Boston Globe editorial, January 7 1920 “The Athens of America”

On Babe Ruth’s sale to the Yankees

There is much to be said on both sides, and the fonts gathered at the daily meetings of the Hot Stove League have already begun to do full justice to the sale of Boston’s colossal fence buster.

The Hub of the Universe, also known as the Athens of America, is undeniably “het up” on the prospects of next season. It is possible that unscholarly persons will rise and remark that the prevailing excitement concerning a man who merely made 29 home runs is unbecoming Boston’s reputation as a center of learning. If any assertion of that sort is made, it will only indicate a lack of classical culture.

Continue reading "Healthy Mind, Healthy Body" »

Randy Velarde’s unassisted triple play, May 29, 2000 (Oakland at New York)
from A Pitcher's Story by Roger Angell (2001)

The Monday holiday celebration, against the brash, attractive Oakland Athletics, suffered by comparison and starter Andy Pettitte may have reflected that his 4-1 win might have been the only two-hitter in Yankee history that felt like an anticlimax. History, in any case, arrived in the sixth inning, but so quietly that its observers or acolytes -- the Yanks and A’s in the field and we in the stands -- could manage no more than a murmured “Wha’?” … “Huh?” when a low batted ball to Oakland second baseman Randy Velarde became three outs before our eyes. Velarde, completing the four or five steps required, flipped the ball to an umpire as he trotted toward his dugout, while realization and a great gabble of conversation and explanation rose from every side. The situation had been routine -- no outs, Tino Martinez on second base (he’d been hit by a pitch) and Posada on first after an infield error. When the pitcher, Omar Olivares, allowed the count on the next batter, Shane Spencer, to reach three-and-two, both runners took off with the next pietch, as expected. The ball, an undemanding chance, was gloved by Velarde at shoulder height, and he tagged Posada, in front of him on the base path, and unhurriedly continued to second, in plenty of time to step on the bag and double-off -- no, triple-off -- the returning Tino. Velarde, who is a former Yankee shortstop, had turned the same trick in spring training against the Dodgers five years ago. Practice makes perfect.

Continue reading "Roger Angell on the unassisted triple play" »

Every student needs a break ... sometime. This is the single-use card I used to give to my college students at the beginning of each semester. Can not be bartered or sold!

The Maestro Classical Podcast presents LUDWIG VAN POLKA, my arrangement for Polkastra, alongside recordings of the Beethovenian originals. More Bb than you can shake a stick at. LINK

Screws, bolts, bits of rubber. Ya gotta be prepared if you're gonna step inside the piano. Step out of the box and into the Cage. LINK

Welcome Concordia Conservatory Musical Theater Camp families and friends! Kathleen Suss, Claire Simard and I are to present these mp3s of our recording sessions from July. Recording engineer Larry Alexander and I have been editing and mixing for the past few weeks and the results sound great! So download, burn, share, and of course listen to the results of your kids' excellent work during our camp in July.

Lost! [7 Mp3s]
Look Before You Eat [5 Mp3s]

You can find more information about the shows as well as the lyrics to each song: LOST! and LOOK BEFORE YOU EAT.

Continue reading "Recordings of Lost! and Look Before You Eat" »

In the hopes of creating acoustic palindromes in a choral piece, I once made a study of Twin-Peaks-style reverse speech. The resulting composition was forgettable, but studying reverse speech was quite fun. Using this worksheet I created, I was able to teach it to an intelligent bunch of singers. Dig up your International Phoenetic Alphabet and give it a whirl!
Download as PDF
Download as JPG

Today, I recorded with young singers age 6-14, the songs and some of the dialogue to LOST! and LOOK BEFORE YOU EAT. This was the last thing on the agenda of our three-week musical theater summer camp, and we had our performances the night before. Recording with such a gaggle of kids of requires some patience, frequent breaks, and the reward of ice cream cake, but by far the most interesting part of the session was watching the kids listen to the recordings of themselves singing.

For the elementary-school-age kids, the first reaction while listening was a twittering of laughter and restless movement. Some sang along quietly or mouthed the words. But as playback continued, these reactions amplified -- those singing along sang louder, and those moving around did the full choreography for the number. Later in the day, the middle school-age kids had the same reaction -- though without the initial laughter -- of singing and dancing along to their own recorded voices.

I had two main reasons for wanting to make these recordings. First, I'm a pack-ratty archivist about my work, and I wanted a record of these shows in their first instance. Second, I knew the kids would enjoy some sort of second performance of the songs -- working so intensely for three weeks, it's hard to let go after just a single performance.

But I underestimated the experience for the kids. For them, making the recording goes beyond the desire for posterity, and beyond feelings of post-camp post-partem. Watching them listen to the playback, I saw that it's a chance to relive, with their entire bodies, the experience of the show. Since they all seemed to have a good time, I hope that experience stays with them for quite a while.

Apolkalypse Now! now available via iTunes!
LINK

Discovered at my aunt & uncle's place in Los Angeles, a doll that kinda maybe sort of looks like a certain someone.

My composer friends know that I'm a passionate and persnickety proponent of clear musical notation. Now, I'm taking my red pen to the streets, starting with a Notation Workshop at UNLV. Here's the pitch:

The ability to create fantastic-looking scores is an invaluable resource in the composer’s toolkit. Immaculate scores and parts reduce ambiguities, make rehearsals more effective, and result in better performances and interpretations. Succeeding as a composer certainly requires more than just beautiful notation, but taking time to perfect a score can reap benefits for years. I have edited scores for several major music publishers, and I am a composer and performer myself. In my notation workshops, I bring these experiences to students. There are three possible formats for the workshop: 1) a multimedia lecture using scores by students in attendance, 2) a series of small-group one-hour lessons, or 3) a combination of both, in which the score improvement techniques are reinforced through a second encounter. The workshops are geared toward undergraduate and graduate composers, though advanced high school-age students would find it useful as well. Participating students should choose their best pieces, so that the improved, workshopped version will show their finest work in the finest light.

I've posted a few new song demo mp3s to my music page:
Vshamru | The Robot Tango | Purple Martin's Majesty | We All Know Some Animals

Michael Chabon
from Gentlemen of the Road

ySomeone was singing. Amram heard sawed strings and a voice at once lilting and raspy -- an old man or woman -- and they followed the sound of it up a crooked lane to the top of the hill, squelching through mud that was an impasto of dirt and blood, past the fly-blown carcasses of women, children and defenders alike, some three dozen people in all, among them a crone and a babe in arms. Amram kept up a steady murmur of prayers for the souls of the butchered and his own in this grievous shambles. At the top of the hill in the archway of the main house, an eyeless old man sat on a bucket, scratching at a two-stringed gourd, warbling weird melismas on a madman’s text.

19 Jan | Golden Festival @ Good Shepherd School, NYC
25 Jan | Britten: Peter Grimes, One World Symphony, St. Ann and the Holy Trinity, Brooklyn
26 Jan | Cornelius: Sensuous Synchronized Show, Webster Hall, NYC
27 Jan | Choral Music of John Harbison, St Ignatius Episcopal Church, NYC
27 Jan | Musica Reginae, Flushing Town Hall, NYC
10 Feb | Sunday in the Park with George @ Studio 54, NYC
11 Feb | Verdi: Otello, Metropolitan Opera, NYC
15 Feb | Messiaen: Turangalila Symphonie, St Louis Symphony @ Carnegie Hall
11 Mar | Britten: Peter Grimes @ Metropolitan Opera, NYC
26 Mar | Keys to the Future (Concert II), Greenwich Music House, NYC
29 Mar | Fleet Foxes & Blitzen Trapper, Bowery Ballroom, NYC
31 Mar | Julliard Orchestra: Busoni, Bartok Piano Concerto No3, Mahler Symphony No1, Avery Fischer Hall
1 Apr | Passing Strange @ Belasco Theater, NYC
4 Apr | Smokey's Roundup, Southpaw, Brooklyn
9 May | Sybarite String Quintet at Caffe Vivaldi
14 May | South Pacific @ Beaumont Theater, NYC
15 May | Festival Chamber Music, Merkin Hall, NYC
31 May | Minnesota Orchestra, Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis
1 Jun | Laura Metcalf & Monica Chung @ Faust Harrison Pianos, NYC
5 Jun | Da Capo Chamber Players, Merkin Hall, NYC
18 Jun | Tristan Perich @ Issue Project Room, Brooklyn
22 Jun | Alan Bishop and Richard Bishop, Knitting Factory, NYC
23 Jun | Ivan Ilic, Weill Recital Hall, NYC
2 Jul | Orchestra Baobab @ River to River Festival, NYC
16 Jul | Menachem Pressler & Eugene Drucker, Mannes School of Music, NYC
24 Jul | Boston Symphony Orchestra plays Carter, Tanglewood
25 Jul | Boston Symphony Orchestra plays Brahms, Yefim Bronfman, etc., Tanglewood
31 Jul | Chanticleer @ Seiji Ozawa Hall, Tanglewood
2 Aug | Renée Fleming et al, Eugene Onegin @ Tanglewood Music Shed
7 Aug | Private Lives @ Barrington Stage Company
13 Aug | Wilco @ Tanglewood Music Shed
24 Sep | To Paint the Earth @ 37 Arts / NYMF
27 Sep | They Might be Giants @ Le Poisson Rouge
19 Oct | Our Gobi Fossils @ Theatrelab, NYC
05 Nov | Doctor Atomic @ Metropolitan Opera
13 Nov | Monica Chung & Drew Ricciardi @ Greenwich House, NYC
15 Nov | The Prison Ship Martyrs Monument Centennial Concert @ Brooklyn Technical High School Auditorium
16 Nov | Animal Tales @ Chelsea Studios, NYC
18 Nov | Pal Joey @ Studio 54
21 Nov Sybarite Chamber Players with Mieka Paula @ DUMBO Loft concert series
30 Nov | Sybarite Chamber Players @ Bruno Walter Auditorium, NYC
04 Dec | Nellie McKay @ Le Poisson Rouge, NYC
09 Dec | Hairspray @ Neil Simon Theater
16 Dec | Gypsy @ St James Theater, NYC

CONCERTS WHERE MY MUSIC WAS PLAYED or WHERE I PLAYED MYSELF
9 Feb | Joelle Lurie at the Triad
9-11 Aug | Weill: Mahagonny @ Tanglewood
23 Oct-21 Nov | Lord Oxford Brings you the Second American Revolution, Live!
17 Nov | Noah Getz & Ann Kang @ Stella Adler School
19 Nov | Hofstra Chorale & Chamber singers @ Cathetral of the Incarnation, Garden City, NY
11 Dec | Saar Ahuvia & Stephanie Ho @ Aaron Copland School of Music, NY
...at Concordia Conservatory...
5 May | Student Chamber Music Recital
17 Jul | Musical Theater Workshops, Bronxville, NY
5-7 Dec | A Single Winter's Day
...with Gamelan Galak Tika & Ensemble Robot...
15 Jun | New Haven Green
18 Oct | EMPAC, Troy, NY
30 Oct | Berklee College of Music
22 Nov | Broad Auditorium, Cambridge, Mass.

100 scrappy mp3s to celebrate 2009. New discoveries, longtime tracks held dearly, and the in-between. LINK (393MB). Schnitzelstu:cke!

Previously: Scrap Happy 2008