JCHRants

A compendium of musings on music and this business we call show

The Pen Is Mightier Than The Computer

04.9.2015

Well, at least for making music. The sounds on Solid State Siren aren’t as cutting edge as we would’ve hoped. Shortcomings of music technology. Why paper and pencil makes for better music than any computer tools. StaffPad to the rescue.

Structure

04.1.2015

Music Appreciation, Progressive Rock

The end of long-winded musicology for a while. Why almost all long-form music stinks, but Tales From Topographic Oceans isn’t as bad as you think.

Curtains

03.25.2015

Music Business

PBS Newshour

As a musician who’s played in a lot of bands (from pit to opera) that guy is ON TO SOMETHING! WELL DONE!

Arts organisations are constantly coming up with 2 unsustainable solutions:
a) programs that only appeal to older people

b) Usually abominable ‘crossover’ programs (rock band meets symphony!) or endless variations on ‘pops’ concerts.

c) Re-purpose an existing pop-culture piece as serious art (I’m thinking of the now defunct opera company in NYC that did an opera about ‘Anna Nicole Smith’.

To look ‘cool’ they may offer grants for writing lots of opera, music, dance, but rarely offer performances of those works. (Which makes no sense.)

Said it before, say it again: the Europeans have the right model: go SMALL. Instead of doing 4 HUGE operas every year, do 20 small ones at 1/10th the budget. The core audience will always be there… and they want new works. Composers? They’ve given up trying because they never get a chance to get played. If you offer them venues, they’ll step up, just like composers in every era do. The reason so much music STINKS today is because there hasn’t been enough competition. Going small would fix that.

In short, stop trying to squeeze the maximum $ from a rapidly diminishing audience of 70 year old Puccini lovers. It’s simply unsustainable.

It’s Brutal

03.24.2015

Culture, Music Appreciation

Can music be brutal anymore? Do we think differently in other languages? Jonathan Franzen. Beethoven wants to punish you, just like Larks Tongues In Aspic

I’ll Get You Where You Want To Go

02.16.2015

Culture, Music Appreciation

Valentines Day, but we’re talking about a lot of death instead. Phil Levine, David Carr. Richard Schurr. We pay tribute to a great teacher. Why music teachers matter. What makes a great teacher.

Roger CortonHappy Valentine’s Day

JCHIt doesn’t feel particularly Valentine-y today. In fact it’s been kind of weird this week. It’s been the week where a lot of vaguely related people passed away.

RCVaguely related?

JCHYeah you know that six degrees of separation thing? Well this is like a bunch of people at the fifth degree. For example, Richard Schurr, you know the NPR radio “Says You”. I was in the band a couple of times. He died. And so did Gerry Ríann.

RCWho?

JCHHe was one of the last great Se´n Nós singers (ed. note: Se´n Nós is traditional solo singing in the Irish. Many of the songs go back hundreds of years. The term literally means ‘old song’.) Gerry was like the Ralph […]