I write music that tells stories. I use literature, theater, marimbas, cellos and plenty of jokes.

I also produce creative projects for film, theater and web. And I blog about the future of the arts. And cocktails.

By day I work as Communications Manager at New Music USA.

Audience Collaboration
Kickstart the Brooklyn Bridge?

Kickstart the Brooklyn Bridge?

Government is the name we give to the things we choose to do together. -Barney Frank Christine Quinn delivers State of the City speech. She calls for NYC govt to use @kickstarter to fund civic projects twitter.com/ystrickler/sta… — Yancey Strickler (@ystrickler) February 9, 2012 The world hasn’t changed yet, but it’s going to. Nation states...
Culture has to be a party now

Culture has to be a party now

And that could look like a bad thing, but on balance I think it’s great. People have vastly more choice about what culture and entertainment to consume with their time than they did in the past. And they can get all the films, tv shows and music they like from home, plus all the stuff...
Sketching Poems Without Names

Sketching Poems Without Names

Here’s my first sketch with actual noteheads in it for Poems Without Names. I can’t believe that this piece is going to be done and performed on St. Patrick’s day. I’m using a lot of the same techniques from The Seafarer and from The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock, but instead of a solo performer,...
These YouTube Videos Are Part of my Libretto

These YouTube Videos Are Part of my Libretto

There aren’t any words, but they’re part of a script, not a performance. I’ve talked before about the dumbshow at the beginning of Summer’s Twilight. I don’t want to write a vamp with a few sound effects to be played underneath the mime. I want to score the physical beats of the scene, moment for...
The Favor Economy

The Favor Economy

This morning, Diane Ragsdale linked a great TED talk from 2005 in her brilliant-as-usual post on institutions supporting artists at her ArtsJournal blog, Jumper. Diane’s post is great, but I want to react mainly to the TED talk. Yes, it’s six years old. That’s why the video’s so SD looking and the speaker, Clay Shirky...
Louis CK Inspires a Thought Experiment

Louis CK Inspires a Thought Experiment

You’ve probably already heard about this. Hilarious and vulgar-but-never-mean comedian Louis CK directed, edited, and published his own stand-up special without a big production company. Sold it just online. $5, no restrictions. Much cheaper than the $20 region-restricted DVD a big publisher would have released. We’re three days from release now and he’s already made...
Ian Rosenbaum tries out a monologue

Ian Rosenbaum tries out a monologue

Last night I went over to Ian Rosenbaum‘s place, and we went over some of the sketches I’ve got for the new scene 1 of Summer’s Twilight. As usual with a marimba part, you think some things are hard when they’re easy, and you think some things are easy but they’re hard. Sometimes you take...