Premiere live performance at the Sheldon Foundation Hall.

April 2018

Hannah Ji, violin
Byunghee Yoo, piano

This work was made possible thanks to a a grant from the Sheldon Music Foundation in collaboration with the Sinquiefield Charitable Foundation and the Mizzou New Music Iniciative.

Etudes (2018) for violin and piano

Brad Rau Classical Guitar, Music Teacher. bradraumusic.com
Brad Rau has been performing music for over 20 years all over Boston, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, as a classical guitarist, rock guitarist, and rock drummer. Brad received a scholarship to attend New England Conservatory (NEC) and received a Master’s degree in 2015 with academic honors. At NEC, he studied classical guitar under Eliot Fisk who was the last pupil of Andres Segovia. Brad has performed in countless masterclasses with instructors including; Sharon Isbin, Andrew York and Jason Vieaux, all Grammy award-winning guitarists. Brad was recently a featured performer on Live WRTI Performance Studio. Brad’s personal learning methods have enabled him to surpass his competition memorizing over 8 hours of the most difficult repertoire for the classical guitar. Brad was a semi-finalist in the International Texas Guitar Competition of 2008. In addition to his performing career, Brad has mentored hundreds of students of all ages, styles, and levels. Many of Brad's students have gone on to develop their own music careers and teaching studios. Brad's unique teaching style combines music, physics, philosophy, and humor, making him a well-rounded instructor for a variety of students.
#classicalguitar #classicalguitarist #fingerstyleguitar #classicalguitarmusic #classicalmusic

Website/Contact : http://peterkramermusic.wordpress.com

Peter Kramer was born in Portland, OR. He is active as a composer and educator in New York City.

Kristian Josifoski (b. 1996) is a composer and percussionist based in Boston who's interests include: integrating elements of the musical vernacular into a new music idiom, using music as a metaphor for the philosophical concept of difference and repetition, enjoys working with crossfades, proportionality resonance and composed theatre.  

He earned his B.M. in Music Composition at Valparaiso University, and studied composition and theory with Benjamin Krause and Sky Macklay. Kristian has attended workshops and masterclasses by Stefan Ashbury, Joshua Rifkin, Tonia Ko, Jake Runestad, Gaudete Brass, Oystein Baadsvik, Stefon Harris, and Spektral Quartet. He earned his M.A. in Composition at NEC, and studied with John Mallia and Stratis Minakakis.

I am a composer and producer of instrumental music in several genres, including ambient soundscapes, electronica, orchestral and chamber music.  

Musical influences include John Coltrane, Igor Stravinsky, Gustav Holst, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Tangerine Dream, Robert Prince, Frank Zappa, Brian Eno, Heinrich Ignaz, Franz von Biber.

My Method of Composing and Producing
------------------------------------------
I'm sharing my method of composing and producing music recordings in case other composer-producers like me might find ideas worth exploring in their own work. I use this method for Classical, Avant-Pop or Neo-Folk Instrumental genres, not for Ambient and Soundscape pieces. Non-composers might find this explanation interesting, but having a bit of music theory background will definitely help. I consider myself a humble learner when it comes to music theory. 

I owe a debt of gratitude to British musician and educator Gareth Green, whose Music Matters online courses and free YouTube lessons have taught me so much over the past few years. Thanks to his instruction, I’ve moved from struggling to compose music by trial and error to something more enjoyable and productive. The knowledge I've gained has taken my work in new and expanding directions. As the saying goes, “Theory is not a cage — it’s a map. It doesn’t make the journey for you, but it keeps you from getting lost.” 

When I start a new piece, I begin by choosing a key, and picking a scale drawn from one of these sources:
 
1) Western Tonal / Functional Harmony - major or minor chords I II III IV V VI VII
2) Modal Harmony - Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, etc.
3) Slonimsky's "Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns" 
4) Messiaen’s "Seven Modes of Limited Transposition" 

For many pieces, I also decide on a progression, one as a simple as I IV V, or something more elaborate.  

Next I create a "scales and progressions" piano track in my DAW (digital audio workstation software) and enter the chords I to VII in my chosen key. These harmonized scales serve as a basis for writing multipart harmonies and finding pivot chords for key modulations. 

At the start, I know what instruments I want to use, making adjustments along the way. I tend to write chord parts first, then melodies created through a mix of improvisation and direct input in the DAW. Sometimes I start with a melody.

I develop melodies and variations of a phrase by some combination of: a) passing it from one instrument to another, transposing it by an interval that sounds pleasing, b) reversing it, c) inverting it around the tonic (first) note of the scale. These are well-known methods. 

After completing a section, I choose another scale and maybe a new key and repeat the process until I have a draft of the entire piece. Then I export a recording and listen to it “offline”, take notes of errors and new ideas, and incorporate them back into the piece. Often this “compose / listen / compose” cycle is repeated many times. These iterative cycles include adding new ideas, polishing transitions between sections, changing the arrangement, and incorporating expressive details like accents, and articulations (staccato, sustain, portato etc.). I’m often working several different pieces at once. 

Last is mixing and mastering: balancing the loudness between instruments and adjusting elements like reverb, compression, and equalization. I tend to mix as I compose, even though many producers frown on that approach. I find mixing as I go helps me envision the completed piece and make adjustments to the choice of instruments; it self-inspires me when the piece is starting to sound good.  At the end I do a final mix, but as the saying goes, “A mix is never finished — it’s surrendered.”

In the end, this method gives me a basis for exploration and creativity and helps me stay focused. The goal is always to make a piece of music that feels expressive, cohesive, and emotionally resonant.

I teach in US higher education (in a STEM field) & am a hobbyist composer writing in a few different styles. I recommend headphones. All of my music is released under a Creative Commons Attribution/Noncommercial license.

My bandcamp page is getting out of date again, but some older albums there can be downloaded for free or for a name-your-own price donation.

If anyone wants to try performing any of this stuff on real instruments please send a message and I can provide scores. Not sure how playable some of it is for human musicians though.

Unsolicited messages asking me to listen to your latest song will lead to you being blocked unless if I know you well and we've interacted a lot.

Hope you enjoy and thanks for visiting!

Noise Organiser 

YouTube:
www.youtube.com/user/MadFlava73

Website:
www.pnoom.de

Argentinian composer and multimedia artist based in L.A.

Etudes (2018) for violin and piano

Carolina Heredia composer