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I’ve had two particularly inspiring conversations with composers recently, and both included significant discussions of how each had found their way to creative freedom in their work.

Lei Liang spoke passionately about discovering a fuller image of his own cultural identity only after his arrival in the States, and how the dueling influences of his Asian and Western musical leanings actually serve to free him from the trappings of both. You can read more about that here on NewMusicBox or hear how it plays out in his music in the video.

Christopher Theofanidis talked about letting go of his concern for solid ground in his creative process, opening up his musical language, and how he almost gave up his music study to go to business school. (Read the full interview here on NewMusicBox.) His thoughts on the use of storyline in his work have stayed with me:

“I think it comes actually from a general humanistic way of thinking: the transformation of emotions; how you care about something. If it’s a melody or person or whatever it happens to be, it happens over time in a way that makes you care about them more, or hopefully deepens your understanding of them. And that’s where the storytelling thing comes into play for me. It’s something to hang the flow of time on that makes sense. It creates meaning and depth for me.”

I realize that the days of telemarketing may be well on their way out the door, but I couldn’t help making some field-appropriate mental substitutions as I watched the clip below. If this guy was schooling a performing arts ticket/season subscription package selling representative, how would this call likely have played out? It’s a world of deliberately uninformed citizenry out there, people. How would you get this guy to put down his cereal spoon and consider investing in something (statistically speaking) likely outside his usual interest set?

It wasn’t a phone call but an actual old-fashioned door-to-door sales pitch that recently converted me on a product I initially thought I had absolutely no interest in even learning any more about. Just before the primary race here in Baltimore, a political candidate stopped by at what was clearly the end of a very long day for both of us. He introduced himself, and though I really didn’t want to listen to him, I decided to give him a couple minutes rather than be rude (you may call me a sucker in the comments). He told me a bit about his goals and skills, and explained why he thought he should be my candidate. He told me what the benefit of his work would be to me. Despite my initial skepticism, I liked him and what he was selling (which in this case were pretty much one and the same). Two minutes later, he was gone.

But the visit stuck with me. It reminded me that I actually cared about local politics and had been slacking in the face of other deadlines and distractions. This man had reached out to me, not online but in person, and, in so doing, had motivated me to do my research and visit the polls the following Tuesday. He had given me a clear opportunity that it was within my means to act upon and that potentially benefited us both. In today’s stressed marketplace, the power of such active personal contact, even if initially unwanted and unfamiliar, cut more loudly through the noise than ever before. I haven’t stopped thinking about it since.

“Five oscillators, two effects units, a step sequencer, a joystick controller, a coil touch controller, an amp & speaker and a front mounted sound activated plasma display.” If you must know.

Below is a video demo of this “experimental sound generator,” a unit crafted by Chris Carter (Throbbing Gristle) as a gift to his wife, Cosey Fanni Tutti. Gadgets are great, but I fell hard for the stylized video presentation, of course. One way or the other, I thought everyone around here might enjoy the sonic candy. Those are Tutti’s hands you see conducting the magic. Dexter the cat makes a cameo early on (awww).

More about the box.

My husband sent me the TED talk posted below re: sound and health a couple of days ago, and I have been “saving” it for when I had the time to pay proper attention to it. The days since then have come and gone, but this bit of email marketing for LOUD (the scent and the sound mixed by Tommy Hilfiger?!?!) pushed me to conclude that the time to consume it was nigh, er, now, um, whatever. I watched it. I think you might like it, too, so if you care about sound and haven’t caught this yet, you now have lunch plans if you want ’em.

Last week Corey Dargel and Kathleen Supove visited our fair latitude, and now the ladies of Victoire and Nadia Sirota have cruised into town for a show tonight. That’s right, New York new music, come for the culture, then consider sticking around for the rents!

Victoire + Nadia Sirota: 8 p.m. @ The WindUp Space (Baltimore, MD)

I have often wished life came with even the barest, most frustrating of pictogram instructions and a universal tool for its assembly. Alas, it appears that even if it did, the drama might run just as high and wild. This seven-part melodrama was secretly shot (except for when they got caught) using the tempting living space set-ups at an IKEA in Burbank, California. The shoppers serving as unintentional extras add a particularly Lynchian vibe to the proceedings. I kept waiting for Lisbeth Salander to wander by clutching a triple espresso.

[via BoingBoing]

MIA protege and Baltimore daughter Rye Rye lets this video loose in advance of the release of her album on MIA’s N.E.E.T. label (set to drop in early 2011). Every time it plays, it’s suddenly June in my mind and this is the hot summer jam pumping out of passing car stereos.

Whenever things like the MacArthur grants or other similarly big-name prizes are announced, I wonder about that initial phone call that informed the recipients of the good news. After all, while these are clearly amazing folks, many of them work well outside of the general public’s sightline. NPR carried this story, which includes a lot of audio of Nobel prize winners dealing with the sudden uptick in popularity. Some of them are kind of annoyed that their workday has been interrupted!

Having grown up with the benefit of a <cue serious voice>traditional classical music education </voice> in the form of violin lessons every Tuesday at 7 p.m.–thanks mom and dad!!–I can be a little snobby about cute games and interactive internet activities that aim to impart some sort of musical literacy. I mean, if flash cards and etudes where good enough when I was a lass–(ahem)–I am not yet ready to concede that there is an app that can take the place of all that hard won training.

Away from the high emotion and cold light of my computer screen, I realize that it is not a concession anyone is actually asking me to make. There are, however, some amazing new ways to manipulate sound that are accessible without the financial investment often required to supply would-be students with instruments and training. Plus, either these programs are getting cooler and cooler by the day, or I am just paying more attention. Take, for example, this bit of sequencing fun. Fair warning that it can be quite addictive once you figure out how it all works and how sophisticated it can get. Bonus: It’s not nearly as annoying to listen to while you’re getting the hang of it as a stubborn second grader with a half-sized violin.

[via waxy]