Just Intonation schools

I'm applying to graduate school in music for Fall 2004 (after a hiatus getting my MA
in Linguistics (bad idea) and working backstage in classical music concert
presentation (worse idea), which means I'll be starting applications this coming
September... I've been leaning toward UC San Diego, but my newfound interest in Just
Intonation demands that I at least ask for recommendations about what the best West
Coast schools for JI-study are. Is there anyone working with JI at USCD? I do know
about Mills and Berkeley, but I'm not enchanted by the inner-city locations, having
spent the last seven years in sunny Santa Barbara. -Justin

hi Justin,

> From: Justin Weaver [mailto:improvist@usa.net]
> Sent: Thursday, July 17, 2003 4:37 PM
> To: tuning@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [tuning] Just Intonation schools
>
>
> I'm applying to graduate school in music for Fall 2004
> (after a hiatus getting my MA in Linguistics (bad idea)
> and working backstage in classical music concert
> presentation (worse idea), which means I'll be starting
> applications this coming September... I've been leaning
> toward UC San Diego, but my newfound interest in Just
> Intonation demands that I at least ask for recommendations
> about what the best West Coast schools for JI-study are.
> Is there anyone working with JI at USCD? I do know
> about Mills and Berkeley, but I'm not enchanted by
> the inner-city locations, having spent the last seven
> years in sunny Santa Barbara. -Justin

i think you've already made a fine choice.

there is indeed a lot of support for JI and other
forms of microtonality at UCSD ... in fact, probably
moreso than at any other large university in the USA.

among noted microtonalists on the UCSD staff are
John Fonville (composition) and Charles Curtis (cello).

also, there's:

- Chinary Ung (composition), who uses microtones
reflective of his native Cambodian folk music
in some of his pieces;

- Rand Steiger (composition), a very good friend of
mine who has experimented with microtones, particularly
one piece where the bass clarinet part provided the
roots of chords, and software dynamically retuned
the notes coming from the other instruments to be
harmonics of those roots;

- George Lewis (trombone), who has played probably
every kind of music that exists, and who is very
receptive to microtonality.

in addition, the UCSD campus is beautiful and has
a peaceful, rural atmosphere.

on top of all that, you'd also be close enough to
visit me and the many other San Diego microtonalists
who are not affiliated with UCSD.

-monz

Thanks for this. It's nice to hear such a positive assessment. I've heard some not-so-
positive assessments too, namely that the school is obsessed with New Complexity
and might not be especially receptive to students working in other genres...but I've
just begun to explore the San Diego scene-- there are definitely great perqs to the
location-- and I like having the big University environment where you can do lots of
coursework outside of music too: I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't pick a random
language and learn it every year, for example.

I was wondering if you'd describe the Just Intonation performance/composition scene
in San Diego outside of the University. Are there perfomances? is there interaction
within the community? etc.

Also, given some of the things I've heard about UCSD vis-a-vis New Complexity, do
you think the faculty would discriminate against a student working in alternative
tunings who doesn't embrace New Complexity? (and in my case embraces styles that
are philosophically opposed to New Complexity).

- Justin

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, <monz@a...> wrote:
> hi Justin,
>
>
> > From: Justin Weaver [mailto:improvist@u...]
> > Sent: Thursday, July 17, 2003 4:37 PM
> > To: tuning@yahoogroups.com
> > Subject: [tuning] Just Intonation schools
> >
> >
> > I'm applying to graduate school in music for Fall 2004
> > (after a hiatus getting my MA in Linguistics (bad idea)
> > and working backstage in classical music concert
> > presentation (worse idea), which means I'll be starting
> > applications this coming September... I've been leaning
> > toward UC San Diego, but my newfound interest in Just
> > Intonation demands that I at least ask for recommendations
> > about what the best West Coast schools for JI-study are.
> > Is there anyone working with JI at USCD? I do know
> > about Mills and Berkeley, but I'm not enchanted by
> > the inner-city locations, having spent the last seven
> > years in sunny Santa Barbara. -Justin
>
>
>
> i think you've already made a fine choice.
>
> there is indeed a lot of support for JI and other
> forms of microtonality at UCSD ... in fact, probably
> moreso than at any other large university in the USA.
>
> among noted microtonalists on the UCSD staff are
> John Fonville (composition) and Charles Curtis (cello).
>
> also, there's:
>
> - Chinary Ung (composition), who uses microtones
> reflective of his native Cambodian folk music
> in some of his pieces;
>
> - Rand Steiger (composition), a very good friend of
> mine who has experimented with microtones, particularly
> one piece where the bass clarinet part provided the
> roots of chords, and software dynamically retuned
> the notes coming from the other instruments to be
> harmonics of those roots;
>
> - George Lewis (trombone), who has played probably
> every kind of music that exists, and who is very
> receptive to microtonality.
>
>
> in addition, the UCSD campus is beautiful and has
> a peaceful, rural atmosphere.
>
> on top of all that, you'd also be close enough to
> visit me and the many other San Diego microtonalists
> who are not affiliated with UCSD.
>
>
>
> -monz

hi Justin,

> From: Justin Weaver [mailto:improvist@usa.net]
> Sent: Friday, July 18, 2003 9:35 AM
> To: tuning@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [tuning] Re: Just Intonation schools
>
>
> Thanks for this. It's nice to hear such a positive
> assessment. I've heard some not-so-positive
> assessments too, namely that the school is obsessed
> with New Complexity and might not be especially
> receptive to students working in other genres...

yes, unfortunately, that is true. but if you want
to write "New Complexity" in JI, that would be fine. :)

> but I've just begun to explore the San Diego scene--
> there are definitely great perqs to the location--

yeah, the weather here is usually the big draw ...
but this year it's been very weird: lots of rain in
the spring, extremely hot and humid the last few weeks
(which is *very* unusual in July, which is generally
a rather cool month here and certainly is usually very
dry in the summer), and a longer and more persistent
"June Gloom" than usual.

the biggest complaints i have about San Diego these
days are: totally unrestricted growth (which is rapidly
making it just like LA), and the unbelievable rise in
housing costs over the last few years.

> and I like having the big University environment
> where you can do lots of coursework outside of music
> too: I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't pick a
> random language and learn it every year, for example.

UCSD would certainly give you a lot more to do besides music.

> I was wondering if you'd describe the Just Intonation
> performance/composition scene in San Diego outside
> of the University. Are there perfomances? is there
> interaction within the community? etc.

> Also, given some of the things I've heard about UCSD
> vis-a-vis New Complexity, do you think the faculty
> would discriminate against a student working in
> alternative tunings who doesn't embrace New Complexity?
> (and in my case embraces styles that are
> philosophically opposed to New Complexity).

well, as i mentioned at the top of this post, that
might be more of a problem. but hey, i'm not a
student or a teacher there, so i'm only looking in
from the outside. and truthfully, i've spent very
little time at UCSD over the past school year because
i've been busy with my own projects.

(but the past few years before that i was there
quite often, attending concerts, lecture-seminar "events",
and in general just hanging out with John Chalmers and
my buddies at the music department.)

-monz

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, <monz@a...> wrote:

/tuning/topicId_45568.html#45603

> hi Justin,
>
> > From: Justin Weaver [mailto:improvist@u...]
> > Sent: Friday, July 18, 2003 9:35 AM
> > To: tuning@yahoogroups.com
> > Subject: [tuning] Re: Just Intonation schools
> >
> >
> > Thanks for this. It's nice to hear such a positive
> > assessment. I've heard some not-so-positive
> > assessments too, namely that the school is obsessed
> > with New Complexity and might not be especially
> > receptive to students working in other genres...
>
>
> yes, unfortunately, that is true. but if you want
> to write "New Complexity" in JI, that would be fine. :)
>

***UCSD is "Brian Ferneyhough land", yes?? Be careful...

J. Pehrson

Ferneyhough is at Stanford now. I've been hearing that the atmosphere has calmed
down a bit since his departure. But, for what it's worth, I also heard that Ferneyhough
is an excellent pedagogue for students writing in any style, even if they oppose his
ideas. I've never composed remotely in the style of any of my teachers, but they were
good teachers. That being said, I'm not a big fan of New Complexity (or Postmodern
Modernism, as it's sometimes called: i.e., modernism taken to such an extreme that it
becomes postmodern)... my main worry is being discriminated against for wanting to
write somewhat more centric/tonal music within a microtonal idiom. -Justin

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "Joseph Pehrson" <jpehrson@r...> wrote:
> --- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, <monz@a...> wrote:
>
> /tuning/topicId_45568.html#45603
>
> > hi Justin,
> >
> > > From: Justin Weaver [mailto:improvist@u...]
> > > Sent: Friday, July 18, 2003 9:35 AM
> > > To: tuning@yahoogroups.com
> > > Subject: [tuning] Re: Just Intonation schools
> > >
> > >
> > > Thanks for this. It's nice to hear such a positive
> > > assessment. I've heard some not-so-positive
> > > assessments too, namely that the school is obsessed
> > > with New Complexity and might not be especially
> > > receptive to students working in other genres...
> >
> >
> > yes, unfortunately, that is true. but if you want
> > to write "New Complexity" in JI, that would be fine. :)
> >
>
> ***UCSD is "Brian Ferneyhough land", yes?? Be careful...
>
> J. Pehrson

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "Justin Weaver" <improvist@u...> wrote:

/tuning/topicId_45568.html#45641

> Ferneyhough is at Stanford now. I've been hearing that the
atmosphere has calmed
> down a bit since his departure. But, for what it's worth, I also
heard that Ferneyhough
> is an excellent pedagogue for students writing in any style, even
if they oppose his
> ideas. I've never composed remotely in the style of any of my
teachers, but they were
> good teachers. That being said, I'm not a big fan of New Complexity
(or Postmodern
> Modernism, as it's sometimes called: i.e., modernism taken to such
an extreme that it
> becomes postmodern)... my main worry is being discriminated against
for wanting to
> write somewhat more centric/tonal music within a microtonal idiom. -
Justin
>

***Hmmm. Well, is there any way you can "hang around" the school and
meet some of the composers, to find out more what the environment is
like? I guess that might be difficult or awkward, not being a
student?? How about applying to a *couple* of schools, getting
accepted by both, and *then* hanging around a bit before deciding??

J. Pehrson