Keane Southard

Latest News 11/3/11

2011-11-03T10:51:00.003-06:00

I have been awarded two residencies in the upcoming months! In January and February, I will spend four weeks as composer-in-residence at Playa in rural central Oregon. Then, in March and April, I will spend six weeks as composer-in-residence at the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts in Nebraska. For both of these, I will be provided room and board, a studio with a piano, and lots of time to dedicate to composing!

During these residencies, I plan on working on (and perhaps completing) a new Piano Concerto, being commissioned by the Stow Festival Chorus and Orchestra, for myself to perform as soloist during the 2012-13 season. The concerto will be an exploration of my relationship with Mozart, a composer who I admit having a love-hate relationship with throughout my life, and I hope to blend the elements of his style that I particularly like with my own in creating this work.

For Natalie for solo cello will be premiered by cellist Natalie Spehar on January 29th, 2012 at the Church of the Holy City in Washington, D.C. on the Swedenborg Center's "Music with the Angels" Concert Series.

A video of the performance from May of Waltzing Dervish for Wind (powered) Ensemble by the Encore Wind Ensemble is now available to watch here.

I am currently volunteering with the Conservatory Lab Charter School El Sistema Program in Boston, writing some orchestral etudes for their orchestra program. For those who are unaware, "El Sistema" is the highly successful system of youth orchestras in Venezuela which has done extraordinary things for youth, particularly poor youth, in that country, and new programs are beginning in the USA as well. I recommend watching this incredibly inspiring documentary on the Venezuelan system, entitled "Tochar y Luchar," which can be viewed for free in its entirety here (length: 71 mins).

I have begun writing concert reviews for the Boston Musical Intelligencer. You can read my first review, of an organ recital by David Higgs in Worcester, here.

As a pianist, I will be giving several solo recitals around the Boston area in the next few months:

-Nov. 13, 2011, 3pm, Pilgrim Church, Southborough, MA: "A Composing Lineage." Works by Milhaud, Bolcom, Pann, and Southard. Free admission.

-Nov. 30, 2011, 6:30pm, Tower Hill Botanic Gardens, Boylston, MA: "New England Composers." Works by Rzewski, Ives, and Southard.

-Dec. 5, 2011, 7:30pm, The Willows, Westborough, MA: "Ragtime Old and New." Rags by Joplin, Bolcom, Pann, and Southard.

-Dec. 12, 2011, 7:30pm, Lasell Village, Auburndale, MA: "Ragtime Old and New." Rags by Joplin, Bolcom, Pann, and Southard.

-Jan. 4, 2012, 5:30pm, Wednesday Concert Series, St. John the Evangelist Church, Boston, MA: Program: TBA. Free admission.

For more information on these recitals, please see the Upcoming Performances page.

I am also beginning an e-newsletter, so sign up here to receive periodic email newsletters to stay informed on all musical activities.

Latest News 4/1/11

2011-04-01T22:29:00.001-06:00

Do You Hear How Many You Are? for SATB choir has been selected as the winner of the Ars Nova Singers 2011 Colorado Composers Competition Professional Category. The work will be premiered by the ensemble on their June 3rd concert at 7:30pm at St. John's Episcopal Church in Boulder, CO and then in a repeat performance at 7:30pm on June 4th in Hamilton Hall, University of Denver, Denver, CO.

On March 25 and 26, as part of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the College Music Society 2011 Regional Conference, I performed my Five Preludes for solo piano at the Ramada Denver Midtown Hotel. Also as part of the conference, I presented my paper The Paradox of Choice, The Myth of Growth, and the Future of Music.

During April 8-9, I will be travelling with others from the University of Colorado-Boulder Composition Department to the Exchange of Midwestern Collegiate Composers in Kansas City along with the composition departments from the University of Iowa and the University of Kansas City-Missouri. At the exchange, I will again be performing my own Five Preludes for solo piano as well as presenting my paper The Paradox of Choice, The Myth of Growth, and the Future of Music.

On April 13 at 7:30pm, my new Piano Quintet "New England" will be premiered on the CU Pendulum New Music Series on the campus of the University of Colorado-Boulder. It will be played by the Tesla String Quartet with myself at the piano.

On April 23 at 2:30pm (notice this is a different date and time than in my previous latest news) The Playground Ensemble will be performing my Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano on their annual Colorado Composers Concert at the King Center on the Auraria Campus in Denver, CO.

On May 13 at 7pm, the Encore Wind Ensemble will be performing my Waltzing Dervish for Wind (powered) Ensemble as the winner of the Charles B. Olson Young Composers Contest at the Wayzata Community Church in Wayzata, MN.

Recordings of Waltzing Dervish for Wind (powered) Ensemble performed by the University of Colorado Wind Symphony from the premiere performance on February 4, 2011, as well as the premiere of A Day of Sunshine for Chorus and Orchestra performed by the Longfellow Chorus and Orchestra in February 2010, are now available for streaming online. "Waltzing Dervish" can be heard here and "A Day of Sunshine" here.

A video of the premiere performance of Two Symmetries for Disklavier from February 23, 2011 is also available for viewing here.

Also of note, I will be graduating with my Masters of Music in Composition from the University of Colorado-Boulder on May 5!

Latest News 1/18/11

2011-01-18T00:34:00.001-07:00

Waltzing Dervish for Wind (powered) Ensemble will be premiered by the University of Colorado Wind Symphony under the direction of Ingrid Larragoity in Macky Auditorium on the CU campus in Boulder, CO on Friday, February 4, 2011.

My recently completed Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano will be premiered in Boston, MA by the Juventas New Music Ensemble on their "Juventas Jam" concert on Saturday, February 12, 2011 at 8pm in Seully Hall at the Boston Conservatory. It will then be performed again in a repeat performance on Sunday, February 13, 2011 at 7pm at the Ryles Jazz Club in Cambridge, MA.

Then, on April 30, 2011 The Playground Ensemble will be giving the piece its Colorado premiere on their annual Colorado Composers Concert at the King Center on the Auraria Campus in Denver, CO.

On February 23, my Two Symmetries for Disklavier is scheduled to be premiered on the CU Pendulum New Music Series concert in the Atlas Blackbox Theatre on the campus of CU.

During March 3-5, I'll be travelling to the 2011 Tutti New Music Festival at Denison University to perform my Five Preludes for Piano at the festival.

A new studio recording of my Duo for Clarinet and Cello (both movements) is now available for streaming on my Instant Encore website thanks to my friends Antje Hoffmann (clarinet) and Magdalena Watcher (cello) who have performed the piece several times around Leipzig, Germany.

You can also now view a video of my performance of Prelude No. 3 (Homage to Nancarrow) at the Boulder Public Library from last March on my Instant Encore Website or directly on Youtube.

Latest News 10/20/10

2010-10-20T23:50:00.001-06:00

For Sofia for Viola and Piano will be premiered by violist Sofia von Atzingen on December 1st, 2010, on her Graduation Recital at the Federal University of Minas Gerias in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

Viderunt Omnes for a cappella SATB choir will be premiered at the Society of Composers 2010 National Conference at The University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina by the Colla Voce Ensemble conducted by Larry Wyatt. It will be performed by on November 11th, 2010 at 7:30pm in the Green St. United Methodist Church and a repeat performance will be included as part of Colla Voce's fall concert on November 14th at the Kathwood Baptist Church in Columbia, South Carolina.

To the Writings page, I have added a new essay I have recently written for the CU-Pendulum New Music Blog called The Paradox of Choice, the Myth of Growth, and the Future of Music, as well as the PDF copy of my Senior Music Theory Thesis from Baldwin-Wallace College: The Use of Variation Form in Frederic Rzewski’s The People United Will Never Be Defeated!

Current projects include a Violin and Piano Sonata and a Piano Quintet written for the Tesla Quartet.

The Paradox of Choice, the Myth of Growth, and the Future of Music

2010-10-20T22:56:00.001-06:00

I recently saw a TED talk given in 2006 by the psychologist Barry Schwartz where he addresses what he calls the “paradox of choice”. He essentially points out the fact that we collectively have fallen victim to the “Problem of Induction,” as discussed by the 18th-century philosopher David Hume (Vickers 2010). The Problem of Induction occurs when we presuppose that something will happen a certain way based on our observations of how it has always happened in the past, and also in generalizing properties of a class of objects based on any number of past observations. Every day of our collective lives we have seen the sun rise (or at least someone has, if you happen to have an overcast sky) and when we stand on the ground and let go of a ball from our hands, it falls downward to the ground. When we wake up tomorrow morning we will expect the sun to rise once again and when I drop the ball I hold in my hand, we will expect it to fall once again to the ground. We assume these events will happen because they have always happened in the past in our collective experiences, given the same conditions. But who is to say that the sun will not rise tomorrow (or some day in the future) or that the laws of physics will not apply (or not in the same way) the next time (or at some point in the future) when I let the ball go from my hand? How is anyone to know for sure?

As a society, and in some respects as a civilization, we have collectively made this mistake in two very important realms, in the notion of abundance of choices and in the idea of growth. When our choices are very limited, for example if I go to a ice cream shop but the only flavors to choose between are vanilla and chocolate, then I will gladly welcome more options to choose from. It doesn't matter whether I like both flavors, one flavor, or neither. If I continue to come to this ice cream shop, I will soon be bored with the selection of flavors. Imagine another ice cream shop opens up across the street, and they have eight flavors of ice cream to choose from. If I don't like either vanilla or chocolate, I now have a place where I have a greater chance at finding a flavor that I do enjoy. Even if I enjoy both vanilla and chocolate, I will soon exhaust these flavors, grow tired of them, and seek to discover new flavors. Both these kinds of ice cream eaters would now be inclined to bring their business to the “better” ice cream shop across the street that has more selection. In addition, for both of these ice cream eaters they have a very simple correlation that has subconsciously entered their head: the more choices, the better. They will probably have this correlation reinforced if another shop opens offering 25 flavors, then another offering 40, or even another with 100 flavors to choose from. The more choices, the better. This fits very nicely with what Schwartz (2006) calls “The official dogma of all western industrial societies” which is this: “if we are interested in maximizing the welfare of our citizens, the way to do that is to maximize individual freedom. The reason for this is both that freedom is in and of itself good, valuable, worthwhile, essential to being human. And because if people have freedom, then each of us can act on our own to do the things that will maximize our welfare, and no one has to decide on our behalf. The way to maximize freedom is to maximize choice.”

But at some point, perhaps it is a magic number of choices or perhaps it is different for different people, more choices cease to be beneficial. Schwartz mentions two negative effects of too many choices. First, it can cause paralysis. Back to the world of ice cream, say that you walk into the Venezuelan ice cream shop that holds the world record for most flavors of ice cream offered, with about 860 (Grant 2010). Where would you even begin in trying to decide what flavor you want? imagine they give out free samples, it would take hours or days to sample them all and evaluate your options. People in western industrial societies are living today in this world of choices. Apart from ice cream flavors, if you walk into an average supermarket in the United States, you will find 285 varieties of cookies, 175 salad dressings, and 275 cereals. (Although, if you look at the ingredients, it is clear that this wide variety is essentially a giant illusion and a trick of packaging, but that's another topic.) Then if you walk over to a consumer electronic store looking to find components to build your stereo system, you find that you could create over six million different stereo systems using the components from that store alone (Schwartz 2006). Obviously, choices in ice cream and stereos are rather trivial, but what about important decisions, such as choosing a spouse, healthcare, investments, education? The more options you have, the more time you need to devote in evaluating each and comparing in order to make the best decision possible. The biggest part of the problem is not that we have too many choices in ice cream, but that we have so many more choices in nearly every aspect of life. With all the societal “advances” in technology, which by their selves have opened up millions of new options for us, we have yet to figure out how to squeeze more than twenty-four hours into one day. (Sure, life expectancy has increased, so the average person does have more time in their life, but we also have many more decisions to make, which usually need to be made around the same age or in the same time span as before.)

We have a finite amount of time each day to spend on evaluating our choices, yet more and more choices to evaluate. For instance, look at the Beatles growing up and the music they were exposed to. In the 1940's and 50's in England, recordings were new and the Beatles' music education consisted of the music their family played, the other musicians they could hear live in Liverpool, and whatever new record came into their local record shop. They didn't have the internet where they can hear hundred's of thousands of bands' music on MySpace or SoundCloud, or online streaming libraries, Wikipedia, or Amazon. This lack of choice focused them to learn from only the music they could get their hands on and sharpen their early skills as songwriters and performers (and of course, after they had established themselves as the most popular band in the world, then new musical possibilities were opened up for them such as Indian music, studio recording techniques, orchestral instruments, etc.). Moving into classical music, Stravinsky (1947, 66-68) himself wrote, in his Poetics of Music, about his paralysis when starting a composition and his need to put limits on his possibilities in order to free himself:

I experience a sort of terror when, at the moment of setting to work and finding myself before the infinitude of possibilities that present themselves, I have the feeling that everything is permissible to me...My freedom thus consists in my moving about within the narrow frame that I have assigned myself for each one of my undertakings. I shall go even farther: my freedom will be so much the greater and more meaningful the more narrowly I limit my field of action and the more I surround myself with obstacles. Whatever diminishes constraint diminishes strength. The more constraints one imposes, the more one frees oneself of the chains that shackle the spirit.

Stravinsky's view of constraint producing freedom is the exact opposite of the official dogma of Western industrial societies where more choice equals more freedom.

The second negative effect of too many choices is that even if we break through this paralysis and make a decision, we are very likely to be unsatisfied with our choice. Knowing that there are so many choices out there, we set our expectations very high figuring that out of these many choices one has to be perfect or the best we could possibly think of. Then when we find faults in our chosen option, we feel that we should have and could have chosen better, as naturally our expectations will rise when we are provided with more options. We also tend to blame ourselves if our option is not satisfactory, as we could have chosen better, unlike if we had few options where it is easy to blame the people who created them.

The other realm in which we have been victims to the Problem of Induction is the idea of growth. Since the beginning of human history, growth has been, and rightly so, beneficial to humans in many aspects. Population growth was very important to the survival of early humans. Growth in the size of empires and civilizations meant more natural resources at their disposal. Economic growth provides more wealth and a higher standard of living for a country. We have also just discussed how beneficial moderate growth in the number of choices can be for us. But the problem arises when we have finite resources, such as twenty-four hours in a day, or one planet that we can live on. Because growth has always been beneficial to us in the past, it is ingrained in our societies' unconscious that growth will continue to always be good. Dr. M. King Hubbart, in an address to a committee of Congress in 1974 (15-16) explained that “The exponential phase of the industrial growth which has dominated human activities during the last couple centuries is now drawing to a close...Yet during the last two centuries of unbroken industrial growth we have evolved what amounts to an exponential-growth culture.” This culture that is obsessed with growth is easy to see. Just look at a newspaper or listen to any news show that will discuss economics and you will hear the obsession with economic growth, and this extends beyond the USA. The Wall Street Journal in 1992 wrote that “The Japanese are so accustomed to growth that economists in Tokyo usually speak of a recession when the growth rate dips below 3%” (Kanabayashi, Chandler, and Roth). Much of this obsession has to do with humans general inability to understand the simple arithmetic of exponential growth, as University of Colorado-Boulder professor emeritus of physics Albert Bartlett wonderfully explains in his lecture “Arithmetic, Population, and Energy” (2002). He explains how global population growth is the overarching problem and biggest challenge the human race faces in the rest of the twenty-first century. Through simple arithmetic, Bartlett (2002) reaches his first law of sustainability, which states that “Population growth and/or growth in the rates of consumption of resources cannot be sustained.” The biggest dilemma with population growth is that all the aspects which contribute to population growth, and subsequently the problem of overpopulation, are the good humanitarian efforts of medicine, public health, peace, clean air, and accident prevention, to name a few, while the things that would help control the human population and lower our growth rate are horrible things such as war, pollution, disease, and famine. Not only does infinite growth cease to be good at some point, but infinite growth cannot sustain itself when there are finite resources. Now more than ever we are aware that oil reserves in the world will run out in the near future because of the exponential growth in the global demand and consumption of the world's finite oil reserves. As Bartlett (2002) says, “You have to wonder what life will be like after this point!” Growth like this cannot be sustained, and will end in the near future and subsequently change all of our lives in significant ways.

With these concerns, shortcomings, and trends in mind, I now offer up some predictions for the future of music, particularly for new “classical” music that will be composed in the remainder of the twenty-first century.

1.Increased specialization for musicians. This trend has been happening throughout the twentieth century. With the global population boom and the growth of western music education throughout the world, the competition within the music world (industry) for jobs has pushed musicians to spend more time in developing their talents in one area, such as performing, composing, or conducting, in order to win the limited number of jobs. This has also raised the level of excellence in these areas, such as performing, to new heights, which necessitates even more time in devotion to refining skills. This trend across all disciplines has lowered the value of any college degree. In addition, the immense increase in choices in the modern world eats away at more of a musician's time that he/she can even devote to music. Today it is quite rare to find a composer that is also a virtuoso performer, or a performer who is also highly recognized for their composing, or a conductor that also performs solo concerti.

2.The world will continue to be flooded by more and more mediocre and bad music. Another affect of the global population boom and more music education is that, while there are more and more people trying to be professional musicians, there are more who are creating mediocre music. Of course, this boom has created more great music, probably more than in the whole previous history of the world, but the prevalence of mediocre or just plain bad music is greater than ever before, and I'd venture to say that the proportion of good music to bad music today could possibly be more in favor of bad music than ever before. This is complete speculation, but the sheer volume of music being created today without a significant increase in the percentage of good music, has probably jaded more people from discovering great works from different genres than ever before. How many people say that they hate an entire genre of music such as Country and Western? This is most likely because all the Country music they have heard is simply bad or mediocre, despite the fact that there is probably some very good Country music out there, but it has been flooded and hidden by all the rest. This is the same situation with classical music listeners who love Beethoven yet cringe when they see a composer on the program who has no death year listed next to their birth year. They have only heard contemporary works that they couldn't stand and, even if they have given several chances for contemporary music to impress them, they don't want to risk their precious time or money on another “bad” modern piece, yet I know that they are missing out on lots of wonderful music being composed today. This also connects to the tendency I mentioned before about too many choices causing expectations to be high and blaming oneself for not making a perfect decision, such as someone trying to decide which contemporary classical CD to buy. (Yes, we may even have “too many” choices in recordings contemporary classical pieces.)

3.Dramatic decrease in new sounds and more drawing upon the musical past. In the twentieth century, the growth in terms of new sounds exploded like never before. Today, any sound that can possibly be made by an instrument in any way, any sound from nature or everyday life, and millions of computer synthesized sounds are potential sound material for composers' use. This density of discovery of sound possibilities in the twentieth century dwarfs the previous sound innovations of the past millennium, such as Monteverdi discovering string tremoli and pizzicati. The result from this growth of new possibilities is that it cannot be sustained. I do not count out that new sounds will be discovered, but it will be as infrequent, and probably less innovative and seismic, than the discoveries before 1900. The trend to draw on the musical past has already begun with more and more composers today turning back to tonality, and I predict that this will continue and become more common.

4.Listeners, composers, and performers will rely more on quick judgments of music. With the overload of choices in all areas, people will have less time to actually listen to music, which can only be fully experienced in the time the composer/performer has/have allotted for it to happen. Musical works cannot be condensed, at least not in a convenient and quick way without losing or greatly changing much of the experience, into a shorter time period (excepting reasonable tempo fluctuations). This is one effect that has been seen as a result of the prevalence of iPods and MP3 players. People tend to listen to a few seconds of one song, and if it doesn't hold their attention, they can easily move to the next one. Quick judgments can already be seen in the actions of many performers and ensembles that have lots of living composers send them their works for consideration in programming. They simply don't have the time to carefully look at and listen to all the works they receive to make a completely thoughtful decision for programming, nor do a lot of ensembles actually want new music to take up more than a tiny fraction of their concert programs. (When was the last time you saw an orchestral piece by a living composer played by an American orchestra that was longer than fifteen minutes? Or even heard of a half-hour symphony being composed by a living composer older than a seventeen year old?) For all these negative effects, this trend may not entirely be bad. Malcolm Gladwell (2005) in his book Blink argues that occasionally the instant conclusions that one jumps to in the first two seconds of perception are much better than when we wait and evaluate. This trend may also lead to an increased use and exploration of improvisation in musical compositions, which I have seen happening in my own musical interests.

5.Composers' unique “voices” will take longer to develop. With access to so many different kinds of music, not to mention knowledge across all fields and disciplines, through the internet, recordings, and easier travel, composers that have grown up in the last half of the twentieth century have much more music to sort through, learn from, and be influenced by. In contrast, 250 years ago Mozart only had access to the scores he could get his hands on and the performances he could physically attend, which were essentially limited to the music of a handful of composers from a few European countries from the past 200 years or so. With more choices to sort through and limited time, composers are taking and will take more time to assimilate and develop their voices.

6.Less focus/time afforded for the Arts and more on Science. Ask any high school music teacher in the United States and they will tell you of the battles to keep music and the other arts funded and in their schools systems. But as the crises of overpopulation, climate change, and the depletion of the world's oil supply grow more conspicuous by the day, the focus of education around the world has been to train people for jobs in the sciences in order to find a “cure” for these problems by the same thinking that brought the problems about while simultaneously continuing to try and grow the global economy. The more these problems press on the world, the more people are going to throw the arts aside as a waste of time and money (which I obviously think is the wrong way to go about it, as the same thinking that got us into these problems is not going to get us out of them).

7.Music will, as our entire way of living will, change drastically. Around the year 2050 the world population is estimated to peak at around ten billion people, with about two billion more people than today living at the standards that Americans live at. This immense growth in consumption of the limited natural resources of the world, such as the inevitable depletion of the world's oil, combined with the growing effects of climate change, will bring about huge changes in all people's lives, whether this is by our own choice or not. In terms of population, the reality we are facing today is that we are rapidly reaching an unprecedented point where, if we do not stop our global population growth and reduce our overall consumption rate, we will soon exhaust our finite resources, no matter how much technology tries to help in our efficiency. Global population growth will stop at some point in the future (because of the world's finite space), whether it is by our own choice to create less new humans or if nature decides upon ways to end many existing human's lives. Whatever happens, the current way of living for the western world simply cannot be sustained indefinitely and will change drastically in positive or negative ways. As the arts are always to some extent a reflection and a product of the world and society around us, whether through available technology, commentary on current events, or the effects of an education system, the music created, and music's role, throughout the remainder of the twenty-first century will change along with the world it is created in. This new music and its role will either be seen as a waste of time and energy and be pushed to the fringes of existence during our civilization's demise, or take on a prominent role in the birth of a sustainable world through inspiration, reflection, catharsis, beauty, and perhaps even education. My greatest hope is that music is not forgotten, but is honored for the necessary role it will play in the salvation of the earth and humanity.

References

Bartlett, Albert. 2002. “ Arithmetic, Population, and Energy” Lecture, University of Colorado-Boulder, Boulder, CO, December 7, accessed October 14, 2010, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-QA2rkpBSY&feature=channel

Gladwell, Malcolm. 2005. Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. New York: Little, Brown, and Company.

Grant, Will. 2010. “The Venezuelan ice-cream parlour with 860 different flavours,” BBC, January 16, accessed October 20, 2010, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/8460094.st

Hubbart, M. King. 1974. “M. King Hubbert on the Nature of Growth,” In National Energy Conservation Policy Act of 1974, Hearings before the Subcommittee on the Environment, U.S. House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, Subcommittee on the Environment, 93rd Congress, 2nd Session, June 6, 1974: 51-78. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, June 4, copied into electronic website September 14, 2003, accessed December 19, 2010, http://www.hubbertpeak.com/hubbert/OnTheNatureOfGrowth.pdf

Masayoshi Kanabayashi, Clay Chandler, and Terence Roth. 1992. “Economic Giants Feel Recession's Bite --- Japan's GNP Falls at 1.6% Annual Rate; German GDP Also Posts Drop.” Wall Street Journal, December 4.

Schwartz, Barry. 2006. “Barry Schwartz on the Paradox of Choice.” TED Conferences, LLC. Posted September, accessed October 4, 2010, http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/barry_schwartz_on_the_paradox_of_choice.html

Stravinsky, Igor. 1947. Poetics of Music. Translated by Arthur Knodel and Ingolf Dahl. New York: Vintage Books, Inc.

Vickers, John. 2010. “The Problem of Induction,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, June 21, accessed November 9, 2010, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/induction-problem/

Latest News 7/27/10

2010-07-27T23:44:00.002-06:00

Waltzing Dervish for Wind (powered) Ensemble has won the Charles B. Olson Young Composers Contest from the Encore Wind Ensemble. The work will be performed at Wayzata Community Church in Wayzata, Minnesota, on Friday, May 13, 2011 at 7:00pm by the Encore Wind Ensemble.

My short chamber orchestra work Carousel has won 2nd prize in the Eighth annual Asia America Symphony Association Composition for Orchestra Competition.

Upcoming performances in the next year include the premiere of For Sofia for Viola and Piano by Sofia von Atzingen, which will be premiered on December 1st at her Graduation Recital this year at the Federal University of Minas Gerias in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. My Five Preludes for piano have been selected for performance at the Society of Composers 2010 Region V Conference at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois in early October, 2010, where I will perform the work myself. Viderunt Omnes for a cappella SATB choir has been selected for the Society of Composers 2010 National Conference at The University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina. It will be performed by the University of South Carolina Concert Choir on November 11th, 2010 at 7:30pm in the Green St. United Methodist Church.
I recently was selected as one of three composers to be featured in the No Extra Notes podcast's 4th "Composer Takeover" by Richard Zarou. I have been given 15 minutes of podcast space to do whatever I want to present myself and my music and have fun doing so. The podcast will be available on the website on September 5th, 2010 and downloadable on itunes.

A reminder that on August 4th at 6pm e.s.t, the recording of the first complete performance of my Piano Sonata No. 2 (performed by myself) will be broadcast on WRSU in New Brunswick, NJ which can be heard locally at 88.7 FM and anywhere with an internet connection at http://www.wrsu.org/ on the show "Endless Possibilities: Explorations" by Douglas Laustsen. It will then be available as a free podcast downloadable on itunes (Endless Possibilities » Podcast By Douglas Laustsen).

Latest News 5/3/10

2010-05-03T23:50:00.001-06:00

Waltzing Dervish for Wind Ensemble, which was just completed at the end of March of this year, has won the 2010 George Lynn Prize from the University of Colorado at Boulder. As a result, the University of Colorado Wind Symphony will perform the work during the 2010-11 school year. In addition, the ensemble gave a reading of the work on April 29th.

The film Glava by Nicholas Bernhard, for which I wrote the music, was screened on April 9th at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The film is now available for free viewing and free download online here.

On August 4th at 6pm e.s.t, the recording of the first complete performance of my Piano Sonata No. 2 (performed by myself) will be broadcast on WRSU in New Brunswick, NJ which can be heard locally at 88.7 FM and anywhere with an internet connection at http://www.wrsu.org/ on the show "Endless Possibilities: Explorations" by Douglas Laustsen. It will then be available as a free podcast downloadable on itunes (Endless Possibilities » Podcast By Douglas Laustsen).

I was also fortunate enough to have two short orchestral works, Carousel for Chamber Orchestra (Movement III of my Mini-Symphony for Chamber Orchestra) and Fantasy in B-flat Minor (which was originally a work for solo piano written when I was a freshman in college), read by the University of Colorado Symphony Orchestra on April 30th.

My summer projects include a short choral work, a piece for solo cello for Natalie Spehar, a piano quintet, a song cycle, transcribing several recorded piano improvisations, a work for disclavier, and a couple new arrangements of some older works.

Latest News 3/4/10

2010-03-04T16:30:00.000-07:00

"A Day of Sunshine" for Chorus and Orchestra was premiered last weekend (Feb 27 and 28) in two concerts by the Longfellow Chorus and Orchestra in Portland, ME, and was awarded first prize in their Composition Competition. An excerpt from my work can be heard here and click here to read a review of the concert. I would like to thank Charles Kaufmann, director of the chorus, and all the performers and people from Portland that were so kind and welcoming to me on my trip for this amazing opportunity and experience.

I am currently working on my first film score, for the 1920's style silent horror film Glava, written and directed by Nicholas Bernhard. The score is for piano and string quartet and the film is scheduled for release on April 9th, 2010.

I am also working on a set of waltzes for Wind Ensemble called Waltzing Dervish which I plan to complete by the end of the month.

Tonight (3/4/10) I am performing my Prelude No. 3 (Homage to Nancarrow) for piano at the University of Colorado-Boulder College of Music Merrill Lynch event, and I will also be performing the same work on 3/7/2010 at 2pm in the Pendulum New Music Series "Concert in Motion: A Musical Workshop" at the Boulder Public Library.

Latest News 1/13/10

2010-01-13T23:05:00.000-07:00

My Dylan Thomas Songs "And Death Shall Have No Dominion" and "In My Craft or Sullen Art" will be performed on the Tobenski-Alegra Concert Series by tenor Dennis Tobenski and pianist Marc Peloquin in New York City on January 27th, 9:30pm at The Duplex's cabaret theatre: 61 Christopher St., New York, NY 10014.

On the exact same night (Jan. 27), I will be performing my own 5 Preludes for piano on the Pendulum New Music Series in Grusin Hall on the campus of the University of Colorado-Boulder. Two of these preludes will be receiving their premieres.

Over the winter break, I was able to spend a day working the the Algonquin Regional High School Wind Ensemble, who will be premiering Granolithic March on Februrary 9th in Northborough, MA and am looking forward to hearing about the performance (although I can't be there for it).

Latest News 11/22/2009

2009-11-22T01:52:00.000-07:00

I have just created a new page of Writings, which can also be accessed by clicking on the link on the right side of this page. I have included a couple essays and hope to have my senior music theory analysis project on Frederic Rzewski's The People United Will Never Be Defeated! up soon as well.

In composing news, I have nearly completed A Day of Sunshine for Chorus and Orchestra and I expect to have it completely finished in mid-December.

My Granolithic March for Wind Ensemble will be read by the University of Colorado Symphonic Band on Nov. 30th and then premiered by the Algonquin Regional High School Wind Ensemble on February 9th, 2010 in Northborough, MA.

What is American Music?

2009-11-22T01:37:00.000-07:00

As an American who has studied music and already came into this program with a lot of knowledge of American music, I'm still not sure if there is an “American style” of music. It is not like England, where I do hear often, in the music of composers such as Britten, Vaughan Williams, Finzi, etc., a common English sound (although I'm still not sure how to describe it or what exactly it is). America is unique in the fact that it is a relatively young nation and that the indigenous peoples now do not have a very large effect on the current culture that has developed. America emerged out of Europe and owes very much to this tradition. But the uniqueness in America as a nation (and I believe this is something that we have largely lost sight of) is that when we were being governed unfairly and unjustly, we took action to make change. The Declaration of Independence states "That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government...But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.” This nation was grounded on the principle that we must stand up for what we believe in or die trying. We are unique because we started a revolution and it was actually successful. However, this revolution was not a revolution on the part of the indigenous peoples, but by colonists who did not like the way the British government was treating them. America since this time has been almost entirely made up of immigrants, and hence the music has been incredibly diverse.

I believe the easiest way to identify American music would be to say that any music created in America by people living in America constitutes American music. Because there are so many different types and styles of music being created in America, should we limit American music to musical styles that were born in the country, such as jazz, Native American musics, negro spirituals, etc.? Does the vast influence from other cultures leave no hope of establishing an “American” nationalistic style or sound? Do we even need a distinctly unique national style of music?

I'd argue that our lack of a single musical identity is not necessary, nor is it advantageous. It is fine for a culture to want to preserve its customs and practices, but too often the differences between cultures become so pronounced that they become excuses for injustice and war. This is the exact opposite of what I believe music, and all art, should strive for. It should not be used to rally and inspire our troops, leading them into battle to destroy the enemy who believes in the “wrong” ways of living. Music is such a powerful unifying force across cultures, as each one of the participants here have experienced in the past six weeks in this program. In the NU-FAX program, music has allowed all of us to bridge the cultural gaps between each other, communicate and relate to each other on a more intimate and intense level, and enjoy and respect each other as representatives of their culture and as individuals. In other words, music has been a vehicle of peace, understanding, and growth.

I propose that music should be used as such a unifying force, and this is also what American music can be said to achieve if it has something in common more than just having been created in the USA. America since its beginnings has been this “melting pot” of different peoples and cultures and now, more than ever, technology has allowed us all to have access to so much more media and information. The internet now allows us to learn so much about different cultures, share different music, etc., that cultures and their musical styles are blending more and more. We are becoming more and more cosmopolitan and I do not believe that it is a bad thing for our music to do the same. Cultural traditions and customs may be, and should be, preserved to an extent, but in order to really grow and communicate we must learn from each others cultures and blend to realize our common humanity. Only when we do this can hope to help achieve world peace and begin to permanently solve the injustice and the crises of the world. American music helps to do this by being unafraid of whatever it is. American music stands up and pronounces what it believes in, no matter what style, influences, or what others will do to it. It is created out of a full expression of freedom to expose and stand by your own values. Its “style” is bearing any style yet having a depth and personal conviction of meaning and cosmopolitanism.

Keane Southard
August 10, 2009

Examining the Relationship Between Art and Society

2009-11-22T01:16:00.000-07:00

As I have become increasing aware of the state of the world in my college years, I have become overwhelmed by the multitude of crises and problems that we as humans and a global society have created for ourselves and the deep pits we need to dig ourselves out of. I decided early on that my passion for music and the Arts was strong enough that that is what I wanted to spend my life doing, but in light of all these global problems, I have gained a huge feeling of guilt because of my chosen career path. How can I be spending my life in so esoteric a field as contemporary, and often abstract, concert music when in a hundred years (or less) the world may not even exist, never mind my music, if we do not do all we can to solve problems of climate change, nuclear weapons disputes, racism, genocide, finite energy and water resources, etc.? Maybe I should become a scientist, or social worker, or engineer, because what good is an artist in solving these problems? The Arts are just a luxury that we can do without, or at least that is often what seems to be the case, as in public schools, when the budget is tight, it inevitably seems to be the first thing cut.
Obviously this is not what I believe. The Arts would not have survived for hundreds of years if this were the case. On one level, Art has the power to make people feel good, which fits right into the hedonistic society we live. There is nothing like listening to and enjoying a beautiful piece of music that makes me feel wonderful (The problem is that many people feel that this is it's only purpose or are upset when this potential aspect of Art is missing, but that is a topic for another blog post...) But Art has most definitely been a force in the progression of history. The composer and pianist Frederic Rzewski talks of the power and force of music in society,

"Of course music is a political force. It’s a very powerful political force. Music influences millions of people. If a composer comes to grips with this fact, this tremendous potential force that is in this form of art, then there is a possibility of really doing something to change the situation, perhaps on a small level at first, but nonetheless important. I think it’s very necessary today to begin to think of music as not simply a form of art for art’s sake but a form of spiritual expression that potentially influences masses of people." (Joe Goldberg, “The Art of Political Process, Frederic Rzewski,” WaxPaper, 5/7 (1979) 21.)

But Rzewski also realizes the challenges and limitations of this potential,

"The important thing is to get past the notion that an individual can, with his own resources, make any significant progress on solving a problem which is social in nature. This is one of the biggest hurdles that artists have to overcome, the idea that art alone can solve problems that really need other forms of action. Art can help: it can be useful in solving human problems. It always has been and it always will be, but only as long as it recognizes its own limitations.” (Ken Terry, “Frederic Rzewski and the Improvising Avant-Garde.” Downbeat (Jan. 11, 1979) )

When I try think of what artist(s) have had the greatest positive impact on the world, I have to say that it probably has been the Beatles, and more specifically John Lennon. The most popular band of the 60's, and probably of all time, took their fame and wide appeal and decided to do what they could to bring peace and love to the world, and probably has had, and continues to have as each generation discovers their songs, an incredible impact in many people's lives in a positive way. How they did this was to send very clear and direct messages to the world (“Give Peace A Chance”, “All You Need Is Love” etc.), but these messages were essentially inartistic. Their music was tied to this message, but didn't necessarily express it in musical or poetic terms. So as a composer of classical music, must I always set texts and attach programs to my works if I want to express and contribute to bettering the world (after all, even Beethoven felt the need to use a choir and set a poem in his ninth symphony)?

I turn again to Frederic Rzewski. This is a composer who I have been deeply fascinated with in the past couple years, both for his concern of creating social change through his art and for his actual music. In fact, I first fell in love with the music of his hour-long set of variations on The People United Will Never Be Defeated! before I knew anything about the extra-musical elements (although, I have to admit, I sought out and listened to the piece because I was intrigued by the title). The theme he uses is a Chilean revolutionary song from the 1970's, whose text says exactly what the title says, that when diverse peoples are united by a common cause, they will succeed against all odds. The history of the Chilean coup of the 70's, the text of the song, the conditions of premiere of Rzewski's work, the many allusions and connotations in the music; these are all extra-musical elements that are wonderful and contribute much to the understanding and power of the work, but before all of these Rzewski's piece works on a purely abstract musical level. Even more than this, it displays, in purely musical means, the ideological theme of the song it uses, that of the power of unification.

He does this by creating 36 variations that stylistically range across the history of western music, using styles reminiscent of composers such as Boulez, Cage, Glass, Chopin, Liszt, and Art Tatum. In some of these variations, the theme is obviously present, yet in others it seems to disappear completely. Then every sixth variation is a recapitulation of the previous five, allotting a phrase for each in the new variation, bringing the styles temporarily closer together. In the final group of six variations, there is no new material, instead all of these variations are recapitulations, the first of which recapitulates every sixth variation, the next recapitulates every sixth beginning with variation no.2, etc. This pattern continues so that the 36th and final variation is both a recapitulation of the recapitulations. In other words, the result is that, contained in this single variation of twenty-seven measures is a condensed version of all variations into one single variation. The entire hour-long work is now, in a way, played in approximately less than a minute, a shrinking in size of approximately fifty times. The result is that the bulk of the original theme is heard twisting and turning through twenty-five different and widely contrasting guises. One moment the theme is clearly recognizable and the variation procedure is obvious and immediately apparently, but literally a second later the theme may be lost completely, only to return seconds later. It is as if looking at an object through twenty-five extremely different lenses, from extreme zooming to different tints to out-of-focus distortions and supernatural dimension alterations. The amazing effect this has is to make “sense” of the previous aurally confusing variations, where the theme seemed to be absent altogether. When these variations were a minute or so long, they were quite temporally detached from the other variations that were “closer” to the theme. As the temporal distance between these variations decreases, so does their apparently wide musical and stylistic distance. No matter from what angle this work is seen, its purpose is to show that neither angle, neither compositional style, neither culture, neither race, etc., is correct or incorrect, but that they are all connected in a deep and profound way and capable of creating beautiful and great things while increasing the understanding amongst all. When any of these contrasting elements, aspects, people, cultures, etc., come closer together, their similarities transcend their differences and enhance and strengthen each other, and this is shown completely through the arrangement of sound and pitches in time and space! Rzewski himself says,

"I feel a bit uncomfortable being put in this, or any kind of box. I don’t like feeling obliged to make a political statement with every piece of music. First and foremost as music; and then if one can enrich this musical discourse with extra musical ideas, then so much the better.” (Richard Steinitz, “Imperialist Piano-Thumping Was One Avant-Gardiste Description of Frederic Rzewski This Week Because of His New Accessible Style.” Guardian. November 2, 1979.)

Of course the question must now be asked, how much of an impact has this piece had on the world? (You may even be saying, “I am a fan of contemporary classical music, and even I've never heard of this guy!”) That, of course, is impossible to determine, but what I know is that I have personally been deeply transformed by this music, and it inspires me to know that it is possible to uses pure abstract music to spread messages of most the sincere, powerful, and inspiring thoughts and dreams of a better existence for all, and that keeps me going as an artist in this world today.

Keane Southard
October 2009

Artistic Statement

2009-11-22T01:09:00.002-07:00

When I'm asked to describe my own music, I find the task extremely difficult. I remember being in a session with William Bolcom where someone asked him how he would describe his style, and he said, “I don't know. You tell me!” As a young composer, I know that I have not found my own unique compositional voice, or fingerprint, as George Crumb calls it, yet. In our age or recordings and the internet, with instant access to nearly any, and every, kind of music all over the world, a composer today has so much more music than in the past to explore before he/she learns what is really “his/her music”. Mozart only had whatever scores he could get his hands on and whatever concerts he could attend, and thus developed his own style while still young child. I am excited to explore every kind of music that I can find, and I often feel overwhelmed by all the great music that already exists. I believe one of the most important things for a composer today is to be open and willing to learn from all styles and genres of music and not let stereotypes get in the way of finding meaningful music (I believe this also holds true through all aspects of life). Like Charles Ives, I believe in substance over the manner it is presented through, and I have found and enjoyed many things in many different kinds of music. Consequently, I am a voracious listener and explorer of music. I have explored much of the standard classical repertoire and lots of rock and popular music in my teenage years, but recently I have purposely searched for gems outside the standard classical repertoire. Of course, this means that I have had to listen through hours and hours of music that I have no desire to listen to again before finding the hidden gems, but this is not wasted time. I approach every experience in my life as an opportunity to learn, and in music I have learned and gained much from pieces and composers that I don't particularly like or enjoy listening to.

So then what can I say about my music? While I hope that the music speaks for itself, the works that I have composed to date are heavily influenced by many diverse musical sources, many of which I am well aware of and others subconsciously. I'm also sure that there is some uniqueness, some of my own musical voice, somewhere in my music always, although the percentage is most definitely in the minority at this point. I have no doubt that my future compositions will grow in their effectiveness, range of influences, beauty, sophistication, and uniqueness as I explore and live more.

In the more recent past, I have been searching for effective ways to marry my passion for music and art with my unquenchable desire to help contribute as much as I possibly can to solving the many enormous and potentially catastrophic crises of the world. In light of these problems, I have gained a huge feeling of guilt because of my chosen career path. How can I be spending my life in so esoteric a field as contemporary, and often abstract, concert music when in a hundred years (or less) the world may not even exist, never mind my music, if we do not do all we can to solve problems of climate change, nuclear weapons disputes, racism, genocide, finite energy and water resources, etc.? I strongly believe that art and music always have to be evaluated and appreciated in light of a person's life experiences; that the substance does not come out of spending eight-plus hours a day in a practice room, but from meaningful life experiences. I have no doubt that art and music have a huge impact on people's lives, and consequently the world, but my problem is that I feel it often is not immediate, while these pressing world crises, such as climate change, must be dealt with now. This is surely something I will continue to explore and struggle with in the future and will have a huge impact on my music, if it hasn't already.

Keane Southard
Fall 2009

Latest News 10/4/09

2009-10-04T16:24:00.000-06:00

Yesterday my String Quartet No. 1 was presented in a masterclass at CU-Boulder with the Kronos Quartet by violinists Amanda Ramey and Carrol Lee, violist Stephanie Mientka, and cellist Mathieu D'Ordine. I'm planning on revising the work soon in order to have the entire work performed by the group later on this academic year.

I found out last week that I've received a travel grant from the university to travel to Portland, ME for the premiere of my A Day of Sunshine for Chorus and Orchestra by the Longfellow Chorus and Orchestra in February as a finalist in their cantata competition. My work on the piece is coming along nicely and I'm extremely excited for this opportunity.

I'm also nearly finished on my Prelude No. 5 for Piano Solo. After it is completed, I'm planning on performing the first five preludes as a set later on this academic year.