Not PC, Not High Art
For all you Radiohead lovers who declare that pop has entered the classical stratosphere, let this video be a lesson to you. If you think this is good, I suggest seeking medical attention.
PS: My opinion is strictly re: the song, not the performance or arrangement by the folks over at Berkeley in this vid. Those aspects are both great. I’m referring singularly to the elements in this Radiohead song. Even if we resurrected Bach from the dead to score it for these instruments, it would still sound horrible. Sorry Radiohead.
Refining the Concept
Online Improvisation Friday
Regarding improvisation night on Friday, I’ve decided to leave Twitter out of the title. The fact that we do this on Twitter is insignificant. In the future there will be many more Twitters and Facebooks with new inventions that will allow for greater participation and immersion. 3D and holographic imaging is becoming a reality. NVIDIA just announced a 3D video card with glasses. And not many people know that most games are prepared and set up for this. In other words, its not the game or the environment that creates the 3D, its just the video card and glasses. Jeff Harrington mentioned we could use Adobe to coordinate live audio.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not proposing we all turn into hermits, but if you’re saving your money and staying in on Friday, you will have the opportunity of performing and getting heard. What’s not to love about that?
One of the Best NonPop Works I’ve Ever Heard
This artist seems to be growing at an enormous rate. This growth, interestingly, comes at a time when this composer has decided to avoid contact with most people. Too bad for those of us who enjoyed at one time communicating with this composer, but whatever works in the name of art…, that is the most important thing. I just want to know what this composer used for vocals on this composer’s most recent work. But I guess I’ll never know.
Online Improvisation Friday
With the success of last night’s Improvisation Night, it has been brought to my attention by Jeff Harrington (who has greatly helped out with the concept) that we need to release the limitation of the Twitter Improvisation “Night” and turn it into an all day event. This is because the improvisers are spread across the globe. So, I’ll be hosting the event at 6 pm PST, but anyone is free to host earlier and, just like any event, there can be multiple hosts (or no host at all, anarchy!). This is a party.
Why Improvisation Friday?
To give the global classical community a place to perform, listen, and socialize. This isn’t the 1840s anymore. There is no Paris scene. This also isn’t New York City, 1960. This is 2009 and everyone is invited to this party.
Preview of Toub Sax Quartet
Yesterday I was pleasantly surprised by an email from composer David Toub which included a sneak peak at his upcoming Sax Quartet. I don’t want to give away any “spoilers” but I won’t hesitate to say this work is epic, easily one of my favorites of David’s. The work includes everything I love about minimalism (PM). That is, my taste of PM, and classical music in general, and actually all things artistic, leans toward a cerebral approach. I don’t view that as a game or trying to be elititist. It simply allows the listener to spend more time with a work; to spend more time than I would with some PM which only has surface qualities.
Overview of Twitter Improv Night – 3.6.09
Overall I think it went really well. I’ll be honest and say I didn’t expect much participation, but Jeff Harrington kicked it off with an old impro of his which really energized the Twitter crowd. Then Paul Hertz got in the action with a very, very cool piano impro that started off neatly structured and got crazy. Then Renato Borges jumped in with a sweet guitar impro that also showed off a great innate sense of structure and the beautiful, toneful performance made the impro shine. Then it was my turn, an impro for 4 clarinets directly followed by the kickoff of Amaranth Radio.
Amaranth Radio
I’ll be posting new radio sessions every week to every other week depending on how much time I have. Here is a link to the first session.
3.6.09 Program
Jeff Harrington – Gnomos
David Toub – Oblivions
Steve Layton – The Church of the World
J.C. Combs – Four
Misc. Corrections: I want to note that I mispronounced David Toub’s last name. Sounds like “Tobe” not “Tube.”
“Amaranth Radio” Announced
Centered around the network of composers over at NetNewMusic, as well as composers I associate with, will be the music on “Amaranth Radio” to be unveiled during Improvisation Night at Twitter (Friday night 6 p.m. PST).
I’m aware that this might not catch on at all, but I’m also aware that I am perfectly cool with sitting down for an improv at any given moment and if I’m all alone doing this, que sera sera.
In addition to posting an improvisation sometime after 6 p.m. PST, Friday night, I’ll be posting the kickoff to “Amaranth Radio,” featuring two mystery composers. And this is mysterious, not even the selected composers will know until I post this.
The first few radio sessions will be highly amateur (with the exception of the music). It will be a little while before I work it out, that’s for sure. So remember, Twitter is the key to listening. Sure, I’ll post a link to the radio session on FB as well, but Twitter is where everything is primarily based. The link to “follow me” is in the upper right hand corner here. We will also use blipfm, but this is a subnetwork of Twitter, so its not necessary to join that, although I think its a cool site.
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