Rusty Banks is a composer/guitarist/teacher originally from Jasper, AL, now living in Pennsylvania.
His compositions benefit from themes relating to regions or environments. For example, his composition commissioned by the Alabama Music Teacher Association's 2004 convention featured audio samples from the Cahaba River, Alabama's last free-flowing river. Another work, "Long Pine Creek: New Year's Day," uses sounds from Long Pine Creek in Nebraska. His compositions range from traditional concert music to sonic installations where boom boxes are scattered throughout a room. His music is described as thoroughly modern, yet accessible, a description he shudders at, but reluctantly accepts. His compositions may be heard on Living Artist Recordings, as well as his web site, rustybanks.org.
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Friday, April 13, 2007
Old stuff...
Note: All posters welcome, but this is aimed at a music appreciation class I teach. We'd love to hear from composers besides me, though. If this is the only topic you see posted, go to:
http://sequenza21.com/banks.html
Well, we are done with the post-debussy portion of our Music and Culture class, and learning the ways of Mozart, Beethoven, and sonata form. I've heard a variety of feelings expressed about this:
A. "I'm glad we're finally studying the stuff I like (Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert)."
B. "I'm sad we're done with the stuff I like (Reich, Cage, Andriessen)."
C. "I'm glad we started with new music, because I would have zoned out from the start if we started with this old stuff."
D. "I wish we would have gone in chronological order rather than reverse. To end with Baroque music is a downer."
E. "I wish we could have studied Bernstien more."
So what do you think? Reverse chronological order, or no? Sonata form or prepared piano? Programmatic music or samples of speech?
Of course, I'd never settle for an "or" where we can have an "and."
posted by Rusty Banks
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