By Connie Sunday | conniesunday@hotmail.com | Homepage
Did you ever wonder how to find recordings of contemporary music, aside from the standard, well-known works of people like Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Copland, etc.? How can people get their hands on recordings of new pieces produced within the last year or so? How can you keep up with the latest things being done by composers of art music?"
My recommendation is to network, that is, make friends and communicate with people in the music business, specifically, composition, performance, conducting, or whatever your interests are. The reason this is an advantage, in my view, is because of the lightning-like speed of change in the world right now, thanks in large part to the Internet.
So very much is going on in these areas, that it is quite impossible for one person alone to "keep up." But if you can put together a web page, it will serve as a means for others to contact you, as well as serve as a launching point and gathering place for you to conduct your networking searches.
To illustrate this, as an example, I was recently contacted by Anne Bell, whose web page is located at
http://www.sneezy.org/anne_bell/, for permission to include me in her list of links. When I went to her page, I found that she had a whole selection of contemporary music links that were new to me, some of which had nice Real Audio files and links to contemporary composers.
Some other sites I can recommend include:
National Music Foundation, in the Berkshires
American Music Center has an email list, which announces concerts, funding information, etc.
Lake Washington New Music Center Impressive resource, and has email newsletter.
Discussion Lists
A great deal of useful information is passed around on music discussion lists, including job postings, concert announcements, and discussions on technique, pedagogy, and just everything related to the focus of the list. A lot of enlightening exchange goes on in my four favorite sources of online information, which can be accessed by joining the discussion lists of:
IAWM International Alliance for Women in Music
Orchestralist
Silence The John Cage Discussion List
AMS American Musicological Society
Also check these web pages for updated information about new composers and new resources for musical files:
Music Libraries
Resources for Composers and Contemporary Music
Open Directory Project
CPCC Center for the Promotion of Contemporary Composers
Arcana
Sonances
Essential Music
Schirmer's Composers' Page
Music Journals, Magazines, Newspapers and Periodicals
Electronic Journals in Music
Music Journals on the World Wide Web
AMS Composers' Home Pages
Music Selection Resources on the World Wide Web
Music Library Reference Desk
International Society for Contemporary Music
Contemporary Music Infojunction
Table of Contents:
Contemporary Composition and Theory: Aleatoric and Serial Music and Methodology; Arbitrary and Alternate Tuning
Orchestration and Electronic Media: Audio Engineering and Production; Recording Studios; Literature and Software; Acoustics and Electroacoustics
Reviews, Discussions and Information by Composer: Composer Databases
Institutes, Organizations and Academic Programs: Institutes and Organizations; Academic Programs
Publication and Dissemination: Discographies and Retail, Publishing;
Libraries and Periodicals; Broadcasts
Performance:
Venues and Ensembles; Concerts and Festivals
Music Meta-Index
UI Composers and Composition
Composers Recordings, Inc. (Has search engine and "New Releases" section.)
Classical.net Reviews
Sampling of Contemporary Composers' Webpages:
Havergal Brian
Karl Amadeus Hartmann
Benjamin Lees
Alfred Schnittke
Harry Partch Instrument Gallery
Allan
Pettersson
Marc Blitzstein
Brian Eno
Dame Ethel Mary Smyth
Jean Coulthard
Leonard Bernstein Collection
Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble, Composers' Page
Connie Sunday is a long-time Vienna community leader from the great southwest United States.
