tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104856192008-04-27T03:57:54.451-04:00Jerry BowlesBlogger121125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10485619.post-27556568326748107392008-04-27T03:24:00.004-04:002008-04-27T03:57:54.511-04:00

I am blessed but also cursed with an ear for detail. I still remember that time in the 80s when a overly amplified saxophone sent an excruciating message to my brain for days, even though my intellect appreciated both the performer and the original music being created. Especially with singers, I (for better or worse) can hear all the little flatnesses and sharpnesses that occur, and that makes

Elodie Lautentag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10485619.post-54548351421004323382008-04-13T11:48:00.002-04:002008-04-13T11:57:12.155-04:00

After a particularly long and arduous winter, fraught with economic woes, hopelessness about world happenings (Shiites, Tibetans...., indecision about the upcoming election, and a general sense of potential doom, Satyagraha could not have come at a better time to lift our spirits. I’ll admit that I have always been partial to the music of Philip Glass, especially his early works back in the

Elodie Lautentag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10485619.post-3786632326199724862008-04-09T08:32:00.003-04:002008-04-09T08:45:33.983-04:00

I was, as usual, perusing the AMC Opportunity Update which conveniently lists upcoming commissions and other programs for composers. Lately, I have been noticing a trend, which seems to get stronger and stronger: opportunities are reserved for the young. Many programs list 40 or even 35 as the age limit. True, young people should be encouraged, but it is the business of schools and

Elodie Lautentag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10485619.post-12022756952378763082008-04-07T11:06:00.002-04:002008-04-07T17:35:25.683-04:00

The Metropolitan Opera is running Satyagraha, the opera composed by Philip Glass in 1980 during his hyper-minimalist period, in other words the good old days when creators did not hesitate to carry on for several hours at a stretch (actually Satyagraha is only 3.5 hours long, which is considerably less than Debussy’s Pelléas) with very repetitive and meditative patterns; that was when meditation

Elodie Lautentag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10485619.post-16124863844483862102008-03-13T08:00:00.002-04:002008-03-13T08:10:55.386-04:00

“Question reality” (The Mountain Astrologer) “If the means is impure the result is impure” (Gandhi) “Only two things are certain: death and taxes” (old saying) To question reality one must first find reality. But where is reality? What is it? Reality is not one-dimensional – both quantum scientists and Buddhist monks have questioned even the reality of reality itself, as the observer is involved

Elodie Lautentag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10485619.post-48374850573550939072008-03-03T13:33:00.003-05:002008-03-04T10:21:09.703-05:00

Recently perusing a Brooklyn newsleaf (actually, no other than the wonderful L Magazine, an illustrated listing of goings-on in New York, which I still cannot find in my Manhattan downtown neighborhood), I noticed on the cover something about the death of the ‘avant-garde’ in New York. Intrigued, I looked at the article inside went through a list of the names that would constitute the avant-garde

Elodie Lautentag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10485619.post-72964549248430447612008-01-18T15:01:00.000-05:002008-01-23T08:22:32.310-05:00

I have noted lately how often composers are asked for commissions that actually cost them money, negative commissions, so to speak, in which they are expected to support the event in more ways than one besides donating their services. I don't dare say it out loud...but whenever someone asks me for a piece, I have a moment of anxiety wondering whether I'll be able to "afford" the commission in

Elodie Lautentag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10485619.post-6417268626691671592007-12-26T17:35:00.000-05:002007-12-27T08:33:03.080-05:00

With the following keywords: fractals+creativity requested from Google, the number of entries were over 500,000 – there is obviously interest, even excitement over fractals. Fractal analysis helps explain many phenomena which we are accustomed to considering as ‘chaos’, and this very term may be obsolete one day, along with the antonyms order/chaos, because fractals seem to, if not fully explain,

Elodie Lautentag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10485619.post-30479562823146604782007-12-26T17:21:00.000-05:002007-12-27T09:44:41.349-05:00

Marathons are back...Thanks to Marvin Rosen’s Classical Discoveries 24-hour 21st century music marathon (tune in from 6PM Thursday (tonight)December 27 through Friday December 28), I get a flashback to the times when I used to go to LaMonte Young venues where everyone was lying awake or sleeping on the floor, delicately bathed in lavender lighting, during an event that could last more than 12

Elodie Lautentag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10485619.post-71689462626056175682007-09-15T11:18:00.000-04:002007-09-15T11:31:36.439-04:00

Coming across a television commercial where Beethoven's 'Hymn to Joy' was used as a soundtrack but all the words were replaced by 'duh'... I thought I was having Satori!... (not everyone can be enlightened by some poetic glimpse of moonlight in the pond with matching haiku...) I don't remember a thing about which product was being advertised, but I saw the essence of postmodernism contained in

Elodie Lautentag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10485619.post-7370078197068558282007-08-31T18:39:00.000-04:002007-08-31T18:45:13.819-04:00

In the beginning, I never thought of myself as a ‘C’ (composer) but rather as a ‘double M’ (music maker ) which was at the same time, more inclusive of non-traditional processes and sufficiently low-key. It’s not until Greg Sandow called me a composer in a Village Voice review in 1983 that I began to realize that maybe after all I was a composer, if he said so. Along with this approach, for many

Elodie Lautentag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10485619.post-55617110589647150582007-08-09T18:20:00.000-04:002007-08-09T18:41:47.136-04:00

I went to see the new delightful film about Molière, where the character of interest is the ‘bourgeois gentleman’, Monsieur Jourdain, who believes that beyond financial success, becoming a dilettante in the arts (and some sports) will ensure his rise in status from tradesman to aristocrat. Some may see Jourdain as an insufferable nouveau-riche who pretends to own a culture which he does not

Elodie Lautentag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10485619.post-60796750898861783822007-06-23T14:17:00.000-04:002007-06-23T14:18:43.013-04:00

If there is a mover and shaker in New York, its’ John Zorn: undeterred by the closing of Tonic, here he is again with a new club, The Stone, at Avenue C and 2nd Street. And another veteran of the New York scene, Peter Zummo helps launch the new live site with his “Noisy Meditation Band”, featuring former Jonathan Richman and Arthur Russell buddy Ernie Brooks on bass, Tom Hamilton on synth,

Elodie Lautentag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10485619.post-32783688215637734292007-06-03T14:46:00.000-04:002007-06-03T15:28:57.039-04:00

Just yesterday, I spent a delightful afternoon at the Chelsea Art Museum attending the first installment of the new Orchestra of St Luke's eries, curated by Joan Tower, NOTABLE WOMEN (all caps…) The festival kicked off with a panel presentation including Joan Tower and three distinguished musicologists, authors of numerous publications on women’s music: Judith Tick, professor at Northeastern

Elodie Lautentag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10485619.post-45348931048043441782007-05-28T19:46:00.000-04:002007-05-28T20:08:29.849-04:00

To outsiders to the classical music world, out of the holy trinity of classical music, Bach, Mozart and Beethoven, it is Beethoven who appears to represents the ultimate icon of the composer: it is Beethoven who is told to ‘roll over’ in the early rock n’ roll song; it is Beethoven whose name is borrowed by an 80s alternative rock group from California,Camper Van Beethoven. I once taught music to

Elodie Lautentag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10485619.post-61526861253759648162007-05-17T17:09:00.000-04:002007-05-17T18:05:08.237-04:00

I couldn't go to many concerts this season because of a very tight schedule, but I managed to catch one not-to-miss event: on April 28, the Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions at New York University presented a celebration concert of Dinu Ghezzo’s retirement after 30 years at NYU – where, thank goodness for that – he will remain in a professor emeritus capacity and continue to be

Elodie Lautentag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10485619.post-6050506185729881352007-05-13T15:36:00.000-04:002007-05-13T15:39:24.345-04:00

Last week, Downtown Music Productions presented the work of the Boulanger sisters on the same program – Lili and Nadia Boulanger, whose music is largely forgotten, even if Nadia taught composition to an entire generation of Americans including Aaron Copland, Virgil Thomson, Elliot Carter and Marc Blitzstein – and Philip Glass, I believe. Mimi Stern-Wolfe, artistic director of DMP, took lessons

Elodie Lautentag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10485619.post-66269795564640828622007-05-02T17:36:00.000-04:002007-05-02T17:44:17.331-04:00

The Dalai Lama has just been awarded the Congressional Gold Medal... For many years I have collected pictures of this holy man, and especially admired his special smile, radiating warmth and compassion. Well, the smile is gone. And why would that be? Just at the time the withdrawal of the troops in Irak is being vetoed, this man of peace is being honored... The Dalai Lama has many reasons not to

Elodie Lautentag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10485619.post-50645238565182448502007-04-15T16:56:00.000-04:002007-04-15T17:15:31.825-04:00

Math and Music – Harmonious Connections, by Trudi Hammel Garland and Charity Vaughan Kahn, is the clearest introduction to the subject I have come across. It has a rather interesting explanation of the Pythagorean tuning ; also touches upon the concept of self-similarity, which I also refer to as ‘dinergy’ (see article on the subject on my web site: www.elodielauten.net/articles & concepts).

Elodie Lautentag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10485619.post-1172097791513326892007-02-21T17:42:00.000-05:002007-02-21T18:02:01.790-05:00

In Paris for a few days I caught the premiere of the new Edith Piaf film by Olivier Dahan. It is called La Môme Piaf. It surprised me by its unique, non-linear structure. Instead of a typical biopic developing in chronological order, this one is completely broken up into sequences of her early life and later life, going back and forth at different periods, and this makes the film all the more

Elodie Lautentag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10485619.post-1170807109388960062007-02-06T19:04:00.000-05:002007-02-06T19:21:26.840-05:00

Is ‘composer’ a viable identity? In our world of multiple, changeable identities, kids and adults play games where they get to choose their temporary alter egos - and suddenly change them as they see fit. Today’s fantasy is to be able to change identity at will, possibly because we are locked in a near-oppressive numerical system. I have more than once guiltily caught myself thinking that the

Elodie Lautentag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10485619.post-1170003199647047902007-01-28T11:35:00.000-05:002007-01-28T12:28:02.150-05:00

Three unrelated stories gathered from various media sources... The 'affluenza' syndrome is a new term coined by psychologists to describe a state of mind frequently found in children, including the inability to delay gratification or tolerate frustration; difficulty in maintaining interest in anything requiring effort; a false sense of entitlement; and a constant preoccupation with material

Elodie Lautentag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10485619.post-1168808855086199572007-01-14T15:59:00.000-05:002007-01-14T16:12:08.450-05:00

Ever since I can remember, I had a keen interest in Chinese culture: as a student I took a course on communist China and learned the basics of Mandarin Chinese at the Sorbonne; the first I Ching reading I received was “Crossing the great water”, which actually came through since I came to New York shortly after. I was by then fascinated by the I Ching and studied it, not on the basis of chance,

Elodie Lautentag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10485619.post-1168204987280343102007-01-07T16:21:00.000-05:002007-01-07T16:23:07.290-05:00

I always seem to start the year from a point of complete despair, but as Chögyam Trungpa puts it, despair is a staircase. I always found great inspiration in his books. After I read The Myth of Freedom, I never felt the same about spirituality. One must make a distinction between spirituality and religion. Strictly speaking, Buddhism is not a religion. It is a “nontheistic spiritual discipline,

Elodie Lautentag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10485619.post-1166892371539033422006-12-23T11:06:00.000-05:002006-12-23T11:46:11.590-05:00

Happy Holidays to all. I feel that the issues we are facing right now as composers are so overwhelming as well as exciting and disturbing, that I am introducing Strange Wisdom, an interactive reality forum that focuses more on how people feel about what is happening and what their own reactions are, rational or not. You may use a pseudonym to protect your privacy. Email Strange Wisdom with a

Elodie Lauten