by Kile Smith | Jan 17, 2011 | CDs, Music Composition, Now is the Time, Radio, WRTI
The adventurous pianist Bruce Brubaker writes about the effect of notation on the performer’s comprehension in his erudite blog PianoMorphosis. Specifically, in his post “Line break,” he looks at where publishers choose to end the staves, and whether...
by Kile Smith | Mar 14, 2010 | Music Composition, New Compositions, new music, String Trio
violin, viola, cello 5 minutes Thrice blest was commissioned by David Yang, Ensemble Epomeo, and the Newburyport Chamber Music Festival and is based on “100th Psalm Tune New,” generally considered to be composed by John Tufts (1689–1750). Besides being a minister in...
by Kile Smith | Oct 4, 2009 | Music Composition
We were at a dinner party not too long ago and one of the guests, a wonderful instrumentalist, said that he wanted to get back to composing. He had started a piece years earlier and had looked at it recently, but what was holding him back were the “embarrassing”...
by Kile Smith | Aug 20, 2009 | Music Composition
Is orchestral music a style? My answer would have been a quick No, as neither is trumpet music a style, or vocal music. But I had to stop and wonder, since the issue came up on Kyle Gann’s illuminating blog PostClassic. He recounts the tale of a composer who had a new...
by Kile Smith | Aug 2, 2009 | Music Composition
In the Broad Street Review, Beeri Moalem wrote about “one struggling young composer’s attempt to make some sense of” where the sweep of music history has brought us, and how a composer can offer anything meaningful in view of the plethora of styles. Dan Coren, one of...
by Kile Smith | Jul 16, 2009 | CDs, Choral music, Music Composition, New Compositions, WRTI
With now a keen interest in the state of the recording industry, I was happy to read Joseph Dalton’s optimistic view of it in the current NewMusicBox. Many independent labels are staying the course and some are even increasing their output of CDs. New startups appear...
