Joelle La Rue
Clarinet
I am also a Masters student at Carnegie Mellon, currently studying Clarinet performance with Mike Rusinek. I received my Bachelor's in Music, Clarinet Performance from the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 2005. After taking a couple of years off from school and a year off from playing I came to CMU with a new appreciation for my studies. I hope to one day play in an orchestra.
With graduation coming up I was looking at my requirements and found that I needed a theory class so I enrolled in Postmodernism not really knowing what that was or who the prof would be. It sounded interesting but mainly it was the only theory class offered in the fall. It has turned out to be one of my favourite classes that I have ever taken. As Kate mentioned we were a stubborn class, and I was one of the worst. But it made for some great conversations and arguments. One of which ended up with Prof Randall telling me that my term paper had to be to define music.
This paper was the bane of my existence through December. There are a lot of papers written of the subject but not one that could answer my question. I refused to believe that any random noise could be defined as music, there had to be more. But what? After many long nights of reading and contemplating I came up with an answer, for now. It seemed to me that anything could be considered music as long as there was intention from either the performer/composer or the listener. I cannot tell someone that the sound of the highway as they drive is not music if they choose to believe it is music insomuch as they cannot tell me that it is music if I choose not to believe it is music. This is one of the reasons that I wanted to explore the performance of non traditional music.
I hope to be able to understand the realm of non traditional performance in non traditional spaces as well as traditional spaces. We are planning on performing this work in many locations from a formal recital hall to outside to art galleries. I want to experience how the different spaces change my performance as well as observe how the audiences will react. By involving different media I will hopefully be able to get an idea of how we can perform a piece of music through art. The main question for me is; If a piece of art is created from the score is it music?
I will leave you with that question.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
A Little Bit About Me
Kate Pukinskis
Professional Student. (Probably for the rest of my life.)
I am a Masters student in Music Composition at the School of Music at Carnegie Mellon University. I got my BFA in Composition at Carnegie Mellon as well, graduating in May 2008 and heading straight in to the MM. As an undergrad, I studied composition with Nancy Galbraith for the three years I was here and Geoff Poole at the University of Bristol in England during my junior year. Currently, I study composition with the head of the school, Dr. Zahler.
This independent study idea came mostly out of my experience in our advisor's graduate theory seminar class last semester. He came in as a new teacher in the fall and I needed a theory course to take; why not Postmodernism from the New Guy? The class was fantastic; I actually looked forward to "geeking out" every Thursday afternoon for two hours. The class was small enough and the students just stubborn enough that we had some pretty fantastic discussion, including the infamous "what is art?"/"what is music?" topic. (I still don't know.) Either way, I was hooked on all of it and got a kick out of thinking about performances that were attended underwater, pieces of music that begin with tiger purrs, and what happens when you give a percussionist an impossible line to play.
As a final project, I wrote a piece for two voices and instrument(yes, I was that specific) called "PostSecret." It is based on twenty secrets posted either in the PostSecret books or at PostSecret.com, and it features the type of organization that Stockhausen or Xenakis would be proud of. I had only ever written "standard notation" scores before, so drawing shapes and staves with only two lines, or allowing the players to order their pages in any way they wanted(except #7 which had to be in the 7th place) was new for me. I had a blast.
With that said, my partner in crime Joelle wrote a paper on the question "What is Music." (you'll have to ask her if she knows now.) We both were hugely inspired by the topics brought up in that fall grad theory seminar and wanted to pursue it further. In need of filling out our course schedules, an independent study was just what we needed and obviously the New Guy was the one to be our advisor.
And that's why we're here. With the blog. And the graphic score. (More on that later.)
Professional Student. (Probably for the rest of my life.)
I am a Masters student in Music Composition at the School of Music at Carnegie Mellon University. I got my BFA in Composition at Carnegie Mellon as well, graduating in May 2008 and heading straight in to the MM. As an undergrad, I studied composition with Nancy Galbraith for the three years I was here and Geoff Poole at the University of Bristol in England during my junior year. Currently, I study composition with the head of the school, Dr. Zahler.
This independent study idea came mostly out of my experience in our advisor's graduate theory seminar class last semester. He came in as a new teacher in the fall and I needed a theory course to take; why not Postmodernism from the New Guy? The class was fantastic; I actually looked forward to "geeking out" every Thursday afternoon for two hours. The class was small enough and the students just stubborn enough that we had some pretty fantastic discussion, including the infamous "what is art?"/"what is music?" topic. (I still don't know.) Either way, I was hooked on all of it and got a kick out of thinking about performances that were attended underwater, pieces of music that begin with tiger purrs, and what happens when you give a percussionist an impossible line to play.
As a final project, I wrote a piece for two voices and instrument(yes, I was that specific) called "PostSecret." It is based on twenty secrets posted either in the PostSecret books or at PostSecret.com, and it features the type of organization that Stockhausen or Xenakis would be proud of. I had only ever written "standard notation" scores before, so drawing shapes and staves with only two lines, or allowing the players to order their pages in any way they wanted(except #7 which had to be in the 7th place) was new for me. I had a blast.
With that said, my partner in crime Joelle wrote a paper on the question "What is Music." (you'll have to ask her if she knows now.) We both were hugely inspired by the topics brought up in that fall grad theory seminar and wanted to pursue it further. In need of filling out our course schedules, an independent study was just what we needed and obviously the New Guy was the one to be our advisor.
And that's why we're here. With the blog. And the graphic score. (More on that later.)
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Welcome!
Hello and welcome to the BAR Project 09 Blog.
We are graduate students at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA and are working on an independent study this semester, inspired by a seminar in Postmodernism we both took in the fall. Coming from different musical backgrounds (Joelle is a Clarinet player, I am a composer), we thought it would be interesting to work on a collaborative performance that tested our musical, artistic, and academic boundaries.
I have included our abstract so you can get a better idea of what we're getting at with this project. Joelle and I will also be posting here to describe the process of the project, including pictures, videos, sketches, etc. And of course, we will be publicizing our performances which will most likely run in the last couple of weeks of April through the beginning of May, both on the Carnegie Mellon Campus and in the greater community.
Goal: To create a collaborative performance using the media of music, visual art, and theatre in order to explore potential interpretation and challenge the performance tradition.
Abstract: This independent study seeks to find a better understanding of the interpretation and performance of a score in multiple forms of media. Through a series of meetings, research, and rehearsal, up to four artists will work with a composer in order to create a collaborative performance inspired by interpretations of a single score. Our society’s view of performance is confined to a small space of accessibility and exposure, and the participants will seek new venues and methods of performance in order to reach communities and expose audiences to experiences outside their preconceived realms of performance. The process will take place in three parts; first, the artists will meet with one another to share their own processes of creation as well as their interpretive procedure. Through research of existing performance art as well as common practice performance, the group will develop a series of criteria required for a successful performance and score. The second part is done independently by the composer, creating a score to be interpreted by performers. Upon completion of the score, all participants will meet to discuss, interpret and rehearse, also allowing for significant time to explore the score individually. Performances of this piece will take place both in standard venues such as concert halls as well as atypical spaces like bus stops and hallways of academic buildings, hoping to reach an audience that extends well beyond the confines of the “art culture” and reach as many people as possible, regardless of their age, education, or personal taste in art.
Right now, our timeline is being thrown to me; as the composer, I need to make sure the performers have a score to read! The ("first") final draft of the score will be completed 16 March and the performers and I will then get together for meetings and rehearsals. Before that, Joelle and I will be brainstorming performance issues and ideas, as well as looking for venues and outlining parameters of the project.
If you have any questions please email us at: theBARProject09@gmail.com
-Kate
We are graduate students at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA and are working on an independent study this semester, inspired by a seminar in Postmodernism we both took in the fall. Coming from different musical backgrounds (Joelle is a Clarinet player, I am a composer), we thought it would be interesting to work on a collaborative performance that tested our musical, artistic, and academic boundaries.
I have included our abstract so you can get a better idea of what we're getting at with this project. Joelle and I will also be posting here to describe the process of the project, including pictures, videos, sketches, etc. And of course, we will be publicizing our performances which will most likely run in the last couple of weeks of April through the beginning of May, both on the Carnegie Mellon Campus and in the greater community.
Goal: To create a collaborative performance using the media of music, visual art, and theatre in order to explore potential interpretation and challenge the performance tradition.
Abstract: This independent study seeks to find a better understanding of the interpretation and performance of a score in multiple forms of media. Through a series of meetings, research, and rehearsal, up to four artists will work with a composer in order to create a collaborative performance inspired by interpretations of a single score. Our society’s view of performance is confined to a small space of accessibility and exposure, and the participants will seek new venues and methods of performance in order to reach communities and expose audiences to experiences outside their preconceived realms of performance. The process will take place in three parts; first, the artists will meet with one another to share their own processes of creation as well as their interpretive procedure. Through research of existing performance art as well as common practice performance, the group will develop a series of criteria required for a successful performance and score. The second part is done independently by the composer, creating a score to be interpreted by performers. Upon completion of the score, all participants will meet to discuss, interpret and rehearse, also allowing for significant time to explore the score individually. Performances of this piece will take place both in standard venues such as concert halls as well as atypical spaces like bus stops and hallways of academic buildings, hoping to reach an audience that extends well beyond the confines of the “art culture” and reach as many people as possible, regardless of their age, education, or personal taste in art.
Right now, our timeline is being thrown to me; as the composer, I need to make sure the performers have a score to read! The ("first") final draft of the score will be completed 16 March and the performers and I will then get together for meetings and rehearsals. Before that, Joelle and I will be brainstorming performance issues and ideas, as well as looking for venues and outlining parameters of the project.
If you have any questions please email us at: theBARProject09@gmail.com
-Kate
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