performers » David MacDonald, composer

Some composers get really nervous leading up to a premiere. I’ve never been that kind of composer. One of the great benefits of being a composer is that I don’t have to stress over performances. At the point that I’m sitting in the hall to hear the piece, there is literally nothing I can do that will affect the outcome of the performance. This realization is, I suppose, the cause of stress in other composers. I find this unproductive at best.

Having said all that, I’m a little nervous about a premiere of mine that’s happening tomorrow. “Why?” you might ask. This is one of the first times I’ve ever had a work premiered that I wasn’t attending and that I’ve never actually heard played in person. I have great faith in my friend Tim Rosenberg who is giving the premiere tomorrow in Tempe, Arizona. But Tim has been living in New York and Florida since we started this project. In fact, I don’t think I’ve even seen Tim in person for over a year. I’ve heard him play over Skype, and we’ve talked about the piece a lot, but it’s not the same.

Writing a piece and handing it off to a performer has often been compared to raising a child and sending it out into the world. I feel like I’ve driven my toddler to the airport, dropped him off at baggage check-in, handed him a $50 bill, and wished him the best of luck. I’m just hoping he makes it to wherever it is he’s going.

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SIDE NOTE: Tim just redesigned his website. It’s both beautifully designed and humorously written. This is the kind of site all professional musicians should have. The virtuoso you can have a beer (or a bourbon) with. Click this link to go there. It will make his analytics go up, and that makes everybody feel good, right?

WE DID IT!

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks to each person that’s pledged. Thanks to each person that read about this project and thought about pledging. Thanks to each person who passed this project along to friends and colleagues. Who knew all you had to do to get a commission was to ask for one?

Earlier this morning, with a pledge from Alex Sellers, the commissioning consortium on Kickstarter reached its goal. It has since surpassed that goal (thanks to a generous pledge from Tim Rosenberg). If you read my blog, you should definitely read Tim’s as well. He doesn’t post as much as he used to, but there’s a lot of both thoughtful insights and humor. Well, I think it’s humorous anyway.

Talking about money like this is awkward for me. I’m asking people to pay me for something that, in all honesty, I’d probably do for free. I think most performers have this experience much younger than composers. I know I did as a performer. (Thankfully, one outgrows this feeling through playing showtunes and wedding music.)

Having said all that, I picked a goal of $500 because I thought it was achievable. I wanted to pick $1000, but I would have been in a crappy mood for a while if we’d only gotten to $800 and gotten nothing. Here’s the thing: yes, I’m a greedy jerk and I want your money, but that’s not the point (mostly). Now that we’ve reached the goal, the thing I’m more concerned about in this project is building a large network of people to play the piece. I know projects have been done in the past with new music to have lots of simultaneous “premieres” of works, but I want to have a big group of performers that are invested in this piece and feel some ownership of it. ”Investment” and “ownership” are, literally speaking, words about money. However, I think it’s telling that we also use those words to describe intellectual, emotional, cultural, and (in this case) artistic connections as well. That’s what I want.

So my point is this: we’ve reached our goal on Kickstarter, but this project ain’t over until the fat lady’s digital watch alarm goes off on Friday, April 22, 2011 at 11:36pm EDT. Please, continue to pass the word along.

Also, I don’t know if I’ve fully convinced Tim that we need to do this, but I really want to write a paper that uses our Kickstarter experience as the basis for discussing Web 2.0 things and the future of music patronage. My working title is “Patronage 2.0.” I know, it doesn’t have a colon in it, so it’s not a real academic document title yet. Like I said, it’s the working title. I’d also really like to title the section on social networking “Tweet the Composer.” Whaddaya think?

Thankyou

J.S. Bach had the Lutheran Church.

Haydn had the Esterhazy family.

Beethoven had Archduke Rudolph.

Bartók, Stravinsky, and Copland had Koussevitzky, Diaghilev, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

People with lots of money, we’re talkin’ Esterhazy money, are not, by and large, spending it on the patronage of classical music the way they might have 250 years ago. There are certainly some who are, and while the NEA is funded less and less each year, there are still a handful of composers (mostly already well-established) that are receiving commissions from individuals and government/non-profit grants. They are, however, the exceptions.

In addition to people like Rich Uncle Pennybags and non-profits, one of the biggest support groups for composers has historically been performers, particularly over the last hundred years or so. Conductor Serge Koussevitzky commissioned Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra; clarinetist Benny Goodman commissioned Copland’s Clarinet Concerto.

The internet has lowered the entry cost of so many industries and other ventures. Why not patronage? In Spring 2010, Facebook ruffled feathers with some new policies about privacy (and a leak of some personal info). Many informed users were worried that Facebook had too much control over the internet and users, and up popped a little startup called Diaspora. Diaspora was working on a new kind of social network to compete with Facebook, and to raise money, they turned to Kickstarter. Kickstarter allows users to pledge support to creative products. It brings together people who are creating niche products with the niches they want to access and influence. Diaspora was able to raise over $200,000 mostly with donations of $5 to $25.

Kickstarter has an interesting all-or-nothing approach to fundraising. When starting a project, you set a goal and a deadline. People pledge various amounts. Different amounts get different rewards. If you reach your goal, backers’ credit cards are charged for their pledges and you get the money. If not, no money changes hands. This makes sense. The Diaspora folks couldn’t have done much with $200, and it would suck to be one of the people who gave part of the $200 just to see nothing come of it.

That got me thinking about my own niche, contemporary concert music. How could this model work for us that are creating music which unfortunately (yet honestly) has a very small audience? Kickstarter could be perfect for arts patronage in the internet age. Commissioning consortia have been around for quite a while, but when was the last time you heard of a commission that you could participate in for twenty-five bucks? (crickets)

So, I’m going to try it. I’m going to use Kickstarter to put together a commissioning consortium for a solo saxophone piece I’ll start working on this summer with Tim Rosenberg. I’ll keep updates on the blog, and on the Kickstarter project page. I’ll have a link to that here when I launch the project. My goal is to raise at least $500 in 90 days. Wish me luck!

Regular readers of this blog might be shocked to see it updated twice in one week, which is probably why I don’t have any regular readers (except you, Mom). Anyway, I was just perusing the new listings in the American Music Center Opportunity Update and came across a call for scores that was so unlike any of the others that it bears repeating. I do not know these people, and they did not ask me to post their call, but it makes me want to write them a piece…bad.

No Deadline
Anti-Social Music—Call for Scores

If Anti-Social Music (ASM) digs it, they’ll play it. Several times, even. ASM does two shows of premieres every year, so they’ll get to it. And then they’ll keep it in rotation for their repertory shows. They pay – not much, but not nothing either. Eligibility/Guidelines: And it’s gotta gotta gotta be a world-premiere. ASM doesn’t have a core ensemble, per se. Their writ as an organization is that if the composer wants something specific, they’ll find a way to provide it. However, that said, ASM has certain instrumentations that are markedly easier for them to provide than others; and if you write for some combination of the following, it’s easier for ASM to produce and certainly more likely to stay in rotation: sax(cl), vc(trb), vln, acc, pno, trb, fl, gtr, Sop.

Submission Materials: ASM now accepts electronic submissions only. No more packages. It’s cheaper for you, and ASM moves around too much. So please email ASM with the following: 1) The score(s) you’d like ASM to consider, as a PDF. 2) One or two recordings (and scores) of previous stuff you’ve done. Streaming links are fine. If you send your website, Bandcamp, or MySpace address, please recommend what ASM should listen to. 3) Tell us the last good book, article, porn mag, etc. you read and what was so great about it. 4) One of the following: a haiku about why you compose, a drawing or picture about why you compose, a short mix tape/CD of your influences, or a brief letter of recommendation from a nonmusical family member or friend that talks about your non-composing interests and strengths as a person. To get an idea of what ASM has done in the past, visit their website below. AMS promises to listen to and look at everything they get. ASM does not promise to be entirely sober when they do so. And they’ll let you know even if they’re not going to play it. ASM looks forward to meeting you.

Anti-Social Music (No Mailing Address Provided)
Phone: (Not Provided)
Email: antisocialmusic@gmail.com
Website: www.antisocialmusic.org

Composers should be tripping over themselves to write for people like this.

David MacDonald, composer

My Baby’s All Growed Up

Commissioning Project Update

The Future of Arts Patronage? All or Nothing!