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OF'I'HI.,NA'I'IONAI, ASSOCIA'I'IONOF COMPOSI.,RS.TT.S.A. ScricsI\', \'olunrc 1.5,Nunrllcr i] \\'intcr'20()1)-10 $3.{)5 $F ,performers, and other participants.Added to this were 15 hours of general assembly meetings with 75 delegates representing about 50 nations and arts organizationsfrom all overthe globe. lt was, in everyrespect, an incrediblylarge undertakingwhich fully lived up to the scopeand diversitythat has cometo be expectedof the ISCM World MusicDays. Much of the credit for this success belongs to the organizers,Magnus Lemark, Ramon Anthin, Bjorn W. StAlne, Thomas Liljeholm,and Nils Wiklander. Their efforts and organizationover the six years of planningwas evidentat everyturn, from the seamlessintegration of localmedia, to the visually striking publicity that seemed to be displayed everywherewe looked. As a delegateI felt extremelywell looked-afterby the exceptionalaccommodations, the well- organizedtransfer between venues, and cities,and the friendly staffwho answeredall our questionsand kept us in line while alwayssmiling. Ultimately,though, the World MusicDays festival is about music, and l'm pleased to report that Sweden did not disappointin this area either. I attendedas many of the eventsas scheduleand staminawould allow. Even though there were some that I missed, I still heard over 125 new works performedby an impressivearray of highlyskilled and well-preparedperformers and ensemblesranging from solo instrumentalists,up to symphonyand full-scaleopera. lndeed, I repeatedly found myself in conversation with other "Listento the World" composersand delegatesabout the impressivethe level of commitmentand artisticmastery seen in the performers. ISCMWorld New MusicDays My preferenceas a listeneris somewhateclectic, and I found the inclusive nature of the programming very Sept. 24 through Oct. 4,2OOg commendableand quite in keeping with both the festival Visby, Vdxjo, and Goteborg, Sweden theme ("Listento the World"),and the valuesof ISCMwhich aims for musicaldiversity and a pluralityof styles,genres, or media. In some cases,the juxtapositionof approacheswas quite striking as in one concert where works for , s I sit down to write a reporton the 2009 ISCMWorld trombone,and percussionshared the programwith a workfor New MusicDays festival,I realizeonce again,what an bowl, candles,light sensors,and Bluetoothtransmitter. In unmanageabletask it this really is. Each year, this other cases it was the contrast betweenthe setting and the lengthy,varied, and prestigiousnew music event is held in a contentthat was unique,as was the case whenwe listenedto differentlocation around the world,and the 2009 installment 21't centuryworks on a 18tncentury organ in a 14tncentury was impressivelyhosted by three cities in Sweden:Visby, churchon the islandof Gotland. Vaxjo, and Goteborg. This is my third year attendingthis Of course,diversity was also amply demonstratedthough festival(having been in Hong Kongand Vilniusin the previous style and genre. Bearingin mind the hundredsof excellent two years),so, while I am still relativelynew to the "family",I and thought-provokingworks that were programmed,I am have gained a modicum of perspectivefrom which to view somewhatreluctant to single out individualworks, but as I things. Althoughwritten as an officialreport, this accountis, haveframed this reportdeliberately as a personalviewpoint, I by necessity,only an individualperspective of an extremely hope I may ventureto list (in no specificorder) some of the multi-facetedevent. To get a clear idea of the scope of this piecesthat lfound particularlymemorable. festival,many such accountswould be needed,and surely . The MalmoSymphony Orchestra gave a grippingworld eachwould show a unique,but equallytrue, experience. premiere of evergreen by Paula af MalmborgWard (a l'll begin with a "by the numbers"summary. By my nativeof Goteborg,Sweden). The unusualuse of the calculation,this eleven-dayfestival in three citiesincluded 42 choir, both spatially and dramatically, gave this concerts,5 seminars,25 sound art installations,44 separate fascinatingpiece a veryunique quality. venues,hundreds of performances,and countlessindividual --Continuedonpage 4 Pagc 2 ( | nttltr t.rcr'/ .5.I \\'irrlcr'2(X)l)- l()

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rj SmithColleges, to collaborateand compose a piecefor a modern i:lliiiS 4SS l dancechoreography. Blues for Red Shoes receivedits premiere Nov.14 as partof a programtitled, "Finger Lakes Dancel" at the CrackerFactory in Geneva,NY. Sylvia Constantinidis:Canfos de Espanha, Concertofor MLK,Jr. Auditorium Harpsichordand Orchestra,commissioned by UruguayanArtist 601Sants Monica Blvd. LauraDearmas, to be premieredin Europeand SouthAmerica, Free -Al{ *elcorne- Seoringis litniredontJ on o [ivstotrivol bosis. Ticteri will Spring2010; and Pierrot et Colombrne,Concerto for Marimba- ronce'f uges k avsiloblett 1:00 p.rn, fie day of the conred-One per pers$lli Violinand Orchestra,commissioned by Duo Leandro-Kim,to be : f,a',me irrlaqlarior vrcoli illOl 458 8dcfl premieredin Europe, America, 2010. , , ",s,rwww.ifnpl.Ol$ USA,and South Spring € ts"* li:r @li4t+r*!:i: tSot /,.r'.. r' . Ywn d,aS!: it: &Bn!titn;r";',...' .., &8!ea:rr$!ri!ris:.!kr*..':,,i.', r rJ;t*s ltltti:q V*it.t$xl.rstta:*':,r^.r !1 ..iuo1 ff I)agc \\'irrlt'r'2(X)1)- I () MgSSage continuedfrompage 2 SupportI{ew AmericanMusic However, at this poir-rtin time I don,t want to become bogged down in c{etails. what we need now is clirect input general opinions from as many members as ^ - ^{,!r!!*yf,,: 1#.* c,r t,, th e possible. Please r let me know.how you feel about any or National Assclciaticln",,, ol' Amcrican cclmposers and Concluctors all of the above questions, and this will then guide us in and receiveComposerusA any future projects. three timesa yesr! Please e-mail me your thoughts ancl ideas at [email protected]. I look forward to hearing from nrany members. My thanks to Karen Amrhein for her valuable input on this.

Chaptermcmbcrs L iste n continuedfrom page 4 mustalso belong to thenational organization.Please send one check covering thc total dues been)played. we all enjoyed guided the tourvery much, but I lromthe national and chapter mcmbcrship plus any adclitional wish it had happeneda littlelater rather than the-dayafter we contributir)nyou may wish to make. arrived. This was probablyunavoidable, but after five or six days of concerts,seminars, and meetings,the break would $ZS--- National Membership dues havebeen even more welcome. $2S--- Chapter Membership dues I am probablyone of the only delegateswho is not an evening person, so the difficultyI had with the late-night (must also pay National dues) concertswas really a fault in me, rather than the festival. $15 --- Student/SeniorMembership National Given that many days includedback-to-back concerts from $15 --- Student/SeniorMembership Chapters noonuntil almost midnight, l'm sureit wouldbe impossible to (must alsopay Student/Senior avoidsuch late concertsand still includethe requirednumber National dues) of representativepieces. lt didn'tseem to botheianvone else. $150--- Lifetime Membership National though,and I felt a littlesorry to have missedsome excellent $f50 --- Lifetime Membership Chapter works (and parties) that came after my brain and body had (must alsopay Lifetime alreadyshut down. National dues) --- Finally,I turn to the people of sweden - particularlythe $50-74 NACUSA Friend three host cities. I put this last as a gestureof the honoithey $75-99--- NACUSA Patron g1eowed rhey welcomedus with such warmthand sincerity. $100+--- NACUSA Benefactor while allthree cities hadtheir own character, the genuineness Seniormembers (65-79i 80+ free membership) of the peoplewas consistent. I look forwardto my next visitto Swedenso that I maysample more of this hospitaiity. And so we lookto the future.The 20'r0lscM world Music Days in sydney is fast approaching- worksare alreadybeing Name reviewedand travel plans being made. Visby, Vaxjo, anO Goteborg(and Vilnius,Hong Kong, and many-others) have given us yet anothermodel of what this festivalcan be - an Addrcss incarnationthat was uniquely suited to its setting and resources.I knowthat sydneywill be different,but memorable in its own way. As I writethis report,I am sittingin a hotelin City Statc ztp Stockholm,still wearing the clothesI put on in Goteborg,with the echoesof this year'sfestival still ringing in my ears. And yet, I confessthat I am alreadyeagerly looking forward to see Phone E-Mail what MatthewHindson and the othersydney organizershave in storefor us. whateverelse it may be, l'm countingon it to New Member Renewal Changeof Address be new,and challenging, and exciting. Pleasemake check or moncyorder payable to the [NorE Thisreport was prepared as oneof three"official" accounts of National Association of ComposerslU SA the 2009lscM world MusicDays and will be printedin the next issue P.O.Box 49256,Barrington Station, Los Angelcs,CA 90049 of worldNew Music Magazine. As such,some of the contentstrays away from the music and into other matters having to do with the Chaptermembers must belongto thc nationalorganization. operationof theISCM and the hosting of theevent.l National and chapterlif-etime mcmberships arc availablcto Dr. stephenLias resides in Nacogdoches,TX, where he is Area individuals(national = = coordinatorof MusicTheory and compositionat stephenF. Austin $150.00;chapter $150.00).Joint stateUniversity. He is the Texas delegate to theInternational society membershipis availablc to additional personswithin a of contemporary Musicand serveson the editorialboard of wortd regularmernber's household (national = 15.00;chapter = NewMusic Maoazine. $ $15.00). San Franciscochapter members pay an additional $5.00 activity l'ee. This lce applics ro all categoriesol membership(regular, student, joint). "Members80 years or older will be awarded life membership with a scnior,and NACUSA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit waiverof all dues. Members aged 65 to79 will have the reduced corpuration. Donationsin the friendipatron/benelactor seniorrate." Visit the NACUSA website for more information. categoriesare tax deductible as http://www.music-usa.org/nacusa charitablecontributions. Dues aren't; however. they are generallydeductible as professional cxpenscs. (lntrytoscr( 1,J,1 \\'irrtcr'2(X)l)- I 0 Pagc !) for chunking, that phrasesare more memorableif they are FiVe POintS continuedfrom page t2 related via the principle of tamiliarity, and that points of o Becausewe expectgood continuation,melodic lines that tensionshould be groupedinto a hierarchylbr dramaticshape. involve fiequent changesof direction are more difficult Point 4: A millennium of notation has yielded to remember. measurable progress iz our craft Books about European o Because we associateelcmcnts by proximity, octavc music history usually contain sections on specific stylc pieces. displaccmentof notes lrom even a familiar melody can periods. They list signilicantdates, composers, and make it diltcult to recognizeand voice crossingscreate They describedif-ferences among periods. Periodicityin music ambiguity. history resemblesthe motion of a pendulum. Period Thought is rhythmic. We naturally group ideas into boundariesrepresent vacillations between extremes of style. discreterhythmic phrases. Psychologistscall Ihis chunking. The cycle goes like this: Younger composersfeel stifled. Chunks hclp us to hold complete but short ideas in our A f-ew pioneers set a new course, excluding hackneyed consciousness. The perceptual present is thc time during conventions.Their lad catcheson and a new style is born. large which an idea is held in consciousnesswithout relying on Gradually,they refinc it. Over time, it comprisesa body short-termmemory. Current researchindicatcs that it ranges of literaturewith tairly rigid conventionsand the cycle begins from about3 to 8 seconds. The boundaryof the perceptual again. presentfalls at a naturalbreak in thc eventstructure. In other Thrs pendulum paradigm, which emphasizcsdilferences words,the lengthof theperceptual present depends on how the among style periods, is an incomplete view. Here's an information is chunked. The brain stores and retrieves alternative that emphasizeswhat is kept rather than what intormationthat is judiciously chunkedmore eff-ectivelythan changes. It's what I call the progress paradigm. Some information that isn't. A fairly long seriesof numbersisn't aspectsof contemporarywriting becomehackneyed. Younger very memorable:12165551212 composersface an impendingdead end and changccourse to gains If the numbersare seenjammed togetheras shown above avoid it. But when they do so, they preserveimportant or read aloud without pause,they are difficult to remember. in crafl liom the previousperiod. However, if they're read with a bit of rhythmic articulation, Thc best music is that which most successlullyemulates they'll mean something(a phone number)- becauseof the biological rhythm and most ellectively convcys it to an principleof lamiliarity. They'll also be easierto remember audience. So, innovationsthat achievc these goals arc becausethey're judiciously chunked: | (216) 555-1212 advances. The historical rccord demonstratesthat this music over Writing representsspeech. When you reada phonenumber principle has shapedthe progressof European even silently,your imaginationreproduces it rhythmically. time. 'fhe second version - whether spoken or read - facilitates Medieval composersgave us rudimentary notation and memorizationbecause it is rhythmicallychunked. About 5 to polyphony. As late as the 13th Century,vertical relationships - not 7 objects- words,numbers, pitches - can readilybe held in were treated quite casually,except at phraseendings the perceptualpresent. As lists get longer,inlbrmation is lost. because composers pref'erred unsystematictreatment of yct to manage If we combine the numerical limit for elficient chunking dissonance,but becauscthey hadn't learned primarilylinear. with the temporallimit lbr the perceptualpresent, we find that verticalrelationships. Thcir thinkingwas still providedby text. a typical musical fragment can most readily be graspedif it In gcneral,the mostsignificant patterns were proximity involves about 7 or tewer notes and lasts for less than 10 Voice crossings,which were common, suggested lines. seconds. Consider the fbllowing passagelrom the second and thus interferedwith the ability to hear discrete fate, movementof Mozart'sclarinet concerto: Parallel unisons,lllihs, and octavessuggested common which alsoweakened distinctions among lines. During the Renaissance,voice-crossing bccame less common. Formulaiccadences improved recognitionthrough tamiliarity and enhanceddramatic shapc by claritying the beginningsand endingsof discretephrases. By the endof the Renaissance,vertical relationships were carelullymanaged via tbrmulae for preparingand resolvingdissclnances. This alscl enhanceddramatic shape. Imitativc counterpointmade ,..l ,fi structuremore audiblethrough the principleof tamiliarity. I addeddynamics to emphasizethe hierarchical structure of Baroque composersclarified phrascsmore eff-ectivelyby the passage(as perfbrmersare trainedto do). Notice that the judiciouschunking. They developedmore systematic dramatic - threephrases collectively lorm a larger structure.At 8th 84, structuressuch as the fugue. The exposition drove basic a completemeasure lasts about 4.2 seconds.Phrase 1 contains motives into the memory through repetition. Sequencing 6 notes and phrase2 ct-ntains7. So they can be held in the helped listeners make predictions about the course of perceptual present and then chunked and stored as units. development. Systematic modulation enhanced dramatic Phrase3 is longer,but Mozart'sintuitively used lamiliarity to shape. Parallel tillhs and octaveswere eliminatsdto clarity chunkits first two measuresas relatedmotives. distinctionsamong lines. Complementaryand contrarymotion Mozartnever heard of Gestaltprinciples or chunkingor the strengtheneddistinctions by avoiding common fate. But perceptual present. But he had ears and access his Baroquecomposers had seriousweaknesses in orchestration. predecessors'scores. He intuitively graspedthat extended Instrumentaldoublings were usually based on rangerather melodic passagesshould be constructedfrom shorterphrases --Contirutedon page 11 Pagc I () ('rtnprxct-[ '^1,'l \\'iutcr 2(X)l)-I0

D6-Be Quartet . . I'LANACOTTON NACUSACONCERTS Europa for String Trio . ....GINASCACCIA ThreeSymmetries...... MARKJACOBS LosAngeles Chapter ABC NACUSAConcert LosAngeles Chapter featuring NACUSAConcert ValerieMiller, soprano; Paul Hurst, harp and piano; featuring DanielKessner, flute; Dolly Eugenio Kessner, piano ValerieMiller, soprano; Daniel Kessner, flute Friday,October 23,2009,3:30 PM DollyEugenio Kessner, piano DonaldWright Auditorium, Pasadena Central Library, Pasadena, CA Wednesday,October 28, 2009,1 :00 PM Saturday,October 24,2OO9,2:00 PM LosAngeles Valley College Recital Hall, Valley Glen, CA MartinL. KingAuditorium, Santa Monica Public Library . . . ADRIENNE ALBERT SantaMonica, CA Let Love Not Fail . wordsby lvanGallardo l, Where My Books Go ValerieMiller, Daniel Kessner, Dolly Eugenio Kessner lV. He Tells of the Perfect Beauty ...... CHADSKOPP PianoPrelude SUTHERLAND fromHe Tellsof thePertect Beautv wordsby W. B.Yeats oolrverg.nio x"r.3IUCE MorningLight GREGA. STEINKE SomethingCalled a Shadow . . . BRUCESUTHERLAND IromThree Early Songs wordsby EllaSteinke wordsby EthelRomig Fuller l. Contentment ValerieMiller, Dolly Eugenio Kessner ll. Rain Song MARGARETSHELTON MEIER Toccatafor Piano 'DANIELKESSNER fromLife s BesfGiffs wordsby PaulLaurence Dunbar oorlyrrg"nio xrr.n"i 1. BuffaloBill's The Days We Shared 3. a windhas blown the rain away . .CAROLWORTHEY Your Voice fromlhe petal of somewhere wordsby E. E.Cummings Alone .DEONNIELSEN PRICE The DivineMother . . . .PAULHURST fromIo AllWomen Everywhere wordsby Carol Lynn Pearson authorunknown ValerieMiller, Daniel Kessner, Dolly Eugenio Kessner ValerieMiller, Paul Hurst Priereetscherz .....DANIELKESSNER lmpromptu for Harp: TheMajesty of Yosemite..PAUL HURST DanielKessner. Dollv Euqenio Kessner PaulHurst Chapter Let Love NotFail . . . ADRIENNEALBERT Cascadia wordsby lvanGallardo AutumnConcert ValerieMiller, Daniel Kessner, Dolly Eugenio Kessner Friday,October 30, 2009,B:00 PM PianoPrelude SUTHERLAND 2B2BSE StephensStreet, Portand, OR ooiryeug.nio x"..l5ucE Piano Trio in C Maior . SomethingCalled a Shadow . . . BRUCESUTHERLAND l. Prelude wordsby EthelRomig Fuller KatyHubbard, violin; John Hubbard, cello; Jeff Winslow, piano ValerieMiller, Dolly Eugenio Kessner Variationson Constellations . . .JAY DERDERIAN The Days We Shared ScottBrazieal, Piano Your Voice lnklingson the Loose . . . BONNIEMIKSCH Alone .DEON NIELSENPRICE tape;Sydney Carlson, flute from Io AllWomen Everywhere wordsby CarolLynn Pearson Sonata for Solo Viola . . MATTHEW STEELE ValerieMiller, Daniel Kessner, Dolly Eugenio Kessner ll. Toccata for Piano 'DANIEL KESSNER JoelBelgique, viola Doty Eugenrox"rrn"i PreludelV... . DAN BRUGH piano SouthernOregon Chapter LindaBarker. An Evening of Modern Strinq Quartets INTERMISSION featuring A Quartet in Red, Black and Blue . . PAUL SAFAR RogueValley Performers l. Cappricio ArleneTayloe and LarryStubson, ll.Autumn Moon Pat Berlet,viola; Lisa Truelove, cello; Dave Miller, bass lll. Blue(te>d by NancyWood) lV. lsolation-Dance-lnvocation Saturday,October 25,2009,7:30 PM NancyWood, soprano; Paul Safar, baritone MedfordCongregational Church of Christ,Medford, OR LisaMcWhorter and MatthewFuller, violins Sunday,October 26,2009,7:30 PM LeslieStraka, viola; David Straka, cello FirstUnited Methodist Church, Ashland, OR Drift,sentence--burst ...ARUNCHANDRA Piece for String Quartet . . . R. BARRYULRICH two-channelplayback L Allegro DarknessUnder Pines . .JOHNMcKINNON String Quartet No. 8 .KENDEVENEY l. Snowbound Doemsof DavidAxelrod l. "Morns"Andante ll. Froma ForestSoon to be Logged ll.Slow NancyWood, soprano; Jeff Winslow, piano lll. Presto Stained GIasS . JAN MITTELSTAEDT String Quartet No. 2 WILLIAMASHWORTH KathrynHill, flute; Ann van Bever,oboe L Allegro NanitaMcllhattan, clarinet; David Crane, French horn ll. Andantecantabile MargaretMc Shea,bassoon; Jeff Winslow, piano lll.Scherzo lV. Allegromoderato '. INTERMISSION Wintcr'200{)-I0 PagcI I

FiVg POintS continuedfrom page e than on timbre, which interf-ercdwith groupingby similarity. x HiCUSA t \uttrErst Cnafr' In addition, crossed voices persisted in works for large ensembles. ffi, In the Classical Era, orchestrationbecame a distinct discipline.Lines were distributed based on timbresrather than range to enhancegrouping by similarity. Octavesdoublings ffi Composers/ USA became common to emphasize prominent f'eaturesover @J background.Dramatic shape was extendedin the largerfbrms. Articulations,rhythmic patterns,and instrumentationwere all wtr usedto illuminatearchitecture through similarity and common w'w ffiffiffiffiffiffi fate. Many early Classicalworks were overly simple but, as time passed, Baroquc contrapuntal techniques were InternationalAward Winning reintroduced. Living Composers Romantic composersretined orchestrationand advanced dramatic shape by applying more extreme dynamics and -Yoko -S1h Constantinidis chromatic harmony. Early Twentieth Century composers H. Wvlegala ia -Donln Kima -Clare Shore continuedthe advancesby extendingharmony and trying new -Joc L. Alcxander -Meim Warshaucr like - techniques polytonalityand quartalharmony but without -Douglas Ovens -Chris Jancarz abandoning the principles that their predecessorshad -PeterBlauvelt -Wiesla* Rentorvski cstablishcd. -StcphenYip Laler, a more radical modernismemerged - spurredon by incompetentcritics who praisedcomposers for abandoningthe Steinn'ay Hall 'l'ime: progressparadigm. Dissonancewas "emancipated"tiom its )rior,enrber,22trtl2lJ09 6:00 prn role in supportof dramatic shape. Alternativesystems often Ponce de Leon Bh'd. f'oral Gables. Fl lll{6 Info:786 222-2145 violated the Gestaltprinciples so that audiencescould only reactto soundsrather than vicariously participate. Modernism's lailure triggered a postmodern reaction, -- Leonard Bernstein - which also tailed becauseit arosefrom the lalse assumption that modernism'sproblem was just a matter of complexity. "I'm not interested in having an Nonetheless,unschooled minimalists rcceived kudos when orchestra sound like itself, I want it to they substitutedrelentless repetition lbr dramaticshape. sound like the composer." Despitethe awardsthat havebeen showcred on modcrnists "In the olden days, everybody sang. and postmodernistsalike, much of what they'veaccomplishcd You were expected to sing as well as talk. is destructive.Many in the halls of academianow teachan It was a mark of the cultured man to sing." "anythinggoes" mentality that discouragesthe rigor our crafl demands.This is an entrenchedsetback. "Music can name the unnameableand Point 5: To build upon past progress, we must return to communicatethe unknowable." the paradigm. Like Sir IsaacNewtcln, we are standingon the shouldersof giants. Befbre we can contribute,we must first learn from our predecessors,so technical mastery is a G*t WehT prerequisite. Masterpiecesare both memorable(via Gestalt I'ou fleei nrort thun u sintple anline eulling ccrd to pn,ilutte tour principles) (via They and moving dramatic shape). are ntasit, The specific .feanres of 1'our x'ab site shuulil rqfiact .t'our engagingand unfbld seamlessly. Over the past millennium, rtttiqrJ si*rati'i;nr'tliti c*,of hirfug a largtfnn to rb$gn .1,ttrr sitc curt our predecessorshave developed and reflned objective he prohibitire. BnNr:mrrRli r{tr ltroduce un iuexpensivt but effcctit',: curt{rm x'eb sitt rtitk ull-tketet*tres you need. techniquestbr achievingthese subjective results. Music that abandonsthe paradigm is inferior.Period. My book, Breaking the Sound Banier (iUniverse,2003), addressesqualitative judgment in music in much more detail. i\re prtpar€ fr*e e.ctintrtesI'or labul nt $15-l)l)per half lrour (lninus the Pleasevisit http://www.music-usa.or9soundbarrierfbr more I,ilp.1.rNA()1I$A rliscount). \lie tleliter the finished pl'oduct frrl' approyal b*fore biflin$ ., !rt1*h is irlrvirl'sat or helorr the estilillte. Your satisfaction information. ir it)O'Yngurutnteed. If, fur nn1'r€ason,1ou dtn't like the design,lnu pirl' [NOTE: This article first appearedon the Society of Composers nothing;,Fleuse test drive out' sitmple composel'n'eb sites. \'ou'll lind Newletter,XXXIX: 5, September-October2009. lt is reprintedhere by linkt to th*nr at the bottorn uf unr Samplespage. Eilclr has eight ;rugesof permissionof theauthor.l infotmation, including t'irtietusfeatut'es of specialinterest ttt colnpotiers.

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usually suggestjoy or anger. So, I'll o1l.erthis definition: FivePoints on Music is the use of sound to representbiological rhythm. A fundamentalcharacteristic of music is a phenomenonI call dramatic shape.This betterdescribes music's hierarchical MusicalJudgment structurethan the commonterm "lorm." Music is dramaticin that it representsthe rhythm of lif'e in much the sameway that plays and movies represent specific events. Like drama, music'sstructure includes greater and lesser points of tension. flint l: As serious composers,we're obtiged to exercise our best judgment process. Point 3: The listener plays s role in musical f in the creative In the t- postmodernera - a time dominatedby soundbites and performances.To obiectivelydefine what works and why, we bumper stickers- it can be difficult to pursue really serious must understandhow our hearingworks. The amount of raw discourse. At the core of postmoderndogma is a claim that sensorydata we receivefrom momentto momentis enormous. everything is a matter of opinion becauseour opinions are In the natural world, survival depcndson our ability to colored by our respective"world views." The commercial distinguishsignificant patterns fiom background.For example, music industry has exploited this notion by classifying art we must recognizea predatoreven if it is largelyobscured by musicas one of many equallyvalid alternatives- assertingthat surroundingvegetation. So evolution has given us sensory the defaultmeasure of qualityis popularity(i.e., record sales). faculties that use a set oI grclupingprinciples to filter out In t-act,there are some very real and objective measuresof insignilicantinformation and presentshorthand summaries of qualityin music. important information to our consciousness.These principles Many composersbelieve this is true, but find it difticult to applyto all of our sensesand they operate in partsof our brains articulatethe underlying reasons. When we study historical that are not directly accessibleto consciousthought. First masterpieces,we learn from Bach that every note must fit its proposedby Gestaltpsychologists, they havesince been tested context both horizontally and vertically, from Mozart that an empirically: apparently simple idea can be remarkably powerful, from o Proximity: Closer elements(e.g., thosethat emanateliom Stravinsky that the orchestraprovides a stunning palette of thesame direction or thatare similar in pitch)are linked. timbres,and so lbrth. Such lessonsinvolve much more than o Similarity: Similar elements (e.g., those in the same personal pref-erence. Since the dawn of notation, we have orchestralfamily; those that sharerhythmic patterns)are maintainedan ongoing discoursein which living composers linked. build uponfbundations laid by theirpredecessors. In short,our o Good Continuation: Elemcntsthat lbllow each other in a craft hasprogressed. givendirection (e.g., stepwise ascent or descent)arc linked. Point 2: Any objective standard regarding music must . Common Fate: Elementsthat changein the sameway (e.g., begin with a definition Music is not simply "organized those that crescendoor decrescendotogether or change sound" as solne modernistsassefted - just as a trec is not directionstogether) are linked. simply "organizedwood." lf the meaningof music is too o Familiarity: Elements that we recognize are perceived as mysteriousto define,then we cannotseriously investigate what units(e.g., previously presented melodic figures). works andwhy. Aaron Copland,in his book, Whatto Listenfor Theseprinciples help us to make senseof what hasjust in Music, correctly describedrhythm as the first and most happenedin a piece and to predict how it will behavein the importantelement of music. He then listed melody,harmony, immediate future. In a very real sense, they help us to and tone as other elements.In fact, theseare all manifestations vicariously participatein the act of composingas the music of rhythm;their rhythmic nature is just lessobvious than that of untblds. This audienceparticipation is readily apparent- tempo, beat, and patternsof duration. Melody, for example, manit-estingitself in the commonurge to hum alongor tap leet. roughly representsthe rhythm of respiration. Rising lines When somethingunexpected happens, it catchesour attention usually suggestincreasing tension and falling lines suggest - evonif we'renot consciouslylistening. If we can'treconcile relaxation. Harmonic consonanceand dissonancesuggest the odd event with its surroundings,we'll take it to be a greaterand lesserdegrees of tension. More complex timbres mistake. Findingsfrom recentempirical tests show that some and denser textures convey greater tension. Slower tempi techniquesinterf'ere with recognition: usuallysuggest the rhythm of peaceor solemnityand last tempi --Continuedort page 9