some bests part ii : the written word

I finally came across a copy of Charles Wuorinen's Simple Composition this year and found it very conducive to being mucially creative. And beyond his discussions of basic elements, or even of creating 12 tone music itself, his emphases on (1) the fact that composition is not the reverse of theory and (2) the subjectivity of musical judgement make this book worth its price.

some bests part i : recorded music

I've heard so much excellent music this year that I can't remember it all. But three cds come to mind that have really impacted me, all in different ways. These didn't come out this year, I simply encountered them in 2k9.

Revelation: Music In Pure Intonation by Michael Harrison.
It's kind of like hearing Debussy or Satie (or Migot, a fave) but microtonally so. I'm sure there's a Lou Harrison influence there, too. The music seems exceptionally spacious, even when the textures are sometimes more dense. And the microtones have a magical effect...

Ancient Greek Music by Atrium Musicae & Gregorio Paniagua.
I'm not at all intersted in whether this is in anyway authentic: it's a fabulous album. The sonorities alone are worth hearing (clanging, banging, plucking, singing...) while the pieces themselves remind us that Greece was not really 'Western', or wasn't yet: Eastern, Medieval and Plainchant all seem represented.

Gagaku: The Imperial Court Music of Japan by the Kyoto Imperial Court Music Orchestra.
I've always found it somewhat lame that Jazz musicians always hold up Indian music as a great non-Western exemplar. Not that Indian music isn't fabulous, but I feel that Jazzers often like it because of its sameness (the regular though complex rhythms, the improvisation using ragas, etc). If you're interested in hearing some non-Western music that doesn't really bear any similarity to our music try gagaku (雅楽 literally elegant music). Technically it's the oldest orchestral music on the planet, and draws elements from China, India, and Korea.

By the way listening to gagaku (or actually many other forms of traditional Japanese music) can be a great way of easing into modern 'classical' music such as George Crumb, Morton Feldman and so on. At least it was for me. Not everyone needs (or wants!) a way into these composers, but for me listening to Japanese music made Crumb's Songs, Drones and Refrains of Death make more sense. Perhaps due to the plucked intruments and the dispersion of musical events...

concerning critics

So a food critic goes into a Chinese restaurant and after sampling many dishes proclaims "This restaurant is horrible because there's no Italian food!" This is about how 99.9% of critics operate, i.e. they completely miss the point, and do so simply because of their own expectations and limitations.

Well, de gustibus non est disputandum, but this sort of connoisseurship is really a bad way for musicians to operate. Particularly because connoisseurship has everything to do with identity which rarely, if ever, leaves open the possibility of a road to Damascus experience. Especially among rock guitarists the default m.o. is usually to dismiss that which isn't playable as bad. Hendrix and Blackmore are acceptable, but anyone who raises the bar becomes 'too technical', 'souless', etc...you know the drill. It seems to me that as musicians we should, well, love music, and constantly strive to learn to play as much of it as possible in order to push our own boundaries further. And as we learn new musical styles we gain the added benefit of being able to connect with more and more people. (Connecting with people: really the goal of music anyway???)

It's a shame, but no surprise, that those who don't like anything are the same people who can't play anything.

morton feldman and grant green

I once had a guitar instructor who was (and remains) an incredible player. When I asked him about how to move ahead in improvisation he said, "There's only 12 notes, man." But these 12 notes can be organized in a seemingly infinite amount of ways! I'm reminded of this constantly, but especially just yesterday as I listened to the music of Morton Feldman (Feldman Edition 4) -- some of his Durations, Projections and Two Pieces -- alongside of Grant Green's Standards. Basically just the same 12 even-tempered pitches...but the results are of different worlds.

All of this to say that organization is obviously key. And organization flows from planning, even if it's on-the-spot planning in a freely improvised setting. And not just organizing the notes but the feeling, the pacing, the spaciousness (or lack thereof). I played in a group imrpovisation a couple months back and the leader simply said before we started: "You know...not all the time."