October 04, 2008
GOOOOD MORNING TO MY MOM!!! (Good Morning Vietnam? Anyone? Ah, forget it…)
It is with immense pleasure that I present to you the Sketches in C website!!!! It's hard to express my enthusiasm for this radio show to you in a blog but think about the Christmas you got the best presents, then imagine that they were all stolen from you. And THEN imagine that they were returned to you the next day only they had been made into the real-life version of that thing! That's how excited I am.
Sketches in C is the new-and-improved Don Wright Faculty of Music radio show on 94.9 CHRW. Some radio shows feature music from the 80s, 90s and today. At Sketches in C, we believe that this is not comprehensive enough, so our show features the latest and greatest hits from the last four centuries, including work by students of the DWFOM and recent alumni. Whether you're new to the intricacies of classical music or you know the themes of every Haydn symphony, our show has something for you. Find out where and when the next faculty concerts are, have a listen to a recording of the culmination of months of study from a recital the week prior or simply take a moment to enjoy a piece longer than 3 minutes 40 seconds.
As students of music, we've devoted our time at university to the study of an art form that's being slowly relegated to the shadows of the collective consciousness. And yet, like true romantics, we're staying aboard our sinking ship because we cannot stand idly by and watch such a beautiful art form sink into the deep. Like any hobby, classical music takes time to learn about and appreciate. But at the most basic level, something in this music stirs us to the core, which is something we think everyone is capable of experiencing.
I suppose that's our goal here at Sketches in C: to bring classical music to the masses. You might even say we're bringin' sexy bach.
- Dave
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October 09, 2008
I've been asking a lot of people this question and it's been very interesting to hear different responses: Does music make contributions to the non-musical society? In other words, is there concrete evidence that music makes us better human beings? And if so, how does it make us better?
Think about it and email us with your thoughts.
- Dave
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October 15th, 2008
So the first five weeks of school are officially over. Projects and papers are piling up, lessons are becoming more serious,and midterms are fast approaching. Thankgoodness for the holiday weekend; I don’t know what I’d do without it. Time with family, away from daily routines,is such a nice refresher. I always find this to be a good weekend to take a step back and evaluate how things are going, before diving head first into the rest of the semester. And this weekend, I happen to be pondering the future of our country.
You might be saying “holy shit Nick, the future of country? That’s out of left field.” And the truth is, I completely agree withyou. Not much more than a month ago theonly election I was thinking about was the one planned for November 1st in theUnited States. I still remember reading the headline in the Globe in Mail that read “Harper to dissolve parliament”. But despite the short notice (don’t you love the Canadian political system?), the reluctance of any major political party toput out an intelligent and/or realistic economic platform and an overall lack of enthusiasm for the election from candidates and voters alike, we’re going to the polls today.
In the spirit of the election, I thought that it would be fun to think of our political party leaders as composers. The question is as follows: which classical composer best represents each leader? (Keep in mind, these are my thoughts and not yours.)
Jack Layton = Franz Liszt. Jack is the most dynamic of the bunch. He is impressive in debates, just like ourbuddy Franz on the keyboard. He also represents the most radical ideas. Butis the rhetoric just an impressive surface, or is there substance there too?
Elizabeth May = R. Murray Schafer. Alright so this one was easy. Schafer is the “father of acoustic ecology”who wrote such “natural-environment works” as Wilderness Lake. Enoughsaid.
Gilles Duceppe = Claude Debussy. This guy’s got something to him, whether or not his politics jive with you. He is realistic about what his party can accomplish, and doesn’t care about changing the world; but he is sticking it to the establishment (reference Debussy’s run-ins with his harmony teachers at the Paris Conservatory). Oh, and there is the fact that he’s French-speaking.
Stephane Dion = Milton Babbit. Dion is an intellectual, although probably not nearly as intelligent as Milton. Somewhere in there, I’m sure there are some good ideas, but he has no idea how to communicate them – at least with the English speaking crowd. Maybe he’s in the wrong medium. By the way,does anyone enjoy listening to Babbit?
Stephen Harper = no one. You can’t get your music published without arts funding. Low blow? That’s what I said about the cutsin the budget.
Unfortunately, writing this hasn’t helped me decide who I’mgoing to vote for. There is still time…right?
Happy Belated Thanksgiving everyone. Make sure you vote today.
Nick
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October 24th, 2008
Kristen is not in the mood to write a blog by having me transcribe what he is saying. *laughter* "Oh man," he says. The rest of us wonder how long he will be able to keep silent.
"What am I supposed to say?" he says. "You're not actually putting this up, are you? I don't like pressure."
Kristen mentions that due to his own irresponsibility, Dave set fire to a number of chick peas.
"This reminds me of the time when I leant you my niece to babysit her and then you also set fire to her by accident. And you also fed her burnt hummus ironically."
- Dave and Kristen
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October 27th
I went to the Mondays at noon30 Student Concert Series today, whose theme was "Composed in the Last Century" and included a lot of music written by current Western students. It was refreshing and inspiring to hear the great music being composed around me. Special mention to Julia Barber who performed a piece (whose name escapes me unfortunately. Anyone?) that made me grin from ear to ear and completely blew my mind. Ever watched someone sing without phonating? It's one of the most uncomfortable and amazing things I've ever experienced.
Come out to the Student Composers' and Thames Scholars' concert on Wednesday! (evening and 12:30 respectively)
- Dave
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November 1st
The Faculty of Music just celebrated its 40th Anniversary by throwing itself a party - and what a party! Quite a few alumni showed up to take part in the festivities, which included a formal dinner and Gala performances at Alumni Hall - one for the wind and brass players and one for the vocalists. It would be difficult to describe each in a way that would properly convey their magnitude but they were really quite something. Seeing all the ensembles perform (except the orchestra, regrettably) really made me proud to say I am a student at this institution.
After so many years of intensive study of music, it is a rare moment when the simple significance of what we are doing here really sinks in. All afternoon, we brought to life the incredible outcomes of our predecessors' creativity and passion, and not in a way that any machine could reproduce. I'm usually the last to delve into the ethereal, touchy-feely aspect of performance but tonight I bought it; not just anybody can make music like that. For once I set aside all philosophical questions of relevance and told my conscience to shut up for a minute so I could savour the joys of making music.
Kudos to everyone involved in making it all happen, especially Heather Hutchison. It is a shame no one bothered to recognize your work.
- Dave
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November 12th
The past week has yielded some very intriguing food for thought which I feel the need to share. The first is from Canadian Northrop Frye's Educated Imagination, which is a fascinating book (really, a collection of lectures) that discusses why literature is relevant, why it so captivates us, and how art encourages us to think beyond what we can see. Here is a quote:
We come back to the limit of the imagination that I referred to in my first talk, a universe entirely posessed and occupied by human life, a city of which the stars are suburbs. Nobody can believe in any such universe: literature is not religion, and it doesn't address itself to belief. But if we shut the vision of it completely out of our minds, or insist on its being limited in various ways, something goes dead inside us, perhaps the one thing that it's really important to keep alive" (from Chapter 3: Giants in Time).
The next few come from my research for Professor Fiske's "Psychology of Music Education" class. The first was the concept that there is both a "me" and an "I", the "me" being the everyday person that we identify as ourselves walking around, studying, sleeping, etc. But the "I" is the part of ourself that is able to analyse "me". They are two separate entities. This is in no way a new concept - I'm sure the first page of every psychology text is devoted to this concept and I have encountered similar concepts in studying philosophy. But the specific way that this concept was communicated struck me. The second is from The Social and Applied Psychology of Music by Adrian C. North and David J. Hargreaves and centers around the concept of Habituation - "The process by which we gradually lose interest in anything that we have experienced already" (p 34). Colin Martindale's "Clockwork Muse" theory suggests that the evolution of music is essentially a gradual progression towards increasing degrees of innovation in music. New forms begin very simply and once they have been exhausted harmonically, a new form is created and the process begins again. This is not an earth-shattering concept but it is startling how well the model fits the progression of music and begs the questions, Where are we now? and How does "Popular" Music fit this model? Will "popular" necessarily become akin to classical music in its complexity once the forms have been exhausted?
And finally, a fabulous blog entry (and blog) by classical music critic and author Alex Ross courtesy of Tim Cheung. Although lengthy, this is a must-read.
Yours in musical exploration,
Dave
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November 18
Well folks, we're coming down to the wire (an odd expression: on-air shout 0uts to the person who can tell me where it's from). For me, research on musical creativity continues and the reading of Northrop Frye's Educated Imagination also continues. Soon to be on the agenda: research on why the government has an obligation to fund the arts for an essay in Writing 2101 and how to lead students to musical understanding for Psychology of Music Ed.
I must say, taking orchestration has revolutionalized the way I see music. It's the perfect application of theoretical knowledge. You realize leading tones really do affect your listening experience and start to appreciate the implied voices in solo instrumental works. I used to think Baroque suites were the worst thing to ever be forced upon pianists but now I find them delightful. ("He really has gone mad," they think)
It is also recital season, so be sure to check out the Music Website for all sorts of opportunities to see FREE MUSIC!!
In other news: A recent letter to the editor (Nov. 12, page 4) from the leader of the UWO Tories Amber Ruddy in the UWO Gazette made me so irate I wrote an angry letter back. It hasn't appeared yet but I'm hedging my bets for today's paper (it's 1 am right now...) Expect me to take matters into my own hands by publishing my letter on this blog should the Gazette deem it too snarly or something.
Dave
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January 5th 2009!!!!!!!!
Welcome back all. WE DID IT!!!!!!! 2009! WOOOOO!!
Amazing programming continues on Sketches in C this year. We'll be looking to train our replacements soon so contact us if you're interested!
NOTES: Next Week we will be hosting a debate between Josh Wood and Aaron James which should prove interesting. There may be blood after Josh's Brahmsian Saber clashes with Aaron's Mace of Pandiatonicism.
THOUGHT DE JOUR: Is there objective aesthetic truth in art? Or is everything in the eye of the beholder? I would LOVE to hear your thoughts. Seriously.
Dave
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January 10, 2009
Attended a great Coffee House tonight. Applause to all who performed. Those of you who didn't make it out, I'm tellin ya - you missed out on some good stuff. There was a medley, some Regina Spektor, and some good old fashioned heartache. AND there were free snacks.
The next one is at the end of January so keep an eye open for details.
In other news: Another issue of OPUS will be coming out next week. The deadline for submissions is this Friday, January 16th.
Dave
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January 20th, 2009
Doing research for tonight's segment on Film Music led me to the corresponding section of the library. I was very surprised (perhaps foolishly) to see quite a number of books on the topic, including at least a dozen from the past few years. In a previous life, I considered composing music for films and had some very lengthy discussions with the DWFoM's very own Roman Zebik on the topic. Roman moved from Europe, where he started as a film composer, and has had a lot of experience in the industry. We talked about ASCAP, about SOCAN, but especially about the Canadian film industry, which has a tough time competing for market share in an industry dominated by American films. The budgets in Canada are simply smaller and bonehead moves like Bill C-10 don't help the situation.
Film scoring is a rough business to be in, even for the pros. Everything is time sensitive, you're constantly vying for the favour of directors, doing favours in the hopes that one day the scratch on the back will come back to you, and you're forced to do the entire score production yourself for next to nothing. Needless to say, I chickened out. But for those who love film and music equally, and understand the sensitive relationship between the two, it's probably a dream job. Besides, there is no easy road in Music Land.
I just remembered another film composer in the faculty: Kevin Krouglow. Check out what he's been up to and listen tonight to learn a little more about the genre we all know (at least subconsciously) and love (or at least love to hate).
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March 2 , 2009
It is March, ladies and gents. And March means lots and lots of Basketball. Seriously though - March Madness has arrived, even for those who don't care about basketball. Essay deadlines loom and the dreaded Jury is just visible on the horizon, scaring the living daylights out of some and making voice majors whine because now they'll have to work on a piece for longer than two weeks.
And in the midst of it all lies a shiny treasure: the NEW MUSIC COMPETITION! Our first recording session was fabulous - 6 entrants in the Popular Music category had their submissions recorded in front of a live studio audience who got a special show hosted by Austin Lui and Nick Hyatt. There was a guitar "duellet" and some ballads, and some luscious harmonics bouncing off one accoustic guitar in particular. The recordings will be up soon, as will clips of the video footage taken by Tony DeLuca.
Thanks to all who showed up and best of luck to the participants!
The NEW MUSIC COMPETITION WEBSITE continues to be up. Applications still available here.
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March 5 , 2009
Links to the .mp3 files of the entrants that played at the Coffee House are up on the NMC Website. Also, check out some highlights on YouTube of the show that night (here and here). We'll be adding more as we edit the video so I'll keep you posted.
Applications, as always, available here.
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