Found in Plain Sight

I see you, Lexington. It looks as if I have a regular visitor. Join the club. Feel free to leave comments. Perhaps you can discuss something with the Korean regular...Of course, I'm referring to the Korea-based Korean regular, as opposed to the VA-based occasional Korean or the NY-based occasional Korean. (In cased you hadn't noticed, you're surrounded by Koreans...Do make any sudden moves...)

Off to NY again tomorrow. While I'm there dealing with other business, I'm hoping to meet up with an OLD friend who's a modern dancer. I've pretty much been exclusively surrounded by musicians for the past handful of years. It'd be nice to touch base with someone who is, while not quite normal, at least has different set of neurotic tendencies. What do you talk about when you can't bitch and moan about reeds or conductors? The weather?

Ah, the glories of air conditioning. While I don't have an air conditioner myself, I partake of a daily practice session in the glorious air conditioning at a certain undisclosed location. Of course, air conditioning is heaven-sent, but there's another reason.

I've noticed that the low-humidity that accompanies air conditioned rooms is fantastic for my reed life. If I expose my poor reeds to the summer swelter, I find that they crap-ify very quickly. Almost immediately, actually. Sometimes, they become permanently incapacitated. For that reason (ahem...not because I'm a prima donna who loves to be at a cool 68F constantly...cough cough), I'll be doing all further summer practicing in an air conditioned facility.

Next, I'll be playing in a hermetically sealed bubble. Bubble-clarinetist...There's something vaguely sinister about that idea, but I'm not energetic enough to flesh it out right now.

DJ Kim is going AWOL!

I'm straying from my standard blogging topics because I have to wish this man good luck. He's leaving the South Korean Army tomorrow after doing his duty to his country.

He's also a clarinetist! We went to High School and Conservatory together and studied in the same studios each time. If I ever get stuck in a Korean jail after doing something inadvisable, he'll either be my first call or be the guy sitting next to me.

Good luck! For those of you who know DJ, please send him your regards. I won't post his email here and I'm sure you already know it if you need it. If you don't send him your regards, send him something funny...or dirty...or both.

Okay...at least it's somewhat related to music...

Heat Sick Puppies

Okay, the temperature for this evening's concert was somewhere between "hot as ass" and "oppressive as ass." (Those are both technical terms, just so you know.) We did Terry Riley's "In C" in front of a very appreciative audience with about 10 or so performers. It was quite a nice performance considering we didn't have any air conditioning. I pulled out my barrel about every 10th snippet on this one. By the end of the piece, I might as well have been using my A clarinet instead. The audience seemed okay with it, though. All in all, enjoyable from the stage and the hall, it seems.

Next for me in the SICPP lineup: Michael Finnissy's "Post-Christian Surivival Kit". It should be fun. I'm still looking for my cat-o'-nine-tails. I hope I find it in time. I'm pretty sure that my crown of thorns is lost to the dustbin of my life. (Remember folks: Go listen to the Finnissy from my last post...It's not a request...)

On a note unrelated to the normal content of this blog: Go Korea! (The US lost and, as many of you know, this is my second team...I'll be watching and hoping that all of you do better than our own Beasley.) Take Switzerland and turn their fence-stradling selves into World Cup losers.

Of course, Ghana did play very well...

A Tirade Aborted

Okay, instead of diving into a tirade against the hopelessly naive musicians I met last night, I'm going instead to discuss the concert I heard tonight.

Again, I had to catch the last half of the concert. It seems to be a pattern.

The piece was "Unknown Ground" by Michael Finnissy, who is composer in residence at SICPP this year (SICPP = Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice). In the past, I have had little experience with Mr. Finnissy's music. In fact, I played Eb clarinet on one piece of his and I was thoroughly not impressed with that piece.

"Unknown Ground" however, is a wonderful piece. Beautiful and heartwrenching at the same time. The text dealt with a man discussing AIDS and his reactions to it. The singer was Brian Church, with whom I performed Peter Maxwell Davies' "8 Songs for a Mad King" several seasons ago. Brian was stunning. It was nice to hear him be delicate, as compared to the raucous gymnastics that the Davies' forced upon him. Finnessy's piece was wonderful and it makes me want to hear more from this man.

A heads up for clarinetists: Michael Finnissy and Michael Norsworthy will be performing Finnissy's "Marilyn, Brian, Mike and the Cats" for piano and clarinet tomorrow night in Willams Hall at NEC. After that, I will take part in Terry Riley's "In C" in the same place. Please do come...The concert is free (as are all the SICPP concerts this week).

Oh, if you haven't heard the several performances from these two, Jessi Rosinski (flute) and Yukiko Takagi (piano) will be playing Boulez's "Sonatine" earlier in the same concert. I've heard them play this piece several times and it's the real thing.

Again: Go find "Unknown Ground" where you can and enjoy.

Damned Conservatory Hippies

I'd like to post a little on the crap that conservatories are feeding their students these days, but I'm a little too dismayed. I sat at a table tonight with two rather important composers: Christian Wolff and Michael Finnessey. That was interesting, but I was captivated listening to a few kids just out of Undergrad talk about how they didn't bother playing orchestral music or any of that common practice nonsense. They just didn't see why it was important to being a good musician. They thought they'd make it big playing contemporary music.

I'm dumfounded. In fact, I was nearly struck mute by the entire conversation. Once my faculties return completely, I'm sure I'll post a rant here. Be forwarned.

Kids today...Can't live with 'em, can't legally sell 'em.

Charlemagne Destroyed Williams Hall

Okay, so I went to the second half of a concert yesterday to catch Charlemagne Palestine in action. Now, I didn't know Palestine from a hole in the head, but a trusted friend/colleague said I should check him out.

I'll start with this: What he does is not my bag. I kind of get it, but it's not anything I go gaga over. It seems, however, that he does it very well. In fact, the audience went completely apeshit and wouldn't even come close to quiet for at least 10 minutes after he stopped playing. Of course, he was doing his part to rev up the crowd while thoroughly lubricated. Very amusing.

So here's what he did: He drank nearly a bottle of cognac before and during the performance-0nstage. He had two pianos, keyboards-to-keyboard, and played with a hand on each for most of the performance. Occasionally he switch to one for a brief period, but he spent most of the time playing the two simultaneously.

He TALKED for quite a while while lubricating himself with the cognac. Before you ask: No, I don't know whether he provided the booze or if the concert presenters did. I'm curious as to the answer, though.

He sort-of-droned on the pianos, repeating notes for minutes at a time and occasionally changing pitches. He sang and whispered while playing, frequently in what sounded like Hebrew. I wish one of my Hebrew-speaking students was there to translate, but it seemed religious in nature. (No, I'm not sure why it seemed that way. In all honestly, he could have been conjugating verbs for all I know.)

Oh, apparently "Sound is Sound" as well. I capitalize both iterations of "Sound" because he seemed to be pretty emphatic about this statement...and repeatedly so.

That's my review. Confusing? That's okay...It doesn't really need to make sense. This guy is certainly worth seeing once. You won't be bored. After that, you can decide whether it's your bag.

Oh, by the by: Williams Hall at the New England Conservatory was PACKED. In fact, there were absolutely no seats available for the second half. There were dozens of people standing and sitting in the isles. I have never seen that hall so packed. It was a wonderful thing to see. The NEC administration should take note of what SICPP did on Monday night.

Apparently:

So the concert season is over and the school year is winding down. Whoopee (that's what levity sounds like, apparently). My sabbatical is in full-swing, but I have one concert to play regardless.

I'm going to be taking part in Terry Riley's In C over at the New England Conservatory on June 22 as a part of the Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice. SICPP, or Sick Puppy for those in the know, is quite the get-together for new music buffs. In the past, the PP stood for Piano Performance, but it's been expanded to include us non "ebony and ivory" types. (Of course, Stevie Wonder would still be welcome...)

Every single time I say I'm going to take time off, however, something hits the fan. Now, it's usually something that smells not like flower petals. This time, something neat is brewing. Sadly, I must keep it under my hanbok for now, but if it works out, I'll be winking from both eyes for weeks. I might even buy a few beers for others...(apparently, that's what generosity acts like). If I'm really happy, I may not stab anyone for at least a fortnight.

On another note, Robert Listokin is still a genius: Per his suggestion, I've been experimenting with using a double-lip embouchure for a while and it's certainly paying dividends. I'm not switching over to the DL, but I'm using it to better train my air and my single-lip embouchure. It's difficult to bite while using DL as it tends to be excruciating. If one can get a pleasant sounding DL embouchure, then a single-lip (using an identical lower lip position as the DL) will be much improved.

Boy, I do like the improvements in focus and legato, though. Wahoo..

(That's what an exited nerd sounds like, apparently.)

Crap-Weasel

Oops again. It looks like I haven't really gotten used to the traveling and the blogging so much. At the moment, I'm slammed with catching up on my obligations. Blogging was put on hold while I tend to my students, rehearsals, and the occasional concert.

For the summer, I'm basically on Sabbatical. Wahoo...Yup, at my age...Nope, it's not being funded by a school or organization. I just needed some time to prepare for what's coming next season (several performances of the Berio Sequenza; several clar/pno recitals in Boston and Washington, DC, and maybe elsewhere; several vln, clar, pno trio concerts; a few other chamber concerts here and there; of course Callithumpian concerts). My known obligations alone are enough make me a little crazy next season, but I'm sure that the as-yet-unknown obligations will add fuel to the fire.

I'm also taking the summer off (except for a couple of SICPP performances) to return to basics. A little self-imposed boot camp is good for you occasionally. I'm sure that I'll get into the details soon. Perhaps that should be my next blog.