Thursday, March 30, 2006

Post-Gig Roundup

So the Rzewski shindig went like gangbusters last night out in Inman Square. We had some technical difficulties with the bass amp cord on Coming Together, which caused a little confusion. Our response? Go back to the head and slam through the piece properly. This band can play.

Attica went alright...I think it's a better piece when we get to hear more variety in the instrumentation/orchestration. People seemed to be more interested in playing more continually.

Les Moutons went great...In fact, Rzewski got up from the audience and joined us at the piano mid-performance. Awesome. We even did a little improv at the end, per the piece's original instructions.

Of course, we had wings at the S&S afterwards. Yum...Gotta hit 'em if you haven't.

Sooner or later I'll drop my review of the Eighth Blackbird concert. I'm still trying to formulate a coherent response.

Saturday, March 25, 2006

Sterile Art

How should a performer's personal life affect his performance? Not just musical performance on stage, but performance as a teacher as well? We all know that one's personal goings on can profoundly affect a performance, but should it? Should we focus on the ability to screen out those influences that crash around and on us at a given time so as to perform a piece as we saw it before those crashings? Should we even try as it is certainly a futile operation?

Should we just give in to it...Allow a performance to be overshadowed by external forces acting on us? Is the temporary opportunity to communicate something from ourselves worth distorting a composer's message in the process?

Do we try to use a vestige of this time later when we think that a composer's wishes parallel our own? Are we to method act?

Otis Redding on the jukebox/laptop at the moment. There's a man that can wail and not become annoying. Piercing, yes...Annoying, no.

Rough week.

Thursday, March 23, 2006

There's 4 in Every Crowd

So, I've had a fairly bad day/week and realize most of the way through my day that I need to find something to do with my evening besides practicing. What does one do? Go to a show, of course. I decided to find one off the beaten path. I'm pretty sure that there's a reason no one is beating a path to this show, though.

So, I hit a show whose advertisements had a vaguely performance art kind of feel. Hey, whatever....I like seeing people scream and look creepy. I frequently do both.

Instead, I got a throwback show. The first piece was nothing more than a trombonist doing free improv with himself on recording, from the previous two nights. I guess he's going to keep layering this for several nights until even he doesn't really care. I'm not sure if he's been out of the house recently, but I've heard this before. Just because a Mac was invented doesn't mean that layered recordings are new. I fidgeted for about 30 minutes through the same tired licks. Granted, there were a couple of nice moments, but they were far outweighed by too many busy glissandi.

The second guy did a few versions of a W speech from January. Amusing...4 variations...Charades, N+7 (a substitution variation for all of the nouns in the text), reactive facial expressions (silent and short...but still lame), and a subtractive phoneme scheme.

The 3rd man read his diary...He actually played some audio of a rainstorm with it. I thought that I was narcisistic with this blog, but he's a winner on that front. At least no one thinks you're rude if you get up and walk away from your computer.

The last was the most perf. arty of them all. A man just doing stuff: Cutting a 2X4 with 4 different cutting implements. I was actually worried at one point whether he was going to lose control of the box cutter and send it into my frontal lobe. I wasn't sure whether or not I'd object. He also spent time rolling around on the floor as well as throwing wet paper towels at objects he placed on a wall. We were all rooting for him to hit the damned targets as we knew this thing would go on until he did.

The audience was appropriately tiny. So small, in fact, that I'm positive that I'll be identified should one stumble onto this blog. Thank god I didn't sign up for the mailing list or give anyone my name. Of course, from the diary reading, apparently one of them lives not far from me. Perhaps I'll have to carry some form of a mace now. (No, not the pepper spray stuff...But an actual mace...with spikes.)

The moral of the story? Practice more, spend less time with random shows. Next time I'll either ask a friend for a recommendation or just STAY IN. Watching NCAA basketball would have been preferable, I'm sure.

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Sheep Together with Rzewski = Jail

Coming Together, Les Moutons dePanurge, and Attica

These are the pieces folks. The Callithumpian Consort is going to throw these Frederic Rzewski pieces down at the Lily Pad in Inman Square (formerly the Zeitgeist Gallery)(Cambridge, MA). The show is on Wednesday March 29 at 7pm with Rzewski there! There's a rumor that he may sing the last piece. Get your butts there and try to fit in the space. This is the kind of show that doesn't happen often.

I don't hear movement out there. Start putting your coats on now...Seriously...Start moving...

Saturday, March 11, 2006

Lieder Poll!

Nope, it's noting like a May Pole, or a May Poll. It's not a Gallop Poll, either, but I guess it's kind of close.

I'm looking for fantastic Lieder performers and performances. Of course, my first stop is the Fischer-Dieskau Schubert Winterreise and Die Schone Mullerin. I want to hear the human voice used in a musical way without all of the force usually needed for opera.

What other performances should be on my "must listen" list? Leave me a comment or send me an email.

Remember "RIF"- Reading is Fundamental. Well, LIF.

Friday, March 10, 2006

Rough and Sweet

Nope...This post isn't heading where you think it is. Well, maybe I'll veer in that direction, but probably not.

I -FINALLY- got the music for a May chamber concert: Elliot Carter's Esprit Rude/Esprit Doux II. Rock on. It's a trio for Flute, Clarinet, and Marimba. This looks like one out-there piece. The marimba plays in duplets the entire time, the clarinet in triplets, and the flute in quintuplets. I found a long hemiola in the flute where each note is 17 quintuplet sixteenth notes long. Geez. The clarinet has one on the first page that is 8 triplet eighth notes long for each note. Boy, I can tell we're going to need a slide rule and a shrink for these rehearsals. Happily, I'm playing with a fantastic flute player and an outstanding, if droll, percussionista. I'll plug their names a bit more as we get closer to the concert.

I managed to begin to break this piece down while I scarfed down Tiger Lily's Special Rice. Mmmm...I'd recommend pineapple, chicken, onions, and other edibles any time. It sparked my meager brain to begin to understand the Carter. My score is starting to look like the Beautiful Mind guy got ahold of it. (The voices in my head tell me to color outside the lines.)

To sleep with me. I have a day of practicing and kavetching ahead of me. Basically, a day like any other.

PS-Ah yes, my Yiddish for the day: A shonda for the goyem. I'll just say it was said about Jack Abramhoff. Funny...

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Oy vey.

Just a reminder to those of you who have let your studies lapse: If you don't know what "Oy vey" means or how to use it in context, please turn in your union card and pass along any gigs you may have scheduled.

Remember folks, a minimum of Yiddish is required for work in our business. No, it's not due to any Illuminati-type Concern behind the scenes. In fact, "Oy" and "Oy vey" are the only ways to respond to most musical mishaps. Nothing in English seems to cover the embarrassment as well as dispair necessary for musical exclamation. Of course, we have quite our share of schmucks and putzes in our world too.

("Oy" should not be confused with "Oi" although they are pronounced similarly. "Oi" is distinctly British and frequently requires a mohawk or alot of zippers.)

Oh yeah: I've decided to give up the clarinet (and the reeds) and just glare at people for a living. Everyone has a talent and a calling. I'm lucky that I've discovered this so early in life. I won't forget the little people once I'm at the top.

Saturday, March 04, 2006

Post-Concert Plug

Oops, I realized just now that I didn't appropriately plug this evening's concert. Actually, I'm fairly sure that I didn't plug it at all. I'll deliver the skinny now, just to make up for my total lack of grace.

So this evening was a Callithumpian concert in our Experiment Series in Cambridge. It was at this funky little space that used to be the Zeitgeist gallery, where we inaugurated this series a couple of years ago. The space is in Inman Square and is now named The Lily Pad. (Not sure why...forgot to ask. )

First piece: the complete songbirdsongs of John Luther Adams (not to be confused with John Adams, of lather, rinse, repeat, repeat, repeat...fame). I heard performance with these players (with one different percussionist) of selected movements on the same concert as the Escot Concerto last month. It was good then. Tonight it was captivating from start to finish. I understand it clocked in over half an hour. Didn't seem that long. I'm going to be hearing wood thrushes in my sleep now. Two piccolos were put in a room and both walked out alive...Another fascinating crime against logic.

Second Piece: The Improvisation Pool- a new feature of our series. Apparently each concert will include an improvisation by the performers of the evening. As it was a sizeable group (a dozen or so players), it got fairly busy at times. Jorrit Dijkstra joined on the lyricon (a wind instrument plugged into electronics...a single reed instrument, even. I should learn something about this thing, probably. As of now, all I know is it can provide a wide range of sound. The real test: Can it play the theme to Knight Rider?) Bhob Rainey (of the BSC) joined in on Sax.

we segued (without pause) right into:

IN C by Terry Riley. If you don't know this one, it's part of the foundation of minimalism. It moves along with quite a bit of repetition, but it's different in every performance. This performance was apparently about 50 minutes. I was pretty well interested the whole time, but then again, I was playing. There were some moments where I was enthralled. In awe...to the point that I had to remember that I should start playing again and help move the thing along. Although it is "minimalist" it should develop and innovate as it goes. This was a successful performance. We had a good band and an appreciative audience.

Now, I must pack my clothes (and fancy schmanzy shoes) so I can take out of here early in the morning. I've got to get crackin' early tomorrow if I expect to get my practicing in before my jetset afternoon. My host in DC tells me that I should be expecting sushi for dinner. Yum...Knowing my friends, though, he just wants me to expect it...and be shocked when we eat Tofurkey. Gotta keep 'em guessin'.

Just for fun, go back and read the gizoogle version of my blog. I almost peed my pants...

Snoop Chrizzle, Newzzle Muzizzle

This is only faintly related to the blog's topic, but it's awfully funny, especially considering that I'm pretty much Bill-Gates-white...

http://sites.gizoogle.com/index2.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fctbush.blogspot.com

Thursday, March 02, 2006

Technology = Simplification (Unless You're Robocop or Lee Majors)

Ah, the glories of technology. I've been able to take an entire trip out of my schedule and replace it with a conference call/real-time internet connection. Glory be. I was supposed to meet with some venue representatives regarding a chamber music series in upstate NY for next Fall, but it looks like I can't do that and be in transit to Washington, DC at the same time. Strange, huh? And here I thought that I was special.

Well, normally this kind of meeting would deserve me showing up in person and doing everything that I can to explain what we want to happen. Face time means alot, you know? (Kids on IM may not have figured that one out yet.) As my schedule precluded the whole existence in two-places at one moment in time thing, my prescence was not to be. Of course, my partner in all this, a fantastic cellist, will be there in person to represent us. Three guys in a room plus a disembodied voice on the speaker phone...Will I be able to tell if someone is sticking their tongue out at me? Will someone stick their tongue out at me? Let's hope so.

Wahoo, that means that I can get to DC nearly a day early and get settled before getting to business. Whoopee.

So, I'll spill the beans on this chamber music extravaganza as soon as we nail down a venue and begin the word-spreading. By the time the actual concert happens, my dearly-departed grandmother will have heard about the performance.

I'll be taking my laptop on the trip with me, so you may have to make due with an update or two in transit.