Why Don't We Listen to Street Musicians?

Why don't we listen to street musicians?

Because they suck. Or at least most of them do. There are a few exceptions: I thought the street musicians in New Orleans (pre-Hurricane Katrina) were pretty good, this guy is obviously fantastic, and, surprisingly, the musicians in the Montreal metro station aren't that bad. In fact, they're not supposed to be.

The last time I was in Montreal, I was quickly trying to leave the metro when I heard someone playing the guitar. Of course, this instantly set off my reaction to walk faster (Do you know how many people "play guitar?" The guy on Ludlow comes to mind.) Then I actually listened for a couple of seconds and thought, "Hey, this guy actually isn't BAD." It was shocking.

I didn't think much of this until I switched on the TV in my hotel room, and the CBC was doing a story about Montreal street musicians. My memory is a little fuzzy, but I remember that musicians had to audition for certain spots in the Metro. One violinist-piano duo was able to support their daughter's college education. Others were able to make a decent living.

After doing some internet research, I found that a couple of major Canadian cities have some sort of system which delegates musicians to certain parts of their subway system. According to this CBC article about Toronto's Subway Elvis (yes, that's what I said), Toronto subway officials implemented the Subway Musicians' Program. This requires musicians to audition for the chance to perform in subway stations. Also, according to this same article, there isn't an audition requirement to play in the Montreal metro (so I may have remembered the CBC television piece incorrectly), but they do regulate themselves via l'Association des musiciens indépendents du métro de Montréal (la MIME), formed in 1983.

Unfortunately, I was reading in a couple of blogs which state that Montreal is limiting its musician metro space. This disheartens me a little. I believe that these Canadian street musicians add to the metro. And, like I mentioned earlier, provide a living for some. In fact, Russell Martin's dad, according to Wikipedia, used to play saxophone in Montreal metro stations to help pay for his baseball training.

Oops, did I mention that the Dodgers are in town this weekend? I'm off to the ballpark.

This Week in Blogosphere (Early Edition)

1. In this Sequenza21 post entitled Two More Proms–Andriessen/Glanert et al, Rodney Lister mentions sources for Andriessen's The Hague Hacking.

"There were several sources, or perhaps references embedded in The Hague Hacking: the piano parts make use at the beginning and subsequently in the piece of the notes of the beginning of the Lizst Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, which Andriessen knew not so much from knowing the piece itself as from knowing its use in a Tom and Jerry cartoon, The Cat Concerto...."



I could not resist.

2. eighth blackbird is back. They're also coming to Cincinnati in January around my birthday, and they will be playing Stephen Hartke's Meanwhile. Ooohhh, do you think he'll be there in person? I should ask.

3. As mentioned in a previous post, New Music Hartford is putting together a concert that will benefit the South Park Inn Homeless Shelter. Please donate if you can. There's my plug.

4. Reason why this is an early edition: I'm giving a presentation on the only Boulez piece I like. But trust me, it is certainly kick-ass:

Thoughts on Self Publishing

A couple of weeks ago I was thinking about trying to have a piece of mine published. Why? I thought maybe other horn players would like to play the piece because it's fun and kinda sounds cool (or at least I think so). AND horn players love playing new music. (I think all composers should write for horn. It's a versatile instrument, has a great round tone that can blend well or be brassy when it needs to be. For orchestration tips on writing for the horn, check out Extended Techniques for the Horn by Douglas Hill. I will stop digressing now.)

I thought that having a publisher would get my piece into the hands of more horn players. My only exposure to horn players has been at school, including my horn-playing roommate in college (hence my bias). I don't get out much (I am a composer) and so I don't go to horn conferences.

I was looking online for potential publishers (I found the local Southern Ohio Music Company, who not only sells brass music but also publishes, and IU has a website listing different publishers). Around the same time, I received my first royalty check from BMI.

Oh happy day. Did I mention that because I only teach during the school year, I only receive checks during the school year? But then I also realized something else: this check was a culmination of my royalties as a composer AND a publisher.

Yes, I currently self-publish my music. It's the thing to do. With notation programs available (I still weep tears of joy when using Sibelius 6's Magnetic Layout), and lovely inventions such as laser printers and Kinko's, who doesn't self-publish? Furthermore, with websites and useful tools such as Adobe Acrobat Pro and PayPal, a composer can easily have a visitor peruse the score (without printing it out), sell it online via PayPal, then send the customer a PDF file of the score and parts.

Anyway, after realizing that I was receiving royalties as a publisher, I also came to the conclusion that if I had a publisher, my royalty check would be cut in half. This was confirmed when I read this recent post by John Mackey who basically outlines the advantages of self-publishing (you get to keep a lot of your hard-earned money, plus you keep your copyright) and an interview with Jennifer Higdon (I heart her) who mentions Philip Glass stating something like, "If you want to make a living as a composer, keep the rights to your pieces."

So, I think I'll self-publish for now. I may start crashing horn conventions. But I do have a lingering question: when I look for cushy university posts in a couple of years, does it look good on your CV to be published?

Last Week in Baseball

Since there is not much going on in the new music blogosphere, I decided to expand a story that I posted last week in This Week in Blogosphere where I referenced a New York Times article about a violinist from the National Symphony Orchestra who turned a Louisville Slugger into a über-cool electric violin.

And now, the rest of the story.



NPR Article: Musician Merges Twin Passions: Baseball, Violin
Please actually listen to this story; you will hear more clips of this guy playing.

Writing a Piece in 60 Minutes

A couple of weeks ago (August 2, to be exact), I decided to miss a perfectly good Rockies vs. Reds baseball game to stay home and write a piece in 60 minutes. (I was also taking a mental breather from my take-home Schenker exam, which I should have started earlier that weekend.)

New Music Hartford sponsored a competition with the following guidelines: write a piece in 60 minutes, and if your piece is selected, the musician will have 60 minutes to rehearse your piece before it is performed. Composers who wanted to participate waited until 3 PM EDT to see what their instrumentation would be, and then had to submit a PDF file before 4 PM. I figured, what the hell.

So, they're playing my solo flute piece! Here's the program.

John BACON: "gtr." (for electric guitar and looping pedals)
Michael COLEMAN: "3:48 p.m. Eastern (for solo cello)"
Carson COOMAN: "Beach Grass Elegy" (for flute)
Douglas DASILVA: "Antonio Conselheiro" (for mixed ensemble)
Michelle McQuade DEWHIRST: "47 Miles of Barbed Wire" (for mixed ensemble)
Benjamin FUHRMAN: Zais (for fixed electronic media)
Christopher GAINEY: "60" (for flute and cello)
James GEIGER: "Scherzo" (for flute and cello)
Jennifer JOLLEY: "I feel dizzy." (for flute)
Jamie KLENETSKY: Space music (for fixed electronic media)
Peter LAWLESS: "Tangent" (for flute and cello)
Evan MERZ: Confined (for fixed electronic media)
Nick NORTON: "London, August 2, 2009, 8:38 PM, Nothing Working" (for mixed ensemble)
Matthew C. SAUNDERS: "Passacaglia" (for flute and cello)
Jim SCULLY: "Duality in Time" (for flute and cello)
Ted SMELTZ: "Meditation in 60 Minutes" (for cello)
Nolan STOLZ: What The Waves Tell Me (Cello Sonata No. 2) and "Three Haiku for Flute and Cello"
Paul THOMAS: "Mourning" (for mixed ensemble)
Charles A. TURNER: "Burrowing" (for flute and cello)

I will say that I didn't invent the best title. When writing a piece in less than an hour, the last thing you think about is the title. Maybe next time I'll pre-sketch some ideas AND think of a kick-ass title, because this one is certainly not kick-ass.

I would like to go to the performance, but I have a couple of problems.

1. I picked up this temporary church gig, which keeps you in town during weekends. Now I'm remembering why I stayed away from church gigs when I went back to school. Should I get a sub? (I'm already subbing for someone.)
2. Money.
3. The Reds are playing the Dodgers that weekend.

We'll see if I go. I'm a bit on the fence about this one. In the meantime, I need to create a bio and program notes in 60 seconds.

Wind Ensemble Listening List, Part 4

Last installment guys. I met with Rodney Winther the other day, director of Wind Studies at my school. He gave me a quick list of composers with some titles.

Schwantner (...and the mountains rising nowhere)
Husa (Les Couleurs Fauves)
Roborto Sierra
Colgrass (Urban Requiem, Winds of Nagual)
Maslanka (A Child's Garden of Dreams, Symphony No. 4)
Corigliano (Circus Maximus) [CCM will be performing this in February.]
Wilson (Pieces of Mind)
Daugherty
Cindy McTee
Don Grantham
Harbison (Three City Blocks)
Anthony Iannaccone (Sea Drift, Apparitions)

Time to get started!

[CORRECTION: The CCM Wind Symphony is performing Corigliano's Circus Maximus (Symphony No. 3) in JUNE, not February. I blame Google for this one.]

Copland House Expanding

This was in the Wall Street Journal last Tuesday, and I should have posted this earlier. What did I learn from this? If I pay for a newspaper subscription, I should actually read the paper.

A Composer's Sanctuary

This Week in (the music) Blogosphere

Mining Pop for Avant-Garde Inspiration
Who needs librettists anymore: Twitter for Sopranos and a Bat for a Violinist
And why that would be a BAD idea: The first--and maybe last--Twitter Opera
(Check out the new design for the LA Times page...niiiiice.)
Hilary and Harold
Using baseballs to play the piano: Knuckleballs and sliders
How to be a Deep Thinker photos

Wind Ensemble Listening List, Part 3

I thought I'd ask my former composition teacher, Frank Ticheli, to contribute to the series.

STANDARD WORKS

Holst: Suite in Eb
Grainger: Lincolnshire Posy
Arnold/Paynter: Four Scottish Dances
Nelson: Rocky Point Holiday
Dahl: Sinfonietta
Stravinsky: Sinfonies of Winds

MORE CONTEMPORARY REPERTOIRE, BECOMING STANDARD

Schwantner: ...and the mountains rising nowhere
Benson: The Leaves are Falling
Colgrass: Winds of Nagual
Maslanka: A Child's Garden of Dreams
Maslanka: Symphony no. 2
Welcher: Zion or Shaker Loops
Nelson: Passacaglia on B-A-C-H
Daugherty: Bells of Stokowski
Mackey: Redline Tango

SOME TICHELI WORKS

Postcard
Blue Shades
Symphony no. 2
Sanctuary
Angels in the Architecture

Wind Ensemble Listening List, Part 2

Wow. There were lots of comments/suggestions to the last post (as only seen through Facebook lenses), so I'm going to post those below.

Here are what some of my friends had to say.

Christopher Stark

Emblems by Copland
A Child's Garden of Dreams by David Maslanka

Michael Cortes

* Irish Tune from County Derry by Grainger
* Shepherds Hey! by Grainger
* Lincolnshire Posy by Grainger
* Cheetah by Husa
* Hammersmith by Holst
* Suite No. 1 (Eb) by Holst
* Suite No. 2 (F) by Holst
* Oisseaux Exotiques by Messiaen
* Suite Francaise by Milhaud
* Magneticfireflies by Augusta Read Thomas
* La Fiesta Mexicana by H. Owen Reed
* Blue Shades by Frank Ticheli
* Postcard by Frank Ticheli
* Toccata Marziale by R. Vaughan Williams
* New England Tripyich by William Schumann
* Theme & Variations by Arnold Schoenberg
* The Passing Bell by Warren Benson
* Percussion Concerto by Joseph Schwantner
* ...And the mountains rising nowhere by Joseph Schwantner

Matt Stofferahn

Anything by Grainger (but especially Lincolnshire)
Holst Suite in Eb
Some of Vaughn Williams' military band music are more traditional but staples in the repertoire.

Kyle Werner

Varese - "Deserts" and "Hyperprism"
Messiaen - "Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum"
Schwantner is generally good, too.

Wind Ensemble Listening List, Part 1

For those who don't know (and that's probably everybody), I'll be attempting to write my first wind ensemble piece for the Xavier University Symphonic Wind Ensemble (woot!). I have to admit, I'm a little intimidated by it (what do you do with all that...color?), but I'm up for the challenge.

I asked four people for suggestions on what I should listen to/what they like, so in the next few days I'll be posting their suggestions. (Of course, only two people responded to my request, so this may be a *very* short series.)

Obvious first person to ask: the director of the Symphonic Wind Ensemble himself, Matthew Westgate.

Here are his suggestions:

Symphonies of Wind Instruments - Stravinsky
Gran Partita "Serenade in Bb" - Mozart
Serenade Opus. 44 - Dvorak
Music for Prague - Husa
Lincolnshire Posy - Grainger
Chorali - Sallinen
Symphony in Bb - Hindemith
Kammermusik No. 1 - Hindemith
Dionysiaques - Schmitt
Magnum Mysterium - Lauridsen
An American Elegy - Ticheli
A Movement for Rosa - Camphouse
Waking Angels - Gillingham
Pageant - Persichetti
Any music by Robert Russell Bennett for orchestration

Um, did Lauridsen arrange his choral piece into a band piece? Did someone else arrange it? I mean, how many more royalties can he earn? I thought he already had his small island off the coast of Washington state. For realz.

Anyway, let's hope my local library has these scores available.

This doesn't beat piano ties, but...

As posted by Soho the Dog, you can buy Esa-Pekka's House.

Granted, I would LOVE to have a sauna in my house. That would be freaking awesome.

3-Way Sibelius 6

Okay, I couldn't resist a picture of a bowl of 3-way Cincinnati chili (spaghetti, chili, cheese), but I'm using the above graphic to set us up for "3 reasons I instantly like Sibelius 6." (You can stop groaning now).

REASON #1: SIBELIUS 6 DOES SUPER-SWEET SCHENKER SLURS



Not that I'm going to be doing Schenker graphs on my computer anytime soon, but this demonstrates how much control you have over your slurs. Why am I not graphing, you ask? Because I'm not a theorist.

(N.B. When doing Schenker graphs or any kind of non-traditional type of score, you MUST turn off Magnetic Layout, or you will go crazy. It's like saying, "Hold the onions, please.")

REASON #2: FEATHERED BEAMING = SO MUCH EASIER

Here is a before pic:



And after:



The only caveat is that the playback will not be rhythmically accurate. However, this sure beats adding triplet upon triplet upon triplet, hiding brackets and "3s", and adding two or three additional beams to the original flag (AND hoping they would stay there).


REASON #3: STEMLETS ROCK



With this pic, I tried to do a "compare and contrast" with the two violin parts. The one above doesn't have stemlets; the one below does. I *think* this might help the violinists group the sixteenth notes together.

~~~

There you have it. Composers, if you have Sibelius 6, please drop a line and let me know what what you like.

[N.B. The 3-way picture above was taken from The Alchemist Pub and Brewery in Waterbury, VT. If you are in the town of Ben & Jerry's, you really should stop by. Their food is amazing and they have a great selection of beer. Further random note: I had no idea the cook was from Cincinnati until he entered a Chili Cook-off at the Waterbury Congregational Church, and he won with his Cincinnati chili. (Texans who have tried Cincinnati chili would probably be shaking their head right now.)]

UPDATE: Daniel Spreadbury mentioned this post on the Sibelius Blog in his post
Reviewing the reviews, part 3. He explains in a little more detail how to achieve the features I am talking about.