For a series of conversations about music with nonmusicians, I am swapping songs: exchanging pieces with my interlocutors to spark ideas about how their areas of expertise might relate to organized sound.
Terry Tempest Williams is an author and environmental activist whose work celebrates the red-rock deserts of Utah, where she calls home. Her most recent book, "Erosion: Essays of Undoing," describes the personal and political repercussions of the depredation of public lands.
For our chat, I chose the "Abyss of the Birds" section from Olivier Messiaen's "Quartet for the End of Time." She picked "First (Solo Voice)" from Keith Jarrett's "Invocations." These are edited excerpts from the interview.
In your book "When Women Were Birds," you describe childhood memories of your grandmother creating candlelit listening parties, where she would play records for you and your brother. They included classical music, but also field recordings of bird song.
I hear it as breath. I knew the story before I knew the music, and I was struck by how, in the presence of war, you could have two minds: one watching out for the enemy and one listening for the call of a blackbird or a mockingbird. And when I first heard it, I was just devastated by the beauty.
The clarinet sets vibrations in motion so subtly that by the time we notice them as sound, they've already wormed their way into us.
It also felt like light. I had heard that the piece was created at dawn, so this morning, I took my music outside and sat in the desert. As light spread, against that building of voice, it felt like the music mirrored the dawn itself. And I was absolutely stunned by the birds that were drawn in. The robins were the first ones. At moments, I couldn't tell: Was that a fluttering from Messiaen or a fluttering from the robins? Then starlings came in, and it was almost like they were trying to copy the music, and then the desert mourning doves came in. And then the larks took over.
Sitting in this grove of junipers, I thought about Messiaen and his musicians creating this music in a time of such confinement — and that is the power of community.
Messiaen was a Catholic who believed in eternity as something both comforting and terrifying. As someone who fights for the preservation of wilderness, to what extent do you also have to think of time outside of how it is measured by humans?
In case you are keeping track:
Music to my ears | Discover | nwestiowa.com
Works by musicians with UAB ties featured in Birmingham Art Music Alliance project - News | UAB
A new musical project spotlights original music by Alabama composers, and features musicians including University of Alabama at Birmingham faculty and alumni.
UAB is well represented on the project. Phillips and Brian Moon, M.M., alumnus and associate director for Academic Innovation at the Center for Teaching and Learning; Chris Steele , UAB Department of Music piano faculty member; and Monroe Golden, UAB computer science alumnus, have compositions on the recording.
Compositions by musicians Michael Coleman, Joel Scott Davis, Andrew Raffo Dewar, Holland Hopson, Mark Lackey, Cynthia Miller, Tom Reiner, Chris Steele, Lawren Brianna Ware are also featured. Listen to the CD on Spotify . A recording of the Amernet String Quartet playing Phillips' "Alabama String Quartets" composition String Quartet No. 4 is available online .
The Amernet String Quartet has garnered recognition as one of today's most highly regarded chamber ensembles and features Misha Vitenson and Franz Felkl, violins; Michael Klotz, viola; and Jason Calloway, cello. Always committed to the music of our time, the Amernet String Quartet has commissioned works from today's leading composers. They are currently ensemble-in-residence at Florida International University in Miami.
Want to hear music in New Orleans this weekend?
Tipitina's officially reopened with Ivan Neville's two sold-out shows on March 19. They were the famed venue's first shows in a year to which …
Frenchmen Street mainstay the Spotted Cat Music Club plans to reopen this weekend for the first time in more than a year.
Big Sam's Funky Nation had three gigs booked on March 14, 2020: an afternoon show in Baton Rouge; a private, early-evening event in New Orlean…
Many things are taking place:
Can music therapy help people with bipolar disorder?
Music therapy uses music to improve physical, emotional, and social well-being. Studies suggest it may help treat some mental health conditions, such as anxiety and depression. However, little research is available on music therapy and bipolar disorder.
Music therapists may use one or more of these techniques depending on a person's condition and needs.
The study authors suggest that music therapy might help people with BD explore and understand their emotions. However, more research is necessary in this area.
Studies suggest it may be helpful in treating certain mental health conditions, including substance use disorder, anxiety, and depression.
More research on music therapy and BD is needed. People with BD can seek guidance from a healthcare professional to determine whether music therapy may benefit them.
Methuen Memorial Music Hall celebrates 75 years of music | Merrimack Valley | eagletribune.com
File photo by Carl Russo/Eagle-Tribune. The Methuen Memorial Music Hall turns 75 this year. Part of the celebration will include concerts on the Great Organ.
METHUEN — This year marks the 75th anniversary of the 1946 acquisition and incorporation of the Memorial Music Hall as a nonprofit educational and cultural center.
To mark the diamond anniversary, the 75th summer recital series will feature a lineup of musicians who will play the hall's Great Organ.
These concerts can be found by joining the hall's YouTube channel at youtube.com/c/methuenmemorialmusichall .
The 75th Recital Series will be on Wednesday evenings at 7:30 p.m. from May 19 to Aug. 25 for music on the Great Organ, America's first concert organ. The performances will also be archived for later viewing.
At its January 2021 annual meeting, the hall's board of trustees elected Matthew Bellocchio as president and Chad Dow as vice president. Both have served as trustees since 2017. The board also re-elected Michael Dow as treasurer and Richard Ouellette as secretary.
Chad Dow, who works in biological science and is a long-time techie, began his association with the music hall as a youngster, participating in the Music Hall's Methuen Young People's Theatre (MYPT), which produces a full-scale Gilbert & Sullivan operetta each year at the end of the summer.
Visit the Methuen Memorial Music Hall's website at mmmh.org for complete concert schedules, activities and information.
We are making critical coverage of the coronavirus available for free. Please consider subscribing so we can continue to bring you the latest news and information on this developing story.
Country Music Festival Coming to The Carolinas | News | foxcarolina.com
BELTON, SC (FOX Carolina) - Deputies, Anderson County Animal Control, and Anderson County PAWS returned to a home on Big Creek Road in Belton to continue removing dozens of dogs from a home. Deputies said they were initially called to the home on Wednesday afternoon after EMS notified them o…
A new round of stimulus checks have started to roll out, but some are wondering if there's a possibility for a fourth check.
SPARTANBURG, SC (FOX Carolina)- The Spartanburg Police Department released video of officers responding to a call they received about for a Coyote in a house.
Anderson, SC (FOX Carolina) - Deputies in Anderson County said Tuesday they have identified the driver they believe was driving a pickup truck involved in a deadly hit and run near Airport Road on Saturday.
Music Composers Diversity Collective Releases New Album - Variety
The Composers Diversity Collective , which represents composers of diverse backgrounds working in visual media, this week releases an album showcasing the music of a dozen of its members.
It’s an appropriately diverse collection of music, all performed by the five-member Helix Collective — oboe, flute, cello, piano and percussion — that the CDC hopes will “shine a light” on that segment of the Hollywood music community that has often been overlooked by filmmakers.
“We would love to introduce these composers to filmmakers, to get to know their work, but we’re also highlighting the power of the small ensemble for independent, and intimate, films,” says Sarah Robinson, flutist for the Helix Collective. “The beauty and the sound of a relatively small chamber group is something we love.”
The 12 pieces on “Shoutout” – all two to three minutes long – were recorded remotely in December, with each player recording his or her part at home, then mixed by Helix Collective music director (and oboist) Phil Popham. Beyond that already complicated audio component, they also video-recorded themselves and the result will be 12 separate videos of the musicians performing each piece.
All were newly composed and are not previously existing film, TV or game cues (even though that is what these composers already do, or aspire to do). All will be available starting March 31 at helixcollective.net and on YouTube, with eventual placement on Spotify, Amazon and Bandcamp.
The music ranges from Morales’ charming fairy-garden piece “Sapphire and Eliana” to the jazzy “Bla Bla Land” by South Korean composer Jina Hyojin An; from the wide-open-spaces “Old West” by Sid De La Cruz to the sweetly romantic “A New Place” by Middle Eastern composer Ghiya Rushidat; from the moody urgency of “Crossed Paths” by Mexico City-born Kevin Smithers to the edgy chamber-music sound of “Le Collapsus” by Taiwanese composer Cora Chung.
Other composers represented include Canadian-Filipino composer Mary Ancheta, recent USC Screen Scoring graduate Zong Chiang, Mexican-born Pablo Langaine, and American-born composers James Goins, George Shaw and Matthew Wang.
“Give a composer a small chamber group and you’ll see what he or she can do to manipulate sound and create a mood,” says Popham.
No comments:
Post a Comment