everybody loves
difficult music
a performance and discussion series at
machine project
and, running concurrently at machine project...
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you,
too, can play difficult music
a series of audience
participation performances
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feb 4 through may 6
Featuring...
sat feb 4 – mark menzies
sun feb 12 – adam overton, mark so
thu feb 16 – michael pisaro
sun feb 26 – michael kudrika (4pm)
sat mar 4 – liam mooney, thadeus
frazier-reed
thu mar 23 – hands
on’semble
(postponed) – earbees for
kids (sara roberts) (11 AM)
sat mar 25 – stina hanson, douglas wadle,
vitamin wig c [robert hansen + aaron spafford]
sun apr 2 – corey fogel, lorin edwin
parker
fri apr 7 – mark
trayle
fri apr 14 – notecard event
(james orsher)
sat apr 15 – clay chaplin, joseph kudirka,
phillip stearns
fri apr 21 – april guthrie and cassia streb
sat
apr 29 – vinny golia
sun apr 30 –
harris wulfson
sat may 6 – stephen "lucky" mosko memorial
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We decided to have an event series at Machine Project about difficult music, and the first stage is figuring out what we mean by "difficult". Difficult like doing calculus? digging post-holes? holidays with the family? We're going to look at what difficult could mean for composers, for performers, and for the audience. With Everybody Loves Difficult Music, Machine has planned a series of performances, accompanied by discussions with the composers and performers. Here are some issues that we hope to address:
Expectations. What do you, as a listener, expect to hear? Chris Mann, performer of spoken music, says that we're usually listening for, not listening to, music; that our attitude is that we'll know it when we hear it, and we'll listen for that--not to whatever is there.
Trust. Difficult music tests the trust between the composer, performer and audience. Can a composer trust a player's instincts if he leaves things open to interpretation? Does an audience member trust that it's worth the work of overcoming ingrained expectations and ideas of what constitutes music and how to respond to it?
Virtuosity. What is it? Is it defined only by physical mastery?
How does one tolerate, even enjoy, all this ambiguity? To quote performance artist Laetitia Sonami, how do you even know it's responsible ambiguity?
We aim to look directly at what makes some kinds of music difficult (and exciting) for performer and audience. The performances will invite listeners to experience the music. Talks and discussion about the work give some insight into the intention of the composer, how performers learn, play, and feel about these demanding pieces, and how this work is experienced by the audience.
We tend to think of the performance of traditional music as requiring arduous training to reach a necessary virtuosity. Instead of attempting the precise reproduction of a notated score through rehearsal, some of the most interesting new music creates structures that subvert the need for a specialized musician, emphasize listening over action and collapse the barrier between performer and audience.
To perform this work you do not have to read music, be in perfect time, or have well-honed instrumental skills. These works depend on you to be alert to the moment, to rely on your judgement and your reflexes. They ask you to continously examine your notions of what constitutes music. When technical virtuosity is replaced by something else, what remains? A virtuosity of restraint? A virtuosity of choice? If a composer were to give a performer the choice of "any sound" would there still be a "right" sound? Would the most virtuosic performance be the one that chooses the most "right" sound? Many times a score is more open-minded than the composer!
Seeing this as an integral part of the discussion about difficult music, we devised a concurrent series emphasizing active listening and sincere engagement--we invite everyone to join in: You Too Can Play Difficult Music.
- Mark Allen, James Orsher, Sara Roberts