Goose bumps! A clear signal that something very excellent is in progress. I experienced more than one episode of these as a result of:

Roomful of Teeth at the Ecstatic Music Festival. They delivered an utterly delightful, inspiring evening of vocal gymnastics concocted by William Brittelle, Caleb Burhans, and tUnE-yArDs. Wonderful stuff all around! I didn’t know the music of tUnE-yArDs (Merrill Garbus) before this concert, and for those who are fans of the Juana Molina/Andrew Bird do-it-ALL-yourself school of singer-songwriters employing loops for the Forces of Good, she is a great addition to that playlist! Plus, there’s yodeling.

Inuksuit by John Luther Adams at the Park Avenue Armory. I have already written some reflections about that elsewhere. And dear pal Molly Sheridan has wrought sheer brilliance about JLA that should be watched and read.

In addition to those events there was a hunk of the Music of Now marathon at Symphony Space. The world of new music totally needs more Errollyn Wallen!

Finally, I scurried over to Alice Tully Hall after a busy day to hear ICE perform. Imagine a concert of Feldman, Cage, Xenakis and Webern attracting hundreds! Love it! I was looking especially forward to hearing the Feldman pieces, and in the end was most taken with Jalons by Xenakis. I think I like the music of Xenakis for some of the same reasons I like the music of John Luther Adams – every so often through gigantic, thick, busy clouds of musical activity pop individual instrumental lines, as if bits of the composition’s DNA are being revealed. Like watching dolphins jump out of the ocean.

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Among other happy discoveries is this film, which I am excited to see! In graduate school the best (and toughest) class I took was without a doubt ethnomusicology. I did my big research project on raves and techno music, and loved every minute of it. Say what you will – I got an A.

The good people from Roulette sent the recordings from my November performance, and I have whipped together a mix of Now or Never for your listening pleasure.

It’s going to snow! Again. Buy milk! Buy bread! Buy toilet paper!! Aaaaaahhhhhhh!!!

(Snow drama is especially hilarious after a couple January weeks in Maine, where they know how to handle the stuff!)

Anyway, on to the business at hand! Logan and I took a little trip to Oktaven Audio in Yonkers, where we recorded “Mint Conditioner”, and you can listen to it here. We had a great time working with Ryan Streber, whose setup is quite luxurious (yet affordable!) – in addition to a serious microphone obsession, he has as his main mixing board the Studer 900 series console used by the Metropolitan Opera for live broadcasts over the last 20 years. Fancy!!

Somehow the piece feels like it might pair nicely with turkey and a hearty stuffing. Enjoy, and Happy Thanksgiving!!

Some notes and papers from the production of Now or Never for flute, clarinet, electric guitar, piano and double bass. You can read a program note here, as well as an essay on this photo ritual here.

Now or Never is written for the wonderful NOW Ensemble, who are on tour as we speak, and I am very excited for their visit to DC on Monday! Strathmore Mansion (the older yet more petite sister of the Strathmore Music Center) is a beautiful space with very good acoustics–perfect for intimate concerts. In addition to this work, the ensemble will be playing music by Nico Muhly, Nathan Michel, Patrick Burke, David T. Little, Mark Dancigers (who plays guitar in the group), Jascha Narveson, and my friend the intrepid director of NOW, Judd Greenstein. The show is going to be so fun! DC people come on out!

I wanted to alert you to some videos from last month’s concert in Baltimore. The combination of fantastic performances, an enthusiastic, open-eared audience, and a venue that has really good feng shui (Baltimore people, if you haven’t been to The Metro Gallery, you must stop in for a drink asap!) made for a wonderful, completely satisfying experience.

Here is The Way of Ideas performed by Kelli Kathman, flute; Alicia Lee, clarinet; Yuki Numata, violin; and Joshua Roman, cello.

Joshua Roman playing Bloom.

There is a reason why performed by Alicia Lee, clarinet; Yuki Numata, violin; Joshua Roman, cello; Chris Thompson, drum set & melodica.

Almost like being there. Enjoy! There are plenty more where these came from too!

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

First of all, there was an amazing concert in Seattle! This was one of the very best premieres of a new work that I have ever experienced. Sometimes I am so nervous at a premiere that i don’t really hear the piece, and then all of a sudden it’s over and I wonder how it went (!), but this time I was fully present and when it was over all I could do was smile wide as can be.

The entire concert was truly excellent – every work had it’s own special personality. The ensemble, made up of Yuki Numata on violin, Bill Kalinkos (of Alarm Will Sound) on clarinet, Joshua Roman on cello, and Jason Treuting (of So Percussion) on drum set, also played works by Lisa Bielawa, Stefan Freund, Chuck Krenner and Matt Marks.

Below is a promo video for the performance – very cute, worth the watch even after the fact:

Although the camera didn’t come on this trip, the iPhone is always nice for a quick snap during rehearsal:

Last week I also participated in Molly Sheridan’s Blogger Book Club. We read and wrote about Dave Hickey’s The Invisible Dragon: Essays on Beauty. Tackling this supercharged academic writing on visual art felt a bit like actually slaying a dragon!

Wishing everyone a Happy Independence Day!!

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!

Last Monday Joshua Roman premiered Bloom at The Flea Theater in NYC to a big, wonderfully responsive audience. I couldn’t be happier about the performance! Even though it did indeed happen in a standard concert setting, Joshua’s stage presence and playing style blurs the line between audience and performer, creating a surprisingly intimate experience. Here is a post-concert photo, in foggy iPhone style: