An Experience to Remember

 

My final papers are all submitted, and this is the official end of this blog.

I would like to extend my thanks to Dr. Gilbert, Ji-Yun, and all of my classmates for a thought-provoking, inspirational experience this semester.

I am grateful for having the opportunity to interrogate the idea of Expanded Music with you, and I wish you all wonderful holidays and the best of success in your future endeavors!

 

Collaborations after Passing

I believe Amy Winehouse was one of the most talented vocalists of our time.  She was a perfect example of someone who crossed boundaries and collaborated with whomever she felt artistically connected to.

She was a big fan of Nas, who respected and collaborated with her in turn.  Amy had left some tracks behind that she was working on, and her producer worked with Nas to whip up this piece and video after Amy's passing.  I find this video to be visually stunning and evocative of the longing that Amy Winehouse seems to convey in her music.  Absolutely breathtaking:

Introducing...Lungcore!

This is Jerseyband, a group of extremely talented alumni from the Eastman School of Music. I'm proud that some of these players are my former classmates.  As you can hear, they are absolutely phenomenal- beatboxing on the baritone saxophone? Yes, please!

These guys are really pushing the envelope and are conversant in just about any genre imaginable.  I like to play their work for my students:

Musings About Alternate Approaches in the Classroom

I've been thinking a lot about how Music History courses are approached- lectures, drop the needle exams, written exams, essays, and papers. 

I've taught a History of Jazz course for a few times, and I continue to refine my approach.  I am seriously considering an internet-based constructivist approach to some of the assignments, and Expanded Music has inspired me to really consider and explore this option for the spring.

I am also seriously considering teaching the course backwards: starting with the music of the present, which has so many fantastic fusions between jazz and hip hop, jazz and heavy metal, and so on.  This could help my non-music students better connect to the course.

Expanded Music has given me the courage to break the mold and perceive of different approaches in my practice.

If you're curious about the fusions I've referenced, check out this one!

Robert Glasper Experiment with Lupe Fiasco (The drum part is also a great example of expanding our concept of a steady beat at 3:11):

Electronic Music at Greenwich High School

Barbara Freedman does some absolutely outstanding, pioneering work in electronic music at Greenwich High School in CT.  She has found a way to expand the students involved in her music program- it goes far beyond the traditional band, chorus, and orchestra offerings!

A number of students each year create original electronic compositions, and do live performances- it's quite amazing and challenges the notion of what a musical ensemble can look like.


Interested people can check out more about this program here:
http://www.greenwichschools.org/page.cfm?p=3483

Introducing Tralala Blip!

I am on a rampage this evening, interrogating alternative ways to produce and experience music. 

I first read about Tralala Blip in the International Journal of Community Music.  It is a group of developmentally challenged teens that compose and improvise electronic music in Australia:

http://www.tralalablip.com/artistsmusicians/

They play gigs, too! 

I think their video settings have blocked me from posting them on my blog, but if you search for Tralala Blip in YouTube, you will find them.

I think this is completely awesome and empowering.  It really forces us to reconsider the limitations that mainstream music educators put upon students who don't necessarily follow our societal norms.

Mind...is...Blown!

This ASL interpreter is redefining what it means to experience music in a concert setting.  This is a juxtaposition of the kinesthetic aspects of enjoying music with a challenge to consider vibrations and visuals as part of a performance.  Perhaps a future expanded music concert could experiment with touch! 

Classmate Inspiration

One of my classmates is a fantastic pianist from Chile. I am especially inspired by his work to learn braille in his efforts to bring Music Education to his students. 

I went on a YouTube hunt because I wanted to know more about using braille notation.  I think this clip is particularly interesting...

I had never considered the possibilities and challenges of acquiring someone else's interpretation when learning a piece by rote in this way.  It seems to me that visually impaired musicians may have a unique ability to become nuanced musical chameleons, much like how some people have a gift for picking up accents- they may be far more aware of the pauses between pitches, the intent, the little things...

I've been reading a lot about conversation and discourse analysis, and connecting these dots, it challenges me as a musician to pay a lot more attention to the "in betweens" that occur.

Subway Sounds

Subway Sounds

C...F...E..F#...Eb...F#........................................................

Creaks and squeaks follow 

me home. Possibilities

always endless. Roam.

G-E-F-G

Stand clear of the closing doors...C#-A!

Movement with Ji-Yun

Expanded music also means expanding collaborations. I have never actually worked with a dancer before.  Our warmups have transported me back to childhood, where I always felt free to explore movement, sound, time, and space before adolescence installs the strings onto our hearts, heads, and limbs, rendering us as the next wave of marionettes upon a set of adult norms.

Adulthood has been rife with responsibility and fear of judgment. A lot of my artistic friends are unconcerned about this. I wonder how I ended up in two worlds. I'd love to be the unconcerned, unchained artist, but that has never been 100%, or even 85% compatible with my nature.  I think there is something about schools that strip this out of us. Well, that and the need to eat and pay rent, of course...

Transcending Borders

Our concert was last Sunday, and the experience left quite an impression on me. I was transfixed by how many moving parts occurred in multiple places, simultaneously coordinating bells and whistles in tandem around the globe. And yet, isn't that the core of what a musical performance entails?  The seamless execution of advance preparation, synchronicity, and expression so that heartfelt, spontaneous moments of significance, shared among people, can unfurl in real time? Why should I be amazed by this? This happens all the time. The only difference is the distance and the medium: the result of the process, however, remains the same.  

I have never performed a concert that was approximately 95% improvisation, both in planning and execution. Nevertheless, it happened, in a very different way than my typical paradigm, and it meant something.

I have played live with electronic and improvised tracks before, but it was an altogether different experience to play a line in NYC and hear a trumpet player in Norway spin it right back at me with a twist. What a hoot!  

I am reminded of music's powerful and instant capacity to transcend borders, time zones, cultures, and...connect.

I wonder if I will someday see ensembles comprised of holographic musicians, "rehearsing" together?  The advancement of technology, along with a curious, open stance of learning about the world through sincere, authentic interactions with others, makes me incredibly hopeful for all of the possibilities that the future may bring.