From the monthly archives:
There are three types of requiems: a Type One requiem is performed by a symphony orchestra with chorus and soloists as a part of an orchestra or chorus’s concert season, that is really just another piece of classical repertoire that commemorates no one in particular; a Type Two Requiem is programmed to celebrate the death [...]
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Christopher Stowens found this wonderful video of clips of the real Frida Kahlo. Worth watching.
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Last week I got an email from a student conductor who is performing a piece by John Adams, needing a synthesizer, specifically a Kurzweil K2500 or 2600. I knew that Robert Winter had a K2500 in his studio, otherwise I had no idea what to recommend. I asked him to tell me what patches the [...]
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[This is the eulogy I gave at Andy's funeral yesterday. I managed to get through the whole thing without crying until the last line. The most difficult part of the funeral for me was listening to the 53 bells, celebrating each year of his life.]
Good afternoon. I should preface my remarks reminding you that I [...]
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Most theory courses and books gently introduce the notion of secondary dominants, usual V/V, and carefully avoid musical examples that have it until that magical chord is introduced. I find that it keeps popping up and I have to be like the Wizard of Oz and say “don’t pay attention to this chord, we’ll discuss [...]
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My brother Andy died this morning.
Andy had cancer when he was 17, and the radiation therapy that saved him in 1971, slowly took his life away over the last few years. He checked into a hospice in December. That act alone let us all know he was ready. Even when he was at the hospice, [...]
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I’m getting lambasted by some angry bloggers over a post I made the other day about an admissions issue. Clearly, I didn’t express myself very well.
Somehow I gave the impression that our school doesn’t accept MIDI realizations of scores in their applications. For the record, all of our composition faculty use Finale and/or Sibelius and [...]
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Two nights ago, I had the privilege of hearing the “We’re not the UCLA Faculty String Quartet, String Quartet” perform with selected students at a private fundraiser for the new FRIENDS OF STRINGS at UCLA. Oh My God! They sounded amazing. What a joy to have such talent as colleagues and students. Their’s was the [...]
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When I teach a music theory class for a year, that is about 60 lectures over an academic year, I figure that I can devote one lecture to whatever I wish, and usually it’s me. The Roger Bourland show.
Today we had The Roger Bourland show. I’m not sure what it is that makes me [...]
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I recently discovered an option where my blog can be posted in the NOTES section of my Facebook page. I was amazed at the response — of course, the people receiving it are all my pals, but duhhh. Seems like a good idea. (BTW: for my Facebook friends, this is an RSS feed from my [...]
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