simon hutchinson

There are a number of great composers these days that are rocker musicians who later turned to classical music (Lansing McLoskey, immediately springs to mind), and almost every new music performer interviewed on the My Ears Are Open Podcast says that they’re currently listening to Radiohead.

This really shouldn’t be too much of a surprise as there is so much that is immediately, viscerally appealing about rock and pop. The rhythms and harmonies are easy to follow, and its power to inspire strong emotional states with a minimum investment of knowledge and concentration (on the part of the listener) is rather amazing.

I guess for some people it’s kind of like a “gateway music” to harder stuff…

…like Ligeti.

I’m not sure that I can count myself in the number of rockstar-turned-maestros, but boy did I like playing with bands ten years ago. And, not surprisingly, my early compositional energy was focused in writing pop tunes for these bands. Some of this probably came from my interest in the music, but a lot of it came from the fact that THESE BANDS WOULD PERFORM MY MUSIC! …and I didn’t have to approach a bunch of string players on my hands and knees in order to get a string quartet read.

Anyway, I am excited that a band I used to be a member of, Mrs. Skannotto, still exists (as it existed before me), and they’re still playing some of my tunes! They’ve posted a video of a live performance of “Ordinary Girl” (in a much sweeter arrangement than the one that I wrote), and they’ve just released a new disc featuring this track, and another one of my old tunes, “My Girlfriend Doesn’t Understand That She’s Still My Girlfriend” (which, understandably, they shortened to just “Girlfriend.” They probably had to pay by the letter on the CD cover printing.)

If you’re into this kind of music, check out the disc. I think these guys really get what pop/punk/rock/ska is supposed to about:

Fun.

Last month the updated, revised, remixed, remastered version of my 2004 piece, “Towa: June 1st, 2004″ was featured at the Música Viva Festival 2010 – Sound Walk in Lisbon, Portugal.

Towa: June 1st, 2004 (revisited) (2010)

Their call for score was looking for short pieces, and all of the electronic fixed-media pieces that I’ve written recently have been seven minutes or more. I’ve always really liked this piece, but listening last June, I decided that, before sending it in, it was in need of an upgrade in both technology and technique. Since I’m fairly good at archiving all of my old compositions, it was easy to get back into the guts of the piece quickly, and I had a lot of fun making very simple changes that improved the overall quality of the sound greatly.

The sample is still all real frogs recorded outside my apartment in Japan.

For those interested, the original version, as well as it’s “part 2″ and a number of my old electronic compositions appear on “den gen” available through iTunes and CD Baby.

I’m excited to be a part of Erinn Ernst’s MFA recital in a performance coming up on October 9th. I’ve already posted briefly about this on my event calendar, but I just received the press release from Erinn and wanted to share that information with all who are interested.

Please come and enjoy this collaboration of music, dance and community!

Press release follows:

Erinn Ernst is a University of Oregon Graduate Teaching Fellow in the Department of Dance. Ernst began her academic study at Kansas State University. In 2000, her choreography was presented at the American College Dance Festival, and later she completed her degree in dance at the University of Colorado at Boulder. As a M.F.A. candidate at the U of O, Ernst teaches Modern, Jazz, Tap, and African dance.

MERGE is a collaborative, site-specific, community-based project between Ernst, movement artists, and musicians. The project focuses on building community between the involved artists and enhancing the public’s engagement with Alton Baker Park. Through the experience of art in the park, families, bikers, runners and general passersby will have a new connection to — and memory of — Alton Baker Park. The focus is on the immediacy and awareness of the moment happening in the now, as the participating artists are coming together to experience this momentary performance and sharing the gift of their art with the community. This project is being presented to the public for free as homage to the Eugene community.

Collaborating composers are David C. Horton, Simon Hutchinson, and Mark Knippel of the UO School of Music. Horton is an M.F.A. candidate in Music Composition, Hutchinson is a Ph.D. candidate in Intermedia Music Technology and Music Composition, and Knippel is a M.F.A. candidate in Music Composition. Knippel has composed a horn and percussion ensemble for the bridge section, Horton has composed a flute solo and cello-flute duet for under and around the bridge, and Hutchinson has composed a horn, percussion, and glockenspiel ensemble for the finale around the pond.

Before the performance begins, the audience is invited to gather near the pond at the north end of Alton Baker Park at the Department of Dance information table. You can obtain the performance calendar for the School of Music and Dance 2010-2011 school year. There will also be a Donation Box at the information table for those who would like to show their support for this project.

When the music and dance begins, the audience is invited to choose their own viewing perspectives and to move freely through the park during the performance. The dance and music will begin on the DeFazio Bridge, then will move down under and around the bridge, and will finish around the pond. Following the performance, a Question and Answer session will be held at the information table. Please join the artists in a discussion of the performance and the creation process of this project.

There are always more things to do than there is time during summer vacations.

I’m spending this summer, as I often do, doing intensive study of shamisen and shakuhachi in Japan. This is a rather relaxing change from university classes, and it’s fun to pretend to be a proper performer for a few months every year.

This year, I’m paying special attention to, for lack of better word, my “groove” on the shamisen. I have no concrete results/conclusions yet, but I believe I have to fundamentally change the way I’m processing rhythm while playing. An analog that comes to mind is the concept of “swing” in Jazz (beyond just two-eighths = triplet-quarter/triplet-eighth), or possibly “the pocket” in Funk.

Additionally, I’ve been taking some time to wrap up some unfinished compositions, start some new ones, and also getting out to make some field recordings (mostly of insects) for some projects when I get back into the studio.

There’s still plenty of time, and still plenty to do.

Koryphaios (2010)

For Alto Flute and Kyma Sound Processing Environment

Tara Schwab, Alto Flute

Early on in composing this piece, when experimenting with various electronic effects, I stumbled on one that conjured up for me a Greek chorus performing in an outdoor amphitheater. Playing with this sound, I became more and more excited about the idea of enabling a soloist to control an ensemble through just the sound of his or her performance. The title of this piece, “koryphaios” is a reference to the leader of a Greek chorus, as Tara’s flute sound directs the electronic chorus.

This is a live recording of a performance May 2nd.

Long Distance (2010)

Last month, on the 31st, french hornist John Dodge performed a recital in Eugene of all new works by Oregon Composers. This performance included the premiere of my brass trio “Long Distance.”

Growing up as a first-generation immigrant to the US, all of my relatives other than my nuclear family were overseas. Spending a lot of time on the phone long distance became a matter of course, talking with aunts, uncles, and grandparents through a grainy, imperfect connection.

Perhaps fittingly, now, during our engagement, my fiancée is overseas, and though we are grateful for the technology, our daily conversations on Skype often lack something and lead to miscommunications.

The whole recital was excellent, and if you’re interested in hearing more, the complete recording is (or will be) available for purchase here.

At John’s request I have deleted the links to the mp3 here, since the whole recital is now available on iTunes

Requiem (2010)

Here is more of the bounty from the concerts earlier this month. Normally I would gush about how wonderful my performers were (which they always are), but, in this case, I was the performer.

And I was fantastic.

I performed this piece, “Requiem,” for shamisen and live electronics, at the Future Music Oregon concert on May 8th. This is the studio version of that piece, as sometimes live recordings of electronic pieces can be tricky.

This piece, for shamisen and live electronics, is dedicated to my friend, Kawamura Shinyu. Shinyu was the first person I met when I arrived in Japan, and it was through him that I came to study the shamisen. Sadly, Shinyu also grappled with bipolar disorder, and took his own life during one of his depressive episodes. Through this piece, I hope to celebrate his life and express my gratitude for his endless kindness, hospitality, and generosity to me.