why compose when you can blog?

silly hats

2013-04-29T09:00:00.000-04:00

On a personal note, I accomplished something I wanted to do since I was twelve years old: earn a doctorate in something.

Did I want to be a scholar? Yes, but I don't think I completely grasped what that meant. Did I think I could teach everyone at that level? Oh yes. Did I think I would know everything by that point? Most certainly. And did my young Republican self want to earn a doctorate because I would make way more money than the average high school graduate? You betcha.¹

Anyway, I finally earned my degree last year in August, and now I have the ceremony to go with it.

Now back to grading.

———

1. Yes, times have changed.

composer FAIL #65

2013-04-22T09:00:00.000-04:00

Yes Dennis, that is your cat.

Not related to composer FAILs but somewhat related, kudos to Caroline Shaw for winning the Pulitzer Prize in Music for her "Partita for 8 Voices." I am DIGGING it (minus the random Spotify ads), and I want to hear it live someday. According to the NPR Deceptive Cadence blog, "[Shaw] noted that she sent in the piece for Pulitzer consideration — not that she thought that there was much chance of winning, but because she wanted more recognition for Roomful of Teeth's work."

So guess what we're all going to do? Submit our stuff! Might as well.

And on that note:

And life goes on.

excerpt of the bubble

2013-04-15T09:00:00.000-04:00

Before I start, I wanted to give a shout-out to Spencer Lambright, Chrissy Kim, Paula Van Goes, Nancy Gamso, and volunteer performers (for the "Press Play" piece) at the Middle Tennessee State University and Ohio Wesleyan University concerts on Wednesday and Saturday. What a fun crazy electronic music show! I can't thank all of you guys enough! (And for those who missed out, hopefully I'll have video of the show posted soon.)

And, before I show you said video of said excerpt of THE BUBBLE, I also wanted to put in a plug about the Performance and Time Arts April Fundraising Extravaganza. I mean, this show will be off the hook, and Kari Olson will be adding movement to "Ticket Punch" of Speilzeug Straßenbahn fame. (Who am I kidding? This piece isn't famous. Yet.) Advance tickets (or in other words, cheaper tickets) are available by clicking here.

So, here is the first scene of THE BUBBLE, which was workshopped at the Performance and Time Arts Series on March 9, 2013. Dashiell Waterbury as THE DEAN, M. Andrew Jones as THE BANKER, and Karen Wissel Shiota as THE DITZ. THE BUBBLE will be a 25 minute opera by NANOWorks founders Kendall A and Jennifer Jolley about the build-up of the U.S. housing market before its devastating collapse. In it, a college co-ed called simply "The Ditz" —an unspoken role played by a dancer—literally stumbles into the purchase of a house with nothing more than her student loan money. The four supporting male singers represent various parts of the easy lending establishment that created the bubble, and become a sort of bankershop quartet as the dancer's character, gets put through their paces. The comedy is ribald (a metaphor for the base, unthinking greed of the times) and meant to be reminiscent of Vaudeville or silent film era slapstick. With Tyler Catlin, music director; Liz Remizowski, piano maven.

———

And…speaking of opera…have you purchased your early-bird tickets for a HUGE NANOWorks production coming up May 3rd and 4th? (Because on April 27th, prices go up.) There are a few more treats and surprises. (In other words, it's my way of saying, "There's always money in the banana stand." Well, I guess I really don't have money in the banana stand (nor do I have a banana stand), but there will be a surprise.)

the chiptune revolution

2013-04-08T09:00:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago I was excitedly and meticulously planning my trip to Chicago—I was having a premiere of Speilzeug Straßenbahn at the Museum of Contemporary Art, and what girl would not be thrilled?

I had my entire trip mapped out: I booked a hotel and rental car, ordered a new dress and new boots online, and I was ready to hit the road as soon as I was done teaching my composition lesson for that day.

However, two days before my Chicago debut I received this email:

"Hi Jennifer, I wanted to let you know straight away that in discussion with the MCA it has been decided to reschedule this weeks concerts for another date. The MCA are totally committed to the project, as am I, and we will figure out another time when they can happen. Sorry if this causes any inconvenience and I look forward to presenting your work in the future."

I was in shock. I just told my students an hour prior to reading that email that their classes were canceled due to my being out-of-town for this performance. Did I lie to them? I mean, they probably read about my new piece in their school's electronic newsletter. A preview piece was even published in the Chicago Sun-Times. For a split second, I was wondering if I made up this whole premiere in my head—because why would anyone ask me to write a piece for them when Anna Clyne, Elbio Barilari, David Fulmer, Jason Seed, and Christopher Theofanidis were on the same bill?

Alas, not everything has gone to waste. Yes, I am still waiting for the premiere of this piece (which may not happen until next year), but my pop-cultural 1980s muse, who suggested I incorporate the Mr. Rodgers' Neighborhood Trolley Theme in this work, also gave me this brilliant idea.

Yes, my tweet was facetious at the time, but after I received that upsetting email, I was no longer joking. I fired up my GarageBand application, converted my MIDI files to Magical 8bit Plugin instruments, and created this monster.

Well, this monster will get its premiere: it will be paired with original movement by Kari Olson at the Performance and Time Arts series Friday April 19 and Saturday April 20 at 8 p.m.

Will I eventually compare-and-contrast the differences between the chiptune and Baroque ensemble versions? Possibly. Maybe I'll comment on the modern-instrument version too.

———
Other news.

1. I leave TODAY for a joint recital with über-cool composer Spencer Lambright at Middle Tennessee State University. ROADTRIP. (And yes, I'm taking my tape recorders with me.) If you can't make it down to (outside of) Nashville, I'm doing the same show at Ohio Wesleyan University. I'll keep you posted.

2. Did I also mention NANOWorks has a huge compilation of productions coming up May 3 and 4? I'll be blogging about this, but you can buy DISCOUNTED tickets here. If you're in the Cincinnati area and you love me, you will buy tickets. Also, there will be a surprise from yours truly.

composer WIN #13

2013-03-25T09:00:00.000-04:00

So yay, Krispy Kremes and Butter Queens was accepted into a festival! I think this is a first!

I'm excited that I'm on the same bill as Veronica Krausas (who was a grad student at USC when I was an undergrad there) and Charles Halka, which, coincidentally enough, is an opera that NANOWorks has premiered and produced. In fact, I may chime in and state that NANOWorks has produced two of the short operas that New Fangled Opera will have as part of their festival, which will take place June 7th and 8th in New Orleans.

(Can I also give a shout-out to Chris and Shelley Burton for founding a new opera company in New Orleans dedicated to performing and producing new works?! Rock on.)

The only bad news is that I cannot make this performance because NANOWorks will be producing something at the same time. I am not allowed to announce anything yet, but I will keep you posted. (Oh, and I'm missing a trip to NOLA.)

And speaking of NANOWorks, our first full-evening production compiled of short new operas twenty-five minutes or less will be taking place on May 3rd and 4th. The program includes a regional premiere of Douglas Pew's new opera A Game of Hearts, Halka's "Layover," as well as a couple more treats and surprises. Tickets are now on sale.

Click here for tickets to the May 3rd show (Terrace Park).

Click here for tickets to the May 4th show (Cincinnati).

composer FAIL #64

2013-03-18T09:00:00.000-04:00

Hi Lindsay Cat, you always make me feel better, especially when I think my music has a chance in a certain composition competition.

I was hoping to win this one, especially since I paid some money to enter this competition. Remind me again to never pay a fee for a competition again.

he did it

2013-02-11T09:00:00.001-05:00

Well, he did it. The composer who wears a healthy dose of Hawaiian shirts, has a fondness for penguins, and can easily tell by the look of my face if I'm wanting to write an opera again has won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition.

Bravo Stephen Hartke. I am so happy for you.

eighth blackbird- Meanwhile (incidental music for imaginary puppet plays) --- a short film by Manual Cinema from eighth blackbird on Vimeo.

*And bravi to eighth blackbird. You guys rock.

banana mashup

2013-02-11T09:00:00.000-05:00

I have a feeling some of you were wondering what I was doing with a whole bunch of bananas, mini alligator clips, and my laptop, so let me explain.

This past weekend I was attending the Ohio Music Education Association (OMEA) for the first time, and I knew I was going to be there for SOME TIME, so why not have fun?

Long story short, I received a MaKey MaKey for Christmas (thanks Love!), and I loved it so much that I made my Intro to Electronic Students purchase one for their final project.

I wanted to create a keyboard of my own, so after a stop at Kroger for bananas and an extension cord, I set up my keyboard at the Ohio Wesleyan University booth at OMEA. I used bananas, a MaKey MaKey, my laptop, and my "Sounds from the Gray Goo 1.01" Max/MSP patch. BLAMO.

Now, what to do with those bananas…I wonder what I can do with bananas…

how to write an opera in 24 hours (or so I think)

2013-01-25T09:00:00.000-05:00

Photographer: Tim Wilkerson for The Atlanta Opera

It is time to dust off this blog and mooch a story from The Atlanta Opera since it is their third annual 24-Hour Opera Project. I do have fond memories of the event last year, and I'm sad I won't be able to participate this year.¹ However, I do plan to throw a party and watch the live-streaming of the show. (Advantage: I get a good night's sleep this time around. The participants this year…not so much.)

I wish everyone luck (including my sharp and quick librettist from last year, Vynnie Meli, who is crazy enough to participate for the third year in a row), and I'm looking forward to seeing and hearing their stuff. Even though we composers may not like to crampose, sometimes we create some fantastic work under pressure.²

From last year's 24HOP: Layover by Sarah Hersh and Brad Fairchild, produced by NANOWorks.

———

1. Audition weekend.

2. I will keep telling myself when I write The Bubble. I guess I will need to eat lots of cocoa almond spread to get me through this month. Sob.

composer FAILs #62 & #63

2013-01-07T09:00:00.000-05:00

What better way to start ~~my birthday~~ the year with a couple of rejection letters I should have posted earlier. Actually, these two are not terribly soul-crushing because they do not contain the same wording most rejection letters normally have. See below.

I must confess I had been anticipating a traditional rejection letter from this establishment for the past few weeks, and then I realized that THIS is the rejection letter. I was confused: there were no "thanks for submitting your piece" or "we had a gazillion fine entries" or "unfortunately your piece was not selected" statements that are normally sprinkled across generic rejection templates.

So, I'm posting this. I'll let you know if a real rejection letter appears in my inbox anytime soon.

This next rejection letter actually gives me some hope.

Woot! A potential performance! Maybe! I'm just happy KK&BQ isn't dying after its premiere performance.

And, speaking of opera, N.A.N.O.Works is having their next production this Wednesday at Rohs Street Cafe called "Layover Overlay." Go!

my daily dose of new music

2013-01-02T09:00:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year! In the grand tradition of making or not making resolutions, I've decided that I'm going to be good this year and actually listen to new music as often as I should.

This guilt of not listening to music as often as I should has been gnawing at me for some time—it preceded my meeting with Augusta Read Thomas and followed me through my graduate school days.

And sadly, I never was disciplined to do anything about it. You'd think after a major composer stated I had huge gaps in my listening that I would have surgically attached an iPod to myself so that I could finally listen to enough prescribed Berio or Takemitsu or Rihm…but that didn't happen.

I should blame myself for being lazy, and I should especially blame myself for not having a plan to listen to more music. In fact, I had no plan until I read David Smooke's article about finding time to listen to music. That's it, I thought, I merely needed to carve out listening time. Simple enough, I can do that. In fact, now I'm forced to.

For the past few months (or maybe the past few years?) I've had crippling shoulder and neck pain. I'd sit at my laptop and the pain would slowly creep and escalate until I ate some NSAIDs like candy and hoped the pain would go away. Sometimes it would go away, or sometimes my stomach would start hurting instead, and most of the time the pain would not go away and I would have to stop working, walk around, and gripe and grimace that I was not getting any work done.

Obviously, this was not healthy, and so I decided to start seeing a chiropractor.

Long story short, the chiropractor took x-rays of my neck and told me I had reverse cervical lordosis. In other words, my neck is curving the wrong way, which may be contributing to my pain. (I also think my deplorable posture habits may also be contributing, but that's another story.) This is actually an easy fix: I am to lie on my back with my neck over a ledge (like over the side of a bed) for up to twenty minutes a day so I could stretch my neck back into place.

This is not my neck, but it's a representation of what it looks like..

I was to gradually work up to this twenty-minute mark. When I started doing this exercise for three minutes, I pretended that this was my mini exercise in meditation: I was to quiet my mind for a short time while literally looking at the world upside-down.

After the five minute mark, my mind grew restless. Knowing that I was never going to be good at this meditation thing, I had to do something with my time. Unfortunately there is not much you can do while having your head upside-down: you can't read, you can't surf the Internet, you can't watch television or movies. However, you can listen to music. And therefore, I have found a way to carve out twenty minutes a day (well, most days) and ingest my daily dose of new music.

My advice to you readers is this: listen to new music daily, and do it now before the doctors force you too. You will be healthier because of it.

unsilent night finally in cincinnati

2012-12-10T09:00:00.000-05:00

This is from 5chw4rtz's Final Friday blog post. PLEASE check out his blog: it is the best.

Unsilent Night will finally be performed in Cincinnati! Thanks to Drew Klein and the Contemporary Arts Center, the inaugural Cincinnati edition will begin at the CAC and end at Fountain Square on Saturday, December 15 at 7 p.m. (arrive at 6:30 p.m.).

I remember the first time I heard about Phil Kline's Unsilent Night: it was December 2006, I was living in Vermont in the time, and I was listening to Studio 360's Redesigning Christmas while commuting from Burlington to Waterbury to do my choir director stint at the Waterbury Congregational Church.

After hearing "1, 2, 3, PLAY!" on the radio and listening to this reenactment of his music, dude, it was fantastic. The I-89 had never sounded better. My car was temporarily filled with gorgeous, celestial, and beautifully-dissonant-at-times ambient music.

As soon as I got home, I had to know more. After searching the Internet, I found the Unsilent Night website and read a description of the piece.

"Unsilent Night is an original composition by Phil Kline, written specifically to be heard outdoors in the month of December. It takes the form of a street promenade in which the audience becomes the performer. Each participant gets one of four tracks of music in the form of a cassette, CD, or Mp3. Together all four tracks comprise Unsilent Night. The fact that the participants play different "parts" simultaneously helps create the special sound of the piece. Participants carry boomboxes, or anything that amplifies music, and simultaneously start playing the music. They then walk a carefully chosen route through their city’s streets, creating a unique mobile sound sculpture which is different from every listener's perspective."

Unfortunately, Unsilent Night was not being performed in Burlington that year. And when I moved to Cincinnati in 2007, it wasn't being performed there either. I even had this crazy idea to start one of these performances last year, but my stint as a graduate student/adjunct professor kind of made life busy.

HOWEVER, it is finally being performed in six days!

ALAS!

I will have to grade juries from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. on that same day in Delaware.

I am heartbroken.

If you are in Cincinnati, go! Download the Unsilent Night app or download the mp3s bring a boombox OR carry one of my tape recorders…because I'm letting the CAC borrow them for this long-awaited event. It is my way of being there in person, so please go and participate. (And take lots of pictures. Please.)

it's alive: sounds from the gray goo 3.0

2012-11-26T09:00:00.000-05:00

Here is my first foray into live electronic music, something I've only faked-dabbled in since 2009 as part of my Sounds from the Gray Goo series, and I'm already crossing my fingers, throwing salt over my shoulder, and making sacrifices for the Electronic Music Gods¹ so that it will not die in public in front of excited teenagers when it premieres this Saturday. (Or later on when I produce a joint electro-acoustic recital with Spencer Lambright in April.)

Long story short, Nancy Gamso, a woodwind specialist, asked me to write a piece for alto flute and soprano saxophone to be performed at Ohio Wesleyan University's Woodwind Day so high school students can see and hear these two instruments being performed…by the same person. I thought using a laptop to combine these two mismatched instruments would help meld them together. I have the alto flute creating a minimalist accompaniment using delay, and then halfway through the piece, the accompaniment plays backwards while the soprano saxophone emits a lyrical melody on top.

Yes, that's the best idea I could come up with.

Since my Max programming skills are…lacking…at best,² I hope to show my ~~internal frustration and crying in despair~~ progression in creating this Max patch. (In other words, for those who are afraid of programming in Max, you can do it! It's pretty enough so that you won't get terribly confused!³)

So, to start off, I realized my version of Max would not recognize any external mic I plugged in. Or even my internal mic. After two days of cursing at the DSP Status Window, I realized it was not my fault. Two days later. (Did I mention TWO FREAKING DAYS LATER?!)

Afterward, I made some progress.

Oops indeed. I forgot to rename my buffer, which was initially named "helpme." I wonder why.

More progress followed.

And finally, I now have the patch shown at the top of this post. The patch works perfectly on my computer, but only on my computer. I gave Nancy a standalone patch for her computer, which works fine except it will not recognize any audio input. Sob. Anyone know how to fix this? She has Mac OS Version 10.7.5. In the meantime, what do the Electronic Music Gods like as sacrifices? Sheep? Pigeons? Twinkies?

———
1. Yes, I'm very aware that the Electronic Music Gods are fickle deities similar to the Baseball Gods, who were not kind to two of my favorite National League teams this year.
2. I will say this: I will (and should) give myself credit for (eventually) creating working patches that pass the compiler's muster. Or semi-working patches. (I seriously hope this statement doesn't anger the Electronic Music Gods. [See above footnote.])
3. I think I personally need sleek programming layouts to code properly. Like, having stuff in Presentation Mode outlined in pink. Yes, that's both girly and helpful, unlike the visuals in Pd-extended. (N.B. I don't mean that to sound insulting, and, in fact, I hope to learn this program someday, especially if I want to teach my students computer music programming. Also on this note, it's not like we need girly programming language to code well.)

kk&bq: cincinnati edition

2012-11-21T09:00:00.000-05:00

For your Thanksgiving gluttony pleasure, here is N.A.N.O.Works's production of Krispy Kremes and Butter Queens in Cincinnati as part of Classical Revolution (Constella Edition).

And, on this note, The Atlanta Opera will be presenting its third annual 24-Hour Opera Project on Friday, January 25 and Saturday, January 26, 2013. So, if you're a composer, lyricist, stage director, or opera singer, you can apply.¹

———
1. I have been asked if I'm going to participate again. I am tempted to do so, but considering that I would have to fly in from Columbus (and The Atlanta Opera will not pay for transportation), signs are pointing to no. Also, Old Jenn says that pulling an all-nighter would not be worth it. For those who are keeping score: Old Jenn 237, Young Jenn 0.

composer FAIL #61

2012-11-12T09:00:00.000-05:00

They're not ALL cat pictures…

To add to the category of "nicest rejection letters of all time" (or are they killing me with their kindness?), I present this case study.

This appeared in my inbox fourteen days before receiving the actual rejection letter.

And then I received the actual rejection letter in the form of a press release.

Eh, I will say this (like in the case of both the Dodgers and the Reds not winning the world series): there is always next year. Actually, I'm happy this fellowship was even offered: the Individual Artists Grants were cut in 2009 due to lack of funding. Congrats to those who won—I hope to see and hear your stuff around the city soon.

kk&bq: lexington edition

2012-11-07T09:00:00.000-05:00

Here is N.A.N.O.Works's production of Krispy Kremes and Butter Queens in Lexington, KY as part of LexArts. (If you're curious about the behind-the-scenes action, click here.)

cadillacs for microphones: fredonia

2012-11-05T09:00:00.000-05:00

Part Two: Overnight Composer Series at SUNY Fredonia¹

I couldn't stay out late at the Clazel Theatre the night before because (1) I was getting tired² and (2) I had a long drive ahead in the morning to make it to my Overnight Composer Series gig at SUNY Fredonia. Look, Rob Deemer made a poster. (Hooray!)

Friday

8 a.m.

Woke up and saw there was a complimentary copy of the USA Today outside my hotel door. Yay, free newspaper! Too bad I didn't read it…was sucked into the interwebs.

11 a.m.

Was in the middle of attempting Princess Kate hair for the first time because I thought I should look nice for this for the Overnight Composer Series gig when my Blackberry started beeping like crazy, which meant that HOLY CRAZINESS THE COMPOSER INTERWEBS EXPLODED. Rob Deemer posted an article about me on NewMusicBox?! Um…whaaaaaaat!? So, I responded to Facebook and Twitter comments for the next half hour. Then I realized that I had to be on the road like, now-ish, and I also realized that I only put half the hot rollers in my hair. Oops. Time for a makeshift bun.

Here's what my drive looked like.

Okay, not really. I mean, isn't it illegal to take pictures
of scenic routes with your cell phone while driving?

4 p.m.

I arrive at SUNY Fredonia and meet up with student composer Kate Parker. Instead of being polite and asking her things like, "How long have you been composing?" or "What inspires you," or "Cool haircut!" I blurt, "TAKE ME TO YOUR NEAREST STARBUCKS." Or something like that. (I dunno, it was a long drive.)

5 p.m.

While chatting with students, I finally meet Rob, assistant professor in the School of Music at SUNY Fredonia, blogger for NMBx and Sequenza21, and the guy who probably single-handedly gave me the biggest boost of my career.³

6 p.m.

Showtime.

8 p.m.

Rob, some of the composition students, and I went to Wing City Grille⁴ to hang and talk shop. I had some Wings & Rings for dinner.⁵

Later

And…I finally got to sit down and chat with Rob. What a great guy. And how delightful is it to talk with a composer who loves teaching and writes about composing? Quite delightful. Cheers.

———
1. Not "Freedonia" of Marx Brothers' fame.
2. Old Jenn 1, Young Jenn 0. I've got to fix this.
3. Considering this article was reposted by ArtsJournal, tweeted by American Composers Forum, and mentioned in a Texas Public Radio blog, yes, I would deem this as composer WIN #10, also known as "The Best Composer Win Ever."
4. Yes, "grille" with an "e."
5. If you're so close to Buffalo, why not? And word got out that I like wings.

And here's a video recap of my trip.

cadillacs for microphones: bowling green

2012-10-31T09:00:00.000-04:00

What did I do during my Fall Break a couple of weeks ago? Went on a road trip! I do enjoy road trips, and I thought it would be fun to combine my trip to both the 2012 Bowling Green New Music Festival and to my stint at the Ethos New Music Society's Overnight Composer Series at SUNY Fredonia.

Part One: Bowling Green New Music Festival

I probably had this program in my purse for a good two weeks.

Sadly, I could only stay for one day, but I made it just in time to catch up with Jonathan Sokol and hear his piece …these… for baritone saxophone and tuba. Yes, those two instruments.

And I saw a few players bow a harp.

Rad.

And after I went back to my hotel room, graded some midterms, and had dinner at the Easystreet Cafe, I headed to the Clazel Theatre (BTW, the coolest place ever) and attended the Cold Blue Music Retrospective concert.

Same with this program.

I felt completely at home here. I was blown away by the venue, the performers (it was the first time I heard the JACK Quartet live), and the beauty and depth of all the pieces. I hope to make it back to this festival next year.

***

Stay tuned for Part two: SUNY Fredonia where I talk about meeting Rob Deemer (finally!), chatting with lots of comp students, and watching my Facebook wall explode all in the same day.

composer FAIL #60

2012-10-18T09:00:00.000-04:00

Well, I guess I'm not going to Florida State University anytime soon.

But hey, I'm on my way (TODAY) to the 2012 Bowling Green New Music Festival to attend some concerts and then off to SUNY Fredonia for my stint as part of the Overnight Composer Series.

proof I teach in a swing state

2012-10-16T10:42:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I tweeted around 4 p.m. EDT that I got to stand behind Michelle Obama while she spoke at Ohio Wesleyan University. Thankfully, there is no AP photo to prove this happened, but Larry Griffin took these pictures while he was conducting the OWU Pep Band.

Sometimes I make weird faces.

the krispy kreme weekend

2012-10-15T15:00:00.000-04:00

Last weekend I may have turned into Tina Fey's alter-ego: my sleep deprivation and constant consumption of McDonald's food products¹ (along with the frequent purchase of Krispy Kreme donuts) transformed me into a nerdy opera producer who dresses questionably and creates silly operas worthy of a spot on SNL.

I think I have fully recovered?

It was worth it: the production was a blast. Bravi to the cast and crew who made "Krispy Kremes and Butter Queens" a delightful success, and thanks to everyone who donated money to fly Christine down and reprise her role. Below are some pictures of the shows in Lexington (KY) and Cincinnati. More photos can be found here. In the meantime, I will be replenishing my stash of eye drops and concealer in my makeup bag.

———
1. My only source of fruit servings that weekend was in the form of McDonald's Apple Cinnamon Walnut Oatmeal. Also, have I collected a ton of Monopoly game pieces that weekend? You betcha.

why study composition?

2012-09-19T09:00:00.000-04:00

I recently had to ask myself the question of "why study composition?" to convince future liberal arts students (and especially their parents) that they should study music composition.¹

While I was in high school, I thought that question was a no-brainer: I was going to go to the University of Southern California, major in composition with a film scoring emphasis, meet a few directors, score their films, and experience my music in Dolby surround sound. Forever.

Of course, life does not always go as planned, especially if you outline your life based on your teenage plans. When I told my parents I was switching to regular composition (and writing concert music), they were confused. Concert music? Okay…

But you know what? I turned out fine. Yes, learned a great deal about writing and analyzing music over the course of a decade, but I also learned how to think critically, write grants, and produce my own performances (and start my own opera company).

Anyway, here's the blurb I wrote for the Ohio Wesleyan University music department.

———
1. This is a FAR better question to address than the dreaded "why do we have to study counterpoint?" complaint. Truthfully, my freshman have not asked this question; rather, one of them entered my classroom, scrunched his face and proclaimed, "I do not like THE RULES." Touché, my dear.

composer FAIL #59

2012-09-17T09:00:00.000-04:00

No, I'm not talking about this failure of a game that happened this past weekend, although I feel this loss hurts way worse than the composer FAIL listed below. Thankfully, I'm not a sports writer, so I will not subject anyone to a recap. In fact, I'd like to forget this weekend happened.

See? In fact, I think this is the best rejection letter I have ever received.

composer FAIL #58

2012-09-11T09:00:00.000-04:00

Yes, I'm still behind in my composer FAILs. The good news is, the next two are probably the nicest rejection letters I have received. In the meantime, enjoy this picture of a cat who cannot master the pillow.

bootlegged video of drei brücken's world premiere

2012-08-31T09:00:00.000-04:00

The world premiere of Drei Brücken at the Contemporary Arts Center went swimmingly well: I cannot thank Christopher Eanes and the Cincinnati Choral Collective for performing my piece as well as they did, and I want to thank the CAC for giving me this opportunity to write something for their space. Unfortunately, this piece was not officially recorded at the event.

What's a girl to do?

My librettist fortunately had a non-iPhone Samsung Galaxy cell phone to shoot video of the performance. Is this the best quality video? No. Is the sound a tiny bit distorted? Yes, but that's okay, you get the idea.