For lack of something better to post, here is an ode to Spring Recital Season at CUA:
(10 points to the first person who can name this recent yet obscure poetic form!)
'Midst singers most melodious
And instruments harmonious,
Forgetting all that's odious
In chambers most commodious,
Our solemn congregation
Surveys this celebration
Of plain procrastination
To preface graduation.
Their families amusing
And absent friends excusing
While faculty are snoozing -
All their pow'r exerting
For pleasures of diverting.
Everyone only comes for all the free food.
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Romeo and Juliet at Synetic
Go see this show if you can find a way. Online tickets are no longer available, and the final two performances are this Friday and Saturday, so call the box office now!
Their wordless adaptation of Romeo and Juliet is powerful, fierce, touching, and all-around impressive. This is one of the best shows I have ever seen. $20 for students. That is all for now.
Information is below...
Tickets: $35 for Friday and Saturday, $30 for Thursday and Sunday, $5 off for seniors (65+) and $20 for students for Friday and Saturday, $15 for students for Thursday and Sunday. $40 for performance and reception on February 14th, Valentine's Day.
For tickets, order online or call the box-office at 703-824-8060.
The Rosslyn Spectrum is located at 1611 N. Kent Street, Arlington VA, 22209. (4 blocks from the Rosslyn Metro.)
Their wordless adaptation of Romeo and Juliet is powerful, fierce, touching, and all-around impressive. This is one of the best shows I have ever seen. $20 for students. That is all for now.
Information is below...
Tickets: $35 for Friday and Saturday, $30 for Thursday and Sunday, $5 off for seniors (65+) and $20 for students for Friday and Saturday, $15 for students for Thursday and Sunday. $40 for performance and reception on February 14th, Valentine's Day.
For tickets, order online or call the box-office at 703-824-8060.
The Rosslyn Spectrum is located at 1611 N. Kent Street, Arlington VA, 22209. (4 blocks from the Rosslyn Metro.)
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Communal Music
With the advent of so many different forms of technology, people have radically changed their means of music consumption. Records, cassettes, CDs, DVDs, radio, TV, iPods, and the internet (to name but a few) offer seemingly unlimited ways by which a consumer can plug into her/his chosen music.
I fear we are losing - or have already lost? - an important means of experiencing music (new or old, classical or popular): together as a family, ensemble, or social group. The communal aspect of music is central to the (assumed) origins and main purposes of music at its core - to bring people together to share in a common experience and a common emotional journey. After all, what good is telling a story if the storyteller is never actually present, and the audience consists of a single, inattentive person who gets to choose where, when, and what will story be told?
In the past century, the music listening experience has grown into one of an extremely individualized and isolated nature. Rarely do we listen to music, let alone actively participate in making music, with other people. Popular radio delivers an easily-digestible stream of music, which we can listen to - or not - with little effort.
Not everyone is an excellent performer, I realize. I know I for one lack great technical skill in any instrument. But I have worked to become proficient at singing and playing the piano. These are the elements I can bring to the story. Even if someone has no discernible musical talents, simply listening as part of a group, whether to live or recorded music, is a way to share in the telling of that story.
What I advocate is an intentional effort by every one of my readers to find some time at least once per week to experience music with another person. Make a listening date with your significant other to explore some unfamiliar music at Pandora (www.pandora.com). Check out a DVD of an opera or musical you've never heard but have heard about, and invite some friends over to watch. Or, if you're musically inclined, start an ensemble that meets for 30-60 minutes each week to play some music together. The focus can be an established body of classical repertoire such as string trios, popular music to learn by ear (piano, guitar, bass, drums), or an improvisatory composition-generating jam session with whatever instruments you can get your hands on - anything to get yourself playing with other people regularly.
I've started a music listening club that meets once a week to listen to and analyze music we're interested in. Since we're all composers, the selections tend toward pieces from the Twentieth Century with which most of us are not familiar - but should be. I am hoping to find some people to commit to a "jam session" in the future, but I haven't yet found the time.
And of course, that is always what it comes down to - schedules and priorities. Is the joy of experiencing and/or creating music something that truly interests you, or are you content with passively listening to the same radio station and three CDs, by yourself, once every week or two? Of course, I pose this question to myself as much as anyone else.
But your replies would be more interesting than mine. So say something!
I fear we are losing - or have already lost? - an important means of experiencing music (new or old, classical or popular): together as a family, ensemble, or social group. The communal aspect of music is central to the (assumed) origins and main purposes of music at its core - to bring people together to share in a common experience and a common emotional journey. After all, what good is telling a story if the storyteller is never actually present, and the audience consists of a single, inattentive person who gets to choose where, when, and what will story be told?
In the past century, the music listening experience has grown into one of an extremely individualized and isolated nature. Rarely do we listen to music, let alone actively participate in making music, with other people. Popular radio delivers an easily-digestible stream of music, which we can listen to - or not - with little effort.
Not everyone is an excellent performer, I realize. I know I for one lack great technical skill in any instrument. But I have worked to become proficient at singing and playing the piano. These are the elements I can bring to the story. Even if someone has no discernible musical talents, simply listening as part of a group, whether to live or recorded music, is a way to share in the telling of that story.
What I advocate is an intentional effort by every one of my readers to find some time at least once per week to experience music with another person. Make a listening date with your significant other to explore some unfamiliar music at Pandora (www.pandora.com). Check out a DVD of an opera or musical you've never heard but have heard about, and invite some friends over to watch. Or, if you're musically inclined, start an ensemble that meets for 30-60 minutes each week to play some music together. The focus can be an established body of classical repertoire such as string trios, popular music to learn by ear (piano, guitar, bass, drums), or an improvisatory composition-generating jam session with whatever instruments you can get your hands on - anything to get yourself playing with other people regularly.
I've started a music listening club that meets once a week to listen to and analyze music we're interested in. Since we're all composers, the selections tend toward pieces from the Twentieth Century with which most of us are not familiar - but should be. I am hoping to find some people to commit to a "jam session" in the future, but I haven't yet found the time.
And of course, that is always what it comes down to - schedules and priorities. Is the joy of experiencing and/or creating music something that truly interests you, or are you content with passively listening to the same radio station and three CDs, by yourself, once every week or two? Of course, I pose this question to myself as much as anyone else.
But your replies would be more interesting than mine. So say something!
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Welcome to Blogging
Welcome to the Composer's Notebook, the blog of an aspiring composer. Here you can learn about my music, read my thoughts on other composers' works, and join in the discussion.
Through this blog I hope to establish an online presence for the advancement of my music, share and analyze music of interest to living composers, and provide a public space for the discussion of new music in all its forms.
A little about me:
I am primarily a composer/lyricist of stage works: musical theater, opera, sound design, dance, etc., and I have written extensively for the voice. My compositional interests include collaboration, structured improvisation, and exploring the intersection of opera and musical theater.
I am a doctoral candidate in music composition at The Catholic University of America, where I completed my masters degree in composition in May of 2007 as the first graduate from CUA's new Stage Music Emphasis program.
My masters thesis, The Eden Diaries, received a concert performance in September 2007 as part of the "Page to Stage" New Play Festival at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Two scenes from this one-act musical, which premiered at CUA in March 2007, were selected for a two-week workshop at the 2007 John Duffy Composers Institute in May. My works have been performed in master classes given by John Adams, Joseph Schwantner, John Duffy, Lee Hoiby, and Anthony Davis.
Through this blog I hope to establish an online presence for the advancement of my music, share and analyze music of interest to living composers, and provide a public space for the discussion of new music in all its forms.
A little about me:
I am primarily a composer/lyricist of stage works: musical theater, opera, sound design, dance, etc., and I have written extensively for the voice. My compositional interests include collaboration, structured improvisation, and exploring the intersection of opera and musical theater.
I am a doctoral candidate in music composition at The Catholic University of America, where I completed my masters degree in composition in May of 2007 as the first graduate from CUA's new Stage Music Emphasis program.
My masters thesis, The Eden Diaries, received a concert performance in September 2007 as part of the "Page to Stage" New Play Festival at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Two scenes from this one-act musical, which premiered at CUA in March 2007, were selected for a two-week workshop at the 2007 John Duffy Composers Institute in May. My works have been performed in master classes given by John Adams, Joseph Schwantner, John Duffy, Lee Hoiby, and Anthony Davis.
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