Teaching/composition

Riffing a bit off of recent posts...To reach the majority of people regarding microtonal music, means we have to start at the very very beginning...most people don't even know what it is at the most basic, fundamental level. I know a lot of very advanced musicians, and even they have a very sketchy idea of what non 12 eq tunings are about. I personally would like to see more entry level books/articles about the subject, to help reach those many people. That's why I really like Scott Wilkenson's book "Tuning In," I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in getting some of the basic concepts of tuning theory. Unfortunately, my personal experience over many years has seemed to be that many people think of micro music as "weird," sorta inaccessible to the majority of people....and a lot of what I've heard has indeed seemed to back that up. I'm one of those folks (as if you didn't know) that would like to see more micro stuff in rock, jazz, blues, electronica, whatever...and I've worked toward that goal from my first CD. Like to see more folks do that...some of Chris Vaisvil's stuff is pretty rockin,' and as I've told him in posts, I'd love to hear that sort of music done with real musicians. I've long thought that a big problem with a lot of micro music is the fact that it's done with electronic keyboards, but it's difficult indeed to get live musicians to put in the many hours to learn different systems. Hoping that will change too...

Composition? Well, I have a project coming up (non micro) with Bill Hill, the long time timpanist for the Colorado Symphony, and a master all around percussionist as well. But, he's also a great composer, and his compositional ideas are pretty deep. The tunes are mighty tough in places, and I'm having to practice my ass off to get them down. We're doing a CD, and a concert at DU in Denver on April 11, if anybody is in the area. What makes a great composition? I have my own take on that, as I'm sure we all do...don't know if I can sum it up too easily. There is, of course, the feeling one gets from a piece...in the long run, that's probably the most important thing to me. But, there's also questions of form, shape, the use of motifs, the overall structure of a piece, how we use musical materials to create...something. And I also think that composition is a very very difficult art to master...if it can ever be "mastered." Perhaps the most elusive quality of composition is imagination...it's mighty easy to be derivative in art (of any kind). Originality, to me, is the big goal in art...it's usually the ones who create something original who are remembered through the ages...in any discipline. That's something to consider...back to Bill's charts...best...Stickman www.microstick.net

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CONGRATULATIONS Neil! This sound like a great concert! Please let us know when the CD is ready.

Richard O. Burdick
>
> Composition? Well, I have a project coming up (non micro) with Bill Hill, the long time timpanist for the Colorado Symphony, and a master all around percussionist as well. But, he's also a great composer, and his compositional ideas are pretty deep. The tunes are mighty tough in places, and I'm having to practice my ass off to get them down. We're doing a CD, and a concert at DU in Denver on April 11, if anybody is in the area.
>

On Thu, Mar 10, 2011 at 11:38 AM, Neil Haverstick <microstick@...>wrote:

> Unfortunately, my personal experience over many years has seemed to be that
> many people think of micro music as "weird," sorta inaccessible to the
> majority of people....and a lot of what I've heard has indeed seemed to back
> that up.

I'm a weird person who likes certain weird music. Microtonality certainly
opens up avenues of weirdness that would otherwise be inaccessible. I'm all
for that. ;) And, I really don't care if it's not for everybody if I really
get off on creating it.

I think one should first and foremost be true to one's inner creative
vision, and sometimes that pleasant, conservative 5-limit JI or meantone for
me, and at other times, I want to create mind-bending stuff in 23-edo or
13-edo for stoners.

> I'm one of those folks (as if you didn't know) that would like to see more
> micro stuff in rock, jazz, blues, electronica, whatever...and I've worked
> toward that goal from my first CD. Like to see more folks do that...some of
> Chris Vaisvil's stuff is pretty rockin,' and as I've told him in posts, I'd
> love to hear that sort of music done with real musicians. I've long thought
> that a big problem with a lot of micro music is the fact that it's done with
> electronic keyboards,

This is only a problem if the tools are poorly used. In many ways, keyboards
have sped up the growth of exploring these various systems by whole orders
of magnitude.

Best,

Aaron Krister Johnson
http://www.akjmusic.com
http://www.untwelve.org

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