Accommodation:

Couch Surfing:

Couch Surfing is the art of being hosted by a local fan or stranger and is the ultimate form of hospitality. Luckily, there are thousands of people willing to let you stay on their couches, floors, or in the guest room for free! When I said it is an art, I meant it, as it involves give and take and some time investment (as does everything meaningful in your career). Start by creating and completing your profile on CouchSurfing.com as a group. Provide pictures, a group bio and individual bios in a very personable manner (ie. not your band’s promotional bio). Once you know the dates of your tour, contact potential hosts by sending a personalized message detailing your plans in the city, why you think you would get along, and let them know of any goodies you can offer in return. Possible host treats include adding your host and friends to your guest list, cooking a special dish, bringing a unique something from your previous stop, and a copy of your album. Since most hosts can only accommodate a smaller group, if you are traveling with a posse, use multiple hosts. Be respectful, clean up after yourselves, and if there is free time to be had, it is very possible your host will show you their take on their hometown, adding a nice, touristic touch to your experience. The system works on references, so to build your credibility, try to host other travelers in your home city or at least attend local events. A nice side effect of hosting is creating a deep connecting to a a foreigner who then will potentially ‘spread the word’ in a different area or country.

Alternatives:

Consider contacting your fans via Twitter or Facebook detailing the dates and city of your tour and asking if anyone would be interested in hosting you. Your fans are your biggest supporters and will often be glad to help.

Check with any local bands that you are playing with to see if you could stay at their place. In return let them know that next time they come through your home town they have a free place to stay. If you can’t make any of the above options work, consider getting a motel room outside of downtown that has a free continental breakfast and double up on beds. Kayak.com is a great search tool for this as it compares rates from many sites, or use Priceline’s Name Your Own Price tool and make the motels fit within your budget. AirBnB.com will provide a similar experience to couch surfing, but you’ll have to pay a nightly rate. And there’s always the option of sleeping in the van…

Food:

First off, if your show is catered…enjoy! You may be able to pack some of the left-overs for the road. If not, try to limit yourself and band members to a per diem, remembering that there is no rule that states that you must use the entire amount each day. Saving a few dollars each day will add up, and by the end of the tour the less thrifty band members will stand jealous and amazed by the saver’s take-home. The grocery store is your ally, and you can easily buy ingredients and meals so the whole band can dine on the cheap. Don’t always order a value meal at fast food restaurants, order only what you need and consider drinking a free cup of water instead of soda. To each his own on the health content of food consumed, but packing some multi-vitamins for the group can help keep your immune systems strong and performers feeling energized. If you’re really doing your planning, follow daily deals on Yipit.com (a deal aggregator) for your tour stops and you could quite possibly avoid paying full price for a meal for the entirety of your tour. Combine this with splitting large portioned meals and everyone is dining for a quarter of the normal price.

Take it easy on your bar tab (if you weren’t able to negotiate free drinks), spending up to $8 per beer each night will drain your income fast. If you must drink, consider saving the drinking for elsewhere where you can buy at retail. Besides, you’re at your merch booth connecting with fans right?

Transportation:

Gas:

Costco:

If you will be driving quite a bit, find out if there will be a plethora of Costcos along your route. Gas prices are usually quite a bit cheaper than the average station, and saving a few dollars on each fill up can mean a lot when we’re talking about filling up vans over hundreds of miles. A membership card is needed, so do the math to see if you can justify the $50 initial cost, remembering that it might actually come in handy for other bulk band purchases as well.

Credit Cards:

Many credit cards offer a ‘cash back’ percentage on gas purchases. Some are tied to specific vendors while others apply to all gas purchases. Find a no-fee card which works best for your band’s account and save up to 5% automatically at each fill-up.

Be sure to also check GasBuddy.com to find the best current prices in a given area.

Rideshares:

Of course if you are a band, this is unlikely to work; however, rideshares can be another mode of transportation for solo artists to move about the country while avoiding the woes of vehicle ownership. The pros: no parking fees, less gas fees. The cons: can be unreliable, may be unsafe, timing must be less critical. Another major con is the non-existent to limited public transportation systems in American cities once you arrive. European tours and/or the roaming busker are better suited for this alternative transportation method.

Other Tactics:

Wi-fi:

Free wi-fi is abundant, but often there is pressure to buy a $5 latte to enjoy the privilege. To avoid paying data charges on each phone, forking over wireless surcharges at your accommodation, and driving in circles till a wi-fi signal appears, try using mobile internet such as the Clear 4G Rover Puck which creates a mobile hotspot and will allow up to eight wireless connections. Use this as your home internet service as well and essentially your connection travels with you on the road for no additional cost.

If you are savy, by implementing some of the mentioned tactics, you will soon realize that small savings truly add up.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Scott_F_Horton

Music video production companies have had to lower their prices to be able to compete with the lower profit margins the music industry is now facing. But is that a bad thing?

Well, people still need and want music videos, TV channels still play them and since the exponential growth in video streaming there is an even bigger audience for them.

We all understand by now the problems the music industry are facing with illegal downloads and the loss of physical sales, which has caused a price cut across the entire industry. Companies are now looking to reduce costs wherever possible and music videos are just one of those areas. The issue from this is that the companies still require the same production standard and level of quality that they are used to seeing. What this means is that the production company needs to get creative. Here are a few tips on how to do this:

1. Pre Production; It is vital to spend time on the pre production, creating the treatment, storyboarding the shots, designing the lighting set up etc. If you can’t afford a storyboard artist, then try using some storyboard software, most of them have trials so that you can decide which is the best for you. If you can’t afford that then a notepad always works. One important area of the pre production is location scouting. Make sure that you spend time finding the perfect location, on a limited budget this could take a lot longer but will make all the difference to the final edit.

2. Production; Choose your equipment wisely. Music videos are interesting as they don’t conform to any particular set model or format, they can literally be whatever you can dream up. first look at your equipment, what camera are you going to use? I realise that a lot of people still go on about it must be shot on the RED camera. It really doesn’t have to be. The camera is just a tool and it depends on how you use it. A great HD alternative nowadays is to shoot on a DSLR, which are very reasonably priced and allows you to hire a range of lenses without having to spend a fortune. Look at your lighting, what can you afford, if you only have a couple of red heads for example work out in pre production the most effective way of using them to achieve the lighting design that you want.

3. Post Production; This is key to getting that big budget look. I would suggest you take a couple of shots from different scenes and play around with different digital grading techniques that will enhance the image of your music video.

Once you have done this put your offline edit together, and once you are happy that the shots and the pace match your track create your online edit and your away.

By utilising reasonably priced equipment, post production software and spending time on the treatment that is feasible for your budget, there is no reason why you can’t compete with the top priced music videos, and create something which is creatively unique at a high quality standard.

Dynomite productions are a video and animation production company, creating work for public sector, private sector and broadcast clients.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joel_Fletcher

Of course you can sell it! What do you think you bought a lease for? O wait…don’t tell me you don’t know about the power of the lease? Hold up then, let’s take a step back:

Leases were created just for music artists (like you) to be able to take a beat that you are going crazy over, and to allow you to write to it, record to it and sell it.

But where the magic lies is that you don’t have to pay the producer of the beat an arm and a leg. You pay just a tiny bit, and your legally allowed to make a nice chunk of change using their beat while selling your song. When I say nice chunk of change I mean you can sell around 3,000 to 5,000 copies of the song.

You see, your not just paying for the actual beat, you pay for the right to make $$$ with it. Now don’t get me wrong, you might not be able to sell a billion copies of your song with just a lease but you’ll be able to sell based on the limit that the producer says is OK.

(This limit can be found on the lease license you purchased.)

Now lets pretend you already bought your beat with the lease, after you download your files, look around for the contract (.pdf file) that came with your beat. The file is usually named something like:

“beatname_leaseagreement.pdf”

When you open the document look around inside of it for something that reads:

“Sell Up To 3,000 copies” or “Use this instrumental for up to 3,000 copies on ONE commercial CD/Demo/Mixtape/etc project.”

If you bought your beat from a site that didn’t give you an actual.pdf, then that means that most likely on their site they have a notice that reads something like this:

“By purchasing from this site you agree to this licensing agreement”.

So this legally binds you as soon as you buy a beat from their site. You might be thinking that it’s kind of sucky to only be able to sell 3,000 or 5,000 copies of your song (and I completely agree by the way). That’s why I took the limits off for anyone that buys beats from my site, so if you’d like to be able to sell unlimited copies with just a lease then visit the link below.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Philip_A._Bassi

Depending upon the level of service you choose to engage with your music publicist, he or she may also personally represent you to the media – Scheduling and organizing media appearances, interviews and so on. This is usually not part of a standard music publicity campaign, but can be a part of it if your particular publicist engages in this element of music promotion.

PR tour support is another way that your publicist can help promote your career. If the publicity firm does tour pr support this can be helpful but is generally a separate part of most publicity campaigns. Usually this may be reserved for higher profile, better known artists. Essentially your music publicist will engage in advance tour support which can consist of a variety of things from writing and distributing press releases in the venue related city in which you will be performing in, to outreach advertising placement, all the way up to physically advancing the show with an in-person visit to the city and venue.

Overall, your publicist’s job is to gain meaningful media coverage and represent you to the media in the promotion of you as an artist and your record releases. Again, an effective music publicity firm can do wonders for your career if everything is done strategically and carefully. Hiring a good publicist can be tricky. Your best bet is to thoroughly interview them up-front making certain that all of your questions and concerns are adequately addressed. A publicist fees can vary depending on the level by which they represent you and the cost of a standard campaign is usually paid upfront or in two payments. A publicist who basically signs on for the long haul and represents you in all cases is usually put on a monthly retainer.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ken_Cavalier

Music Instruments discovered in burial sites and art include the Lyre, clappers and later even drums and wind instruments. Specifically, reed pipes, vertical flutes, lyres, harps, kitharas, drums, clappers, sistrum made for a wide array of instruments. Songs were often devotionals to the goddess Innanna. They were incorporated into religious and daily life. Another interesting discovery appears to be notation. A numeric system found on many hymnal texts seems to be a form of notation.

Music appears to have its roots in the temples, but soon became part of daily life. Musicians would purify their hands before playing stringed instruments such as the Lyre.

The music centered around the heptatonic-diatonic scale which is currently used in western music today. It had been believed that western music got its origin in later period Greek music, but scholars are now taking a closer look at Sumerian origins as a distinct possibility.

One must keep in mind that what could be attributed as musical Sumerian firsts could have very well been inherited from previous civilizations. We have little to no record of these prior civilizations, therefore, are unable to conclude concretely as to the origins of Sumerian instruments and scales. It is just simply fascinating though, to contemplate music from a civilization so incredibly ancient, yet so reflective of our very own modern civilization.

After the collapse of sumerian civilization around 2000 BC, you might think that all this knowledge had been lost. The Babylonians, however, used the knowledge gained from the Sumerians and continued the musical momentum.

To understand the role of musical theory in modeling the cosmos, one must realize that it involves: “the definition of intervals, the distance between pitches, by ratios of integers or counting numbers.” For the ancient Sumerians music was a tool that helped them describe the cosmos.(McClain, Ernest G.; “Musical Theory and Ancient Cosmology,” The World and I, p. 371,February 1994. Cr. L. Ellenberger)

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tinamarie_Hite

During the fifties there was rock and roll and with it came many singers whose names will take their place in music history, such as chuck berry. Chuck Berry made his name well known as singer, guitarist and song writer during the fifties. He is considered by many in the industry to be a pioneer of rock and roll.

Elvis Presley went on to become one of the most popular singers during the 20th century. He became a cultural icon and was very well known for the name Elvis and went on to be referred to as the king of rock and roll or just the king. He went on to become a leading star in newly popular sound and his energized performances of his songs made him enormously popular in the industry of entertainment.

In was during 1960 when a band from Liverpool became commercially successful and also were the most critically acclaimed acts in history. There sound was quite the same as many other during their early years, but they would go on working with several types of sound from rock and roll to pop ballads and even psychedelic rock as well as many more.

The Beatles made one of their first national tours in London in 1963 with a show that took place in Bradford. The tour was then used as their opportunity to generate their type of sound and style, which would finally lead them to becoming one great band to ever become part this kind of industry.

To many there are five top icons of all time who took a spot in history, such as Michael Jackson, who made his start in this business when he began singing along with his brother as the Jackson Five. The Beatles of coarse went on to become more than a household name. But one of the most successful bands ever.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Carolyn_Clayton

Some of the biggest names of music like Bach, Mozart and Beethoven are just left to be simple names. The present generation also with least interest finds them leaping over their heads. In order to acquaint learners with the rich history, faculties could prepare history lesson plans. These history lesson plans should be made in such a way ensuring music sessions be more interesting to the learners. As history is already perceived as a boring subject, henceforth, faculties could add up some different flavors to it while preparing lessons simplifying the process of music learning.

Music history lesson plans are generally prepared for students of different ages along with their inclinations towards learning it. The process could be turned into an intelligent session, if the prepared music history lesson plans are interpreted in the form of a story relating it with various historical dates and events. In this way, students are educated well about the history. To create more impact on today’s students, it is better to relate the music of today with the yesteryear’s compositions. This will give an edge to the faculties, bridging the huge gap between melodies of different eras.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=M_Umesh

First, let’s examine the attitudes that are needed, but that have been abandoned, for the development of special disciplines in the creation of a lasting modern music. This music that we can and must create provides a crucible in which the magic within our souls is brewed, and it is this that frames the templates that guide our very evolution in creative thought. It is this generative process that had its flowering in the early 1950s. By the 1960s, many emerging musicians had become enamored of the wonders of the fresh and exciting new world of Stockhausen’s integral serialism that was then the rage. There seemed limitless excitement, then. It seemed there would be no bounds to the creative impulse; composers could do anything, or so it seemed. At the time, most composers hadn’t really examined serialism carefully for its inherent limitations. But it seemed so fresh. However, it soon became apparent that it was Stockhausen’s exciting musical approach that was fresh, and not so much the serialism itself, to which he was then married. It became clear, later, that the methods he used were born of two special considerations that ultimately transcend serial devices: crossing tempi and metrical patterns; and, especially, the concept that treats pitch and timbre as special cases of rhythm. (Stockhausen referred to the crossovers as “contacts”, and he even entitled one of his compositions that explored this realm Kontakte.) These gestures, it turns out, are really independent from serialism in that they can be explored from different approaches.

The most spectacular approach at that time was serialism, though, and not so much these (then-seeming) sidelights. It is this very approach — serialism — however, that after having seemingly opened so many new doors, germinated the very seeds of modern music’s own demise. The method is highly prone to mechanical divinations. Consequently, it makes composition easy, like following a recipe. In serial composition, the less thoughtful composer seemingly can divert his/her soul away from the compositional process. Inspiration can be buried, as method reigns supreme. The messy intricacies of note shaping, and the epiphanies one experiences from necessary partnership with one’s essences (inside the mind and the soul — in a sense, our familiars) can be discarded conveniently. All is rote. All is compartmentalized. For a long time this was the honored method, long hallowed by classroom teachers and young composers-to-be, alike, at least in the US. Soon, a sense of sterility emerged in the musical atmosphere; many composers started to examine what was taking place.

The replacement of sentimental romanticism with atonal music had been a crucial step in the extrication of music from a torpid cul-de-sac. A music that would closet itself in banal self-indulgence, such as what seemed to be occurring with romanticism, would decay. Here came a time for exploration. The new alternative –atonality — arrived. It was the fresh, if seemingly harsh, antidote. Arnold Schonberg had saved music, for the time being. However, shortly thereafter, Schonberg made a serious tactical faux pas. The ‘rescue’ was truncated by the introduction of a method by which the newly freed process could be subjected to control and order! I have to express some sympathy here for Schönberg, who felt adrift in the sea of freedom provided by the disconnexity of atonality. Large forms depend upon some sense of sequence. For him a method of ordering was needed. Was serialism a good answer? I’m not so certain it was. Its introduction provided a magnet that would attract all those who felt they needed explicit maps from which they could build patterns. By the time Stockhausen and Boulez arrived on the scene, serialism was touted as the cure for all musical problems, even for lack of inspiration!

Pause for a minute and think of two pieces of Schonberg that bring the problem to light: Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21 (1912 – pre-serial atonality) and the Suite, Op. 29 (1924 serial atonality). Pierrot… seems so vital, unchained, almost lunatic in its special frenzy, while the Suite sounds sterile, dry, forced. In the latter piece the excitement got lost. This is what serialism seems to have done to music. Yet the attention it received was all out of proportion to its generative power. Boulez once even proclaimed all other composition to be “useless”! If the ‘disease’ –serialism –was bad, one of its ‘cures’ –free chance –was worse. In a series of lectures in Darmstadt, Germany, in 1958, John Cage managed to prove that the outcome of music written by chance means differs very little from that written using serialism. However, chance seemed to leave the public bewildered and angry. Chance is chance. There is nothing on which to hold, nothing to guide the mind. Even powerful musical personalities, such as Cage’s, often have trouble reining in the raging dispersions and diffusions that chance scatters, seemingly aimlessly. But, again, many schools, notably in the US, detected a sensation in the making with the entry of free chance into the music scene, and indeterminacy became a new mantra for anyone interested in creating something, anything, so long as it was new.

I believe parenthetically that one can concede Cage some quarter that one might be reluctant to cede to others. Often chance has become a citadel of lack of discipline in music. Too often I’ve seen this outcome in university classes in the US that ‘teach ‘found (!)’ music. The rigor of discipline in music making should never be shunted away in search of a music that is ‘found’, rather than composed. However, in a most peculiar way, the power of Cage’s personality, and his surprising sense of rigor and discipline seem to rescue his ‘chance’ art, where other composers simply flounder in the sea of uncertainty.

Still, as a solution to the rigor mortis so cosmically bequeathed to music by serial controls, chance is a very poor stepsister. The Cageian composer who can make chance music talk to the soul is a rare bird indeed. What seemed missing to many was the perfume that makes music so wonderfully evocative. The ambiance that a Debussy could evoke, or the fright that a Schonberg could invoke (or provoke), seemed to evaporate with the modern technocratic or free-spirited ways of the new musicians. Iannis Xenakis jolted the music world with the potent solution in the guise of a ‘stochastic’ music. As Xenakis’ work would evolve later into excursions into connexity and disconnexity, providing a template for Julio Estrada’s Continuum, the path toward re-introducing power, beauty and fragrance into sound became clear. All this in a ‘modernist’ conceptual approach!

Once again, though, the US university milieu took over (mostly under the stifling influence of the serial methodologist, Milton Babbitt) to remind us that it’s not nice to make music by fashioning it through ‘borrowings’ from extra-musical disciplines. Throughout his book, Conversations with Xenakis, the author, Balint András Vargas, along with Xenakis, approaches the evolution of Xenakis’ work from extra-musical considerations. Physical concepts are brought to bear, such as noise propagating through a crowd, or hail showering upon metal rooftops. Some relate to terrible war memories of experiences suffered by Xenakis, culminating in a serious wound. To shape such powerful sounds, concepts akin to natural phenomena had to be marshaled. From the standpoint of the musical classroom, two things about Xenakis are most troubling: one is his relative lack of formal musical training; the other, or flip side, is his scientifically oriented schooling background. In ways no one else in musical history had ever done, Xenakis marshaled concepts that gave birth to a musical atmosphere that no one had ever anticipated could exist in a musical setting. One most prominent feature is a sound setting that emulates Brownian movement of a particle on a liquid surface. This profoundly physical concept needed high-powered mathematics to constrain the movements of the (analogous) sound ‘particles’ and make them faithful to the concept Xenakis had in mind. There is, as a result, a certain inexactitude, albeit a physical slipperiness, to the movement of the sound particles. Nice musical smoothness and transition give way to unpredictable evolution and transformation. This concept blows the skin off traditional concepts of musical pattern setting! Its iridescent shadows are unwelcome in the gray gloom of the American classroom.

In their haste to keep musical things musical, and to rectify certain unwanted trends, the official musical intelligentsia, (the press, the US university elite, professors, etc.) managed to find a way to substitute false heroes for the troubling Xenakis. Around the time of Xenakis’ entry into the musical scene, and his troubling promulgation of throbbing musical landscapes, attendant with sensational theories involving stochastic incarnations, a group of composers emerged who promised to deliver us from evil, with simple-minded solutions erected on shaky intuitional edifices. The so-called ‘cluster’ group of would-be musical sorcerers included Krzysztof Penderecki, Henryk Górecki and Gyorgy Ligeti. These new musical darlings, with their easy methodologies, gave us the first taste of the soon-to-emerge post-modernism that has posed as our ticket to the Promised Land for the last thirty years. It seemed that, just as music finally had a master of the caliber and importance of Bach, Schonberg, Bartok and Varese in the person of one Iannis Xenakis, history and musicology texts seemed not to be able to retreat quickly enough to embrace the new saviors, all the while conspiring against an all embracing creativity found fast, and well-embedded within the turmoil of the stochastic process.

Alas, Xenakis has been exiled from American history, as much as the powers have been able to do so! His competition, those in the intuitive cluster school, became the fixtures of the new musical landscape, because their art is so much easier than that of Xenakis. Ease of composing, of analyzing and of listening are the new bywords that signal success in the music world. Those who extol such virtues herald the arrival and flourishing of post-modernism and all its guises, be it neo-romantic, clustering or eclecticism. The proud cry these days, is “Now we can do about anything we wish.” Better, perhaps, to do nothing than to embrace such intellectual cowardice.

The promise of a return to musical fragrances that walk in harmony and synchronicity with intellectual potency was precious and vital. It should signal the next phase of evolution in the creative humanities. The challenge to write about this potential of a marriage of humanities was overwhelming. No adequate text seemed to exist. So I had to provide one. All that was lacking for a good book was a unifying theme.
Algorithms control the walk of the sounds. Algorithms are schemata that work the attributes of sound to enable them to unfold meaningfully. An algorithm is a step-function that can range from a simple diagram to stochastic or Boolean functions. Even serialism is an algorithm. While they are important, algorithms take second place in importance to the focus of music: its sound. This concentration is given a terminology by composer, Gerard Pape: sound-based composition. Isn’t all music sound based? It’s all sound, after all.

Well, yes, but not really. The point of the term is to highlight the emphasis of the approach being on the sound, rather than on the means used for its genesis. In sound-based composition, one concentrates on a sound, then conjures the way to create it. In serialism, ordering takes precedence over quality. The result often is vapid: empty sound. Directionless pointillism robs music of its vital role, the conjuring of imagery, in whatever guise. The other leading practitioner of sound-based composition is Dr. Julio Estrada. In his composition classes and seminars at UNAM (Universidad National Autonoma de México), he emphasizes the mental formation of an imaginary, sort of an idealized imagery. Then the composer/students are directed to formulate a conspirator sound essence that conveys something of the élan of this imaginary. Only then, once the construct of sound is concocted, is the method of sound shaping in the form of notation employed. Understanding of imagery and of fragrance precedes their specification. This is a sophisticated example of sound-based composition.

A curious, special case arose out of the arcane methods of Giacinto Scelsi, who made explicit what long had been lurking in the background. He posited a ’3rd dimension’ to sound. He felt that the trouble with the serialists was in their reliance upon two dimensions in sound: the pitch and the duration. For Scelsi, timbre provides a depth, or 3rd dimension, explored only rarely until his groundbreaking work. He devised ways to call for unusual timbres, and evolutions of timbre that resulted in his focusing on the characteristics of, and the transformations between (within!), attributes of single tones. Indeed, his Quattro Pezzi are veritable studies in counterpoint within single tones!

This concept of sound-based composition provided the unifying seed around which a book could be built. It would be one that could salvage something of the first principles of the union of intellectual discipline and a vibrant sound context: that is, music with meaning, challenge, discipline, ambience and something that requires courage and commitment in its conception. Such would be a music that yields special, beautiful, powerful, alluring fruits, which, nonetheless, disclose their secrets only reluctantly, demanding skillful teasing out of their magic.

This epiphany revealed a road by which we could reestablish the Xenakian ideal of musical power attainable primarily through processes that have their basis in the physics and architecture of the world around us. Here was not only the answer, the antidote, if you will, to the rigidities of serialism, but also a cure for the sloppiness of unconstrained chance composition. Here was a way out of the impasse confronting composition in the 1960s. The question should be not what method to use to compose, for that leads only to blind alleys (serialism, chance or retreat), but why compose? What is in the musical universe that can open pathways not yet explored, pathways that reveal something that stir a soul? What is the best way to accomplish that?

If we abandon the search for unique roads and for challenge, we will become the first generation ever in music to proclaim that backwards movement is progress; that less is more. Yet the very apostles of post-modernism will have us believe just that! They hold that the public has rejected modernism; the public has held modernism to be bankrupt. Post-modernists will lure you into the trap that, because of its unmitigated complexity, serialism promised only its demise. “The only road into modernism is sterile complexity; we need to root this out, and return to simplicity. We won’t have a saleable product, otherwise.” This is the thinking that gave us minimalism, the nearest relative to ‘muzak’ one can conjure in art-music. One composer, a one-time avant-gardist, actually apologized for his former modernity, on stage, to the audience, before a performance of his latest post-modern work!

There is an inscription in the halls of a monastery in Toledo, Spain: “Caminantes, no hay caminos, hay que caminar” (pilgrims, there is no road, only the travel). This was a beacon for one of music history’s most courageous pilgrims – a fighter for freedom for the mind, for the body, and for the ear: Luigi Nono. His example could serve us all well. He exposed himself to grave danger as a fighter against oppression of all kinds, not least of all the musical kind. It takes courage to create. It isn’t supposed to be easy! Nothing worthwhile ever is. It would seem to me that Nono’s example serves as the antithesis to that of the previous composer.

I examine music history of the 20th century to find clues as to why certain composers generate more excitement than others. Is it possible that sound-based composition has flourished in an intuitive way from back into the 19th century? Has it been around a while, but just not codified explicitly as such? I feel that is so. To some extent the roots of this idea can be found in the so-called nationalism of such composers as Bartók and Janacek. Nationalism has gotten something of a bad rap due to folksy, cutesy concoctions usually redolent within its environments. But, upon reflection and examination, the more rigorous efforts in nationalistic composition yield tremendous fruits. Note especially Bartók’s highly original devices of twelve-tone tonality (e.g., axis positions and special chords). Less well known, but important as well, are the special folk vocal inflections resident in Janácek’s music. These special qualities spilled over from the vocal to the instrumental writing. So it appears that we can make a strong case for sound-based composition (composition focused on special sound qualities) being rooted in the music by the turn of the 20th century.

The process of creation is the focus; not the glorification of the superficial sounds that only mimic real music. The reinstatement of Xenakis’, Nono’s, Scelsi’s and Estrada’s ideals to preeminence was crucial. The recognition of these trends, in preference to those of the more facile and easily attractive ones espoused by Penderecki, Ligeti and others, had to be ensured. The easy lure of cluster music had to be resisted.

If we don’t make this distinction clear, all that follows is nonsense. Too many people apply modernism to anything that resided in the 20th century that contained a little dissonance. That is a common error. For others, modernism exists in any era – it simply is what’s happening at a given time, and is appropriate as a description for music in that era. This, too, is wrong for its reluctance to confront the creative process.

We mustn’t yield to these impulsive descriptions, for to do so renders the profound efforts of the 20th century meaningless. There is a unifying thread in music that qualifies it to be considered modern, or modernist, and it isn’t just a time frame. Modernism is an attitude. This attitude appears periodically in music history, but it is most effectively understood in the context of creativity, most pronouncedly found late in the 20th century. Modern music is the music composed that results from research into the attributes of sound, and into the ways we perceive sound. It usually involves experimentation; the experimentation yields special discoveries that bear fruit in the act of composition. This distinction is crucial; for even though much cluster music, and some neo-classical music, contains high dissonance, their focus is reactionary. The experimental work of Schonberg, Berg, Webern, Bartok, Varese, and that of some Stravinsky, is forward-looking, in that the music is not a solution unto itself: it provides a template for further work and exploration into that area. Even more so, the works of Cage, Xenakis, Scelsi, Nono and Estrada.

The composers chosen for discussion herein are the ones I consider to be the most exemplary models in the development of sound based composition. They are as follows:

-Janacek (nationalist inflection)
-Debussy (chord-coloration)
-Mahler (expressionism and tone-color melody)
-Ravel (impressionism)
-Malipiero (intuitive discourse)
-Hindemith (expressionism in a quasi-tonal context)
-Stravinsky (octatonic diatonicism)
-Bartok (axial tonality, arch form, golden section construction)
-Schonberg (expressionism, atonality, klangfarbenmelodie))
-Berg (‘tonal’ serialism)
-Webern (canonic forms in serialism, klangfarbenmelodie)
-Varese (noise, timbral/range hierarchies)
-Messiaen (modes of limited transposition, non-retrogradable rhythms, color chords)
-Boulez (special live electronics instruments)
-Stockhausen (pitch/rhythm dichotomy)
-Cage (indeterminacy, noise, live electronics)
-Xenakis (Ataxy, stochastic music, inside-outside time attributes, random walks, granularity, non-periodic scales)
-Nono (near inaudibility, mobile sound, special electronics)
-Lutoslawski (chain composition)
-Scelsi (the 3rd dimension in sound, counterpoint within a single tone)
-Estrada (The Continuum)

There is so much glitter in the world, and so much noise pollution that we are being rendered incapable of reflection and of creative thought. We become mortified at the thought of a little challenge. We are paralyzed when faced with the challenge of keeping our evolutionary legacy in focus. We cannot afford to trade away quality for mediocrity, just because mediocrity is easier and more enticing. This would not be an acceptable social outcome. To live we must thrive. To thrive we cannot rest.

Entertainment is a laudable pursuit in certain settings and times. It cannot be the force that drives our lives. If a composer desires to write entertaining music, that is all right. But that composer must be honest about his or her motives for doing so. Do not write entertainment and then try to con the public by claiming this is great music. It is best to be able to discover the key to the writing of a music that can fulfill a need for tomorrow. By understanding nature, the nature of sound and the human condition, we can write music capable of conveying something essential. That goes beyond entertainment. It fulfills music’s most crucial purpose: providing a teaching role. What better way to go through a learning process than to find oneself doing so while wrapped in a cocoon of beauty? Music can be our best teacher.

It is all right to find beauty in old sources. Even Respighi can be very charming, engaging. It is also just as good to listen to soothing, euphonious music as it is to write such music. But can’t we as composers do better than this? Why can’t we give something besides pleasure to tomorrow? Young composers today are at a crossroads. They can fulfill a vital mission by helping fulfill a tradition that carries on a cultural legacy. Today’s composers must begin to dream; and then compose.

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First of all, when we use the words ‘new music,’ we make the arrogant assumption that we are talking about the new music of our own generation, as if preceding generations did not have and talk about new music. Let us go back to the early 1700s, at the end of J.S. Bach’s lifetime where we will find only one such circumstance of the advent of new music. J.S. Bach’s sons were among the proponents of this new music that we now call Classical.

The music of J.S. Bach’s day, the Baroque, was a more complex form of music, thus we see yet another instance of new music involving a de-evolution of sorts and part and parcel with a popular movement. As a student, I had a music history professor whose pet theory was that everything after J.S. Bach was just a recycling of material, as it were. If you look at music from the standpoint of the harmonies only, it is difficult to argue against what he said.

Again, in this day and age, we are seeing lots of lawsuits being filed by one artist against another, saying that their song was ‘ripped off.’ This happened even back in the days of Classic Rock, and understandably, since rock was so obviously derivative of the older big band sounds.

Even though we have been through a dozen or more labels since, such as new wave, punk, and grunge, there has not been much movement away from the usual chord progressions. The Beatles were quite glib about songs that they had ‘nicked’ or stolen, meaning that they had taken the chord structure of some song and changed the tempo and lyrics. One obvious example of this is ‘There Were Bells’ and ‘Little Child’ which appear on the same album!

A recent article in the Times defended this process, saying that when an artist makes certain changes to a song and individualizes it with their own view of it and interpretation, then they own that (version) of the song.

Ironically, this is more in line with the view composers in the baroque seemed to take. Bach thought nothing of changing Vivaldi violin concertos to harpsichord concertos as he thought nothing of his own music being played on completely different instruments than it was originally written for.

All of which begs the question; is there really such a thing as new music. Perhaps there is only the new music release.

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That is why music faculties are finding it hard to turn their students towards this one subject and is considered as an old fashioned thing to learn. Teaching history of music is not that easy as it seems to be. Before conducting music classes, the music faculty has to convince their learners to opt for this subject. It is completely on the music faculty to turn their students positive about the subject. A faculty in this case should be very creative in convincing his students through showing the benefits of the subject.

Make sure you conduct music classes in a very interactive manner bringing the students to speak about their personal music likings linking such things with the history of music. As you are in charge of teaching music history, ensure your music classes do not become stereotyped with the same dull lectures and studies. Make it fun and playful by including activities that encourage students to participate in them. Bring on old and unique instruments to your class; let them know about the evolution of such instruments. This will help the students to work on their creative sides and your purpose will get fulfilled. Only this way could actually work for teaching music history.

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