Sonic Crossroads

The newest publication from Sonic Crossroads is a beginning level lesson book for piano by Kathryn Woodard that doubles as a children's song book. I'm A Big Red Bird is a simple, pentatonic tune that can be played on the black keys, and the first lessons in the book explain how without the need for notation. Further lessons explore starting on different keys - "How do you make it sound the same? And how many keys can you start on?" It even encourages the student to play a duet with a piano partner - a…

The second set I performed at the Cicada Consort Marathon Benefit concert featured a short piece I composed in 2014 as part of the set Royal Portraits entitled "Count Belisarius (The Basilica Cistern)," in between Diary of a Madman by Pavel Kopecky and Petites Variations by Nicolas Verin. As with the previous set selections from literature were provided at the concert as a substitute for program notes. They are included below. In the case of Verin, I've included the composers and/or styles he is…

I had the great privilege of performing recently on the Cicada Consort Marathon Benefit Concert at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. The purpose was to raise money for the Michael J. Fox Foundation to support research into Parkinson's Disease and other neurological disorders. The concert featured over 40 performers and composers and I performed two solo sets as well as "Vox Balaenae" by George Crumb. 

For this blog entry for Spring 2016, I'm including video of the performances along with the…

The final issue of 2015 is here! We start with a work that actually does refer to the season (as the culmination of our previous post about various "Falls"), Autumn Music for woodwind quintet by Jennifer Higdon. Purchase score here

We feature two additional chamber works - Traces for clarinet, piano and string quartet by Kareem Roustom:

(Purchase score here)

And Okeanos Breeze for oboe, clarinet, viola, sho and koto by Dai Fujikura 

(Score can be obtained from the composer at his website.)

The video…

As we head into the fall and prepare for our next print issue, we thought we'd share a compilation of works that address "Fall" in all its varied meanings. Actually none of them represent the season, Autumn, although The Fall of the House of Usher by Philip Glass is definitely an appropriately spooky selection for the month of October. And so we'll start there:

Understandably it's difficult to find more than a short excerpt of the opera on YouTube, but this from the opening provides a glimpse of the…

Vulcan Lyric, a new opera theater company in Philadelphia led by music director Andrew Kurtz, has launched an exciting summer festival. Intended to 'fill a gap' in the summer months' programming in Philadelphia, the festival presents new or recently premiered opera theater works, including musical theater. This year's offerings included the world premiere of Maren of Vardø: Satan's Bride, The Heathers (musical), Glory Denied, and La hija de Rappaccini (Rappaccini's Daughter).

I attended the last work by…

As promised we move into the realm of larger ensemble works in this issue, beginning with Moondani: Black by Taran Carter of Australia. (Excerpt starts 2:00. Description of the work is provided on the YouTube page.)

Click here to purchase

We also provide a short feature on the wind arrangements available for free download as part of the U.S. Navy Band's Carl Fischer Project. These arrangements were published in journal fashion (much like Blink) as a way to promote sales by the publisher. Visit the websi…

In addition to our foray into North Indian Classical rhythm (see previous post for January 22), we feature the following composers in our second issue:

Brian Ciach

"Kentucky Folk Pieces" are available for sale both from ScoreExchange and ISSUU. You can also preview the entire score from the ISSUU link! Listen to the entire work on SoundCloud.

Jean-Christophe Rosaz

View a performance of Three Wise Monkeys here:

Orlando Jacinto Garcia - Listen to a full performance of horizontes imaginados on our new…

The Gankogui marks the beat in drum ensemble music of Ghana and other parts of West Africa. The beat is not a steady pulse but a particular rhythm that the ensemble is following or linking up with. This post and presentation provide examples of the 'bell rhythm' in West African drumming and how the rhythms can be heard in Caribbean traditional music such as Santeria and popular Latin music. 

Listen to an example of Agbekor music from Ghana:

Click here for specific information about the gankogui (And…

As a supplement to the workshop at TMEA in February, I provide some visual aids, descriptions and helpful links here for you to consult and study! These are only the basics and we will go much further with counting and improvising at the workshop! Much of the material here appears in a short article in the April issue of Blink along with additional exercises notated in syllables.

So we start with the clap-wave counts for Tintal:

Remember beats 1, 2, 3, 4 are +, 2, 0, 3. 

+ is 'sum' for the 'downbeat'; 0…