here is something less depressing

After defending myself against recent composer FAILs (believe me, the other two are coming) and hearing the news that Milton Babbitt is no longer with us (I heard he liked beer AND baseball, so how awesome is that?), I thought I'd post Webern's orchestration of Bach's "Ricercar a 6" from "The Musical Offering."

he cares if you listen

RIP Milton Babbitt.

I stole today's blog post title from the title of an interview Christian Carey wrote for Signal to Noise Magazine. (No, I haven't read this interview, but Mr. Carey mentioned it as a comment on Sequenza21's post about Milton Babbitt's passing. I'm hoping my library has a copy of the back issue. Also, check out his tribute to Milton Babbitt here.)

Whether you agree with his compositional techniques or certain controversial articles many of us have to read, you can't argue that he is a good composer.

composer FAIL #21

You know that saying that rejection letters come in threes? Okay, maybe that saying applies to deaths only, but here is the first in a series of three rejection letters, two of which are particularly depressing. This is one of them.

I was hoping the University of Cincinnati would pay me to work on my opera this summer, especially because I receive no stipend during the summer months. How nice would it be to receive some funding for furthering the field of contemporary comedic opera! How many comic operas are being written these days? And what will I do this summer? Flip burgers? Make lattes? Become a one-woman escort service and work those boots I bought myself for my 30th birthday?

get your ass to mars (2011)

I was asked to write a piece for CS13's fundraiser "COLLIDE-O-SCOPE: An Evening Of Film/Music Mash-ups," which had a sci-fi/"it's okay to throw in The NeverEnding Story because it's a cool 80s movie" theme.

I picked sound clips from "Total Recall" and glitched them so that you couldn't remember what was being said, because this is a film about memory right? Are these memories real, or are they...implanted?

Or is this film about a guy who wants to leave his wife and bang his Mars mistress? AND quite possibly her three-boobed friend?

get your ass to mars by jenniferjolley

This is a work in progress. Any comments would be greatly appreciated. (By the way, the Spanish title of "Total Recall" is "El vengador del futuro.")

did you ladies call for a ph.d in music theory?

Today I take the music theory qualifying exam, which is something I absolutely must do if I ever want my third sheet of paper. And while I curse matrices and ponder why on earth the musicologists and theorists were so bloody excited to take their picture with James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy at Steak 'N Shake in November, you can giggle at this formerly unbroken picture of a framed comic hanging in David Carson Berry's office.

Yes, I broke it. I was borrowing DCB's office while he was on sabbatical, and I was having a meeting with my TAs. During the meeting, this comic, which was hanging on DCB's cork board, took a suicidal nosedive into the wastebasket.

When I sheepishly told DCB what happened, he said, "I hope that wasn't symbolic. Maybe ladies no longer want Ph.D.s in music theory!"

Theorists are funny.

composer FAIL #20

I swear my blog isn't all about composer FAILs and other silly posts, but considering I have an orchestra piece due with parts by the 26th (oh my goodness), I can still post composer FAILs as long as they arrive in my inbox.

Sometimes I wonder if I was rejected because my credit card was declined when they tried to bill me the hefty $75 for the application fee.

composer FAIL #19b

What's with this faulty numbering system, you ask? Well, because of this composer WIN, I actually did not make composer FAIL #20 (or even #30). Of course, how long can these composer WINs really last?

i'm 30!

I'd like to formally announce my retirement from ballet.

composer FAIL #18 = composer WIN #1

Wait a second...wait a second...first they rejected my piece, but now they selected an abbreviated version of my piece to be performed at the Gamma-UT festival in March?

"So, one of the pieces we selected can't be done this year.... We'd like to do your piece! Would you be up to it?" -Hermes

Looks like I'll be packing my bags for Austin and downing all the Mexican food I can muster. Mmm...carnitas...

the new year (2011)

Happy First Day of Classes New Year! Last year I made some resolutions, one of which was to "get into football." That absolutely failed, but I realized I was doing it all wrong. I should have been following *college* football, because with college football, you have college bands, and college bands can do something like this:

Also, bands play new music. Frequently.