New Music: There’s an App for That!

Posted on April 13, 2016 by maestrobeats

The average American spends nearly five hours a day on their smartphone. That’s about a third of their waking life.

What could we possibly be doing for all that time? Well, usually we’re just wasting it—we’re scrolling through our Facebook feed to pass the time on a long bus ride, Snapchatting our friends from across the room during a TV commercial break, Instagramming our afternoon coffee, or checking for new matches on Tinder.

So much time wasted swiping left, right, upside down, right-side up—which is why I figure if we’re going to spend hours on our phone each day, we should at least make it worth our while. Why not spend that time improving our rhythm, enhancing our musical knowledge, exploring new music, or listening to some of the greatest artists and thinkers of our time?

Next time you find yourself stuck on a long bus ride, bored during a commercial break, or sitting alone in a crowded café sipping your coffee, turn off your social media and engage with these new music apps:

Second Inversion App

Okay, so this one’s an obvious pick—but here’s why: our app gives you on-the-go access to our carefully-curated 24/7 live stream, expansive video archive, on-demand concert recordings, new music event calendar, Joshua Roman blog posts, album reviews, and much more. You can also create a “Favorites List” of pieces you hear on the stream, or even set a custom alarm clock so that you can start each day with the latest in contemporary classical!

And rest assured, there are no commercials, no top 40, no corny talk radio—just 24/7 new and unusual music from all corners of the classical genre. Oh, and did I mention it’s FREE?

John Cage Apps

The 20th century composer and iconoclast John Cage is most famous for two main contributions to the classical canon: 1) his “silent” composition, titled 4’33”, and 2) his prepared piano pieces. The John Cage Trust has created apps out of both.

Cage’s three-movement 4’33″ is perhaps his most famous composition, teaching audiences that there is really no such thing as “silence,” but rather, the sound of the world around us is music in and of itself. In the app, you can capture your own three-movement performance of the ambient sounds in your environment, then upload and share that performance with the world. You can also listen to others’ performances, and explore a worldwide map of ever-growing performance locations. But here’s the coolest (read: geekiest) part: the app features a recording of the ambient sounds at play in Cage’s last New York apartment, which he found a source of constant surprise, inspiration, and delight.

Cage threw a wrench in the Western classical tradition (literally) when he invented the prepared piano in 1940. By placing everyday objects such as screws, bolts, and pieces of rubber between the strings of a grand piano, he created an entire percussion orchestra within a single instrument. Now, you can create your own entire percussion orchestra—within a single smartphone. Choose from dozens of sampled sounds of a piano prepared with the actual materials used by John Cage in the preparations for his Sonatas and Interludes, then record your performance and share it with the world!

bitKlavier Prepared Digital Piano App

Composer and electronic musician Dan Trueman gave the original 20^th century prepared piano a 21st century facelift last year when he created the prepared digital piano. Instead of bolts and screws stuck between the piano strings, virtual machines adorn the virtual strings—transforming the piano into an instrument that pushes back, sometimes like a metronome, other times like a reverse delay. The virtual strings also tighten and loosen on the fly, tuning in response to what is played. And in true 21^st century fashion, you can download the prepared digital piano as an app, plug it into your MIDI keyboard, and create your own compositions.

Third Coast Percussion Apps

Percussionists are on their game when it comes to new music apps. Third Coast Percussion actually has three: John Cage Quartet, the Music of Steve Reich, and Resounding Earth.

The John Cage app is based on his 1935 Quartet, which is scored for “any four instruments or sounds.” With this app, you can choose from a variety of pre-recorded sounds or record your own sounds to create a custom version of the piece!

The Steve Reich app allows you to create your own music using compositional techniques made famous by this minimalist composer, including phasing, additive processes, and canons. You can even record and sample your own sounds to make it truly your own!

Resounding Earth is the title of a 2012 composition written by composer Augusta Read Thomas for Third Coast Percussion. In the piece, the group performs on over 125 bells from all over the world. This app allows you to explore the incredible sounds and history of many of the bells featured in the composition, enriching your own knowledge of percussion practices around the world!

Unsilent Night App

Phil Kline’s Unsilent Night is an electronic composition written specifically for outdoor performance in December—but you and your friends can perform it anytime of year (as long as you have smartphones). Participants each download one of four tracks of music which, when played together, comprise the ethereal Unsilent Night.

Gather up as many friends as you can around a pile of boomboxes, speakers, or any other type of portable amplifiers, and instruct everyone to hit “play” at the same time. Then walk through the city streets creating an ambient, aleatoric sound sculpture filled with shimmering bells and time-stretched hymnal melodies.

Steve Reich Clapping Music App

In 1972, minimalist composer Steve Reich composed a piece using very minimal musical means: just two people, clapping. Sounds simple, but it’s actually pretty difficult: two people clap the same short rhythmic pattern, with one repeatedly shifting their pattern by a beat until the two patterns align again. This app allows you to test your own rhythm by tapping in time with Reich’s constantly shifting pattern, gradually progressing through all of the variations.

Choose from “easy,” “medium,” “hard,” or “practice” modes to up your rhythm game—if you achieve a high score, you can enter into a competition for the chance to perform the work live. And, you can also take part in a research project which investigates how people learn rhythm.

PhonoPaper App

Okay, so this one is about 30 percent Russian spy cryptology but 100 percent awesome nonetheless. The idea was inspired by old Soviet technology that uses visual codes for sound synthesis. Here’s how it works: PhonoPaper is essentially a graphical representation of sound (this can be music, a human voice, etc.); in other words, it is the two-dimensional audio barcode of the sound.

This app allows you to 1) generate your own PhonoPaper by converting a recorded sound into image, and 2) use your phone camera as a real-time PhonoPaper-code reader, to convert the image back into sound. How cool is that? You can even use the code reader to convert graphical representations of musical scores back into music—check out their site for some examples using pieces by Bach, Mozart, Lully, and more!

So whether you’re secret coding your latest symphony, clapping through a Steve Reich simulator, or just kicking back and listening to the Second Inversion stream, there’s so much music to be heard! Why waste time on social media when you have all these incredible new music apps at your fingertips?

EVENT PREVIEW: An Unsilent Seattle Night

Posted on December 15, 2015 by maestrobeats

by Maggie Molloy

Unsilent Night pic_SANS LOGO_0

I love Christmas carols as much as the next girl—but I have to admit, after years of attending, listening to, and performing in Christmas concerts every December, the holiday hymns do tend to run together. But whether you’re the world’s biggest Santa-fan, a grouchy Ebenezer Scrooge, or even just an avant-garde enthusiast looking to expand your holiday music horizons, composer Phil Kline’s got just the carol for you—and it’s coming to Seattle this Saturday night.

Kline’s “Unsilent Night” is a contemporary twist on holiday caroling that is celebrated annually around the globe. But don’t worry, there’s no singing involved. In true 21^st century fashion, all you have to do is download an app.

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This nontraditional holiday carol is an electronic composition written specifically for outdoor performance in December. Participants each download one of four tracks of music which, when played together, comprise the ethereal “Unsilent Night.”

Countless participants meet up with boomboxes, speakers, or any other type of portable amplifiers and each hit “play” at the same time. Then they walk through the city streets creating an ambient, aleatoric sound sculpture that is unlike any Christmas carol you have ever heard.

And yes, I can say that from experience. Last December I dragged two of my siblings and one of my best friends out of the warmth of my Capitol Hill apartment and out onto the icy cold streets of Lower Queen Anne for “Unsilent Night.”

I’ll admit, they were a bit skeptical at first. Upon arrival, they proceeded to ask me a number of preliminary questions: “Wait, where are we?” “Is this another one of your weird new-music things?” “Will there be any alcohol?”

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Honestly, I didn’t have the answers to any of those questions—and that’s exactly why I wanted to attend the performance in the first place. I am fortunate enough to live in a city that is constantly pushing the boundaries of what music is and what music can be—and I want to experience as much of it as I possibly can. I saw “Unsilent Night” as an opportunity to share in a new and unusual holiday tradition with some of my closest friends and family.

And as soon as we stepped out into the cold, surrounded by friends and strangers, all of us holding our phones and making music together, we were mesmerized. There we were, wandering the city streets of Seattle, immersed in an intricately woven electronic sound world of subtly Christmas-themed recordings. Together, we were walking through a new kind of winter wonderland: an experimental soundscape full of shimmering bells and time-stretched hymnal melodies.

It was a performance that captured the sparkle and the whimsy of the holidays in a new way—without any of the corny sing-alongs, the ill-fitting Santa hats, or the sugary candy canes.

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For me, “Unsilent Night” was a beautiful reprieve from the chaos of the Christmas season. It was a time to silently connect with my friends and loved ones, immerse ourselves in shimmering, metallic music, share a smile and ultimately, have a new and memorable musical experience together. Because after all, that’s what the holidays are all about, right?

Five Pro Tips to Maximize your “Unsilent Night”:

Download the app ahead of time to make sure your phone or electronic device has enough storage space.
Bring portable speakers for a bigger sound—the louder, the better!
Invite all your friends and loved ones to share in the moment with you—the more, the merrier!
Wear gloves. And a scarf, a hat, a poofy marshmallow jacket, if you have one—and more gloves.
Keep your heart, your mind, and your ears open!

Seattle’s rendition of Phil Kline’s “Unsilent Night” will take place this Saturday, Dec. 19. The procession begins at 5 p.m. at On the Boards’ Merrill Wright Mainstage Theater Lobby in Lower Queen Anne.

On the Boards | Facebook Event

ALBUM REVIEW: Liaisons: Re-Imagining Sondheim from the Piano

Posted on November 9, 2015 by maestrobeats

by Rachele Hales

I was excited – well, excited and scared – to be given the opportunity to review Anthony de Mare’s latest album of Stephen Sondheim “re-imaginings.” Excited because Sondheim’s impact on me was very strong as I was one of many children who listened; scared because I didn’t want to find flaws in the interpretations that might underscore my devotion to the originals. After listening to Liaisons: Re-imagining Sondheim From the Piano several times, I can calm similar worries other listeners may have by entreating you to remember that “the way is clear, the light is good/ I have no fear, nor no one should.”

Thirty-six composers from a wide variety of backgrounds were commissioned by Anthony de Mare to re-imagine a Sondheim song of their choice as a solo piano piece. The result proves that things change – but they don’t, when you make something that lasts. Mark Eden Horowitz, author of Sondheim on Music: Minor Details and Major Decisions, puts it this way: “One of the reasons Liaisons succeeds so brilliantly is because Sondheim’s music is such a rich source for sounds, ideas, and approaches.” Too true. The pleasure of Liaisons is hearing how thirty-six other Sondheim fans engage with his music in their own ways. There are thirty-seven selections in the 3-CD collection. So many worth exploring, just one would be so boring. Alas, it’s impossible to review them all here but you can listen to samples of each glorious one at the Liaisons Project website. With that said… Curtain up! Light the lights! Play it, boys!

Once upon a time, all your favorite fairytales were combined into one story about loss and confusion. Oh yeah, and nearly everyone dies. Sondheim’s original prologue to Into the Woods acts as both exposition by introducing us to each character and also provides a path through the show. Andy Akiho’s version takes us into the woods, where witches, ghosts and wolves appear, by maintaining the driving rhythm of the original but allowing each character’s narrative/personality to speak with the clever use of a prepared piano. Dimes were used on the strings for the cow scenes, door knocks and narration utilized poster tack, and the witch is portrayed by clusters of credit cards. Akiho’s use of these found objects to alter the timbre is just as effective and innovative as Sondheim’s witty spoken narrative.

When asked about his intent with the Into the Woods’ climactic ballad “No One is Alone,” Sondheim replied, “What I truly mean is that no action is isolated.” One action you can take is to write a musical, only to find its score the subject of a landmark commissioning twenty-nine years later. Fred Hersch drew from his jazz background to make subtle changes to the piece. In doing so, he’s maintained the purity and simplicity of the original but plumped it up to create a lusher sound. It feels less like an arrangement and more like a fantasia.

With Kenji Bunch’s selection we attend the tale of Sweeney Todd, the demon barber of fleet street. Sweeney Todd is based on an urban legend (though some claim the story is true) from Victorian London about a barber who seeks revenge upon the corrupt judge who sentenced him to unjust incarceration, raped his wife and caused her insanity, and eventually kept Todd’s daughter Joanna as his ward for lustful reasons. Todd’s revenge of choice? Slitting the throat of the judge (and other clients) and partnering with his amoral landlady to grind the flesh, use it as fillings for her meat pies, and turn a handsome profit. It’s a musical thriller that wonderfully sustains fear and anxiety throughout, which Bunch amplifies to horror-show levels with “low register rumblings, shrieking high clusters, and insistent rhythmic ostinato patterns.”

Venezuelan composer Ricardo Lorenz turns those meat pies into spicy empanadas with his “Worst Pies In London”/”A Little Priest” combo. Mrs. Lovett’s cheeriness shines through here with help from a range of Latin American styles including tango, salsa, and merengue. But is it any good? Sir, it’s too good, at least.

“Green Finch and Linnet Bird” is Joanna’s song to the caged birds she identifies with while sequestered in the judge’s home. Toward the end of the original number there’s a trill notated for the singer and Jason Robert Brown found his way into the arrangement through that trill. Rather than focusing on Joanna, he’s chosen instead to paint pianistic portraits of the birds. A charming notion, but the aviary became too complex. He thought one was enough; it’s not true. It takes two to play his “Birds of Victorian England.”

Hopping across the pond to a bit of American history now, we get a couple arrangements from Assassins, a show that’s about exactly what it says on the tin. “The inverse of the American Dream is the American Nightmare, which confuses the right to pursue happiness with the right to be happy,” writes Horowitz. In Sondheim’s opening song, “Everybody’s Got the Right,” our presidential assassinators/assassination attempters sing out this misguided philosophy (aim for what you want a lot/everybody gets a shot/everybody’s got a right to their dreams…) as they purchase their weapons from the gun proprietor. Michael Daugherty inserts snippets of “Hail to the Chief” as reminders of the show’s subject and ends the piece by spinning out the opening chords until they “explode like a volley of gunfire.”

Sondheim turned the poem Charles Guiteau wrote the morning of his execution (“I Am Going to the Lordy”) into a cakewalk march to the gallows in “The Ballad of Guiteau.” Guiteau’s trial was famous not just because he assassinated President Garfield, but also because he was, as one doctor testified, a “morbid egoist” who delighted in the attention he received during the trial. A media sensation, he smiled and waved at spectators throughout the trial (and even as he walked up to the gallows, where he stopped to read said poem, going so far as to request that an orchestra play behind him while he read). Right up until his conviction he thought he’d have a good chance of becoming president himself and considered running. Why am I writing about history instead of music? Because the way Jherek Bischoff plays Sondheim’s original histrionic promenade against moments of emptiness perfectly suits the sad, ridiculous insanity of Guiteau’s mindset.

Having just a vision’s no solution, everything depends on execution. Anthony de Mare’s work on this project has, bit by bit and piece by piece, amounted to a thoroughly enjoyable collection that sounds like thirty-six composers having a musical conversation with America’s preeminent composer of musical theatre. Liaisons offers up something familiar, something peculiar, something for everyone.

In this 2013 image released by ECM Records, Anthony de Mare, left, and Stephen Sondheim pose in New York. Pianist Anthony de Mare and three dozen composers had put their own imprints on songs Sondheim wrote over the past half-century, a tribute to the man who redefined Broadway. "Liaisons: Re-Imagining Sondheim From the Piano" was released last month as a three-disc set by ECM. It features 37 original compositions by an All-Star team of composers. (Nan Melville/ECM Records via AP)

Anthony de Mare, left, and Stephen Sondheim pose in New York. (Nan Melville/ECM Records via AP)

LIVE BROADCAST: ETHEL with Robert Mirabal

Posted on October 5, 2015 by maestrobeats

This Thursday, October 8, at 8pm PT tune in to Second Inversion for a LIVE broadcast featuring the critically acclaimed (and incredibly fun) string quartet ETHEL with Native American flutist and two-time Grammy winner Robert Mirabal! They have been collaborating for over six years, using rivers as inspiration for collaboration, and exploring water as the embodiment of spirit and its essential role in life on earth in a cross-cultural concert experience. Through music, narrative and ritual, their performance evokes timeless Native American traditions. Their program on Thursday includes works by Robert Mirabal, Phil Kline, and members of Ethel, themselves (see below for full program)!

We hope that if you’re in Seattle, you’ll come hear the concert in person at Meany Hall on the UW World Series (and say “Hi!” to KING FM and Second Inversion at the table in the lobby). For ETHEL and Robert Mirabal lovers worldwide, tune in on Thursday, October 8 at 8pm PT! On the go? Be sure to download our mobile app to listen anywhere.

We will also broadcast a bonus post-performance Q&A with artists immediately after the performance, so stay tuned for that, too!

Program:

Sky River Suite / music by ETHEL, words by Robert Mirabal
An Kha Na / Robert Mirabal
The River / Phil Kline
Kalimba Waterfall, Tsintskaro Memory and Rana Run / Ralph Farris
Gat’te / Dorothy Lawson
Jay-Red, Tsoma, and Clean Dirge, Dirty Dirge / Kip Jones
Tuvan Ride, In the Eyes of E, Wi-wa (traditional) and Peace Calls / ETHEL + Robert Mirabal

A Celebration of American Composers: Video Edition

Posted on July 2, 2015 by maestrobeats

In celebration of July 4th, we have compiled some of our favorite videos by American Composers. Thanks to all of the artists and composers for sharing their music and performances with us!