VOLUME 25, NUMBER 8

Some thoughts from Greg Steinke

From Towards a New Interdisciplinarity

So, where does this leave one after more than twenty­five years in the profession and most of a total lifetime being involved with music in one way or another? I offer it not to impress , but as a perspective I have at this point with which I must deal and reconcile as I now lead from a position where lives are influenced-perhaps to be made or broken-speaking not only of faculty but also of students who can be led where we as colleagues show the way. I must also reconcile these perspectives in my creative work. But how are we showing the way? How do we lead? Are we even prepared to lead? How do I reconcile myself artistically?

It has become clear to me recently, and perhaps not so recently, that how I was educated, and how I believe many others have been and are being educated-prob­ably most ofus in the room today-is not really adequate nor even accurate of the ever-shrinking, multi-cultural, "super-technological," rapidly overpopulating world in which we find ourselves. We, of course, are a part of it and in our various ways have helped to create what we inherit here today. But what does one do first when one contemplates one study, made in about 1967, which predicted within forty years the growth index of the world would go straight up towards infinity, and that some twenty years later, when the model was re-exam­ined (several years ago now), it was found the original calculations might have been off by some four hundred fifty million, meaning we might have even less time before we overpopulate ourselves to oblivion! Sober­ing! I can ' t solve that one here, nor the many other issues raised by technology, a shrinking world, etc. Be that as it may, these do impress one with a certain sense of urgency. Expounding the importance of Beethoven, revealing the implications of the Tristan chord in Wagner or "shedding the divine right" of the quality of twelve tones and in general trying to extol the greatness of Western Civilization-all seem to absolutely pale in comparison to the aforementioned realities of our world today. I'm not suggesting that I could begin to have the answers to those problems of the world; however, as Pope John XXIII said, "See everything/Overlook a great deal/Improve a little." To keep sane about it, we do need to "see everything," but we must "overlook a great deal" and maybe, just maybe, we can "improve a little."

I believe we need to decide much more definitively what we must teach, and we need to begin to break the cycle of teaching like we were taught. I'm not going to suggest one course of study over another, but rather offer some

continued on pg. 2

OCTOBER 1995

Louisiana State University's 50th Festival of Contemporary

Music

by David Penri-Evans

There are many contemporary music festivals around the world, but the longest running of them all is that of Louisiana State University , which held its 50th in February, 1995. TheLSUFestival of Contemporary Music was founded in 1944 by Professor Emeritus Helen L. Gunderson, former student of Ravel, some­times known as the Boulanger of America. For the past twenty years its strong traditions have continued under the directorship of Dinos Constantinides.

Each year the Festival spotlights an internationally known personality as its guest composer. In the past this has included such luminaries as Carlos Chavez, Otto Luening, George Crumb, Vincent Persichetti , Karel Husa, Elliott Schwartz and John Cage Uust a few months before he died). This year the featured composer was the Dean of American music, Milton Babbitt. It was the third time that Babbitt had filled this role and it is to the Festival ' s credit that it can attract such a giant in the field. What a wonderful opportunity for all ofus to hear this music and sit and chat to him about such things as hexichordal combinatoriality and the relative qualities of Ameri­can and British beer (he prefers Newcastle Brown).

The Festival opened on Monday, February 13th with a retrospective discussion of the history and value of the Festival by a panel of people who have been involved with it during its history: faculty member and former committee member, Wallace McKenze; former Chairman, Paul Abel; two former students, Samuel D~mglas and David Penri-Evans; and a cur­rent graduate student, Mikel LeDee. This was fol­lowed that evening with a concert by the LSU New Music Ensemble directed by Dinos Constantinides, and the Schola Cantorum conducted by Sara Lynn Baird. The program included music by LSU stu­dents, faculty , and alumni. Featured were two works by the above alumni commissioned by the Univer­sity to celebrate the 50th Festival, Sift by Penri­Evans and Sinfonia Concertante on E by Douglas. The challenging program was well played by the student ensembles .

On Wednesday 15th, after a talk in the afternoon by Penri-Evans about British contemporary music, pia­nist Jeffrey Jacob gave a spectacular recital. He showed his ability to play a wide range of styles , from the ambitious dynamic and register contrasts of

continued on pg. 5

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Page 2

Steinke - cont. from page 1

generalities (on purpose) in the hope that they will result in some new courses of study, or curricula. (Perhaps what I am about to offer should be called "Zen and the Art of Music Maintenance" [read musicianship] since I based it upon much of what Pirsig offers in his book; these are even offered in a "Zen" kind of order.)

•We need to teach to perceive differences of style and quality . (Keep in mind that students we generally receive have been shaped in this regard by their high school experience. You might wish to reference Is There Life After High School by Ralph Keyesl .)

• Music is not teaching "rules," but rather seeking or finding the combinations, or as Pirsig says in Zen2: "The true work of the inventor [read musician or teacher] consists of choosing among these combinations so as to eliminate the useless ones, or rather, to avoid the trouble of making them, and the rules that must guide the choice are ex­tremely fine and delicate. It's almost impos­sible to state them precisely; they must be felt rather than formulated." (p. 267)

•Develop teaching techniques through which people choose facts most fitting to the har­mony of things-a "classic beauty which comes from the harmonious order of parts ." (p. 268) Put another way: teaching critical thinking. (Put very aptly in an article in the­Music Educc;itors Journal, September, 1987 by Ann Small, "Music Teaching and Critical Thinking: What do we need to know?" 3)

• To work with the concept, as Pirsig says, "that the real evil isn't the objects of technol­ogy but the tendency of technology to isolate people into lonely attitudes of objectivity." (p. 357)

•To foster a concept thatimprovement(s) of the world will be done "by individuals mak­ing Quality decisions and that's all." (p. 357)

• To learn to find ways for our students to challenge the allegory of the physical moun­tain forthe spiritual one-"Most people stand in the sight of the spiritual mountains all their lives and never enter them, being content to listen to others who have been there and thus avoid the hardships." (p.189) Others travel and make it with experienced guides and yet others go it on their own and make it. So we

find as many routes as there are souls. Also in the process, some of the old "routes" become closed, but that doesn't mean the mountain still isn't there to conquer.

•There must be a balance between the moun­tains of achievement and ocean trenches of self-awareness-all achieved through an in­ner peace of mind which has three levels of understanding: physical quietness, mental quietness, and value quietness-probably best understood if you've gone fishing. (p. 295)

• To work on reconciling the differences between the artistic practices and its history: "One does it and the other talks about how it's done and the talk about how it' s done never seems to match how one does it." (p.163)

• Education in general needs to attack the causes of our problems, not the effects. As long as we continue to attack effects, "no change is possible." This , to some extent, is what I believe Bloom and Bennett did in their discourses. "The true system, the real system, is our present construction of sys­tematic thought itself, rationality itself, and if. a factory is torn down but the rationality which produced it is left standing, then that rationality will simply produce another fac­tory ... There's so much talk about the sys­tem. And so little understanding." (p.102)

• We need to recognize in our teaching the "irreconcilableness" of the classical and ro­mantic understandings of the world-i.e., "the romantic may contemplate a handful of sand while the classicist is already sifting it into piles and determining a basis for sorting and interrelating the grains." (p. 83) or put on an optimistic/pessimistic basis-when con­fronted by a room full of horse manure the optimist says, "there must be a horse in here somewhere!" while the pessimist says, "You expect me to find a horse in all this?" The classical and the romantic will probably al­ways be with us; however, there must be recognition of "the inadequacy of existing forms of thought to cope with our [present] situation" and the "inadequacy of old forms of thought to deal with new experiences." (p. 169-70)

To that end-• We need to question what we tend to represent to students today as the infallibility of Wes tern culture. Much can be learned

The SCI Newsletter XXV.8

from other cultures. Our "Western" inability to recognize and authenticate other cultures other than through our own narrow, inter­pretational horizons has led to the most

,, astonishing tales of miscommunication the world has ever known. Our present dilem­mas might be greatly alleviated if we could only overcome our incredible self-righteous, cultural bias (with all due respects to the many westerners who dutifully tried to open doors and let new breezes blow). At times I see this as our biggest problem to solve.

•And last, but not least, from what may be a scattered and sketchy list is know how to inspire and/or teach "gumption." As Pirsig says, and I quote a little at length here rather than paraphrase:

"I like the word "gumption" because it's so homely and so forlorn and so out of style it looks as if it needs a friend and isn't likely to reject anyone who comes along. It's an old Scottish word, once used a lot by pioneers, but which, like "kin," seems to have all but dropped out someone who connects with Quality. He gets filled with gumption."

And later on, "A person filled with gumption doesn't sit

"around dissipating and stewing about things. He's at the front of the train of his own awareness, watching to see what's up the track and meeting it when it comes. That's gumption."

And finally, "The gumption-filling process occurs when one is quite long enough to see and hear and feel the real universe, not just one's own stale opinions about it. But it's nothing ex­otic. That's why I like this word."

From Too Many Musicians-Too Many Notes?

At this point I wish to pick up and emphasize several ideas from a previous paper on "Zen and the Art of Musicianship." I feel it' s worthy repeating: "The solutions all are simple- after you have arrived at them. But they're simple only when you know already what they are." And that's the task at hand as I see it. I would suggest from Pirsig that "the place to improve the world is first in one' s

"--"'own heart and head and hands, and work outward from there."

The SCI Newsletter XXV.8

Hirsch would add, "Although the structure of a solution to the problem of [music or artistic] literacy is straightforward, our tra­dition ensures that the political accomplish­ment cannot be correspondingly simple." But more than that, perhaps it's time for a Copernican revolution in this art- in mu­sic... There are lots of tools and ideas to use-we need to decide how to configure them. That's forus all to decide. Perhaps we might take a cue from James Burke in mak­ing a few "Connections" with this marvel­ous teaching cornucopia we have. Maybe we should teach more like an importance rather than a performance. But, in the end, it is a future which is capable of creating new horizons for performance, musicianship, composition, historical studies, and the mu­sic teachers of tomorrow. It is a future ca­pable of confronting the creative use of technology and the arts and perhaps a whole new interaction of the arts in the lives of everyone. As it tends to be in a time of change, there is a "window of opportunity" to contribute what we can to the music education of not only our majors but also the student body and community in general.

Further, a thought I found as a frontispiece to Capra's Th~ Turning Poin~:

"After a time of decay comes the turning point. The powerful light that has been ban­ished returns. There is movement, but it is not brought by force... The movement · s natural, arising spontaneously. For this rea­son the transformation of the old becomes easy. The old is discarded and the new is introduced. Both measures accord with time; therefore no harm results."

Perhaps this thought may help us feel com­fortable that there is a way to learn to deal with all these many items of concern.

In closing-coda with variations?- let me leave you again with some thoughts from R. Murray Schafer's "The Rhinoceros in the Classroom," as found in The Thinking Ear: Complete Writings on Music Educations as I am always wont to do:

Maxims for Educators

Above my desk I have written some maxims for educators, to keep myself in line. They are these:

1. The first practical step in any educational reform is to take it. 2. In education, failures are more important than successes. There is nothing so dismal as a success story. 3. Teach on the verge of peril. 4. There are no more teachers. This is just a community of learners. 5. Do not design a philosophy of education for others. Design one for yourself. A few others may wish to share it with you. 6. For the 5-year-old art is life and life is art. For the 6-year-old, life is life and art is art. This first school year is a watershed in the child's history: a trauma. 7. The old approach: Teacher has informa­tion; student has empty head. Teacher's ob­jective: to push information into student's empty head. Observations: at outset teacher is a fathead; at conclusion student is a fathead. 8. On the contrary a class should be an hour of a thousand discoveries. For this to hap­pen, the teacher and the student should first discover one another. 9. Why is it that the only people who never matriculate from their own courses are teach­ers? 10. Always teach provisionally: only God knows for sure.

I know, I know-too many notes already! Well, forgive my Zen journey, but I hope it has been helpful in stimulating a few thoughts for this session.

Notes

1 Keyes, Ralph. Is There. Life After High School. Boston: Little, Brown, 1976.

2P,irsig, Robert M. Zen and the Art Motor­cycle Maintenance. New York: Quill Will­iam Morrow, 1974.

3small, Ann. "Music Teaching and Critical Thinking: What do we need to Know?" Music Educators Journal, September, 1987, pp. 47-49.

4Fritjof Capra, The Turning Point (New York: Bantam Books, 1982), frontispiece.

5R. Murray Schafer, The Thinking Ear: Com­plete Writings on Music Education(Toronto: Arcana, 1986), p. 237.

Page 3

Competitions, Grants and Calls'----------. . . Sigma Alpha Iota announces the 1993-97

Thefollowmgilstmgsarecondensedandmaynot I A . M · A d C have complete iriformation. You 're encouraged nte~- ~encan us~c war. s: omposers to contact the sponsoring organizations directly are mv1ted to subilllt an ongmal chamber for submission guidelines, particularly if anony- work of no more than ten minutes' duration for mous submission is required. women's chorus, with or without piano ac­

4TH INTERNATIONAL CONFER­ENCE ON MUSIC PERCEPTION

AND COGNITION Call for Papers and Demonstrations

DEADLINE: January 31, 1996

McGill University is sponsoring the 4th ICMPC. This interdisciplinary conference will focus on a variety of aspects of music perception and cognition: psychoacoustics, music performance, musical development, music modeling, music analysis, neuropsychology, psychophysiology, and sociology. Unpublished papers on research in music perception and cognition are in­vited for presentation at three types of sessions: reading sessions, poster sessions, and demonstrations.

Submit: • a summary of the research (maximum 500 words) • five single 01: compound keywords de­scribing the field and topic of the paper • each author's name, title, institutional affiliation, mailing address, telephone num­ber, and e-mail address • equipment requirements • statement indicating your preference for reading and/or poster and/or demonstra­tion session

Formats : e-mail (preferred), diskette (Word, WordPerfect, ASCII), hardcopy

CONTACT: 4th ICMPC, Faculty of Music, McGill University, 555 Sherbrooke St. West, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3A 1E3; Tel: 514-398-4548 x 0504; Fax: 514-398-8061; e-mail: icmpc@music.mcgill.ca http://www.music.mcgill.ca/-icmpc/ icmpc.html

1993-97 INTER-AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS

DEADLINE: April 30, 1996

Page4

companiment. Level of difficulty: advanced college. Text must be original or in public domain. Competition open to any composer from North, Central, or South America re­gardless of nationality, race, creed, or sex. Work must not have been published, recorded, or performed publicly prior to entry in the competition. Winning work premiered at Sigma Alpha Iota 1997 Convention. Prize: $750 cash award and publication by C. F. Peters Corporation.

CONTACT: Eugenie Dengel, 165 West 82nd Street, New York NY 10042

CALL FOR ELECTRONIC MUSIC

DEADLINE: None

The Classical Show at WNUR-FM is calling for electronic/computer music. They hope to share your music with not only Northwestern University, the home of WNUR-FM, but also much of Chicago and the surrounding areas. The Classical Show, which plays only 20th century music, broadcasts on Saturday morn­ing and is one of the few radio shows io Chicago which features classical music of this century.

CONTACT: WNUR-FM, c/o The Classical Show, 1905 Sheridan Rd., Evanston, IL 60208

WESTERN ARTS QUARTET-CALL FOR SCORES

The Western Arts Quartet (flute, clarinet, horn &bassoon), a faculty ensemble of dedi­cated professionals, is seeking compositions for its concert schedule. Composers are in­vited to submit scores and parts for one or more original works, transcriptions, or ar­rangements of any difficulty level. Compos­ers whose works are performed will be noti­fied of performance(s) and will receive a cassette tape recording and copies of printed programs. Send scores, parts, program notes (if any) for each work, and biographical sketch. Materials will not be returned but will become part of the ensemble's library.

CONTACT: Charles W. Smith, Depart­ment of Music, Ivan Wilson Fine Arts Center 351, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY 42101

ALAN TINDALL HUTCHINSON MEMORIAL YOUNG COMPOSERS

COMPETITION

DEADLINE: November 1 (receipt of materials)

The entry should be a chamber work of between 15 and 30 minutes in performance length, to be performed by no more than eight players selected from the following instrumentation: violin (1), viola (1), cello (1), string bass (1), flute (1), clarinet (1), trumpet (1), horn (1), percussion (1), voice (1 soprano), piano, electronic media (1 engi­neer). Previously performed works are ac­ceptable if not published. Only one work will be accepted from an individual com­poser.

Three copies of the score are to be submitted, each with the composer's Social Security number or other reference as the sole com­poser identification. (Parts will be requested from the winners upon notification.) Each contestant is also required to submit a non­refundable entry feeofU.S.$10.00. Though not required, tape recordings, if submitted, must be recorded on top quality cassette or digital audio cassette and contain only the submitted work beginning immediately on Side One. ALL ENTRANCE MATERI­ALSMUSTBERECEIVEDBYNOVEM­BER 1, 1995.

If scores are to be returned to the composer, the entrant must include a return address label and sufficient postage (stamps or an additional check) or a self-addressed, stamped envelope.

$5,000 in prize money will be awarded, according to the judges ' determination, to a single winner or apportioned among two or three winners . The works of these winners will be performed in a Fall 1996 concert by The Contemporary Music Forum of Wash­ington, D.C., an outstanding professional ensemble specializing in the performance of

The SCI Newsletter XXV.8

---

new music. The University will assist the winning composer or composers with travel expenses to this performance.

~All contestants must not have reached their 25th birthday as of April 1, 1996. Proof of age will be required of the selected award winners.

CONTACT: Hutchinson Competition, Department of Music, The George Washington University, 801 22nd Street, Northwest, Suite B144, Washington, D.C. 20052. Tel: 202-994-6245

NISSIM/ASCAP COMPOSERS COMPETITION

DEADLINE: November 15 (postmark)

Rudolf Nissim, former head of ASCAP's Foreign Department, left a substantial be­quest to the ASCAP Foundation for an an­nual prize for the best score submitted by a writer member of ASCAP.

MATERIAL TO BE SUBMITTED: The

1core of one published or unpublished con­cert work REQUIRING A CONDUCTOR scored for full orchestra, chamber orchestra, or large wind/brass ensemble (with or with­out soloists and/or chorus) not previously performed professionally. A work with a performance history will be eligible only if earlier performances were, in the judgmentof the Committee, clearly non-professional. For this exception to be granted, information regarding previous performances (includ­ing programs and announcements) must be submitted with the score, in a separate enve­lope.

PRIZE: $5000

In order to encourage the first professional performance of the award-winning compo­sition, ASCAP will make supplementary funds available to support costs of rehearsal preparation.

CONTACT: Frances Richard, Director, Symphony & Concert Department, AS CAP/ RudolfNissim ComposersCompetition, One ~Lincoln Plaza, New York, NY 10023. Tel:

212-621-6329.

The SCI Newsletter XXV.8

Louisiana - cont. from page 1 Babbitt's Partitions, placing extreme de­mands on the performer, to the highly per­sonal style of Sketches for Jazz Piano by Charles Bestor. Jacob also played his own At the Still Point showing a deep romantic spirit as a performer and composer.

Guest composer Milton Babbitt gave the first of this talks on Friday 17th, when he spoke about being "A Composer of a Certain Age." He talked about his acquaintance with Schoenberg and other leaders in musi­cal thought and the influence they had on his development. The evening saw a concert by the LSU Percussion Ensemble, LSU Cham­ber Brass Ensemble, and the LSU New Mu­sic Ensemble. The highlight of the evening was the premiere of Constantinides' Con­certo for Violin and Orchestra, with soloist Walter Verdehr. The Concerto was an ex­cellent vehicle for the virtuoso performance ofVerdehr.

That Saturday, Babbitt spent many hours looking at and listening to music by LSU students and graduates. The master class gave each aspiring composer the opportu­nity to discuss their music with Babbitt. This is one of the many benefits of this festival, bringing students and masters together. Sunday evening the Verdehr Trio (cl, vn, pn) gave a concert of new works written espe­cially for them. The Trio has commissioned over 7 5 new pieces from some of the world's" most prominent and exciting composers. The conviction in their performance was so total that their commitment to new music is beyond question. They delighted the audi­ence by giving an encore-a rare event at any contemporary festival-but their choice of unexpectedly giving the premiere of Constantinides' Study III was a real treat.

On Monday 20th, Babbitt gave a detailed talk about his music, the use of combinatoriality and its relation to Ars Combinatoria, the piece to be featured in that evening's concert. The whole LSU Symphony Orchestra gathered that evening on stage at the LSU Union Theatre, under the baton of Akira Mori to perform three special works. First was the premiere of Prairie Parishes by DMA candidate Mikel LeDee, commissioned by the Friends of the LSU School of Music for the 50th Festival. The work is a set of variations on a Louisiana folk song unified in a waltz-like atmosphere.

This was followed by the Festival ' s center­piece composition, Babbitt ' s Ars Combinatoria. What a wonderful opportu­nity for the Symphony to tackle such a complex work by one of the leading com­posers of our time. The concert ended with a breathtaking performance ofBelaBartok' s Second Piano Concerto with guest artist Michael Gurt. Gurt is an Associate Profes­sor of Piano at LSU and has drawn many honors for his performances around the world. This concert epitomized the ideals of the LSU Contemporary Festival, giving the students and public the chance to experience music of leading living composers and that of LSU faculty and students alongside clas­sics of the twentieth century.

The LSU Wind Ensemble, under the direc­tion of Frank Wickes, performed on Wednes­day 22nd. Music played included pieces by Vincent Persichetti, Gunther Schuller, and LSU graduate student Ty Emerson. The concluding concert of the Festival on Thurs­day, February 23rd brought things right up to date with a program featuring electronic music in addition to soloists and the LSU Chamber Singers. Of special note was Katherine Kemler' s performance of Cassandra's Dream Song by British com­poser Brian Ferneyhough. This is one of the most demanding pieces In the flute reper­toire, at one time considered impossible, but was expertly handled by Kemler who is on the LSU faculty. The Festival drew to a close with another excellent performance by an LSU faculty member, Jan Grimes, who played Babbitt's classic Reflections for pi­ano and tape. TheLSU Festival of Contem­porary music has achieved many things in its distinguished history and has music to offer in the future.

Dr. David Penri-Evans is an Assistant Professor of Music at the American University in London, Director of Music at the John Lyon School, Har­row and on the National Executive Committee of the Composers' Guild of Great Britain.

Correction

In the August/September issue oftheNews­letter, there was some inaccurate informa­tion concerning the contents of forthcoming SCI Journals and CDs. Please note that the works in Volume 22 of the Journal will be recorded on CD #8, and Jackson Hill ' sRhap­sody will be recorded on CD #7.

Page 5

Wayne Alpern won the award for Best Student Paper at the 1995 joint national conference of the Society of Composers and the Midwest Society for Music Theory in Iowa, for his paper "Aggregation, Assassi­nation, andanActofGod: The Impact of the Murder of Archduke Ferdinand upon Webern's Op. 7 No. 3." He will be present­ing the paper again this November at the national joint conference of the American Musicological Society and the Society for Music Theory. Alpern's woodwind quintet Nutcracker Variations was premiered last spring at the national conference of the Music Publishers Association at Lincoln Center in New York City.

Michael Angell has been named Assistant Professor of Music Technology at the Uni­versity of Alabama at Birmingham. He has also co-founded and was elected President of the Birmingham Art Music Alliance, a local chapter of SCI. His orchestral work, Hideaway-Variations for Anne Frank was premiered by the Utah Philharmonia last March. Quick 'n Delicious (tbn, live elec­tronics) has been recently performed at the Heidelberg College New Music Festival, the Sand Point Music Festival, NE Louisi­ana State University, and at the Bowling Green New Music and Art Festival. He also was in residence last October at Morehead State University in Kentucky, where he de­livered a lecture and presented a concert of his works, including Sonata for Two Trum­pets and Percussion, the permiere of New Tri-Suite (bn, perc ), Concertina for Eupho­nium and Winds, Don't Stop Now! (tape), and The Death of Disco (chamber orch).

Al Benner's In My Father's Arms (T, org) was performed at The First Presbyterian Church in Baton Rouge, LA for the baptism of his son Albert 7/9. Somewhere Alone (S, pn) was performed on the LSU New Music Ensemble's summer concert 7/27.

Dinos Constantinides's compositions in­cluding Antigone and other vocal works were released on CD (Vestige Recording). Athens Radio presented his Quartet Study 21 26 in Athens, Greece. The King Duo per­formed his Mutability 6118 in Berlin, Ger­many. The N ationalOpera Association pre­sented scenes from his opera Antigone in New York 5119.

Page6

Kirk Corey's Two Part Invention Number One for computer-generated tape was pre­miered 7/28 at the third annual FUNMusic Festival in Urbana, Illinois.

David Ernst's Four Preludes (pn) have been recorded by Jeff Jacob on Ariel CD, and performed by Jacob on his East Coast tour last Fall, 1994.

Maurice Gardner's String Quartet No. 2 was premiered by the Miami String Quartet at the Chamber Music Society of the Palm Beaches, LF on 2110, the first of ten perfor­mances commissioned by Meet The Com­poser for the Miami, Muir and Ying String Quartets.

David Hatt performed his own Variations on "St. Bride" ( org), Sonic Essay and Fugue by Harriett Bolz and Prelude on God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen by Duane Heller at the First Presbyterian Curch of Oklahoma City 7 /23.

Gregory Sullivan Isaacs was appointed New Musical Director of Cascade Sym­phony in Edmonds, WA.

William Ortiz's Trio Concertante en 3 Realidades was premiered 6/13 by the Deutsches Streichtrio during the Casals Fes­tival in San Juan, P.R.

David C. Meckler's video opera The Bank Robbery, based on a short story by Steven Schulzman, was premiered 5/20 at UCSD's Center for Research in Computing and the Arts.

Rafael Mevorach's Four Short Pieces for Diverse Instruments was premiered by The Other Music Ensemble at the 11th Annual Festival Miami at the University of Miami. Other premieres and performances at the University of Miami include Duet (cl, bn) and Quartet (obs, EHs) by faculty members; Circle III (cl choir); and Three Meditations on the Desert (perc ensemble).

Robert S. Newcomb - A computer-gener­ated composition for tape, Daydreams of an Orange Cat, was presented atThe SEAMUS National Conference held at Ithaca College (NY) in March, and also at the International New Music Festival at National University

in San Diego, CA in April. An article recently appeared in the Smithsonian publi cation 'Air & Space' (May '95) describing'- / the composer's experimentation with NASA classification software in his work.

Robert M. Newell received a performance of his Life Aloft (Wind Ensemble) at a home­coming concert in Mason City, IL 7 /23. The work was chosen as the winner of the Inter­national Competition by F.A.I. in the Fall of 1993.

Steven L. Rosenhaus completed his Ph.D. in Composition at NYU 5/95. He received a premiere of Divertimento for 11 players and a performance of Virginia City Bagatelle (orch) at the Conductors Institute of South Carolina 7/95. Kol Nidre Prelude (va, vc) was released on CD (Capstone 8616) en­titled New Sounds from the Village.

Andrew Simpson recently attended two performances of his orchestral piece Team­work in New York City's Madison Square Garden, July 4. The New York Life Orches­tra, conducted by Marvin Harnlisch, per­formed the piece as part of the 150th anni- _ versary celebration of the New York Life Insurance Company. Mr. Simpson, as a winner of the international New York Life Music Competition, attended the event as a guest of New York Life. Mr. Simpson is a doctral candidate in Composition at the Indi­ana University School of Music; in August of 1995 he began an appointment as Assis­tant Professor of Music at the State Univer­sity of New York, Potsdam: The Crane School of Music.

Robert T. Smith won a First Music 12 New York Youth Symphony Chamber Music Commission for 1995. The new work, for string quartet, will be premiered 3/21/96 in Merkin Concert Hall. He also has received an AS CAP Young Composers Grant for 1995. Skitter Music (fl, cl, vn, vc, pn, vib) was performed 4/1/95 at the Univ. of Mis­souri at Columbia New Music Festival and the premiere of Essential Torque (pn, elec. tape) was performed by Amanda Asplund 5/ 2195 at the Univ. of Texas at Austin.

Music by Diane Thome was heard in Aus­tria, Australia, Canada, and throughout the U.S. Levadi (Alone) (S, tape) was per-

The SCI Newsletter XXV.8

formed 4/29 at the 9th International Con­gress on Women in Music held in Vienna, andin a viola transcription premiered 3/20 at

e 25th Annual Festival of New Music at oall State University, Indiana. Pianist Laurent Philippe performed Ringing, Still­ness, Pearl Light (pn and tape) at recitals in Toronto ( 11118), Ottawa (11/22) and Vancouver (11/30). Three Psalms (SATB, B mixed ensemble) was presented by the Seattle Pro Musica 3/11 in Seattle;Masks of Eternity (solo tape) was heard 3/4/94 at the 5th Annual Symposium on the Arts and Technology at Connecticut College in New London, and again 3/31 at the University of Missouri, 5/20 in Queensland, Australia and 915 in Banff, Canada. Spiral Journey (pn), commissioned by the Friends of Ruth Gerberding, was premiered on 5110 at the Women's University Club in Seattle. Pianismus (pn) was performed 4/27 at the University of Virginia. Palaces of Memory, an 18-year retrospective CD of her electro­acoustic music was released on the Centaur label 3/95.

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write an article for the Newsletter. Any ;bject of interest to composers will be con­

sidered. Contact the Editors if you have an idea for an article.

Executive Committee (1995-96)

Reynold Weidenaar, Chairman William Paterson College

Kirk Corey, Editor of Newsletter The University of Iowa

David Gompper, Editor {!{Newsletter The University of Iowa

Bruce J. Taub, Editor (Jf"Journal of Music Scores C. F. Peters Corporation

Richard Brooks, Producer of CD Series Nassau Community College

Michael Zajonc, Submissions Coordinator

Phillip Rehfeldt, Associate Member Representative University of Redlands

Dennis Kam, Co-Chair, Student Chapters University of Miami

Deborah Kavasch, Co-Chair, Student Chapters California State University, Stanislaus

David Vayo, Membership Chair Illinois Wesleyan University

Fred Glesser, Editor ()f" Monograph Series

Miami, Florida

Gerald Warfield, General Manager Martin Gonzalez, Executive Secretary

Members' Activities Column:

National Council (1995-96)

Greg Steinke, Chairman Ball State University

Elliott Schwartz, Past Chairman Bowdoin College

Elizabeth Vercoe William Matthews

Bates College (I ) Max Lifchitz

SUNY/Albany (2) Samuel Pellman

Hamilton College (2) Stephen Stace

Pennsylvania State University, University Park (3) Bruce Mahin

Radford University (3) Dennis Kam

University of Miami (4) John D. White

University of Florida, Gainesville (4) James Chaudoir

University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh (5) Michael Schelle

Butler University (5) James Mobberley

University of Missouri, Kansas City (6) Samuel Magrill

University of Central Oklahoma (6) Byron Yasui

University of Hawaii, Honolulu (7) Marshall Bialosky

California State University, Dominguez Hills (7) Charles Argersinger

Washington State University (8) Cindy Cox

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Kate Waring Europe (9)

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The SCI Newsletter XXV.8 Page 7

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