Hey Composers and arrangers! Here is a very helpful resource for learning how to write for the instruments of the orchestra! Although this is pretty basic material, each instrument is accompanied with a video that demonstrates the different timbers you can create using certain notations. I use this site often when writing out orchestral parts and it saves a lot of time from having to do individual research of each instrument.
Baldur Bronnimann recently shared a compelling blog about making some changes to conventional concert etiquette. He states that we, as listeners, often accept unspoken rules quietly and that these rules are ‘making the experience of classical concerts worse than it should be.’ Although I am supportive of many of these ideas, I don’t totally agree with that statement as I feel there is a lot of room for these conventions and there is still a consortium of musicians who value them.
There’s a lot more I could say on this topic, but I’m curious on how other’s feel about the blog itself as well as many of the suggested innovations. Have you ever been to a concert that utilized some of these behaviors? What did you like? What did you not like?
You can read the blog here:
– PJF
From the Eastern American Music Distributors Company
On September 25, Kevin Sedatole leads the Michigan State University Band in the world premiere of Robert Beaser’s The End of Knowing, for soprano, baritone and wind ensemble. The premiere takes place at Michigan State University’s Wharton Center in East Lansing, Michigan, and features soprano Lindsay Kesselman and baritone Benjamin Park as soloists.
Commissioned by a consortium of 27 bands across the United States, The End of Knowing is a powerful setting of texts from poets Seamus Heaney, Alfred Noyes, Joseph Brodsky, Gjertrud Schnackenberg, Chidiock Tichborne, Theodore Worozbyt and James Joyce. Beaser describes the work as “a dramatic meditation on the nexus of religion, politics and the fragile human condition.”
Following the premiere, the work receives several performances by ensembles across the country, including a featured performance in Nashville at the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA) Conference in March 2015.
For more information on Robert Beaser, please visit www.schott-music.com.
Details on the premiere can be found at music.msu.edu.
Robert Beaser
The End of Knowing (2014)
for soprano, baritone and wind ensemble
texts (Eng) by Seamus Heaney, Alfred Noyes, Joseph Brodsky, Gjertrud Schnackenberg, Chidiock Tichborne, Theodore Worozbyt and James Joyce
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30’
Happy Birthday to one of the most important composers to come out of England!
Read more about Gustav Holst here.
If you have a spare 30 minutes (because in this day and age 30 minutes of extra time is easy to come by), you may want to check out this concerto for cello, by Michel van der Aa, a dutch composer who was the recipient of the 2013 University of Louisville Grawemeyer award. Titled ‘Up Close’, this piece could be considered more of a film opera than a concerto. That being said, it is imperative that you watch the accompanying video along with listening to the music.
Feel free to share your comments below. Maybe we can get an interesting discussion going!
Music at Mt. Parnassus 