As if You Weren't Eric-Whitacre-ed Out . . .

So here are some follow-up links to more info on Eric Whitacre.  Of course, a Google search will probably reveal a plethora of results, these are the ones I found most relevant.

www.ericwhitacre.com is his official website, the one that requires the latest version of Flash to view.

His Wikipedia page also gives a list of links.

John Schaeffer's interview on "New Sounds" can be found at:

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/newsounds/episodes/2008/10/01

This interview, of course, actually includes the music they discuss.

A search on youtube will bring up more videos that you probably want to deal with, but here are some I liked:

-Get some "Sleep," arranged for marimbas— http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stM4xTBKAIM

-In "Godzilla Eats Las Vegas" (in two parts), you too can experience the joy of hearing "I'll Be Seeing You in All the Old Familar Places" over the top of Tchaikovsky's first piano concerto— http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcuxVggc5FI

-Get an idea for the theatricality of "Cloudburst"— http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5lolF-7jKM

Enjoy!

Music or confusion!@#%?

Music or confusion?
Sitting in the class these past few weeks have been very interesting to my ears. I haven't really listened to much 'avant-garde' music in years. I remember when I was an undergraduate student in NC listening to composers such as Schoenberg, Berg, and Weber and really wondering what was happening to music??!! It was really different to my ears back then. Having grown up in a rural area, I was exposed to basically pop music, some country, and bluegrass. When I entered college my 'classical' exposure to music was greatly enhanced. And then I heard Schoenberg. Oh my goodness...what happened?! After being exposed to that music for a bit, then along came Cage. I remember listening to it with amusement, wondering what had happened. It was totally different from what I had listened to in the past. My inexperienced mind (and ears) couldn't quite comprehend it all. Being the introvert that I was back then, I kept quiet about it. After all, I was "from the hills!" :)Years later I have come to be more tolerant and willing to listen to different (or as our class indicates...innovative) music. Some of it can be quite challenging to listen to. Some of it I would even question whether to classify it as music or as experiments with sound. Back in high school I took an electronic music class. This was the time when synthesizers did not have labels such as "piano, bass, strings, etc." The synthesizers looked more like small scientific instruments with the labels "sine wave, algorhithm, frequency, etc." We also experimented with taped sounds, loops....very different from the Yahama DX7 synthesizers (I'm showing my age here). Anyway, I knew about experimenting with sounds. But did it make it music? I would say that during that particular class I was more of a noise maker (or creator) than that of an innovative music maker. I was really just in the stage of just trying to figure out different things. So I suppose that's what a lot of composers are doing, especially the experimenters whose 'musical' creations are just trying to expand the bounds of music and sound. I've been intrigued by their process, and with their thinking.So I suppose my whole purpose of writing this blog is to think aloud why/how some 'innovative' composers' musics sound like music and some composers' musics sound like 'sound.' It does help me to hear/read what the composer has to say about his/her piece of music. That bit of insight does help in the digesting and, hopefully, in the appreciation of his/her work. Knowing about the music and the composer's intent really helps me to understand what he/she is accomplishing. I may not love it, but at least I understand it better.

Dadaism

During our last class I heard a term. A term I had heard before, but ever had the opportunity to explore its meaning. That term is Dadaism. So here is the breakdown of what I found out.
I discovered is that it is not something so easily defined but rather an entire cultural movement in reaction to world war I. Its origins are a little mixed up as well. While some believe it is a nonsensical word others believe it comes from the Russian da, da meaning yes, yes. Still others assert that it comes from a random selection in a French dictionary, where the word dada means hobby.
I learned that this artistic movement mostly affected the visual arts but did (a little later) have an impact on music and poetry. These arts were anti-war and included demonstrations and gatherings. One interesting idea I came across was that the art was “anti-art” or art that makes fun of serious art.
In music specifically, not much is said about Dadaism until it begins to fade. Although I did find a brief entry in Wikipedia, which mentions Kurt Schwitters, Erwin Schulhoff, Hans Heusser and Albert Savinio. It also stated that some members of les six attended Dada gatherings.
Around the beginning of WW2, the French Dadaists were fading and serialism was taking hold. Hitler persecuted those who participated in what he called degenerate art. As a result most European Dadaist moved to the US to avoid persecution.

Spring break and… still Cage

Well, too bad Spring break is over… I had a great time and was able to do a lot of simple things that are hard to do during class time. For example, my husband and I were able to paint the baby’s bedroom… it looks really cute. We also rested, played, visited with other friends, and talked about Cage… I think I finally digested and concluded my thoughts on him, so here it is:
I never really liked Cage, but I knew so little about him that I decided I would give it a try and use this opportunity in class to explore him more. As hard as it is I tried to put my “preconception” on him aside and make a completely new reading of this polemic, should I say, figure. I was excited about being happily surprised with what I would learn about him and prepared to humbly say “I was so wrong!” Very disappointing… It turned out that the more I learned about him, the lesser I liked it.

The first thing that really bothers me is his lack of consistence. His statements sound contradictory, irrational, and unreasonable. For example, he once said "You can become narrow minded, literally, by only liking certain things and disliking others, but you can become open-minded, literally, by giving up your likes and dislikes and becoming interested in things." Kostelanetz 1988, 231, but later on he says that “When I hear what we call music, it seems to me that someone is talking, and talking about his feelings or about his ideas of relationships, but when I hear traffic, the sound of traffic… I don’t have the feeling that anyone is talking, I have the feeling that sound is acting and I love the activity of sound. What it does is it gets louder and quieter, and it gets higher and lower, and it gets longer and shorter, it does all those things which I am completely satisfied with that, I don’t need sound to talk to me.” Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcHnL7aS64Y). First of all, what is left of a person that has no likes or dislikes? Is that possible? If it was, is he trying to say that he is open-minded because he is interested in things when he writes his music, but at the same time he is writing them based on his likes and dislikes? I don’t understand it…

What is the pattern in Cage music? (and this is a very, very honest question since I really don’t know that much about it). I believe you are all familiar with the name of American painter Jackson Pollock. The movie/documentary “Who the … is Pollock?” tells the story of a women who believes she had purchased, accidentally, one of Pollock’s works. Her challenge is to prove the originality of the piece since this work has not been listed among the other paintings of Pollock and it has no signature. Pollock’s dripping and pouring techniques, which is so random and totally object of the chance, have such a unique pattern that it gives enough material for the expertise to dwell on the subject for several years. I keep thinking if one would be able to identify a “lost” work of Cage…

Susan and I were talking and I think we came up with a better label for Cage, instead of ‘composer’ we should just call him an ‘experimentalist.’ All he did was to play with sounds, experiment them, and I enjoy it, as an experiment. Taking 4’33’’ for an example, the principle of it is that the music is in everywhere and is made by every and anything; great sound experience, but one should not claim it as his/her own music/composition because this is the music (if one wants to call it this way) of the environment. I think that to claim one thigh which is not yours as being your is considered plagiarism ☺

At the end of the story I think Cage was really a great entertainer. I thought I would have my baby when we watched “Water Walk” in class. I was laughing so hard that I started to feel bad that I was enjoying the performance so much in that way (I still can’t decided if I liked the “duck squeaking” better that the “pressure-pan-manipulation” – all amazing!!!!) but I decided to take Cage’s own words “I consider laughter preferable to tears” youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSulycqZH-U) and indulge myself with an extraordinary time with that performance!!!!!

Ladies and Gentlemen, Elvis has left the building

I’m getting to that stage in my learning this semester where things are starting to make a lot more sense. I’m able to compare the various innovations of American composers and I can identify time periods and specific historical events with their developments in twentieth century music. Often in class, I play very simple ‘word association games’ with myself to make sure I’m still on the ball. Just a snippet…

Ives – Concord, insurance, four musical traditions, quotations, masculinity
Griffes – Debussy
Varese – French, tape recorder, Ionization, Poem electronique
Cowell – polystylism, American 5, inside piano
Partch – new instruments, 43 pitches, talking/singing
Nancarrow – prepared piano, Mexico
Harrison – bang on anything

And when I’m feeling super challenged, I try to find random connections:

Back to resonant sounds:  

Partch new instruments Young  retuning piano
New 43 pitches pure sine waves, drones
Day jobs outside music:  

Ives insurance Griffes teacher
Deep spirituality:  

Cage dadism Young Fluxus

‘Father of electronic music’: Nancarrow
‘Father of minimalism’: Young
Alternative tuning: Young, Harrison, Nancarrow, Partch, Riley

But all that aside, I HAD TO SHARE my most recent memorable American experience with you. On Saturday night I found myself in a small church hall in Harrodsburg with my husband and in-laws. No, I wasn’t at a ‘revival’! I was witnessing my first Elvis impersonator concert. Dressed from head to toe in a bejeweled white jump-suite with bling on every finger, I was serenaded by The King himself singing I can’t help falling in-love with you. Not really knowing a lot of the tunes, I found my mind wondering back to class discussions…. Innovators, traditions, and American music…..So I thought I would consult my newly acquainted associate, Kyle Gann and see if he had ANYTHING to say about Elvis Presley and his influence on shaping American music. Sure enough, I stumbled on an article written in the New York Times by Bernard Holland upon the release of American Music in the Twentieth Century.

“The important events in American music do seem to share a common formula: put two old and very different things on a collision course, and something new often appears. In rock-and roll, black power meets white power (Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry)”

Kyall also wrote a very interesting insert on his blog in 2007 http://www.artsjournal.com/popcorn/2007/09/remembering_elvis.html

But the purpose of me including this is really to explore more of the historical context in which the composers we have focused operated. It's easier for me to recall dates when I have relevant associations with them. Several very significant events that closely preceded the innovations of Partch, Young, and Cage included the influence of European composers domiciling in the USA, the resistance of American public to hear music of Germany and Italy post World War 2, and the patriotism of the American audience, to name just a few. Of course there is also the influence of spirituality, Vietnam, and Freudian thought. All of these can be associated with at least one of the composers we have studied so far and definitely makes it easier for me to understand the context of their work.

I can’t help thinking that perhaps there is a stronger association between developments in genres such as Rock and Roll and Blues with “twentieth century classical music” (for lack of a better term). Perhaps, if anyone else reads this blog, they could shed some light on this for me.

P.S
Thank you to all of you for listening so intently to my presentation last week. That was without a doubt, one of the scariest things I’ve done this year. And now that it’s over, I can continue on my journey of discovering the music of La Monte Young without the pressure of a looming presentation. I am truly fascinated by the man and his music. Thank you to you Dr. Brunner for instigating my journey…
Have a fantastic Spring break Ya'all!!!

Rhythm in Pulse-less Music: Thoughts on Varese

Hey another post! Yes, I am determined to be productive this week. So I thought I’d blog about Varese even though we brought him up weeks ago. Oh well, I hope you find this thought stirring anyway. Last week in MUS 676, post tonal theory, was article presentation week, and if you know me at all, you know I get a little nervous about public presentations. And I’m going into education. . .hmmm.

Anyway, I presented on an article by Elizabeth West Marvin entitled “ The Perception of Rhythm in Non-Tonal Music: Rhythmic Contours in the Music of Edgar Varese.” Marvin is an interesting character. On top of being a theory professor she also has a secondary appointment in the University of Rochester’s Brain and Cognitive Sciences department. Much of her work deals with musical cognition.

Nearly every piece in Western tonal music and much of Western non-tonal music has a beat as an essential part of its structure. However, much of twentieth century Western music has an increasingly ambiguous sense of pulse. It is interesting to wonder how the ear perceives rhythm in a pulse-less framework. Because, according to certain psychologists I can’t cite right now, listeners accustomed to Western music perceive rhythm as the division of a steady beat or the addition of multiple beats. In non-pulse music, what we would call rhythm could actually be treated as series of durations. If this is the case, it questions the role of traditional rhythmic notation in music such as Varese’s Density 21.5 and Octandre. Even this non-beat music has to be performed with some sort of micro-pulse in mind so that the durations are accurate. The conductor or performer usually determines this micro-pulse. However, the listener’s aural perception of the music probably does not pick up on these smaller subdivisions: oh, the limitations of the human brain.


Most of the structural analysis of atonal music has been based on pitches and pc sets. Little analysis has been done on rhythm and duration succession as a marker of form in atonal music. The rest of the article goes on to analyze Density 21.5. It’s too much to talk about in this blog entry, and frankly, I don’t think I’d do it justice. If you want to read the article, it’s available on JSTOR, and the title is “ The Perception of Rhythm in Non-Tonal Music: Rhythmic Contours in the Music of Edgar Varese.” The reason I mention this article is that Marvin brings up several questions that reflect our discussion of tradition versus innovation. For example:

If we write outside the confines of a temporal pulse, does that change the audience’s perception of the music?

Rhythmic contours are much more difficult to aurally perceive than melodic contours. Does it make sense then to organize the structure of a piece around temporal values if the audience won’t pick up on it?

If we are going to write music without pulse, should we abandon tradition rhythmic notation since it doesn’t seem to serve the music?

How do we practice and perform non-beat rhythms or durations?

What is the point of using rhythmic complexities that are impossible to process aurally?

shameless plugs

hey everyone, didn't get a chance to go over this in class, but here ya go:

Thursday, IUPUI Telematic Ensemble, 730 SCFA RH

Sunday, March 22, 730 PM, recital hall- my last solo recital, featuring music of...American Innovators!!!!!!!

Program to include 3 works by David Lang, 2 by Chris Adler who will be here in April, a Riq improv by me (Egyptian tambourine), traditional Cuban music, a work by Christopher Deane (faculty at UNT), something weird by a Swedish Guy, and a premiere of a new work by Tylla!!!! Musical Guests include Brad, Ben, and Brian Nozny. Show up. Really. It'll be cool, none of it is too far out of the box.

March 25- 730 PM, Recital Hall- world music concert. support Dr. Kwon in her new endeavors, so she sticks around! Brad, Ben, and I will be playing a marimba trio inspired by Balinese Gamelan. If you've never heard it, it will blow your mind. Also, more Cuban music (the same actually), Korean Ensemble, Chinese Ensemble, etc.

April 4- concert hall, 7 pm, Zakir Hussain and the killer Santoor guy- seriously, this will be the most ridiculous display of virtuosity you are ever likely to see in Singletary. They haven't sold many tickets yet so get them while you can still get killer seats.

April 5, 3 PM, concert hall- UK Percussion Ensemble. Special Guest Christopher Adler. We will premiere his new percussion quintet Pines Long Slept in Sunshine, which I have organized an international consortium to help make happen. Cool piece, very very very very difficult. Also, a piece by my hand drumming class, something by some guy in Texas, another piece by another guy in Texas (another UNT faculty member) featuring Andy Bliss on vibraphone. A piece by norwegian composer Rolf Wallin that is based on fractals, but in a very different way than JLA, and a piece by John Cage that was discovered LAST YEAR.

good stuff coming up, please some support.

Have a good break.