Jump to content

Eleran

Members
  • Posts

    2,699
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    14

Posts posted by Eleran

  1. "Everything Is Wrong And It’s _____ Fault!"

    Clearly, it is my son's fault.   

    Everything was ok the last half dozen years, right?  Common denominator:  he marched in DCI.

    This year, he took off in order to pursue an academic opportunity during the summer, and BAM ... all of DCI decides it can't go on without him this summer.

    So what happens next year, if he elects to waive his final year of eligibility?  Will DCI itself cease to exist?

  2. Exactly the sort of response I expected from you.   "The entire music world does it ... Well, the entire music world minus orchestras and operas, but they just play dead white guys not modern music ... Well, not all modern music, because wind ensembles are just as bad as orchestras."   Let us know when the "entire music world doing it" is reduced to you and your three drinking buddies.

    So you know him well, to refer to him as John?  

     

  3. 9 hours ago, MarimbaManiac said:

    Yes I work in music technology, but I also have a Master's degree in composition in addition to my degree in music technology, and a PhD in composition and theory. I'm immersed in the instrumental music scene and go to tons of performances with orchestral instruments CONSTANTLY. Here's something you don't realize. The orchestras/opera are a very small part of the new music community. Why? Access to professional orchestras that are willing to play new music is ABYSMAL. They mostly stick to playing music by dead white guys, and leave very little room for living composers. 

    So the vast majority of music composed and performed today is for chamber ensembles, small duos and trios, and mixed ensembles with electronics. Technology plays a huge role in the presentation of new music, whether or not you're willing to see that. 

    And again, I contend that your's is but ONE experience within the world of modern music.  So for an alternate view, I asked a fairly young (45) composer today whom I know somewhat, who also happens to have a Masters in Composition (from Juliard), though alas no PhD.    You may have heard of him - John Mackey (played by at least one drum corps every year over the last decade, and probably by the majority if not all of DCI's young musicians at one point or another).

    Question:   "What are your feelings towards amplification and sound engineering of your compositions?  Are they better off being played acoustically?  Are they improved by A&E?"

    Answer:  "I don't want (or typically need) amplification unless specified (such as a human voice singing with a wind ensemble)"

    Question: "How about balancing and engineering to correct for the venue?  Worthwhile or too artificial?"

    Answer:  "Worth it for recordings but I wouldn't mess with the natural acoustics.  They do this at some conventions and it rarely helps."

    I have never questioned your expertise in sound engineering.  I have only questioned your blanket statements that sound engineering is a fait accompli in the entire music world.  It may be the be-all, end-all in your particular music scene, and maybe you don't like Mackey's work, but as a living modern composer his opinions and experiences are at least as valid as your own.

     

    • Like 1
  4. Just now, tedrick said:

    I don't mind Dan Potter, but asking Spartans drum major after their last competitive performance in front of the semis audience if their championship deserves and asterisk by it since BDB and SCVC didn't attend was not the question to ask. Of all the things you coulda asked, that's what you go with?

    Perhaps the DM should have replied:   "Does your career deserve an asterisk because Brandt Crocker is getting too old?"

    • Like 2
    • Haha 5
  5. 8 minutes ago, MarimbaManiac said:

    I've provided an example of a major institution that is using technology to enhance their acoustic performances. You're choosing to ignore that because it doesn't fit your personal narrative and experiences.

    The orchestras/opera are a very small part of the new music community. Why? Access to professional orchestras that are willing to play new music is ABYSMAL. They mostly stick to playing music by dead white guys, and leave very little room for living composers. 

    So the vast majority of music composed and performed today is for chamber ensembles, small duos and trios, and mixed ensembles with electronics. Technology plays a huge role in the presentation of new music, whether or not you're willing to see that. 

    You didn't provide "an example of a major institution that is using technology to enhance their acoustic performances" .  You provided an example of a major institution retrofitting a rehearsal space so they could offer up new experimental music SIX TIMES A YEAR, while continuing to serve acoustically in their normal house their regular customers  (who number 150x those attending the experimental works).  

    Yes orchestras/opera are a very small part of the new music community - but you keep acting like that new music community is larger than the existing classical music industry.   If your new music is really so successful and prevalent, then wouldn't SF be able to book their new venue which serves it up more than 6 nights a week?!?   How many people are actually listening to those duos and trios and mixed ensembles you mention?

    • Like 1
  6. 1 minute ago, MarimbaManiac said:

    You're still grasping at straws to ignore what people who have direct experience with this are telling you, because you're convinced that we're somehow trying to pull the wool over your eyes about the prevalence of technology in the instrumental medium. 

    Get a grip man, you seem a bit unhinged. 

    You keep saying "instrumental medium" - please define exactly what non-electronic instruments to which you refer, if you are ruling out orchestras, opera companies, ballet companies, british-style brass bands, etc.   I've been waiting for 90 pages for you to actually back up that argument with facts, but you seem unable or unwilling to do so.

    And as for your having direct experience, you've already admitted that you have NONE, even as an audience member, when it comes to those ensembles I named.  You call me unhinged, because you can't put together an argument better than a pompous  "I know best, so all you old people should just die off and leave the planet to me."     You call everyone else's statements biased, when you are the one with a personal career interest in the sound engineered world.   

  7. 10 minutes ago, JimF-LowBari said:

    Would love to know how many mb use mics, sound board and ear buds like I am reading here. 

    Here in central NJ I'd say that all (or nearly all) HS marching bands use amplification of the front ensemble, and often stationary microphones for soloists (from brass to flutes).  Many also occasionally use clip-on microphones for individual soloists staged away from the sideline.  Soundboards are usually manned by the band director or an assistant director (i.e. an adult, since that question will probably be asked).

    And frankly (though Mike at West Windsor will disagree), the vast majority of A&E does not represent an improvement in sound in my opinion.

  8. 18 hours ago, MarimbaManiac said:

    Read the article I posted, it's one example of a major instrumental music organization that is using the same techniques I've described in the thread to change the acoustics of the venue. 

     

    And not to belabor the point, but I did a little more looking at the SF Soundbox venue which you offer up as evidence of symphonies going electronic.  Five years into this experiment, and the entire annual 2018-2019 season of this wonderful electronic forefront of music consisted of a grand total of 6 nights.   With a 500 capacity venue, that's 3,000 audience members for the entire year, whereas Davies Hall packs in just under 3,000 each performance, and plays roughly 150 times a year.   450,000 audience members a year in one city may not be Taylor Swift territory by a long shot, but please don't tell me that a 3,000/year electronics experiment is heralding the demise of a 450,000/year acoustic institution.

    Edit:  PS - they don't even allow audience members under 21 because serving alcohol is apparently as important as the art.

    • Thanks 1
  9. 1 minute ago, MarimbaManiac said:

    Read the article I posted, it's one example of a major instrumental music organization that is using the same techniques I've described in the thread to change the acoustics of the venue. 

     

    Change it's secondary venue, holding at most 500, for mostly modern and experimental works.  It's not replacing Davies Hall any time soon.  

  10. 31 minutes ago, MarimbaManiac said:

    Again, you're ignoring everything that doesn't fit your narrative, ...

    To connect it back to the topic at hand...how many of the corps this year are playing Mozart? Brahms? Beethoven?

    And you're ignoring every realm of music which doesn't fit YOUR narrative.  Let me know in 300 years if anyone's still playing the bulk of modern electronic music.

    As for the bringing it back to Drum Corps:

    (A) Classical non-electronic music did not end at 1900 (ish)

    (B) But even using that cut off point, 5 of the last 10 years in DCI at least one medalist used music from that time period.   If you include Samuel Barber and Aaron Copland, then it climbs to 8 out of the last 10 years.  

  11. 23 minutes ago, MarimbaManiac said:

    Great...again. It depends on the venue, the rep, and the group. 

    Though, the fact that they went out of their way to state that, should show you that it's more than likely the exception. Otherwise, what's the point of saying it?

    Again - try reading the article.  It was in response to someone noticing a mic on a singer, which they explained was for the broadcast, when due to blocking the singers are not always picked up by the stationary mics. 

  12. 6 minutes ago, ShortAndFast said:

    They don't obnoxiously amplify Brünnhilde - she doesn't need it!

    Or ANY opera at the MET (unless it's some modern thing with specific parts written for electronics).  Instead of citing the bio of their sound engineer for recordings, read an article discussing the very topic from 2013:

    "the Met is and always will be an amplification-free zone, the company maintains, a place where opera can be experienced the traditional way - with natural sound"

    • Like 2
×
×
  • Create New...