derekbermel.blogspot.com
inspirations: February 2006
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People, events, and ideas that have inspired me. Thursday, February 23, 2006. That Messiaen had marked up, or a heavily-penciled score of the Rite. Later on, the conversation would switch to the subject of my music. Morton Feldman sums it up eloquently. Here's a poignant excerpt from an interview with Walter Zimmermann. The whole text can be found here. FELDMAN: Who said it recently? ZIMMERMANN: I can very much imagine that you're lonely, because that's the basic aura of your music.
derekbermel.blogspot.com
inspirations: November 2011
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People, events, and ideas that have inspired me. Saturday, November 19, 2011. All the Things We Are: Learning from Messiaen. Was born, a combination of the Moonlight Sonata. In 5/4 time), Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in C#minor,. A Joplin rag, and Martha My Dear. Ives Fourth Symphony,. Ligeti Chamber Concerto,. Britten’s War Requiem,. On piano and eventually wrote a 90-page analysis for the N.E.H. of his epic piano solo La fauvette des jardins. I have often wondered, since many of my colleagues have mentioned ...
derekbermel.blogspot.com
inspirations: July 2006
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People, events, and ideas that have inspired me. Monday, July 10, 2006. The apartment in Williamsburg where I've lived for nine years is quite unmemorable. Some have remarked that it has "personality" (isn't that usually a synonym for 'ugly'? Upon my return, Michel allowed me an exclusive V.I.P. screening (on my computer) of the film, Passage. Contemplating the multiple possible incarnations of my shabby apartment catapulted me back to my waylaid astronomy studies. The existence of simultaneous unive...
derekbermel.blogspot.com
inspirations: Driving Mr. Krzysztof
http://derekbermel.blogspot.com/2013/09/driving-mr-krzysztof.html
People, events, and ideas that have inspired me. Sunday, September 22, 2013. Driving Mr. Krzysztof. I begin with this extended soliloquy merely to emphasize how many working man-hours I spent xeroxing music – both my own and others’ scores. If a particular composition appealed to me – say Berio’s Sinfonia. Or Vivier’s Lonely Child. Returning home bleary-eyed from one such all-night sojourn, I encountered an eagerly blinking light on my answering machine, and was surprised to hear the voice of the music s...
derekbermel.blogspot.com
inspirations: September 2006
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People, events, and ideas that have inspired me. Saturday, September 09, 2006. Wow, I can hardly believe that Making Score. Is entering its seventh season. It has been a real odyssey. The deadline for this season's applications is October 2. Application forms can be found here. Michel van der Aa. Samuel Z. Solomon. To download an application form, please click here. Tuesday, September 05, 2006. And yet the violent acts continue. How can I continue to scribble sixteenth notes under those circumstances?
derekbermel.blogspot.com
inspirations: September 2013
http://derekbermel.blogspot.com/2013_09_01_archive.html
People, events, and ideas that have inspired me. Sunday, September 22, 2013. Driving Mr. Krzysztof. I begin with this extended soliloquy merely to emphasize how many working man-hours I spent xeroxing music – both my own and others’ scores. If a particular composition appealed to me – say Berio’s Sinfonia. Or Vivier’s Lonely Child. Returning home bleary-eyed from one such all-night sojourn, I encountered an eagerly blinking light on my answering machine, and was surprised to hear the voice of the music s...
derekbermel.blogspot.com
inspirations: January 2006
http://derekbermel.blogspot.com/2006_01_01_archive.html
People, events, and ideas that have inspired me. Friday, January 06, 2006. Rakim: The Rhyme Got Rougher. 1987 was an indelible year: Public Enemy released "Yo, Bumrush the Show! Some groundbreaking rap albums in the decade following Eric B and Rakim's "Paid in Full":. Public Enemy (1988): It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. Beastie Boys (1989): Paul's Boutique. Ice Cube (1990): Amerikkka's Most Wanted. Quest (1991): The Low End Theory. Wu-Tang Clan (1993): Enter the Wu-Tang Clan.
derekbermel.blogspot.com
inspirations: June 2014
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People, events, and ideas that have inspired me. Monday, June 30, 2014. Glass Half Full (Bad Reviews and Mortality). My first really bad review appeared in my hometown newspaper, The New York Times. The piece that garnered this unique honor was my string sextet Soul Garden,. Apart from one short notice when, as a 15-year-old, I performed the Copland Clarinet Concerto. 8220;A truly exceptional talent! The premiere performances of Soul Garden. Went well, better than I had expected, considering the difficul...
derekbermel.blogspot.com
inspirations: May 2006
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People, events, and ideas that have inspired me. Saturday, May 27, 2006. During my years in school, I often heard uttered the following refrains: "he/she is a lousy teacher" or "he/she doesn't know how to teach." Rarely did I hear "I’m a terrible learner." Dismal teaching is a cinch to lament, but the sorry state of learning is often overlooked. Ultimately the students - not the instructors - are the losers in this game. So how can one learn better? Was he passing judgment? We composers can manufacture g...
