faq

1. why did you choose these particular instruments?.

i am using string, wind, percussion, and electric instruments as modular units. i wanted to deal with instruments that are common enough so anybody could imitate this group. the overall effect is very dynamic and represents the marriage of rock idioms with traditional chamber music.

2. is your music minimalist? how would you describe it?

alternative-classical garage band

ah... the main question, what do you call this music? currently minimalist seems to stand for any tonal music that does not sound modernist. i would rather classify myself as a postmodernist, but it seems that in the art world that the term has been overused, and in the regular world most people have no idea what it means. so like most history, somebody will come along and define it, hopefully it will accurately describe what my my friends and i are doing. for a good study on where this music comes from you could read a great book by michael nyman called experimental music. it covers most of the main trends since the 1950's.

3. what is postmodernism? (from fact-index.com)

"As a musical style, postmodern music is a rejection of modernism. In classical music, modernist music was dissonant, elite, academic, and "original". In contrast, postmodern music is often consonant, derivative, and ironic. Moreover, in postmodern music there is no fundamental barrier between "high-brow" and "low-brow". It borrows freely from musical forms such as rock, world music, and folk music. It is also designed to appeal to the listener more than the academic, and therefore it is more consumer-oriented. In addition, some postmodern classical composers, such as Philip Glass, produced music in collaboration with "popular" musicians, and have produced numerous popular film scores. See, e.g., Minimalism. "

4. what composers have influenced you? michael nyman, philip glass, steve reich, terry riley, lloyd rodgers, monteverdi, bach, satie, palestrina, ockeghem. (sorry if i left your name off)

5. when is your next recording coming out? retrace our steps is now finished. you will be able to find it online very soon (09/07) and our next cd (life's too short) is recorded and is planned for release in jan 2008

6. i really like this kind of music where can i find more of it? kyle gann has a great blog that talks about many types of of "postclassic" music. kyle and robin cox both run great online radio stations that play a great rotation of new music . check them out.

iridian radio (robin cox)

postclassic radio (kyle gann)

there are many great music blogs out there you can get an idea of them at my bloglines subscriptions

7. because they are dead? huh? someone asked why i compose when there has been such great music written by bach, beethoven and mozart... answer-because they are dead

8. how can i play in your group or a group like yours? we don't have subs that often, but come to a show and introduce yourself. you can also send an informal resume. none of us get rich from this but i will buy you drinks for your time. one of the best things to do is start your own group with friends. start small and have a goal to work toward. i started the pbe by writing a bunch of music and organizing a recording. the process of rehearsing and recording was great motivation to keep going through the early days. with the recording we were able to book a few performances. drop me a line, anything i can do to help more groups get going is great for all of us.