it was my third year

as i said before requiem for a high homicide enclave is my attempt to make sense of the latimes homicide report. i first encountered the blog, comments and maps reading about the death of los angeles high school band member michael pena and reading his story it brought back a lot of memories that i had long ago pushed aside.

i was teaching music sometime in 1997 or 1998 at john marshall high school in los angeles. the los feliz/silverlake area had been one of the more affluent parts of los angeles, but high home values and an aging local population created a dramatic change in the schools demographics starting in the late 80's. by the time i started teaching in 1995 many parents from the area were sending their children to private schools and the typical marshall student came from the densely populated apartment rows in echo park or hollywood. it was a challenging but rewarding job which alternated between some of the highest and lowest moments i have experienced in the classroom.

by my third year i was very happy with the way the program was growing. we (my wife was teaching dance and colorguard) both had grown accustomed to teaching in an urban school; for the most part kids are kids, its just when something goes wrong with them there is no "safety net", like when somebody gets really sick, it can throw a family into turmoil. not only do they have to deal with the lack of access to proper medical care, but then how they will pay the bills while a parent is sick. what happens next is that your student might just stop coming to school and start working to pay the bills.

by this time i though i had seen most everything, but teaching that day started as a real shocker. sometime in the morning word got back to me that 3 of my best students had beaten the living bejesus out of a freshman band member. i was in shock and really mad at those kids, mainly because it challenged everything i thought i had "taught" my students. there was a lot of crazy things that happened outside of school, but i thought we had created a culture where it was clear that "we don't do those things in our band". i was proud to show off to anybody who would listen that my kids were respectful of each other and knew that more was expected of them when they joined my program.

i was so upset and didn't even send them to the office. i just told them to go home and i didn't want to see them at rehearsal after school. for most kids this was the worst punishment i could give, being at home usually meant becoming the primary child care provider for their siblings. the next day all three students showed up and wanted to talk. after 4-5 minutes of ranting how they let me down and said something like, "in what world can you use violence to solve anything?" one of them sheepishly said "we had to do it, he is going to get us killed".

that is when i stopped talking and started listening.

the three of them took turns explaining the situation; they ride a number of city busses to school and everyday the same thing unfolds; as they are waiting for their next bus the local gangbanger harasses them and to which the freshman always has a quick comeback. over time the harassment escalates and of course my older students quickly realize where this is going. as they see it its too far to walk and there is no other way to come to school. they have tried to talk to the freshman, but he thinks its all fun and games. and then they explained there was only one thing the could do.

so i pulled in the freshman and we all talked it out. or i should say, they talked it out. at that point it really sunk in that no matter how much i though i knew about these students, i could really never fully understand what their lives were like outside of school.

the police and the mayor

Today at 4pm I'm going to talk with Martin Perlich about my REQUIEM FOR A HIGH HOMICIDE ENCLAVE and its source material; the latimes homicide report, blog comments and google maps on KCSN 88.5 (05/14/08)

the sandbox

after another long day of composing and video editing the wife unit looks over and states "its an addiction, right?" i nod silently in her direction and realize its probably a good time to stop for the day. although we have been married 15 years, i don't think we have had the conversation that followed. composing is something i do, but really this blog is one of my few outlets to "talk" about it. calling it an addiction is probably technically true, but we did agree that over the years i have become more a more functional human being in the process.

i used to be pretty bad and could easily ignore everybody for days trying to get a project started (and i even asked her to leave the house a few times) just so i could write. it seems silly now and i'm pretty embarrassed about it. over time i have learned to trust my instincts and as long as the ideas are flowing i cancel everything else and write until as much and as long as i can.

right now i am in what i call "the sandbox". its the stage when i have a fully realized idea. every morning is another opportunity to 'play'; build new castles, and tear down the old ones that the tide is starting to wreck. its a very satisfying place to be.

first there is the idea (sometimes i sketch them out, or write them down for a later date), and if wake up the next day and still think it is a good idea i'll start to make it real. this is where the most unpleasant and painful part of the process is. until that idea is "real" and becomes a full piece i usually find myself in a focused mad dash to get as much of it on paper as possible.

sometimes the ideas are quick fully formed (life's too short, retrace our steps act II, summerland and principal of sufficient irritation) other times the initial idea seems strong, but somehow the realization feels a little off (fearless leader, retrace our steps act I, myinnersatan).
why and how this happens, i don't know? i think pieces are like kids, and i want to see them all grow up and be successful, but in the end you learn to accept their strengths and weaknesses as part of the human condition. one of the stranger recent developments is that i have noticed that some people have much higher opinions of some of my "kids" than i do. both pieces have had many versions (awkward teen years) and though my group really enjoys performing both, i still flinch and shuffle my feet during various sections.

there is a strange process in which the initial "idea" becomes a composition. all i can say is that it is a gut feeling and you know when it works. sometimes i have to confirm it in rehearsal, but these days my intuition is getting better. this is the problem solving part of the process, a little nip and tuck here and there, from that original idea a universe is implied and i get to live in it for the duration of the creation of the piece. this part is wonderful. you know you are here when you can walk away from the piece and come back in few days and still are interested in the same things. no matter which metaphor i use (playing in the sandbox, living in matrix...) this is very much like a video game where you get to live inside of the world you created.

the next step is taking it rehearsal and seeing how everything translates to the real world. over
time this has become easier and usually have an idea of what will work and where the problems might be. the first few readings are very important and feel that if a group of intelligent adults dont "get it" within a few hours then i really need to look long and hard to answer those "why's?" (that is why i tape all my rehearsals") i think there are two sides to this coin. on one side we reasonably only have 2-3 rehearsals before a show and need to be able to put something out in a short amount of time. if there are problems i know that we can smooth over the initial bumps and i can make some changes over the next few months, but its very important to be able perform the new works in a timely matter so you can always be rotating in new repertoire into the show.

its a strange dichotomy; when i'm writing i'm thinking about performing and when performing i'm thinking about writing. i'm not sure how to turn that switch off and afraid what would happen if i could.

soiveheard #2, wallpaper endangered REPOST

since i can't seem to find this anywhere on the interwebs i will repost this. its from alan rich's new blog (soiveheard.com) which seems to be down...

soiveheard#2 by Alan Rich

Wallpaper Endangered: According to one survey or another, anywhere from 30 to 50,000 people listen to classical music all day. That number can include doctors’ secretaries trapped in their offices (I speak for my friend Addie, prisoner of KUSC) as well as people who just can’t find the on/off switch and have come to regard music as a form of wallpaper. It also includes a large number of people who care what they’re hearing, who value a station that offers the stimulation of music chosen across the broad historical band, including the so-called “difficult” repertory on which the ink may still be wet, or the paper wrinkled after many centuries.

Just as we need more than one critic in town, we need more than one music station. KCSN-FM, the station of Cal State Northridge, is hard to hear in some parts of town; I hear it on one side of my house in West L.A. and less well on the other But their programming is excellent: Martin Perlich’s classical choices during the week, intelligently chosen Bluegrass and other, for me, mind-expanding stuff on weekends. Martin has brought composers onto the station, including young unknowns. As I understand the current crisis at KCSN, Martin’s job is not immediately threatened; other jobs have already been lost, that have given the station its uniqueness, and it looks to me – as someone recently bruised in this whole tragic shrinkage in the realm of culture -- that nobody is safe anymore. The following report from the battleground pretty well sums up the KCSN situation, and you may extrapolate far and wide.

So I hear: In an ominous move officials at Cal State Northridge have taken the unprecedented step of cancelling the Pledge Drive of KCSN-FM, the feisty little public radio station for which they hold the license. The station, which was awarded “Best of LA” by Los Angeles Magazine in 2006, calls itself ÁRTS & ROOTS Radio” offers the most exciting classical music programming in the city (and maybe the country) – often presenting music by living composers as well as an unusually generous amount of 20th century music (as well as ancient music, rare and ‘difficult’ music and daily chats with a broad group of members of the Arts community (cutting-edge composers, musicians, writers, choreographers, filmmakers, playwrights, jazz players, etc. by acclaimed interviewer Martin Perlich (author of The Art of the Interview).

While classical music is presented every weekday 6am – 6pm, weekends are occupied by unique “Roots” programming: “Bluegrass, classical country, singer-songwriter, world music, blues, a 2-hour program devoted to Bob Dylan and more.

Recently University Management, through KCSN’s GM Fred Johnson, fired Les Perry, the station’s best programmer and fundraiser, and other popular shows. The subsequent outcry from listeners and members -- 90% of the station’s operating budget is provided by listener-members -- has caused new Dean Robert Bucker (backed up by CSUN president Jolene Kester and Provost Harry Hellenbrand) to cancel the Pledge Drive out of “sensitivity to ‘the community’ which, responding negatively to the program changes, will negatively affect progress on CSUN’s new $125 million-dollar Valley Performing Arts Center whose groundbreaking was celebrated last week.

Observers believe that in cutting off funding through cancelling the Drive, the University higher-ups have signaled their long-expressed desire to change KCSN’s format – possibily handing off (as KPCC recently did) to large national pubcasting networks like Minnesota Public Radio, Wisconsin Public Radio or a similar entity, leaving Los Angeles with one classical station, whose classical programming is far less enterprising than KCSN’s

CSUN President
Jolene M. Koester
818-677-2121

Jolene.koester@csun.edu

Dean of Arts, Media, and Communication
Wm Robert Bucker
818-677-2426
robert.bucker@csun.edu

CSUN Provost & VP of Academic Affairs
Harry Helenbrand

818-677-2957

harry.hellenbrand@csun.edu

breeding stock

i just heard from martin perlich that next week's pledge-drive at KCSN has been canceled and this probably signals the university wanting to change the format and ship all the programming to a syndicate like minnesota public radio.

most of this town is already run from elsewhere, we have seen how that is working with first the latimes, the the laweekly and now this. for research on my latest piece i have been reading mike davis's prescient 1990 "City of Quartz". the following line stuck in my head this morning and now i know why.

"The steller success of Los Angeles as a real-estate, media and technology mecca is overwhelming its traditional upper classes, diminishing their autonomy and clout. This is not to suggest they are somehow becoming pauperized- indeed they are becoming wealthier-, but rather that they are surrendering power, which is different from mere money, to others strategicially established in the new circuits of lnad monopoly and global finance. LA 2000, despite offical hype about being 'THE city of the 21st century' will largely be an entrepot for megabanks and technology monopolies headquartered elsewhere. It will also continue to be the urban equivalent of the Spanish Main for the corporate buccaneers and nottori-ya from all over the world. Its old WASPish elites, especially, recumbent in their luxury, may linger primarily as consumers, comprafores, or just breeding stock. "

CSUN President
Jolene M. Koester
818-677-2121

Jolene.koester@csun.edu

Dean of Arts, Media, and Communication
Wm Robert Bucker
818-677-2426
robert.bucker@csun.edu

CSUN Provost & VP of Academic Affairs
Harry Helenbrand

818-677-2957

harry.hellenbrand@csun.edu

tagged x2

i'm it. and since i'm done for the night i can play along with this meme...

1. pick up the nearest book.

ok, on my left is my full bookcase... that's shooting fish in the barrel. many a book i could pull show how "serious" i am. (ohh... rameau's treatise on harmony would make me look smart, but i still have yet to read more than a few chapters)

if i go behind me on the right is a bunch of just graded theory 1 papers (much desperation in that pile) and a great book by author latimes writer sam quinones that is obliquely connected to my latest project

(i read the story, wrote the author, i heard the podcast, read his book, and read this article that pointed me to the latimes homicide report)

2. open to page 123
3. find the fifth sentence
4. post the next three sentences
5. tag five people and acknowledge who tagged you

True Tales from Another Mexico: the Lynch Mob, the Popsicle Kings and the Bronx
by Sam Quinones

And in L.A Zapateco basketball, Zeus Garcia is the high priest. For it he has sacrificed everything, including two knees, two women, and one set of children. For he has bridged divides within his own community.

now i pass this meme elsewhere across the internets and point you towards the following:

john pippin's new blog: sound scenes from his opening post it looks like he will have much to add to the alt-classical discussion.

daniel wolf's impressive green chile metaphor

the rambler has submitted his phd dissertation. those of you not having flashbacks and cold sweats rejoice! the others breath deeply and repeat, "they can't make me edit it anymore"

david ocker has been blogging about his 30 year association with the ICA (Independent Composers Association) and its Second Second Story Concert Series in los angeles

ryan nunes contemplates there is no spoon

and finally.... the latest pbe CD 'Retrace Our Steps' is john schaefer's pick of the week on WNYC. its is still available as free download.

cake for everyone!

requiem for a high crime enclave

requeim for a high crime enclave from paul bailey on Vimeo.
(trailer)

Requiem for a High Crime Enclave is a deconstruction of Purcell's Funeral Music for Queen Mary (1694) based on excerpts from the from the LA Times Homicide Report which documents every murder that takes place in Los Angeles County using blog posts, comments, and Google Maps.

(this version is probably best viewed full screen)

Saturday May 17th and Sunday May 18th, 8:30pm
Roy and Edna Disney/Calarts Theater (REDCAT)
631 W 2nd St
Los Angeles, CA

la times homicide report

assorted selections

tonight
april 23 2008, 8pm
csuf recital hall
d.i.e (diverse instrument ensemble)
cello, keyboard, clarinet and electric bass
lloyd rodgers director

selections:

assorted madrigals
caccini
nicole baker, mezzo-soprano soloist

assorted counterpoints
costanzo festa

chaconne in g minor
henry purcell

222

Since January 2008 there have been 222 homicides in LA county.



I’m not sure what to do about it, but I can’t stop thinking about it. It started when I came across the LA times Homicide Report (blog). For over a year reporter Jill Leovy and Rueben Vives had a simple and horrendous task, to document every homicide in LA county online. Its seems crazy that newspapers didn’t have do this before, but Leovy points out in a Zocolo podcast that the implied conventional wisdom is that as long as the majority of homicides occur in “high-homicide enclaves”, minimal effort and resources will be allocated by the state to solve this horrendous problem. You begin to realize that this has been going on for years, reading the blog and comments from friends, family and yes... rival gangs and enemies begins to give you an idea of how sheltered we have become.

I’m not sure how to fix it, but reading about it everyday has brings up more questions than it answers. My only response is to attempt to write a piece about it. Which for me brings up the immediate question, how can you do that without people running out the door. All I know is that probably no matter how hard I try its going to be seen as polemic.

The music is done, music and text based on a harmonic deconstruction of Purcell’s Funeral Music for Queen Mary. What better than “borrowing” music from one of the most famous funerals of a British Monarch (1694), to honor those whose brutal deaths who continue to go unnoticed.

carne asada is not a crime

Dear Supervisor Molina,

I am writing to express serious concern regarding the actions you have taken against the taco trucks in our neighborhoods. As a member of the Eastside community, I greatly value our local street vendors–for their food, service, and especially culture.
Taco trucks fill many voids left by traditional restaurants, whether it is more authentic, better food, better hours, or cheaper prices. Furthermore, taco trucks create a sense of community on the streets that enclosed, “brick-and-mortar” stores cannot.

Taco trucks are a special and unique facet of East Los Angeles, and something that I cherish about my neighborhood.

Most of all they provide me (and my band) with cheap eats after shows and rehearsals!

I urge you to withdraw your proposal, and instead focus on the more pressing and detrimental issues that are facing our community.

Here are links to the best of LA

shame

its a shame that alan rich was pushed out as the la weekly's classical music critic this week. this is another reason to not read the exceedingly corporate LA Weekly. first they get rid of any real "alternative" political reporting and now this. even when i didn't agree with his conclusions, i appreciate mr. rich's clear and pointed reviews and the context he brings to any concert he attends. his institutional memory of the los angeles music scene cannot be replaced.

what gets me really upset is the way he is being treated, i have seen too many examples of colleagues and friends who have given their live for their "job" being pushed aside and into retirement by the whims of management. by observing how most employers treat their "mature" staff its easy to get an idea of what is in store for us. i think any professional that has put in the years supporting and building the organizations that make up our community should be able to pick the way they want to go out (within reason). i think while many view retirement as a time to play play golf, drink beer and play cards, if Mr. Rich wants to keep writing in his "golden years", then more power to him.

I suggest that if the LA Times can rethink the "forced buyout" of the esteemed Al Martinez, then LA Weekly should consider the same for Mr. Rich.



btw... how did we get to a point that a majority of our print media is being dictated by bean counters in chicago and phoenix? at least southland publishing is getting it done.

learning a new instrument

this spring continues to be a steady progression of ups and downs. the flu was a 5 week body blow to start the year and this past week (welcome spring!) allergies have been kicking my ass.

that all being said, i'm finally back to my routine of transcribing, writing and arranging except this time (instead of pencil and paper) i'm using my laptop (ableton live/macbook pro/midi keyboard) as my primary instrument. the purpose of putting aside the pencil and paper and transcribing music by ear (using the keyboard and recording directly into the software) i'm forcing myself to figure out how to recreate the sounds i'm hearing (and in the process figure out its strengths and weaknesses of the software). its interesting that this process of transcription is a a much more tactile experience you would think (instead figuring out a passage by playing it and then writing it down), by performing (while recording and then looping) each element of a piece, its a more viseral process that feels quite different and opens up my ears in some new ways. it also gives me an idea of how i can use this technology in a live performance.



what initially has got me so excited about this setup is the ability to perform modular pieces like Terry Riley's Rainbow Over Curved Air, Rweski's Les Moutons de Panurge or my Prinicple of Sufficient Irritation, looping live performances from a laptop and midi keyboard (instead of the racks of pedals) the end result is an electronic instrument that functions as a very flexible continuo.

another problem with performing electronically is that the instrument choices are limiting also. right now there are really two main choices... either a keyboard (which is not especially bad, but doesn't give you all the options that the technology implies) or a midi pad controllers.



i'm really intereted in korg's new kaossilator "dyanmic phase synthesizer" which is basically an x/y graph style melodic sound generator. i'm (and others i think) are still searching for a simple and intuitive interface so that you can perform live. some recent examples are the monome and yamaha's tenori-on.

obviously some of the issues that comes up with using any looping instrument is its ability to be performed with other instruments. by seeing some local bands using pedals and laptops i finally think the technology has caught up to what was in the air in the late 60's and 70's. ninja academy is a good example of a two-person rock band that has one of the most virtuosic examples of looping live instruments that i have seen. i'll be going into rehearsal with this new setup and should get a better idea of what works for me by trial and error. i've setup a twitter feed on the right to post impressions and snippets along the way.