On March 6 and 8, seven remarkable composers joined Vermont students and teachers in an unique on-line mentoring project. From locations in New York, the Netherlands and France, the composers listened to the student compositions, offered suggestions and critiques, shared their music, and talked about their own musical lives.
In Amsterdam, the students and teachers conversed with Richard Tolenaar and Anne La Berge. Tolenaar wears three hats as a concert composer, composer for Dutch radio and television, and expert in Midi workings of acoustic compositions; his new project ParaSite explores the web for sound files which it re-synthesizes with live sound. La Berge is considered a groundbreaker in acoustic and electroacoustic transformations of voice and flute, and has recently released the compact disc blow on the Frog Peak Music label; the CD contains both purely acoustic compositions as well as those using HMSL.
In Paris, two composers were on line, Eliane Radigue and Rhys Chatham. Radigue is a pioneer in subtle, dramatically structured electronic music, whose innovative Kyema was recently re-issued on an XI compact disc; Biogenesis is available on a CD single. Chatham, who helped found New York's The Kitchen, transformed the world view of electric guitars with his remarkable work for 100 guitars, An Angel Moves Too Fast to See; his essay Composer's Notebook (link below) on the past two decades of music and performance art and his provocations on Usenet are well known.
In New York, three composers joined in, Laurie Spiegel, Tom Hamilton, and Nick Didkovsky. Spiegel continues as a leader in electroacoustic and computer-generated music dating back 30 years; her compact disc Unseen Worlds contains a collection of electronic works from the past decade. Spiegel's Three Sonic Spaces (link below) is quite subtle, and listening to the PCM/wav version is recommended. Didkovsky leads the high-energy band "Dr. Nerve", and uses computer techniques to generate the material his band plays on such CDs as Skin and Every Screaming Ear. Hamilton is both composer and producer, using analog and digital electronics combined with improvisation; his new CD is Off-Hour Wait State.
The on-line mentoring was unusual because it was a live, interactive exchange of music and ideas. Students and teachers participated at the interactive sessions, also posting music on the WebProject site for all to hear, and are looking forward to continuing the project in the upcoming months.
For more information, contact Vermont coordinator Fern Tavalin, tavalin@sover.net or European coordinator Dennis Báthory-Kitsz.
WebProject on-line mentoring via IRC and WWW:
http://www.webproject.org/workplace/WEBConference/threads.cfm?category=Artists+Exchange.
 |
 never again excerpt in RealAudio format, 3:04/179K. never again excerpt in TrueSpeech format, 191K. never again excerpt in MPEG-2 format, 716K.Anne La Berge |
 |
"Composer's Notebook", an essay by the composer. "Boulez vs. Stockhausen", an essay by the composer. "Is Rock Dead?", an essay by the composer. Guitar Trio excerpt in RealAudio format, 2:37/151K. Hornithology in RealAudio format, 4:27/261K. Charm excerpt in RealAudio format, 2:20/136K. Guitar Trio excerpt in TrueSpeech format, 161K. Guitar Trio excerpt in MPEG-2 format, 605K. Rhys Chatham |
 |
Interview excerpt in RealAudio3 format, 5:11/607K Above comments in RealAudio2 format, 304K. Kyema excerpt in RealAudio format, 2:55/171K. Kyema excerpt in TrueSpeech format, 182K. Kyema excerpt in MPEG-2 format, 683K. Eliane Radigue |
 |
Interview excerpt in RealAudio format, 2:12/257K. Use the Fuse in RealAudio format, 2:48/164K Use the Fuse in TrueSpeech format, 174K Use the Fuse in MPEG-2 Audio format, 654K. Richard Tolenaar |
 |
Three Sonic Spaces II in MPEG-2 format, 3:20/780K. Three Sonic Spaces II in PCM/wav 8-bit 11 KHz format, 4220K. Laurie Spiegel |
 |
for comments about MandelMusic in RealAudio3 format, 5:50/682K. for MandelMusic improvisation in RealAudio3 format, 2:04/241K. for Flykiller in RealAudio3/stereo format, 1:49/262K. for Flykiller in RealAudio3/mono format, 209K. for Flykiller in RealAudio2/mono format, 105K. for Plague in RealAudio3/stereo format, 2:59/449K. for Plague in RealAudio3/mono format, 357K. for Plague in RealAudio2/mono format, 179K. Nick Didkovsky |
 |
for Queens Plaza in RealAudio3/stereo format, 4:29/660K. for Queens Plaza in RealAudio3/mono format, 525K. for Queens Plaza in RealAudio2/mono format, 264K. Tom Hamilton |
