Seminar Content and Links

To all of you folks who attended the seminar yesterday, thanks for coming, and thanks for your interest and participation!

As promised, here are all the links i mentioned yesterday and a few more to support both composer and performer on your journey. I’ll post this on Todd’s Page as well, so that it will remain accessible long after this post has made it’s way to the background. I’ll also continue to put more links up as i remember that i forgot to mention them yesterday. (or just plain ran out of time) Don’t forget to check out Ableton Live!

I remembered as well that i didn’t even get to describe Soundpainting™ to you, which will be almost the entire basis of what we do for Musica Nova in October, so i’ll start to post some things about that soon, mostly on the October 18th Page, but i’ll let you know via the blog as well.

So, more links after the jump… but to get us started… here’s where I live, and you can listen to my music here . Once again, i’ve had a fantastic time here with you all, and i can’t wait to return in October! all the best, Todd click here to ==>

Open Conversation with Todd Reynolds on Saturday, 4:30-6:30 in Room 209

Want to know what it’s like out there right now in the music business? Want to know about life after Eastman? What’s possible? Have any tendencies toward other art forms or toward other disciplines within music? Like computers? Have questions about what a ‘creative voice’ means, and if you even have one? Like to ‘improvise’, but don’t know how to get started?
Todd will meet with performers and composers alike to share things learned from his own journey and experience in the music world, having forged close alliances with countless composers, performers and entities such as Yo-Yo Ma, Bang on a Can, Steve Reich, John Cale, Joe Jackson, Todd Rundgren and Tan Dun, to name a few, and having established an international presence as an innovator in music and performance, touring concert halls and clubs around the world with his own projects and in support of the projects of others.

Todd also recently completed six years of building a string quartet which rose to prominence in the music industry, leaving his band Ethel to focus on solo and educational projects. Building a not-for-profit organization and classical music ensemble is a viable and exciting option after graduate school, and there is much to be aware of even now if that exists for you in the back of your mind as a possibility.

If you have questions, or are just interested in what’s possible as you begin to think about your own future, do consider attending. Subjects covered include: computers and amplification in music training and performance, general practice techniques, music as socially relevant art form, classical music as ambassador for peace, and… Music as Play. like, as in, FUN.

Also embedded in the conversation is a demonstration of Ableton Live, a generation of music software which is indispensible to every musician, especially creative types, and one of the only packages which provides every tool necessary to music creation and production.  Imagine Garage Band but with 70 years of wisdom and an exhaustive array of paint and brushes.  A basic practice and rehearsal toolkit will be created in realtime, then used to create your own music quickly and easily over which to play and interact.  This is the perfect way to introduce yourself to electronic music.

This seminar is offered as sponsored by Brad Lubman and Musica Nova and is open to anyone, and a plentiful question and answer session will complete the event. Y’all come! We promise a ton of value and a good time to boot.  Milk and Cookies included in the price of admission.  $00.00

Welcome to the brand spankin’ new Musica Novacaine Blog!

A big shout out to the whole Musica Nova community. I’m only a guest here, but i thought i’d put up a little blog as part of my contribution while i’m here. It’s so nice to be back, I was a student here from ’85 to ’87, then Principal Second Violin of the RPO so, though i’m a little rusty, I still know my way around these hallowed halls which you inhabit.

I ended up being a ‘new musician’ for a living, for a lifestyle. It all started back in ’85, during my first year, and quickly became my passion. It’s a HUGE subject, what it means to be a ‘contemporary musician’, more later about that if you’d like to hear more of the story or more about what it meant to me personally to take this path.

Back then, Syd Hodkinson was our fearless leader, and a great leader he was. Now you’ve got Brad as a fearless leader, who is widely known in the professional community in New York and in some circles internationally as our most revered contemporary music conductor since Boulez. I’ve been playing under Brad’s hands for going on 12 years, and I never turn down an opportunity. You’ve got the best there is in your very midst.

In any case, it’s an honor and a privilege to be here to work with you all. Invited to contribute to my old school where it all started for me, where my life took turns which solidly placed me where i am now, I’m very happy and content and no less engaged and impassioned about music and what it can mean than i was in college. In short, I’m a very lucky man.
Brad, Lauren and myself will be authors during this experiment, and should it be a success, it will rock on for eons… You can comment to posts as well by replying in the comment fields. If you have interest in contributing a post of your own on a particular subject, let us know… don’t hold back now, ya hear?

So… Greetings. I look forward to getting to know you all, and to making some music together. Todd

CELLISTS OF DEATH!

My own friends and cellists who extend the boundaries of conventional cello playing….

Bang on a Can All-Stars cellist Wendy Sutter…Learn more about wendy at www.wendysutter.com.

Ensemble Intercontemporain cellist Pierre Strauch, who I worked with and became friends with at Lucerne Festival. Pierre is a cellist and composer…check out his Xenakis and Lachenmann recordings and learn more by clicking here.

Radical Dutch cellist Frances-Marie Uitti, the inventor of two-bowed cello! Frances-Marie writes her own compositions for two bows, but her two bows have also been written for by composers such as Kurtag and Scelsi. It’s an amazingly different sound. For more information on Frances visit her website.

A word from Brad…………

Greetings everyone! Yes, it is true, I am on sabbatical this semester. But actually, it is quite a busy sabbatical with many concerts in Europe and New York, mostly for the occasion of Steve Reich’s 70th (!) birthday. However, I am in Rochester during September, and will make a brief appearance on the first Musica Nova concert, September 25th (the debut of my new ensemble, Electric Fuzz).

But the real reason I’m writing this is to say how excited I am, gleeful even, that Musica Nova is in such expert and caring hands, namely those of Todd Reynolds and Lauren Radnofsky. Todd and I have worked together now for at least 16 years, in many different ensembles and walks of musical life. Quite simply, Todd’s the man! He’s a guru. A great violinist, conductor and composer, a deep and moving thinker, a generous and spiritual presence. It is indeed an honor and pleasure to have him here. I am so glad to be in Rochester this month to experience his work first hand.

I am also thankful that Musica Nova has the savvy and brilliance of Lauren Radnofsky, who is handling all things organizational, as well as coaching some pieces and covering some rehearsals. She is already doing a fantastic job. Here’s someone who is bravely paving a new path for new-music performance (amplified cello and electronics) and already has an impressive list of credentials (having worked in such diverse settings such as with members of Bang-on-a-Can, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Pierre Boulez at the Lucerne Festival, as well as an appearance on one of John Zorn’s Tzadik CD series).

It is such a pleasure to watch Todd and Lauren at work (yeah, I’m supposed to be on sabbbatical and stay away from Eastman……but I can’t help but come in to Eastman almost everyday, just to see what’s going on and remain a part of the scene, and what a wonderful and vital scene it all is!).

Next month I am not only involved with the 70th birthday celebrations for Steve Reich in London and New York, but also will be my debut conducting the American Composers Orchestra (and premiering a new work of mine) and the New York debut of Electric Fuzz, amongst other things.

I wish everyone a truly great semester!

Bass-Clarinetists of Death

Years ago, the Bass-Clarinet became much more than an orchestral instrument, and as such, the volume of music, both chamber and solo which is written for it has exponentially increased.

Evan Ziporyn, the composer of Tree Frog, is a Bass-Clarinetist whose musicianship, compositions and sheer powerful voice on the Bass-Clarinet is well-known and respected throughout the classical and world-music fields.

As amazing, as notable, and in fact the perfect foil and alter-ego to Evan is another incredible Bass-Clarinetist, Michael Lowenstern, whose website, earspasm.com has all the material you need to broaden your ‘bass-clarinetness’.

Check these guys out, PLEASE, even if you’re not a clarinetist, and share the links with your friends. Then SlapTongue your heart out.

String Swing!

Ever wish you just had some place to temporarily rest your fiddle rather than sticking it all the way back in the case? For my violinist and viola friends… i put this thing on a mic stand, on a regular stand, whatever, and it’s sorta nice when i have to write something or step away from something during a long rehearsal. just a little gadget, but blogworthy…

the String Swing

time to ramp it up a bit…

hey all. some additional things on the blog today…

you can listen to tree frog by either visiting the September 25th Concert page, or by clicking on either of the two links embedded in this very sentence…

also, i’m trying to work something very special out for 9.30-11 on thursday.  a little party… and i’m also trying to work out a little seminar for saturday 4.30 to 6.30.  if you’re interested in hearing a little about thinking outside of the box with toddy, keep the date free if you can, kay?

best, todd