ECU hosts New Music Festival

Yesterday the ECU School of Music kicked off the ninth annual New Music Festival. The New Music Festival is a "celebration of the music of our time." It features music that spans genres, from student composers of classical music, to well known artists such as Radiohead and The White Stripes.

The New Music Festival was started by Dr. Ed Jacobs. The goal was to promote the music of artists who are currently bringing new ideas onto the music scene, and to give these artists a place to display their talent.

"This festival is about all kinds of new ideas. It's about musical ideas, about arts' ideas--it's not about any particular musical aesthetic," said Jacobs. "It's not about rock, it's not about jazz, it's not about classical, it's not about hip hop. It's about in this world where all these different styles exist, what do people who are making new music do to bring all that together?"

The festival includes six concerts, master classes with visiting composers, performers, readings and recordings of the works of student composers by professional musicians and more.

The festival began last night with a Clarinet Recital at Starlight Café, featuring ECU professor Christopher Grymes.

The events continue tonight at 8 p.m. with a concert by the ECU Chamber Singers at St. Paul's Episcopal Church.

"We have sacred music, we've got profane music, we've got electric guitars and we've got string quartets," Jacobs said. "We've got Karen Hall singing, we've got the Chamber Singers and we've got Chris Grymes singing … It's gonna be very cool."

Other performances feature the Daedalus Quartet, an international award-winning string quartet; Pulsoptional, a new music ensemble/band of composers from Durham, N.C.; ECU Clarinet Professor Christopher Grymes; The ECU Chamber Singers, under the direction of ECU Professor Dr. Daniel Bara; the ECU Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Dr. Jorge and featuring ECU Professor Tom McCaslin and the New Music Camerata.

The New Music Camerata is a concert featuring performances from various professional musicians and ECU faculty, as well as the ECU Wind Ensemble Chamber Players, under the direction of Scott Carter.

"So we've got Chris Grymes playing White stripes and Radiohead, we've got new pieces written for orchestras, we've got bands of composers who grew up playing in garage rock bands now writing. We have string quartets playing both the newest creations of our most revered composers and new pieces by young folks, we have these great groups coming in and reading and recording the works of students who are trying to figure out these same problems. How do we bring all the arts' ideas in today's society into a new creation. It's not about a style; it's about making style," Jacobs said.

"What makes this different is that at a normal concert that a music appreciation student might come to, they're told to sit quietly and listen to the master works that generations of people before them have pronounced master works," he said. "What they're going to hear now--nobody knows what they are yet--we're all on the same foot trying to figure it out. It's new; these ideas haven't been heard before."

Nathan Walker, junior music major, agrees that the festival is a great opportunity for students to be exposed to something different.

"It's something new and different. It's not like the Bach and the Beethoven and the Mozart that everybody kind of has a boring stigma attached to," said Walker.

"It's all fresh. Most of the music has never been played before so there can't be any opinions about it. It's a new experience that will kind of broaden your horizons musically."

The festival also benefits music students. The professional musicians and educators will review and record the students' music. They will provide feedback and professional recording for the students to use in their composition portfolios.

"You have these guys who are full professionals--Julliard trained top of the line professionals--and we get to have them record our music," Walker said.

Walker says he looks forward to being exposed to composing professionals and getting their feedback on his music.

"It'll be interesting if they have any thoughts on what might be better and what might make something more clear," he said. "The ones I've done in the past have been incredibly insightful and it really affects the music I write afterwards."

The New Music Festival features a variety of concerts on and around campus. For more information, contact Edward Jacobs at newmusic@ecu.edu or 328-4280 or visit ecu.edu/music/newmusicfest.

This writer can be contacted at news@theeastcarolinian.com.