Yesterday Daniel and I got to see the first complete run-through of HOMER IN CYBERSPACE. I think we may have a hit on our hands. The pacing is excellent, the story is sexy, compelling and entertaining, everyone will like the music, the actors are terrific and everything will only get better as we still have […]
Portable Concerto for viola and electronics was written through and NEA commission. Three composers (me, Gary Philo, and Wm Thomas McKinley) wrote pieces for three violists (Walter Trampler, Marcus Thompson, and James Dunham) who each were to play the all the pieces in different cities. It was Paul Reale who convinced me to not “write […]
What started out as a little AIDS research fund-raiser for Michael Dean’s bike ride from LA to SF, turned into a concert of little Bourland pieces, at our home last night, a “Bourlandaise” as someone put it. In a moment of clarity, after nearly being blown off the road by an 18-wheeler, Michael, 40 year […]
I’ll never forget when Henry Mancini told us that composing is very much like being a plumber. “It’s a job, I get hired to write music for a film and I do my job.” The vision of the composer on a mountain top conversing with the gods is a cool one, but not at all […]
I have the day to try and catch up as I still have seven numbers to finish: 4 dance numbers, and 3 underscore cues.
There will be more edits and tweaks over the next few weeks.
If you are planning on attending one of the eight performances, get your tickets now as it will sell out.
The UCLA […]
Composers, on hearing their new work taking shape, are like expectant fathers. There is a point where where they can only sit and listen: it is in the hands of the performers. Every mistake is amplified a hundred-fold (but you must NOT let on that you know it, because often times only the composer and […]
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“Someday Soon” (first draft of accompaniment)
Music by Roger Bourland
Words by Mel Shapiro
from “Homer in Cyberspace
It is customary, at least on older operas, to have a passacaglia or ground bass at some point. OK, my piece is kind of opera kind of musical, but I couldn’t resist having one in HOMER. So here it […]
[I am sitting quietly doing my morning Sudoku puzzle, drinking coffee. It’s 5:30 in the morning. I look up and smell the air: tobacco? patchoulli? old scotch? And an ovoid figure hovers into the room and slowly comes into focus. It is Igor Stravinsky, with sun glasses in a kind of safari outfit with sunglasses, […]
One of the greatest tragedies for a composer is to not hear their music performed live. Charles Ives could have been even more formidable had he heard more of his music, especially the music he took chances with. In college, the biggest hole in my education was brass ensemble. I had written a wild five […]
“Women Are”
Music by Roger Bourland
Words by Mel Shapiro
In this song, O is telling his son Telly how women, that is real women, are — as opposed to the virtual women he met on porn sites. The lyrics say “Women are” and then the music is supposed to finish the end of the musical sentence. I, […]
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