Let’s rewind to the 1930’s. There was a group of American composers who were working to create a “truly American” sound in Art Music composition. This group included Aaron Copland (he was the unofficial leader), Samuel Barber, William Grant Still, Walter Piston, and many others. They were nearly all taught by the greatest 20th century teacher of composition, Nadia Boulanger. They were continuing the work of Charles Ives, Amy Beach, and even William Billings, in the search for an American musical identity.

This non-exhaustive group includes women, men, blacks, whites, Jews, Christians, gays, straights, and the disabled. What could be more American as Chester, Appalachian Spring, or the Afro-American Symphony?

The Un-American Activities Committee was formed in 1938, and ultimately led to the Red Scare of the 50’s. Copland and Bernstein were among those who were under investigation for Communist activities. So … Make America Great Again? If we had eliminated Copland and Bernstein for their leftist leaning, would we have been great? If we suppressed Beach for being a woman, Still for being black, or Barber for being gay, would we have been great? If we deported Schoenberg, Hindemith, Yi, or so many others for being refugees, would we have been great?

So today I present American composer Roy Harris‘ Third Symphony, his most famous work and considered the most “American” (whatever that means). His story is the quintessential “rags to riches” American tale – an Oklahoma farmboy rises to the top of the music world. He wrote a piece for the American bicentennial, which was panned because it mentioned slavery (how Un-American, to mention a major part of American history!)

So, the unsure future we’re facing isn’t new; even so, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t stand up against it.

Happy Veterans Day!

I am humbled when I think about those in the armed forces, willingly putting themselves in danger for the welfare of others. They have more bravery than I could ever have, and I am thankful for their service and sacrifice.

American composer John Adams set Walt Whitman‘s “The Wound Dresser” for voice and orchestra. It is a lengthy and emotional narrative, in the tradition of Barber‘s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 (listen to it here). Musically, it’s somewhere between an opera and a song cycle, and the text ranges from fine poetry to graphic description. It’s a longer listen, but well worth it, especially on this day. Whitman wrote his poem shortly after the Civil War, 150 years ago. Only 100 years ago, the Great War ravaged much of the world. And World War II was so horrific that we are still in shock concerning the horrors of the holocaust and atomic bomb. Take a mere 20 minutes, have a listen, and give thanks for our soldiers.

Everyone seems to agree that this presidential election is unpleasant, depressing, stressful, etc. So if you’re sick of listening to all the political bullshit, allow me to give you some very different bullshit for your listening pleasure!

If you’ve taken a music appreciation class, you’ve probably had some John Cage forced on you. I should point out that I like the guy, and I like musing over and talking about his ideas. At the same time, I don’t actually enjoy listening to his music; I think it’s main value is not aesthetic but philosophical.

Among the many cool ideas he had (I say “cool” because I don’t think it’s necessarily “good”) was to remove the human composer from the act of composing as much as possible. From here he began exploring other ways to challenge our ideas about music composition and creation (and, about ourselves and our social interactions). His piece Indeterminacy is a recording of Cage reading random sentences from selected stories, while his friend David Tudor makes random musical sounds with various instruments.

If the music were more typical, and the spoken words made sense, this recording would be same-old-stuff, perhaps something akin to a children’s story accompanied by music. But since both music and words are nonsensical, our initial response is “what the hell is this?” But, to a non-human, both same-old-stuff and the nonsensical-stuff might sound exactly the same. Who gets to define what is music and what isn’t, anyway?