A Composer's Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Cole) — Sun, 18 Jan 2015 04:17:00 +0000

I'm teaching this year at the University of Central Missouri. Great colleagues, great students. Loving it so far and wow this is a massive amount of work. I'll come up for air in May. Cheers.

First Residency

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Cole) — Sat, 03 May 2014 18:23:00 +0000

I just got back from a month at the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts in Nebraska City. It was a nice place. Pat and Jeni the 2 assistant directors that really run the center were very supportive and help to make the experience fruitful and artistically stimulating by organizing outings like a trip to the taxidermy nature center or the Arbor Day grounds. I enjoyed my time there.

This was my first residency but it struck me that in this sort of situation time seems to stop or maybe accelerate, I'm not sure which. Anyway I worked on arranging chord solos for myself to play - mostly just jazz standards - and a composition for Flute and Cello which I all but finished.

Nebraska City was an interesting place. It was a tiny town with many more museums than one would expect. It is the home of Arbor day, so I assume that brings many tourists throughout the summer. It was more or less dead while I was there, which was not a bad thing. The food in the town was really pretty horrible and actual beer (not Budweiser or Coors) was relatively rare, but that was really the only drawback to the place. The single exception was a bakery that had pretty good sweets and good coffee. The center did not cook for us and instead provided a stipend. I mostly ended up cooking myself which was healthier. Food tends to be a big deal for me, but of course cooking for yourself is always better so it worked out. Regardless, the quite and friendly nature of the town counterbalanced this and made for an enjoyable experience. I essentially wrote an entire work in 3 weeks, which for me is nothing short of miraculous. Anyway, I'd highly recommend this residency.

Haven't done this for a while

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Cole) — Mon, 10 Feb 2014 18:05:00 +0000

Wow, so I've hardly posted in a few years, though admittedly I've been distracted with stuff.

My biggest news is that I received a Fulbright to New Zealand, which was awesome. For me the most import and fruitful stuff was my travel, recordings, and experience of NZ. This stuff was wonderful! On the non-work front, I climbed lots of mountains and had the opportunity to do some great hiking and camping, which was fantastic. I also took many many recordings and have not begun to catalog them all. What an amazing sounding country. I lived in the Aro Valley, which was such a good experience. By and large I found living there and traveling throughout the country to be one of the best experiences I've ever had. I also had 4 roommates while there - all of whom were just awesome - what wonderful people!

Educationally, the Fulbright was not what I expected, this seemed to be almost universal for the FB people in NZ. Overall though, I had many very positive experiences there. I was quite lucky to work closely with Dugal McKinnon for the whole year. Dugal is a real gem, a very good composer, and a ridiculously smart guy. I also worked with Michael Norris, who is a very nice guy and a great composer. I wish I had gotten to know Michael better to be honest. I also worked Debbie Rawlings and members of Saxcess, a totally awesome sax quartet. They were a treat to work with, and I felt that collaborating with them was the hight light of my time there musically.

Biking in NZ was interesting, often both terrifying and exhilarating at the same time. Driving was similar. Wow there were some one lane roads that stretched for several K's around a gorge. That was wild.

In terms of food, it was like here really. The food was generally less sweet, less fatty, less sizable, all of which I approve of to be honest. They had a very healthy microbrew and wine industry, both of which I loved. I lived near the Garage Project, which was an awesome brewery in the Aro Valley. Most importantly the coffee..... The coffee was SO GOOD! I dream about that coffee. Seriously. I would love nothing more than a long black at Aro Coffee, Fidel's, or Memphis Bell. They had quite a few local roasters and my favorite was Havan, with Aro Coffee and Flight (served by Memphis Bell) coming in for a close second and third.... it was SO GOOD!

So back to the US. I'm in Wisconsin preparing for my defense. I've finished my course work and my dissertation with the exception of a few revisions. I defend in March. Wish me luck.

Lots of stuff done

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Cole) — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 17:37:00 +0000

So since my last post I finished a Clarinet and Video work. It's an interesting piece to have written. At 10:30 seconds I suspect that it will be hard to get programmed, we'll see. It also embraces a sound and video aesthetic that is quite contrary to common trend. I use found video and samples very heavily. I also use distortion and over compression quite a bit for my sound. In the video I crank up basic effects so that they visually distort. While I feel confident about what I'm doing, I have to step back and wonder if this will get into much of anything.

This was an interesting summer & fall for me. Musically, I think this piece good. I find it compelling. However, it was challenging to have to separate my composition endeavors from the question, will this every be played. Luckily Mauricio Salguero, who commissioned it, is taking on touring with, so he will be playing it quite a bit - 10 or more times this semester! While you really cannot ask for anything more than that, I'm crossing my fingers that it will have a life beyond that. I suppose that just doing what I find compelling is all I can do. That is my one and only rule in composition. I do have to love what I write. There is always the risk that no one else will, but as long as I do it will be ok.

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Cole) — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 02:39:00 +0000

I've been away from this for a while, which is ok. Since my last post I've finished schools - written 3 pieces - and been to quite a few festivals. I'm now back in Wisconsin enjoying the summer there. Wisconsin summers are pretty amazing. Even though I do have work to do, I've got enough time on my hands to be able to build up my running stamina. My goal is to work up to a half marathon by the end of the summer. I'm at 3-5 miles per day comfortably, so we'll see. Of course this excludes the days I go biking with Asha, but those are usually 10-20 miles per bike which might be comparable. During the year I tend to stick to 3 miles because I can make time for that. Anyway, we'll see if I can get to 13.1 by the end of the summer. I think I can do it. The real test will be for me to keep it up during our trip to Maine and when my wife's family visit's in July.

NACUSA Young Composer Composition Competition

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Cole) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 18:51:00 +0000

I just won first place in the NACUSA Young Composer Composition Competition. It was for Sound Timbre and Density III for flute and Electronics. I am very surprised to have won. I am also quite, maybe even more, excited to have been the first person to have won first place in the 30 years of the competition who used electronics!

Every musician should be lucky enough to work with Jed

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew Cole) — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 19:11:00 +0000

I went to see the Johns Hopkins Orchestra perform last Saturday, and sitting there enjoying the music, it struck me how lucky everyone at Hopkins, myself in particular, is to have the opportunity to work with Jed Gaylin. Almost a year ago, Jed and the Symphony commissioned and performed a new orchestra piece from me. I was blown away by the experience.

As a composer, I'm used to having to organize performances of my music. Generally performers who are daring and talented enough to work with composers and new music in general are great, but there are always those who bail out on you at the last minute, or don't bother to practice, or even just have a bad attitude to the whole thing. In contrast, working with Jed was an amazing experience.

Every musician should be lucky enough to work and interact with Jed Gaylin! While I realize that this isn't realistic, I do hope that all musicians and composers have the opportunity to work with some one like him. He brought a fresh and energetic view to the piece, was always positive and encouraging about my music, his criticisms were always constructive and insightful, and he was an absolute pleasure to work with. On top of all that, he is one hell of a conductor!

I hope everyone has the opportunity to work with Jed Gaylin!