Good Music is Good Music

Tonight I was watching NBC"s "The Sing-Off" with my mom and felt the need to come editorialize.  "The Sing-Off" is NBC's a cappella competition, featuring groups of all ages and backgrounds who are competing for a Sony recording contract and $100,000.

After The Backbeats performed an incredible cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide," judge Nicole Scherzinger (of The Pussycat Dolls) made some comment to the effect of, "I just wish this wasn't a competition."

...which got me thinking.

Why can't there be a show on television consisting of just quality performances, week after week, by all sorts of different artists, in different genres, with no voting-based aspect to it?  I understand that competition is fun, and reality shows can be exciting, but there's got to be a viable platform for an arts-based show whose sole purpose is to expose people to great music and enrich their lives (or, at the very least, cause them to think critically).

The Denver Post is in the middle of doing an intriguing three-part series on the state of classical music (you can find the first part here and the second here).  In the first part, the music director of Le Poisson Rouge (a NY concert venue that doesn't discriminate against genres), very succinctly wrapped up the venue's programming vision: "There are two kinds of music: good music and the other kind."

"The Ed Sullivan Show," which stopped airing in 1971, ran for 23 years on this type of idea: present great performances to the masses.

If fashion is cyclical, then why can't we also try to re-invent and re-imagine this entertainment concept for the 21st century?  People liked to be entertained then; people like to be entertained now.

And, what's more, there are so many genres with incredibly talented musicians and artists:  classical, R&B, jazz, hip-hop, rap, soul, rock, country...the list goes on and on.  On some basic level, talent is talent and good music is good music.  

Obviously, this is a very subjective notion.  What I think is "good" and what you think is "good" might differ drastically.  So, the producers assemble a panel of respected, open-minded artists and musicians from multiple genres, and have them collectively select each episode's program (which could be chosen from submitted applications).  Subjectivity problem solved...or, rather, relatively mitigated.

Then, on the first episode of my admittedly idealistic show, they can book The Backbeats, and they can sing the song that compelled me to write this post in the first place:

Variations on a Break

I'm really loving being home.

Granted, I always love being home, but it seems like I've been to more concerts than I can recount (thank you, holidays!), and there's some really neat thing to do or enjoy nearly every day.  (Plus, the weather is absurd...75 and sunny?  Yes, please.)

One project of my break thus far has been collaborating with the Tetra String Quartet, an exciting young quartet based here in the Phoenix area.  They're strong proponents of the "house concert," which is exactly what it sounds like: a concert in a house.  It's really a great format for chamber music because of the automatic intimacy it provides for both the performers and the audience.  

For the holiday season, they have asked me to sit in with them to perform Marcel Samuel-Rousseau's Variations Pastorales sur un Vieux Noel pour la Harpe (Pastoral Variations on an Old Christmas Carol for Harp), written for harp and string quartet.  Heidi, one of Tetra's violinists, is also an incredibly accomplished harpist, so I sat in as the second violinist.

Helping some young audiences members clap in place of the whip crack in "Sleigh Ride."

Not only has it been great to perform with them, but it has also been great getting to use the chamber music part of my brain again.  While playing with Barrage stimulates this to an extent, it's just not the same as sitting down with a group of musicians and collectively designing sound, articulation, and dynamics, i.e., the technical aspects of music-making required to transform printed notes into pleasing sounds.  There's a reason so many musicians love playing in small chamber ensembles -- it's just downright fun.  And Tetra's filled with downright great musicians.

I'm very much looking forward to our next performance of the piece, at an ugly Christmas sweater party and house concert Tetra is sponsoring next week.  I have a particularly unfortunate Christmas sweater that's been waiting to be worn since the last ugly Christmas sweater party I attended...

With the Tetra String Quartet (L to R): Chrystal, me, Heidi, Louis, and Jenna

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Don't forget to go vote for Annette to help her get into the YouTube Symphony Orchestra!  Just scroll down to the next blog entry for more info.

Help Annette get to Sydney!

Annette Homann, a fellow violinist from Barrage, is a finalist for the YouTube Symphony Orchestra, which will convene in Sydney, Australia, in March 2011!  And if that isn't crazy enough, she put together her audition materials in only one day!  I'm incredibly excited for Annette, and I think she has a great shot at being selected.

You can help Annette win a spot in the orchestra by clicking here and voting for her video once a day between now and December 17th!  And, there are no strings attached (pun very much intended): you don't need to sign up for anything, just vote!

Let's help Annette get to Sydney!

Photo by Eugenio O'Liva.

Photo by Franco Gräfe.

taylorsnotes.com, and other awesome things!

So many updates!

Firstly, I'm excited to announce that you can now access my blog at taylorsnotes.com!  (You don't even have to type the "www."!)  Not only will this be an easier address for me to share, but it will also be easier for you to remember, and as I've always been a fan of win-win situations, this is a particularly convenient win-win!

[If you're strangely attached to the complicatedly lengthy taylorbmorris.blogspot.com, you can still use that too; you don't need to change anything if you've already bookmarked my blog with that address.]

Next, I've added a page of some of my favorite restaurants in the Phoenix/Metro area.  So, if any of you locals have read my "of Food" page and wondered about my favorite places in the valley, you can check out that page here!  (I have not added a separate tab at the top of the site for my "of Food [PHX]" page, but you can find the link to it on the main "of Food" page.)
 
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Now, onto some non-blog-related updates!

Though Thanksgiving has passed, I would like to share one thing for which I'm very incredibly thankful: that when I knocked over my music stand last week and it landed on my violin (which was sitting on a chair), the stand merely scratched the top and didn't break open my violin.

...that could have been much worse!

Last week, I had the amazing opportunity to play with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra at the Jobing.com Arena in Glendale. It was easily one of the coolest and most fun gigs I've ever played.  If you don't know of the TSO, they cover Christmas and well-known classical tunes in a giant, full-on, sensory-bombarding rock concert (which costs over $20 million).  Also, the name is somewhat deceptive: they're not actually an orchestra in the way you or I would define it.  The band consists of a drummer, two keyboardists, a bass player, a handful of electric guitar players, an electric violinist, and about eight to ten singers. Then, they contract local string players in every city to play with them on-stage (our group was three violins, two violas, and two cellos).

When we showed up at Jobing.com, home of the Phoenix Coyotes, we were sent into a small room in the depths of the building.  After we had about 10 minutes to look through the music (for the nearly three hour concert, without intermission), the very talented violinist for the TSO, Caitlin Moe, rehearsed us for an hour on the trickier sections and explained the more confusing cues and cut-offs.  

We were escorted to a quick sound check, followed by a short lunch break, and then had two performances (3 p.m. and 8 p.m.) with a dinner break in-between.

Our rehearsal/dressing room.

Not really knowing what to expect from the show as I've never seen it in person, I was on an absurd high when the night finished.  It was indescribably fun.  Lights, lasers, fire, explosions, incredible musicians, and an enthusiastic, packed house.

It was, to say the least, ridiculously awesome.

For a sample of the show, below is a video from an audience member at one of the Phoenix performances.  This number, "Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24," is probably their most well-known tune (released in 1996, it helped their first album go double platinum).  As a popular cover of the classic "Carol of the Bells," you've most likely heard it (and will hear it) on many a Christmas commercial.

All of us string players, though not distinctly visible, are located in the upper-left corner of the stage (as you view it).  Make sure you watch through till the end for the explosions!

Here's to a rockin' break!