The Fredösphere

Composers, watch out!  Tell your congressman to include you in the next round of protectionist legislation.  You're about to be replaced by a computer!  And, talk about matchstick men--via SF Signal, it's the Matchstick Minas Tirith.

I attended a composers' forum at the University of Michigan School of Music last night.  It's the first time in several years that I've gone.  I used to find these concerts painful, but last night's show boasted a few genuinely well-written pieces, and even the dogs had something to recommend them.  Is it possible that the kids are better than they were in the good old days?  I definitely recall the forums from way back, from the time I was a student there, were very informal and low on the spit & polish.  Not much was taken seriously back then.  Now, the kids seem terribly sophisticated--sophisticated in a real way, as though some of them are already moving beyond youthful gestures of pseudo-profundity and pointless complexity.

Either the UMSM composition department is recruiting better these days, or maybe I'm getting better at listening.  I suspect the answer is, some of both.  No question I have finally begun to learn how to pay attention to what is not immediately compelling.  I'm still bad at listening, but I now realize I was absolutely, dreadfully terrible at it in my younger years.  (Having a son with the same tendency has made me more aware of the problem.)

While I was at the forum I reintroduced myself to Evan Chambers, who recently emailed me to thank me for blogging his new work, The Old Burying Ground.

Labels: Composer, LovableOddballs