Bookmarks for January 12th through January 19th [del.icio.us]
![Bookmarks for January 12th through January 19th [del.icio.us]](http://www.paulbailey.us/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/ClownMushroomCloud1-150x150.jpg)
Bookmarks from January 12th through January 17th:[del.icio.us]
- Brian Eno: “Recorded Music Equals Whale Blubber” – hypebot -
“I think records were just a little bubble through time and those who made a living from them for a while were lucky. There is no reason why anyone should have made so much money from selling records except that everything was right for this period of time…” “It was a bit like if you had a source of whale blubber in the 1840s and it could be used as fuel. Before gas came along, if you traded in whale blubber, you were the richest man on Earth. Then gas came along and you’d be stuck with your whale blubber.” “Sorry mate – history’s moving along. Recorded music equals whale blubber. Eventually, something else will replace it.” – Brian Eno in The Guardian
- THE KNIFE -
“Commissioned by Danish performance group Hotel Pro Forma to write the music for their opera based on Charles Darwin and his book ‘On the Origin of the Species’, The Knife decided to make this a collaborative process, working with artists Mt. Sims and Planningtorock for the first time, to capture the huge width of the Darwin and evolution theme. They extensively researched Darwin related literature and articles, with Olof attending a field recording workshop in the Amazon to find inspiration and to record sounds. ‘Tomorrow, In A Year’ is a unique musical project. Richard Dawkins’s gene trees have formed the basis of some of the musical composition, artificial sounds have been mixed with field recordings, with the music inspired by everything from the different stages of a bird learning its melody, to a song based on Darwin’s loving letters about his daughter Anne. These are compositions that challenge the conventional conception of opera music.”
- Thoughts on the Naughts:San Francisco Classical Voice -
“Along with this development comes the emergence of “alt-classical” (alternative classical, an abbreviation with all the cachet of a computer key): This world of music existed for decades, but in the naughts (the decade of 2000–2009) it became newly visible thanks to decentralization and the lack of a dominant “mainstream” style in classical music. Imperfectly named, as is always the case with descriptive terms for large artistic phenomena, alt-classical represents the merging of genres of music, as well as the undermining of distinctions between “high” and “low,” classical and popular, along with an infusion of music formerly on the margins.”
- Los Angeles News – 2009: ODE TO THE MUSIC MAN -
“While most of this story’s respondents are Flaherty supporters, Paul Bailey, an adjunct professor of music education and theory at Cal State Fullerton (and one-time band director at John Marshall High School in Los Feliz), has this to say: “Talk about the forest for the trees: Teaching a drum line does not make a music program. I can easily see why an administration would reassign a music teacher (no matter how successful and well meaning) if they were unable and/or unwilling to field a marching band. Like it or not, the marching band is the most efficient way to get a large number of kids to participate in music. It’s unfortunate, but at the end of the day a music program should give musicians a variety of experiences and not focus on the specialized competitive agenda of one teacher.”
- Facebook | Sahar Saedi: what do you think about the musicianship classes? -
“I have had some really great professors both in csu fullerton and in el camino college and I feel that both of these schools which I have attended, have some very strong aspects to their music programs. However, I have one complain about the musicianship classes of both of these schools and I want to share it with you and ask for your insight. Unfortunately, in el camino college we had a very poor sightsinging class. There was absolutely no direction given to us as to how to learn to sightsing. We were given a few melodies that we would get tested on on our exam which by the time of the exam would basically be memorized, thus would not be sightsinging.”
- Tom Swafford: Violinist, Composer, Arranger! -
“My goal is to create clear music that communicates directly and genuinely. I don’t like slick music that has been edited and perfected artificially. I like all the subtle nuances, scratches, ‘mistakes’ that happen naturally and I think that this is a big part of what makes music expressive. “
Bookmarks for October 2nd through October 8th [del.icio.us]
![Bookmarks for October 2nd through October 8th [del.icio.us]](http://www.paulbailey.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/bnkm1-150x150.jpg)
Bookmarks from October 2nd through October 8th:[del.icio.us]
- (Glen) Beck Tries to Kill Parody Website : Dispatches from the Culture Wars -
“I don’t know if you’ve ever seen the Did Glenn Beck Rape and Murder a Young Girl in 1990 website, but it’s fairly amusing. It’s a political satire of the style of argument Glenn Beck likes to engage in, which involves requiring that someone prove a negative (“prove you didn’t do X”) and making claims in the form of an interrogative (“Hey, I’m just asking questions here. I’m not saying he did this. What’s wrong with asking questions?”). Well now Beck is trying to kill the site by making a formal complaint (PDF) to an international internet governing body, the World Intellectual Property Organization. He wants the domain name taken away from the person who registered it…”
- Manifesto (this one’s for you, Lindemann) « Là ci darem la mano -
I, Maura, aka mlaffs on twitter, “so white I glow,” do hearby declare my intent: Firstly, that classical music is awesome. In fact, it’s so great that we should all take Alex Ross’ suggestion and start calling it “Awesome Music.” After all, “classical” is an arbitrary label, has negative connotations, and isn’t very sexy. Second, that my friends are the best. I was shocked and flattered by the overwhelmingly positive response when I suggested that I might want to start a blog. I can’t believe that people actually want to hear what I have to say! I’m just a mousy little second-year employee at a regional orchestra that likes to whine. Third, that strawberries are the best snack ever. I am going to start buying them more frequently. Actually, I’m going to start eating more fruits & veggies in general. I am so much more focused and energetic this afternoon than usual. Love it. …”
- David Cross: An Open Letter to Larry the Cable Guy -
“…Okay, here’s what I said in the RS interview: “He’s good at what he does. It’s a lot of anti-gay, racist humor – - which people like in America – all couched in ‘I’m telling it like it is.’ He’s in the right place at the right time for that gee-shucks, proud-to-be-a-redneck, I’m-just-a-straight-shooter-multimillionaire-in-cutoff-flannel, selling-ring tones-act. That’s where we are as a nation now. We’re in a state of vague American values and anti-intellectual pride.”
- Will California become America’s first failed state? | World news | The Observer
“Few places embody the collapse of California as graphically as the city of Riverside. Dubbed “The Inland Empire”, it is an area in the southern part of the state where the desert has been conquered by mile upon mile of housing developments, strip malls and four-lane freeways. The tidal wave of foreclosures and repossessions that burst the state’s vastly inflated property bubble first washed ashore here. “We’ve been hit hard by foreclosures. You can see it everywhere,” says political scientist Shaun Bowler, who has lived in California for 20 years after moving here from his native England. The impact of the crisis ranges from boarded-up homes to abandoned swimming pools that have become a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Bowler’s sister, visiting from England, was recently taken to hospital suffering from an infected insect bite from such a pool. “You could say she was a victim of the foreclosure crisis, too,” he jokes.”
- Dudamel’s press briefing – The Arts Blog – OCRegister.com -
“Dudamel was charming throughout, and genuine. I’m not cynical. The hype surrounding him may be hard to take at times, but he’s good, and appears to have his head on straight. His music directorship is going to be marked by his efforts to take classical music to the people, to the regular guy, but I don’t sense that he equates that with cheapening the product in any way. Just making it available to more folks. The phrase “creative use of digital platforms” was uttered, though not by him… …Underneath the hubbub, there are plenty of naysayers, atheists if you will. They give looks to each other, roll their eyes, just to show they’re not chumps. It doesn’t matter. It’ll all come out in the wash. The music’s the thing and we’re about to get to that”
