Miscellanea
Notes on writing
String Quartet No. 1
a Peter (for Peter Meremblum)
"The Road Map"
doozy or doozie = something outstanding or unique of its kind
I'm using a Tul 0.7 mechanical #2 pencil. I find it photo copies really well. Having an eraser is critical. I find that I can squeeze really small bits of information on the page with no loss to legibility.
A pencil has the ability to capture a lot of expression and the mechanical pencil always stays sharp. Miwa says they are standard issue in the Japanese classroom.
Artist's Giant Pencil Drawings Blur the Line Between Hyperrealism and Surrealism
Soothe Foam Pillow (great for sciatica)
Berio commented that being a passenger in an airplane was highly condusive for composing. That is, he composed his best music while sitting on a plane.
Inspirations Diabolique was engraved using a music typewriter in 1964. Corrections were made on the original proof with "white out."
My first composition teacher was William Kraft. At one of the first lessons he asked me my style. I could never figure out what this meant. Nietzsche sheds some light on the topic.
Nietzsche "Toward the Teaching of Style"
Elliott Carter loved music above all other things. He got excited about music and specifically music composition.
Carter had a distrust of popular music. He argued against it on the grounds that rhythmic martial sounding music led to the rise of facism.
I associate Hall Overton with using a pencil to compose.
Hall once uttered an observation about black jazz pianists. He said that they could use out of tune notes of the piano to their advantage.
I'm using a Tul 0.7 mechanical pencil with #2 lead.
It is only now, 50 years after that question was broached that I have any inkling as to what Kraft was talking about. And only an inkling.
He said he was influenced by the music of Conlon Nancarrow. It made me think that Conlon Nancarrow was his ace in the hole.
If I was late to a lesson, I would find Carter playing Bach.
After studying with him for 3 years I can only say that music composition for him is the most important thing you can do in life. There is nothing more sacred. A lesson with him would involve bringing to him a musical idea. He would look at it and suggest various strategies, usually note combinations which he would notate as a cluster. (Just 4 notes without stems.) In his lessons he never talked about his own music, only the music I was currently writing.
While demonstrating something at the piano, Berio often had a lit cigarette perched on a bottom key of the piano. I remember that he always smoked Gitanis.
At one composition lesson he offered me a beer.
He always seemed to be a little kid with an impish smile and long bushy eyebrows. Always dressed in a suit.
His students banded together. We noticed that he would gain weight while undertaking a major composition project.
I remember someone asking Berio if writing music was easy and he said you had to strike when you're hot. That you couldn't take composing for granted. (It was the 60s and everyone was euphoric. Soon after classical music was to go into a tailspin from which it never recovered.)
Ultimate Top 10 Shtf Currency Ideas! Prepping for Economic Collapse!
(gold & silver, tobacco, alcohol, medications, ammunition, seeds, coffee & tea products, batteries, battery alternatives, spices & seasonings like sugar & salt, fuel like oil, kerosene, gasoline, you, your own personal skills
African Art Museum (On-line reference to the artistic styles of Africa
I have had good luck repairing Japanese screens at Aaron Studios. $$$
Review of the restoration of Van Eyck's Ghent Altarpiece in L. A. Times
Steps for Music Composition
Top 15 Forever Foods for Survival
(water, non iodine salt in water proof container, local honey, sugar, pure maple syrup, pure vanilla extract & other extracts, corn starch, instant coffee, dried pasta, soy sauce, white rice (not brown rice), dried beans, raw wheat, hard liquor)
