I posted earlier on Jason Freeman’s open score project and invitation for people to create their own musical versions of his open scores. The results are in and he selected several versions that were performed my pianist Jenny Lin. You can listen to them and read comments by the creators in his latest post on “The Score.” Would you consider trying a similar project in your own music program?
The New York Times has a fantastic section called “The Score,” which features composers discussing their music, process, and various issues related to composition. Jason Freeman, a composer and assistant professor at the Center for Music Technology at Georgia Tech, recently wrote about the use of open scores as a springboard for creating music. In his post he mentions the small percentage of adults who continue playing music and speculates that even less compose music. When viewed through the prism… Read More »Open scores and music students: An invitation to compose from Jason Freeman
The New York Times has an interesting article, titled “The String Quartet Reinvented,” about David Harrington’s (violinist and founder of the Kronos Quartet) role in broadening the stylistic oeuvre of string quartets and reinventing this type of ensemble. In addition to reminding me that some of my favorite groups are chamber groups and small ensembles such as the Kronos Quartet, Ethel, SO Percussion, and the many configurations of Bang on a Can, the article provoked a resurfacing of a question… Read More »The [fill in the blank] ensemble reinvented?
The electronic music foundation is presenting a series of FREE concerts titled “The Human Voice In A New World“. (The New York Times has a review of the first one.) The strand tying the various concerts together is the way the voice can be altered, processed, modified etc. When I first found out about the series I immediately began thinking about the many ways it could serve as a springboard for lessons and forms of musical engagement in both general… Read More »Expanding the voice… From T-Pain to Tuvan Throat Singing
I just returned from the 2009 Arizona Music Educators Association In-Service (conference). I had a great time attending sessions, and meeting many wonderful people. At the conference it was announced that MENC has started the following petition, available online: Be it resolved that we, the undersigned, agree that all Americans should work to enhance and support music education in our nation’s schools. To that end, we call on the U.S. Department of Education and all American leaders to: • Mandate… Read More »2009 Arizona Music Educators Association In-Service (Conference)