Best of the Rest: 2-2-10

So classes started yesterday, reminding me how exhausting it can be to stand up in front of groups of students for four hours. I have the same basic schedule as last semester, just moved up one in the sequence of courses: Theory II, Theory IV, and Musicianship IV. I really want to teach an upper level class again soon.

Since I haven't done this in a while, the Best of the Rest are blogs that are not in the top 25-50 classical blog lists, but that I feel deserve some extra exposure.

1. Theme and Variations: Robert teaches us about the composer/violinist Charles-Auguste de Beriot.

2. 2'23": Philip Gentry explains that Lady GaGa is at the front edge of a new movement in virtuosic provocation, in The Law of GaGa.

3. Hearing the Movies: Jim Buhler extols the Wikipedia article on Illustrated Songs, and provides a video example from 1909.

4. Classical Convert: Things I Learned from the Cleveland Orchestra strike.

5. Feast of Music: Peter Matthews explains why the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra is one of the best orchestras, pound-for-pound, in America.

Best of the Rest: We Got Pictures!

Night After Night gives us some good pics of Bang on a Can's latest invention, the Asphalt Orchestra.

Darcy James Argue mourns the death of jazz drummer Rashied Ali, with a nice photo taken by DJA himself.

Music 000001 produces a very complicated graph of "the Phylogenetic tree of complete mtDNA sequences belonging to haplogroup L1c" from a paper about Pygmies and Bantu farmers by Quintana-Murcia.

Feast of Music has some pics of what he calls the misnamed Mostly Mozart festival at Lincoln Center.

Musical Assumptions shares a picture and a recipe for Hummus-Tahini Seitan.

Best of the Rest: 7-29-09

1. Roger Bourland: Our favorite UCLA chairman has started a new project, music for a short film. He might get a REAL trumpeter! And read on how to compose good melodies when using a keyboard.

2. Adventures of Wang: Our favorite "quirky alien" has plans for how to recharge her batteries as a graduate student in music.

3. A View from the Podium: Our favorite conductor who divides time between Britain and Eastern Oregon and is named Kenneth Woods writes about the best CD store in Madison, WI.

4. Matt Van Brink: Our favorite composer/pianist/accordionist shares two new songs - "The Old Switcheroo" and "Lost".

5. The Gathering Note: Our favorite lawyer/freelance arts journalist named Zach Carstensen gives the history of his 2-year-old blog.

Best of the Rest: 7-22-09

Music 000001: Victor Grauer has a whole series of posts on the relationship between the musical traditions of the African Pygmies and Bushmen, and the implications on the development of music in various cultures. He is up to 12 posts on this topic thus far, starting here.

Feast of Music: Peter Matthews describes the musical connections of recently departed Walter Cronkite, including the Grateful Dead.

The gentlemen at the Detritus Review ponder what a music critic is, with the help of Anne Midgette (complete with Part II).

ThoughtLights: Dan B. describes how to procrastinate at the National Archives while doing research on George Antheil.

Horndog blog.com: Bruce Hembd gives us 10 ways to provoke a Horn Geek.

Critical Noise: Terry O'Gara has a rather lengthy essay on Music, Linguistics, and Network Theory.

Best of the Rest: 6-15-09

It's time to start linking to those less-known music blogs again.

First up, violist Robert Levine has a series of posts on performing Mahler's 8th Symphony as a tribute to the departing Music Director Andreas Delfs. 'But I'm having great difficulty with the big triumphant theme in the second movement of the Mahler 8 being the same motif as "Silver bells, silver bells, it's Christmas time in the city.' I hate that carol almost as much as I hate the 'Carol of the Pogroms Bells.'"

Peter Matthews imagines dueling pianists in adjacent brownstones. "As if I needed another reason to love my nabe: I was walking along 12th Street yesterday when I was stopped in my tracks by the sound of a piano playing incredibly difficult figures."

Bruce Hodges is disarmed by Hilary Hahn. "But while I came for Ives, I was seduced by Ysaÿe"

Molly Sheridan finds a filk of the media industry.

Best of the Rest: 1-26-09

Today was the first day of classes. I'm teaching Musicianship II, Theory II, 2 sections of Musicianship IV, and Psychology of Music. And once more into the breach!

1. Mahler Owes Me Ten Bucks: Strings forte, please. I'm trying to keep from cracking any conductor jokes, saved mostly by the collision of about fifty possibilities. Prickly, there I said it.

2. Music Matters: Do newborn infants have a sense of rhythm? Holy crap, Henkjan and his colleagues have proved that they do! Visit to see the adorably disturbing picture of the baby with electrodes.

3. Horndog Blog: Suck Ups Suck. Bruce shares an Onion Radio report that the Brass Section is Sucking Up To the Conductor Again. This is clearly satire, as no brass section would try to appease the conductor merely to be allowed to play louder... ahem!

4. ClassicallyHip: Absolute Math shares a video of Augusta Read Thomas giving a pre-concert talk in Houston, said concert detailed in 5 Things About the Houston Symphony.

Best of the Rest: 1-18-09

1. [klang~440]: Two good posts by this student timpanist. First, a short description of a finding I also heard about, how mosquitoes only mate when they can adjust their buzzes to make a perfect fifth. The second post is more extensive, about the Philidor March for 4 kettledrums, and a good Christmas gig story.

2. The Sibelian Conspiracy: Meeting and discussion in London. What do you call a collection of composers?

3. Feast of Music: Tough Times. Peter Matthews thinks small groups will thrive where orchestras and operas will suffer, and perhaps for the better. "cultural Darwinism."

4. The View from Here: Muti – CSO – Verdi Requiem – what more is there to say? Apparently plenty, as Andrew Patner continues with a full review of Muti's first concert as music director designate with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

5. Mahler Owes Me Ten Bucks: Dress code. Chantal has a few choice words for her fellow female musicians about how they should dress when on stage, at least when in an orchestra.

Best of the Rest: 1-13-09

This is the latest in my series of efforts to highlight blogs that aren't as well known.

1. Monotonous Forest: Part archivist, part lab technician. Mr. Hodges covers Alan Gilbert's first press conference as the new conductor of the New York Philharmonic. Apparently Maestro Gilbert had the audacity to say that "Schoenberg is beautiful." It is exciting that the opening night will include a world premiere by Magnus Lindberg, the new composer-in-residence.

2. The Detritus Review: Going to Concerts for Free Is an Outrage! Sator Arepo has torn a new one for Scott Cantrell, reviewer of the Dallas Morning News. I have to say, it isn't the best snark from this fine site. Instead of focusing on the audacity of complaining about a free concert, I would have gone with questioning why a 50 minute concert is a bad thing. Mr. Cantrell himself says that the opening piece, Brahms' Third Symphony, is a hefty thing, and that was followed by even more heavy Romanticism with Wagner's Overture from Tannhauser . I think I'd be happy with such a meal, no need to overfeed us. I do agree with Empiricus' comment.

3. Singing South African-ness. Excuse me madam, did you forget something? The ethnomusicology student also writes about the New York Philharmonic, as well as the audacity of people riding in the subway pantsless.

4. Feast of Music: Fairytale of New York. Peter Matthews tells us about a showcase of Irish music in New York. The group The Frost Is All Over made the audacious choice of combining accordion and uilleann pipes with visual media.

5. Tom Meglioranza, baritone: The Youtubes. I really have nothing to say about this post, other than the word of the day: "audacity."

Best of the Rest: 10-07-08

1. Tears of a Clownsilly: PWS introduces us to a video on ytmnd. THis video imagines John McCain as a malfunctioning robot, caught in an unending loop of arm gestures to the strains of Satie's second Nocturne. And if that isn't enough, he makes connections from this video to the Prague Astronomical Clock.

2. Modernclassical: Randolph Coleman is retiring, according to Cleveland Okie (Tom Jackson). Read the post to find out who Coleman is, if you don't already know.

3. Andrew Patner: The View from Here: Andrew reviews a film by Paul Festa, Apparition of the Eternal Church. This movie is based on reactions to Messiaen's piece of the same name.

4. the search for artistry: Phil Giampietro (euphonium-ist) posts about the new feature on iTunes, Genius. He does a trial, where he makes a playlist based on a song, and then compares it to the iTunes Genius-generated playlist for the same song. I have been underwhelmed by Genius, myself.

5. Catalysts & Connections - Evan Tobias: Our favorite music education blogger has heard of a new Flash-based notation application. This could have potential.

Best of the Rest: 9-30-08

1. All At Once: Trumpeter Kris Tiner writes a series of posts of his visit to NYC for some work. The latest one, RECAP - V, has great pictures and tantalizing descriptions of the album he's recording.

2. Joshua Nemith's Cincinnati Pianist Blog (the name could use some work): Joshua's blog has paid off in the recruiting department, netting him some new students.

3. Tonic Blotter: In between bird posts and a diatribe about the Wall Street bailout, MK manages to fit an interesting review of Charles Dutoit's guest turn with Chicago.

4. ClassicallyHip: John Clare gives in to his inner fan boy as he interviews Anne-Sophie Mutter.

5. Fredösphere: Right-winger (and composer) Fred Himebaugh finds something unique in an Obama video to frighten him. And amazingly, this unapologetic liberal agrees with him.

The Best of the Rest: 8-19-08

1. The Black Torrent Guard: Impoverished musicology/guitar student Andy talks about the new social network for new music, NetNewMusic, kind of a Facebook for new music geeks.

2. Joshua Nemith's Cincinnati Pianist Blog: Joshua tells us of another online service for musicians, PianoAccompanists.com.

3. Amusicology: "Drew does a post-op on his first solo class."

4. JohninGeorgia: This is a fascinating blog by a musicologist who happens to be in the middle of the Russia-Georgia conflict right now. This particular post ties together the war with an analysis of Orthodox chant.

5. ThoughtLights: Dan muses on how music appreciation textbooks convey value to his students.

The Best of the Rest: 8-2-08

Today I did my first campaign volunteer work, pounding the doors of my neighbors. Everyone I managed to talk to said they're voting for Barack Obama, which is great news. Here are some highlights from around the bløg¥sphére.

1. Feast of Music: Peter Matthews provides pictures from John Zorn's performance at Brooklyn Bridge Park, and pictures from this year's Bang on a Can Marathon.

2. Sounds Like Now: Brian Sacawa announces the return of "chamber music insurgents" Mobtown Modern, and makes an important correction to the name of their podcast.

3. The Detritus Review: Empiricus has the newest edition of Composer of the Day, featuring Olly Wilson. Dr. Wilson is certainly new to me, though now that I think about it I think I read a mention of his ethnomusicological work in my improvisation research.

4. Classically Hip: I have to read John Clare's San Antonio-based blog to find out that the local Indianapolis Symphonic Band is offering a dog-friendly concert right now. It's not that local, so I won't be able to bring Weasley to it this time. However, I will be going to Fort Harrison State Park in October for another half-marathon.

5. Eric Edberg: My colleague gave his first recital with the newly-restored Pallotta cello, and reports the results.

The Best of the Rest: 7-26-08

Since this is new, a reminder: These are all blogs that are NOT on my lists of the top 50 Classical Blogs. However, since those lists are merely about links, not about quality, I'm doing my part to expose lesser-linked blogs to the bright light of ... my readers?

1. Mahler Owes Me Ten Bucks: Chantal explains why she has this blog, how it is different from her professional reviews, and why her legs turn to jello when she is listening to Mahler 6.

2. Music Matters: Henkjan Honing has two posts about the recent Music & Language conference held in Boston. In the first, he talks about how influential Lerdahl and Jackendoff's book, A Generative Theory of Tonal Music was in bringing music theory to scientists. In the second, he points to a Boston Globe reporter who asked whether the conference attendees could help him decide what music to play for his infant son.

3. Feast of Music: A good mini-review of David Lang's "American Shelter," part of a Bang on a Can collaboration. "It was shimmering, transcendent, the most mystical experience of the entire weekend. Take that, kids. And run with it."

4. ThoughtLights: Dan B. muses on how to determine quality. He looks at views by Greg Sandow, Kyle Gann, and a NYTimes article on reading, before coming to his own conclusions.

5. The View from Here: In between music reviews for the Chicago Sun-Times, Andrew Patner posts about the new Poet Laureate, Kay Ryan.

The Best of the Rest

I'm inspired by the various "Link Posts" that bloggers do when they have nothing else to say. But given the recent top 50 lists I just published, I'm also interested in giving a voice to those who aren't as well known. So this will be a roughly regular feature, The Best of the Rest, a list of links to posts from blogs that aren't on the Top 50 lists.

1. Theme and Variations: A review of two CD's by the Amadeus Guitar Duo, Baroque Moments and Images from the South. "However, there is much to be said for the guitar ensemble."

2. Of Sound Mind: Falling in love with the sound of cutting apart a large oil tank with a Sawzall. "The overall effect is what you might imagine, a grandiose cacophony, but there is something about the pacing and the incidental sounds made by the removal of a panel, or the constant drone of the waves, that is kind of magical."

3. Musicology/Matters: "A PhD in Horribleness", reviewing/appreciating Joss Whedon's Dr. Horrible as an unusual parody musical.

4. Fredosphere: On how writing short science fiction caused composer's block, and the final revisions to Fred's choral work, The Moon that Dreamed of Earth.

5. Joshua Nemith's Cincinnati Pianist Blog: This is a slightly older post, but still a good one: Advice for performing at a funeral. "If your pastor calls you in and tells you that the deceased person's Uncle Hank and Cousin Jimmy want you to accompany them on a banjo and harmonica rendition of Barry Manilow's "Looks Like We Made It" – smile politely and say you would be delighted. When the duo show up twenty minutes before the funeral with five chord changes scribbled on a greasy napkin, and they instruct you to just "follow them", smile again and serve up the music as best you can."