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
Umie the Umlaut says, "ask your doctor about the Fredösphere!"
