Obtruncate Opera

Thursday, April 9, 2009

"The Modern Composer Builds Upon the Foundation of Truth"

"I am Music, who with dulcet accents know how to soothe each troubled heart, and now with passion, now with noble rage, my power can inflame the coldest mind."

-"Musica"

from the prologue of Monteverdi and Striggio's L'orfeo 1609

Monday, April 6, 2009

De Profundis for the Traditional Business Model

I just discovered this book The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual by a collaboration of the authors Levine, Locke, Searls & Weinberger (available in its entirety for free). This is a really fascinating book that I plan to buy and keep around the house. It is an insightful perspective on our cyber marketplace, and is especially usefull for musicians. If these first two sentances from the introduction by Christopher Locke don't peak your interest, than you should probably start thinking about composing and performing for Mr.Crusoe on the Juan Fernández Islands.... (I hear he doesn't have an iPhone yet).

"What if the real attraction of the Internet is not its cutting-edge bells and whistles, its jazzy interface or any of the advanced technology that underlies its pipes and wires? What if, instead, the attraction is an atavistic throwback to the prehistoric human fascination with telling tales? "

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Opera Rock God...in a totally non Webber way

I have been training to become an opera singer since the age of 9. I have always been determined and focused on becoming an opera rock god. After more than half of my life spent around professional musicians all at different stages of their careers, I now realize that performance is not where I can do the most good for music. I entitled my blog Obtruncate Opera, not because I believe that traditional opera should cease to exist, rather the opposite, I think opera and all forms of classical music have a place in the future. But it is up to my generation to consume and enjoy the music in a totally new way. The experience of opera and classical music, both to the fault of administration and the musicians themselves, becomes more outdated every day. I would think that dating this music, which in itself proves to be the most powerful and expressive of all art forms, would be a pretty difficult task. It was classical musicians who panicked with the advent of recorded music, but still survived. In an environment where all forms of music production seem to be struggling to find the next distribution structure, Opera needs to assert itself, “lop off” its association with the old forms, and ensure its place in tomorrow’s landscape.

Opera is dramatic.

Opera is sexy.

Opera is sex.

Opera doesn’t die....the “blue hairs” do.

Futurama

Gerd Leonhard of Mediafuturist.com posted this great SlideShare Presentation. There is a full screen button in the lower right hand corner for your veiwing pleasure.

Music 2.0: a web native Music Industry, by Gerd Leonhard

View more presentations from Gerd Leonhard.

Music's Pychosophy

A study of 26,000 people from Professor Adrian North at Hyatt-Watt University showed a strong connection between music and personality...

Jazz: High self esteem, creative and at ease

Rock/Metal: Low self esteem, not hardworking, creative, introvert

Classical: High selfesteem, introvert and at ease

Dance: Creative and outgoing

Country: Hardworking, outgoing

Sounds Like Branding

I discovered this report through the Twitter feed of tomwilliams founder of Give Meaning. It is a really fabulous report availble through free registration. This is a video of the presentation given by Heartbeats International on March 19 2009 at Nordic Light Hotel with speakers Jakob Lusensky (Heartbeats International) and Sarah Tinsley (Bacardi).

SOUNDS LIKE BRANDING™ Stockholm from Heartbeats International on Vimeo.

Heartbeats International has a fabulous homepage which I suggest checking out through the link available above.

There is some really interesting stuff in this conference. I really love the idea of corporate branding becoming more intertwined with music because I have always believed that music is the most powerful tool in evoking feelings and personal images. It's not about selling out, or becoming a slave to the big corporations because in this scenario there is no chicken or egg question. The music will always come first and it is the reponsibility of the brand to indentify the attributes (not just within the musicians or their fans) within the actual composition to create a brand positive fit for both parties.