Ancient Greece is widely-known to be a very important influence in the foundation of western civilization. The classical Greek culture influenced the Roman empire, which spread its culture across much of Europe, from which we drew much of our culture.
Music was very important to the Ancient Greeks, as it was present in all of their religious ceremonies and staged dramas; however, the idea of theory and structure in music was not quite developed as it is today. The great Greek philosopher Pythagoras was one of the first to study harmonics and the function of overtones. But whereas we study these things to better understand the formulas for producing pleasing music, the Ancient Greeks saw this as a philosophical description of how the universe was constructed. They believed that, like harmonics in music, everything in the universe was vibrating in harmony. The Greeks had certain modes that were meant to be used for specific emotions. These modes used whole-steps, half-steps, and even quarter-steps to differentiate between tones.
Iannis Xenakis was born on the 29 of May, 1922. Being of Greek decent, he was very much influenced by Greek folk melodies. But he was also influenced by his past studies. He had studied mathematics and before composing, first worked as an architect in Paris. Xenakis liked to use mathematics to write music, and pioneered the use of mathematical models to do so. This process gives some of his music a very atonal, strange sound, making it sometimes difficult to comprehend and listen to. Without any tonal center, any sense of structure and continuity is all built on musical dramaturgy with the the use of brilliant dynamics
His solo piano piece, Evryali [1973], is a very good example of just this. It is also part of our listening exam.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWYpLdYoJSc
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Friday, September 10, 2010
Blog Assignment
For my blog assignment, I was asked to explain if another type of art has inspired my musical work.
I have been inspired in many ways with my musical work. One of the biggest influences for me is drama. I have been participating in plays since the age of six. I have been in dramatic plays, musicals, and I have also directed a couple plays. Among my experience with drama and music, I found a very strong similarity between the both. Drama and music both bring out an intense wave of emotions. When I experience playing a good song or participate in a good play, it is almost like I am taken to a different world. I get to see life in a different perspective and feel strong emotions I have never felt before. Both music and drama usually have a very deep story to tell that makes it feel like I am in someone elses shoes.
I think a composer can learn a lot from engaging in other art forms aside from music because it can give the composer many new ideas for their musical work. Experiencing so many different emotions can help broaden a composer's creativity.
I have been inspired in many ways with my musical work. One of the biggest influences for me is drama. I have been participating in plays since the age of six. I have been in dramatic plays, musicals, and I have also directed a couple plays. Among my experience with drama and music, I found a very strong similarity between the both. Drama and music both bring out an intense wave of emotions. When I experience playing a good song or participate in a good play, it is almost like I am taken to a different world. I get to see life in a different perspective and feel strong emotions I have never felt before. Both music and drama usually have a very deep story to tell that makes it feel like I am in someone elses shoes.
I think a composer can learn a lot from engaging in other art forms aside from music because it can give the composer many new ideas for their musical work. Experiencing so many different emotions can help broaden a composer's creativity.
Who is your favorite composer?
As cliche a question as it is, who are some of your favorite composers? Who do you draw influence from? I think it'd be interesting to see what everyone else in the program is in to.
As for me, I am a huge Tchaikovsky fan. His work on the Nutcracker, Romeo and Juliet and Swan Lake is absolutely mind blowing to me. I also like Federico Moreno-Torroba, a 20th century composer for guitar as well as Isaac Albeniz who composed many pieces for piano that were later transcribed for guitar.
Blog Assignment: Edgar Varese
Edgar Varese was an American composer, though he was born in Paris on December 22nd, 1883. He was very influential toward the use of atonality and rhythmic complexity, which he began to use in his works composed during the 1920’s. Varese didn’t truly start studying music until 1903, and by 1905 he was enrolled in Charles-Marie Widor’s composition class at the conservatoire. After living in Paris, he moved to Berlin for a short while, moved between the two cities, and made friends Hofmannsthal, Rolland and Debussy. However, he was never able to retain steady work in Europe, so in December of 1915, he departed for the USA. Here, he worked for some time, joined the Pan American Association for Composers, but still visited Paris occasionally. After a failed attempt to persuade two Paris companies to invest in electric instrument research, Varese was very depressed. He wrote Density 21-5 in 1936, but nothing else until a decade later. Density 21-5 was titled after the instrument it features: Barrere’s platinum flute. The density of platinum happens to be 21-5. The piece is for solo flute, and is very atonal. It features a large pitch range, and very strong dynamics. During his decade free of composing, Varese was a teacher. In his last years, Varese saw great appreciation of his work. He won an astounding amount of awards, had more and more his scores transcribed and performed. Unfortunately, one of his pieces, Nocturnal, was never finished because of his death in 1965.
Here is a link to the song, though it's on our midterm listening exam also.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCFk0f8szes
So you are thinking about grad school?
Hello colleagues,
Since I have just gone through the process of applying to graduate school, I might be of some use to any of you who are considering that road in the near (or semi-distant) future. If you are, my advice is to determine for yourself why you want to go to grad school in the first place. If you want to go to a place that will let your creativity and love for electronic music flourish, I would be sure to choose a place that does that. If you want to write very avant-garde, or even overwhelmingly traditional tonal music, you should look for a school that does this. The best way to figure this out is to research the faculty and talk to current students.
You may think to ask "but Michael, there are so many schools, I can't do that for all of them!" This is true. At this crossroads, my next steps were to determine what else I wanted from a school. Since I went to UNT, I intentionally sought out smaller programs. I also decided that I wanted a teaching assistantship at my degree location. Then, I simply google-searched (yep, that's right) for schools.
Now, this type of research can be helpful, but it can also be redundant and waste some time. You can look up in a book "The best 100 music schools in the country" or whatever, but it still might not be catering specifically to you. Whenever I would ask general questions in my undergrad, like "which are good grad schools to go to?" I would only receive the general responses (Juilliard, Indiana, Michigan, Peabody, etc.) which were no help to me. So, in my google search, instead of searching for big names, I went to message boards and things were composers had posted their own schools they felt proud of. Using this method, I DID find a lot of normies, but I also discovered some I had never even considered, or possibly heard of, such as OKCU, Roosevelt, DePaul, Syracuse, and here, to name a few. Once I had a nice list, I researched them and applied my strict criteria to them. I wanted a place where I could have an assistantship, and if possible, have that assistantship cover all of my tuition (a hard hope.) I wanted a small program with a supportive teacher(s) who didn't push me to compose in any specific style. I wanted a school was either in or near a big city, so that I didn't die socially as a composer. Lastly, I wanted a school that did not have a doctoral program in composition, so that my degree wouldn't be overshadowed by the doctoral students (which also is a major contributor to getting an assistantship, with PdDs for competition.)
So, I ended up selecting 4 schools, Duke, Redlands, Syracuse, and JMU. JMU was my safety school, because as researched, it did not look very hard to get into (and as it turned out, it wasn't.) I wouldn't necessarily say you NEED a safety school, and especially in today's economy, it may even be a bit big-headed to think that schools aren't filling up when everyone is trying to rush back to get extra education. At any rate, knowing acceptance rates are important too. I luckily got into 2 of my 4, but I know people who applied to 10 and got into none, because they chose only programs that were incredibly difficult to get into (NEC, Eastman, Boston, Indiana, etc.) These schools are prestigious, yes, but consequently, everyone applies. Like, hundreds. At Duke, when I visited, I discovered they had about 75 applicants, and were taking 1-2. So, in reality, It was as thought I were applying to 3 schools instead of 4.
One thing that should also be considered is that some schools require you to audition or interview in person. Somehow, I lucked out in applying to 4 schools that did NOT require this. This can be a serious consideration, for example, if you live in Texas, and the closest school you applied to was in North Carolina. Ironically, however, I ended up visiting all three east cost schools on my winter break, as I am from Virginia, and ultimately chose to attend the only school I did not visit. If you apply to schools that are far away, make sure that you have enough money to possibly fly, get a hotel, possibly a rental car, and come back. Driving can also cost time and money.
When I visited Duke, they had asked if I had submitted a writing sample. Now, this was not requested in the application. Similarly, I learned that they not only look at scores, but writing samples, test scores, grades, festival attendances, performances, and more. On that score, my chances looked incredibly smaller. Some schools, however, such as Peabody, look ONLY at your music. If you are completely prepared and researched, you might not get a nasty surprise like that, so research as much as you can.
Another thing some schools look at is what you are writing in terms of scope. If you don't have an orchestra piece you are submitting to Indiana, then why bother? It is practically a waste of a hefty application fee. Some schools may want you to submit an electronic work too, to see how well-rounded you are. Some however, may want to hear a distinct mature compositional voice, or others may want to hear music that jives with their own biases and tendencies.
A good way to find out these things, is to E-MAIL the professors. Do not be afraid to ask them questions, because after all, they are just people. If you show your interest early and ask questions, it might help them remember your name when they are going through scores and making decisions. (Maybe not.) On the flip side, if you email them and they are not kind to you, or are too busy to respond to emails, maybe that is not a teacher you want to study with.
Ultimately, what is most important is your music. This does not even mean just how it sounds. If you have a great recording and a great idea, if it is written in heiroglyphics in dried play-dough, it just isn't going to work for you. The faculty will start judging your music as soon as they set eyes on it, so scores you submit should be beautiful and flawless. If they find flaws, or if it isn't neat or professional, they will take it as a reflection of your degree of sincerity towards your music. In other words, if you don't think your music is special enough to put the time into making it look professional, or if you lack the ability to do so, why would they want to have you? In this same vein, good recordings of beautiful scores are important too. Yes, they may say the accept midi, but I do know for a fact some faculties do not even listen to those tracks on principle. You may be better off not submitting a midi recording if you don't have a real one. After all, a great performance recording can only help you.
Finally, I would like to re-stress that you should know why you want to go to grad school. What will it help you accomplish? On a related note, if you are going to pursue further studies past that, you might even need to learn a language (French or German perhaps), so looking up what your courses would be at any potential institution is not a bad plan either. In short, know what you are getting yourself into. Don't allow room for doubt; if you have questions, ask them. If you are unsure of something, research it. The entire process could take months to years, so it is not too early to start looking if that is your ambition.
Good luck to those of you who are choosing to undertake it!
Since I have just gone through the process of applying to graduate school, I might be of some use to any of you who are considering that road in the near (or semi-distant) future. If you are, my advice is to determine for yourself why you want to go to grad school in the first place. If you want to go to a place that will let your creativity and love for electronic music flourish, I would be sure to choose a place that does that. If you want to write very avant-garde, or even overwhelmingly traditional tonal music, you should look for a school that does this. The best way to figure this out is to research the faculty and talk to current students.
You may think to ask "but Michael, there are so many schools, I can't do that for all of them!" This is true. At this crossroads, my next steps were to determine what else I wanted from a school. Since I went to UNT, I intentionally sought out smaller programs. I also decided that I wanted a teaching assistantship at my degree location. Then, I simply google-searched (yep, that's right) for schools.
Now, this type of research can be helpful, but it can also be redundant and waste some time. You can look up in a book "The best 100 music schools in the country" or whatever, but it still might not be catering specifically to you. Whenever I would ask general questions in my undergrad, like "which are good grad schools to go to?" I would only receive the general responses (Juilliard, Indiana, Michigan, Peabody, etc.) which were no help to me. So, in my google search, instead of searching for big names, I went to message boards and things were composers had posted their own schools they felt proud of. Using this method, I DID find a lot of normies, but I also discovered some I had never even considered, or possibly heard of, such as OKCU, Roosevelt, DePaul, Syracuse, and here, to name a few. Once I had a nice list, I researched them and applied my strict criteria to them. I wanted a place where I could have an assistantship, and if possible, have that assistantship cover all of my tuition (a hard hope.) I wanted a small program with a supportive teacher(s) who didn't push me to compose in any specific style. I wanted a school was either in or near a big city, so that I didn't die socially as a composer. Lastly, I wanted a school that did not have a doctoral program in composition, so that my degree wouldn't be overshadowed by the doctoral students (which also is a major contributor to getting an assistantship, with PdDs for competition.)
So, I ended up selecting 4 schools, Duke, Redlands, Syracuse, and JMU. JMU was my safety school, because as researched, it did not look very hard to get into (and as it turned out, it wasn't.) I wouldn't necessarily say you NEED a safety school, and especially in today's economy, it may even be a bit big-headed to think that schools aren't filling up when everyone is trying to rush back to get extra education. At any rate, knowing acceptance rates are important too. I luckily got into 2 of my 4, but I know people who applied to 10 and got into none, because they chose only programs that were incredibly difficult to get into (NEC, Eastman, Boston, Indiana, etc.) These schools are prestigious, yes, but consequently, everyone applies. Like, hundreds. At Duke, when I visited, I discovered they had about 75 applicants, and were taking 1-2. So, in reality, It was as thought I were applying to 3 schools instead of 4.
One thing that should also be considered is that some schools require you to audition or interview in person. Somehow, I lucked out in applying to 4 schools that did NOT require this. This can be a serious consideration, for example, if you live in Texas, and the closest school you applied to was in North Carolina. Ironically, however, I ended up visiting all three east cost schools on my winter break, as I am from Virginia, and ultimately chose to attend the only school I did not visit. If you apply to schools that are far away, make sure that you have enough money to possibly fly, get a hotel, possibly a rental car, and come back. Driving can also cost time and money.
When I visited Duke, they had asked if I had submitted a writing sample. Now, this was not requested in the application. Similarly, I learned that they not only look at scores, but writing samples, test scores, grades, festival attendances, performances, and more. On that score, my chances looked incredibly smaller. Some schools, however, such as Peabody, look ONLY at your music. If you are completely prepared and researched, you might not get a nasty surprise like that, so research as much as you can.
Another thing some schools look at is what you are writing in terms of scope. If you don't have an orchestra piece you are submitting to Indiana, then why bother? It is practically a waste of a hefty application fee. Some schools may want you to submit an electronic work too, to see how well-rounded you are. Some however, may want to hear a distinct mature compositional voice, or others may want to hear music that jives with their own biases and tendencies.
A good way to find out these things, is to E-MAIL the professors. Do not be afraid to ask them questions, because after all, they are just people. If you show your interest early and ask questions, it might help them remember your name when they are going through scores and making decisions. (Maybe not.) On the flip side, if you email them and they are not kind to you, or are too busy to respond to emails, maybe that is not a teacher you want to study with.
Ultimately, what is most important is your music. This does not even mean just how it sounds. If you have a great recording and a great idea, if it is written in heiroglyphics in dried play-dough, it just isn't going to work for you. The faculty will start judging your music as soon as they set eyes on it, so scores you submit should be beautiful and flawless. If they find flaws, or if it isn't neat or professional, they will take it as a reflection of your degree of sincerity towards your music. In other words, if you don't think your music is special enough to put the time into making it look professional, or if you lack the ability to do so, why would they want to have you? In this same vein, good recordings of beautiful scores are important too. Yes, they may say the accept midi, but I do know for a fact some faculties do not even listen to those tracks on principle. You may be better off not submitting a midi recording if you don't have a real one. After all, a great performance recording can only help you.
Finally, I would like to re-stress that you should know why you want to go to grad school. What will it help you accomplish? On a related note, if you are going to pursue further studies past that, you might even need to learn a language (French or German perhaps), so looking up what your courses would be at any potential institution is not a bad plan either. In short, know what you are getting yourself into. Don't allow room for doubt; if you have questions, ask them. If you are unsure of something, research it. The entire process could take months to years, so it is not too early to start looking if that is your ambition.
Good luck to those of you who are choosing to undertake it!
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Blog Assignment: Leo Brouwer
For my Blog assignment, I was asked to do some research on modern composer and guitarist, Leo Brouwer.
Classical guitarist and composer Leo Brouwer was born on March 1st, 1939 in Havana Cuba. Brouwer’s father, a Cuban doctor, was the first to offer musical encouragement, urging him to learn works by Heitor Villa-Lobos, Francisco Tarrega and Enrique Granados by ear on the guitar.
Soon after, Brouwer began taking more formal guitar lessons from renowned Cuban guitar master, Isaac Nicola. He then traveled to America to continue his study of music. He studied at the Hartt College of Music, the University of Hartford and eventually the Juilliard School. He studied composition under Vincent Persichetti and Stefan Wolpe.
If you look at Brouwer’s work over the years, you’ll see that it has progressed from Cuban folk music to a more modernist style similar to Luigi Nono or Iannis Xenakis. Brouwer continued to write very famous guitar pieces including Sonata, a piece written for the Andres Segovia guitar protégée, Julian bream.
Over the years, Leo Brouwer has held numerous positions in the Cuban government’s music branch. He was even the director of the Cinema Institute of Cuba’s music department. Currently, Brouwer is actively involved in the International Guitar Festival of Havana and travels extensively to other guitar festivals all over the world.
Leo Brouwer has contributed much of the modern classical guitar repertoire having written well over fifty pieces for solo and guitar ensemble. However, he has composed many pieces for the orchestra as well including forty movie scores. His pieces continue to influence the next generation of classical guitar players and has become a mainstay in the modern guitar player’s repertoire.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFqgVfZhJmY&feature=related
This is my favorite Leo Brouwer piece, the title, which translates to “Cradle Song,” is a very gentle tune. You can really hear the Cuban and South American influence in this piece, especially during the theme. However, since it was written so late in his career, it has a lot of characteristics of more modern music too. Also, unlike most guitar music, it isn’t written in the standard ABA form.
Naxos And Warner Classics Announce Physical Distribution Partnership For United States
In my email I found a new article from the Music Biz Magazine entitled "Naxos And Warner Classics Announce Physical Distribution Partnership For United States." It is a short blurb, but I thought that it would be an interesting addition considering that we will be using the Naxos database quite frequently, and it is nice to know some background about different resources.
If you are also interested on keeping up with some music industry news or finding career tips on the web, here are a few sites that I have found in the past (they are all related):
Music Biz Magazine
Royalty Week Magazine
Film Music Magazine
All of them have free email subscriptions for your reading convenience.
--Sakari
If you are also interested on keeping up with some music industry news or finding career tips on the web, here are a few sites that I have found in the past (they are all related):
Music Biz Magazine
Royalty Week Magazine
Film Music Magazine
All of them have free email subscriptions for your reading convenience.
--Sakari
What do you want to do with your composition degree?
Hey guys, just curious to see what you guys want to do when you get out of school with a degree in composition. As for me, I think it'd be awesome to write movie scores seeing that I've always been infatuated with John Williams scores(Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Schindler's List...)
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Using the Naxos Library Database
Hello everyone!
I am writing to share with you information about the Naxos music database on our library website at U of R. To get started, go to the U of R website, click on “Library,” and then click on “Databases by Subject” or “Databases by Title” either in the drop-down menu or as a link at the bottom of the library homepage. For this example, we will use “Databases by Subject.”
Next, click on the letter “M” as in “Music, and scroll down to the music heading in order to click on the Naxos Music Library link. Then, log in using your Redlands ID and password. Note that only five users can be logged in at one time, so if web traffic is relatively heavy, you may have to come back. You can search for music either in the keyword search bar or by clicking on one of the heading such as “Genres.”
Once you find what you are looking for, check the box next to the tracks you wish to listen to. Then, select the sound quality (i.e. Near CD, FM) and then click on the “Play Selections” bar. Your tracks will be played in a popup window.
Another feature of this site includes the “Resources” tab under which you can find links to pages such as a podcast directory and a glossary.
Personally, I look forward to using this site because I will be able to listen to quality recordings of the pieces that I am working on in my lessons (a much better alternative to Youtube!). In fact, I have already been using this resource for my First Year Seminar, “Rewind and Visually Recreate the Symphonic Poems of Richard Strauss.” It will also be a great resource for getting to know the works of unfamiliar composers.
--Sakari
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