Modern Music Is a Sick Puppy - Revision history

Spider of Destiny at 16:45, 5 July 2026

2026-07-05T16:45:38Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 20:28, 1 October 2021

2021-10-01T20:28:42Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 22:05, 30 September 2021

2021-09-30T22:05:28Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 15:48, 30 September 2021

2021-09-30T15:48:00Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 20:38, 3 September 2021

2021-09-03T20:38:25Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 18:39, 6 August 2021

2021-08-06T18:39:08Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 19:35, 31 July 2021

2021-07-31T19:35:14Z

Spider of Destiny at 20:54, 17 November 2020

2020-11-17T20:54:35Z

Spider of Destiny at 20:04, 17 November 2020

2020-11-17T20:04:04Z

Spider of Destiny at 15:31, 3 January 2012

2012-01-03T15:31:36Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:45, 5 July 2026
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	It's better if you can keep your foot tapping, no matter how weird the music is. If you can follow it all the way through, the song is more fun to listen to.		It's better if you can keep your foot tapping, no matter how weird the music is. If you can follow it all the way through, the song is more fun to listen to.

−	The Kronos Quartet asked me to write a bunch of music for them. I've done it on the Synclavier, so I've actually been able to listen to the stuff played as string quartest, before they ever played it. In fact, I may even suggest they do the same thing as the Ear Unit. Don't bother to learn it, just turn the machine and sit there and pretend to play it.	+	The [[Kronos Quartet]] asked me to write a bunch of music for them. I've done it on the Synclavier, so I've actually been able to listen to the stuff played as string quartest, before they ever played it. In fact, I may even suggest they do the same thing as the Ear Unit. Don't bother to learn it, just turn the machine and sit there and pretend to play it.

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 Eventually, a guy from the LA Times editorial department called me up (after the reviewer had said how this group "played modern music with such vibrance"). He had heard from one of the members of the group what had actually happened, so he was a little embarrassed, and he's probably going to do another article about it. I said, "Do me a favor. Before you write it, come over to my studio and let me play you a recording of the piece the way it was supposed to sound, so you know what you're talking about." So far he hasn't been over. To me that's indicative of the type of attention, the type of stuff that goes on in the modern music world.
-The other thing that I found disappointing happened about a month ago. I was the keynote speaker at the American Society of University Composers (ASUC) in Columbus, OH. I went there and did the speech. For three nights they had concerts of new music and they had one of my pieces in the program each night. The first night they played "[[Naval Aviation In Art|Naval Aviation and Art]]," which is a piece about 2 1/2 minutes long. It was OK. It's really not a very hard piece – passable performance on that.
+The other thing that I found disappointing happened about a month ago. I was the keynote speaker at the [https://wp.societyofcomposers.org/ American Society of University Composers] (ASUC) in Columbus, OH. I went there and did the speech. For three nights they had concerts of new music and they had one of my pieces in the program each night. The first night they played "[[Naval Aviation In Art|Naval Aviation and Art]]," which is a piece about 2 1/2 minutes long. It was OK. It's really not a very hard piece – passable performance on that.
 The next afternoon, they had a chamber group that made an attempt to play "[[The Black Page|The Black Page Number Two]]." Murdered it. Couldn't get anywhere near what the thing was supposed to sound like. The third night, the Columbus Symphony was supposed to play the U.S. premiere of "The Perfect Stranger," which was one of the pieces Boulez conducted, along with a bunch of brand new pieces by other composers who were at the convention.

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 He was a contemporary of [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]]. It's kind of happy, Italian-sounding music. It's nice, and real melodic. It's interesting, too; he does a few strange things harmonically that seem to be slightly ahead of his time – a few little weird things. Basically, it's typical of music of that period, except it doesn't sound typical when it comes out of the Synclavier.
-The other album that's ready for release is the new rock 'n' roll album called [[Them Or Us|Them or Us]]. And the three-record set is the complete soundtrack to [[Thing-Fish]], the Broadway show I wrote. It hasn't been produced and probably never will be, because it's just a little bit on the weird side for people who invest in Broadway.
+The other album that's ready for release is the new rock 'n' roll album called [[Them Or Us|Them or Us]]. And the three-record set is the complete soundtrack to [[Thing-Fish]], the [[Broadway]] show I wrote. It hasn't been produced and probably never will be, because it's just a little bit on the weird side for people who invest in Broadway.
 '''One of the things that's so wonderful about your music is that you always pop the bubble of popular lifestyles in a satirical way.<br>

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 '''I hope that changes. I was looking forward to hearing the Orchestral Works on CD, but I guess I'll have to wait.<br>
-It's going to be a while. That may change, actually. I just did an [[Boulez Conducts Zappa: The Perfect Stranger|album]] (with [[Pierre Boulez]]) that [[Angel Records|Angel]]/[[EMI]] is releasing. They've been talking about doing it on CD. It'll be out in a couple of months. Boulez conducted three of my pieces. The rest of the album is electronic music I did with the [[Synclavier]] here at the studio.
+It's going to be a while. That may change, actually. I just did an [[Boulez Conducts Zappa: The Perfect Stranger|album]] (with [[Pierre Boulez]]) that [[Wikipedia:Angel Records|Angel]]/[[EMI]] is releasing. They've been talking about doing it on CD. It'll be out in a couple of months. Boulez conducted three of my pieces. The rest of the album is electronic music I did with the [[Synclavier]] here at the studio.
 '''How did Boulez respond to your music?<br>

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 A Conversation with [[Biography|Frank Zappa]]<br>
 by Steve Birchall<br>
-from [[Digital Audio]], October/November 1984<br>
+from [[Wikipedia:CD Review|Digital Audio]], October/November 1984<br>
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 But, like all serious composers who have gone before him, he has suffered contempt, lack of performances, bad performances, and lack of recognition. As a result, Zappa has returned to rock 'n' roll.
-In this conversation with [[Digital Audio]]'s [[Steve Birchall]], Zappa talks about his work in both contemporary and rock music, as well as his production and engineering experiences. And he also provides his insight on the present state of American life and culture.
+In this conversation with [[Wikipedia:CD Review|Digital Audio]]'s Steve Birchall, Zappa talks about his work in both contemporary and rock music, as well as his production and engineering experiences. And he also provides his insight on the present state of American life and culture.
 '''Why did you convert your studio to a digital facility? What creative possibilities did digital recording offer that analog technology couldn't give you?<br>

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 The new stuff that's coming out now includes a new rock 'n' roll album. We also have the first boxed set of the digital refurbishment of the old masters. All the original Verve albums from Freak Out to Reuben and the Jets [''[[Wikipedia:Sic|sic]]''] have been digitally re-spiffed and remixed. The box set includes a mystery disc with unreleased material and historic material of that period.
-I also have an album of the music of [[Francesco Zappa]]. He was a composer who flourished between 1766 and 1788. Nobody knows when he was born or when he died. He was a cello player from Milan and wrote mostly string trios. I found out about his music and located a bunch of it in the Berkeley Library and the Library of Congress. My assistant loaded it into the Synclavier and now we have a whole album of synthesized performances.
+I also have an album of the music of [[Francesco Zappa (composer)|Francesco Zappa]]. He was a composer who flourished between 1766 and 1788. Nobody knows when he was born or when he died. He was a cello player from Milan and wrote mostly string trios. I found out about his music and located a bunch of it in the Berkeley Library and the Library of Congress. My assistant loaded it into the Synclavier and now we have a whole album of synthesized performances.
 '''What is his music like?<br>
-He was a contemporary of Mozart. It's kind of happy, Italian-sounding music. It's nice, and real melodic. It's interesting, too; he does a few strange things harmonically that seem to be slightly ahead of his time – a few little weird things. Basically, it's typical of music of that period, except it doesn't sound typical when it comes out of the Synclavier.
+He was a contemporary of [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]]. It's kind of happy, Italian-sounding music. It's nice, and real melodic. It's interesting, too; he does a few strange things harmonically that seem to be slightly ahead of his time – a few little weird things. Basically, it's typical of music of that period, except it doesn't sound typical when it comes out of the Synclavier.
 The other album that's ready for release is the new rock 'n' roll album called [[Them Or Us|Them or Us]]. And the three-record set is the complete soundtrack to [[Thing-Fish]], the Broadway show I wrote. It hasn't been produced and probably never will be, because it's just a little bit on the weird side for people who invest in Broadway.

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:04, 17 November 2020
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	[[Category:Interviews with Zappa]]		[[Category:Interviews with Zappa]]
		+	[[Category:1984]]

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 '''That was really generous of them.<br>
-Yeah, really sweet. The sickest thing that has happened recently – what really showed me what bad shape modern music is in – was an incident with a group call the Ear Unit. It's two percussion, two keyboards, flute, clarinet, and cello. They commissioned a piece to be performed at the Monday Evening Concerts at the County Museum. They specifically requested an arrangement of one of the tunes on the guitar album – a piece called "While You Were Out." So I did it. And I did it here on the computer.
+Yeah, really sweet. The sickest thing that has happened recently – what really showed me what bad shape modern music is in – was an incident with a group call the Ear Unit. It's two percussion, two keyboards, flute, clarinet, and cello. They commissioned a piece to be performed at the Monday Evening Concerts at the County Museum. They specifically requested an arrangement of one of the tunes on the guitar album – a piece called "[[While You Were Out]]." So I did it. And I did it here on the computer.
-When it came time for them to pick up their parts, I played them the electronic realization on the Synclavier so they could have an idea of how it should sound. They said, "We can't play this. We don't have enough time to rehearse it, because we're playing Elliott Carter and that's hard, and we're playing this other thing, and that's hard, and we really don't have time to do this." So I said, " Well, you're either going to play it right or you're not going to play it at all."
+When it came time for them to pick up their parts, I played them the electronic realization on the Synclavier so they could have an idea of how it should sound. They said, "We can't play this. We don't have enough time to rehearse it, because we're playing [[Elliott Carter]] and that's hard, and we're playing this other thing, and that's hard, and we really don't have time to do this." So I said, " Well, you're either going to play it right or you're not going to play it at all."
 They already had announced they were going to play it. The thing was already on the program, so the problem was solved in this manner: I said, "Here's what we'll do – I'll have the computer simulate the sound of all the instruments in your group, and I'll make a digital recording of this piece (the only time a composer ever got a perfect performance of a brand new piece at it premiere). I had the computer print out the parts for each musician. Then I made an analog cassette for each musician of what his part was supposed to sound like. That frees the performer to do what he really wants to do, which is look good on stage. He doesn't have to worry about a single note, because the machine takes care of that.