Hot off the…ur presses.  Australian Brett Dean has won the 2009 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition for his violin concerto The Lost Art of Letter Writing (2006; if you have RealPlayer installed you can hear a couple minutes of it here, as well as a podcast interview with Dean himself). The Grawemeyer Award, granted annually by the University of Louisville, is the world’s most prestigious composition prize—worth $200,000—and  Dean is the first composer from Oz to win the award. Dean’s The Lost Art of Letter Writing was selected from a field of 145 entries worldwide, and the Grawemeyer’s prize announcement describes the

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1ThSi1wbqU[/youtube]

It was clear: the times, they needed a-changin’.  And they needed not just any change, but change folks could believe in.  And so it fell unto the musicians of the Lost Dog New Music Ensemble to stand astride history and say “Yes.”  Generations from now, it will be to this week that historians point as the moment in which Music Got Much Better.  For them, and us, we thank Laura Barger (piano), Emily Brausa, (‘cello),  Miranda Cuckson (violin), Christine Perea (flute), and Thomas Piercy (clarinet).  They are led by the great Garth Sunderland.

Did you learn anything in music school? Or does the phrase “circle of fifths” mean nothing to you? How does one learn “anything”? Doesn’t one learn “something”? “Something” and “anything” really aren’t the same thing, are they? Could you help me out here? What’s your favorite “bad” piece of music? And briefly justify your crappy taste. Would my favorite “bad” piece of music be “better” or “worse” than my next-favorite “bad” piece on my list? Just trying to get oriented. . . . Your five-composition-long playlist for Schoenberg would contain: Huh. I was not aware “composition” was a unit of measurement.

Y’all know the song. “Down. Town. Galen Brown… Meaner than a–” Galen’s meaner than a… um… he’s meaner than a Boobah. Yes, Galen is meaner than a Boobah.  As you’ll see from his incendiary responses below. Did you learn anything in music school? Or does the phrase “circle of fifths” mean nothing to you? Yes. Actually, the worst music theory teacher I ever had managed to teach me that the only legitimate chord progressions are derived from the circle of fifths, which of course isn’t true. That was in undergrad, though. In conservatory I learned that homework generally doesn’t have

Rusty Banks.  Composer. Did you learn anything in music school?  Or does the phrase “circle of fifths” mean nothing to you? Circle of fifths?  I remember that.  Never cared for how it sounded, but it looked good on a T-shirt.  Kinda like Glam Rock Super-group KISS. What’s your favorite “bad” piece of music?  And briefly justify your crappy taste. Bad Music?  Oooh.  I LOVE bad music.  There are just too many.  I cite three from different parts of my life. As a pre-school age boy my favorite song was Sam the Sham and the Pharaoh’s “Whooly Bully” played at too

We continue with Alex Kotch.  Composer. Did you learn anything in music school?  Or does the phrase “circle of fifths” mean nothing to you? Sure, there’s plenty to learn. Orchestration and taking apart scores are essential, and stuff I sometimes put off if I don’t have an institution to force them on me. But probably the most important thing I’ve learned from school is what we need to change. The status quo needs to be purged. Development, counterpoint, linearity need to be options, not requirements. We’re being given a standardized set of tools, which inevitably produce homogeneity. And pop music needs

As we watch the inexorable approach of the Sequenza21 concerts (December 1 and 5.  Those dates are in your calendar, right?  Go ahead and take care of that now, I’ll wait.  All set?  Great.) you may be thinking to yourself “What can I do to help?”  Obviously you can come to the concert, and you can spread the word, but there’s another thing too. Both of these concerts are going to be free to the public, but we have a variety of expenses to pay for, from the cost of the performance venues to paying the fabulous Lost Dog musicians. 

Our buddy Frank J. Oteri’s seldom seen bluegrass band, The String Messengers, will be pickin’ and grinnin’ tonight at the Cornelia Street Cafe, commencing at 8 pm.  The whole clan’ll be there: Frank J. York, Mandola Joe, their younger brothers Ratzo, Jeff, and Jon, as well as Uncle Murphy. Opening up for the Messengers will be Frank’s new trio Tonally Perplexed which will introduce you to keys you never knew existed featuring Ratzo on bass and effects, Jeff on prepared guitar and Frank on the 205-tone-per-octave tonal plexus. Admission is $10 plus a one-drink minimum but the bar is well-stocked