Successful recording session in Slovakia
Category: Music

We flew back into Washington yesterday afternoon from Prague via Munich. I was very pleased with the sessions for my and dispel the miseries of the world for baritone saxophone and chamber orchestra and Jubilee for euphonium and piano. Jim Dejoie did take after take, playing the same bits over and over under a lot of stress so that we could get a perfect final result. This piece took him way out of the jazz world he's accustomed to but he nailed it.

Kirk Trevor did a marvelous job with the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra of Bratislava and Robert Kozánek & Ivana Hlavoňová did a remarkable job on Jubilee. The final edits will be done in a couple of months and Elliott McKinley and I are talking about sharing a chamber music disc for these recordings. I would not hestitate to recommend Kirk Trevor and the SRSO to any contemporary composer who writes traditional (or more or less traditional) music that can be learned quickly by a professional orchestra. Kirk also has a number of very practical observations & suggestions to make regarding orchestration, rhythms, etc. which proved to be pretty much priceless in my case.

Robert, who is the principal trombone soloist for the Czech Philharmonic in Prague, asked me to write him a concerto at Kirk Trevor's suggestion for the 60th anniversary of the Janacek School of Music in Brno, Czech Republic, where he is a professor of trombone. This will be in September 2009. Kirk suggested that it use both trombone and euphonium and I thought that was a great idea since Robert is a virtuoso on both instruments (he has videos of his playing on YouTube that are amazing).

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A good example of a composer interacting with the community
Category: Music

This award-winning PBS video featuring Ellen Taaffe Zwilich discussing how her Symphony No. 4 ("The Gardens") came into being is a fine example (particularly for people unfamiliar with contemporary orchestral music who have never met a living, breathing composer before) of how composers interact not only with performers and people who commission new music, but with the community at large as well:

The Gardens: Birth Of A Symphony (2001)

Note: This video is in .RAM format and you'll need the Real Player to play it.

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The Rest Is Noise
Category: Music

The Rest Is Noise is the provocative title of an excellent survey of 20th century classical music by Alex Ross, music critic for The New Yorker, that came out last year. I've been reading it steadily in my spare time over the last couple of months and I recommend it highly. It's the kind of book where you learn something fascinatingly new about unexpected people....Joseph Stalin, for example, was a ballet and opera fan. Absorbing reading and highly recommended.

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New Digital Download Available In February 2008 From MMCdigital.com
Category: Music

From DG:

"MMC Recordings has asked me to include a previously unreleased recording to include in its new Musicscapes series of digital downloads that will be made available in February at www.mmcdigital.com. This will be kind of a "sampler" collection of contemporary classical music from a variety of composers on the MMC Recordings label.

"I chose the excellent recording of the 2003 American premiere performance of my 1994 choral piece "Povas Plori Mi Ne Plu" ("I Can Cry No Longer"), with the text written by me in Esperanto (of course). The Master Singers Of Virginia under the direction of Dr. Erik Reid Jones did a great job and I think you'll be very moved by this recording, especially if you have an ear for modern choral music.

Happy holidays and peace -
DG"

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Euphonium Concerto Piano Reduction
Category: Music

I'm currently working on finishing up the piano reduction for my orchestral euphonium concerto, which will be for sale through my website, www.davidgaines.org, after it's completed. If you're a euphonium player or teacher who would be interested in this, please write to me here at MySpace. I would be very interested to know what type of performance you have in mind for the piece, i.e. audition, contest, recital, master class, etc.

Meanwhile, if you're not familiar with the concerto and are curious about what it sounds like, there are audio clips at all the websites that sell the CD on which it appears. You can find links to all of them at my website. Note: keep in mind that the performance on the CD is, in most spots, quite a bit slower than it should be (the metronome markings in the score indicate the correct tempos).

Best wishes,
DG

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DG is 1st featured artist at MMC Digital
Category: Music

David Gaines was selected as the first featured artist at MMC Digital, the new digital download site from MMC Recordings. Click on the "Featured Artist" link at the MMC Digital website to see a digital download version of The Music Of David Gaines, featuring Dr. Gaines' euphonium concerto and first symphony, recorded in the Czech Republic in 2000 for MMC Recordings.

Currently listening : The Music Of David Gaines: Euphonium Concerto; Symphony No. 1 ( By David Gaines Release date: 30 April, 2002

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Starting June 3rd - DG accepting commissions at eBay charity auctions
Category: Music

COMPOSER DAVID GAINES ACCEPTING COMMISSIONS AT UNIQUE EBAY CHARITY AUCTIONS

10% OF FEE TO BE DONATED TO MUSIC FOR ALL FOUNDATION

Media Contact:  Alaina Allen  (301) 254-2667  publicity@davidgaines.org
Online Press Kit:  www.davidgaines.org/presskit.html  

Fairfax, Va. - May 14th, 2007 - Composer David Gaines of Fairfax, Va. today announced his availability for new music commissions by way of two unique charity auctions on eBay, one for a new chamber music work and one for a new large ensemble work. Bidding opens for both auctions on Sunday, June 3rd at 6:00pm EDT and ends on Wednesday, June 13th at 6:00pm EDT.

Dr. Gaines will be donating 10% of the winning bids/commission fees to Music For All, a national non-profit organization committed to expanding the role of music and the arts in education.

The opening bid for the chamber music commission auction is set at $5,000 and the opening bid for the large ensemble commission auction is set at $9,000. The auctions will be listed starting on June 3rd at http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150122329478 and http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150122347712 respectively. The auction listings will also be accessible via this category path inside eBay: Specialty Services >> Artistic Services >> Music Composition & Poetry, or simply by entering the name "David Gaines" in the search box at the top of any eBay page.

* Please note that eBay rules mandate that the auction listings will not be visible until bidding actually begins.*

In announcing the auction, Dr. Gaines said: "I wanted to widen the potential audience for commissioning new music in a creative and offbeat way, and eBay is perfect for that. I'm very comfortable with using internet-based technologies for increasing the visibility of serious music. The idea came from Adam Nelson, an Olympic shotputter who used an eBay auction to find new sponsors for his track & field career. I also wanted to bring more attention to the work of living composers and the importance of programming more of the music of our own time. Finally, the opportunity to use this occasion to donate funds to a foundation such as Music For All - which is doing such important work on behalf of supporting music education in our schools - was especially appealing."

Complete details regarding the auctions, including a set of questions and answers, will be available at the eBay auction websites listed above and can also be obtained by writing to auction@davidgaines.org. More information about David Gaines, including audio clips and details regarding commercially available recordings, may be found at his web pages: www.davidgaines.org and www.myspace.com/davidgainesmusic.

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American composer DAVID GAINES has been hailed by a wide variety of critics and other artists for his imaginative orchestrations, the international flavor of his music, and his exploration of new sonorities through unique instrumental combinations while remaining rooted in traditional musical structures. He is best known for his two symphonies, the first of which premiered in 2000 in the Czech Republic and was the first symphonic composition ever to utilize the international language Esperanto, and the second of which, "The Lion of Panjshir," a tribute to the slain Afghan resistance leader Ahmed Shah Massoud, premiered in 2004 in Baltimore with the assistance of the Embassy of Afghanistan. He is also co-host of the internet contemporary music podcast Common Tone.

A Pi Kappa Lambda graduate of the Peabody Conservatory of Music, where he received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree, David Gaines resides in Fairfax County, Virginia. He is currently at work on a concerto for baritone saxophone and chamber orchestra to be recorded by the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra later this year for inclusion on a new compact disc of contemporary chamber music to be released in late 2008 on the MMC Recordings label.

MUSIC FOR ALL is a national non-profit organization committed to expanding the role of music and the arts in education, to heightening the public's appreciation of the value of music and arts education, and to creating a positive environment for the arts through societal change.

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David Gaines: www.davidgaines.org     www.myspace.com/davidgainesmusic

Music For All: www.music-for-all.org

Press kit for journalists and the media: www.davidgaines.org/presskit.html

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Let's find out what No Child Left Behind has done to music education
Current mood: pensive
Category: School, College, Greek

Senators Chris Dodd and Lamar Alexander are demonstrating some bipartisanship by requesting an investigation from the Government Accountability Office regarding the effects of the so-called No Child Left Behind Act on music and arts education.

I urge Congress to reject the renewal of NCLB, a pedagogical nightmare that exists principally to mold children into becoming compliant, non-creative, employable resources for giant corporations at the expense of school subjects that are not quantitative or traditionally measurable. This would include, of course, instrumental music and musical composition.

Currently listening : Redline Tango By Charles Ives Release date: 18 April, 2006

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Americans For The Arts Survey
Category: Art and Photography

Americans For The Arts has a survey going now regarding your attitudes towards the arts as a national issue. Please fill it out and contribute your thoughts. To get to the survey you can click on the AFTA graphic on our main page, underneath the YouTube video.

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From The Trenches
Category: Podcast

From The Trenches, produced by the Music For All Foundation, is "a bi-weekly podcast exploring the news headlines, news events and newsmakers that impact music and arts education across the country." Get involved with the movement to improve the standing of music in elementary and secondary schools by checking out this podcast.

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