Improvised Music and Jazz
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Posts
The Butterfly Effect: Music for Non-Performance
The fifth piece in La Monte Young’s Composition 1960 collection begins by instructing a performer to ‘Turn a butterfly (or any number of butterflies) loose in the performance area’. The piece was composed while journeying through the mountains of North California, as Young considered the humble Insecta–Lepidoptera. ‘Alone, it made a very beautiful […]
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Posts
John Cage, ‘Water Walk’, and Tiny Desks: Visual Comedy in Serious Music
Composed for Solo Television performer, and incorporating bath tubs, kettles, mechanical fish, and a grand piano, a remarkable recording exists of Cage’s ‘Water Walk’, given by the man himself on the 1960s American panel show ‘I’ve Got a Secret’. It’s an absurd scene, made all the more surreal through the postponement of the game-show […]
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News
Federico Reuben in Journal of Music, Technology and Education
The Journal of Music, Technology and Education recently published a special edition on the Online Orchestra, an Arts & Humanities Research Council-funded project that run between October 2014 to March 2016. Federico Reuben contributed to this project as lead software developer and as a composer of a piece for female choir, string orchestra, brass and […]
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Posts
Taking the ‘Toy’ out of Toy Instruments
I have been working exclusively with toy instruments for almost a year now, although the title of this post perhaps implies a degree of severity and gravity in this exploration, which, in reality, was never intended, nor ever materialised.
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Posts
Spring postgraduate forum, 2nd March 2017
The music department’s spring postgraduate forum was held on Thursday 2nd March. We had a packed day with a really wide range of topics covered, issues touched on, and genres explored. Click for full report and timetable.
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News
Nikki Franklin working with John Zorn
Nikki Franklin & writing partner Sam Eastmond are delighted to be working with John Zorn on the album ‘Cerberus’, released November 2015.
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News
Welcome to new staff member Federico Reuben
A big welcome to Dr Federico Reuben who joins us from 1 September 2015.