source file: mills3.txt Date: Mon, 16 Feb 1998 12:35:57 +0100 Subject: [Fwd: Birdhouse Concert Review] From: Robert Lodge Message-ID: <34E8239E.4279@motown.lmco.com> Date: Mon, 16 Feb 1998 06:31:42 -0500 From: Robert Lodge Organization: Lockheed Martin Inc. X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.01 (Win95; U) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: listproc@eartha.mills.edu Subject: Birdhouse Concert Review Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Here's a first posting from a recent Forum subscriber. I'd like to report on a fine concert of extended JI (13-limit in this case) given Feb.13th by the NYC-based ensemble Birdhouse. As David Beardsley posted the other day, the performance space was, ah,intimate but definitely pleasant. Birdhouse is a project drawing on the ethos of birdsong; featuring its powerful melodic qualities, plus music of environmental concern and at times actual transcriptions of birdsong. The group consisted of: Meredith Borden, Soprano Jon Catler, Just Intonation and fretless guitars Brad Catler, Percussion Andrew Bolotowsky, Alto Flute Throughout the concert Jon Catler played his solidbody electric with the interchangeable fingerboards (pretty nifty, there's enter- tainment value right there) while Brad Catler played cross-legged on the floor with tabla, dumbek, bodhran, cymbals, bells, chimes and shakers arrayed around him. The choice of alto flute rather than so- prano concert flute gave an added warmth to the music and left clear room for Borden's soaring, mostly wordless vocalizations. The pieces spanned a pretty broad emotional and stylistic gamut, with some offering an exotic lilt, some wit and humor, while others evoked an undeniable sadness tied, perhaps, to the situations some species are currently in.In all cases, use of the higher harmonic intervals was crucial to the vocal melodies and to the sometimes bit- tersweet chordings and fingerpicked arpeggios. Jon made extensive use of a phrase-repeating delay device which let modal harmonic stuctures serve as a bed for real-time legato lines. His slow legato work on fretless was especially striking to me; the glissandos and cello-style bridge-to-nut vibrato were fresh-sounding and visceral. The concert ended with maybe the most immediately accessible piece of the evening,'Bird of Pray', which combined varied instrumental ex- plorations with lyrics that envision an end to armed conflict. I understand that a Birdhouse CD is in process. I'm looking forward to it. SMTPOriginator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu From: William Sethares Subject: seminar announcement in Ithaca NY PostedDate: 16-02-98 16:20:06 SendTo: CN=coul1358/OU=AT/O=EZH ReplyTo: tuning@eartha.mills.edu $MessageStorage: 0 $UpdatedBy: CN=notesrv2/OU=Server/O=EZH,CN=coul1358/OU=AT/O=EZH,CN=Manuel op de Coul/OU=AT/O=EZH RouteServers: CN=notesrv2/OU=Server/O=EZH,CN=notesrv1/OU=Server/O=EZH RouteTimes: 16-02-98 16:19:11-16-02-98 16:19:12,16-02-98 16:17:03-16-02-98 16:17:03 DeliveredDate: 16-02-98 16:17:03 Categories: $Revisions: Received: from ns.ezh.nl ([137.174.112.59]) by notesrv2.ezh.nl (Lotus SMTP MTA SMTP v4.6 (462.2 9-3-1997)) with SMTP id C12565AD.00542351; Mon, 16 Feb 1998 16:19:01 +0100 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA03919; Mon, 16 Feb 1998 16:20:06 +0100 Date: Mon, 16 Feb 1998 16:20:06 +0100 Received: from ella.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA03917 Received: (qmail 17871 invoked from network); 16 Feb 1998 07:19:03 -0800 Received: from localhost (HELO ella.mills.edu) (127.0.0.1) by localhost with SMTP; 16 Feb 1998 07:19:03 -0800 Message-Id: <199802161511.AA26478@eceserv0.ece.wisc.edu> Errors-To: madole@mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu