Many great videos on the Little Scraps of Paper website.

Little Scraps of Paper | Norwegian Prototypes – Peter Opsvik

Music Posted as pdf for Guitar trio, jazz combo charts, and other small group chamber ensemble music [(ob,bsn).(vln,ob),(3 gtr), etc]

http://robertlinnemann.com

When Steve Reich won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in April, many called the award long overdue. Given his revolutionary body of work, it’s hard to argue. But when the new music group Signal performed the winning composition “Double Sextet” at Le Poisson Rouge Monday night, both the piece itself and the sense of lifetime achievement came through in full glory.

To open the celebratory concert, which the composer attended, Signal, led by conductor Brad Lubman, performed what could be considered the work’s predecessor, “Sextet,” written in 1984. Scored by Reich (no relation to this reporter) for four percussionists and two keyboardists, the work features such sounds as electric pianos, bowed vibraphones, marimba, click sticks and crotales. The composer’s trademark layered contrapuntal textures, played with precision and direction, gave the impression of driving rhythmic patterns bouncing against one another.

Le Poisson Rouge, the Greenwich Village club that curates an eclectic blend of classical, indie rock and other genres with an emphasis on new music, recently celebrated its first anniversary. At least in its classical programming, it has been both strikingly consistent and consistently striking, and the relaxed atmosphere, complete with a bar, seems to be a successful model. With many concert halls struggling, it would be interesting to see how a larger work than the chamber music and recitals typically performed here might fare in such a setting.

Hearing Reich’s pieces in such close proximity enhanced the newer work’s broad scope and the raw, human qualities that could be taken on by the strings and winds — instruments absent from many of the composer’s earlier works. “Double Sextet” calls for two ensembles of flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion to be played either by 12 musicians, as it was by Signal, or by six playing against a recording of themselves. That is how the piece, which Reich wrote in 2007 and premiered in 2008, was first performed by the new music-ensemble eighth blackbird.

Here is a youtube video of them in the studio recording double sextet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IqVnvkzvNQ&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60Rji3yhRs8

Using her MacBook Pro with popular music software Ableton Live and SuperLooper, Keating modifies this potent software combo with some “nasty” Apple Script that allows her to control the looping of live musical phrases with her feet, via MIDI signals from a foot pedal board. That she was an information architect during the dot-com boom should come as little surprise, considering the amount of tech savvy needed to pull off such an elaborate yet elegant setup.

Read the full article:
http://www.macworld.com/article/140421/cellist_fuses_classical_music_and_macbook_with_superb_results.html

also more at wired: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/05/keating/

Piano to body percussion; solos to quintets; vocal ensembles to electronic music – all that and much more could be seen and heard at the Intercollegiate Composition Forum on Thursday.

On April 30, eight student composers from Whitworth and three students from Gonzaga University gathered in the Music Recital Hall to share their original works of music with an audience of students, staff and community members. The event was part of CompFest 2009.

Associate professor of music Brent Edstrom was the main organizer of the Forum.

“As a composer, there is nothing more thrilling than hearing your piece come to life,” Edstrom said. “It’s exciting… and nerve-racking.”
…
“This [composition forum] is a really neat opportunity for new composers to show their thoughts and ideas, and they can get constructive criticism and feedback that can help them continue in their compositional efforts,” Bratton said.
…
Read the whole article at:
http://www.whitworthian.com/composition-forum-displays-variety-of-student-musical-creations-1.1745012

A pioneer of performance art in the 1960s and considered to be one of the world’s most important conceptual composers, Lockwood herself will visit Carleton for this unique event, participating as part of a panel discussion to be held just prior to the performance at 8 p.m. in the lobby of the Carleton College Concert Hall. The panel will also include assistant professor of music and composer Alex Freeman and lecturer in art and art history Laurel Bradley, who serves as the director of exhibitions and curator of the art collection at Carleton. “This is not about the ‘shock factor,’” adds Schmid. “The panel will provide a clear context for the performance and hopefully generate conversations about avant-garde art.”

Complementing the performance, Schmid has created an evocative and thought-provoking visual installation in the Concert Hall lobby, incorporating images of the piano in the 20th-century. “There’s something very symbolic about a piano,” notes Nicola Melville, pianist and professor of music. “It’s not just a musical instrument. We all have this sort of universal respect for pianos—and seeing one on fire can be quite difficult to watch, yet quite mesmerizing at the same time. It’s both beautiful and disturbing.” She continues, “We are particularly pleased to have the original composer participate in the performance, and to lend her insight into what compelled her to compose the piece, and to help illuminate its meaning. Lockwood’s perspective will certainly enhance this very unique performance experience.”

A native of New Zealand, Lockwood received her degree from the Canterbury University (New Zealand), later studying at the Royal College of Music in London. During the 1960s, she began to develop a reputation for her innovative use of non-conventional musical materials and techniques—from glass tubing to moss to burning—as a means of creating what she called “sound sculptures.” By the 1970s, her interests led her to focus on performance art pieces inspired by the natural environment, and later into the relatively new field of electro-acoustic music. After moving to the United States, she served as a member of the music faculty at Vassar College from 1982 to 2000.

Lockwood’s progressive ideas and immense range of compositions — from microtonal, electro-acoustic soundscapes to vocal music — push the boundaries of what is called “art,” and this is exactly why Schmid is so thrilled to have this eclectic composer come to Carleton. “Her work forces us to look at art in new and different ways,” says Schmid. “I look forward to the dialogue that will be generated by this performance.”

This event is sponsored by the Carleton College Department of Music, with support from the Committee for the Arts and the Carleton Student Association. For more information, contact Nicola Melville at (507) 222-5745.

http://apps.carleton.edu/news/news/?story_id=526172

Noah Webster Academy third grader Madeline Nelson changes notes on a Smartboard in Ben Peterson's music class Tuesday, April 28, 2009. Students in Peterson's class composed music to go along with a classmate's poem Tuesday. MARIO RUIZ/Daily Herald

Move over Mozart, the first- through sixth-grade students at Noah Webster Academy are composing music on a scale even Amadeus would be jealous of. The lyrics are provided by the school’s annual poetry contest winners from each grade.
The idea started last year when Racheal Routt, the school’s media specialist, and Ben Peterson, its music teacher, joined two projects into one great competition. According to Routt it begins with a celebration of poetry.

“April is National Poetry Month,” Routt said. “We go over different types of poems — similes, limericks, all different kinds. Then we help the children write their own freestyle poems.”

Nearly 60 children entered the poetry contest. First and second place winners are selected from each grade.

“After a panel of judges reads the poems, each votes on one or two from each grade,” Peterson said. “But the poetry contest comes after they have learned to build a musical composition.”

Earlier in the year, students in the music literacy classes learned the various aspects of music composition including meter, dynamics, rhythm, notes and more. The next step is for children to write the poems.

“It’s exciting for them to see their poems turned into lyrics,” Routt said.

Thanks to Sibelius, a music dictation software, the children can compose songs at will. Peterson says for the younger classes, he figures out the meter or rhythm of the poems and puts that on the Smart Board (a computer-integrated whiteboard). The children group together, and by unanimous vote, come up with the various notes, runs and keys.

“The children build the melody on the whiteboard,” Peterson said. “The computer-generated voice helps them hear the notes.”

The process is simple and gives all the children an opportunity to present an idea, hear the idea and then see if it works with the meter of the poem. With the smart board, the treble and bass clef are projected on the whiteboard. A child steps to the board and by simply putting his or her finger on a line can have the computer play back the sound. They can also put several fingers on the board and hear a variety of notes both moving and held.

“The kids brainstorm on what the story says — the feeling of the poem,” Peterson said. “They get a chance to have a say, directing, ‘I want an E or a G on the staff with the word.’”

The children are learning to love poetry and music in a way that they couldn’t before. Thanks to computer programs and innovative teachers, Noah Webster Academy students are taking music composition and poetry into their own hands and bringing music to life.

“Music should belong to everyone,” Peterson said. “The finer things in life should be available to everyone.”

http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/307262/17/