I am now fully into rehearsal mode for the upcoming just intonation world premiere of Doleo Æternus and it’s starting to get extremely interesting. On Sunday I had the first rehearsal with the bassoonist, Annie Lyle, and the computer. This was Annie’s first time hearing the computer and I had really completely forgotten how magical it can be. (more…)
Doleo Æternus Rehearsals
I’m sitting in my hotel room in South Denver after a very long day of Rehearsals and general driving insanity. I arrived in Colorado last night and it was snowing, quite intensely.
My rehearsals today with the Playground Ensemble went very well. I always run into the same problem though which is that my work has very subtle cues, and it just takes time. They’re a great ensemble, and it was a pleasure rehearsing with them. I just wish we had one more day. Although I suppose one always wishes one had one more day (wow, that was quite a oneful sentence)
Anyway. I’ve posted a bit of a photojournal after the jump. Images of the rehearsals were taken from a video on my iSight – of course it’s the first time I’m using it, and the sound didn’t record. Oh well,
Enjoy the pictures of snow, horrible donuts, and blurry rehearsals to the gallery »
How Anger became Doleo Æternus
I began working on Anger around the same time that Ana and I started this company. Even though it took us a long time to finally be ready to perform it ( a solid three years after the first notes were written) in many ways it was the first piece that Ana and I worked on after Alicia.
On Friday we will be presenting the next step in the evolution of this piece: Doleo Æternus (more…)
on Opportunity and Rehearsal
Over the next couple of months we will be presenting two of our works in unusual ways for us. Next week we are auditioning Shiver for the Fresh Tracks program at DTW. In early December we will present a new version of Anger at the ISIM conference in Denver.
I’m very much used to thinking about our work only within the context of Avant Media and our artists and methodologies. Taking these two works outside of Avant Media (to an extent) has proved enlightening to the nature and concept of our work (more…)
A Massive Study in Time, Motion and Preparedness.
I’m finally back in New York after a month in my home state of Massachusetts, including two non-stop weeks in North Adams working for Nick Brooke as lead audio tech, sound designer and live mix engineer for his residency at Mass MoCA. I wish I could say I’ll have some time to relax, but I wont. While I do have some free time, though, I thought I’d share some thoughts of the last few weeks.
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Crimson Drizzle : Minimalism in the Rain
Part II: The Performer’s Perspective
I don’t think I need to say “Crimson Grail is an ambitious piece of music.” I knew going into the recently failed attempt of performing Rhys Chatham’s magnum opus at Damrosch Park at Lincoln Center that the sheer practicalities of it were going to be something to witness. And that they most certainly were. The whole production crew was not only skilled, but adept at handling the needs of 200 guitar players and their heaps of gear. By my calculations they were responsible for the care, feeding and shelter of half a million dollars in gear, probably more; I saw some Marshall Stacks and a vintage SG.
Rehearsals were an enjoyable process considering how mind numbingly boring they were. The first two days went by with little to report. Turns out some folks didn’t know how to read music. Those who did were surprised. Each camp half snickered about the other – one was taking it way too seriously, the other was shocked the organizers invited non-professional guitar players, but it was all in good fun. The rehearsals served mostly to give everyone a chance to meet their section and buddy buddy with some guys (and here I will pause to mention: 10 ladies were a part of 200 performers) who share similar interests if not hair-dos, weight classes and taste in vintage wrestling t-shirts. There were some good ones, trust me.
The caliber of people involved in all aspects of this piece was stellar. Crimson Grail NYC was cast with the friendliest group of 190 dudes and 10 ladies with guitars I have ever met. This fact made the rehearsals worth going to, because no matter how long we practiced extended tremolos or talked about the Soprano transition to Section G in part 2A, we were never, ever going to play that piece the way it is written.
There. I said it.
And here is why. (more…)
“Anger” Music Rehearsals
The first four-hour music rehearsals for Anger finished today at The Dairy Center for The Arts in Boulder, Colorado with the Violinist Drew Blumberg and Soprano Karie Kerner as well as Randy Gibson on piano. These rehearsals were meant to discover any changes that must be made to the construction of the piece. This was the first time the three had rehearsed together with the computer program. Things went very well, with some minor changes being made. Mr. Blumberg will stay on as the violinist, but Ms. Kerner will be replaced with a different singer, citing time constraints and a stylistic shift in the music.
