February 2012
5 posts
More Deresiewicz on higher ed →
Great think-piece by Bill Deresiewicz on higher... →
John Cage Interview (excerpt) →
Music for Dancers folks: this is a video containing one of the quotes I dropped in class on Monday.
Coffeeshop Commandments
If you know me, then you know that my personal standards for coffeeshops are high. (Phoenix, AZ’s Cartel Coffee Lab ruined me; everything they make is delicious.) I make no apologies; if you’re going to sell me coffee for more money than it costs for me to make it at home, you had better either make it better than I do at home, or make things that I can’t make at home (i.e.,...
January 2012
3 posts
From the WLS Archives: Failure is Now Cheaper
The more I listen to creative people discuss their work, one common thread that emerges is that you have to do lots and lots of work before the quality of the work begins to approach the quality of your taste, i.e., a lot of the stuff you do at the beginning will not be so good, and you’ll know it’s not so good, and you have two options: you can stop working (as many people do), or...
Awesome interview with Laurie Anderson →
As I gear up for the coming semester, it’s nice to read about art and artists and see what other strategies people have come up with for working.
Salman Rushdie on Christopher Hitchens in Vanity... →
December 2011
5 posts
“There is merit, and blessing, and reward for those who undertake necessary work;...”
– Guitar Craft aphorism
From the WLS Archives: On Aphorisms
This is an old blog post from NoiseGarden, but Guitar Craft aphorisms are always there, and always useful!
UPDATE: Ack! Had to fix the link; the aphorisms page moved, because it looks like Fripp is no longer actively maintaining Guitar Craft. (The old link went to a page that said: “Guitar Craft no longer exists.”) The new link is to The Orchestra of Crafty Guitarists, who are...
“Instead of asking ‘Is it right?’ we are tempted to ask ‘Will...”
– William Jennings Bryan, “The Value of an Ideal,” 1901 (via Alex Ross)
On the importance of technique →
You want to see technique? You want to see mastery? You want to have a glimpse of what is possible after you’ve gone through the hard work of internalizing a task? Watch Jacques Pepin bone out a chicken. Technique. Mastery.
November 2011
21 posts
Post-PASIC Panel Pfollow-up #4
A quick one before Thanksgiving: Chris Shultis just wrote me back to remind me about his discussion of Antonin Artaud’s The Theatre and its Double. I haven’t read it myself, but I’m gonna.
(Aside: since we’re on the subject of theatre manifestoes, I might insert a brief plug for Jerzy Grotowski’s Towards a Poor Theatre and David Mamet’s True and False: Heresy...
RIP Paul Motian
Paul Motian passed away today. Three memories that stick out:
1) As a Modern-Drummer-reading high school student, I vividly recall the first time I saw one of his transcribed solos in the magazine. I knew very little about him (or jazz, or anything, it felt like) but just from seeing the page I could tell that this guy was reading some other rulebook about how to play drums. Sometimes his playing...
1 tag
Post-PASIC Panel Pfollow-up #3
This is the second in a series of posts describing/linking to things that either were mentioned, or were about to be mentioned but for lack of time, at the PASIC New Music/Research Panel “On the Nature of Percussion Masterworks” that I moderated at PASIC 2011.
At the top of the hour, each of the four panelists (Allen Otte, Morris Palter, Chris Shultis, and Stuart Smith) gave some brief opening...
“I find that when someone’s taking time to do something right in the...”
– Randall Munroe, creator of the xkcd webcomic, which is excellent
great article about chess and ows. owchess? →
Post-PASIC Panel Pfollow-up #2
This is the second in a series of posts describing/linking to things that either were mentioned, or were about to be mentioned but for lack of time, at the PASIC New Music/Research Panel “On the Nature of Percussion Masterworks” that I moderated at PASIC 2011.
Toward the end of the discussion, Chris Shultis mentioned Robert Fink’s book on minimalist music and its relationship to Western...
another a softer world cartoon that rocks →
a web cartoon (please note its inherent sarcasm) →
Presentations and Powerpoint
(This post has been ported over from the KSU School of Theatre and Dance blog.)
Students in the Modern I dance class are preparing class presentations on important figures in early modern dance. As part of their presentation, they are required to prepare a Powerpoint presentation. We’ve all seen good Powerpoint presentations, and we’ve all seen bad ones, and the experience of sitting...
1 tag
Post-PASIC Panel Pfollow-up #1
This is the first in a series of posts describing/linking to things that either were mentioned, or were about to be mentioned but for lack of time, at the PASIC New Music/Research Panel “On the Nature of Percussion Masterworks” that I moderated at PASIC 2011.
Allen Otte came prepared as all get-out with thoughts and examples of canon construction and deconstruction from authors,...
easy worship operator →
my website →
1 tag
“Silence is the drone that runs through all of my music.”
– Stuart Saunders Smith (#1 of Top 3 Quotes from PASIC 2011)
1 tag
“When I’m mad, I get smarter.”
– Chris Shultis (#2 of Top 3 Quotes from PASIC 2011)
1 tag
“There isn’t a person in this world who enjoys arrogance.”
– Lennard Moses (#3 of Top 3 Quotes from PASIC 2011) 