Adam Neely video on rap covers

I have been enjoying Adam Neely’s videos for a few years, so it was pretty exciting when he asked me to help out with his recent examination of white supremacy and music theory. It was even more exciting when he invited me to do an interview on the problem of the white rap cover. See the result here:

Seeing Adam’s process from the inside gives me great respect for his skills as an editor. He had a list of questions for the interview, but it was free-flowing and jumped around on many tangents. The tight and logical sequence of ideas you see above is the result of postproduction. 

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Remixing a solo saxophone recording by Catherine Sikora

Many years ago, I played some jazz with Catherine Sikora. She was a fierce and excellent saxophonist then, and her playing has only grown in the time since. In the past few years, Catherine has been releasing a series of albums of solo and duo improvisation. That takes a lot of confidence! Her lines are abstract and angular, but they have their own strong internal logic, and she has effortless control over a range of tones and timbres.

When I hear “unaccompanied solo instrument recording,” my producer brain instantly says, “Remix!”

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I’m making a bunch of music teaching videos

Partially to prepare for remote teaching my courses, and partially to keep myself from losing my mind, I’m putting a bunch of new videos on YouTube. I’m starting with material I’ve done many times in classes and conference presentations, and then will be branching out into newer stuff as I go.

I imagine that these will also get looser and more podcast-y as I go along, so if you have requests for topics or themes, please let me know.

Live film scoring with No Country For Old Men

My New School class was recently observed by another faculty member. She suggested that I have the students do more music-making during class (currently they make lots of music, just outside of class.) I like this idea. So my plan is to do a live film scoring exercise using No Country For Old Men by the Coen Brothers. Each member of the class will improvise music along with a scene from the film. They can perform using instruments in Ableton or GarageBand via my little MIDI controller or the aQWERTYon. They can also use the piano in the classroom, or bring an instrument of their own. This is an improvisation exercise, and I am not expecting anyone to prepare. However, they are free to watch the movie first if they want.

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Circular rhythm visualization talk at Spotify

Today I got to talk about rhythm visualization in general and the Groove Pizza in particular at the Spotify Monthly Music Hackathon. Click the image to see my talk, I start at 1:23:47.

Circular rhythm talk at Spotify

Here are my slides:

Want me to come to your school, company, meetup or whatever, and do this talk? Or something like it? Get in touch.

 

Björk live at Kings Theater

While my son’s birth has been the most joyous event of my life, he has put a serious damper on my and Anna’s concert-going. I tell my musician friends: I’ll happily come to your gig, as long as it’s on a Sunday afternoon with walking distance of my apartment. Well, today, Björk obliged us by doing exactly that.

Björk at Kings Theater

Anna and I have been to two of her shows previously, and both were delightful experiences, but they were also in support of her two weakest albums (Volta and Biophilia.) This time, however, Björk is touring with Vulnicura, a beautiful set of songs, her best work since Medúlla and a welcome return to the sonic palette of Homogenic. Here’s my favorite track:

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Listening, hearing, and the infinite loop

Rob Walker wrote a blog post listing different strategies for how to pay attention. (Update: he later wrote a whole book about it, I’m quoted in it.) Deep attention makes the difference between looking at something and actually seeing it. Rob is talking mostly to visual artists and designers, but his methods work well for musicians too–seeing is to looking as hearing is to listening. Paying attention is the most basic skill an artist needs in any medium, and one of the most basic skills a person needs in life. Not only does artistic practice require attention, but it also helps you learn attention. When you look critically at a painting or listen critically to a song, you are disciplining your attentional system.

Being able to focus deeply has its obvious practical benefits, but it’s also an invaluable tool for making your emotional life more manageable. It’s significant to me that the image below appears in two different Wikipedia articles: attention and flow.

Attention, and flow

When people ask me why we should study the arts, I think the attention argument is the best answer. The variety of deep attention known as mindfulness is a powerful antidepressant. Teaching the arts isn’t just about cultural preservation and transmission; it’s also a cost-effective public health measure. Music isn’t the only method for practicing your attention, but it’s one of the best. This post will address my preferred method for focusing my musical attention: the infinite loop.

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