Luminosity

I recently gave a listening presentation in class and I set out to get out of my comfort zone, and search for works that I had never heard. Once parameter I gave myself was to include works by female composers. Now, in 2019 I would be essentially be ‘preaching to the choir,’ in saying that we need more works by women composers, I am no hero there.

What probably should have been obvious given the strong male bias in music history, but wasn’t, is that I had a very difficult time finding diverse works by female composers. When I posed the question to my colleagues “What brass ensemble pieces do you know by female composers?” The almost unanimous response was Joan Tower, who has undoubtedly made a big impact on brass repertoire, having several works for various brass ensembles. However, this is normally the only composer they are able to come up with.

I am not asserting that one cannot find brass ensemble pieces by female composers, but it is nowhere near on the same level as male composers. What I would like to do with this post is highlight a really cool piece that I found by Composer Jessica Meyer

I would highly encourage anybody to listen to her stuff - it’s great!

I would like to share with you her piece Luminosity for Brass Quintet. Here is her program note taken from the soundcloud link below

“Luminosity" explores how brass instruments can convey the essence of various forms of light, both visible and invisible. While combining both expected and unexpected colors and textures that are unique to brass instruments, this work strives to capture a series of moments - from light that illuminates certain aspects of nature to the ineffable kind that radiates from within a particular person. Commissioned by the Women Composers Festival of Hartford for its 2016 Festival, premiered by the Nautilus Brass.”

This piece features a nice blend of modern compositional practices (extended techniques, disjunct rhythms, dissonance) to beautiful arching melodic lines (often with interjections underneath from the rest of the ensemble.

Anyway - Here is a link to the piece, I hope you enjoy

https://soundcloud.com/jessica-meyer-55/luminosity-for-brass-quintet-by-jessica-meyer

Bring the funk

As a perpetual college music student I have found that my musical tastes have changed from when I was younger. I used to listen to only funk, rock, and blues music and I thought that classical music was boring. Fast forward to roughly ten years later I find myself only listening to classical music. It isn’t that I dislike the music from when I was younger, I have just developed a bigger appreciation for western art music and it is what I prefer to listen to. That being said, as of late I have been trying to go ‘off-genre’ in my listening and reconnect with my roots more - and this video has been at the top of my playlist for weeks. This is a shining example of a group who blends the classical playing tradition technique (they match sound, articulation, style and play with full rich sounds) with a modern funk-like approach. A group of killer brass players (and others) playing exciting and engaging music is something that I know I need more of in my life. No B.S Brass band has led me to other similar groups, such as the YoungBlood brass band (among others). I think it would be a disservice to not include these modern, non-classical performing brass ensembles in the same circles as your standard classical brass ensembles (i.e brass quintet).

Enjoy what I think can only be summed up by the word Tasty.