I'm implementing a new strategy for publishing news in the hope that I'll actually do it more often if it's easier. Since I don't want the old news to go away, here is everything to-date:

9/18/2004
I'm now done with NEC, and back up in Hanover, NH, working as an administrative assistant in the Development office of the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and Dartmouth Medical School. I have updated this page to a certain extent, and intend in fairly short order to start sending out an e-mail newsletter, the contents of which will appear in this space as well.

4/5/2004
I am officially done with New England Conservatory. Commencement is May 16, after which I will be heading back up to Hanover. In other news, Pulse-Point was played brilliantly by a group of NEC students and alums on a concert a couple months ago in Jordan Hall, and that recording is now available. Also Act I of “Sarajevo” is finished, and I now need to record it. And trumpet player Jimi Michiel has asked me to write a piece for his recital in the fall, which I am looking forward to starting. In the meantime, subletting my apartment and finding a job in Hanover are my top priorities.

1/15/2004
It's been a long time since my last update, so there are many things to say.1. My String Quartet is finished. It's three movements long, and while I haven't heard it played by real musicians yet, I'm optimistic.2. Pulse-Point is finished. It's about 12 minutes long, and I think both one of my best and one of my most accessable works. We'll see if audiences agree.3. First semester has come and gone, and second semester is underway. I took and am continuing to take John Heiss's famous “Interpretive Analysis” class, “Wind Ensemble Conducting” with Bill Drury, and of course my composition lessons with Lee Hyla. Last semester I also took Pozi Escot's “Teaching of Compositional Practice,” which turned out to be about the history of the teaching of composition. I have one more class to select for this semester.4. I'm now working on a major new work – an hour long oratorio/concept-album about Sarajevo and internationalism. Instrumentation is SATB soloists, vln, vln, vla, vc, cb, pno, and tape. The tape part includes some percussive elements, and recorded speech from source materials. The text for the singers is taken from newspapers and telegrams. The piece is in three acts and a coda–Act I: The assassination of Archduke FerdinandAct II: The 1984 OlympicsAct III: The Siege of SarajevoCoda: the NATO Kosovo campaign.So far I have half of Act I finished in first draft form, and intend to finish Act I by graduation.

8/27/2003
The first movement of my string quartet is finished, at least in first-draft form. I'll show it to Lee when school starts back up, and put the finishing touches on over the next month or so. And as soon as I return to school, I'll be recruiting a quartet to perform it at TNNM concerts. In the meantime, I've moved on to writing "Pulse-Point." It started as an exercise for Orchestration class last year, but I liked it and am now expanding it into a full fledged piece. School starts next week.

8/22/2003 - 8/23/2003
Dartmouth "Electric Rainbow Coalition" Concert at Dartmouth College. My modest contribution will be "Mille Regrets (After Josquin)," and it will appear along side the works of composers including Paul Lansky, Scott Lindroth, Alice Shields, and others.UPDATE: The festival was fun. music from noon to midnight on friday and saturday. I saw Jon Appleton and Eric Lyon briefly, and also saw Jeanie Lee, who went to Dartmouth with me and has just finished her Masters at Brown. The quality of the pieces ranged from inexcusably long and boring to brilliant -- among the best were Eric Lyon's piece, Paul Lansky's piece, and Eve Beglarian's piece. I was unable to see Scott Lindroth's piece, but I love some of his other work, so I expect it was good. "Mille Regrets" went over well, I think, but it's hard to tell.

7/30/2003
This page has been updated to include a number of PDF scores in the Pieces section, and many more audio files. In other news, the Princeton Review course is going great. I'm not getting as much composing done as I had hoped, but I am finally making real progress on the String Quartet again, and am still expecting to have it finished by the start of the academic year.

6/21/2003
Summer is off to a good start. I'm spending more time in NH, and will be spending most of July teaching SAT in Burlington, VT. My semester ended well -- I finished everything on time, and most of it came out okay. I can now add my first real orchestra piece to my list of works, and also my first piece for two player pianos. NEC graduation was very nice, with good speakers and a fun after-party. I'm hoping to finish my String Quartet and a new piece for a large chamber ensemble by the end of the summer, but we'll see if that happens.

4/29/2003
"Tuesday Night New Music" Concert in Brown Hall at New England Conservatory. Two computer music pieces will be on the program: "Cerulean Black" and "Mille Regrets (After Josquin)"UPDATE: The concert was a success, (although not as good as some have been.) A string quartet by a composer whose name I have forgotten stole the show, and deserved to. One audience member described "Mille Regrets" as 102.4, which is only funny if you know that the Classical music radio station in boston is 102.5 -- of course if you do know that it's hilarious. Both of my pieces were well recieved, although most people only complimented me on one or the other, so I guess they appeal to different aesthetics.

4/18/2003
It's been exactly four months since my last update -- My second semester is coming to a close with the craziness that that always entails. Two movements of the String Quartet are basically done, and the piece as a whole is on hold for a while. My main project has been an orchestra piece, which should be finished by the end of the month in time for the BMOP competition deadline. I'm also working on a piece for two sopranos, piano, and maybe percussion, but it's my lowest priority. I'm also in the final mixdown stage of a computer music piece based on Josquin's "Mille Regrets." My summer plans are not yet firm, but will probably include some SAT Verbal teaching for The Princeton Review.

12/18/2002
A short Orchestration exam will conclude the first semester at NEC. I'll be temping full time over the break, with my regular weekend visits to NH. Christmas will be in NH with my parents and Christine, followed by New Years at Phi Tau at Dartmouth. Alex Reed and I have plans to do some music while he's in the area. I'm hoping to finish at least two movements of my string quartet by the time school resumes.

12/13/2002
The NEC Orchestra, under the direction of Dante Anzolini, will read my string orchestra piece "Critical Mass." Previously the piece was performed at Dartmouth as a quartet.UPDATE: The reading went well, and as suspected the piece works well as an orchestral piece. The tremolo section was still a little rough, but it was a reading, and overall the piece came off well and I was pleased.

12/10/2002
"Tuesday Night New Music" concert in Williams Hall at New England Conservatory. "Ex Nihilo," a short solo piano piece based on tremolos, will be performed by Sara Mueske.UPDATE: This whole concert was wonderful. I really enjoyed almost all of the pieces, especially Colin Stack's piece for Saxophone ensemble. "Ex Nihilo" was last on the first half of the program, and was well received. Sara played it well, and many of my colleagues raved about her performance afterwards. She seems on her way to becoming a major fixture at these events, and performed another piece on this same concert.

11/05/2002
"Tuesday Night New Music" concert in Williams Hall at New England Conservatory. A concert of new works by NEC students, including the second and third movements of "Distance Over Time" for two pianos, to be performed by Sara Mueske and Elaine Rombola. Concert time TBA.UPDATE: The concert was a big success. "Distance Over Time" was last on the program, and was well received by the audience. Sara and Elaine gave a terrific performance in red pants.

10/01/2002
GalenBrown.com goes live. Everything but the "images" page should be finished.

posted by Galen H. Brown # 1:40 PM 0 comments