John Adams has a blog!?
No, not that John Adams--the composer keeps a fairly entertaining blog, titled Hell Mouth over at his website.
He tends to post essays about--what else?--music. Composition, conducting, performance, and the like. It's intriguing to get an insight into what a big-time composer is thinking. See, for instance his mordant look at music-school composition "Masterclasses":
But back to the typical instrumental composition: The slow, nervous, unsettling introduction will most likely be followed an up-tempo OSTINATO. The ostinato has gained great prestige of late because students wrongly believe that this is what made Steve Reich and Phil Glass successful composers. They misunderstand the essence of minimalist technique, thinking that by merely introducing a repeated, grinding rhythmic figure they can achieve satisfying musical form.
The ostinato may or may not have a harmonic modulation in it. Usually it will pump and grind away for about four minutes on the same tonality, building and building before it comes to a frightening, colossal, overwhelming, earth shattering CLIMAX. (This is where said composer’s girlfriend dumped him or her for a garage band punker.)
He seems to love writing semi-satirical pieces involving "Marcel Proost" (too many posts to link). But in amongst it all, there's always his passion for music:
Music, unlike poetry or literature, does not consist of signifiers. (Or in the cases where it does, these signifiers are only of the crudest and most generalized sort: Mahler’s clarinet imitating a cuckoo or timpani in the Pastoral Symphony imitating thunder.) The great paradox about music is that it is nearly powerless to represent concrete things, yet it is exceptionally precise in evoking feeling.
Plus, he seems to update pretty regularly these days.
He tends to post essays about--what else?--music. Composition, conducting, performance, and the like. It's intriguing to get an insight into what a big-time composer is thinking. See, for instance his mordant look at music-school composition "Masterclasses":
But back to the typical instrumental composition: The slow, nervous, unsettling introduction will most likely be followed an up-tempo OSTINATO. The ostinato has gained great prestige of late because students wrongly believe that this is what made Steve Reich and Phil Glass successful composers. They misunderstand the essence of minimalist technique, thinking that by merely introducing a repeated, grinding rhythmic figure they can achieve satisfying musical form.
The ostinato may or may not have a harmonic modulation in it. Usually it will pump and grind away for about four minutes on the same tonality, building and building before it comes to a frightening, colossal, overwhelming, earth shattering CLIMAX. (This is where said composer’s girlfriend dumped him or her for a garage band punker.)
He seems to love writing semi-satirical pieces involving "Marcel Proost" (too many posts to link). But in amongst it all, there's always his passion for music:
Music, unlike poetry or literature, does not consist of signifiers. (Or in the cases where it does, these signifiers are only of the crudest and most generalized sort: Mahler’s clarinet imitating a cuckoo or timpani in the Pastoral Symphony imitating thunder.) The great paradox about music is that it is nearly powerless to represent concrete things, yet it is exceptionally precise in evoking feeling.
Plus, he seems to update pretty regularly these days.