Composers Forum is a daily web log that allows invited contemporary composers to share their thoughts and ideas on any topic that interests them--from the ethereal, like how new music gets created, music history, theory, performance, other composers, alive or dead, to the mundane, like getting works played and recorded and the joys of teaching. If you're a professional composer and would like to participate, send us an e-mail.


Regular Contributors


Adrienne Albert
Beth Anderson
Larry Bell
Galen H. Brown
Cary Boyce
Roger Bourland
Corey Dargel
Lawrence Dillon
Daniel Gilliam
Peter Gordon
Rodney Lister
Ian Moss
Tom Myron
Frank J. Oteri
Carlos R. Rivera
David Salvage
Stefano Savi Scarponi
Alex Shapiro
Naomi Stephan
David Toub
Judith Lang Zaimont

Composer Blogs@ Sequenza21.com

Lawrence Dillon
Elodie Lauten
Anthony Cornicello
Everette Minchew
Tom Myron

Alan Theisen
Corey Dargel



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Daniel Gilliam

experimental music?
David Toub

Music Theory with Non-Majors
Corey Dargel

Teaching the Twentieth Century at Brooklyn College...
David Salvage

Happy Solstice
Alex Shapiro

A Gnarly Composer Speaks to His Audience
Evan Johnson

Making Music for Games
Lanier Sammons

The Poietic Fallacy Fallacy
Rodney Lister

Applying Myself
Galen H. Brown

Deciding How Long a Piece Should Be
Jerry Bowles


Beepsnort Lisa Hirsch


Record companies, artists and publicists are invited to submit CDs to be considered for review. Send to: Jerry Bowles, Editor, Sequenza 21, 340 W. 57th Street, 12B, New York, NY 10019


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Saturday, January 07, 2006
Coming out for Rufus Wainwright

Colleagues, this is my first post to this group. I’ve read a fair amount on the website and am thrilled that this forum exists and am embarrassed that I didn’t know about it before. I’d like your help with a project I’m working on. If you don’t like popular music, or tonal music, or Rufus Wainwright, no need to read any further.

I am writing a book about the music of RW. For me, Rufus is the best thing in music since the Beatles. I’m not going to compare him to anyone in Classical music, as his music is not really “classical” at this point. He is primarily a singer-songwriter who has feet in popular music, opera, cabaret and jazz, but he’s hard to categorize. He claims to listen mostly to “classical” music, and his great chord progressions and unparalleled sense of melody testify to that. I doubt he listens to Schoenberg or Boulez, but he does listen to Philip Glass. If I had to try to describe him as a songwriter, I’d compare him to Cole Porter, although his lyrics are not at Porter’s level at this stage. He sang for the opening concert of the New York City Opera this past September, and is, I hear through the grapevine, working on something [an opera?] for the Metropolitan Opera.

I’m interested in bringing his music to the attention of the classical music community (sorry, I don’t know what else to call us), as well as help the millions of Rufus fans understand how his music works, and ultimately teach them how phrase structure and form work in music in general. In my book, I will be including analytic essays of selected songs, mostly for voice and piano, that will analyze lyric and musical structure. My challenge is addressing musicians, as well as non-musicians.

To this end, I have created a blog to get help from interested people in writing this book: Rufus fans, musicians, teachers, and, with this posting, composers. If you are so inclined, I’d like to urge you to register and participate. As composers, your comments and suggestions will be invaluable to me.

Blog on THE MUSIC OF RUFUS WAINWRIGHT
Roger Bourland's website
Rufus Wainwright's Dreamworks website

Thanks for your help.

 



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