cartesian nostalgia

from a performers point of view this weekend’s RealNewMusic 2008 festival was one one of those rare events that was a joy to participate in from start to finish. no backstage drama, rivalries, one-upmanship or back handed compliments. walking in to soundcheck and seeing scott mcintosh (pbe partner in crime) playing in john mahr’s group (brother mallard) brought back a wave of nostalgia from when the three of us used to play in csuf’s diverse instrument ensemble (d.i.e.)

also performing sat night was steve moshier’s liquid skin ensemble. both steve and janine livingston (who were members of the original cartesian reunion memorial orchestra ((crmo)) and have been playing together for close to 25 years). this was the first show that we ever played together and i was happy to finally hang out with steve and have a chat longer than a handshake or a online exchange.

thanks again to shane cadman for bringing in another successful year of producing the RNM festival. i also need to thank shane for pushing me to apply for the redcat spring studio. i usually don't have pieces (new and unperformed) that fit those more "official" festivals and thought it would be an interesting experience to write something on a pretty quick deadline for a change. (like many of my movie brethern)

its also worth pointing out (and getting back to the nostalgia) that before becoming the new music impressario that he is today, back in the 80's shane (as well as scott and john) used to play in the illustrious theatre orchestra (ito) that was playing gig’s at royce hall and getting regular airplay on kcrw and kusc (which used to have a great alt-classical radio show hosted by bonnie grice). although i really miss the crmo and the ito, on saturday night it was easy to see and hear that the "carteisan school" is alive and well in all of our groups.

REDCAT spring studio 2008

its been a good run since the middle of april that culminated in two great shows this weekend at REDCAT. for me it was very strange to be backstage without a trombone in my hand (or any instrument at all) it was easier to keep the laptop and kaossillator plugged in onstage, but i found myself actually a bit nervous without anything in my hands.

the path of bringing a piece from an idea to a premier is quite a journey. but at some point you have to go forward with what what you got and see how it works 'live'. on the 2nd night, somewhere in the last third of the requiem i realized that i was asking my vocalists to sing at the a full fortissimo at the top of their range for a good 6 minutes. while i was watching them brilliantly pull this off i knew there was there was a much better way to write this. its funny, before the show i did warn the singers (sylvia desrochers and paul cummings) that were were going to take it up a notch, but their looks of surprise and fierce determination to match our energy level was something i wont forget that soon. the fact that they rose above the limitations of my writing and pulled it off was a testament to the great musicians i get to work with. with all that being said, i'll have time to make those edits when we will be performing it in a few weeks at the shane cadman's REALNEWMUSIC in whittier on June 21st.

there is quite a bit to be happy about and some other great stories that i'll eventually tell (naked curtain call), but after sitting around the house in daze yesterday its time to get back to real life. yesterday i couldn't really answer emails and return phone calls. after you get home from a show you don't really know what to do with yourself. there is nothing that you have to do and nowhere you have to go. one of the things they don't ever tell you is that the creative process can terrorize you other responsibilities and relationships. luckily we have been through this before and my wife deb knew the drill; keep me in clean clothes and fed and we will get through it.

i started the day by filling a trash can just going through the mail that had piled up the last 6 weeks, not to mention my change oil light started blinking about two weeks ago and i haven't even started grading finals exams. all i can say is that i'm really lucky to have the support from my family and by the end of the week i'll be ready to start the process all over again.

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!

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.

the sausage factory

as you can see on the right side of my blog i have decided to start twittering my new project. so far i’m about 2 weeks into getting my chops back after spending the last 8 months editing, recording, and promotion of my retrace our steps EP and life's too short CD. the whole process that doesn’t really lend itself to creativity and i find it practically impossible to work on new pieces while recording, editing, mixing and promoting my older ones. so now as i’m winding down the promotion i’m getting ready to start a new project by each day transcribing some music that interests me.

the goal of this is to shed some light on the sausage factory and to make the complex simple by keeping a journal of the my process. twitter makes the most sense for just jotting down what i might be doing on any given day. blog posts like this are more to organize the “big picture”(like right now) and give some insight, but my main intent is to document how i get things done. hopefully by shedding a little light i can encourage others to share their own “dark arts” of composing. (i'm sure if you asked 50 composers what they do you will probably get 50 answers).

composers are a strange bunch. i can hang out with my mused friends and we swap our successes and failures, but i have found that composers are not really type of people to hang out and talk shop. we like to dish on the politics and philosophy that surround art music, but i think its like we each think we are guarding the secrets to our own personal alchemy and are afraid to expose our process to to the masses for fear that me might get called out for being a fraud. its too bad, the sharing of ideas, strategies, techniques and “best practices” is a great way to pass on the tools of our craft, yet the most common transmission of this information is only to our private students and not to each other. for me to fill this void, i have made up for this by gravitating to a small group assorted writers, artists and filmmakers that i try to hang out with on a weekly basis.

so here are some of background details about this project. i’m setting off in a new direction by changing my process up a bit. i’m writing music for a side project that is going to embrace my more electronic tendencies. i listen to quite a bit of it and am interested in the possibilities of what it can offer.

the first step started during the fall i have been making playlists of quite a bit of electronic music that i like and have been transcribing a piece a day over the last 2 weeks. i have mainly been figuring out how to make these sounds and timbres using my laptop as an instrument. right now its more of a performance based process, instead of transcribing a piece on paper, i am performing it and looping using the laptop (ableton live/macbookpro). so far i'm getting an idea of the strengths and weaknesses of using a laptop in live performance and what a ensemble would look and sound like that blends acoustic and electronic instruments.

the first project i’m working on is a deconstruction of david toub’s this piece intentionally left blank. the main reason of doing a deconstruction is quite simple, i want to get a handle on the technology with a piece i know really well (and like) and play around in its universe. i already have “deconstructed” the piece to its basic harmonic units/gestures and i’m going to turn them into loops that i can perform on my laptop (think a terry riley solo performance using modern technology) i figure as i get used to the technology i'll start to write more "original's", but i figure i better walk before i run (and right now i'm crawling).

fake old new world

just listened to the kpcc (los angeles) zocalo podcast that featured uber architect thom mayne. like most discussions the interesting quotes start in the last five minutes (about 46:38). enjoy...

we are living in a time where the majority of people (maybe even some of you) prefer to live in fake french provincial or tudor or fake phony second rate spanish and it's like damn its the 21st century.

did you realize that modern architecture started 100 years ago?

what's the point, its a symbol what are you symbolizing? that the 19th's century was interesting? or the 18th or the 17th or whatever the fuck you think it is?

there isn't a whole lot of interest in forward progress here. there is a huge notion that we are somehow comfortable in living in this fake old new world that somehow has something to do with some idea of status, what it has to do with is that your dead already. you literally died. if your brain isn't operating if you aren't living in today, if you haven't got problems then why wake up?

if you talk to across the board to architects then the discussion centers around why aren't more people interested in the present and exploring what it means to be alive in the 21st century and how that effects living and how your environment is an extension of your creative potential...

what's so interesting about living in some dead architecture that didn't die for no reason?

on top of it its a copy of a bad fake, its layers of stuff that's even hard to perceive.

no you can't

"there is a creed stuck into the founding documents that denied the destiny of a nation"

"now the hopes of the little girl who goes to private school in newport are the same as the dreams of the boy who parties in the clubs of la"

"we are not as divided as our portfolio's suggest"

"we love this nation and together we will stop this nonsense about writing the next great chapter in the american story with three words...

no you can't"

leaderless fear?

the pbe hiatus is finally over. in rehearsal tonight we realized that 3 months was the longest break we have ever taken since we started in 2002. i'm glad to be back to it preparing for a club show at mr. t's bowl (our favorite venue) on feb 20th. we are very fortunate to have john mahr covering keyboards during eric hendrikson's personal leave.

reh went well tonight, we started in on quite a bit of music that we haven't performed that much and ended up with quite a bit more music then we can use. so far the setlist is starting to look something like this:

chaconne, john brenner (great modular piece)
bonedance, lloyd rodgers
fearless leader, pb
life's too short, pb (tentative, 2 of 3 singers confirmed...)
national anthem, radiohead (cover)

this spring we are also working on adding doug hein's orlando and john brenner's leaderless fear to our repertoire. one thing that i have noticed about programming is that a concert of 5 or more pieces by most any composer can be a real drag (especially mine). i try and not program more than 2-3 of my own pieces, and when planning this show it became clear that when you pick the top 1-2 pieces from a variety of composers it quickly can become a pretty exceptional show.

anyhow, its great to be back in the game and with last night's great rehearsal i can get up to the mountains for a few days in much better state of mind. school starts in a week and our budget has been slashed 10%, so i sure hope i still have some classes to teach. (remember life's meant to be endured not enjoyed)

so while i'm away please help yourself to any or all the following;

retrace our steps

its new, it fun, and free!****

and its an secular oratorio based on texts gertrude stein, guy debord and jenny bitner. while i was making it, i decided that it would be much more interesting and informative to have a graphic libretto instead of program notes. it was such an obvious idea and was surprised to find that nobody else seems to be doing this. so check it out and let me know what you think.

retrace our steps, act 1

retrace our steps, act 2

retrace our steps, act 3

retrace our steps, act 4

assorted live performances from fall 07

life's too short (092507)

fearless leader (lacc, 100207)

11/25/05 (with real quiet, 102507)

you can also support the pbe by purchasing our first album; music from summerland (2002)

download full album ($5) google checkout or paypal

(****at least for you early adopters. i'm trying something new and going to give this one away until CD#3 comes out (life's too short, fall 08). i think giving away the new stuff and selling the back catalog isn't a bad idea. so try it out and if you like it, i bet you might like my previous CD music from summerland)

the composer's ear?

this week i was interested in reading marc grant's newmusicbox article titled, How Good is Your Ear (part 1). grant uses as a starting point out gunther schuller's seven skills necessary of a conductor's ear:

1) harmony; 2) pitch and intonation; 3) dynamics; 4) timbre; 5) rhythm and articulation; 6) balance and orchestrational aspects; 7) line and continuity. (For composers, I would add memory as attribute 8.)

It was interesting to me that the article and the following discussion organized around a composers (and conductors) ability to hear mistakes in his/her work. obviously error detection is a primary skill that any musician (and composer) needs in their toolkit, but i think the study of harmony (along with counterpoint and form) is still the most easily misunderstood skills in composition.

i would suggest that a great starting point for a composer to develop their ear is to transcribe their 10 favorite pieces. for me i stumbled upon this quite by accident. many of my favorite pieces are not easily available (mostly because they are rentals like philip glass's einstein on the beach), and the process of transcribing them by ear, i not only understood their harmonies, but got a deeper understanding what makes them tick. (here are just a few.... how is the form and phrasing developed? what role does the orchestration play, and how does the counterpoint affect the harmony? how is the form related to the harmony)

after a while you develop a muscle memory for the aesthetics of a piece, then you develop a deep understanding of why certain choices were made, not just an understanding of what chords and harmonies were used. then by studying a variety of works by a certain composer (or style), you can live in the logic of that musical universe that they have created and start to make distinctions between common practice and the interesting twists and techniques that great composers employ.

besides composing and performing, transcription is what has brought me a deeper understanding and enjoyment of the music that i love. the act of writing it down is much more than the "study" of a piece and i feel that the process of transcribing music is more like having a conversation with the original composer. the point when you really know a composer's work is when you feel like you finish their pieces for them, but the best part is when you find something that you never thought of and you can't put it out of your mind.

Life (We Cannot Retrace Our Steps)

my long life, my long life



RETRACE OUR STEPS is essentially a secular oratorio; a collection of thoughts, feelings, and opinions about modern life (consumerism, idealism, and alienation)
Traditionally oratorios functioned as a musical sermon, coordinated to biblical calendar to enhance the worship service. by setting these conflicting themes in a non-narrative format allows the contradictions and grey areas to become illuminated.

Instead of creating an “official” set of PROGRAM NOTES to accompany this recording (like the ones you are reading right now) I decided that a GRAPHIC LIBRETTO would far better bridge the gap between the trepidation many people feel today when listening to ART MUSIC (music meant for contemplation)

listen and download RETRACE OUR STEPS I-IV:
retrace our steps, act I
retrace our steps, act II
retrace our steps, act III
retrace our steps, act IV

download graphic libretto

download graphic libretto and retrace our steps mp3's (66mb zip file)

do you know?

in my long life

do you know
because I tell you so,
or do you know, do you know



retrace our steps, act IV>

not to what i won

I was a martyr all my life
not to what i won
but what was done

in my long life

in my long life, in my long life
life is strife

unfolding of the universe

man’s appropriation of his own nature
is at the same time his grasp of the unfolding of the universe



retrace our steps, act III

unfolding

estrangement between man and man

the spectacle is materially the expression of the separation and estrangement between
man and man.

retrace our steps, act III

download mp3

behind the masks of total choice

I am not a genuine pamphleteer
I have nothing to say. I have nothing to write...
If I had something to say, I would be the first to say it
loudly, outrageously, and articulately...

Behind the masks of total choice
different forms of the same alienation confront each other
all of them built on real contradictions, which are repressed



retace our steps, act II
total choice

fall 07 del.icio.us links

fall notable reads (things you might have missed and are worth checking out)

Music That Thinks Outside the Chamber, Anne Midgette
"For Gil Morgenstern, a violinist and concert presenter, the epiphany came when an acquaintance informed him that the two most boring words in the English language were “chamber music."
her suggestion: alternative classical? i wish i would have thought of that.

It's Time For 'The Talk', Holly Mulcahy
helping students prepare for a career in music with their eyes wide open.

Making a Living, Greg Sandow
what does a post-classical career look like?

Philip Glass: 25 Years after 'Einstein On The Beach', (Frank Oteri interviews)
from 2001... gotta love the interwebs

Critical Point: Web first, blogging, and newsprint, Tim Mangan OC Register
interesting snapshot of how journalism and music criticism is changing

Minimalism as Political Stance, Kyle Gann
Kyle makes a great point about the joys of learning and performing minimalist and "process" pieces

Here's the problem, (re: Richard Taruskin), Marc Geelhoad
"But the larger point here, it seems to me, is that we've now progressed from The Crisis of Classical Music, to The Saving of Classical Music, to Criticism of The Saving of Classical Music"

Like exegesis with that?, David Patrick Stearns
"2 new-music concerts show perils of over-explaining." sometime a rose is a rose is a rose

Mark Twain's plans to compete with copyright "pirates" (in 1906), Ken Fisher
"Twain feared that publishers would continue to print his works without paying him, and thus they'd continue to rake in the dough while his heirs got none."

The Mixed Meters Music Manifesto, David Ocker
"1. I lost my faith in new music years ago. Also my respect for certain "important" composers."

podcasts
Ed Burns on Creating 'The Wire', Fresh Air, Terry Gross
"The breadth and ambition of "The Wire" are unrivaled and that taken cumulatively over the course of a season -- any season -- it's an astonishing display of writing, acting and storytelling that must be considered alongside the best literature and filmmakers" Slate
this show lines up too closely with my experiences teaching in los angeles city schools, thankfully back on the air this spring

movies
Southland Tales, (Mahnola Dargis, NYT review)
"Richard Kelly’s funny, audacious, messy and feverishly inspired look at America and its discontents"

books
The Road, Cormac McCcarthy
a father and son's journey in post apocalyptic world (happy stuff)

The Tipping Point, Malcom Gladwell
great book on how things "tip"


and...

a christmas wish from dr. pete

stockhausen served imperialism

in the spirit of cornelius cardew's 1974 polemic, stockhausen serves imperialism, on his former teacher, nemesis, and the newly dead (in the true spirit of the title of this blog) karlheinz stockhausen , 1928-2007, i put forward david ocker's more very personal mixed manifesto on "new music"

1. I lost my faith in new music years ago. Also my respect for certain "important" composers.
2. I did not lose my interest in new music although I expected to.
3. Living with this faithless interest has become the central issue of my middle-age creative musicianship.
4. I believe music can and should be challenging and involving and beautiful and provocative without being ponderous or academic.
5. There is a certain existential tension between these ideas and the way I earn my living: as a copyist of new pieces by "important" composers.
6. I no longer enjoy attending concerts. Exceptions do occur.
7. I prefer listening to recordings. iPod is good.
8. My time is limited. Life is short.
9. I feel fully qualified to predict from the music I already know whether I will enjoy music I haven't heard yet. You can't listen to everything. You have to have favorites. If you don't like something, say so.
10. The "important" centers of new music are in New York and Europe. California is the boonies and our new music scene is vastly underdeveloped for our size and economic clout.
11. What hapens in the centers of new music has become of only minor passing interest to me.
12. The New Music Pie is fixed in size. Maybe it's even shrinking. That would make new music a negative sum game
13. New music programming is more often based on the "importance" rather than the talent of the composers.
14. Recent programming by the Monday Evening Concerts and the Green Umbrella has disappointed me as overly Eurocentric.
15. Although I may not enjoy or attend new music concerts I support them and hope for their success. I once found them useful and others still do.
16. I enjoy "making up" music. I never refer to myself as a "composer" without adding the adjective "failed".
17. The choice between spending my time making up my own music and attending a concert of music by composers from traditions for which I have little tolerance or enthusiasm is easy.
18. I want my music to derive as much as possible from my immediate surroundings and culture at the current moment. Starbucks is the perfect metaphor for this.
19. Every piece of music should have elements immediately appreciable by any listener, from novice through professional.
20. I enjoy giving my pieces misleading titles.
21. Music is a fundamentally an abstract art and should avoid the overuse of lyrics.
22. I want my music to be unpredictable.
23. I have no interest in being part of an established musical movement or tradition, even as I am probably falling into the traps associated with certain California Maverick composers.
24. I have no reason, desire or ability to express the eternal verities through my music. Indeed, I doubt eternal verities are eternal, veritable or even expressible through music.
25. I've learned as much from negative examples and bad teaching as from positive and good.
26. I want to personally enjoy the acts of writing my music and listening to it later.
27. Writing about my music is difficult for me. I would like people who hear my music to enjoy it without having to read about it.
28. I can no longer say I've never written a manifesto.

because they are dead theme song
orlando, he dead
(just add karlheinz to the lyric's)
composed, doug hein
performed, cartesian reunion memorial orchestra

Orlando, Orlando, he dead, he dead, Orlando, he dead.

Josquin, Johann, Amadeus, Ludwig, they dead, they dead, all them guys they dead.

Buddy H., Brian J., Mama C. Karen C., they dead, they dead, all them guys, the dead.

La, la, la …

And when your dead your dead forever,

forever, forever, forever

You don’t go live no more,

no more, no more, no more.

You be dead more long than live

‘Cuz when your dead your dead forever,

Forever, forever, forever.

Some day me be dead,

Some day you be dead,

Some day me be dead,

Some day you be dead,

All us guys

We dead

La, la, la ….

tranquil center of misery

I wake up in the middle of the night in a sweat. I am gripped by the knowledge that I have nothing to say-That even if I could write a pamphlet everyone in the world would see, I would fail.

...the spectacle is nothing more than an image of happy unification surrounded by desolation and fear at the tranquil center of misery.



program notes
retrace our steps, act II

could the correct words make a difference in someone's life?

i wonder: if written in the correct order, could the correct words make a difference in someone's life?

what hides under the spectacular oppositions is a unity of misery.



retrace our steps, act 2
text, jenny bitner and guy debord

do you know you will burn in hell if you don't change your ways?

I am intrigued by the belief that a pamphlet could change a life. I remember those given to me with the images of a man burning amid fiery flames, and inside: "Change your life. Do you know you will burn in hell if you don't change your ways?"

what hides under the spectacular oppositions is a unity of misery.



retrace our steps, act 2
text jenny bitner (the pamphleteer) and guy debord (society of the spectacle)