MUSIC NOW   

Newsletter of the Southeastern Composers’ League

November 1999                                                                                                                 Volume 24, Number 5


Member Directory

 

The completely updated and visually pleasing member directory is enclosed. If your information is incorrect…please contact Terry Vosbein with the correct information. Corrections and changes will be printed in upcoming issues of Music Now.

From the editor

 

Time is running out for contributions to the musical literature of the twentieth-century. Less than a month remains for you to add another opus to the century’s collected works.

 

Of course, those of you who believe life doesn’t begin until one’s first birthday have an additional year. But however you view it, a historic era is about to come to a close. As trivial as a new century is to nature, to the written record of history these arbitrary dividing lines take on significance.

 

Actually, I have a solution to the “when does the new millennium begin” problem. Let’s just celebrate YBWAT instead: Years Beginning With A Two. There can be no arguing that issue.

 

And it’s been even longer since the last time a year began with a two. We had a new millennium only…a mere millennium ago. The last year beginning with a two was the year 299!

 

So however you view things, from eyes wide open to rose colored contacts, write those notes…the clock is ticking…last note composed this year wins the prize.

 

Post season awards to look forward to will include: most notes written in a decade, fewest notes written taking the longest time to perform, and of course best on-bass percentage.

Forum 2000

 

Eddie Bass reports that you can look forward to a varied program at the 2000 SCL Forum at UNC-Greensboro, April 9-11. Composers who have submitted works will be hearing from the selection committee around the end of December.

Membership renewal reminder

 

Please take a moment to inspect the mailing label of this Music Now. The number in parenthesis following your name is the year that your dues is paid through. A (99) after your name means that you are paid through the end of 1999 (which is soon). Dues should be received by the first day of each year. See the application form included with this issue for information on dues and membership.

 

Member News

 

Note from editor: I can always use more information for this section. I know our members are active. please share the good news with the rest of us.

 

Terry Vosbein’s The Dharma Bums, a trio for trombone, timpani and electric bass, was recently performed by Tom Lundberg, John Beck and Wiley Porter at Washington and Lee University. Also on the program was the premiere of Diggin’ With Dave for trombone and bass, with Tom Lundberg on trombone and the composer on bass.



I recently responded to my local public radio’s request for money with the following letter. I thought I would share it with you, as this seems to be a frightening trend, especially in smaller markets such as the one I live in.

 

 

Dear program manager:

 

 

Recently I received a letter from you requesting funds for the station. In it you emphasized the entertainment and enjoyment that your station has to offer. I was shocked to see just how off-track the thinking at public broadcasting has become. Your station (or “our” station as you keep reminding me) is pursuing the wrong E’s. Enlightenment and education NOT entertainment and enjoyment should be the goal of public broadcasting.

 

You have become a commercial radio station with all of the trimmings. I realize federal funding has been dramatically reduced. And I realize that you must “sell” yourself to the listener more than ever. But keep mindful of the product that you are selling: enlightenment. And enlightenment is not always accompanied by functional harmonies played by pretty strings.

 

Music should stretch the listeners and invite them to think. It should not be a Muzak™ soundtrack to one’s life. Music is an interactive art form…it requires the participation of an active listener.

 

If all you feed your listeners is a steady diet of the same music, which contains minimum diversity of melody, harmony, rhythm, form and emotional content, then you are helping to kill our art. Music has grown in the past two hundred years, yet there is very little evidence of it on your air waves. If you don’t expose this music to listeners you are hastening its demise.

 

“Contemporary” compositions recently heard on your station include Dvorak’s “New World” Symphony and Copland’s Appalachian Spring. These are fine works, but as examples of the most progressive sounds on your airwaves it is appalling. Generally only short works, or single movements from larger works are heard. Vocal music is almost completely absent. Composers regularly overlooked include Stravinsky, Bartók and Shostakovich, not to mention Varčse, Boulez and Messiaen.

 

And it is not just new music that is absent from your programming. The majority of the works heard on your station are from the period covering roughly Mozart through Chopin. Virtually no Baroque and even less early music is to be heard. It seems that the goal of your programming is to find music that is pleasant, not too loud, too soft, too slow, too long or too demanding.

 

And it is not enough to designate an hour a week as “New Music Time” or “Renaissance Roundup,” as some stations have done, usually putting them very late at night or early on Sunday morning. By segregating this music from the rest of the programming you send a bad message A listener should hear new and old mixed together, on equal footing.

 

Consider the consequences of your actions. Consider your contribution to the dumbing of America. Consider the positive impact you could be having on the future of what we all love so much by following the initial premise of public broadcasting: 1) present that which is rewarding, yet non-commercial, and 2) present thought-provoking art without regard to sponsor pressure. Consider this. Please.

 

 

Yours sincerely,

Terry Vosbein


 


 

 

Application for New and Renewal Memberships

 

 

 

Membership in the Southeastern Composers League is open to all composers residing in the southeastern United States (Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia) who have demonstrated a seriousness of purpose and basic competence in scoring for orchestra or chamber ensemble.

 

Associate membership is open to any non-composer or institution interested in the objectives of the League. Student Composer Membership is open to all undergraduate or graduate students who are located in the Southeast or who are studying with an SCL Member Composer. Associate and Student Composer members may participate in most of the League’s activities.

 

2000 Dues should be received by 1 January 2000

 

O   Composer — $30.00

O   Associate: — $20.00

O   Student: — $10.00

 

Name __________________________________

Address _________________________________

______________________________________

______________________________________

Phone __________________________________

E-Mail __________________________________

 

 

For new members only:

 

Professional position (if any) ___________________

 

Recommending member ______________________

 

For student composer only:

 

School: __________________________________

 

Instructor: _______________________________

 

Please make your check payable to Southeastern Composers’ League and send it along with the above application it to:

 

Leonard Ball, Treasurer

Southeastern Composers’ League

175 Windfall Drive

Winterville, GA 30683



MUSIC NOW



Terry Vosbein, Editor

Department of Music

Washington and Lee University

Lexington, VA 24450

           Nonprofit Organization

                      U.S. POSTAGE

                     Lexington, VA

       Address Service Requested

Southeastern Composers’ League Officers


Mark Francis, President

179 Twin Lakes Road

Natchitoches, LA 71457



Donna Kelly Eastman, Vice-President

6812 Dina Leigh Court

Springfield, VA 22153




Richard Montalto, Secretary

113 Joy Springs Road

Columbus, MS 39701



Leonard Ball, Treasurer

175 Windfall Drive



Music Now is published four times a year, in January, May, September and November by the Southestern Composers’ League and is distributed to all members, associate members and student members.

The deadline for all materials is the first of the month of publication. News of members must be submitted in the form of a brief article. Reviews, lists and programs will not be accepted. Submissions may be sent by email, diskette or hardcopy. Send all information to:

Terry Vosbein, Editor

Department of Music

Washington and Lee University

Lexington, VA 24450

 

fax: 540/463-8104

tvosbein@wlu.edu



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