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!!!