Reading for W 11/28 and F 11/30

For Friday:

In Monday's class I mentioned the introductory essay in Alex Ross's book Listen to This. Turns out that this long (and fascinating!) chapter originally appeared as a standalone essay in The New Yorker, where Alex is the classical music critic.  It's available here (that's the link for the printable version, which I suggest you print and/or save as a PDF; if you don't have a Mac and don't have a utility to save as PDF, email me), and we will start discussing it in Friday's class (and online before then).

In the article, Alex repeatedly mentions Leonard Bernstein's recorded analysis of Beethoven's "Eroica" symphony.   We don't have it in the Music Library but it is available as a download for 99 cents from Amazon (on iTunes you have to download the entire album; on Amazon you get the entire album for $8.99, or can download the 5 tracks for $0.99 each--go figure).  You haven't had to buy any texts for this course, and you might really enjoy this.

For tomorrow (Wednesday):

Events: We've been talking about your "event" and until it takes place a lot of energy will be going into making it true event.  In a happy coincidence, our old friend Greg Sandow just wrote a blog post called Concerts as events. So let's read and discuss that some.

The Developing Future:

Some links to look through fairly quickly:

Alarm Will Sound and The Metropolis Ensemble are two groups based in New York, each playing lots new music, with young, enthusiastic followings.  I'm reminded of one of the letters in the New York Times discussion that said the way to introduce young people to classical music is with new music (coming out of the classical tradition), rather than the 18th- and 19th-century "great masters."  And I can say that the performances I've been to by both ensembles (which in my own experience have all been at [le] poisson rouge0 feel like events.  The Metropolis Ensemble has such a big following that they sometimes do the same show on two nights at LPR.

Bridget Kibbey is a young harpist with a great career going; she plays in the Metropolis Ensemble among other things.  As you look at her bio (on the "about" page), notice how many musical projects and teaching activities she's involved in.  She has what is called a project-based, portfolio career.  Which is another way to say she's a very successful freelancer.

Another successful portfolio-career person is trumpeter C.J. Camerieri, who is a member of Alarm Will Sound as well as a driving force behind yMusic.  Look CJ's bio, and the "About" page on the yMusic site--talk about how at least part of the future is no longer "classical OR pop" but "classical AND pop"!

Something's happening in music now that's not happened before, at least not to such an extent.  Previously distinct genres are cross-fertilizing and producing offspring that are neither classical not pop nor world.  They are a genuine mix, and a genre unto themselves.  It's really different than a classical pops arrangement of a rock tune, or a jazz version of a classical something or other.

To sum up:

For Wednesday:

• One short Sandow blog post.
• Three ensemble websites.
• Two musician websites.

For Friday:

• One very long but free article by Alex Ross to read and comment on.
• One 16-minute fascinating talk by Leonard Bernstein (talking with enthusiasm and intelligence about extraordinary music), highly recommended, that costs less than a dollar.

For Monday 11/26: Some Fascinating Reading

Welcome back, and I hope you had a great Thanksgiving break.

Here are recently posted items quite relevant to our conversations about the future of classical music, including how to get an audience to concerts.

The first is Agora or Temple?, an essay by George Slade posted on the website of the Musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra, who are currently locked out by management while contract negotiations are underway.  A particular sore point with them is that the board of directors has raised $52 million dollars for a new lobby for the concert hall (that must be quite a lobby), while simultaneously asking the musicians to take very substantial cuts in salary and benefits.  I'd be pissed, too.

Beyond that particular situation, I think we could call this essay "What's Wrong with Classical Music."  Depending on which point of view you hold, it's either the situation Mr. Slade is complaining about or the point of view of Mr. Slade himself.  As you read, it will be helpful to know that in Ancient Greee, an agora was a central meeting place.  A temple, of course, is a temple, and I can't think of any piece I've ever read that more perfectly articulates the concert-hall-as-temple-of-high-art view than this.

As you know by now, one thing that is happening as classical music evolves is that there are more and more agora-like performance spaces as fewer people seem to be attracted to musical temples.

Meanwhile, the New York Times has posted a raft of letters on the subject Is Classical Music Dying? Each week, the Times publishes a letter online on an important topic and invites readers to respond; selected letters are published in Sunday's paper and even more are published online.  The original letter is by a violinist who is retired from the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.  He asserts:

The future of classical music lies with the younger generation, which must be weaned away from the cacophony of rock and the neon glitter of “American Idol”-type TV shows. Instead of dragging children to concerts, where they squirm with boredom, rent some old movies featuring soundtracks of classical music.

and as you can imagine, a number of younger writers take issue with the rock comment.

Please post your responses here, and we'll spend part of class discussing both.

The audience

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqQnHETW_D0

Just an idea on audience performer participation. These guys are awesome at it.

For M 11/19: GALA Brooklyn

We've already experienced mixed-genre musicians in person this semester, with ProjectTRIO and Voces8, and we looked at Sybarite5, who play classical music as well as a lot of rock covers.  Even saying "covers" shows a blending of worlds; until recently, almost everyone in the classical world would have said "arrangements," probably with a bit of a sneer.

We've looked at [le] poisson rouge, a mixed-genre venue, which does such interesting things in blending the social and performance space, while using lighting to distinguish between listening and socializing time.

Monday we'll discuss the idea of mixed-genre programming.  My favorite experience with this as an audience member has been with the very versatile cellist Mike Block's spring series in Brooklyn, GALA Brooklyn. (In 2011, when I attended, it was called GALA NY. And I believe its motto in 2011 was "global art, local audiences; it's now "global art, local art.").  (Be sure to follow those links!  And Mike's FB page, too, if you want.)

Please read my description of the first performance I attended here.

Here's Yo-Yo Ma talking about why his Silk Road project (for which Mike is the music director) gave a start-up grant to Mike:

As I've mentioned, Mike calls these performances variety shows, and he engages the audience in part by finishing the shows (at least the ones I attended) with singalongs, which may be the only time in the performance that all the performers make music at the same time.  Here's Rebecca Black's "Friday" from that first show I went to:

As you'll read in my post, there is food and drink (including alcohol) available, and many in the audience are eating/imbibing during the show.  It worked fine, and being in a big room (about the size of the UB Ballroom, now that I think of it, although a very different look), the social space and performance space is one and the same.

And here is something completely different: projected calligraphy done in real time to music.

So take a look at all that, and perhaps check out another GALA video or two!

For Friday 11/16

A reminder of the homework for Friday's class:

Look through the Sybarite5 site and watch the promo video (see the post for Wednesday for those links) if you haven't already.

Visit and look through the [le] poisson rouge website.

Practice improvising:

• one-quality tones and expressive tones
• freely improvised melodies (one note after another)
• ostinatos  (make up grooves you like, and review the Jansa rhythms)

See you tomorrow!

Events Teams

Programming

MO
Sarah
Melanie

Set Up/ Clean up

Danny
Becca
Laura
Michael

PR

Zoe
Rachel
Matt

Food!

Marian
Burke
Stephanie

Success-in-progress stories: Sybarite5

I missed you all on Monday.  Tomorrow, we'll continue the planning process for your event (make sure you've checked for potential conflicts in the evenings of the last week of classes) and start looking at young classically-trained musicians who are making successful careers by being innovative and entrepreneurial.  We'll also be working more on improvisation and comprovisation, so please bring your instrument or a drum if you wish.

We'll start with Sybarite5, a string quintet (string quartet plus a double bass, in their case) which plays a wide variety of music from multiple genres.  Look through their site.  Notice the distinct visual style, the type of photography, and their effective videos, including the promo video below.

One of the interesting things they to is to present events they call "The Shuffle Effect," in which their repertoire is loaded on an iPod and they use its shuffle function to select the pieces in real time.  I heard them do one of these in January 2011 in NY--it worked very well.  They ended up with a Radiohead suite, as I recall.

They play in lots of different places.  This is from their About page:

Recent performance highlights include the Library of Congress, Aspen Music Festival, and in New York at Lincoln Center, Time Warner Center, Tishman Auditorium and Bohemian National Hall.  Through its Alternative Venues Initiative, the quintet has also performed at such diverse locations as Galapagos Artspace, the Apple Store, the Museum of Sex, the Core Club, and the Cutting Room, and at the Cell Theatre, where SYBARITE5 maintains a residency.  The group has also performed on the CBS Early Show and for his Holiness the Dalai Lama.

In upcoming classes, we'll also be talking more about [le] poisson rouge, the club in Greenwich Village which presents classical music along with every other genre, and which I've mentioned in class several times.

Glass Bottle Symphony

What day of the week and time works best for you?

What day of the week and time works best for you?

Our FYS is organizing a music event at the end of the semester. What would make you want to go?

Our FYS is organizing a music event at the end of the semester. What would make you want to go?

What DPU events have you attended?

What DPU events have you attended?

Do you go to classical music events? Why or why not?

Do you go to classical music events? Why or why not?

What events have you attended in the last 6 months, and what did you like or not like about them?

What events have you attended in the last 6 months, and what did you like or not like about them?

Interview Questions

What events have you attended in the last 6 months, and what did you like or not like about them?

Do you go to classical music events? Why or why not?

What DPU events have you attended?

Our FYS is organizing a music event at the end of the semester. What would make you want to go?

What day of the week and time works best for you?