The idea that music and images are interdependent, yet also interrelated, dates back from centuries in the past. From paintings depicting the iconography of seventeenth and eighteenth century dance scenes, with town waits trumpeting and family musicians playing keyboard in the home, to opera and film score, music is constantly evoking images, accompanying them, and enhancing them, and the reverse is also true: images inspire music. So although the modern music videos on MTV, VH-1, etc. often seem totally ostentatious and superfluous (popular musicians with big hairdos, bigger wallets, and the biggest egos,) there really is a historical precedence for this phenomena.
All that being said, I now feel comfortable admitting that I enjoy well-made music videos, as I know many of my friends will agree with me. In fact, I suspect that many people enjoy the music video format not just as a light, under-four-minute-long diversion, but as an art form in itself, or in the least, a magnification of or another perspective on the music that appeals to us so much. Some of us simply like to see the faces and gestures of the personalities behind the sounds we listen to; I am always curious to see what things look like when the veil held up by my imagination is lifted. Other people like to have a story drawn out on the screen to guide them through the emotional journey of the song or to bring out the humor. Either way, the idea of the music video should find a way to appeal to anyone; people who are interested in art, animation, or cinema likewise should enjoy the format from their own artistic perspectives.
It is interesting to note that certain creative and analytical inconsistencies do exits within the music video format: in-congruencies between the music and the art. For this example I will be discussing a recent DVD of music videos released by the musical group Death Cab for Cutie, titled DIRECTIONS. In its introduction, the band members of D.C.F.C. explain that they asked a different director to each create a single music video for one of the songs on their most recent album, PLANS. Directors were given small, shoe-string budgets, but allowed complete creative freedom over their video, a rare occurrence in the business of creating mainstream movies and videos. The band states that there is no cohesive theme throughout the series of music videos beyond the structure of the original music, and therein lies my problem with the experiment. The band released DIRECTIONS following the release of the album PLANS, and the videos are presented in the same order as the songs on the album.
Without running my mouth off for too long, I will address a key problem that I had with the videos on DIRECTIONS. First of all, one of my favorite aspects about listening to D.C.F.C. albums, or great albums in general--such as their previous album TRANSATLANTICISM, is the emotional flow and changes between the songs. The most luscious harmonies and goose-bump-inducing choruses are carefully nested between tranquil or somber moods, disgruntled-sounding rock, brooding, static music, and moments of humor, so as to juxtapose one mood or idea with another, creating an ebb and flow effect that makes the time elapsed in listening to the album feel more like a journey or experience gained, rather than merely pleasing sounds in the background while other events are going on. Albums like these resemble song-cycles, lieder, art songs, or more likely, symphonies, as many popular albums contain layered effects, complicated instrumental textures, and a broader scope of affect than the art song or lied is intended to convey. The directors of DIRECTIONS however, all seem to feel as though their assigned song was the emotional high point or climax of the album.
The videos that I found most successful accompanied songs that are easy to fit into a stereotype, such as the joyous, if not somewhat ironic or sarcastic song, "Crooked Teeth," which works as a piece of comic relief, a scherzo, or an intermezzo on the album to cleanse the listeners' palette and clear the air before the more poignant, difficult last songs--is it just me, or do we often feel so emotionally filled while listening to a favorite album or symphony that by the time that we are half-way finished, we just cannot expend anymore energy necessary to listen through to the conclusion? The directors that drew straws for more complicated, transitional songs, such as the song, "Different Names for the Same Thing," obviously had no idea that the songs purpose is to carry the mood of the previous song and transition into the next. It is possible that neither the directors nor the band intended to succeed in the feats that I am mentioning--the likelihood is very high that none of these ideas were even considered. I can accept this as the probable reason why I was primarily dissatisfied with DIRECTIONS, but in defense of my opinion I have yet to see a piece of artwork that is successful in expressing anything without a range of emotion, high and low points, and juxtaposition in the form of point and counterpoint--unless, of course, the point of the artwork is to do just the opposite; that is another problem with DIRECTIONS. The concept is dutifully in the realm of Dadaism, but the original music is not, and in my view the inclusion of the iconography presented by DIRECTIONS, serves to only weaken the product of PLANS.
JM
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Thursday, July 26, 2007
The dark fantastic and its influences on art, music, and literature.
Brief Updates
Unbeknownst to me, the default settings on my web log made it impossible for anyone to contribute or comment without having signed up for an account. This is now resolved and anyone can now post anonymously. If you don't have an account, but want to post and don't care if we know who you are, then you can still post anonymously, but please include your name at the valediction of your message. Truly anonymous submissions will come across as spurious, at best.
M.E. and I are almost finished moving into our new apartment. There are still many things to set-up, unpack, and cat-proof, but the bulk of the project is finished. I am looking forward to being all unpacked and making the most use out of the abundance of space for work and play.
Today I thought I would discuss a biography that I am currently reading on the life of one of my favorite authors, Clive Barker.
The biography is titled THE DARK FANTASTIC and was written by Douglas E. Winter in 2001. First of all, I'll begin by saying that I haven't completed the book yet; I am on page 304 out of 501 pages of the body of the text, not counting the end notes, appendices, and indices. Although there are still 197 pages of new ground to cover, I feel that at this time I can accurately discuss some of the issues raised in this biography that I find particularly interesting and compelling.
As an author, Barker is often compared to the eponymous master of horror fiction, Stephen King. However, I could spend the rest of the life of this web log discussing the differences between the two. It should serve us all as sufficient, for now, to mention that the American-born King, who currently resides in Maine, is known for writing about the American experience, from an American perspective (particularly, Americans that grew up in the 1950s and 60s.) Conversely, Barker, born in Liverpool and residing in London, writes fiction that transcends cultural and geographic boundaries, and in the least tends to be much more cosmopolitan in his settings and character ethnicities. I realize that I have yet to tell you a thing about Barker the author, but I would like to say one final word of praise towards the author of the biography. As a fan of subversive cult art, particularly horror films and avant-garde music, I respect anyone who tries to explicate the reasons behind my and many others appreciation for these genres, an appreciation that goes well beyond mere entertainment and escapism.
The beginning chapters of the biography tell a little about the history of the Liverpool area and the Barker family, with accounts from Barker's parents. Winter walks the reader through Barker's childhood life and makes conjectures, some that seem broad and sweeping, as to which past experiences effected Barker and how. Time is devoted to Barker's influences such as Italian filmmaker Lucio Fulci (I have yet to investigate the widely popular Italian horror films of the 1970s, perhaps someday I'll get around to it.) The first really interesting section of the book concerns the now high-school-aged Barker and a consortium of friends that begin experimenting in the theater arts. Of course as Americans, we all know that the Brits eat, breathe, and sleep theater, and so it doesn't surprise me to find out that this author first found success putting pen to paper in the form of a playwright and making schoolmaster heads roll from his school projects and performances. In this way, Barker reminds me a bit of myself and also one of my favorite fictional characters, Max Fischer from Wes Anderson's film, RUSHMORE. All three of us find ourselves constantly compelled towards individual projects for personal growth and expression, and have at times had lackluster academic careers, finding that our real life experiences address many issues that school doesn't teach. Plus we each have backgrounds in the theater.
After finishing high school, Barker and some of his friends from the theater group attended University, mainly to please their parents, who still held aspirations for their children beyond the starving artist delineation. There, Barker experimented not only with more subversive theater, but also short films. During that time, living with his colleagues from the theater troupe, he wrote poetry, children's stories, fiction, scripts, and plays. Of this, his friend Doug Bradley recalls:
Plays were prepared and rehearsed; films were planned and made; paintings were constantly in progress; photographs were taken--and everything was created for their own entertainment. 'The end product didn't matter . . . it was the doing that was important.' (81)
Many of the early projects that were completed inevitably were failures. For every rousing success, there was the shame of a play that completely flopped, usually due to circumstance or not understanding the core audience. I am really fond of reading about many of the experimental techniques Barker and company used in various performance scenarios such as having every character hold a candle to provide the only stage lighting, or creating an over-four-hour-long script to a play that isn't meant to all be performed, only in pastiche form. Winter includes a great quote from Barker as regards the art of directing:
A director is the loneliest creature on God's earth. He knows what's good and bad in a show, or he should if he's worth his salt, and he has to carry that information around with him and keep smiling . . . The job isn't about succeeding . . . it's about learning not to fall on your sodding face. (103)
I certainly feel this way when directing a musical ensemble, putting together a recital, playing in a quintet, etc.; it is a very great thing to hear a famous director corroborate ideas that I already had--that a positive performance experience, in some way, is the most important aspect to get out of any artistic performance. We build our careers on a succession of positive performances that add up to the sum of our abilities and acquired knowledge as performing artists. I attribute a lot of this viewpoint to the guidance of my teacher at Eastman, Don Harry.
As someone who myself submits to artistic projects for the sake of diversion (such as musical composition,) it is comforting to find out that Barker's first literary fiction, the critically acclaimed (as well as personal favorite of mine) BOOKS OF BLOOD (1984) were written as a diversion during the early stages of his involvement as playwright and director for a London-based theater company. Before you scoff at the title, let me briefly tell you about the book; BOOKS OF BLOOD, Volumes one through six, are a collection of short fiction. Each story is unique and not necessarily horror, moving back-and-forth from serious, dark fantasy to satire and wistful humor, they represent an exercise in creative writing and variation. Winter hits the nail on the head when he discusses the reason for my defensive stance in discussing horror fiction:
The 'horror' novel had come to look, and read, like the literary equivalent of canned soup . . . Most 'horror' novels of the 80s offered a message as conservative as their morality: Conform. Behave. Just say no. 'Horror' had become another palliative for the masses--a literature of happy endings, and incessantly didactic fiction with minor moral lessons, most of them reactionary and laced with bigotry. Just as MTV offered a sophomoric subjugation of rebellious rock-and-roll to the almighty dollar, the black-covered paperback had become a tidy commercial construct, a creature of form rather than substance, for the most part as hollow of content as the mindless marketplace was willing to accept. (152)
This, to me, explains how I can love Stephen King, Clive Barker, etc. alongside great authors such as Vonnegut, Fitzgerald, Salinger, Hemingway, Joyce, etc. It also explains why I can watch the EVIL DEAD films 500 plus times, but I won't watch the FRIDAY THE 13TH films. I think that if you were to read King or Barker, you too would find plenty of artistic, painterly ideas, experimentation in expression, and intellectual concepts for juxtaposition and meditation beyond that which can be easily categorized and sold for mass consumption. For even the title, BOOKS OF BLOOD, contains a double meaning, as Barker states in the prologue to the collection, "Each of us is a book of blood, whenever we're opened, we're red." I realize that this quote is not too deep, but it does exhibit a playfulness and comfort with language that I find refreshing in a 'horror' author and necessary in an author of fiction; an author is someone who can merge and synthesize diverse writing styles to communicate ideas and expressions, and I aspire to that model of expertise in my own professional life.
I think at this point I've written too much for this entry, and I've grown weary of writing. Anyway, the rest of the biography continues in the same way, describing Barker's various other projects, including two other favorite works of mine: CABAL and TALES OF THE HELL-BOUND HEART. Before I sign off, I would like to include a few more quotes from the books that I enjoy:
{This explains why I don't like most PG-13 horror/suspense movies:}
Horror fiction without violence doesn't do a great deal for me. I think that death and wounding need to be in the air. You've got the reader on this ghost train ride, and there's got to be something vile at the end of it, or else why aren't you on the rollercoaster instead? And I like to be able to deliver the violence. There's never going to be any evasion. Whether it be sexual subject matter, whether it be violence, I'm going to show it as best as I can. (167)
{On the value of subversion:}
. . . fantastic fiction offers the writer exceptional possibilities . . . and I strongly believe a piece of work (be it play, book, poem) should be judged by how enthusiastically it seizes the opportunity to do what it can do uniquely. The literature of the fantastic--and the movies and the paintings--can reproduce, at its best, the texture of experience more closely that any "naturalistic" work, because it can embrace the complexity of the world we live in. (191)
{Final thoughts to ponder:}
I've always been interested in how we pursue pleasure, and how soon the pleasurable road turns into a cul-de-sac. Then we have to turn around and look elsewhere. It's the law of diminishing returns. (197)
JM
Unbeknownst to me, the default settings on my web log made it impossible for anyone to contribute or comment without having signed up for an account. This is now resolved and anyone can now post anonymously. If you don't have an account, but want to post and don't care if we know who you are, then you can still post anonymously, but please include your name at the valediction of your message. Truly anonymous submissions will come across as spurious, at best.
M.E. and I are almost finished moving into our new apartment. There are still many things to set-up, unpack, and cat-proof, but the bulk of the project is finished. I am looking forward to being all unpacked and making the most use out of the abundance of space for work and play.
Today I thought I would discuss a biography that I am currently reading on the life of one of my favorite authors, Clive Barker.
The biography is titled THE DARK FANTASTIC and was written by Douglas E. Winter in 2001. First of all, I'll begin by saying that I haven't completed the book yet; I am on page 304 out of 501 pages of the body of the text, not counting the end notes, appendices, and indices. Although there are still 197 pages of new ground to cover, I feel that at this time I can accurately discuss some of the issues raised in this biography that I find particularly interesting and compelling.
As an author, Barker is often compared to the eponymous master of horror fiction, Stephen King. However, I could spend the rest of the life of this web log discussing the differences between the two. It should serve us all as sufficient, for now, to mention that the American-born King, who currently resides in Maine, is known for writing about the American experience, from an American perspective (particularly, Americans that grew up in the 1950s and 60s.) Conversely, Barker, born in Liverpool and residing in London, writes fiction that transcends cultural and geographic boundaries, and in the least tends to be much more cosmopolitan in his settings and character ethnicities. I realize that I have yet to tell you a thing about Barker the author, but I would like to say one final word of praise towards the author of the biography. As a fan of subversive cult art, particularly horror films and avant-garde music, I respect anyone who tries to explicate the reasons behind my and many others appreciation for these genres, an appreciation that goes well beyond mere entertainment and escapism.
The beginning chapters of the biography tell a little about the history of the Liverpool area and the Barker family, with accounts from Barker's parents. Winter walks the reader through Barker's childhood life and makes conjectures, some that seem broad and sweeping, as to which past experiences effected Barker and how. Time is devoted to Barker's influences such as Italian filmmaker Lucio Fulci (I have yet to investigate the widely popular Italian horror films of the 1970s, perhaps someday I'll get around to it.) The first really interesting section of the book concerns the now high-school-aged Barker and a consortium of friends that begin experimenting in the theater arts. Of course as Americans, we all know that the Brits eat, breathe, and sleep theater, and so it doesn't surprise me to find out that this author first found success putting pen to paper in the form of a playwright and making schoolmaster heads roll from his school projects and performances. In this way, Barker reminds me a bit of myself and also one of my favorite fictional characters, Max Fischer from Wes Anderson's film, RUSHMORE. All three of us find ourselves constantly compelled towards individual projects for personal growth and expression, and have at times had lackluster academic careers, finding that our real life experiences address many issues that school doesn't teach. Plus we each have backgrounds in the theater.
After finishing high school, Barker and some of his friends from the theater group attended University, mainly to please their parents, who still held aspirations for their children beyond the starving artist delineation. There, Barker experimented not only with more subversive theater, but also short films. During that time, living with his colleagues from the theater troupe, he wrote poetry, children's stories, fiction, scripts, and plays. Of this, his friend Doug Bradley recalls:
Plays were prepared and rehearsed; films were planned and made; paintings were constantly in progress; photographs were taken--and everything was created for their own entertainment. 'The end product didn't matter . . . it was the doing that was important.' (81)
Many of the early projects that were completed inevitably were failures. For every rousing success, there was the shame of a play that completely flopped, usually due to circumstance or not understanding the core audience. I am really fond of reading about many of the experimental techniques Barker and company used in various performance scenarios such as having every character hold a candle to provide the only stage lighting, or creating an over-four-hour-long script to a play that isn't meant to all be performed, only in pastiche form. Winter includes a great quote from Barker as regards the art of directing:
A director is the loneliest creature on God's earth. He knows what's good and bad in a show, or he should if he's worth his salt, and he has to carry that information around with him and keep smiling . . . The job isn't about succeeding . . . it's about learning not to fall on your sodding face. (103)
I certainly feel this way when directing a musical ensemble, putting together a recital, playing in a quintet, etc.; it is a very great thing to hear a famous director corroborate ideas that I already had--that a positive performance experience, in some way, is the most important aspect to get out of any artistic performance. We build our careers on a succession of positive performances that add up to the sum of our abilities and acquired knowledge as performing artists. I attribute a lot of this viewpoint to the guidance of my teacher at Eastman, Don Harry.
As someone who myself submits to artistic projects for the sake of diversion (such as musical composition,) it is comforting to find out that Barker's first literary fiction, the critically acclaimed (as well as personal favorite of mine) BOOKS OF BLOOD (1984) were written as a diversion during the early stages of his involvement as playwright and director for a London-based theater company. Before you scoff at the title, let me briefly tell you about the book; BOOKS OF BLOOD, Volumes one through six, are a collection of short fiction. Each story is unique and not necessarily horror, moving back-and-forth from serious, dark fantasy to satire and wistful humor, they represent an exercise in creative writing and variation. Winter hits the nail on the head when he discusses the reason for my defensive stance in discussing horror fiction:
The 'horror' novel had come to look, and read, like the literary equivalent of canned soup . . . Most 'horror' novels of the 80s offered a message as conservative as their morality: Conform. Behave. Just say no. 'Horror' had become another palliative for the masses--a literature of happy endings, and incessantly didactic fiction with minor moral lessons, most of them reactionary and laced with bigotry. Just as MTV offered a sophomoric subjugation of rebellious rock-and-roll to the almighty dollar, the black-covered paperback had become a tidy commercial construct, a creature of form rather than substance, for the most part as hollow of content as the mindless marketplace was willing to accept. (152)
This, to me, explains how I can love Stephen King, Clive Barker, etc. alongside great authors such as Vonnegut, Fitzgerald, Salinger, Hemingway, Joyce, etc. It also explains why I can watch the EVIL DEAD films 500 plus times, but I won't watch the FRIDAY THE 13TH films. I think that if you were to read King or Barker, you too would find plenty of artistic, painterly ideas, experimentation in expression, and intellectual concepts for juxtaposition and meditation beyond that which can be easily categorized and sold for mass consumption. For even the title, BOOKS OF BLOOD, contains a double meaning, as Barker states in the prologue to the collection, "Each of us is a book of blood, whenever we're opened, we're red." I realize that this quote is not too deep, but it does exhibit a playfulness and comfort with language that I find refreshing in a 'horror' author and necessary in an author of fiction; an author is someone who can merge and synthesize diverse writing styles to communicate ideas and expressions, and I aspire to that model of expertise in my own professional life.
I think at this point I've written too much for this entry, and I've grown weary of writing. Anyway, the rest of the biography continues in the same way, describing Barker's various other projects, including two other favorite works of mine: CABAL and TALES OF THE HELL-BOUND HEART. Before I sign off, I would like to include a few more quotes from the books that I enjoy:
{This explains why I don't like most PG-13 horror/suspense movies:}
Horror fiction without violence doesn't do a great deal for me. I think that death and wounding need to be in the air. You've got the reader on this ghost train ride, and there's got to be something vile at the end of it, or else why aren't you on the rollercoaster instead? And I like to be able to deliver the violence. There's never going to be any evasion. Whether it be sexual subject matter, whether it be violence, I'm going to show it as best as I can. (167)
{On the value of subversion:}
. . . fantastic fiction offers the writer exceptional possibilities . . . and I strongly believe a piece of work (be it play, book, poem) should be judged by how enthusiastically it seizes the opportunity to do what it can do uniquely. The literature of the fantastic--and the movies and the paintings--can reproduce, at its best, the texture of experience more closely that any "naturalistic" work, because it can embrace the complexity of the world we live in. (191)
{Final thoughts to ponder:}
I've always been interested in how we pursue pleasure, and how soon the pleasurable road turns into a cul-de-sac. Then we have to turn around and look elsewhere. It's the law of diminishing returns. (197)
JM
Monday, July 23, 2007
"Pleased to meet you. Hope you guessed my name."
I've never kept a journal before, but I always felt that I would have liked to. I think I was secretly waiting for the day when my student life would end and my professional life begins, although I realize that the two have overlapped for quite some time now. I am also blessed and cursed with the knowledge that despite my tremendous strength of will, the likelihood of my ever keeping a journal, no matter how simple or ephemeral, is very slim. So why keep one now when I have a minimal amount of free time and nothing original to say? In short, as a simultaneous sounding board for my musings, frustrations, and most importantly, to practice my writing skills--in particular, analytical writing. It is my hope that I can provide insightful commentary on my daily interactions as well as submit critical reviews of books, music, film, etc., with the understanding that the organization will be somewhat stream-of-consciousness--therefore sometimes discursive--and my writing will not be proofread to the 'nth degree as is expected of true scholarly writing. I have decided to post these entries in the form of a web log, or "blog," with the hopes that a small audience will encourage me to write as frequently as possible. I hope that I can be candid and entertaining, while still conveying my ideas through the principles necessary for critical writing and analysis. Although I do not claim one-hundred percent objectivity, I am committed to using a writing style that will assist me in my own scholarly writing, and thus I will try to leave emotional, extremely creative, and avant-garde writing aside for the purposes of isolating the tone, grammar, and constructions associated with academia. I do realize that there is a paradox at play here, since personal journals are not typically associated with scholarly writing, but for now let us consider this an exercise for my own benefit, and you--dear reader--get to reap the rewards of my process.
You are welcome.
Let me conclude this introduction by saying that I am doing this partially for fun and partially to improve my writing. Obviously, I have discovered some holes in my writing abilities and so I openly and honestly welcome any and all readers to submit corrections, both in grammar and in style, to my blog. Please try to give the reason or rationale for your correction and also please attempt to refrain from attacking me. It is tough to put oneself up on the firing post, but I am doing it for my own improvement. Periodically, I will be asking people to look at my writing and I will try to post major corrections when ready. If you are only interested in reading my entries as a light, entertaining diversion from your own daily life, then please do not feel obligated to participate in the grammar rodeo, but if you do contribute, you will be helping me improve my own writing and my command of the English language. Also, please try your best to disregard blatant typographical errors.
News
I am very proud and happy to announce that in the fall I will begin my year-long internship with the Cleveland Youth Wind Symphonies. The organization provides a musical support for high-school-aged and middle-school-aged children in the greater Cleveland metropolitan area by providing them with a superior ensemble in which to participate and by promoting habits and ideals necessary to make them top-shelf musicians. I will be the first official staff member that the now-almost-twenty-years-old organization has ever had besides the music directors. I am looking forward to learning more about the group, getting to know the students, and tackling many new tasks. Plus, I am getting paid through the Arts Leadership Program of the Eastman School of Music, which means that I won't have to work any other part-time jobs on the side. I resisted using pejorative language to describe my current part-time job because, you see, I am a mature adult (supposedly.)
I have recently completed revisions on a composition for solo flute written for my girlfriend, Mary Elizabeth. The piece is a set of three short palindromes that are all based on tonal, major-minor harmonic constructions and feature many turn-of-the-twentieth-century harmonic tendencies such as resolutions with chromatic mediant relationships, very basic stuff. In fact, the entire work was inspired by my completing exercises in the back of the first few chapters of Stefan Kostka's MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES OF TWENTIETH CENTURY MUSIC. The simplicity makes the work fairly easy to digest and absorb, and endows it with a cohesion and form lacking in some of my earlier, more free-form compositions. It was a good experience for me to write this work, even though I don't necessarily plan on being so structured and simple in future compositions. A few fine flutist friends of mine (please excuse the rampant alliteration) were kind enough to play through the work, offer some suggestions, and provide very generous encouragement. This makes me reflect on how lucky I am to have such a strong network composed of so many truly amazing individuals. My friend and peer, Mike, also granted me an hour of his time for a sort of composition lesson on the piece, an experience that I value highly since he is a very skilled and well-trained composer. Many others gave advice and encouragement, and now that I have gone through about four revisions, I'm happy to announce that I think the current revision will stand as the definitive version of the piece. Though not a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, I hope that it will be an entertaining, escapist piece of repertoire that may be best suited for educational use, since that repertoire in particular, separate from the canon of solo instrumental literature, is sorely in need of inspiring new music that young people can use to foster their own musicality. Of course, I hope that Mary Elizabeth enjoys it as well, but really it's a means to an end as one day I would love to compose a significant piece for her, or at least if I can't, then I'll commission one from someone who can. If anyone is interested in seeing or passing along PALINDROMES FOR SOLO FLUTE (2007), then feel free to contact me and I'll send you the files.
Mary Elizabeth and I are moving in to our new, spacious two-bedroom apartment this week. The projected move-in day looks like it will be Wednesday, as that is the day that the movers will transport Mary E.'s furniture over to the apartment. As I only own one piece of furniture (a wood-frame futon,) the current set-up in my apartment is much more portable, and I will be moving myself on Tuesday. I'm excitedly anxious to unpack and set up our new home for the year. Mary E. and I are both in agreement that we want to use the second bedroom as a study space, designed for serious practicing and reading/writing. It will also serve as a guest bedroom, and I really hope that we will have the good fortune of receiving visitors from time-to-time. I also hope we can entertain during the year, and a secret fantasy of mine is to have friends over and watch funky, cult films or listen to music.
Well, I better go visit the wood-shed (i.e. practice) before I have to get to work (my part-time job.) I welcome anyones feedback of any sort. Hopefully more entries will follow soon, until then, warm wishes to everyone.
jm
You are welcome.
Let me conclude this introduction by saying that I am doing this partially for fun and partially to improve my writing. Obviously, I have discovered some holes in my writing abilities and so I openly and honestly welcome any and all readers to submit corrections, both in grammar and in style, to my blog. Please try to give the reason or rationale for your correction and also please attempt to refrain from attacking me. It is tough to put oneself up on the firing post, but I am doing it for my own improvement. Periodically, I will be asking people to look at my writing and I will try to post major corrections when ready. If you are only interested in reading my entries as a light, entertaining diversion from your own daily life, then please do not feel obligated to participate in the grammar rodeo, but if you do contribute, you will be helping me improve my own writing and my command of the English language. Also, please try your best to disregard blatant typographical errors.
News
I am very proud and happy to announce that in the fall I will begin my year-long internship with the Cleveland Youth Wind Symphonies. The organization provides a musical support for high-school-aged and middle-school-aged children in the greater Cleveland metropolitan area by providing them with a superior ensemble in which to participate and by promoting habits and ideals necessary to make them top-shelf musicians. I will be the first official staff member that the now-almost-twenty-years-old organization has ever had besides the music directors. I am looking forward to learning more about the group, getting to know the students, and tackling many new tasks. Plus, I am getting paid through the Arts Leadership Program of the Eastman School of Music, which means that I won't have to work any other part-time jobs on the side. I resisted using pejorative language to describe my current part-time job because, you see, I am a mature adult (supposedly.)
I have recently completed revisions on a composition for solo flute written for my girlfriend, Mary Elizabeth. The piece is a set of three short palindromes that are all based on tonal, major-minor harmonic constructions and feature many turn-of-the-twentieth-century harmonic tendencies such as resolutions with chromatic mediant relationships, very basic stuff. In fact, the entire work was inspired by my completing exercises in the back of the first few chapters of Stefan Kostka's MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES OF TWENTIETH CENTURY MUSIC. The simplicity makes the work fairly easy to digest and absorb, and endows it with a cohesion and form lacking in some of my earlier, more free-form compositions. It was a good experience for me to write this work, even though I don't necessarily plan on being so structured and simple in future compositions. A few fine flutist friends of mine (please excuse the rampant alliteration) were kind enough to play through the work, offer some suggestions, and provide very generous encouragement. This makes me reflect on how lucky I am to have such a strong network composed of so many truly amazing individuals. My friend and peer, Mike, also granted me an hour of his time for a sort of composition lesson on the piece, an experience that I value highly since he is a very skilled and well-trained composer. Many others gave advice and encouragement, and now that I have gone through about four revisions, I'm happy to announce that I think the current revision will stand as the definitive version of the piece. Though not a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, I hope that it will be an entertaining, escapist piece of repertoire that may be best suited for educational use, since that repertoire in particular, separate from the canon of solo instrumental literature, is sorely in need of inspiring new music that young people can use to foster their own musicality. Of course, I hope that Mary Elizabeth enjoys it as well, but really it's a means to an end as one day I would love to compose a significant piece for her, or at least if I can't, then I'll commission one from someone who can. If anyone is interested in seeing or passing along PALINDROMES FOR SOLO FLUTE (2007), then feel free to contact me and I'll send you the files.
Mary Elizabeth and I are moving in to our new, spacious two-bedroom apartment this week. The projected move-in day looks like it will be Wednesday, as that is the day that the movers will transport Mary E.'s furniture over to the apartment. As I only own one piece of furniture (a wood-frame futon,) the current set-up in my apartment is much more portable, and I will be moving myself on Tuesday. I'm excitedly anxious to unpack and set up our new home for the year. Mary E. and I are both in agreement that we want to use the second bedroom as a study space, designed for serious practicing and reading/writing. It will also serve as a guest bedroom, and I really hope that we will have the good fortune of receiving visitors from time-to-time. I also hope we can entertain during the year, and a secret fantasy of mine is to have friends over and watch funky, cult films or listen to music.
Well, I better go visit the wood-shed (i.e. practice) before I have to get to work (my part-time job.) I welcome anyones feedback of any sort. Hopefully more entries will follow soon, until then, warm wishes to everyone.
jm
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