We are playing with a new look for this blog. There may be some erratic behavior for the next day or so, so be patient. If you find any bugs you can email me at my first name at my last.
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From the monthly archives:
November 2009
In relation to my recent post on micro-drones, a reader wrote in with this piece. The modal flavor almost has an Old English resonance. I love how slippery the B flats and B naturals are. I listened to some other performances where the bass droners would stay on B flat while the melody sang B [...]
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Here is a fun video of a couple of people dancing the Salsa, the man is 29 and the woman is 92. Many of us think of 92 and think OUCH, but this girl knows how to live it up.
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I have been grading my class’s assignments where they were to record original compositions that include a drone and a melody, for any instrumentation and in any style. I have been very happy with the results.
I know of no existing theory books where students are asked to compose such exercises. I think it’s an [...]
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Thanksgiving is a wonderful way to budget taking time to appreciate and thank and be thankful for all the amazing people and things in our lives. Things are great, but I’m thankful for my health, my husband, my family, my friends, my students and colleagues, and those who like my music or blogging. As Kelly [...]
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Hold onto your seats boys and girls: “Back to the 70s” works by UCLA faculty will be held in Schoenberg Auditorium on December 3, 2009 at 8 pm.
Featuring the works of Munir Beken, Roger Bourland, Mark Carlson, Paul Chihara, Ian Krouse, David Lefkowitz, and James Newton. Performers include the UCLA Faculty String Quartet: Movses [...]
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Writing for harp was one of the techniques I learned that brought me back to writing tonal music. My teacher and the performer here, was Susan Allen, now associate dean over at CalArts and the harp teacher. Susie and I moved from Boston to LA at the time and shared a 23 foot truck. We [...]
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This week in Music History, Culture, and Creativity, our students must compose, record, convert to mp3 and upload their compositions to the class website. Their compositions are to feature a drone (a sustained bass note throughout a section or an entire piece of music), or pedal (as in when an organ holds down a PEDAL, [...]
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I’ve heard a lot of Tibetan monks chant, but never with this incredible sense of cosmic harmony. Listen to all the notes in each chord: unbelievable! Then, you have the contrabass solos functioning as little interludes. Then they all join in again. WOW!
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