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Posted on October 21, 2011 by gjusten

Here on this blog I will share thoughts about the life of a musician and the creative process of making new sounds. Coming from a classical music background, I deeply appreciate the traditions which have been passed on to me, but I am most excited by the possibilities of music being created right now. Cross-pollination between different genres is producing new hybrids all the time, and anything is possible.

I divide my musical time between performing as a violinist, composing music, and teaching a few students at Mills College. Now living in San Francisco, I play contemporary chamber music and am involved in creative collaborations, like making music for dance with my husband, Greg Habiby. I also create wearable art and make photo books, which you can read about here: www.gloriajustenstudio.com.

Photos above, L to R: Peggy Gyulai, Greg Habiby, Guru Khalsa, Greg Habiby

Boulez Anthemes II in concert this weekend

Posted on January 27, 2012 by gjusten

Early rehearsal Gloria and Peter

Boulez rehearsal fragment Click this for video clip!

Anthemes II is a work composed by Pierre Boulez in the mid-1990′s, for solo violin, electronics, and surround-sound spatialization. It is an interesting and beautiful synthesis of physical instrument and computer capabilities. The violin part is extremely challenging, and in the process of working on it I have developed several new techniques in order to execute various challenges. For example, there are long passages of pizzicato notes jumping around the violin, and I have a new callous on my plucking finger (now named “Pierre.”) There are outbursts of big cluster chords and there are passages of very close double-stops. The score is exhaustively detailed for both the violin and the sound effects.

My collaborator Peter Price is manning the computer part, regarding which he consulted with Boulez’s assistant at IRCAM. The electronic sounds are generated by a computer program which has specific sounds to correspond with specific times in the violin part (about 250 events!) There are various resonance and reverberation effects applied to the amplified violin. There are also pre-recorded samples of violin sounds which are triggered throughout the score. In addition, the sounds “move” around the room in programmed spatial patterns.

Peter and I will be performing the piece this weekend in Philadelphia, presented by Orchestra 2001. Please see http://www.orchestra2001.org/concerts.php for ticket info. Please come and check it out!

Where is the joy? Musical fun wanted.

Posted on November 14, 2011 by gjusten

So much music of the last hundred years is tormented, lamenting and nearly un-listenable. I have played a lot of it, and while I would like to remain open-minded, I am truly sick of the sonorities and of the anguished feelings the compositions invoke. Yes, the music mirrors the angst of our modern world. Whatever. Beethoven had some angst, too, but he also had some real joy and playfulness.

Where is the joyful music? The “joyful noise”? Please, composers, give us some music that people can enjoy! Maybe it’s just that the methods of university music programs, teaching “how to compose”, are totally neglecting how the music actually sounds and feels to most people. How many of us actually enjoy the sound of a violin screeching and wailing and carrying on like a cat committing suicide for an hour? How many musicians actually enjoy reading a billion notes, which are almost unplayable, and reading/translating/counting complicated rhythmic ideas which are supposed to sound UN-rhythmic? Ugh! The whole thing is one painful exercise in bloated intellect: body-less heads.

Yes, this outburst is provoked by a certain piece I am learning for a certain concert. But I’d really like to go in a new direction: writing some new music which FEELS good and is FUN to play, music which people will WANT to listen to and maybe even DANCE to. It could even be intellectually interesting, too.

Who wants to create this kind of music with me? I’m in favor of a combo of acoustic instruments and either electronic or live dance beats. Fiddlers just wanna have fun!!!

Occupy SF Music Fest

Gallery

Posted on November 14, 2011 by gjusten

On 11.11.11 I checked out the happening across from the Ferry Building at the Occupy San Francisco camp. Some musicians from Classical Revolution were going to be playing, and my friend Hannah Addario-Berry invited me to go down there. Charith … Continue reading →

Recording with Hannah

Posted on October 27, 2011 by gjusten

Hannah and I recorded some of the duos by Jay Sydeman yesterday in my living room, and we will continue today. My Cascade Fathead II ribbon mics, going through a Summit tube preamp, are a few feet in front of us in a mid-side arrangement, and the Earthworks are further away for a room sound. It’s going well! We played the music for Jay, the composer, last Sunday. What an inspiring person he is. At 83, he looks 63 and is in great health. He attributes it to good food, regular exercise (including a yoga-type routine he does before getting out of bed every day), meditation, and staying away from doctors! His music spans a variety of styles from modernist to neo-baroque. Photo by Greg Habiby.

Living Room Studio

Microphone experiments

Posted on October 24, 2011 by gjusten

For the recording project with Hannah, mentioned in my previous post, I am bringing out some equipment I’ve had stashed in my home studio… which has been gathering dust for a while. It’s great to make friends again with my microphones and my Pro Tools LE setup. Yesterday we experimented with my Earthworks TC30K mics in the living room, using them at about three feet distance from the violin and cello. They are omnidirectional, but with two you can make a good stereo recording. Their sound is very open, realistic, and a bit too bright for the violin, in my opinion. You hear a lot of the noises of playing, which can be very cool, but for this project I think these mics will be better for capturing room sound from further away. I have used these wonderful mics for making field recordings.

Next time we will try my Cascade Fat Head II-SP Ribbon Microphones, going through my Summit Tube Preaamp. I believe these will produce a much warmer string sound for the recording. These mics were used (in combo with a couple of others) in my recording project of original violin pieces, Four-Stringed Voice: music for solo violin. (Check it out here: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/gloriajusten.)

We will also be trying and comparing Hannah’s Yeti USB microphone, made by Blue, going into Garage Band. (Annoyingly, you cannot record directly into Pro Tools with a USB mic.) I am very curious about this versatile mic, which has four different settings available.

Really, the microphones become part of the instruments, an extension of them, as they translate our sound. Sound originates from the metal/nylon strings, wood and horse hair, gets refashioned into analog electrical signals, gets amplified by tubes and circuits, and gets converted into digital information. Every mic has its personality and there are many ways to craft the sound quality. This will be fun and interesting!

Duos with Hannah