battlemuse.com/">battlemuse.com/</a></div>
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<br />Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978950787428621702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887174005230362615.post-63699022456104600522019-02-04T12:03:00.002-05:002019-02-04T12:05:26.686-05:00<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1d2129; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">This is a nice live recording of a short woodwind quintet that I composed in 2004. The performance was on May 11th, 2007 by The Solar Winds.</span><br />
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<iframe allow="autoplay" frameborder="no" height="300" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/569994609&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe><br />Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978950787428621702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887174005230362615.post-59120603582127340632018-07-15T16:23:00.002-04:002018-07-15T16:49:11.602-04:00A Golden Age of New Music?<div dir="auto" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; border-bottom-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-image-outset: 0; border-image-repeat: stretch; border-image-slice: 100%; border-image-source: none; border-image-width: 1; border-left-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13.33px; font-stretch: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; outline-color: transparent; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px; overflow: visible; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; width: 1037px; word-spacing: 0px;">
Luckily we don't often consider that we are fragile biological creatures situated on a small blue planet hurling at breakneck speed through a vast universe. We tend to go about the daily activities of life living in the moment without constantly observing larger patterns that can stretch across a lifetime. Neither do we think persistently about the occasional and subtle patterns that may emerge from a drone of background noise therein. But on occasion we become acutely aware that our world has changed in a significant way. I've observed that the gradual evolution of cultural norms present throughout our lives is punctuated on occasion by more explosive events that at times can purposely dislodge and unroot our pre-existing systems of aesthetics and stale ideas. </div>
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I've lived through at least one such transformation of musical aesthetics, and that was in the late 1960s and into the early 70s. At the time radical change seemed quite expected (although a little crazy), but in retrospect the paradigm shift was a true and valid reflection of the era. </div>
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I can only imagine what it must have been like to have been present through other significant artistic movements throughout the course of history. Perhaps the inhabitants of those intermittent zeitgeists experienced a similar sense of loss, excitement, and/or confusion as what we have seen in more recent times. </div>
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In the end, you can only adequately judge and evaluate change from what came before and what will actually occur after. Living in the moment doesn't provide a comprehensive-enough mental map for the long journey - which in practice can take a lifetime to traverse (albeit, in the 20th and 21st centuries, cultural-disruptions have occurred at a higher rate of frequency).</div>
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I'm still quite unclear about where the current culture and business of "new classical" music may be headed (excuse the imprecision of my terminology, but the explosion of genres and sub-genres has made terms such as "new classical" virtually useless). I've tried to speculate about where the road leads, but I am not in a position to see through the trees to a clear path of the future. I also doubt that there is one path, one solution, or a predominant "ism" to subscribe to. As a humble lone-practitioner, I simply (and perhaps naïvely) choose to compose music that interests me; what I want to hear: and to some extent what I have not heard enough of in the biosphere of our current new music discourse. </div>
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But if we step back and look at the large forces at play - the activities of music creation (be it live performance or recorded), the present time is notable for its creative energy and unrelenting intensity.</div>
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As a composer, I obviously have my personal biases and may not be qualified as an objective observer of all music composed today. I honestly can't judge it, or make proclamations - one way or another - about its relative value or non-value. I'm too busy as a composer simply "doing my thing" to take on such a socially complicated and politically-fraught assignment.</div>
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<br style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; border-bottom-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-image-outset: 0; border-image-repeat: stretch; border-image-slice: 100%; border-image-source: none; border-image-width: 1; border-left-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13.33px; font-stretch: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: normal; outline-color: transparent; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px; overflow: visible; width: auto;" /></div>
<div dir="auto" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; border-bottom-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-image-outset: 0; border-image-repeat: stretch; border-image-slice: 100%; border-image-source: none; border-image-width: 1; border-left-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13.33px; font-stretch: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; outline-color: transparent; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px; overflow: visible; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; width: 1037px; word-spacing: 0px;">
But one thing is for sure. New music as a creative endeavor in our modern world is <u style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; border-bottom-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-image-outset: 0; border-image-repeat: stretch; border-image-slice: 100%; border-image-source: none; border-image-width: 1; border-left-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13.33px; font-stretch: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: normal; outline-color: transparent; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px; overflow: visible; width: auto;">not</u> dead. In fact, if we just look at the activities that comprise and define the business of new music, we could conclude that we live in a "Golden Age" relative to the recent past. In my lifetime I have not seen such a high level of ability, dedication, and talent as we have as we have today. This situation appears to be true pretty much everywhere in the world. The number and quality of both mainstream and new music specialist musicians has exploded beyond the point where I can track or keep count. There are literally so many young virtuosic performers, ensembles, and orchestras dedicated to new music active today that I can't list, catalogue, or name a majority of them. I hesitate to highlight even a few of today's superstars, since I would undoubtedly overlook someone, or some well-deserved music ensemble or organization in the process.</div>
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<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; border-bottom-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-image-outset: 0; border-image-repeat: stretch; border-image-slice: 100%; border-image-source: none; border-image-width: 1; border-left-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13.33px; font-stretch: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; outline-color: transparent; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px; overflow: visible; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; width: 1037px; word-spacing: 0px;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoDxbpCdR0Nq5RgDltttcOxku3W4netUHi_X3i6HBZACvUXmy57KU_nQRfwoub6hOzg-b5yJSEGAjDbkoJ7YLTwTWvOGVJ7RlOjG2NO8ywDBdSb45ZoYk7pSxr353RDo3eugHXJCkpM8M/s1600/Contemporary+Music+Directory.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a>In 1975 the American Music Center published <u style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; border-bottom-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-image-outset: 0; border-image-repeat: stretch; border-image-slice: 100%; border-image-source: none; border-image-width: 1; border-left-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13.33px; font-stretch: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; line-height: normal; outline-color: transparent; outline-style: none; outline-width: 0px; overflow: visible; width: auto;">The Contemporary Music Performance Directory</u>. For the time it was a milestone work. It brought together in one place all of the resources related to new music performance in the United States. It listed the major performing ensembles, sponsoring organizations, performing facilities, concert series, and festivals that featured 20th century music in North America along with information about how to contact them. It was all-in-one paper-bound black book, and it contained just about everything a composer could need in 1975. It was a go-to Bible of sorts.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoDxbpCdR0Nq5RgDltttcOxku3W4netUHi_X3i6HBZACvUXmy57KU_nQRfwoub6hOzg-b5yJSEGAjDbkoJ7YLTwTWvOGVJ7RlOjG2NO8ywDBdSb45ZoYk7pSxr353RDo3eugHXJCkpM8M/s1600/Contemporary+Music+Directory.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: #0066cc; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-left: 16px; margin-right: 16px; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration: underline; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1196" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoDxbpCdR0Nq5RgDltttcOxku3W4netUHi_X3i6HBZACvUXmy57KU_nQRfwoub6hOzg-b5yJSEGAjDbkoJ7YLTwTWvOGVJ7RlOjG2NO8ywDBdSb45ZoYk7pSxr353RDo3eugHXJCkpM8M/s320/Contemporary+Music+Directory.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="239" /></a></div>
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If we jump ahead 43 years in time and compare what was the status quo in 1975 against what our current performance environment looks like, the contrast is stunning.</div>
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I doubt that a comprehensive, up-to-date printed directory of new music performance could be compiled today given the sheer volume of information and veracity of change. From what I see on the Internet and in social networking, new music specialist performers, concerts, events, festivals, and venues have multiplied and flourished well beyond what anyone can easily keep track of. It's a musical "Embarrassment of Riches." And what I see online and in the field is only the tip of the iceberg.</div>
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It's true that our conservatories and universities have supported, encouraged, and contributed to the new found wealth of musical exploration in the 21st century. The number of composers graduating worldwide with degrees in music composition every year is in the thousands. That's quite a change from the 1950s, 60s, or 70s. The number of performers either interested in (or completed dedicated to) new music has also flourished under the auspices of higher education. They've done (and continue to do) their part. </div>
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And while first and second-tier orchestras have perhaps fallen a bit behind with their overall support of new music, I see many more contemporary works scheduled on mainstream programs that I ever have observed in the past.</div>
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Even opera - perhaps the most expensive and extravagant forms of performance art - has come a long way over the past decades. Not only are the complex and difficult operatic productions of the late-20th century routinely performed throughout the world today, new operas are commissioned and produced quite regularly.</div>
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While I've never met a composer who feels they receive too many commissions or too many performances, there are now quite a number who can make a decent living working in their chosen profession. It's no longer a foregone fact that a piece of music will rarely if ever be performed again after its initial premiere (this had been common practice in years past - even for well-established composers of national and international reputation).</div>
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The number of venues and types of venues has expanded significantly as well. There is now a flavor of new music experience for every taste - from the traditional concert hall to the boutique bar room.</div>
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All in all, as I look around today, the number of talented musicians performing new music (and the high level of their talent, dedication, and musicianship) is simply staggering compared with what I recall from just a few decades ago.</div>
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Efforts to increase audience size and enhance funding (from both public and private sources) will continue, as it always has, in the endless effort to present music to the public. That's a given. </div>
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Overall, the creative new music scene of today (for those who live and work in the industry of new and experimental music) is healthier than it has ever been.<br />
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At least that's how it looks from here.</div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br />Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978950787428621702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887174005230362615.post-3214714450979692882018-05-11T11:19:00.003-04:002018-05-11T11:19:28.925-04:00New work for Violin and Piano:<br />
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<iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GqGUc_YavF8?rel=0" width="560"></iframe><br />Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978950787428621702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887174005230362615.post-55766067314354727542018-04-26T00:44:00.003-04:002018-04-26T00:44:45.000-04:00<br />
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<b>Queens New Music Festival 2018</b><br /><br />Saturday, May 19, 2018, 5pm<span style="font-size: small;"></span></div>
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“a master pianist,” Andrew Porter, The New Yorker<br />
<br />“the Horowitz of modern music,” Jerry Kuderna, The San Francisco Classical Voice</div>
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<b>David Holzman, Piano</b></div>
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General/Student/12 and under: $20.00/$15.00/Free<br /><br />
<a href="https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3385391" rel="noopener" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0px; background-position-y: 0px; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1693a7; text-decoration: none; transition-delay: 0s; transition-duration: 0.1s; transition-property: all; transition-timing-function: cubic-bezier(0.42, 0, 0.58, 1);" target="_blank">Tickets available here</a> or at the door.<br /><br />
<a href="http://www.ram-nyc.org/?post_type=events&p=45994&preview=true" rel="noopener" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0px; background-position-y: 0px; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1693a7; text-decoration: none; transition-delay: 0s; transition-duration: 0.1s; transition-property: all; transition-timing-function: cubic-bezier(0.42, 0, 0.58, 1);" target="_blank">Festival passes available here.</a></div>
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<img alt="" class="wp-image-45984 size-medium" height="233" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" src="https://www.ram-nyc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/6-Holzman4-300x233.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-color: rgb(31, 31, 31); border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-image-outset: 0; border-image-repeat: stretch; border-image-slice: 100%; border-image-source: none; border-image-width: 1; border-left-color: rgb(31, 31, 31); border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-color: rgb(31, 31, 31); border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: rgb(31, 31, 31); border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1f1f1f; height: 233px; max-width: 310px;" width="300" /><br />
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David Holzman</div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1f1f1f; font-size: 13.33px;"><br />Prize-winning pianist and Queens resident David Holzman has received international acclaim for his performances, recordings, and writings. He has recorded eleven cd’s which feature many of the 20th and 21st Century’s greatest keyboard masterpieces. The McDonald, Ricci, Potes and Bland will be released in 2018 and 2019. Holzman has won acclaim for his writings. His cd on the Bridge label featuring music of Stefan Wolpe won awards both for the pianism and the notes. His essay <em style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1f1f1f; font-style: italic;">The Battle of the Senses,</em> which deals with Holzman’s struggles with hearing loss, was just published in Sonus. His upcoming essay <em style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1f1f1f; font-style: italic;">Balancing Act</em> deals with his struggles with epilepsy and the pianistic challenges which arose from medication. More information on David Holzman can be found at www.battlemusic.com</span></div>
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<strong style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1f1f1f; font-weight: 600;">Program</strong></div>
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John McDonald: <em style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1f1f1f; font-style: italic;">Variants on Jim Wilson’s Lanterne Melody, </em><em style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1f1f1f; font-style: italic;">Monet’s Anguish</em>, <em style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1f1f1f; font-style: italic;">You Don’t Love Me</em>, <em style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1f1f1f; font-style: italic;">Forthright Wednesday Poem After Hearing Wolpe’s Palestinian Notebook</em></div>
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<br />Stefan Wolpe: <em style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1f1f1f; font-style: italic;">Waltz for Merle</em></div>
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<b><br />James Ricci: <em style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1f1f1f; font-style: italic;">Waltz</em></b></div>
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<b><br />James Ricci: <em style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1f1f1f; font-style: italic;">Sonata</em> (World premiere)</b></div>
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<br />George Perle: <em style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1f1f1f; font-style: italic;">Lyric Piece </em>with Franklin Verbsky, <em style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1f1f1f; font-style: italic;">in memorium George Perle</em></div>
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<br />Joan Dawidziak: <em style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1f1f1f; font-style: italic;">Summer Song </em>with Joan Dawidziak</div>
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<br />Alba Potes: <em style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1f1f1f; font-style: italic;">El Jardín de tómas</em></div>
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<br />William Bland: <em style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1f1f1f; font-style: italic;">Sonata #17</em> (New York premiere)</div>
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<a href="http://www.ram-nyc.org/events/pianist-david-holzman-with-franklin-verbsky-and-joan-dawidziak/">http://www.ram-nyc.org/events/pianist-david-holzman-with-franklin-verbsky-and-joan-dawidziak/</a><br />
<br />Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978950787428621702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887174005230362615.post-31244052669377767122017-12-22T11:49:00.001-05:002017-12-31T13:52:44.118-05:00New Year's MessageI'm a little early to the party, but I would like to wish everyone a great 2018. You deserve it.
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This has been a challenging year for many of us - on many fronts. Yet on a personal level I have several important things to be grateful for; not the least of which is family, a roof over my head, and relatively good health given my age. This year has also been a productive one for composing. I'm happy with what I've written. It is work that seems to have merit.
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Although it has been a while since my music has been performed in public, it seems that this predicament is the "new normal" for quite a lot of composers. Often years - even decades - can pass without a public realization of one's creative work. <br />
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Over the years I have slowly acquired immunity to the general indifference our culture has to new music. Some of us who take music seriously forge on regardless of the consequences. We don't do our work for practical, political, or economic reasons. We are compelled to write music because we have a basic need to express our innermost private ideas as dynamic, vibrant, sonic images. We strive to create from nothing, something that is new and original - something that both poses and attempts to answer probing questions about the nature of artistic expression.
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Fortunately (after a lifetime of day jobs) I am in a place and phase of life where I am able to compose relatively unabated. I still have most of my marbles (or so I believe). I am also grateful for Social Security.
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As for the practical side of the profession, I've done my due diligence over this past calendar year as well. I have mailed, emailed, and hand-delivered literally hundreds of scores to musical organizations all around the world. I'm not a natural self-promoter, but I do realize that music composition is a highly competitive field. Perhaps, if we throw enough seeds into the wind, one will ultimately take root somewhere, somehow.
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This coming year I plan to spend more time composing and far less time applying for grants, fellowships, and residencies. I have seen too much of my time consumed by administrative efforts that routinely end with flat-out rejection. I've grown too old to continue banging my head against the proverbial brick wall in search of professional accolades or validation from academic circles or the commercial musical establishment. Besides, "competitions are for horses, not artists" as Bartók so famously said.
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I'm not sure how long my current creative streak will last, but I'm continually dreaming of new ways to arrange sounds into interesting patterns that ignite the imagination.
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Looking ahead to 2018, I have reason to be hopeful. My <i>Piano Sonata</i> (2014) may receive a premiere performance by a musician I greatly admire. There is also a possibility that the piece will be recorded and included on a CD along with five other works of my piano music. Stay tuned! This would be (if it happens) my first commercially available recording.
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I'm looking toward the future with open ears, lots of hope, and a sharp pencil.<br />
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<br />Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978950787428621702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887174005230362615.post-77340357715992767492017-11-02T22:23:00.000-04:002017-11-02T22:31:11.422-04:00
New work for String Quartet...<br />
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/V8xeQTcWfwE" frameborder="0" gesture="media" allowfullscreen></iframe>Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978950787428621702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887174005230362615.post-88043670335368819442017-05-30T12:10:00.002-04:002017-05-30T12:10:53.045-04:00<b>New piece for Brass Quintet...</b>
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="450" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/325205829&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe>Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978950787428621702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887174005230362615.post-35805022216253815052017-05-23T14:20:00.003-04:002017-05-23T14:23:07.249-04:00Constructed Languages <span style="font-size: medium;">Today I'm pondering the universe of constructed languages (or "conlang"). I'm thinking about artificial and experimental languages created purely for the purpose of artistic expression - particularly in the context musical composition and performance. I don't mean to detract from a global effort to protect the thousands of endangered languages that struggle for survival on our planet. <span style="color: black;">Linguists estimate that at least 3k of our remaining 7k spoken languages will disappear in the next century alone. It's a mass-extinction occurring before our eyes. But </span>imaginary languages have been and are being constructed anew and can add diversity to the modern linguistic jungle.<br /><br />While Klingon (Star Trek), Na'vi (Avatar), Cirquish </span><span style="color: black; font-size: medium;">(</span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Cirque du Soleil), Newspeak (Orwell's 1984), or the Simpson's inspired post-apocalyptic gobbledygook in Anne Washburn's "</span><span style="font-size: medium;">Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play"<i> </i>emphasize the cultural issues of communication, I'm drawn more to the innate timbre, texture, and rhythm of spoken sound regardless of the meaning its language attempts to convey. Meaning and language are not necessarily joined at the hip. Steven Pinker for one has postulated that ideas and language exist quite independently from one another.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A large body of contemporary vocal music has exploited the human voice for its sonic effect and has treated its sound rather abstractly. This music often minimizes (or even annihilates) the contextual meaning of the text (if any) and goes directly for the auditory and emotional jugular. It allows for an auditory experience free of the constraints of linguistic meaning.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Luciano Berio's "Sequenza III" for solo voice (1965) is an example that leans heavily in this direction. The majority of the vocal sounds composed in Sequenza III are mutterings which evoke a wide range of basic emotional states - some of which are akin to "baby talk." The text (a mere three lines by Markus Kutter) is greatly obfuscated and treated as a found-object, subjected to permutation, transformation, and processing not unlike deconstruction of sampled vocalisms in today's electronic music.<br /><br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DGovCafPQAE" width="560"></iframe></span><span style="color: black; font-size: medium;"><br /><br /><br />Milton Babbitt's "</span><span style="color: black; font-size: medium;">Phonemena"</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> for soprano and tape (1969) is unique. Babbitt </span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">bases his invented language on sounds sourced from the notations and tables carefully compiled in the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet). The result is stunning. It sounds syntactically correct, even though any semblance of linguistic meaning is utterly elusive. I could imagine intelligent alien life communicating according to its serial patterns and algorithms.<br /><br /><br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/g6DDVr5ItFI" width="560"></iframe><br /><br /><br /><br />John Cage's "Aria" (1958) also verges on a new language. While it borrows words from Armenian, Russian, Italian, French, and English (almost as a distant memory), most of the text is sourced from isolated vowels and consonants. Not only is the music invented from scratch, so is the text.<br /><br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Y3tbdHbqUsQ" width="560"></iframe></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: black; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: black; font-size: medium;"><br /><br />Contemporary musicians and composers have been working at the forefront of language creation - knowingly or not. It's a conceptual activity that is at the very core of both musical creation and vocal communications. There very well could be a common link between the creation of human language and the creation of a new kind of music.</span><b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike></div>
Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978950787428621702noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887174005230362615.post-33178766935423899292017-02-24T21:20:00.000-05:002017-02-24T21:20:03.498-05:00<br />
<br />
<br />
Here is a new digital realization of my orchestra work "Tone Poem" (2003).<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VFvi2NcfEW8" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />
Hope you enjoy it!<br />
<br />
-James RicciJimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978950787428621702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887174005230362615.post-49773947400541938322015-07-31T14:44:00.001-04:002015-08-01T00:18:40.351-04:00The Final Frontier<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh48Bj29bpWEgkhbE8AT7z_jdtPj8dZhEclIMtgaiNOPQgTUpgf68LwB7h5UaaZ2RYllYCqp9dnUkUROvwc5N1-iAgzOUbIQMdceKnMGSSz2Qp46NBQYZj_0d0Cc6p7TuBINHC6_XAbZF0/s1600/LOC-04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh48Bj29bpWEgkhbE8AT7z_jdtPj8dZhEclIMtgaiNOPQgTUpgf68LwB7h5UaaZ2RYllYCqp9dnUkUROvwc5N1-iAgzOUbIQMdceKnMGSSz2Qp46NBQYZj_0d0Cc6p7TuBINHC6_XAbZF0/s320/LOC-04.jpg" width="239"></a></div>
<div>
<br>
<br>
Earlier this week I spent a day in the comfortable surroundings of the Library of Congress Music Division reading room pouring over dozens of letters written between composers that I either know personally or have known in the past. The sample of hand-written and carbon-copied typed communications I accessed were revealing, sometimes technical, occasionally touching, and quite often profound. From a perspective of an eagle's eye looking down, the totality of the LOC collection certainly sheds light upon the far-reaching scope of the inter-connectedness of working composers, the intricate network of their professional and personal associations, and a consistent theme of mutual support seemingly directed towards achieving an elusive yet shared collective objective.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
I still have flashbacks of my four decades of living in Boston, and the dynamic network of established composers and their aspiring students who resided there. But, as we know all too well, the passage of time degrades and erodes the institutional memory of the collective consciousness. The totality of these connections has shifted and evolved, especially when we consider that the subject at hand is "new" music. Today it is a different cultural and musical space than it once was given how many composers have regrettably left the stage.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
I recently compiled a list of Boston-area composers that I knew personally or professionally who have passed away. The list of names totaled 33. Sadly, and for the most part, their music is rarely performed today - if at all. As Milton Babbitt once quipped (I paraphrase), "...the worst thing you can be is a dead American composer."<br>
<br>
It is my hope that in the future when alien cultural anthropologists travel to earth and study our civilization, that the little green musicologists among them will decipher the LOC Music Division special collections and find a glimmer of hope in the vast body of hard and soft information about American composers so meticulously housed and cared for by that noble institution. They will learn that human composers (particularly from Boston) were not merely obsessed eccentrics working in relative isolation composing music that few of their species could or would understand. These highly intelligent alien researchers will follow the myriad pathways of learning, compassionate sharing of ideas, and the new and radical models of musical hearing that extended out well beyond the printed score and audio recordings of the work they left behind. They will realize (and perhaps comprehend better than us) that beneath the paper trail of a small and elite group of deceased Boston-area composers from the late 20th and early 21st centuries are tangible indications that they did their best to advance and extend the definition of concert music far beyond the status quo of their time.<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/guide/spcmus.html">http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/guide/spcmus.html</a></div>
Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978950787428621702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887174005230362615.post-10018770969949506192015-05-24T21:35:00.000-04:002015-05-24T21:48:09.179-04:00David Holzman at Spectrum<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrl1LUpjkK2MXxDxCV-PP-bqqj5e11CAYZ6NJLnrUO2D0jRQSKBr0Bli7Vd4lqH-h8iWPAWbfqZdm7JvNUUHQbyX307VIaMGwx0vjt42KzUVxvAbudj1q-SFQdlHwPumCEqdNSIarOg30/s1600/DavidHolzman_pianist.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrl1LUpjkK2MXxDxCV-PP-bqqj5e11CAYZ6NJLnrUO2D0jRQSKBr0Bli7Vd4lqH-h8iWPAWbfqZdm7JvNUUHQbyX307VIaMGwx0vjt42KzUVxvAbudj1q-SFQdlHwPumCEqdNSIarOg30/s1600/DavidHolzman_pianist.jpg" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Grammy nominated pianist: <br /><strong>David Holzman</strong></span> <br />
(<a href="http://www.battlemuse.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #1155cc;">www.battlemuse.com</span></a>)</div>
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</div>
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<strong><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;">Sunday June 7th, 2015</span> </span></strong></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJSfOZrjHg397C3AwayJ3ONh_68mTwSI6wX4II3jSv3wYag2_hOBIVGZZiofOnpLUzkADBqVMg-bL6PKVkjejubeuSmNqaeSOe8u43NJP62SxCzKRImVFlSUa6mtcOUzWPimr9kqCxe-4/s1600/Spectrum+-+4.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJSfOZrjHg397C3AwayJ3ONh_68mTwSI6wX4II3jSv3wYag2_hOBIVGZZiofOnpLUzkADBqVMg-bL6PKVkjejubeuSmNqaeSOe8u43NJP62SxCzKRImVFlSUa6mtcOUzWPimr9kqCxe-4/s200/Spectrum+-+4.png" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"><strong>3 PM<br /></strong><strong>Spectrum</strong></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><strong> 121 Ludlow</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"> New York City<br /></span></span></strong><a href="http://spectrumnyc.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #1155cc;">http://spectrumnyc.com</span></a></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span> </div>
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<blockquote style="margin-right: 0px;">
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<span style="color: blue;">Piano Sonata </span><span style="color: blue;"><wbr></wbr> Aaron Copland </span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"> Intermezzo (<em>premiere</em>) James Ricci </span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"> Five Pieces for Piano Roger Sessions </span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"> </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjppBDToiTPGqcSDwXSFFOw16z5H0k5BqF7Fj8lFLAkoNuLeXxcots16gtFQcKy4lvxkh2Tf1nM7gDzF7UxzCiHv9TOK5F9R-4bk7rxRgvESrpLGCcwtpvbOsWXYpZ7r_4AI40VIB803Ms/s1600/Sessions+5+Pieces+-+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="96" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjppBDToiTPGqcSDwXSFFOw16z5H0k5BqF7Fj8lFLAkoNuLeXxcots16gtFQcKy4lvxkh2Tf1nM7gDzF7UxzCiHv9TOK5F9R-4bk7rxRgvESrpLGCcwtpvbOsWXYpZ7r_4AI40VIB803Ms/s320/Sessions+5+Pieces+-+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"> </span><span style="color: blue;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"> </span></div>
</blockquote>
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<br />
<blockquote style="margin-right: 0px;">
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<span style="color: blue;">Love Song of Two Pigeons Ursula Mamlok </span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"> 2000 Notes </span><span style="color: blue;"><wbr></wbr> Ursula Mamlok </span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">By the Water's Edge </span><span style="color: blue;">Arth<wbr></wbr>ur Kreiger </span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">Passacaglia </span><span style="color: blue;"><wbr></wbr> Stefan Wolpe </span></div>
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*** </div>
<blockquote style="margin-right: 0px;">
<span style="color: blue;"> </span></blockquote>
Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978950787428621702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887174005230362615.post-55771196694490466372015-04-08T16:53:00.001-04:002015-04-08T17:30:20.207-04:00How do you measure success?<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">If one were
to only consider the metrics of presenting and producing an event of contemporary
music in the current cultural climate, one would think that the number of warm
bodies in the audience is the most important measurement to review.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Make no mistake, audience turnout is a factor,
the reception of the performers important, and revenue from ticket sales
ideally should be at least adequate enough to cover basic expenses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But there is much more to think about,
including our own personal integrity as artists.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I would like
to express a less held opinion about what makes a great new music event.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Metrics does not tell the whole story, at
least in the arts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of the most
memorable (and culturally significant) concerts I’ve attended over the decades
were not necessarily crowd-pleasers or standing-room only events.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Success in the arts is not always measured by
outcomes expressed numerically.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It seems to
me that a number of arts organizations today have given in too easily to the cult
of metrics as a measurement of performance, opting for quantitative rather than
qualitative analysis. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While new music ensembles
are searching for new works that draw in the crowds, I have grown quite
disappointed in the quality of some of the music presented in recent years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And while this is admittedly a subjective
opinion coming from someone who happens to be an opinionated and biased composer,
I’d like to objectify my views here if possible.<br />
<br />
Here are just two examples of bothersome trends that have emerged…</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; tab-stops: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1) There is an annoying tendency to make
new classical music palatable and hip by bashing the tradition it evolved out
of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The trend has become so pervasive
that both talent and arts organizations have gone to the extreme of rejecting
their own product (and core values) as toxic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A case in point is that some ensembles are now leaning toward
exclusively performing music drawn from the traditions of folk, rock, pop, jazz
and world-music. This method of approach is typical of an overall populist
movement aimed at diminishing the rich tradition and history of European classical
music in exchange for a quick and transitory nod of approval from the general
public. Not only is this a tactic that will not work in the long term, it’s
simply a mistake to think it will become a viable trend for music ensembles and
orchestras that have a core repertory and history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Vernacular and folk music can stand on its
own, and it always has.<br />
<br />
2) Another silly fad that humors me is the notion that whatever comes from New
York City is representative of the pinnacle of arts and culture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Speaking as a former New Yorker, this is
simply a myth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, I’ve discovered
there is much talent in the local community, and it is too often over-looked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Frankly, as someone who has attended concert
venues all over the world in major cities and local villages, I find that locally-grown
vegetables and talent is usually the most nourishing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The risk is that smaller communities have an
inclination to be self-conscious and provincial, and as a result over-compensate
by importing “big name” talent in the hopes of feeling world-class.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would hope that most communities harbor a
sophisticated audience and that they can be trusted to make a distinction
between what is simply new and interesting versus what arts-administrators and curators
tell them they should like.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t care
for the recommendations of self-appointed, self-proclaimed, professional cultural-filters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I prefer my arts raw and uncooked.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In general I
find myself becoming more dissatisfied with the quality of the product itself at
new music concerts – not the idea of a new music event <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">per se</i> - but dissatisfaction with pieces that seem to be simplistic
and shallow compositionally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Increasingly
I come away with an impression that most of the works are similar - utilizing
the same palette of pretty sounds and toe-tapping rhythms rather than an emphasis
on the more abstract attributes of structure, form, pitch-organization, and
fresh ideas.<br />
<br />
An example of what I would call a success story is exemplified by a number of seasons
recently etched into the noble history of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the first years in which James Levine was
BSO Music Director (starting in 2005), he commissioned works that may have caused
heartburn for a few BSO’s artistic administrators.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His commissions included challenging but
important works by “modernist” composers Elliott Carter, Charles Wuorinen, and Milton
Babbitt, just to name a few.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Levine also
explored the rich repertory of 20<sup>th</sup> century works heard less often
today, such as a concert version of Schoenberg’s 12-tone opera <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Moses und Aron</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His programming was adventurous and courageous,
while at the same time unabashedly challenging for audiences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet, his legacy with the BSO and the history
that was made during Levine’s tenure is unquestionable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The music he selected wasn’t always popular,
but audiences bought tickets, came to Symphony Hall, and they listened.<br />
<br />
Another example of an artistic success story stems from the period 1971-77 when
Pierre Boulez was Music Director of the New York Philharmonic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is hard to describe the excitement his presence
brought to the cultural life of NYC during those years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I witnessed it firsthand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not only did he challenge his audiences, but he
angered and alienated the old-guard establishment – including the classical
music critics of the NY Times (e.g. Harold C. Schoenberg).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet, Boulez forged ahead with an intensity and
conviction about his art that we seldom observe today. His impressive legacy
with the NY Philharmonic is something that will live on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Time has proved him right, and any misgivings
about his programming, empty seats in Philharmonic Hall, or bad concert reviews
that occurred during his tenure are now but a mere footnote in history. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">There is
good news.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Without a doubt, the level of
musicianship and performance in the musical field today has skyrocketed over
the past decades – both qualitatively and quantitatively.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Performance standards have improved
significantly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But with more options for
the public there is also more competition for the ears, hearts, and minds of
intelligent listeners (not to mention their credit cards).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Challenges will always exist, as will niche
markets. Contemporary classical concert music is not for everybody, and this fundamental
fact should be understood and acknowledged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It comes with the territory.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In the
perfect world we should reach for, and aspire to, music that is much more than
a quick sensory fix and a frivolous night out on the town.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New music is rich and broad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It reaches out to encompass the unique assortment
of standard instrumental ensembles that evolved from a long-standing tradition
of classical music.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Symphony orchestras
and string quartets don’t need to be reinvented.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They already exist.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I don’t think
that tradition deserves to be “trashed” in order to recreate something new and
original simply to entice the vaporous interest of a transitory and evolving
audience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nurturing the long-established
musical communities and traditions that already exist is not only the best, but
only prescription for sustained, long-term growth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you can’t beat the establishment, join
them.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">If you program,
create, and perform great, challenging new music; people will come to hear it. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You may not sell-out the house, or even
break-even, but your dedicated fans will follow your journey and hang in there with
you for the long-haul.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you desire
mega-audiences worthy of rock-stars or the fame that’s often associated with it,
it’s unlikely to occur in this remote outpost of the business.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Follow the genre of music that you really
love the most and in time an audience will find you and truly appreciate what
you do and how you do it.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Integrity. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s that simple.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In summary:</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It may sound
counter-intuitive, but the prescription for artistic success and sustained,
long-term growth in the field of contemporary classical concert music is to embrace
the “core values” of the past, not “trash” them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Long-standing traditions of classical music have worked for generations and
continue to provide context for consumers in search of meaningful experiences
in the digital age.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What makes contemporary
music attractive is its complexity, the challenges it places on musicians and audiences,
and the fact that every listener is asked to invest themselves in the process of
understanding the work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New music should
be: rich, experimental, confrontational.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Success is this field should not simply be measured by the number of
filled seats, but by the impact that music has on the continuous evolution of
our culture.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978950787428621702noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887174005230362615.post-64424750481121351002014-12-16T10:44:00.001-05:002014-12-16T10:44:17.206-05:00Contrapunctus I by J.S. Bach<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong><span style="font-size: large;"><em>Contrapunctus I</em> by J.S. Bach</span></strong><br />
<strong></strong><br />
<strong>from </strong><br />
<strong></strong><br />
<strong>Art of the Fugue, BWV 1080 </strong></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong></strong> </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong></strong> </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/j0tl-JAM_Qc" width="420"></iframe>
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Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978950787428621702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887174005230362615.post-87450633187525376782014-06-27T11:28:00.000-04:002014-06-27T11:29:49.466-04:00A new work for bass clarinet...
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Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978950787428621702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887174005230362615.post-33295629149468259792013-10-09T10:57:00.001-04:002013-10-09T11:18:23.974-04:00Bye Bye Boston<span lang="EN">I was born in NYC, but Boston MA has been my long-term temporary residence since 1973. For just over 40 years I have walked the winding cow paths of this great city, but will soon be saying goodbye.<br />
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<span lang="EN"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQkA4YyRAgIvLIZUCyM9fi_NVlurYcUpUAylWjXwqnGHlu2yg5LNgFYPLyZJPUoc6jqyb9mU3z_mW_uyfv4CVuvp6VO7ZEDaLvviZbYxGTtQbWiJ0kZM1TbtLydCXgwgWxVSKaV_usxLU/s1600/Boston.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQkA4YyRAgIvLIZUCyM9fi_NVlurYcUpUAylWjXwqnGHlu2yg5LNgFYPLyZJPUoc6jqyb9mU3z_mW_uyfv4CVuvp6VO7ZEDaLvviZbYxGTtQbWiJ0kZM1TbtLydCXgwgWxVSKaV_usxLU/s320/Boston.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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When I arrived in town things were different: Window panes would randomly pop off of the newly constructed John Hancock Tower and shatter on the street below, a ride on the “T” cost only a quarter, and the local baseball team suffered under the “Curse of the Bambino.”<br />
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But an abundance of wealth in the cultural scene is undeniable. My Boston’s “Then and There” included the “Here and Now” new music series at the MFA, rush tickets to weekly Boston Symphony concerts (which often included world premieres that were broadcast by WGBH’s “Evening at Symphony” on TV), and a community of musicians and composers that were (and still are) by any standard a world-class act.<br />
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I’ve resided in the Fens, Cambridge, Jamaica Plain, the North End, Brookline, Allston-Brighton, Somerville, and (since 1990) Arlington. I’ve found the entire Boston-metro area to be densely populated with people of exceptional talent. I’ve been fortunate to have met and worked with so many amazing and gifted musicians who have made this remote outpost of New York City their home.<br />
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Although I matriculated at Berklee, New England Conservatory, and Brandeis, the city itself and its numerous universities and conservatories served as my collective open classroom and musical sandbox. Over the decades I attended concerts and experienced world premieres numbering in the thousands - a few of which have included my own work. (I’ve actually saved every printed concert program for concerts that I attended since 1973, and the collection would fill a dumpster). <br />
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The names and faces of the musicians whom comprise the BSO has refreshed - at least once - as has the orchestra’s roster of famous and infamous music directors. For me, it’s hard to imagine not living in a city with an institution like the BSO or without all of the fine chamber ensembles and new music groups that have made this place their base: BMOP, Dinosaur Annex, BMV, Collage New Music Ensemble - just to name a very few.<br />
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Over my years I’ve supported myself with various forms of employment; some of which have been at Boston institutions that no longer exist: Briggs & Briggs, Brigham’s, and Scudder. I also worked as a car salesman, a night watchman, as a bagger in a supermarket, a Professor, and at a fish processing plant in Gloucester. It’s been quite an extended layover.<br />
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And while so many of my great friends, teachers, and colleagues have sadly departed the stage before the last time, much still happens in this energy-charged venue of a city. It’s a place with options and choices abound. One can never grow bored in Boston since there is just too much to do, more restaurants than you could ever visit, and Classical and Early music up the wazoo.<br />
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The city has an old-world charm and European feel. Yet, at the same time it fosters a parochial community where everyone knows what everyone had for breakfast [fyi, I had instant oatmeal today]. Boston-area weather is full of surprises. You can have a mega-storm on April Fool’s Day.<br />
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My bags are packed. The car has a full tank of gas. It’s almost time to go. Willemien and I will start our migration down South. We will drive to our new home and begin the next phase of our lives.<br />
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Goodbye Boston! It’s been a great place to hangout for 40 years. We will miss you.<br /></span><br />Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978950787428621702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887174005230362615.post-31351176943938150182012-11-05T14:51:00.003-05:002012-11-05T19:01:49.247-05:00Finger Painting<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The notion that music is a uniquely multidimensional art-form revealed itself to me rather early in life. Mrs. Biller, my first grade teacher at Springhurst Elementary School in suburban New York, was an accidental catalyst that brought this heady issue to my attention over a half century ago.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I have no lost love for Mrs. Biller. I flunked her class and had to repeat first grade again. She was a nervous, rigid, and inexperienced public school teacher who didn’t know how to deal with kids that were outside of the box. But unknowingly she presented me with an intellectual challenge that I’m still grappling with today. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">It’s not a simple matter if you think about it. The issue broaches root-concepts such as time, space, multiple dimensions, and the essence of reality itself – all heavy stuff for a first-grader who could barely tie the shoe laces on his filthy Converse sneakers.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Mrs. Biller laid out a large, coarse sheet of white construction paper on each student’s desk. Her class was instructed to put on smocks and open a collection of finger paint jars before us. When everyone was ready, Mrs. Biller walked over to the phonograph, picked up a record album, took the LP out of its sleeve, and carefully placed the shiny black vinyl disk on the turntable. She did not announce what was about to play.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">“Now class, listen to the music and paint what you hear.” Mrs. Biller nervously dropped the needle somewhere near the beginning of the first track on the album and music began to pour out of its tiny internal speaker. We heard the sound of a symphony orchestra, scratchy and without much bass, but it was the recording of an orchestra nonetheless.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">First graders usually go with the flow. Nobody questioned who the composer or conductor was, or which orchestra was performing it. In retrospect, it was most likely the first movement of a Beethoven Symphony – something with a discernible pulse as I recall. I don’t think Mrs. Biller cared one iota about the music. She most likely selected the composition randomly and thought that “classical music” was beneficial for our developing little brains (a notion that educators maintain to this day). For her this was an experiment of sorts or a way to preoccupy her adorable students for a few minutes with an activity other than pelting spitballs at each other projected through drinking straws.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The music that blared from the phonograph was really inspiring, intense, quite beautiful, and full of emotion. It penetrated my soul. My colleagues around me were already hard at work sticking their fingers into paint jars and (more or less) randomly slopping large globs of paint onto the virgin pages of pristine paper sitting before them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I paused to listen, and to think.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">How should I attack this problem: “to paint what you hear?” I knew that this was going to be a very subjective exercise. I hoped that whatever artistic “solution” I choose was not going to be meticulously scrutinized or end up jeopardizing my forthcoming academic career. Given the limited number of options available within the medium of finger-paint; I didn’t fear that I would fail the exam, but I was also a bit timid, concerned, and hesitant about the prospects of a promising outcome nonetheless.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">However, this hands-on exercise did force me to confront (on some level) a key issue about how ideas are communicated by their particular medium, and how music is distinctly different than visual arts (and vice versa).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">As I listened I could hear the raw elements of musical sound before me: pitch, rhythm, tone color, dynamics, and their multilayered, entwined, and interlaced internal dance over the course of musical time. It’s a complex pattern and the brain has to work at full utilization to keep up with the rapid-fire, real-time unfolding of auditory signals. Music is complex and multi-dimensional, if nothing else.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Finger painting on the other hand is a bit more limited. Visual art (and photography) is not prone or designed to represent the flow of ideas intuitively across a designated span of time. It generally captures snapshots of an event, and freezes a single image into a momentary, static memory. The continuum of organized sound on the other hand relies on time to make its case. Other than the example of a musical score which mechanically represents musical information in arcane symbols and instructions to be realized at a later stage, in performance the flow of time is a non-negotiable prerequisite for musical communication. How could one possibly paint a complex musical work on a static page of paper using nothing but your fingers? What’s a first-grader to do?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Listening to what was probably a Beethoven symphony, I knew intuitively that the composer was speaking a different language. The composers’ composition evolved in a logical progression of musical phrases, ideas, and form. All of these interdependent musical elements are at the core of its discourse. I immediately realized that ideas of this magnitude would not easily translate into a primitive finger painting limited to just two dimensions on the single piece of paper.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The complexity of Mrs. Biller’s assignment didn’t faze my fellow classmates. They were already hard at work on their mini-masterworks, busy moving their little arms back and forth according to the musical ictus, and enjoying every moment. As the music got louder, they would mash the paint deeper into the page. Growing bored, they would reach for more water colors to add into the mix, subconsciously searching for visual analogs to represent strings, winds, brass, and percussion. It seemed that their earnest fingers attempted to find true expression in Beethoven’s magical notes, but failed in vain.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I sat alone, staring at the empty page of paper in front of me. The jars of finger paint on my miniature desk beckoned for attention. Out of the corner of her eye Mrs. Biller noticed my hesitation. She smiled in her uniquely annoying way and sternly encouraged me to dive in… “Go ahead Jimmy, it’s not so difficult.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Looking for a way out, I scanned around the room for encouragement, helpful hints, or a creative solution that I could potentially borrow or outright steal from a fellow classmate.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">By now Beethoven’s music was getting more intense. It was still early in the symphonic work, and the movement had not yet reached its development section. Yet, by now all of my classmates had literally covered their pages with thick amounts of paint. Not only was their artwork generously coated, but the different colors of their paint had thoroughly mixed and their pages were quickly transforming into similar shades of United Parcel Service brown. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Mrs. Biller didn’t seem to notice. While the narrative discourse of the music was clearly far from complete, most of the artwork was over-done. The increasingly earthly tones of my classmate’s creations indicated the broad stroke marks of their busy little fingers. Their movements were now occurring with one large hand gesture at a time. Each successive wave of their hand over-wrote the preceding image that previously existed on the page.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Their visual solution did not appeal to me, nor did it represent the music as I heard it in any way. I felt that they were all headed down the wrong path - effectively turning Beethoven’s amazing symphony into mud. All I remember about their finished work is that everyone else in the class came to the same collective result. Miraculously, they arrived at similar variations of the same artwork – “Brown on Brown.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">With an informed feeling from the musical form that the music would continue on, I took my time to think about the sounds, the possibilities of visual expression, and considered an array of images that seemed to express similar feelings as the music. I began creating something with bright colors that was totally abstract, and which seemed entirely appropriate to the situation at hand.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Mrs. Biller was in a quagmire. She could either turn off the music before the movement had ended, or let her students continue to make a mess with brown paint. She decided to let them make a mess and post the results on the bulletin board after the thick crusty brown paint had dried.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">In the end I enjoyed listening to the music. I also enjoyed creating a finger painting that was loosely “inspired” by the music. I did not attempt to record, translate, or notate sounds in a visual or graphical way since that would result in what seemed to be an inherently flawed exercise that would never come to fruition. But I did return home after school that day with a better understanding of the differences between music and visual art. These differences are quite profound, and they at the heart of human perception, art, and our interpretation of reality.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">On that day I found music to be the more complex of the two art forms. Music contains mysteries that even a first grader will marvel at, if you are wise enough to leave them to their own devices.</span><br />
<br />Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978950787428621702noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887174005230362615.post-19365820907770871192012-09-23T13:00:00.000-04:002012-09-23T13:25:36.200-04:00Serenade Edaneres<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzh6uKvyvFHsMc_cvBAJcqaU0MyV5JgnLPmzDV2o4nG9e-3XJswdDB-2ff5bYCHcvi9zAxJx_fRZlk0Jm1p2F7_rqh-04QbyHuACiLsOJ6kMgH4W2PXDwp6q27wyMKZXJl7xXlY1yVofs/s1600/Edaneres+for+Chamber+Orchestra+1981.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzh6uKvyvFHsMc_cvBAJcqaU0MyV5JgnLPmzDV2o4nG9e-3XJswdDB-2ff5bYCHcvi9zAxJx_fRZlk0Jm1p2F7_rqh-04QbyHuACiLsOJ6kMgH4W2PXDwp6q27wyMKZXJl7xXlY1yVofs/s640/Edaneres+for+Chamber+Orchestra+1981.jpg" width="592" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I composed <strong><em>Edaneres</em></strong> (Serenade spelled backwards) in the spring
of 1981 as an experimental study in sound. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a piece where I tried out a technique of large-scale
pitch construction and layering.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
background harmony of the work pulsates cyclically between two poles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In-between these two points of reference span
a series of intervening hexachordal harmonies that gradually traverse and
eventually terminate on one pole or the other - only to loop back and do it all
over again. I chose pitch-class sets at each pole for maximum intervallic contrast
between the two extremes, but along the way,
change happens in gradual steps.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After the scaffolding of an underline background harmony was
designed, I constructed a matrix extracted from pitches available in the
current base harmony while looking closely at each register along the
horizontal line.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I chose appropriate
pitches in each register while aiming for (but not dogmatically insisting upon)
aggregate completion within every octave span across what I anticipated would
ultimately result in coherent musical phrases. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Care was taken to carryover (or “suspend”)
available common tones between hexachordal intersections that resulted naturally
between the measured, but gradually evolving harmonic changes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Several longer lines of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">canti-firmi</i>
were then crafted and extracted from the otherwise saturated background
pitch-texture of the grid based on potential melodic character and contour.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This overall compositional process became the basic
structure for the pitch-based instrumental layer of this short musical
experiment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">To make things a little more interesting, I added a mildly hyperactive
piano part on top of the orchestral accompaniment to function as musical antagonist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Its layer of music invokes contrary ideas as
it sounds in opposition the primary oscillating six-note harmony. The piano
part plays off against the orchestra by articulating the other six notes (or
set </span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/null" name="OLE_LINK2"></a><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">complement</span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">)
throughout the work’s internal discourse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The piano as an instrument is uniquely suited for this opposing role
because of its unique timbre, ability to play thick chords, broad dynamics, and
wide register.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After the musical roadmap was in place, I worked out the surface-level
music for <em>Edaneres</em> in a manner similar to any other traditional piece – paying special
attention to musical gestures, individual lines, and contemporary instrumental
techniques: not to mention adding in a few jazzy riffs t'boot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also strove inject a spontaneous yet discernible
musical narrative into the music that would enable the musicians to metaphorically
surf along the waves of the constantly-evolving underline harmonic progression.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In retrospect, I consider <em>Edaneres</em> to be a student work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s also relic from a bygone era of musical
thought and out-of-fashion musical aesthetics. I composed it as a sound
experiment essentially to hone <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(what was
for me at the time) a still-emerging musical language and new technique. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><em>Edaneres</em> was professionally sight-read in a laboratory
setting where I was graciously supported by my mentors and peers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> In addition to myself, the group of Fellows that summer included what would turn out in time to be a very impressive list of composers. They were (not listed in any particular order): James Primosch, John Watrous, David Felder, Yinam Leef, Michael Gandolphi, Rand Steiger, Gudmunder Halfsteinsson, and Ronald Caltabiano. Also present that summer were Susan Blaustein and Robert Beaser.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Not only did I get to hear my piece realized at
the Yale Norfolk Summer School of Music under the coaching and baton of new
music champion Arthur Weisberg (1931-2009), but I received some valuable
feedback from master musicians and composers in residence that summer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In particular, I recall some of the comments and reactions by
my musical mentors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Elliott Carter (b.
1908) beamed and said, “I like it.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He thought
that the little tag at the end signified a potential continuation or new
section.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don Martino (1931-2005) thought
that the dynamics needed more refinement in order to profile the various layers
of musical idea amidst an otherwise complex texture. Specifically he thought
that the long sustained tones of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">canti
firmi</i> could have been notated <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mezzo
piano</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jacob Druckman (1928-1996) commented
on orchestration and about my use of surface-level gestures - correctly pointing
out that I over-used certain modes of attack in the piece.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Later, while listening to <em>Edaneres</em> on tape,
Milton Babbitt (1916-2011) commented generally about the use of rhythm - on a
macro and micro scale - suggesting that I might consider a more-rigorous organization
of the time dimension in my work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was
all great feedback, and I learned a great deal from the combined experience and
collective, constructive criticism.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The history surrounding the reading of <em>Edaneres</em> also sticks
in my memory for extra musical reasons. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I crammed to get the ambitious piece done on
time, and slipped into a state of sleep deprivation from working non-stop on
copying orchestral parts for the pre-scheduled reading session.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The ink was still wet on the page.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I actually fell ill from dehydration, the hot
weather, and fatigue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After my piece was
played, I crashed mentally and physically from exhaustion.</span><br />
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Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978950787428621702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887174005230362615.post-22413820987048440162012-08-04T13:05:00.001-04:002012-08-04T13:05:42.467-04:00Quintet (3rd Movement)<a href="http://soundcloud.com/james-ricci/quintet-3rd-movement?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=blogger&utm_content=http://soundcloud.com/james-ricci/quintet-3rd-movement">Quintet (3rd Movement)</a>Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978950787428621702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887174005230362615.post-80813154000153984322012-01-11T09:08:00.004-05:002012-01-11T09:19:23.689-05:00Symfonietta<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZB6WJ9oqn7jRV9C7Kw-O6NmJOukmA036Qrxu6VbH9U4bslAHNjVljd_AyFiXGNAkpqX1JnVZo0CDfjGTsaBgTY6xgVXWU95uJ4vkNYPbdFDexC7lErsr0xx7q2ftOb3YHUrbWJeGEa2A/s1600/Symfonietta+Purmerend+en+omstreken+2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; width: 314px; height: 400px; text-align: center; display: block; cursor: pointer;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5696378754609628882" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZB6WJ9oqn7jRV9C7Kw-O6NmJOukmA036Qrxu6VbH9U4bslAHNjVljd_AyFiXGNAkpqX1JnVZo0CDfjGTsaBgTY6xgVXWU95uJ4vkNYPbdFDexC7lErsr0xx7q2ftOb3YHUrbWJeGEa2A/s400/Symfonietta+Purmerend+en+omstreken+2.jpg" /></a><br /><div><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ9QeMcCpueYanA4GGsHZMD89-b472uwm7vMMSsZudsnu3DttdSzfX8KQezsPBd7V1rVHmWLBoELLJ9IZ0_HzMkK05SpoEbJbJoykGBTkjB1LzZ0BZyBUrh9wAC3Ky9tp7dyO3Cmn4ssQ/s1600/Symfonietta+Purmerend+en+omstreken.gif"></a><br />World Premiere of my</div><div align="center">Chamber Symphony</div><div align="center">January 29, 2012</div><div align="center"><a href="http://www.symfonietta.nl">www.symfonietta.nl</a></div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">-------------</div></div>Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978950787428621702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887174005230362615.post-47495228922314961652011-12-08T10:00:00.001-05:002011-12-08T11:00:10.389-05:00On the FenceWhile it's always been difficult to pinpoint the reasons behind the musical urge (or addiction), there does appear to be a segment of society that thrives on the benefits of organized sound. I guess that musicians and composers are contributing members of a distinctive clan - or share a common mutation of genes that promotes the impulse within our environment.<br /><br />Taking the long view, I've been impressed with the scientific discoveries that have been made in our life-time: Gernomics, Information Technology, Robotics, AI, Physics, Astronomy, Medicine, Brain-imaging with fMRI, Biotech, Mathematics, etc, etc, etc.<br /><br />It's a completely different world today than what existed in our childhood. And yet, if you peal away all the superficial aspects of musical expression and look at the fundamentals, Music is basically an age-old art-form more akin to religion or some esoteric philosophy.<br /><br />If you have to ask "why" or "how" music is so pervasive and influential, you are either asking the wrong question or oblivious to the inherently vaporous patterns of the basic impulse. It's clearly more intuitive than scientific.<br /><br />But, sometimes when in a state of dubious rationality, I do question the blind faith that is required to accept the fundamental premise of the musical experience. Taken as a whole, the status quo often seems so relative and arbitrary.<br /><br />Is it possible that our artistic lives are based on a falsehood, that music is nothing more than a residual organ of an obsolete cultural norm? Or, as practicing musicians, are we way ahead of our time and in fact early practitioners of a brand new, yet-to-emerge, science?<br /><br />At present, I remain on the fence: a Musical Agnostic.Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978950787428621702noreply@blogger.com0