QC of the Day.

From www.questionablecontent.net.

Something fun

From Meg: it seemed like a good idea at the time.

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations so please read carefully:

- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make.
- What I create will be just for you.
- It'll be done this year (2009).
- You have no clue what it's going to be. It will be something made in the real world and not something over the internet. It may be a mixed CD. It may be a poem. It may be a felt mouse or a triple-chocolate cake or a handful of origami wish-stars. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure! (not me either)
- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

Here's the fine print:

In return, all you need to do is post this text into a note of your own and make 5 things for 5 others.

A thought

After attending and performing at most of this week's New Music Festival in Winnipeg, I was forced to conclude that most people don't understand what "new music" is. When most people think of "new music" in the Western art world (read: Classical music), they think of really weird, almost unlistenable sounds.

Here is a quick primer to understand what makes "new music" tick. You might even find something to use in a non-classical music style as well!

New Music is based on this principle: All sound is music. This principle came out of composers trying to take music in new directions after the first World War. This led first to new systems, such as Schoenberg's twelve-tone rows, and later, the serialism of Boulez and Stockhausen, and also to new conceptions of what music should sound like. A turning point in this stream is Varese's Ionization, which was written for a percussion ensemble.

After Varese, composers took the sound of music even further - people began writing music that included extended playing techniques, such as clicking the keys on a flute, or tapping a violin body, or even hitting the strings inside of a piano with a mallet! This led to a greatly expanded sound palette that composers could draw from, and an increased understanding of how a sound or texture could be a melody (rather than a series of notes).

I could go into more detail, but for the sake of keeping your interest, I'll stop here and let you read up on things for yourself if you are interested - Wiki John Cage for a good read.

So, to understand listening to "new music", first think this: What do I hear? Don't judge immediately. Try to identify the sounds that you are hearing. Also listen for musical ideas that keep coming back. Next, think "What does this sound like?". Does this sound mimic anything I have heard before? What kind of emotions or feelings does this sound evoke in me? After you have thought about those things, then you can judge for yourself whether you appreciated the piece.

Now go out and listen to some new music!

Fail!

From failblog.org

Girls

Girls

Excerpted from "The Dangerous Book for Boys".

You may already have noticed that girls are quite different from you. By this, we do not mean the physical differences, more the fact that they remain unimpressed by your mastery of a game involving wizards, or your understanding of Morse Code. Some will be impressed, of course, but as a general rule, girls do not get quite as excited by the use of urine as a secret ink as boys do.

We thought long and hard about what advice could possibly be suitable. It is an inescapable fact that boys spend a great deal of their lives thinking and dreaming about girls, so the subject should be mentioned here – as delicately as possible.

Advice about Girls

1. It is important to listen. Human beings are often very self-centred and like to talk about themselves. In addition, it’s an easy subject if someone is nervous. It is good advice to listen closely – unless she has also been given this advice, in which case an uneasy silence could develop, like two owls sitting together.

2. Be careful with humour. It is very common for boys to try to impress girls with a string of jokes, each one more desperate than the last. One joke, perhaps, and then a long silence while she talks about herself…

3. When you are older, flowers really do work – women love them. When you are young, however, there is a ghastly sense of being awkward rather than romantic – and she will guess your mother bought them.

4. Valentine’s Day cards. Do not put your name on them. The whole point is the excitement a girl feels, wondering who finds her attractive. If it says ‘From Brian’ on it, the magic isn’t really there. This is actually quite a nice thing to do to someone you don’t think will get a card. If you do this, it is even more important that you never say, ‘I sent you one because I thought you wouldn’t get any.’ Keep the cards simple. You do not want one with padding of any kind.

5. Avoid being vulgar. Excitable bouts of wind-breaking will not endear you to a girl, just to pick one example.

6. Play sport of some kind. It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it replaces the corpse-like pallor of the computer programmer with a ruddy glow. Honestly, this is more important than you know.

7. If you see a girl in need of help – unable to lift something, for example – do not taunt her. Approach the object and greet her with a cheerful smile, whilst surreptitiously testing the weight of the object. If you find you can lift it, go ahead. If you can’t, try sitting on it and engaging her in conversation.

8. Finally, make sure you are well-scrubbed, your nails are clean and your hair is washed. Remember that girls are as nervous around you as you are around them, if you can imagine such a thing. They think and act rather differently to you, but without them, life would be one long rugby locker room. Treat them with respect.

Fun Fact of the Day

Fun Fact of the Day (TM): K-Tel is based in Winnipeg.

2008 In Review

Although 2008 isn't done yet, it seems close enough to look back at what happened. Here are some of the major things that happened to me this year:

Started playing and listening to (almost) exclusively classical music. I think that this started in Wind Ensemble last year when we played things like Shostakovich's Festive Overture, Rhapsody in Blue, and the Pines of Rome. I knew that this year we would be playing Holst's Planets, and so in preparation I bought a whole bunch of CDs to help me learn. And I really, really liked them! I haven't purchased a jazz CD since the summer, but have gotten many classical CDs. Not that I don't listen to jazz anymore, but I have discovered a deep love for classical music. This has filtered into my trumpet playing as well - I sound more like a classical player too. I guess that this is probably because I now know what type of sound I want to emulate - a full, rich, dark, deep sound.

Camps - I worked at Prov Arts Camp again this summer, which was nothing new, but I also spent 2 weeks at Gem Lake Bible Camp - a camp without electricity on an island in northern Manitoba where I worked with inner-city kids. Quite an experience, I have to say. Also, I attended the U of M trumpet camp, where I got to work with Ronald Romm (of the Canadian Brass) and Chase Sanborn (from U of T). It was worth every penny, and I will be back next year.

Other music - I had my first commission - three of my friends asked me to write them a piece, and they premiered it in April. That was really exciting!

Friends - This year I was very privileged to meet Francesco's girlfriend Amalia and all of her friends. Even though Francesco is in Africa, Amalia has made sure that Andrew and I are still a part of her and her friends' lives, which is super cool. I wish I saw my friends from Prov more, but I realize that we're all in different places now. And I'm very thankful for my friends from Bible Study.

Other interesting things I did for the first time this year: Got into wall climbing (thanks Nate and Francesco), recorded my first CD (with the Wind Ensemble), got a laptop, hiked in the snow, learned how to drive standard.

Favourites:
Book: JPod by Douglas Coupland
Movie: WALL-E
New restaurant: Dim Sum Garden
CD: Morten Lauridsen: Lux Aeterna, Madrigali, Latin Motets (as recorded by Stephen Layton and Polyphony)
Concert: Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, at the Winnipeg Jazz Festival (for jazz), The Planets, by Gustav Holst, performed by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra
Course: Music of the 20th Century, taught by Dr. Paul Guise
Video game: Persona 3, and Persona 4 is probably going to be my game of 2009 because that's when I'll finish it!

What I'm looking forward to in 2009:
Student teaching!
20th Century Music II
Wind Ensemble Trip to Calgary
Francesco returning from Africa (and Tim and Justin later in the year)
Having my arrangement of Lauridsen's "O Magnum Mysterium" played by the Wind Ensemble in January
Meeting new people and becoming closer with people I already know

That's my year in review. To sum up, I have to quote my friend Dann: "2008? More like 2000-GREAT!"

Happy New Year!

Your input required

Rejected X-Men powers. Your input required.

Here are a few to get you started:

1. The ability to age rapidly.
2. The ability to go without blinking.
3. Being able to converse with inanimate objects. Problem is, they're inanimate so they can't talk back.
4. Being able to see two seconds into the future.
5. PG-ray vision (instead of X-Ray).

Concert

Hi all,
The Wind Ensemble is presenting a concert full of Gustav Holst's music. This includes Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, A Dirge for Two Veterans (featuring the Bison Men's chorus), and First Suite in Eb. It is from 8-10 on Friday, November 28th at MBCI (Jubilee Place). Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students at the door.
Hope to see you all there!

realizations

I just realized that the version of Rhapsody In Blue I have on Ronald and Avis Romm's CD "Living The Dream" was arranged by Timothy Dokshitzer. This is the arrangement that they tell stories about. Wow.