A few weeks ago, I wrote about the importance of getting young composers opportunities to hear their music played, and how some schools put more emphasis on showcasing the work of the composition teachers. Obviously, students should hear the music their professors write, but not at the expense of hearing their own work. A few days later I received a flyer from a prominent school emphasizing … [Read more...]
Archives for February 2017
Second Inversion
The most stable chord, traditional teaching tells us, is the root position triad – the one with the fundamental on the bottom. A more elusive arrangement puts the third of the chord in the bass – nice for subverting the obvious hierarchy of the root. That leaves the 64 chord, meaning a triad with the fifth in the bass. Traditional teaching tells us this chord requires special treatment. It … [Read more...]
Political Dispatches
Caught the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA) exhibition Dispatches this weekend. Dispatches was mounted just before the 2016 election; in its own words it “includes a survey of works from 2010 - present and launches a series of commissions, or "dispatches" on current events and the critical issues of our time.” Works exploring environmentalism, the war in Syria and the 2016 … [Read more...]