Posted by Dana Wen »
1 Comment »This is the second post of Technology Editor Dana Wen’s two-part coverage of the seventh annual Music & Brain Symposium, held at Stanford University on April 12 – 13, 2013. Archived recordings of the symposium proceedings can be viewed online here.
Tucked away on a hilly corner of Stanford University’s sprawling campus, the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) occupies a Spanish Gothic villa packed full of circuit boards, percussion instruments, and all manner of musical and electronic toys. The building, known as The Knoll, is home to a quirky group of researchers and musicians devoted to exploring the science of sound. CCRMA’s strong interdisciplinary focus makes it the perfect setting for the annual Music & Brain Symposium, founded by Stanford professor and composer Jonathan Berger. The conference draws an international roster of scholars representing many fields of study, including psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, and anthropology. On April 13, the seventh Music & Brain Symposium convened at The Knoll for a day of presentations centered around this year’s theme, auditory hallucinations. (Previous themes include musical emotion, improvisation, and memory.) The topic hits close to home for Berger, who developed an interest in “inner voices” when his late mother experienced musical hallucinations. This fascination led to the composition of two operas, Theotokia and The War Reporter, which premiered in tandem with the symposium.
Daniel Smith (photo credit: Tyler Maroney)
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Posted by Thomas Deneuville »
Add Comment »Our 7th seasonal mixtape—the Spring 2013 Mixtape—is out!
Featured artists are:
- Nat Evans
- The Guidonian Hand performing music by Jeremy Howard Beck
- Goodbye the Band
- Ashley Paul (the album will be out on March 26 on REL Records)
- Butchers & Bakers
- Luke Gullickson
- Leah Kardos
- Michael Laurello
- Streifenjunko
- an excerpt from David T. Little’s Soldier Songs featuring David Adam Moore and Newsspeak/Todd Reynolds
- Peter Van Zandt Lane
Thank you for all the submissions we’ve received! Submissions are now open for the next Summer 2013 Mixtape!
Visit the Spring 2013 Mixtape page to download it.
Posted by Christian Gentry »
1 Comment »Boston Musica Viva | Part 1: The Preservationist
Last November, I began this post with the intention of writing a (double) review of two concerts in the Boston area. In this two part series I comparatively investigate Boston Musica Viva‘s Allusions (November 16) and Sound Icon‘s Les Aventures Spectrales (November 17). This investigation reveals distinct curatorial choices like the presentation of program, musical content, and interaction(s) with audiences. Both concerts, despite their unique differences, maintain similar ritualistic underpinnings of classical art music concert experience. Yet the programming within both concerts reveals two historically omnipresent, albeit distinct, ideals of preservationism and progressivism. Although this dichotomy is not new to “new-music-writ-large,” let alone the music histories with their very core narrative circulating mercurially and gradually between these poles, but given the constant ebb and flow within the concert structure of contemporary music, a moment of self-examination and close reading may be beneficial for performers, composers, critics, and audiences.
Boston Musica Viva (Photo by Aram Boghostan/Boston Globe)
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Posted by Arlene & Larry Dunn »
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When composer Marcos Balter heard the news that Superstorm Sandy had ransacked the headquarters of New Amsterdam Presents (and its recording label subsidiary New Amsterdam Records) in Red Hook, Brooklyn, he was beside himself with concern for his friends and colleagues. But he didn’t just fret over their devastating loss. He sprung into action. In the modern day equivalent of “hey kids, I know what we can do, let’s rent out the old barn and put on a show!” Balter fired off a post to Chicago’s new music interest group on Facebook. “I’m starting to gather interest about organizing a Chicago fundraising event to help my friends at New Amsterdam in NY, who lost pretty much everything during Hurricane Sandy,” he wrote on November 4. Within days, he had heard from nearly every Chicago new music organization and artist, as well as several supporters, wanting to know how they could help. A plan began to emerge. Doyle Armbrust offered to organize a benefit concert, leveraging his (Un)familiar Music Series infrastructure, including his relationship with The Empty Bottle club. By November 14, (Re)New Amsterdam Benefit Presented by (Un)familiar Music, co-produced by Armbrust and Balter, was announced for Sunday, December 16, 2012, at 1:00 PM at The Empty Bottle.
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Posted by Thomas Deneuville »
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PARMA Recordings, the parent company of the Navona, Big Round, Ravello, and Capstone Records label imprints is launching a new initiative that is rare among record labels: a student composer competition—the first in what will be a series of annual competitions for student composers.
Ten winners will be selected by an award-winning panel of three independent judges, and the winners’ pieces will be published in the digitally-distributed 2012 PARMA Anthology Of Music: Student Edition. One Grand Prize Winner will be selected to have their piece professionally recorded and produced for release by PARMA. All recording, performer, production, and publicity costs will be completely subsidized, and the master will be released on a collection from PARMA to be distributed through industry leader Naxos.
Wait, you haven’t heard the best part yet: there is no fee required for entry into the competition.
Here are the guidelines:
- Composer must be enrolled in a composition program or studying privately with a professional composer
- Composer must be 30 years of age or younger
- Piece must be written for up to five performers, including vocalists
- Piece must be ten minutes or less in duration
We’re already halfway through the submission period, so hurry up!
March 1, 2012 Submission period opens
March 31, 2012 Submission period closes
April 1–30, 2012 Judging period
May 1, 2012 Winners announced
Fill out the submission form to submit your information and a PDF of your score, along with an MP3 or MIDI recording. Submission limit is one work per composer. To submit your piece to the competition, please fill out the Submission Form.
To view a list of frequently asked questions, visit the Competition FAQ page.
To learn more about the judges and the judging process, visit the Judging Process page.
Posted by Thomas Deneuville »
Add Comment »In preparation of tomorrow’s 3rd New Music Bake Sale, I created an infographic and thought I should share it with you…
Thank you for reading our posts, watching our videos, and for interacting with us on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Yeah, we care if you read too.
Click to enlarge
