Now that is historic snowfall! (Photo courtesy of bass clarinetist Harry Sparnaay)

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As I patiently await the arrival of spring (grrrrrrrr!), this delightful tidbit, via Alex Ross, has become a daily necessity:

During this sort of performance you can clap whenever you like, though it would be a shame to risk frightening these little ones away.

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Listening:
Henri Dutilleux – Ainsi la nuit (Arditti Quartet)
Brooklyn Rider – Dominant Curve
Joan Jeanrenaud – Strange Toys

Here is Brian during sound check in the recital hall!

A highlight of the trip for me was working with the four student percussionists who performed “Coyote”. They practiced hard all year, guided by Dr. Kay Stonefelt, to prepare for this performance (did I mention that this piece is actually a BEAR to play?), and they did an outstanding job! Guitarist Jim Piorkowski also gave a lovely, thoughtful performance of “Luminoso”.

There was much talk about the composer-performer relationship – a topic I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. It is a more complex issue than the nuts and bolts of writing clear notation and understanding how an instrument works. The performer and composer are collaborating in the creation of a new work.

Working with performers is one of my favorite parts of the composition process. After spending weeks/months in semi-solitary confinement creating a new thing, I am SO ready to go out into the world for a dose of basic human contact, not to mention additional sets of eyes and ears on the work. Together we iron out the details, and as that happens the performer develops a personal approach to playing the music. It is incredibly satisfying when a performer brings something of themselves to a composition! For example, Jim P. plays the last section of “Luminoso” (a structured improvisation) with a sense of drama that is completely wonderful and surprising, while Ben unleashes his Inner Percussionist with an intensity that makes me worry slightly (!) about his guitar. Same piece, very different approaches, both awesome. The performer adds new layers of meaning and depth to the work.

For the composer this requires being open to interpretation. Literally! Letting go of the music enough to allow a musician to add their own voice to the mix. In my experience, when a performer asks, “Do you want this phrase played this way? Or that way?” sometimes they present options that I hadn’t considered, and sometimes those options are better than what I initially had in mind! Similarly, if there is a more efficient way to achieve that double/triple/quadruple stop, or that harmonic, than what I have written, I see no reason not to change it. The score is a means to an end. Don’t get me wrong – I am very attached to my compositions. VERY. They are extremely personal to me, and I know how I want them to be. At the same time, I understand that when the score leaves my hands, it’s not totally mine anymore – I am entering into a partnership, and the best thing I can do is be open to how that might unfold.

To make a little, er, structured improvisation on the words of Kahlil Gibran:

Your music is not your music….once in my hands it is mine…..once in the ears of the audience it is theirs!

Another composer participating in that show was Annie Gosfield, who, in addition to writing exciting and original works of music, also writes clear, insightful words about music. Her “Advice to Young Composers” is traveling like wildfire across the internet, and I’m sure it will be quoted extensively for a long time to come. She has also written an essay that describes my life with frightening accuracy, towards which I direct those who want to know (or, ahem, NEED to understand) what it’s like to be a composer.

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An addendum to that recent post about becoming more interested in video:

Cellist Joshua Roman has a fine new project with photographer Chase Jarvis, which you can watch here. Chase has also made a very fun iPhone app called Best Camera, which makes the iPhone camera way more entertaining!

Also – I help manage a website called livingroommusic.org, which was created to honor the memory of Randy Hostetler, a super-talented young composer who left us much too early. A few months ago a friend of Randy’s gave us some wonderful video of Randy performing his own composition “8″ for piano and eight ball.

Having never properly met Randy (although we did attend the same high school and graduate school, at different times), this video is a lovely window into his personality.

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Listening:

• Roger Kleier, The Night Has Many Hours (Innova)

Reading:

• Amy Bloom, Come to Me

However, this can be a completely good thing! For example, friends joining the Forces of Good by switching from Blackberry to iPhone have, in their extreme and ambitious enthusiasm, turned me on to fantastic apps I didn’t know about, such as Byline and Things. My own tortoise-like conversion has to do with video. I’ve never been a video person – it just doesn’t float my boat in the same way that photography does. I try and try to get psyched about art that incorporates video, and most of the time I end up running back to the comfort of the still image. That is starting to change though – more and more often I climb aboard YouTube or Vimeo to watch assorted musical performances or to check out the latest bit of satire. Molly has a talent for finding really good videos, and she has now gotten me completely hooked on Pomplamoose. This duo makes brilliant video cover songs as well as their own wonderful original music. Their work is such a good example of the best possible cover song scenario – the integral parts of the original song which make that song special are left intact, while the music is also changed up in a very personal way that makes it their own. Although I am a long time past the group house experience, I think these two would be ideal housemates, because who wouldn’t want to come downstairs in the morning for breakfast in the midst of this much joy?

Have fun everyone!

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To be honest I haven’t been feeling very talkative lately, so I’ve been keeping things on this side of the firewall. During July and August I took a break from composing to focus on some other projects (which I will fill you in on shortly), and to rest my mind and ears. Although it wasn’t intentional, I barely listened to music over the past two months. No earbuds, no listening while washing dishes or puttering around the house… Wind and water, birds and sounds of the city were more than enough to satisfy. Slowly, little musical ideas started to creep in, and then larger and more developed ideas came knocking… all are written down in words and/or dots, and stashed away for use in upcoming projects. Two weeks ago I awoke one morning hungry to listen to music. Since then I’ve been happily listening to all sorts of things, letting go and rolling the music around in my head. It feels like meeting new friends, and rediscovering old ones!

For instance:

Un Dia by Juana Molina. That is how loops should be dealt with!

The Dirty Projectors

A Sound Map of the Danube by Annea Lockwood

Then by Jonathan Elliott

Two weeks ago they outdid themselves with their benefit Future Party, and in my opinion have raised the bar for everyone as far as concert season announcements go. Behold!

See what I’m saying?? How can I possibly ever deal with a paper press release again?!

When I was little I used to freak out my younger brother by telling him that I really came from another planet. Turns out I wasn’t kidding!

(Jonathan gets full credit for the title of this post, btw)

Sadly I will be out of town for more than half of this glorious contemporary music week at the Kennedy Center, but you all better get over there and check out as much as you possibly can, because this stuff does not happen often in our Nation’s Capital. Many of the events are free, so no excuses! I do plan to be at the Knussen NSO concert on Friday, and if anyone wants to join in, let me know – the more the merrier!

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There are so many good things to say about this group, Lo Cor de la Plana. The music is based on ancient church music, and the six members sing in Occitan (!), accompanied by frame drums and tambourines. Please take note of the insanely virtuosic tambourine playing, and the stomping!!

The title of this post was inspired by architect David Pressgrove, who is not only doing fantastic work designing and rebuilding homes for people in Mississippi whose lives have been devastated by weather, but is also exploring a number of terribly interesting building ideas, including how a structure might be designed to incorporate the characteristics of tumbleweeds. A protective shelter that moves with the wind.

Happily, worker bee mode is paying off. The orchestra piece is only measures away from done, and I’m starting to play with the cello recordings from November. One more week!

Here are a few examples of the incredibleness that I get to have dinner with:

• Natalia Almada – filmmaker
• Ryder Cooley – interdisciplinary artist
• Kevin Doyle – playwright/director
• Wendy Lee – novelist
• Maria Levitsky – photographer
• Harriet Salmon – sculptor
• Kirk Stoller – sculptor

Reading:

• Art/Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland

Listening:

• wind
• rain
• crackling fire
• snow (oh but it does make a noise)
• trees “squeaking” in above wind
• crunching steps on gravel roads

I am tempted to quell my Election Anxiety with chocolate, but have been just barely keeping it together. All fingers and toes crossed, people!!!

Already the leaves are changing big time in Maine!! I always feel clearer after a trip up north – like I’ve been internally realigned. Maybe it’s the air…or the lobster!

The concert in Baltimore went very well! Full house, good music. I particularly enjoyed Ingram Marshall’s Sea Tropes – his music, which is very sparse and delicate, has a gangling sense of balance, as if it might at any moment fall apart and tumble off into the distance, but manages to hold together. The Mobtown Modern team always puts a lot of thought and creativity into the theme of the evening – for this program, entitled Sound Ecology, the space was covered in plants, healthy snacks were served, the sound of crickets could be heard in the pauses between works, and there was even a little giraffe running around! I know some people say oh, who cares about ambience, it’s the music that really matters. Yes, the music is the most important part, but if people are going to be expected to travel somewhere and pay some money to have an experience, I really appreciate that the organizers of that experience are willing to go the extra mile to make it all-encompassing. It shows initiative and consideration for the audience, which, last time I checked, makes audiences happy and makes them want to come back next time.

There is a nice review here!