One of my proudest accomplishments is the creation and institutionalization of the Junior Bach program at Peabody. In it, Peabody composers teach middle school students from the St. Ignatius Loyola Academy, and prepare them for the first world premieres of their lives. The Academy itself is Jesuit, and draws its students, all boys, from the …
Category Archives: News
Always Carry Drums
I have a rule about this. It has broader implications, but for me it starts from putting on shows. And it’s this: Always Carry Drums. Here’s what I mean. If you’re putting on a show, and you’re not a drummer, at some point you’re going to be standing around, having totally finished “your bit” of …
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 …
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Ruckus Amongstus: or, the rise and fall of the city of Muppet Darmstadt
This is going to be a wonderfully mad show. I’ve been looking forward to the day when the team behind No Signal got back together with some new friends in New York and put on shows again, and that time is finally upon us. This Saturday, 8 PM, at the Exapno New Music Community Center, …
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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 …
Saxophone Players are great.
One of the weird side effects of coming out of Peabody is that you get to know a fair number of classical saxophone players who are also bizarrely accomplished recording engineers. Ian Richter is just such a one. I’ve crossed his path before, but the first time I got to know him properly we were …
Best YouTube Comment Ever
At the very least, it’s the best ever on any of my films. Just as I was celebrating the 1,000 view milestone for The Seafarer I got an email notification about a new comment: Apparently my film is helping students cheat on their homework. This isn’t too much of a surprise, actually. From watching the …
Now THAT is my new tumblr
I have a lot of strange side projects. This one, shared with Victoria Nece, has been a while in coming, but now it’s ready. Here’s the explanation on our About page: Tumblr is full of great single serving blogs. But once you’ve seen ten posts you’re kind of done. ismynew.tumblr.com to the rescue! We give …
Employees Must Wash Haiku
Journeyman is a fantastic restaurant. If you haven’t, go eat there. In the bathrooms at Journeyman you won’t see signs that say “Employees must wash hands”. You’ll see some pretty damned funny haiku nicely framed on the wall which meet the same legal requirement. When I read these haiku I thought one thing: Classical music …
Watch Cucumbers & Gin
Thanks to the hard work of a lot of brilliant and talented people Cucumbers & Gin is now complete! This project has been an incredible experience, from our Kickstarter campaign, working with backers, through pre-production planning, the incredible day we shot and recorded the project, and through post-production as well, creating an interactive way for …
Watch The Seafarer
The film version of The Seafarer is complete! Thanks so much to everyone who’s worked on this from concept to shooting through post-production. We did it!
The Song of Newt
A couple days ago I got an IM from Victoria Nece: “Can you set this to music?”. She had linked me to the text of Newt Gingrich’s hysterically epic press release. I thought for a moment, and replied that yes, yes I could. Next I e-mailed Jason asking if he could turn around a video …