Wow. Is this thing on? Okay, thanks. This is sort of awkward. Um, hi, I’m Molly. For the last 10 minutes, I admit I’ve been making notes for one of those introductory blog posts filled with a lot of biography and a detailed explanation of what I hope to do in this space. But then I read it back and wondered who the hell would care. So–delete–let’s jump right in, shall we?
In part that makes it easier, because I’m not really sure what the conversation in this space will become. They let me drive over at NewMusicBox.org on Fridays and I’ve done some extreme blogging for ArtsJournal in the past, but I’ve never been a regular. Then a funny thing happened during a panel discussion over at Peabody a few weeks ago: Someone asked me where new music was going and for the first time since I started covering the field in 2001, I realized a big change that I had personally witnessed had finally come to pass.
Picture it: The year is 1999. Where I am living in Brooklyn, many bands are rehearsing in cheap studio spaces. Many of them come from indie rock backgrounds and liberal arts educations, but they are seeking to put their own experimental twist on the genre.
Meanwhile…
Across the river and quite a few blocks uptown–or okay, fine, just as likely right next door–other musicians in other studios are finishing up pieces for their composition degrees at the city’s prestigious conservatories. They’ve got a piece scored for Pierrot ensemble, but they are seeking to put their own experimental twist on the genre.
Sadly, except for the occasional happy anomaly, in 1999 Camp A and Camp B seemed to exist in largely separate worlds, sharing neither common dive bars nor common practices. And this always seemed a shame, because to me it felt like each side had information the other side needed and wanted. I’m not speaking in terms of music (though some wanted to travel that way, too) but more in terms of trading recording technique for orchestration technique.
But that was then. These days when I look out, it’s striking to see how close these two camps have come, and it looks and sounds great. This is where my friend Corey Dargel comes in to clarify my thinking and sew it up in a neat package: Molly, he says, it’s syncretism.
Yeah, exactly. So I Googled it.
Syncretism consists of the attempt to reconcile disparate or contradictory beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. The term may refer to attempts to merge and analogize several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, and thus assert an underlying unity allowing for an inclusive approach to other faiths.
Read on for yourself.
That’s when I really started to think about what separated what I was hearing now from the cross-over-gone-wrong projects I’d heard before, and when it seemed like there was something deeper to talk about here. What can we learn about performance practice, technology usage, and how to pay the bills from our colleagues in other studios that will help us in our own work? And what bandwagons should we question before jumping on? (Which is to say, I have no MySpace friends and I’m totally okay with that.)
So thanks for stopping by. I hope we’ll generate some entertaining coffee talk. Please introduce yourself as we go along.
Thanks so much for the link. Congrats on your first post.
I was just thinking on Saturday about this very subject. I was at a new music concert which, aside from the absence of any rock inflection, was best described as shoegazing.
Best of luck Molly, and I’m looking forward some awesome MTG genre-squishing.
Hey, Molly. Great blog. You know me but for those who don’t Molly and I have had some back and forth via email and she is aware of my music (I think…) and activities here in NYC and beyond (New Orleans, Richmond and other points way South).
As soon as you wrote “…quite a few blocks uptown…” after a harmless if somewhat (in my opinion) myopic description of Brooklyn based musicians, I thought (and I’m not kidding…) “Ah, she’s gonna talk about Harlem…” But instead you continued with what is for me a very narrow description of the musical world that is New York: Camp A equals indie rock bands in Williamsburg. Camp B – kids going to “prestigious” universities.
“Camp A” should include a lot of great African American artists who – in my observation – ironically get left out of these public conversations about syncretism in this city’s “new music” scene. It’s as if the walls that came down back in the 80’s (when so many art forms – including what you might describe as the black avant-garde and white avant garde who truly acknowledged and produced work informed by their respective “camps”) were rebuilt circa 1990 leaving a New York where syncretism is truly in the eye of niche demographic.
Just earlier this morning, I was speaking with a collegue (at my day job) about artists Helga Davis, Carl Hancock Rux, Saul Williams, Greg Tate, Sekou Sundiata, Tamar Kali, etc., each one a cutting edge musical artist as interesting as anything you’ll currently find in Williamsburg or the Universities (although it should be noted their work can be heard in both locations). If these artists are a part of my conversation with a collegue at my day gig (a collegue who can also speak about Williamburg’s indie rock scene as well as composers one usually associates with University venues), why are their names continually absent on “new music” blogs?
Forgive me if this all sounds pious, condescending and/or like shooting fish in a barrel. That is not my intention. My concern comes from real-world experience composing, recording and collaborating with many artists here in NYC (and from the South). And as a composer who might be (unfairly and inaccurately) pegged as a member of either your camp “A” or camp “B”, I do feel a duty to speak up occasionally. I’m here to push the envelope – mainly for myself in creative terms, but also as a member of the artistic community that is New York City, baby.
Looking forward to hearing more from you. Peace.
CB
Hi Chris! You are quite right about the myopia. I’m sure it still haunts me, though hopefully it improves daily. In this case, I was only thinking about the musical world I was involved in during my first 6 months in NYC fresh off the truck from Ohio, which consisted mainly of absorbing the music my new indie rock friends in Williamsburg were making and the stuff I was getting free tickets to while employed at the American Symphony Orchestra League. It was almost a year before I went to my first gig in Harlem. But yes, so much more ground to cover! Didn’t want to spend it all on the first post. I look forward to future contributions from you. The last thing I want here is just a rehash of what we all already know.
A blog of your own, eay?
It’s about time.
Much success with this.
Best,
ACD
Hi Molly – thanks for the heads up and the link. I worry a lot about this whole gap business too, so glad to see you pitching in!
Best,
Tim
Welcome, Molly!
I look forward to reading what you have to say.
Yay, Molly!!! Welcome to the bløgösphère, as Alex Ross would put it! (“Pronounced VLOHNKH-yow-shpairrrrr (with a sharp trilled “r” at the end,” he says.)
I’m doing my master’s thesis on new music ensembles. In my study of one group, the emphasis on diversity stems from the fringe status that new music has had within classical cultures. Many groups also attempt to bridge the political divide between modernist and postmodernist composers. Thus, for such bands, diversity has nothing to do with race or gender, but with style. The groups are usually comprised of white musicians.
BTW, I started listening to why are we building such a big ship? b/c of your post. They’re awesome.
Thanks for posting, John. I hope you’ll share more of your research with us as your project progresses.
-Molly
“Thus, for such bands, diversity has nothing to do with race or gender, but with style. The groups are usually comprised of white musicians.”
And their rep is usually comprised of music composed by white composers. And their audiences are usually comprised of white attendees.
I just think that we in the “fringe” might want to check ourselves once in a while to be sure we haven’t gotten too comfortable with our self-imposed “fringe status” not realizing that we are behaving as prejudicially as any major “uptown” orchestra or academia.
Let us launch a campaign to force people to be open-minded, at gunpoint if necessary.
Good news: It appears as though Alex Ross has accepted the term “syncretism.” Now, how can we get Bernard Holland to do the same?
“Let us launch a campaign to force people to be open-minded, at gunpoint if necessary.”
Huh?
I think the “divide” that Molly speaks of when it comes to “prestigious conservatories” simply resonates more with some composers than me. I should acknowledge that.
See, I know first hand from past dialogs that what I’m saying can come across as some dishonest politically correct BS and inspire (predictably) sarcasm from my open-minded peers. I’m a skeptic. I have doubts. Please, noone here take what I’m posting as an insult to anyone’s spirit of inclusion and adventure. Read what I post as a dispatch from someone operating “outside” of what – when I bounce around from blog to blog – appears to be a pretty tight clique of musicians who (like all of us – me included) might occasionally benefit from other perspectives.
My own experience in the past few years collaborating with members of William Parker’s quartet, the Black Rock Coalition and other great African American artists has pushed this issue of race for me in relation to the world where I apply for grants, attend so called “classical” concerts and read blogs like this one. I scratch my head a lot.
Alex Ross’s playlist…well…it’s all great music – but let’s not wear ourselves out patting each other on the back too much touting its supposed syncretism.
Hey Molly and all..just going to share some thoughts/experiences…
Talking about “diversity” in new music, ICE is holding its 3G Festival in New York May 2-7 featuring 3 generations of Mexican composers. They’ve done stuff like this before. They do hold up to their name. But this is actually something I’ve thought about at times…”diversity” in “new music.” I remember going to a show at the Stone when I first started to become familiar with the New York scene in January 2007, looked around a bit and noticed I was the only non-white person at the gig (minus the sax player Steve Coleman). I just accepted it as the norm–really; but it did open my eyes. I wondered why this was and thought maybe it also had to do with style. The idea was more salient to me when I was watching a CSI type movie in which the white kid on the subway was listening to Radiohead. So, please please excuse me, but in a way, the movie implied “rock music=music a white kid on the subway would listen to.” Also, look at the indie rock scene and the downtown new music scene. The marriage, if you will, makes sense to me. It is a remarkable convergence, but having never identified myself with rock music (my preferences are tribal house, Tejano [like Selena & Kumbia Kings], lounge, some hip-hop, some dance music, Reggeaton, out-jazz, and others) or the downtown scene could it be because of my race? Or not? I don’t feel rock music in my veins, but actually my cousin does (not the NY indie rock kind). What does that mean about the music I write? Does the style of music one writes attract a certain race even in the “new music” arena? Or maybe it’s a natural occurrence without any ill-intention. Hmm…thoughts?
Real quick, Corey and I talked and I realize I had – in my previous posts – sort of scrambled the definition of “sycretism” in my own effort to bring these issues concerning race and NY’s music scenes to the table.
That said, Gilbert’s post is very interesting to me – and I’d like to read what other folks have to say.
I will be quiet now. Thank you for indulging.
I basically agree with Chris. While I would not label the groups I’ve studied and interviewed as racist, classical music’s institutions (conservatories and orchestras for example) generally favor the music of dead white men. By performing the music of living white men, and some living white women, their music is comparably diverse.
Gilbert’s statements, “What does that mean about the music I write? Does the style of music one writes attract a certain race even in the “new music” arena? Or maybe it’s a natural occurrence without any ill-intention.” have, as always, a wide variety of possible questions. What does “natural” mean? People collaboratively construct their cultures. Does the unquestioned existence of group’s set of behaviors constitute natural? I strongly doubt that groups organize themselves by race because they want to exclude others. But the fact that these characteristics occur raises serious questions about the claim made by, among others, Alex Ross that classical music is universal and connected with so many other kinds of music. How universal is music that appeals to a rather homogeneous audience?