Chord Changes We Can Believe In

Wordless Music is presenting a benefit concert for the Barack Obama campaign, featuring pianist Brad Mehldau and mandolinist Chris Thile. They will be performing music by Bach, Brahms, Mehldau, and Thile tomorrow (October 10) at 11 pm (late concert!) at Le Poisson Rouge in New York. Tickets are $25 and $50 general admission, preferred seating tickets at $75 each, with all proceeds going to the campaign. Click on the link above to purchase tickets.

Musicking

I wrote a little while ago about musicking. This term was coined (as far as I know) by Christopher Small. Here is a brief synopsis of Small's work by Robert Christgau.

He was driven by an overriding idea: that music is always a social activity, never a reified thing. Thus the Balinese and African musics his first book describes early on are the equals of the European classical tradition whose audience he is addressing, and perhaps its superior. The moral agenda that goes with this concept not only insists on music's social context but challenges "the whole idea of music as communication"--especially the myth of the composer as an anointed genius with a message to impart to his inferiors in the orchestra and the audience.

Musicking is that social interaction which comes from making, listening, or responding to music. It encompasses composing, performing, improvising, recording, listening, dancing, analyzing, criticizing, etc. The point is to blur the lines between these activities, tearing down the walls between composers who create, performers who interpret, and listeners who consume. We all create, interpret, and consume, just at different levels of focus and scope. Almost all of my students come in with a focus of being performers or teachers. I want them to embrace their creativity through composition and improvisation, to think about their interpretations by performing their own creations, and to become aware of how they consume music through listening activities (dictation as a means of conscious labeling). To follow the To-Be-Continued theme, I'll write next time about my goals for them as pre-professional musicians.

___ for Obama

When I was looking for reactions to last night's debate, I came across this website selling Obama buttons. Relevant to the topic of this blog are the following:

And my favorite:

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.

The Dangers of Ignorance

I heard a story on either Fresh Air or PRI's The World about the dangers of innumeracy, the lack of awareness about numbers and math. And I've read blog posts on the dangers of being ignorant about science. So it made me wonder: what is the danger of being unpossessing of musical knowledge, or knowledge of the fine arts in general? One could speak of living an enriched life, but is it dangerous to live an unenriched life? It is potentially sad, but are there any studies that show this could lower life expectancy or theories that culturally ignorant people are more likely to act violently towards others? And then what constitutes knowledge. I'm reading a book by Jerrold Levinson, Music in the Moment, that argues against the necessity to have conscious awareness of musical structure in order to "understand" any particular piece. Levinson claims that understanding music is the same as attending to the music as it is being played, no underlying theoretical knowledge need be applied. I haven't finished the book yet, so I don't know if I agree with this (I'm leaning towards "no"), but there are certainly arguments that knowing too much about the arts destroys their magical effect. What say you?

PS. My blog seems to be under some sort of attack not by a troll, but rather by someone who enjoys writing violent, misogynistic, and generally sexually immature comments. Anybody else with problems like this?

Brassy composers

Last night I went to a guest recital that featured horn ensembles. The last piece of the evening was composed by a colleague for 12 horns and percussion. The colleague himself is a brass player, and it struck me that all of the pieces I know that were composed by brass players for brass instruments share a key characteristic. All of these pieces are neo-tonal, emphasizing the sonorous harmonic series through lots of quartal chords and triads. Thus they allow the brass instruments to reinforce each other, allowing the strong overtones to align and make the chords ring. This focus on sonority comes from a emphasis on producing beautiful sounds in brass pedagogy. Creating a big, round sound is the goal of every brass player, often to the sacrifice of other musical considerations. Likewise brass compositions emphasize these beautiful sounds to the detriment of more interesting harmonic progressions. I'm thinking of works by trumpeters Tony Plog and Thomas Stevens, and trombonists Jim Beckel and Christian Lindberg. Exceptions to this rule would be jazzers like Bob Brookmeyer who glory in crunchy chords.

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.