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Posts Tagged ‘music’

Experiencing Music Visually

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on April 3, 2013| Leave a Comment »

My mother took in renters, and the last guy who rented my brother’s old room was a serious tinkerer.

There was no space to move around among all the gadgets and spare parts, but he did manage to squeeze us in when we were around and show us a particularly cool invention.

It was a colorful display on a computer screen that responded to sound, loudness, and rhythm of music.

I was thinking about that guy as I read the story that James Sullivan wrote for the Boston Globe about Bill Sebastian, inventor of “a kind of optical synthesizer called the Outerspace Visual Communicator, or OVC.

“Designed to let the user ‘play’ with images as part of a musical composition, the original OVC was a custom-built keyboard featuring an array of sensors to be brushed with fingertips (‘like fingerpainting’). It created dynamic color changes in the lights on a structure overhead, such as a dome over a concert stage.

“Sebastian performed with the OVC in a few extended runs with Sun Ra and his big band, the Arkestra.”

Now Sebastian has built “a new visual synthesizer — this one in 3-D…

“For the past several months, two fellow engineers and computer programmers have been working …  on proprietary computer programs and prototypes of the new OVC, which, in place of the keyboard and buttons, is operated by hand controllers that look a bit like robotic arms fitted with valves (like those of a trumpet) and sliders (roughly analogous to the frets on a guitar). Sebastian envisions applications for the 3-D OVC ranging from planetariums to virtual reality headsets.” More.

Whatever happened to that guy at my mother’s house? What was his name again?

Photograph of Bill Sebastian, Visual Music Systems, by Dina Rudick, Globe staff

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A Multicultural St. Mark’s Passion

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on March 27, 2013| 2 Comments »

I liked this National Public Radio story on a Jewish South American composer creating a St. Mark’s Passion that uses many ethnic styles and has enthusiastic urban kids in the chorus.

Anastasia Tsioulcas writes, “Salsa rhythms, Brazilian martial arts and a Jewish prayer of mourning: It’s not exactly what you would expect from a classical composer’s setting of the Gospel according to St. Mark. But that’s exactly what Argentine Jewish composer Osvaldo Golijov, a MacArthur ‘genius,’ did when he was asked to write a choral work based on one of the gospels, in a hugely acclaimed piece that’s been presented around the globe …

” ‘I never expected a Passion to have this funk and Spanish and everything inside it. I never thought I would be able to sing them,’ says Andrew Farella, a 16-year-old bass in the chorus. He and his friend Jerry Ortiz, another 16-year-old bass, say they’re thrilled to hear all these different kinds of music within Golijov’s work — ones they know well from their own lives.

” ‘I’m actually very excited to do this piece, me being from the Latin culture,’ says Ortiz, who is Dominican and Puerto Rican. ‘Everything that’s in here is based on my culture, my background. So I can feel the music when we sing it. I was kind of surprised to hear African and also Indian stuff. But he talked about how in Latin America we come from three places. There’s our white side, our Native American side and there’s our African side. And that’s basically what La Pasión is — coming from those three to combine into one, the Holy Trinity.’ ”

Follow this link to read more and hear the music.

Something different for Easter.

Photo: Chris Lee/Carnegie Hall
A coach and high school students work on Osvaldo Golijov’s Passion According to St. Mark with the composer (right) in November 2012.

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The Electric Word

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 4, 2013| 1 Comment »

There was a lovely National Public Radio story the other day about the rediscovery of Gospel singing brothers 30 years after they thought their career was over.

“In 1970, brothers Gean and Tommie West, both reverends, started a gospel group together in Dallas. They called themselves The Relatives, pressed a few singles and amassed a good following.

“By 1980, The Relatives had gone their separate ways, and for three decades that was that. But a few years ago, a Texas DJ and record collector who’d heard their music came knocking, and brought up the idea of a reunion. Now, they’re releasing their first album of original work in 30 years, The Electric Word.”

Gean and Tommie spoke with and sang for NPR’s Scott Simon, here.

Read about the company that relaunched The Relatives, Heavy Light Records, here, at the Austin Chronicle.

At the Chronicle, Thomas Fawcett writes, “For co-owners Noel Waggener and Charisse Kelly, married roughly the same amount of time they’ve been collecting records together, 16 years, Heavy Light is a deeply personal endeavor. In 2001, Waggener founded Waxploitation! (now Soul Happening), dusty-fingered local DJs who fuel dance floors with rare funk 45s. Bonding with master of ceremonies Obatallah Hayter, the late Harlem-born pianist who rapped over records from his wheelchair, the pair had an epiphany. …

“The result, Heavy Light Records, has so far amassed more than 4,000 recordings, including a sizeable chunk licensed from the heirs of San Antonio businessman E.J. Henke, who owned several small labels, including the Harlem, Satin, and Warrior imprints.” Noel was the DJ who brought The Relatives back. Jim Eno produced “The Electric Word.” More.

Photograph: Andrew Shapter
The Relatives teamed with members of members of Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears to record the new album The Electric Word. Left to right: Matt Strmiska, Earnest Tarkington, Zach Ernst, Rev. Tommie West, Dale Burns, Rev. Gean West, Tyron Edwards.

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Malian Musicians Defend Culture

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , on February 17, 2013| 2 Comments »

As Jane once observed, Suzanne’s Mom’s blog likes making connections between random unconnected matters.

This entry makes at least three connections, starting with a Malian colleague at work and ending with a biographer friend who was mentioned in a murder mystery.

To begin at the beginning, I joined my current organization about seven years ago and was “onboarded” with a young guy from Mali. Although he moved back to Africa after five years, we keep in touch, and naturally I have been distressed by the recent trouble in his homeland.

That is why an article by music critic Jim Fusilli in the the Wall Street Journal caught my eye. “To the musicians from Mali [in Paris], the attempt by terrorists associated with al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) to suppress music in their country’s north goes beyond politics and religion: It’s an offense to the soul of the nation, where music is more than entertainment, it’s essential to life.”

Fusilli says the musicians are “leveraging their international reputations as creators of the country’s often-inspired music, which ranges from brooding, spiritually minded tunes played on traditional African instruments to a fiery fusion of Afrobeat, rock, R&B and indigenous sounds. It’s a melting pot that absorbs the music of other cultures without losing its native identity.

“On her next album, ‘Beautiful Africa’ (Nonesuch), out in the U.S. on April 9, the singer-songwriter Rokia Traoré sends a message of support to Mali’s women. In Bambara, English and French, she sings: ‘I want to hear your laughter. I admire your courage. I miss your smile.’ ” More.

Now, as it happens, Jim Fusilli, in addition to being a music critic, wrote a mystery series that I gobbled up, and in one novel I noted that the hero was reading a biography by a friend of mine. The biography was of John Quincy Adams, and when I told author Paul C. Nagel, he was delighted that JQA had made it into a mystery story.

So when I read that Fusilli would be at Kate’s Mystery Books, I squeezed through the holiday mystery-buying crowd and gave him Paul’s e-mail. And thus they were in touch.

And thus a colleague from Mali connects to the biographer of John Quincy Adams.

Photograph of Rokia Traoré:  http://www.africanmusiciansprofiles.com/

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Music for the Deaf

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 16, 2013| Leave a Comment »

“Good good good good vibrations.”

I wonder if the Beach Boys ever thought about this aspect of good vibrations — how they can bring the joy of music to those who can’t hear.

According to Gramophone magazine, “The BBC National Orchestra of Wales will perform a series of free concerts in Cardiff on February 26 and 27, which aim to make orchestral music accessible to deaf and hard of hearing adults and children. …

“The events will feature sign language and live subtitles, and will allow audience members to sit within the orchestra, in order to feel the vibrations from instruments as the musicians play. The five concerts will demonstrate concepts including pitch, tempo and dynamics through music including ‘Hoe-Down’ from Copland’s Rodeo, ‘In the Hall of the Mountain King’ from Grieg’s Peer Gynt and the theme tune to Doctor Who. Four of the concerts will be aimed at students from primary and specialist schools, and adults in care homes and day centres. The fifth concert will be open to the public, allowing deaf and hard of hearing children and adults to take part alongside friends and family.”

More.

Photograph: Betina Skovbro
BBC NOW presented a pilot event for the deaf and hard of hearing in October 2012

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Cool Turntable at Kickstarter

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , on January 20, 2013| Leave a Comment »

I have written a few times about the crowdfunding site Kickstarter (for example, in this post about a great documentary I saw).

I even participated in one campaign because Liz told me about a Pomona College professor who wanted to raise a small amount to publish a book on the artist Ben Shahn.

Sometimes there is a little sweetener (I was offered Ben Shahn note cards). Sometimes donors just want to see the thing get off the ground. If you don’t meet your goal in the allotted time, no one pays.

My impression is that Kickstarter is most suited to products that are ready to roll. Lisa Kocian wrote in the Boston Globe recently about a product I would definitely like to buy.

 “U-Turn Audio, founded by three Lexington High grads, is a few steps closer to bringing its affordable, sound-obsessed vinyl turntable to the mass market.

“In March, the trio won a $2,500 Prototype Fund grant from Northeastern University’s Center for Research Innovation. Seven or eight prototypes later, the three friends are trying to raise the $60,000 needed to start manufacturing their Orbit turntable, which will retail for about $150, according to Bob Hertig, one of the company’s cofounders.” More.

Tonight, with 28 hours left in U-Turn’s Kickstarter campaign, the team has raised more than 300% of their goal. (Note that different levels of funding are associated with different rewards, here.)

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Military Vets and Music

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 7, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Photograph: Julio Cortez/AP
Musician Julio Fernandez during a Voices of Valor music session at Montclair State University.

Today I am returning to the topic of veterans programs that help people overcome post-traumatic stress and reintegrate into civilian life. (Interesting how often these programs involve gardening or the arts — which we always knew were good for us!)

Samantha Henry at the Boston Globe has the story.

“During stressful times as a combat medic in Afghanistan, Mason Sullivan found solace in Vivaldi. New Jersey native Nairobi Cruz was comforted by country music, a genre she had never heard before joining the Army. For Jose Mercedes, it was an eclectic iPod mix that helped him cope with losing an arm during a tour of duty in Iraq.

“These three young veterans all say music played a crucial role in alleviating the stresses of active duty. Now, all three are enrolled in a program that hopes to use music to ease their reintegration into civilian life.

‘‘ ‘It’s a therapy session without the “sit down, lay down, and write notes,” ‘ Mercedes, 26, of Union City, said of the music program. ‘It’s different — it’s an alternative that’s way better.’

“The pilot program, called Voices of Valor, has veterans work as a group to synthesize their experiences into musical lyrics. Guided by musicians and a psychology mentor, they write and record a song, and then hold a CD release party. The program is currently underway at Montclair State University, where students participate through the school’s veteran affairs program.

“Developed by husband and wife team Brian Dallow and Rena Fruchter, it is open to veterans of any age and background. No musical experience is required.” More.

P.S. A word on the power of reddit. John posted my blog entry from yesterday in the Christmas category at reddit and it increased traffic to this site by a factor of 10 so far.

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Ocean Beach Youth Group Fundraiser Jan. 6

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 3, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Today I had an amusing back and forth with Fire Islanders past and present. It was about a fund raiser for what we used to call “Group” back when I was a day camper and later a counselor and writer-director of teenage musicals.

The fundraiser is to restore the Ocean Beach Youth Group (“Group”) building below, which was pummeled by Hurricane Sandy. From the first e-mail:

“Food . Beer & Wine . Auction . Guest Bartenders . Tequila Tasting
“Sun., Jan. 6, 2013, 4-7 pm @ Rodeo Bar, 375 Third Avenue, NYC
“$50 cash/check at door, 21+
“$30 for 16-20 For advance tickets or to make a donation, visit http://www.nycharities.org/Events/EventLevels.aspx?ETID=5691 OBYG is a 501(c)3 organization.
“As an added bonus Tony Roberts of Broadway fame and Youth Group Alumnus will be our guest.”

I wrote back that I was in one of Tony Roberts’s teenage plays (back when his name was still Dave) and can sing most of the lyrics to the theme song of his show Like You Like It.

I then indulged in some contradictory reminiscing with my first co-writer/director and with the daughter of playwright Arnold Horwitt, who was an adviser on the first show we wrote.

“Memories can be beautiful and yet” … (Oh, sorry, we used to burst into song a lot.)

But about memories. I know I have the most accurate memories for the shows I worked on, yet friends keep remembering differently. And who can blame Arnold Horwitt’s daughter, for example, if she thinks her father wrote all the lyrics to our “Return of the Native” when he only contributed the song that he had already written for a cruise to fight a bridge, “Everything’s Coming Up Moses”? He was a huge support, and that’s what she gets right.

Want me to sing anything for you?

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Solstice Flash Mobs

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 27, 2012| Leave a Comment »

The New York Times recently printed a lovely collection of pop-up music sightings by various reporters. Each unexpected free performance affected New Yorkers like a flash mob.

At the High Line, surprised “participants were given small sets of speakers that could be attached to their coats or backpacks, or held by hand. As you began the walk at the southern end of the High Line, near Gansevoort Street, your every footstep or hand twist kicked the app into action, and you heard various sounds — clinking, chimes, splashing water, car horns, chords on electric guitar and, in a novel touch, occasional rounds of applause.”

Another report notes, “The High Line elevated park does not normally allow group walks or amplified sounds, but it made an exception for ‘The Gaits,’ one of a dozen participatory performances that constituted Make Music Winter.

“The event was an offshoot of Make Music New York, a festival of hundreds of concerts that occurs in June on the first day of summer, in public spaces around the city. Modeled after Fête de la Musique, an annual affair in Paris started in 1982, the New York version is in its sixth year.

“The founder of Make Music New York is Aaron Friedman, a composer and political activist who decided it was time to add a winter solstice edition.”

Several delightful Winter Solstice music events are described here.

Photograph: Todd Heisler/The New York Times
Meredith Krinke, 6, holds Bach sheet music for her father, Brian, December 21 on the G train in New York.

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Getting the Band to Improvise

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , on December 19, 2012| Leave a Comment »

How much fun would this be: to sit next to a music group that uses improvised passages, and to write a words on scraps of paper indicating how you would like to hear the next bit played, and to hear the words take shape as sound?

That is what NY Times critic Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim got to do recently, and I have to say, I admire her word choices.

“On a recent rainy afternoon,” she writes, “I was sitting at an old-fashioned desk in a bare concrete loft in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, listening intently to the members of So Percussion, joined by Grey McMurray on electric guitar, rehearse a composition called ‘Toothbrush.’  …

“I was busy tearing scraps of paper out of my notebook and scribbling words on them. ‘Feathery,’ for example, and, ‘Question everything,’ and, ‘You want to dance.’

“Then I would dash over and deliver my note to one of the players and hear it translated into sound or action.

“ ‘Toothbrush’ is an otherwise fully composed and notated piece featuring instrumental music, singing and spoken dialogue — plus one silent participant who sits onstage listening and writing down notes that become in-the-moment instructions for players to improvise on. …

“Next to me, Adam Sliwinski was tapping out a crisp rhythm on a tom-tom with one hand and on a tambourine and wooden plank with the other. ‘With Outrage,’ I scribbled on a scrap of paper and placed it in his field of vision. Almost immediately, mallets went flying in an explosion of angry energy.” More here.

I want to try this. Just need to find a willing musician.

Photograph: Hiroyuki Ito for The New York Times
Jason Treuting rehearsing with So Percussion.

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Alden Decides to Listen to Ella

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , on December 15, 2012| 2 Comments »

Alden wrote on Facebook that he was going to cut off all access to the outside world last night and just listen his Ella Fitzgerald album. It sounded like a good idea to me.

Where do you look for healing? People have their ways. Getting lost in a book, attending a Handel’s “Messiah” (“Comfort ye, My people”), playing with a child too young to understand, breathing deeply in a florist shop, creating a self-imposed news blackout.

Once you turn your face to things that are beautiful and good, once you feel able to stand upright, you may be up for action. Donating to an organization that can help, volunteering, writing to your congressmen, composing a poem or a requiem. Take your time.

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Oldest Continuous Volunteer Orchestra

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 10, 2012| Leave a Comment »

The holiday concert last Saturday deserves its own post.

I learned about the Melrose Symphony Orchestra, the oldest continuous volunteer orchestra in the country, because my friend Alden began playing the oboe there a year or so ago and loves it. Saturday was the first time we got to a performance, and we were amazed by the whole scene.

Memorial Hall, remarkable for its size and its caryatid-supported honorary box, must have had a thousand people in it. It seemed like everyone of every age in Melrose had come, and a look at the program suggested that every business in town was a supporter.

The website says that “the mission of the Melrose Symphony is to give the citizens of Melrose and surrounding area an opportunity to participate in the joy of music.”

The conductor, Yoichi Udagawa, is determined to make classical music fun and accessible to all. He is not only an excellent musician but a real showman, drawing applause from audience members who have attended before as soon as he said he was going to tell a joke.

Alden told us the orchestra provides scholarships for high school students who often join up again after college. And he explained that the kids who were walking around before the performance and in the intermissions selling tickets were raising money by giving audience members a chance to conduct the last number, a jingle bell sing-along.

We also had music from Grieg and Vaughn Williams, so it wasn’t 100% holiday. But the guest star, Renese King, sang Gospel music with two talented nieces, a backup group, and a lovely young woman who danced sign language — and that really got everyone in the spirit of the season.

I have to say, I have lived in New England 30 years and have never seen a whole community rally around a cultural institution to this extent. Melrose must have a secret formula. I’d like to know what’s in the water.

Photograph: Melrose Symphony Orchestra

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Instrument “PettingZoo”

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on September 9, 2012| Leave a Comment »

A woman in my tai chi chuan class yesterday mentioned that she was taking her son to an “Instrument PettingZoo” this weekend to see if he could find an instrument he’d like to study.

What a great name for the event! With a title like that, no one needs to explain that the idea is to help children learn about different instruments — and have fun at the same time.

This weekend’s Instrument PettingZoo is at Powers Music School.

The school’s website provides some history:

“Powers Music School is a regional, not-for-profit institution established in 1964 to provide superior music instruction and performance opportunities to all interested students. Each year the School also provides musical outreach opportunities in the community through programs such as Belmont Open Sings, the Stein Chamber Music Festival, the Peter Elvins Vocal Competition, and the Mildred P. Freiberg Piano Festival.

“The founding principles, that all students are entitled to high quality musical instruction and that music is an essential part of our lives and belongs in the community, continue to guide the School today. During 2010-2011, the School worked with over 1,000 students who traveled from 50 surrounding communities. In addition, Powers gave over 70 student recitals/community performances.”

I love the school’s dual-meaning slogan, “A great place to play.”

Makes me realize my off-and-on-music education may have left out the playful side of “play.”

Photograph: PowersMusic.org

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Music for a Small, Perhaps Grateful Audience

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on September 7, 2012| 2 Comments »

Jim Dwyer writes lovely human-interest stories for the NY Times. On September 5, he wrote about a guy who plays music by the Hudson River for an audience of birds, fish, and whatever friends or strangers wander by.

“On Tuesday morning, Jose Modesto Castillo, retired from a job in a plastics factory, walked just about as far west in northern Manhattan as it is possible to go, to the end of a long pier fingering into the Hudson River at Dyckman Street. A harmonica rigged to his head was just a breath away from his lips. Lashed to his hands with hair ties were 17 miniature percussion instruments made from items like a Snapple cap, the lid of a prescription bottle, a Spider-Man figurine, the shells of plastic eggs that once held toys from supermarket vending machines.

“Strike up the one-man mambo band.

“Mr. Modesto’s mouth danced across the harmonica, and his fingers made rhythm out of junk. He played and he bobbed. At the end of the nameless number, he raised his arms as if waving to the Palisades on the far shore. Suddenly, he noticed that he was being watched, and called out, ‘Hello señor,’ and burst into a laugh.

“It was the Tuesday after Labor Day, the first day after the spiritual end of summer, though not yet the true beginning of autumn. At the pier and tiny cove on Dyckman Street, calendars were beside the point. Mr. Modesto, 66, comes every day to play, even if only the birds and fish are there to hear him.”

Some artists can get joy even if no one is around. As a musician, Modesto sees potential in bottle caps and plastic eggshells the way a painter might see it in clouds or the sun on the subway stairs.

Read more.

Photograph: Marcus Yam for the NY Times

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Music and Nature

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on September 5, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Here’s a guy who loves music, who loves nature, and who is taking his own quirky path to bring the two together.

On the radio show The World, Gerry Hadden interviews the impresario on location.

“We are talking about a solar power recording session in the southern Sierra Nevada mountain range, outside Granada, Spain.

“It is part of an open air recording project called Wapapura, the brain child of musician Rafa Kotcherha.

“And as Kotcherha explains, ‘for a Wapapura recording to take place, you need three elements: Music, Space and Earth.’

“ ‘The music is of course the musicians we’re going to record,’ he says.

“ ‘The space is the environment in which it is going to take place’ and ‘the earth element is the environmental non-profit, linked to the recording, which benefits from part of the purchase of the CD online when it is released.’ ”

Learn about a recording session with the European ensemble Merope high on a mountain in Spain.

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