performance
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Interface: On The Ergonomics Of Musical Instruments
“Most of the works are not about something–they are not trying to tell something–but they are more made like interfaces for the viewer.” – Cevdet Erek Recently I came across the music of the Turkish artist and musician Cevdet Erek, who creates sound art installation works that deal with sounds, space, and rhythm. Here is some… Continue reading
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On Performance
When I think about the word performance I often think about musicians, actors, dancers, even teachers putting on some kind of show. There’s a spectacle aspect to most performances though: they involve some degree of put on, some level of acting, some amount of fakeness. I say this even though I myself perform as a… Continue reading
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On The Ergonomics Of Music: Reflections On Flow In Steve Reich’s “Drumming”
“But how the paths sounded to me was deeply linked to how I was making them. There wasn’t one me listening, and another one playing along paths. I listened-in-order-to-make-my-way.” -David Sudnow, Ways of the Hand (MIT Press 2001, p. 40) Every once in a while warming up before a show I noodle around by playing… Continue reading
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On Hiromi’s The Trio Project
This past Sunday I went to see the jazz pianist Hiromi and her Trio Project play at the Blue Note Jazz Club. The pianist’s bandmates were Simon Phillips on drums and Anthony Jackson on electric bass. The musicians’ playing was virtuosic and as an ensemble they were super tight–almost telepathically so. I sat behind Hiromi… Continue reading
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On The Music Making Of Jon Hopkins
“My general view is just to have absolutely no planning in place at all and just to let my instinct kind of run wild a bit.” – Jon Hopkins Lately I’ve been enjoying the music of English composer Jon Hopkins. His recording Immunity (2013), shortlisted for last year’s Mercury Prize, is a tour de force… Continue reading
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On Musical Systems And Four Tet’s Good Musical Sense
“I don’t want to sound like anybody else.” – Kieran Hebden I have written previously on this blog about the music of Kieran Hebden (aka Four Tet). Hebden not only has good musical taste but also a thoughtful and unique approach to using technology to create his work. In this video from Red Bull Music… Continue reading
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On The Influence Of One’s Musical Teachers
In his New Yorker piece “Every Good Boy Does Fine”, pianist Jeremy Denk reflects on taking piano lessons from the time he first took up the instrument at the age five through his college years. Denk’s teachers helped him learn to better practice, interpret and think musically. “Learning to play the piano” says Denk, “is… Continue reading
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On Negative Achievement: The XX Perform In New York
“The creation of a style often begins with a negative achievement.” – Tracy Kidder and Richard Todd, Good Prose If you are a fan of musical minimalisms, atmospheric indie rock, and electronic beats, there was a lot to like about the xx’s poised and elegantly understated performance at Hammerstein Ballroom last week. The young Mercury… Continue reading
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On Music In Its Context: Noise Musicians Improvising In The Subway
The Union Square subway station in New York City is a pretty loud place. As the N, R, L, 4, 5, and 6 trains pull into the station there’s some serious, 90-plus decibel metallic screeching happening when the cars hit their breaks and come to a stop. Given this noisy soundscape, I was both surprised… Continue reading
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Musical Appropriation Or Just A Shoe That Fits? : Dirty Loops’ Pop Reversioning
“Hey, we’re on to so much knowledge and the music industry won’t let us use it in a creative way.” — Aaron, drummer for Dirty Loops “Could you please make a cover of every song in existence?” – Dirty Loops YouTube viewer comment There’s a lot that’s interesting going on when you watch and listen… Continue reading
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