Welcome to the very first Youth Salon 2013 prep post! Following on from last Thursday’s brainstorm discussion, students selected discussion topics that they found particularly interesting and we asked you guys to consider the following questions:
What is the issue?
What is the impact?
How might be change be effected? Are there people working for change?
Are there opposing views?
Does learning about this topic change your perspective?
As with all of these posts, we encourage you guys to leave comments and keep the discussion flowing all week long! : )
The concert was a success! Despite having only a few short rehearsals, CMW students, alumni, teachers, and visiting musicians performed the four pieces beautifully to a sizable crowd. Listen/watch/read about them below.
PHOTOS (rehearsal and performance)
MUSIC
C.L. (Sakiko Mori, 2012)
This is music I wrote mostly in my head, hoping to make a scenery of sounds that’s there to live, being what they are and doing what they do, neither more nor less. Thank you to the performers for taking this music out of my head and giving it a life, helping it to grow.
This was a piece I originally composed mostly in the music program Logic. It was based on the idea of looping a recorded sound to create rhythmic texture. I recorded the sound of film camera’s shutter release and eventually added the violin/viola part you will hear.
In this live performance, the film camera is replaced by a digital camera, more capable of the fast shutter speeds used for this piece, and all the string parts are played by real performers and not looped by a computer.
Scratch is a composition for string orchestra and field recordings. The strings section is in C major and based on a melody first exposed in the viola section. Underlying the strings part, there is texture of sounds recorded at a string restoration workshop. The piece is largely in sonata form with an interlude in the middle that could most accurately be described as a solo by the operator of the cassette tape players, which contain the recorded sounds from the field recordings.
Big thanks to Gus from Zachary S. Martin, Luthier Contrabass & Cello workshop in Pawtucket, for having us record sounds in the workshop.
Creatures of the Night, for string orchestra and recorded sound (Forrest Larson, 2012)
Creatures of the Night, was inspired by a life-long fascination with sounds of the night. Sometimes the source of the sounds are known, but others have mysterious origins. Surely the critters who lived under my childhood bed made sounds. Maybe a few of them are in this piece. Thanks to Sakiko Mori and Community Musicworks for commissioning this piece, and the opportunity to work with some of the students. It has also been a joy to have participants from Institute for Musicianship and Public Service filling out the orchestra.
Composer, violist and electronic musician Forrest Larson has composed both
instrumental and electronic music. His work includes both strictly composed music and live improvised electronic music. Instrumental works include music for string orchestra, wind ensemble as well as pieces for unaccompanied violin, viola and cello.
He has had a life-long love of old pre-digital analog electronic instruments, and of collecting “found sounds” from both natural as well as urban landscapes. Analog devices such as oscillators, stomp box filters and shortwave radios are of particular interest.
Some of his works combine electronic sounds and live acoustic instruments. Other work includes electronic scores for abstract films and for solo dancer. His music has been performed locally at various venues in the Providence and Boston area such as the Pixilerations Festival, AS220, Firehouse 13, Mobius, Outpost 186, MIT, Brandeis University, and at the experimental music series CTRL+ALT+REPEAT in Providence, RI. Other performances have been at Carnegie-Mellon University, Washington and Jefferson University (PA), Mansfield University (PA), Southern Oregon University, in Ithaca NY and in Iceland. As a violist, he has played in the New England Philharmonic, Boston Chamber Ensemble, and other chamber groups. He also played violin in the Commonwealth Vintage Dance Orchestra, performed traditional Scottish fiddle music and was the musician for the Middlesex Morris Dancers.
Currently he plays analog electronic instruments with the quartet Sonic Sandbox.
Sakiko Mori
Sakiko Mori is a musician and a piano tuner currently living in Providence. She mainly plays piano, keyboard instruments, and drums. Sakiko has collaborated with film makers, animation artists, and dancers, as well as performed and recorded music with many individuals and groups. She co-runs the Experimental Music Lab at Community MusicWorks with Jori Ketten, CMW Media Lab Director.
Liam Hopkins
CMW student Liam Hopkins is a rising high school junior and enjoys playing the viola, composing music, and taking photographs.
Performers
Participants in the Institute for Musicianship and Public Service
Eve Boltax, Brianna DeWitt, Isabel Escalante, Joshua Burgos Gonzalez, Mari Lee, Taylor Morris, Lauren Nelson, Maggie Schenk, Jaunter Sears, Andrea Sisco, Jared Snyder, Bryan Susma
CMW Teachers and Mentors
Carole Bestvater, Jesse Holstein, Robin Gilbert, Laura Cetilia, David Lee, Sakiko Mori
CMW Alumni
Joshua Rodriguez, Sidney Argueta
CMW Phase II and Media Lab Students
Heather Argueta, AlexisMarie Nelson, Jose Baez, Angie Descollines, Liam Hopkins, Andrew Oung, August Packard, Paola Pena, Alana Perez, Matthew Ricci, Alondra Rivera, Ian Rosales, Natasha Rosario, Jaxine Wolfe, Jesse Woodbury, Emily Cabreja, Aiden Sullivan, Malachy Hopkins
We have been hard at work preparing for our June 2 concert at Knight Memorial Library. Featuring new pieces by local composer Forrest Larson, our teacher and composer/performer Sakiko Mori, and two pieces by CMW student Liam Hopkins, this is a concert not to be missed!
Today we went on a field trip to Zachary S. Martin, Luthier Restorations in Pawtucket.This is a workshop specializing in repair & restoration of contrabass and cello, by Zachary. (He is also known as Gus, so we’ll call him Gus!) Gus showed us the workshop and gave us a basic but thorough explanation of how string instruments are made and repaired. He showed us all the different stages of the whole process.
Gus also told us that he always loved to play music and make things out of wood, and that’s how he became a maker of string instruments.
Then Gus let us do recordings in the shop while he worked on instruments. There are so many interesting sounds happening! He also introduced us to his friendly dog and let us all play his contrabass. The recordings we made will be used in our piece for the final performance on 6/2. Thank you very much Gus, for such an inspirational tour.
Here are some photos of our trip by Brandon L, and more photos on CMW’s Flickr in the slideshow below!
[audio:http://www.communitymusicworks.org/medialab/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/German-Dance-performed-by-Andrew-O.wav-.mp3|titles=German Dance performed by Andrew O.wav]
“German Dance” composed by Karl von Dittersdorf, performed by Andrew O
[audio:http://www.communitymusicworks.org/medialab/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/8Performance-Party-Jan-24-2011.mp3|titles=Performance Party Jan 24, 2011]
“Battle Cry” composed by Sheila Nelson, performed by The Monsters of Bach: Angie D, Jessenia G, Zeeny W, Andrew O, Wilnys T, Nate T, August P, Alexandra R, Alexis N
Here are some local and web resources to keep you fiddling and listening to great tunes this summer (and all year round)! Keep me updated on your fiddling adventures!
-Rachel
FIDDLE STUDIO
Listen to great tunes in both slow and fast versions, some sheet music is also posted:
www.fiddlestudio.com
SUNDAY NIGHT JAMMERS
Music jams every Sunday night from 7-9 PM (with sheet music provided), all instruments welcome, many styles of tunes. Goff Hall, 124 Bay State Road, Rehoboth, MA (about a 20-25 min drive from Providence)
once a month there is a potluck and community dance along with the jam
www.contradancelinks.com/jammers.html
AMAZING SLOW-DOWNER
Download a free trial version of this software.
You can listen to the beginning of most music on a computer in a much slower speed but at the same pitch!
www.ronimusic.com
ALL IRISH TUNES
can be found at this site. You can also find sheet music (treble clef only) for many other celtic styles.
www.thesession.org
LOWELL FOLK FESTIVAL
July 29-31, 2011 – yes, it’s an hour drive away, but it’s also the largest free folk festival in the US! Hear performers here from all over the world.
www.lowellfolkfestival.org
RHYTHM & ROOTS CAJUN ACADEMY FOR KIDS
Sept 2-4, Free but you can register online starting June 1st. Charlestown, RI.
It’s an hour drive, but a great experience to learn Cajun tunes and perform at the end of the weekend. The academy takes under a tent across the way from the festival gates.
Give me a call if you want to try this.
www.rhythmandroots.com/general/academy.php
PAWTUCKET ARTS FESTIVAL
Sept 9-18, all types of great free music around Pawtucket
www.pawtucketartsfestival.org
FREE WATERPLACE PARK FRIDAY NIGHT CONCERT SERIES
The calendar isn’t up yet, but check back: concerts are Friday nights in July and August.
http://cityof.providenceri.com/ArtCultureTourism
“James Bond Theme” composed by Monty Norman, performed by Zeeny W, Paul O, Andrew O, Angie D, Ashley A, Gus L, Luis O, Jessenia G, Justin C
[audio:http://www.communitymusicworks.org/medialab/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/James-Bond-Theme-Zeeny-W-Paul-O-Andrew-O-Angie-D-Ashley-A-Gus-L-Luis-O-Jessenia-G-Justin-C.mp3|titles=James Bond Theme- Zeeny W, Paul O, Andrew O, Angie D, Ashley A, Gus L, Luis O, Jessenia G, Justin C]
