Fickle Ears

Solo (that is, "unaccompanied") tuba performance doesn't have much of a history, and what we do have is ill-suited to a buildi...

I haven't ventured to L.A. all that much since I've been at CalArts, but when I have, the heightened importance of grooming has freq...

From an early stage in my musical development, I refused to embrace the expression of anything in particular as a worthy goal for music (mi...

There are several different ways to explain "The Hipster Thing" as some here at CalArts have called it. One is as a contrived expr...

Meh . The content-rich life is not for me. I do make it look good, though.

I want the honest of opinion of anyone who happens to read this. I have a sentimental attachment to Blogger, and I utterly loathe the though...

Year-end retrospectives are everywhere, and jazz critics in particular seem to love them some list making this time of year. It always gets ...

Hmm...what other blogger-like behaviors can I feign for the next 24 hours in order to make it to the end of this project? Well, how about a ...

For the first time in a while, I've done some tweaking around here: •The toolbar has been adjusted to match the color scheme as well as...

I continue to meet classically-trained brass players who also play cooler music on cooler instruments quite well, but who have built a wall ...

I've forgotten where exactly, but somewhere or other among all the blogtastic drivel I've consumed over the past couple of weeks was...

[ Why bother? ] • • • • • An Open Letter To My Dissenters On Why Classical Isn’t Cool Anymore Stefan Andrew Lord Kac, with apologies t...

Thanks to Christmas, I'm now the proud owner of one of these : Look out Herb Alpert School of Music at CalArts.

[ Why bother? ] • • • • • NP continues : The 99% is simply about a class of Whites aligning themselves with the impoverished they didn’t ...

[ Why bother? ] • • • • • Here's NP waxing resentful on the Occupy movement. The "Carpetbagger" item is intriguing. I thin...

Poonpuff FAQ for the e-Nihilists in the room (as well as any and all past/present/future MFEDI readers whose e-worldview necessitates such o...

Longtime MFEDI readers know the drill by this time: I post misinformed rants about pop music while the real issues are discussed elsewhere ...

"create your own systems based on what you know" So reads one of the myriad scrawlings on the inside of a practice room door here ...

It has been a full year since I conducted a proper blogospheric round-up, which consists of allocating a couple of weeks worth of my "s...

I've long since abandoned learning tunes for the sake of learning tunes, but I still go out of my way two or three times a year to fill ...

As long as we're alive and expect to have a hand in it, why bother attempting to predict "The Future of Music?" Go make it wha...

Just one x-mas music gig this year, earlier tonight with the youth symphony at a Korean Church in Northridge. In previous years, added to my...

If I may be permitted to lift the moratorium on CalArts "issues" for just another day... As of yesterday afternoon, an anonymous o...

Whereas the place of humor in concert music is relatively secure, the types of humor appropriate to given musical demands and the degree, in...

An archetypal blogospheric kerfuffle has erupted over guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel's assertion that most jazz sucks. In the interest of sp...

One more to plug, though there's no labyrinthine score to post this time: today at noon in the Main Gallery, I'll be performing with...

Tonight, 8pm in the Wild Beast at CalArts.

Tonight, 8pm, Roy O. Disney Concert Hall at CalArts.