On composer bios

You know, Kyle Gann is right: too many composer bios read like a resume.  Recently, I was at a concert in Hartford, and, amongst other pieces, saw a piece by an unknown composer.   Without getting into specifics, the composer's bio was simply a list of his accomplishments.  Mind you, some of these accomplishments were things of which anyone would be proud.  But, three paragraphs of this was just overkill.  And, some of the listings were a bit dubious.
But, that's besides the point.  I had hoped to learn something about the composer. Does he play an instrument?  Where was he born? Did he study with a well-known composer? These kind of things can be clues to a composer's temperament.  Saying that he (or she) is a percussionist, for instance, who studied with James Woods (not the actor!), would certainly say a great deal about the composer.  Looking at that, I might expect a composer who explores unconventional rhythms and textures.  Hearing that the composer is from NY might set up a different set of expectations than if she is from LA or Tokyo.  Of course, any artist my defy those expectations, but this kind of information would put them in some sort of context.

More to the point, these kind of bios don't give us an idea of what the composer's interests are.  Is he interested in jazz?  Does she incorporate her love of the majestic organ?  This is the first paragraph of my bio:

Composer Anthony Cornicello (born in Brooklyn, New York, 1964) writes music that blurs distinctions between performers and electronics, timbre and harmony, composition and improvisation, and explores the boundaries of what may be considered post-classical concert music.  His music is vibrant and visceral, full of rhythmic energy and harmonic sophistication, and his forays into live electronics have led to exciting combinations of instruments and processed sound.  Cornicello’s background as a jazz pianist is evident not only in the rhythmic activity of his music, but also in his constant investigation of the rich sonorities available from a variety of instruments.

Admittedly, I'm a little biased. But, I'd hope that this bio would give the reader a sense of my music, and pique their curiosity enough to actually listen to the music! After all, I'm trying to 'sell' my music, not my bio.



And, in case the reader is interested, the 'resume' stuff comes later in the bio statement.

Electric Mahabharata

As I'm typing this, I'm sending out the files, to CF Peters, for my piece "I'll Have an Electric Mahabharata, Please."  Yes, the piece with the truly wonky title is getting published by CF Peters.  I know I announced this on Facebook a month or so ago, but now I'm delivering the goods. 

Okay, this is a work for cello and electronics. You can hear it here - scroll down, and there's a link to the MP3 (and a PDF, which I'll need to remove soon).  All the electronics are real-time processing of the cello, and some of the sounds are quite elaborate.  The piece is normally done with a 4-channel sound system, so the sound swirls around the audience.

The title - comes from the idea that I had to turn the cello into a sitar.  Well, not literally.  If you look at a sitar, it has 6 (or 7) playable strings, and then around 15 sympathetic strings that give it its characteristic ringing sound.   I took the idea of the sympathetic strings and made that the basis for the electronic part.  I constructed a few virtual resonant strings and placed them in the electronic 'environment'; as the cellist plays, the sound is routed through those strings and a bunch of other effects.  There's even a computer 'cadenza', where one pluck is answered by hundreds of plucks generated by the computer.

Here's the only dilemma I have with the piece: I'm only able to produce a Mac OS version of the software.  Since I created it in 2003, it looks like some of the components are obsolete or were never transferred to the Windows version of Max.  I'm hoping to construct a Windows version, but I don't know how much time it will take - or if I'll eventually get it to work....

Dead gear

Hmm, my Tascam US-428 seems to have died.

It lights up.  It controls MIDI gear with no problem.  My MacBook Pro recognizes it, as do many programs (Logic, Live).  Yet, I get no audio.  I've tried headphones and speakers, all to no avail.  I loaded in new drivers, and went through a variety of settings.

I've even tried running audio into it directly (from my Clavinova), also with no results.  I think the audio card on it must be dead.

Tascam says the model is discontinued, and replaced with the US-144mkII.   Okay, that's a nice device, but it's hardly a replacement.  The US-428 has 8 faders, which makes it look more like a mixer.  The US-144mkII has 4 inputs (like the 428) but two dials control the input volumes.  And, it looks like you switch between "Line In" (guitar/keyboard - 1/4" jack) and XLR input.    So really, it appears to be a two channel input.  It's pretty cheap (Sweetwater has it listed at $149), but nowhere nearly as cool as the 428.


Oh well.

Recording "Spiral Jetty"

This week, the members of "ModernWorks" (Madeleine Shapiro, Airi Yoshioka, and Bill Schimmel) assembled in the Louis Brown Recording Studio to record my piece Spiral Jetty.   They were the group that commissioned it (through funds from Meet the Composer) back in 2006, and they've performed it at a number of concerts.  The recording was a natural part of the whole growth cycle of the work.

Now, here's the strange part.  Spiral Jetty also has an interactive electronic component - 4 channels of live processed sound.   But, we didn't record that material on Thursday - it actually won't be added in to the final project for some time.  Really, for the first time, I heard the whole piece without the electronics.  (Yes, every rehearsal I've been to has been with electronics;  I guess there were moments where we worked without the electronics, but that was rare.)

That's a photo of the studio - it's a nice warm setting.  And, incredibly quiet, given that it's in the middle of Manhattan!  Airi is on violin in front, and you see Bill behind the glass.  The accordion can be a loud instrument, so it had to be isolated.  Hopefully, Bill didn't feel self-conscious!  Lou is adjusting a microphone, and you can see Madeleine's cello.

Recording is an odd process.  A rock group can record an entire album and not be in the studio at the same time.  You really can't do that with this kind of music.  Instead, they recorded segments - 10-20 measures at a time, often with multiple takes.  My job is going to be to patch this all together to form a composite 'performance' of the piece.  There are a few passages that are going to require major surgery, but there's quite a bit where I can use larger chunks.

That's another shot in the studio.  See, Madeleine was there, not just her cello!

More on this later.

Blog shift

I'm moving my blog, from Sequenza21 to my own independent location.  I certainly enjoyed my time there.  Actually, my impetus for the move came from the move away from FTP blogging by Blogger.  It doesn't appear that I'll be able to migrate my old blog away from the Sequenza21 site, so I just decided to start a new one.

And, I'm hoping to find a balance between blogging, Facebook, and Twitter.  I haven't Twitted that much - it's really for short messages, along the lines of "Wow it's hot out."  Facebook is good for a variety of medium-length posts.  I tend to rant on about politics or the Mets there.  I'm hoping that here, I'll write more about music than anything else.  Some posts will be short, others won't.

Thinking about the old blog, I don't think there's a way for me to leave a forwarding address.  I can't write "We've moved to ____; please visit our other locations at ____.  Thank you for your business." - you know, those signs you see when a store is hoping to retain you as a customer.  Then again, I'm not exactly a regular poster, so like those stores with seemingly random hours (and I've seen them!), if you knew I was there, you'll follow me here....


While I'm at it:  I've been reading a bit more these days:  Zen in the Art of Archery and I'm still working on Neuromancer.   That, and writing a piece for the Ondes Martenot, but I'll leave that for another post.