composer who lives in the clouds making music for birds (and games and animation)! 🇵🇭🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈


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i posted about julius eastman (1940-90), a queer black composer, a week or two ago on twitter. i've been listening to more of his music recently, especially Wild Up's recordings, and i just wanted to talk about his music a bit more. this is sorta a ramble, but hopefully it's interesting hehe. if you don't already julius eastman, you're in for a treat!

i don't think i can adequately summarize eastman's life, so i encourage you to read about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Eastman

talkin' about Femenine

first of all, the introduction from Wild Up's tiny desk concert (https://youtu.be/jhWkvi8OPkc) rings so true to me:

"eastman's pieces are teachers and they have been teachers for us, even in their notation. they're the kind of pieces that you breathe in as a musician and then they do their work on you and they change you and when you breathe them out again you're breathing not only the peace but also a different version of yourself."

in fall of 2021, i performed Femenine. i think it's safe to say, after our performance of Femenine, everyone in the ensemble felt as though we had gone through some sort of wild pilgrimage and experienced something totally new. i've never seen everyone be so pumped and excited after a performance like that—the audience included. i would love so much to perform this piece again.

Femenine has a LOT of improvisation involved, and despite many of us never having experiencing improvising on this level, i think everything came together super well on the night of the performance. it was probably the most confident i've felt on stage and the longest flow state i've ever been in.

i'd probably even say Femenine helped me come to terms with my gender identity. if i had to describe my gender, it's this piece! reading about eastman's genderqueer-ness then assuming eastman's role as the pianist just felt so affirming.

despite being a "minimalist" piece, Femenine really stands out among minimalist pieces. i think often times, minimalist can feel very cold and stiff, like the stereotypical image of driving past endless repeating skyscrapers. don't get me wrong, I love minimalism! but in comparison, Femenine and other Eastman pieces feel like you're exploring a forest bursting with life. it's organic and jubilant and wonderful. i'd say it especially feels queer and gay!!!

it really doesn't fit neatly into most labels: it's fairly pop-y compared to a lot of 20th century avante-garde music. it's definitely influenced by disco and other dance music, but probably wouldn't play in a dance club. etc. it's almost like, it's nonbinary music 🤔

i think it'd be easy to compare this to In C by terry riley, but Femenine really allows for you to put more of yourself into the piece + its open-ended-ness makes it a bit more accessible and fun to play imo.

Femenine also really forces you to listen and communicate. the main motif of Femenine is 13 beats long, and there's no way you'd actually be counting that throughout the whole piece (which is 80+ minutes long), and you likely won't be able to feel the downbeats all the time. you must listen and react to every moment (except maybe the unison bits, but that's a small percentage), like in the sense of a jam session as opposed to watching a conductor (this piece really is like one big jam session). the pacing of the piece is dictated by approximated minutes and seconds, so the timing of sections/movements is extremely loose. you MUST be able to communicate with each other. compared to other ensemble performances, this was the most connected i've felt during a performance.

more music and other thoughts

here's some other music of his! go listen! + some short thoughts

i really love how wildly different interpretations of his music is. for example, listen to these two performances of Joy Boy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nm_ydzaEbHk
https://open.spotify.com/track/4yvqYDOrz0pCeURqZWiI1H?si=d5995fe6e72c4a6a

his music feels super direct, especially evident in his titles (language warning). he's not afraid to put his identity front and center, which john cage criticized him for. his piano quartets are incredibly unique, and, really in all his music, he's able to stretch really small, simple ideas into something huge and compelling.
https://youtu.be/DQSG7PCzAxo
https://youtu.be/BOhynJVU4LM
https://youtu.be/3uVJTKvaprY

...

that's all for now! i might talk about eastman more another time. hope you found this interesting!


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in reply to @paperaviator's post:

Julius Eastman was one of the most forward thinking composers of his time, and i truly wish i had found his music sooner. learning about his personal life story and the way he told his experiences through his music has fundamentally influenced me to this day, especially as someone who is also a queer, Black musician. fuckin' awesome post, thank you for making it.