The New York Times has an interesting article, titled “The String Quartet Reinvented,” about David Harrington’s (violinist and founder of the Kronos Quartet) role in broadening the stylistic oeuvre of string quartets and reinventing this type of ensemble. In addition to reminding me that some of my favorite groups are chamber groups and […]
I learned today that Frances Blaisdell recently passed away. The New York Times has an obituary featuring her historical accomplishments as a flutist who was one of the “early women to play a woodwind instrument with the New York Philharmonic”. I was also upset that before reading this obituary I didn’t know of Ms. Blaisdell […]
Dave Douglas recently posted a thought provoking email from one of his readers raising questions about practicing, composing, and thinking creatively in music. Both the post and the comments are worth reading and thinking about. While the email deals with a university context it could easily be applied to public school music programs. The lingering […]
The electronic music foundation is presenting a series of FREE concerts titled “The Human Voice In A New World“. (The New York Times has a review of the first one.) The strand tying the various concerts together is the way the voice can be altered, processed, modified etc. When I first found out about […]
Music has always played an integral role throughout history in dissolving barriers and bringing people together. The Lesbian and Gay Band Association , with musician members from across the country, will be the first LGBT group in the history of the United States to march as a contingent in an inaugural parade. Along with many […]
The creation of a collaborative orchestra project by YouTube, Michael Tilson Thomas and others is one of the most exciting classical music initiatives I’ve seen in a while.
Harnessing the power of the internet, tapping into the notions of participatory culture, and drawing on the abilities of instrumentalists across the world, YouTube’s Symphony Orchestra project has […]
I ended up spending most of my attention listening to the performance and engaging with the live chat but here is a collection of the few posts I wrote while live blogging the concert. I’ll write a post in the next day or two to reflect on the experience. Overall I found the live chat […]
Tonight I will be participating as a live blogging audience member at the “An E-volution of Experience, From Andriessen 2 Zappa: Ecstasy of Influence” concert at Arizona State University. The concert will include multiple options for audience members ranging from the traditional sitting and listening to receiving play by play text messages during the performance. […]
Congratulations to Daniel Truemen and Perry Cook for their Mobile Musical Networks project as well as the other winners of the HASTAC Digital Media & Learning Grant Competition! The following is a description of the Mobile Musical Networks project:
Project Description:
Mobile Musical Networks will build an expressive mobile musical laboratory for exploring new ways of making […]
While watching Super Bowl XLII I was thinking about the role music played during commercials and the game. While it was interesting to think about the particular choices of music during commercials, I got the biggest kick from the “Mr. Oboe” commercial featuring Ephraim Salaam and Chester Pitts who, according to the commercial […]
