death of new music greatly exaggerated

Some of the recent articles up on the Internet proclaiming that "new
music is dead" are a bit preliminary and exaggerated.

This present season has *so many* new music events that the New Music
Connoisseur magazine I am working with has *no hope* of even covering
a *fraction* of them.

Wasn't it Mark Twain who said his death had been greatly exaggerated??

J. Pehrson

--- In metatuning@y..., "Joseph Pehrson" <jpehrson@r...> wrote:
> This present season has *so many* new music events that the New
> Music Connoisseur magazine I am working with has *no hope* of even
> covering a *fraction* of them.

The premise is not that there aren't new music 'events' happening; of this we can be sure. There are always grants, there are always adventurers, there are... usually venues.

The question is: who is listening? How many of the pieces get performed repeatedly? What is the market (crass as that word is) for recordings of this music?

I don't know NMC mag, and I'll take a wild swing and figure that it covers stuff at least nationally, if not internationally. That said, I definitely think that some of your opinions on these matters are colored by where you live, the largest of apples. Hell, there is a lot of Everything going on there! If one tracks adventurous trends in London, NY, and one or two other megalopolis's, sure, things look great.

What about everywhere else?

There's a lot of stuff happening in the Bay area (otherminds.org) and LA seems to think itself 'happening', but if and when public funding for a lot of this dries up, things will change pretty rapidly.

Tower Records has announced that they are closing all but two of their stores in the UK. I recently noticed that at our local Wherehouse they no longer carry *any* classical recordings.

New music in San Diego still exists, but outside of the UCSD campus it is relegated to coffeehouses and under-attended sporadic concerts. This in spite of some world class performers and even one local recipient of a 2002-3 MacArthur 'genius' grant (composer/performer/scholar/AACM member George Lewis).

Did you ever see the (two-part, I think) article entitled "Modern Music is a Sick Puppy" by Frank Zappa? Certainly a different take on things (from about 20 years ago), and I'd be happy to send a copy (if I can find it, and I'll include the great other FZ article [both were in Stereo Review] "Edgar Varese, Idol of my Youth".

Cheers,
Jon

Hi Jon!
Likewise i wonder if new music is listening. It pretends that it is the SOLE source of innovation when all around us is music that could not have existed even 20 years ago. It is a highly insulated world, these days filled with enough realizations of past ideas and past works presented as the NEW that we have to take note. It is fine and possibly important spiritually to have there explorations beyond the
"language of our tribe(s)" but we can not on the other hand continue to pretend this language does not exist. The classical innovators of the past seldom cut themselves off from their folk roots.

Jon Szanto wrote:

>
>
> The question is: who is listening? How many of the pieces get performed repeatedly? What is the market (crass as that word is) for recordings of this music?
>
> /

-- Kraig Grady
North American Embassy of Anaphoria island
http://www.anaphoria.com

The Wandering Medicine Show
KXLU 88.9 fm Wed. 8-9pm PST.
live stream kxlu.com

--- In metatuning@y..., "Jon Szanto" <JSZANTO@A...> wrote:

/tuning/topicId_39385.html#39500

>>
> The question is: who is listening? How many of the pieces get
performed repeatedly? What is the market (crass as that word is) for
recordings of this music?
>

***Well, Jon, it's a different kind of audience, but one which is
just as happy listening to "contemporary music" in a club as in a
concert hall. This stuff is going on more and more. I think it
really isn't such a bad sign. Maybe music will be more a part of
everyday life the way it was in the 19th Century! It only *looks*
different now since we're in the middle of it, and it's quite
different... but maybe it's the same thing and we can't see it yet!

> I don't know NMC mag, and I'll take a wild swing and figure that it
covers stuff at least nationally, if not internationally.

***That's a little optimistic. It *is* national and international,
but more New York Local (subway...)

That said, I definitely think that some of your opinions on these
matters are colored by where you live, the largest of apples. Hell,
there is a lot of Everything going on there! If one tracks
adventurous trends in London, NY, and one or two other megalopolis's,
sure, things look great.
>
> What about everywhere else?
>
> There's a lot of stuff happening in the Bay area (otherminds.org)
and LA seems to think itself 'happening', but if and when public
funding for a lot of this dries up, things will change pretty rapidly.
>
> Tower Records has announced that they are closing all but two of
their stores in the UK. I recently noticed that at our local
Wherehouse they no longer carry *any* classical recordings.
>
> New music in San Diego still exists, but outside of the UCSD campus
it is relegated to coffeehouses and under-attended sporadic concerts.
This in spite of some world class performers and even one local
recipient of a 2002-3 MacArthur 'genius' grant
(composer/performer/scholar/AACM member George Lewis).

***I agree that most "new" music these days is taking on a "popular"
or "populist" angle. But maybe we can "get used to it..."

>
> Did you ever see the (two-part, I think) article entitled "Modern
Music is a Sick Puppy" by Frank Zappa? Certainly a different take on
things (from about 20 years ago), and I'd be happy to send a copy (if
I can find it, and I'll include the great other FZ article [both were
in Stereo Review] "Edgar Varese, Idol of my Youth".
>

***I'm sure I'd enjoy that, since I am a Zappa fan. I believe you
have my mailing address. If not, I'll send it offlist.

Joe

--- In metatuning@y..., Kraig Grady <kraiggrady@a...> wrote:

/metatuning/topicId_3320.html#3322

> Hi Jon!
> Likewise i wonder if new music is listening. It pretends that
it is the SOLE source of innovation when all around us is music that
could not have existed even 20 years ago. It is a highly insulated
world, these days filled with enough realizations of past ideas and
past works presented as the NEW that we have to take note. It is
fine and possibly important spiritually to have there explorations
beyond the
> "language of our tribe(s)" but we can not on the other hand
continue to pretend this language does not exist. The classical
innovators of the past seldom cut themselves off from their folk
roots.
>

***You know, Jon, I think I was pretty much saying the same kind of
thing that Kraig is saying here... but in a different way...

Joe