NVERIC/\N m:JETYCY LNf\.LRSITY C(M{ITRJ 250 West 54th Street • Room 300 • New York; New York 10019

February, 1981, Vol. 14, No. 1

CONTENTS

NATIONAL CONFERENCE NEWS OF THE SOCIETY Professor Norman Dinerstein ASUC Conference Co-Chairman OF INTEREST TO ASUC College-Conservatory of Music USEFUL INFORMATION University of Cincinnati FESTIVALS AND PERFORMANCE Cincinnati, OH 45221 (513) 475-6046 INFORMATION COMPETITIONS NEWS OF THE SOCIETY MEMBER ACTIVITIES NEA Grant toASUC CHANGE OF ADDRESS The Composer Program of the National Endowment NEWSLETTER ARTICLE: TECHNOLOGY for the Arts has awarded a sizeable grant to the Ameri­ AS A STIMULANT by Sylvia PengilJy can Society of University Composers for fiscal year LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 1980. The award will enable the Society to expand its administrative activities and thereby to be of greater and more efficient service to the membership of the society as a whole. SIXTEENTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE The granting of the award by NEA is signal evidence IN CINCINNATI of the increasingly significant role the Society plays as a service organization for composers across the continent. The Sixteenth Annual National Conference of the Society will be held April 8-12, 1981, at the University ASUC Elec.tronic Music Consortium of Cincinnati. Co-chairmen Norman Dinerstein and Jonathan Kramer indicate that this year's conference The Electronic Music Consortium, which met dur­ will be exceptionally varied and musically interesting. ing the ASUC national conference in Memphis, has There will be a program and a half of orchestra music, established four standing committees with specific two staged operas, the equivalent of a full program of functions outlined by the Consortium. Committee A music for large wind ensemble and another half pro­ (Electronic Music Studio Standards) comprises Tom gram by the symphonic band, a concert by the renowned Wells, chair, Reynold Weidenaar, and Ron Perera. This Percussion Group, a gala electronic and multimedia committee is assigned the task of producing a studio­ event, and several mini-concerts by faculty and stu­ standards document to assist directors, administrators, dent soloists and chamber groups. In addition, there and personnel in establishing and maintaining studio will be a number of interesting papers, panel discus­ excellence. sions, and lecture/demonstrations. All members are Committee B (Music Exchange) is made up of Daria urged to attend. Semegen, chair, Tim Sullivan, Edward Diemente, and A large block of rooms has been reserved at Stouf­ Edward Matilla. Its purpose is to produce a catalogue of fer's Hotel in downtown Cincinnati. A continual shut­ music and tapes along with a set of standards for their tle bus service will transport participants to and from exchange. the university. Stouffer's is a large, modem, attractive hotel. Conference rates are set at $40 a night for a single room, $50 a night for a double room, plus taxes. Reser­ vation cards must be returned to Stouffer's by March LEITER RETURNED? 18. After that date all remaining rooms will be released, The current dues notices and some old sta­ and it will become extremely difficult to find a room in tionery still contain our former address. If for Cincinnati, because April 8 is also the opening day of any reason you used the old address and your the Cincinnati Reds' baseball season. letter was not forwarded would you please re­ Conference registration is $10 if received on or be­ address it to: ASUC, 250 West 54th Street, Room fore March 25; otherwise the fee is $12. A mailing with 300, New York, NY 10019. registration forms has been sent to all members. For further information contact: Committee C (Computer Applications for Composi­ helpful if copies of any letters sent were sent as well to tion) is to represent the interests of composers in regard the American Music Center for follow-up. to computer technology. The committee is chaired by John Melby. Memorandum from NMC Committee D (Electronic Music Curricula) is The National Music Council, which represents,r-\ chaired by David Keane, with Dwight Gatwood, Rodney sixty-five national music organizations, has formulated Oakes, and Elliott Schwartz serving as members. It will a resolution condemning the unauthorized photocopy- serve as a link with NASM, CMS, MENC and other ing and duplicating of copyrighted printed music and interest groups. recordings as practices that deprive composers and The Consortium has identified four main projects publishers of financial remuneration that is rightfully -Studio Inventory, Studio Standards Guidelines, a theirs. It has asked all special-interest societies to assist. projected Studio Directory, and a projected compendium in making the implications of illegal copying known to of available electronic music. The consortium is hop­ musicians at large, insofar as a number of musicians ing to establish a computer data base at one or more commit the offense in ignorance. NMC has asked the participating institutions. assistance of ASUC in spreading the word through our Information on the current status of the consortium various institutional networks. committees and projects can be secured from Cleve L. Scott, chairman, who is serving as coordinator of the projects. Interested individuals with specific questions USEFUL INFORMATION about the Consortium as well as more general ques­ tions about electronic music performance or equipment Music Notation in the 20th Century Published should write to Cleve L. Scott, School of Music, Ball Music Notation in the Twentieth Century-A State University, Muncie, IN 47306. Practical Guidebook, by Kurt Stone, has now been The International Advisory Panel for the Electronic published by W.W. Norton and Co. The book is a com­ Music Consortium is made up of Milton Babbitt, Gus­ prehensive manual of current notation, new as well as tav Ciamaga, Hubert Howe, Otto Luening, Max Mat­ traditional. The work represents the author's experience thews, Robert Moog, Vladimir Ussachevsky, Barry of some thirty years as a music editor and reflects his Truax, and Charles Wourinen. work on the Index of New Musical Notation, which he • inaugurated and directed, and which culminated in the Update on Proposed Name Change Ghent conference on new musical notation. The new The committee appointed to investigate the impli­ work is designed to establish standards concerning signs cations of a name change for the society has unani­ and procedures, based on statistics of usage and on pro·" mously decided in favor of a change. The committee, fessional consensus in the field at large. consisting of Ann Silsbee, chair, Dennis Kam, Walter Winslow, and Reynold Weidenaar, submitted a five-page International Cultural Exchange report to the National Council and the Executive Com­ International cultural exchange programs are the mittee in which the rationale for a name change focus of a new booklet developed by the Center for Arts · was articulated. The committee received seventeen Information. The publication provides capsule descrip-' responses to requests for opinion from the membership. tions of ·forty-five organizations that fund international These responses were fifteen in favor of a name change, cultural exchange programs. The booklet is available two opposed. The matter is to be brought up at the 1981 for $2.00 from the Center for Arts Information, 625 National Conference in Cincinnati in April. Broadway, New York, NY 10012.

OF INTEREST TO ASUC Electronic Music from the Outside In Memorandum from AMC A new resource for electronic music illustrating composition processes in electronic music has been re­ A recent communication from the American Music leased by Folkways Records. The set of two records Center solicits assistance from other organizations in contains music by ASUC members Barton McLean, the matter of the recent IRS ruling that will prevent Priscilla McLean, Reed Holmes, and Kevin Hanlon. The music book publishers from taking tax deductions on new album comes as part of Folkways' series of record­ their stock inventories. Much published material sells ings of electronic music, a series that also contains the gradually over the period of a decade or more, and as McLeans' Electro-Symphonic Landscapes. Both are a result of the Thor Power Tool decision, many pub­ available from Folkways Records, 43 W. 61 Street, New lishers will find it more economical to discard back York, NY 10023. stocks than to save them and keep items in print. Some publishers have already begun to cut their stocks, and International League of Women Composers some have become increasingly reluctant to publish new music or music that has other than immediate The International League of Women Composers, a mass-market appeal. professional organization devoted to expanding opporr~ Senator Gaylord Nelson (D-WI) and Representative tunities for women composers, which was establishec Barber Conable, Jr., (R-NY) have introduced bills pro­ in 1975, is open to women who hold composition de­ hibiting the retroactive application of the IRS decision. grees, teach composition, and have had music published Members of ASUC are requested to write to senators or publicly performed. There are presently some 150 and congressmen concerning these bills. It would be members. The organization publishes a quarterly news- letter and has recently published a catalogue of mem­ records for exhibition at the Santa Barbara Conference bers' works, Contemporary Concert Music by Women: on Music by Women to be held there April 11-12, 1981. A Directory of the Composers and their Works (Green­ Details are available from Emma Lou Diemer, Depart­ wood Press). Information concerning membership can ment of Music, University of California, Santa Barbara, ~ be obtained from Elizabeth Hayden Pizer, 555 Peni­ CA 93106. Telephone: (805) 961-3261. _,., tencia Street, Apt. 1, Milpitas, CA 95035. A conference on Contemporary String Quartets by M.I. T. Experimental Music Studio Women Composers will take place August 7 and 8, 1981, at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Summer Programs Material can be submitted through February 23, to Joan Two summer programs in computer music applica­ Gallegos, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, 1201 tions will be offered in June and July, 1981, at the Mas­ Ortega Street, San Francisco, CA 94122. sachusetts Institute of Technology. A workshop on D. C. Culbertson is interested in locating contem­ "Techniques of Computer Sound Synthesis" will run porary music for lute, either solo or combined with from June 22 through July 3, and a workshop on "Com­ other instruments. Send scores or further information puter Music Composition" will extend from July 6 to 6738 Glenkirk Road, Baltimore, MD 21239, or call through 31, 1981. Information can be secured from the (301) 825-1379. Director of the Summer Session, Room E-19-356, M.I.T., Cambridge, MA 02139. The organization NEWBAND has announced a New York Microtonal Music Festival for Spring, 1982. Infor­ Orchestra of the 20th Century mation is available from Dean Drummond, Director, The Orchestra of the 20th Century, the only full­ NEWBAND, 95 West 95th Street, New York, NY 10025. sized symphony orchestra devoted exclusively to COMPETITIONS twentieth-century music, has established a Composers' Committee to permit composers across the country to Mu Phi Epsilon composition competition. Prizes of participate in the orchestra's commitment to the per­ $300, $200, and $150. Deadline: April 15, 1981. Several formance of contemporary music. The names of sup­ categories of eligibility. Contestants must be members porters will be used in the orchestra's publicity, and of Mu Phi Epsilon. Information: Violette M. McCarthy, although membership on the committee is not depen­ 1035 S. Fillmore Way, Denver, CO 80209. dent upon financial contribution, the orchestra does welcome contributions of $10 or more. Information University of Maryland/Kendor Music, Inc. Clarinet r...... is available from Arthur Weisberg, 317 East Linden Choir Composition Contest. Prize: $300. Deadline: Avenue, Englewood, NJ 07631. April 15, 1981. Scoring: clarinet choir. Information: Norman Heim, Department of Music, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742. FORTHCOMING FESTIVALS AND PERFORMANCE OPPORTUNITIES University of Maryland composition contest for clarinet quartet. Prize: $200. Deadline: May 1, 1981. A Festival of New Music will be held at Florida Information from Norman Heim, as above. State University, May 7-9, 1981, to include five con­ certs of contemporary music. Composers are invited to The New Music Consort composition contest for send scores for consideration. Information about the composers ages 22-32. Prizes include $300 plus per­ festival can be obtained from Harold Schiffman, School formance. Deadline: April 1, 1981. Information: The of Music, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL New Music Consort, Inc., 545 West 111 th Street, No. 32306. Telephone: (904) 644-3424. 10 G, New York, NY 10025. The Fourth Annual Symposium for New Woodwind The 1981 Kennedy Center Friedheim Awards for Quintet Music is to be held at the University of Georgia, instrumental chamber works will be selected from April 2-4, 1981. Information is available from Dr. John compositions premiered between July 1, 1979, and June Corina, Department of Music, University of Georgia, 30, 1981, and nominated prior to July 15, 1981. Prizes: At~ens, GA 30602. Telephone: (404) 542-3737. $5000, $2000, and $500. Information: Friedheim Awards, Kennedy Center, Washington, DC 20566. The Second Annual New Music Festival at Bowl­ ing Green State University will be held April 24 and USO World Headquarters National USO March 25, 1981. Information is available from Burton Beer­ Contest. Contest for a standard march. Prize: $1000. man, College of Musical Arts, Bowling Green State Deadline: March 1, 1981. Information: USO National University, Bowling Green, OH 43403. Telephone: March Contest, USO World Headquarters, 1146 19th (419) 372-2 181. Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036. The Sheffield Wind Symphony is a professional New Louisville Brass Quintet composition contest. chamber ensemble that gives concerts in the Chicago Prize: $400 and performance. Fee: $10. Deadline: March area. It is committed to premiering one new composi­ 1, 1981. Information: N ew Louisville Brass Quintet, tion at each of its 1981 concerts. Scores for considera­ School of Music, University of Louisville, Belknap tion should be sent to The Sheffield Wind Symphony, Campus, Louisville, KY 40292. 2048 North Kenmore Avenue, Chicago, IL 60614. Southeastern Composers' League Salop-Slates Me­ Women composers are invited to send scores and morial Contest. Entrants must be full-time students. Prize·: $100. Deadline: March 1, 1981. Information: Fred a commission from the Merrimac Ballet Company in Geissler, Department of Music, 113 Old Cabell Hall, Lowell Massachusetts, to compose a work for them. University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22093. His ballet The Road was premiered at the University of Connecticut in November. Nebraska Sinfonia new music competition. Prize: $1000 and peformance. Deadline: March 15, 1981. Fee: Two works by Curtis C. Curtis-Smith (Western $15. Information: Anne Feriner, 5325 Nicholas Street, Michigan University) were premiered recently. Black Omaha, NB 68132. and Blues for Brass Quintet was premiered by the West­ ern Brass Quintet on the composer's campus last March, Indiana State University/Indianapolis Symphony and The Barbershop String Quartet (Third String competition for orchestral works. Deadline: March 15, Quartet) was premiered by the Colden String Quartet 1981. Performance. Information: Neal Fluegel, Con­ there in October. His Masquerades was performed by temporary Music Festival, Indiana State University, William Albright in July at the Hartt Contemporary Music Department, FA 304, Terre Haute, IN 47809. Organ Music Festival in Hartford. Rhapsodies for piano National Saxophone Workshop composition con­ was performed by Cesar Vuksic in several South Amer­ test. Prizes: four prizes of $500, $500, $250, and $250. ican cities in 1980, including Buenos Aires and Bogota. Solo saxophone and ensembles featuring saxophone. Two new compositions by Ronald V. Reaser (Balti­ Fee: $7. Deadline: March 14, 1981. Information: Com­ more) recently received their premieres-his Violin position Contest, 755 Winthorne Drive, Nashville, TN Sonata and his Five Shorts for Bass Trombone. His Tel­ 37217. ler's Child for brass quintet is to be premiered in Balti­ University of Wisconsin, Parkside/Oriana Trio more in February and his Liberare Sonare for alto sax­ composers' competition. Prize: $1500. Deadline: April ophone and percussion has been published by Sou them 15, 1981. Fee: $15. Scoring: violin, cello, and piano. In­ Music. Mr. Reaser has also recently been appointed formation: August Wegner, Communication Arts 216, music consultant to Micro Technology Unlimited. His University of Wisconsin, Parkside, Kenosha, WI 53141. appointment is to assist in the design of a micro-proc­ essor-based digital synthesizer for use in composition. MEMBER ACTIVITIES Blythe Owen (Andrews University, Michigan) has been named Michigan Composer of the Year and com­ Anthony Iannaccone (Eastern Michigan University) missioned by the Michigan Music Teachers' Association. has had five works recorded recently. His Trio for Flute, Her Trio for Clarinet, Cello, and Piano was premiered Clarinet, and Piano, recently published by Theodore at Traverse City, Michigan in October. Her sacred Presser, was released by Orion Records and four of his choral works were the subject of a doctoral dissertation~ largest published works for wind ensemble and band by Alfendy Mamora, who completed the Ph.D. degree have been recorded by Golden Crest Records. He re­ at New York University in June. Recent performances cently received a $1,000 commission from the Phi Mu have included her 0 Lord, Thou Ha st Searched Me Alpha Foundation for settings of Walt Whitman poetry Out for soprano with organ and cello, and 0 Lord, for chorus and wind orchestra. I have Hear~ the Report of Thee for tenor. August M. Wegner (University of Wisconsin, Park­ Paul Hoffmann (Douglass College, Rutgers), a pian­ side) has had his composition Something for Flute and ist specializing in twentieth-century repertoire, has Prepared Piano released on a Musical Heritage Society recently peformed works by ASUC composers Allen recording "Prepared Piano: The First Four Decades." Blank, Stuart Smith, and Barney Childs at Christopher Richard Bunger supervised the recording. Newport College of William and Mary, Bucknell Uni­ versity, and Virginia Commonwealth University. He Otto Luening was guest composer at the University is interested in receiving scores to be considered for of Wisconsin, Parkside, in March, where he presented a future programs. lecture and discussion in connection with the premiere of his work Potawatomi Legends for fourteen players. Crepuscular Time by Lem Coyner (Chatham Col­ Other featured works on the same occasion were Luen­ lege) was premiered at Chatham in November by the ing's Sonata for Trombone and Piano, Sonata II for Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, which commissioned Solo Violin, Suite for Bass and Piano, Suite for Cello the work. The concert also featured performances of and Piano, and Fanfare for a Festive Occasion. Fantasy Quartet by Gerald Chenoweth (Rutgers Uni­ versity), Trios and Interludes by Leo Kraft (Queens John Duesenberry's electronic music will be fea­ College), and f eux des Quatres by Daria Semegen tured on a December, 1980, album release by Opus One SUNY/ Stony Brook). Records. The record includes the computer work Mod­ uletude, 4 Movements for Tape and Prepared Piano, Janos Kiss's Ceremonial March for trumpets and and the analog electronic compositions Phrase and 3 organ was performed in Bethesda-on-the-Bay Lutheran Variations, 2 Interludes. Church in Bay Village, Ohio, in June. In February the Magyar Club of Cleveland presented him with a brass Sonics for piano by Frederick Koch (Cleveland) will plaque "in appreciation for his excellent achievements~ be featured in a number of performances during 1980- in music." 81 by pianist Barbra Dahlman of Washington, DC. Performances will take place at Texas Women's Uni­ A program of music by Hugo Norden was presented versity, University of North Dakota, Great Forks, and at the Boston Conservatory of Music in November. at the New School in New York. Koch has also received Featured on the concert were his Elegy in Three Tri- l

angles for Woodwind Quintet, Music in A for Wood­ Piano. Harry Bulow (Los Angeles) received an honor­ wind Quintet, Music in C for Piano Four Hands, Partita able mention for his Inventions for Flute and Piano. for Woodwind Quintet, and Sonata for TWo Pianos. CHANGE OF ADDRESS Refiections in Time and Space by David Kechley ~ (University of North Carolina, Wilmington) was per­ Paul Hoffmann, Department of Music, Douglass formed by the New Music Ensemble at the University Colleg~, Rutgers, New Brunswick, NJ 08903. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in October. His Fan­ Rob Newell, Department of Music, Chapman Col­ ares and Reflections for Winds and Percussion was ! lege, Orange, CA 92666. premiered by the Western Washington Wind Ensemble in November. His Streams of Hoofed Wings, commis­ sioned by the Footpath Dance Company, was premiered NEWSLE'ITER ARTICLE in Cleveland in November. Tuchnology as a Stimulant in the Creative Process Mark Schnieder (Austin, Texas) is the recipient of by Sylvia Pengilly the SOth Anniversary New Music Award given by the Ohioana Library Association, for his orchestral work In this paper I shall attempt not only to describe a Antimemoires, which was premiered in January by the specific technological procedure but also to raise some Columbus Symphony Orchestra. very important and possibly controversial questions concerning the nature of the art of music and the "why" Alex Lubet (University of Minnesota) was a winner and "how" of composition. in the 1980 Composers Commissioning Program of the What is music? Through the ages it has been per­ Minnesota Composers Forum. He has been commis­ ceived in many different ways. Pythagoras viewed sioned to write a song cycle for tenor and guitar for music as an expression of universal harmony realized Vern Sutton and Jeffrey Van. His Lament for solo tuba in mathematics while Boethius expanded this concept won the Fall 1980 "Gem" series competition of the to include not only the musica mundana of Pythagoras Tubists Universal Brotherhood Association (TUBA) and but also musica humana, the harmony of the soul and will be published in their Journal. His Shabbat Shalom the body, and musica instrumentalis, music as physi­ for piano will be performed at the Walker Art Center in cal sound. Closer to our own time Leonard B. Meyer Minneapolis in May. acknowledges two aesthetic positions with regard to William Albright (University of Michigan) has re­ the perception of music: the absolutist view, which ceived two recent premieres. His A Dance for clarinet, contends that music is perceived solely as an abstract intellectual concept, and the referentialist view, which cello, trombone, and piano, was premiered at the War­ saw Autumn Festival in September. His Happy Birthday contends that this intellectual concept is also capable of exciting feelings and emotions in the listener.1 Stra­ Canons, commissioned by Chamber Music Northwest, was premiered by them in Portland, Oregon, in July. vinsky, writing in Poetics of Music, indicates that he views music as an abstract concept that is realized in Dennis Kam (University of Miami) was featured in concrete form in terms of sollild and time, and that tonal a "close up" article in the fall issue of University of elements beoome music only when they are organized Miami Score, a quarterly pictorial publication of the by a conscious human act.2 university. For Stravinsky this conscious human act is synony­ mous with composition. Why, then, does he compose? Works by William Thomas Mc.Kinley (New England In the third essay of Poetics of Music he describes his Conservatory) and Donald Keats (University of Denver) attitude towards artistic creation as a sort of appetite were featured during the "new music weekend" at the that is brought on by the anticipation of discovery; an Colorado Music Festival last July. Performed were obligation that can be satisfied only by hard work. 3 Keats' Musica instrumentalis I and McKinley's Paint­ Although we may or may not agree with Stravin­ ings No. 4. sky's reasons for why we compose, the "how" of com­ Works by Steven Stucky (Cornell University), Jordan position is possibly somewhat easier to deal with, as Tang (Southwest Missouri State University), and Joey few would deny the necessity for a solid foundation of Bargsten (University of Iowa) were featured at the 1980 technique. Hindemith, in the Craft of Musical Compo­ Contemporary Music Festival sponsored annually by sition, stresses the necessity for a technique that must Indiana State University and the Indianapolis Sym­ be so completely absorbed that it becomes as automatic phony at Terre Haute, Indiana. Featured Guest Com­ as a reflex action; a subconscious, rather than a con­ poser was Society member Martin Mailman. scious activity.4 How, then, are we to acquire this technique? A logi­ The December issue of Musical America contains a cal answer would be to study the works of earlier com­ lengthy review of the 1980 ISCM World Music Days in posers and, through rigorous analysis, discover the basic Tel Aviv, which featured performances of works by Jon­ principles underlying their decision making process. athan Kramer, Norman Dinerstein, and Brian Fennelly. Once thoroughly absorbed these principles offer to the contemporary composer a panorama of possibilities Robert Carl (Atlanta, Georgia) has won the first from the isorhythm of the early fourteenth century to prize in the Second Annual National Association of the syntax of the tonal system to serial techniques, to Composers, USA Young Composers' Contest with his name only a few. composition, Celestial Fragments for violin and piano. What, then, will be the reaction of a composer when Second prize went to David Snow of Silver Spring, presented with potential new materials for compo- Maryland for his Trio for Alto Flute, Doublebass, and sition? Surely one of excitement at the prospect of particular piece. Since intervals may be arranged as a imposing previously absorbed principles upon new progression from consonance to dissonance it was de­ materials: of establishing analogies between the known cided to present them in this order working, in the first and the new, but related, unknown. half of the piece, from the perfect octave to the tritone, For Hindemith intervals are the basic materials of while in the second half the intervals would be pre­ music and in their arrangement and juxtaposition lies sented in the reverse order and in distorted form, end­ the basis of the art of music, both in a physical and a ing with a distorted octave. The aural materials are, of metaphysical sense. 5 What, then, are intervals? In a course, based upon the intervals that are presented vis­ physical sense intervals may be expressed as ratios de­ ually. The piece is basically improvisatory, the musi­ rived from the harmonic series, such as 1:2, 2:3, 5:6, cians improvising upon the basic intervallic material and so on. In a psychological sense we speak of the rela­ provided by the composer. In the first half of the piece tive consonance or dissonance of an interval which, the musical sounds appear .to evoke the laser patterns when translated into terms of ratios, indicates that the while in the second half the patterns trigger the impro­ simpler the ratio the more consonant the interval, for visation of the musicians. example, 2: 1 (perfect octave) is more consonant than Technology, like music itself, may be perceived in 9:8 (major second), and 15:16 (minor second) is more many different ways. It may be viewed as the arch­ dissonant than 9:8. Intervals, then, imply a degree of enemy of creativity; a dehumanizing monster that consonance or dissonance. destroys human imagination and denies the need for Realizing the importance of intervals to musical human performers, or, as I prefer to view it, it may be composition, imagine the delight of a composer upon seen as a stimulating new dimension, capable of being discovering that intervals can be expressed visually as organized by means of the same basic principles as th­ well as aurally. The laser/mirror procedure described ose used with traditional materials, adding to, rather below is the result of research by Dr. Richard Peterson than detracting from, a satisfying musical experience. of the Physics Department of Western Illinois Univer­ sity and works on the same principle as an oscilloscope 1. Leonard B. Meyer, Emotion and Meaning in Music (Chicago: Uni­ but is capable of projecting much larger patterns. These versity of Chicago Press, 1970), p. 1. patterns are known as Lissajous figures (See Ex. 1). They 2. Igor Stravinsky, Poetics of Music (Cambridge: Harvard University are created by using two audio inputs of different fre­ Press, 1977), p. 23. 3. Ibid., p. 51. quencies. According to the ratio of the two input fre­ 4. Paul Hindemith, Craft of Musical Composition (New York: Schott quencies certain predictable patterns will be produced. Music Corp., 1945 ), p. 11. In the laser/mirror system these two frequencies are 5. Ibid., p. 12. fed into a stereo amplifier which is connected to two very small speakers on each of which is mounted a very small mirror. As the audio signals are fed into the speakers the speakers and their attached mirrors begin LETTERS TO THE EDITOR to vibrate at the frequencies of the input signals. Since a pure sine wave is best for this purpose sine wave Editor: generators were used as sound sources and their input stored on magnetic tape. The function of the laser is to I was app~lled and greatly disturbed by the posture translate the vibrations of the mirrors into visible terms. taken by Mr. Irwin Bazelon in his article contained in This is done by adjusting the beam so that it falls first the Summer, 1980, issue of the American Music Center, on the mirror on the right speaker, controlling the ver­ Inc., Newsletter, "An Immodest Proposal?," which, in tical plane, then bounces off it onto the mirror on the brief summation, suggests that the time may have left speaker, controlling the horizontal. The beam come for the composer to pay a professional symphony which is finally projected onto the screen is the result orchestra to perform a piece of his/hers .... This ever­ of these two frequencies "tugging" at each other in increasing general attitude, as reflected by Mr. Bazelon's their respective planes. It was also discovered that by proposal, is extremely dangerous to us as composers. using a slightly impure sine wave as one of the inputs We are already called upon to support recordings of the patterns would become subtly distorted resulting our music ... we are asked to send our music without in figures of an almost sensuous beauty. payment to more and more performance organizations with the vague hope that the music may be performed ... we must pay ever larger entrance fees for contests and competitions ... we are asked to pay fees to some publishing houses to autograph-publish scores; and now Mr. Bazelon would have us pay more thousands of dol­ 1: 1 (Unison) 6:5 (m3) 2:1 (P8) lars to an orchestra to perform one piece of ours! Where does this all end? The better question is: Why Example 1. Representative Lissa;ous Figures has this dreadful situation come about? Does the Euro­ pean composer pay orchestras or publishing houses? Since the mind of a composer demands a method of Would Charles Wuorinen, David Del Tredici, Lukas organization of his materials this demand must still be Foss, Earle Brown, and Jacob Druckman in our own ("\ met even though some of the materials may be visual country pay for the priviledge [sic] of hearing their rather than aural. The organizational principle behind pieces? Can one imagine Stravinsky or Brahms begging ~ my composition Incantation, which is scored for laser for a performance? patterns, synthesizer, and solo percussion, is certainly When we as composers have such a poor attitude not the only possibility, merely the one chosen for this of ourselves, can we avoid being stepped on? Two al- tematives come to mind. One is a long thoughtful look MAILING ADDRESSES into how and why ASCAP and BMI were founded .. . . 1. For membership and subscription information write: Perhaps we need another angry group to lobby for ASUC, 250 West 54th Street, Room 300, New York, the "classical" composer's economical rights as a New York 10019. (°'\professional artist contributing something of value to society .... 2. To submit materials to the ASUC fournal of Music The second idea that comes to mind is-if perform­ Scores or Record Series, write: ASUC, 250 West 54th ance groups, such as orchestras, do not care to perform Street, Room 300, New York, New York 10019. our music, then why write it? Music only survives 3. To submit information for inclusion in the ASUC through performance. Would the composers of past cen­ Newsletter, address: Tom Cleman and Jackson Hill, turies have continued to write for ensembles who were editors, ASUC Newsletter, 250 West 54th Street, so saturated with music, that they rejected anything Room 300, New York, New York 10019. new, with the exception of a few chosen" special" works? There are ensembles that seek out new music. There are composers who earn royalties rather than expend their slim savings for one pitiful hearing. There is an interested audience who still feels an awe and respect for fine music by living composers. We must stand up and insist upon our being treated and respected as pro­ fessionals. If we do this, we will find more profitable ways to tum this situation in the right direction. - Priscilla McLean

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE (1980) Richard Brooks, Chairman, Nassau Community Col­ lege; Jackson Hill, Bucknell University and Thomas Cleman, Northern Arizona University, Editors of the N ew sletter; Bruce J. Taub, C. F. Peters Corporation, ~Editor of the fournal; Cleve Scott, Electronic Music Consortium, Ball State University; Samuel Hope, Na­ tional Association of Schools of Music; Greg Steinke, Editor of the Proceedings, Linfield College; Reynold Weidenaar, ASUC Submissions Coordinator; Priscilla McLeaq, ASUC Radio Series; Margo Greene, ASUC Recording Series; Kurt Stone, Associate Representa­ tive; Stuart S. Smith, Representative to Assembly of National Arts Education Organization, University of Maryland; David Felder, Student Representative, Uni­ versity of California, San Diego.

NATIONAL COUNCIL (1980) Robert T. Adams, Southeastern Massachusetts Univer­ sity, and Thomas Read, University of Vermont (Region 1 ); Harris Lindenfeld, Hamilton College, and Ann Sils­ bee, Ithaca, New York (Region 2); James McVoy, West Chester State College, and John Rinehart, Shenandoah Conservatory (Region 3); Don Freund, Memphis State University, and Dennis Kam, University of Miami (Region 4); Robert Rollin, Youngstown State Univer­ sity, and Philip Winsor, DePaul University (Region 5); Thomas Clark, North Texas State University, and Edward Mattila, University of Kansas (Region 6); Stephen Scott, The Colorado College, and Richard Toensing, University of Colorado (Region 7); Beverly ~ Grigsby, California State University at Northridge, and 1Warner Hutchison, New Mexico State University ' (Region 8); Diane Thome, University of Washington, and Walter K. Winslow, University of California at Berkeley (Region 9); Edwin London, Chairman, Cleve­ land State University.