Marc | February 15, 2009
I just came across this little gem thanks to the Internet Scout Project. The Library of Congress has a series of podcasts (amongst other things) on Music and the Brain, with some really great talks on it. Worth a look if you are interested in how music works.
Marc | February 6, 2009
There are times when I get totally frustrated with computers. I had this post all ready to go with just some final edits to make on the 1st when my laptop died and I was stuck without a keyboard. I have been thinking a lot, lately, about how the map-territory paradox applies to cross-cultural (mis)communications. [...]
Marc | December 11, 2008
I just got back from a six day concert tour in Mexico sponsored by the Orquesta del Nuevo Mundo in Mexico City. It was an intriguing experience in many ways and, as I was sitting in the Toronto airport waiting to find out if I would get home again, a number of thoughts wended their [...]
Marc | December 3, 2008
The past couple of months have been insanely busy, and the pace will keep up for the next month at least. Part of this comes from the “usual” things (teaching, writing, consulting, etc.), but a lot of it, for the past couple of weeks and the next two weeks, comes from a hectic concert schedule [...]
Marc | September 15, 2008
“The question comes down to how we can as artists make the case to Canadians that the arts deserves healthy vigorous funding,” S. Randy Boyagoda, a novelist and a professor of literature based at Ryerson University, said on Thursday. Source CBC.ca Canada seems to have a love-hate relationship with the Arts. On the one hand, [...]
Marc | August 6, 2008
Of all the areas I have studied, probably the furthest removed from the consensual reality (i.e. “normal culture”) of North America is that of Magic. Were many of my colleagues studied Eastern religions, such as Buddhism, in order to get a handle on how cultures conceptualized and formalized technologies of the mind, I was more [...]
Marc | August 3, 2008
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. “The Scottish Play”, Act 5, Scene 5 To pleasant songs my work was erstwhile given, and bright [...]
Marc | July 23, 2008
A couple of days ago, Max Forte put up an excellent post on Trinidadian music taking an in-depth look at one particular performance piece and, if you haven’t read it yet, you really should. One line in particular has been rattling around in my brain every since I read it: Shadow and Sonia do not [...]
Marc | July 20, 2008
A friend of mine of at the SWC just posted a link through to a YouTube video of a song that used to be a favorite of mine back when I was singing in bars.
Marc | May 20, 2008
This quote, from Wm. Congreve, conceals a series of truths have been on my mind for the past few days. Last Thursday, I traveled to Sackville New Brunswick with the Ottawa Bach Choir to attend Podium 2008 at Mount Alison University, All in all, a varied and quite interesting trip. Podium is an interesting “conference” [...]
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