6 episodes

FRESH SOUNDS / OPEN EARS is a podcast series hosted by composer Alex Eddington: casual interviews with today's sound makers working in Canada. This season we are focusing on composers whose practice includes writing for/with young and amateur musicians.

Presented by the Alliance for Canadian New Music Projects (ACNMP)

Fresh Sounds / Open Ears ACNMP (Alliance for Canadian New Music Projects)

    • Music

FRESH SOUNDS / OPEN EARS is a podcast series hosted by composer Alex Eddington: casual interviews with today's sound makers working in Canada. This season we are focusing on composers whose practice includes writing for/with young and amateur musicians.

Presented by the Alliance for Canadian New Music Projects (ACNMP)

    FSOE episode 6: Juliet Palmer - Part 2

    FSOE episode 6: Juliet Palmer - Part 2

    Episode 6 (May 19, 2021): This is Part 2 of a two-part episode. 

    In the latter part of our conversation, Juliet Palmer and I zeroed in on a specific recent project with Toronto's highly collaborative Element Choir, their leader Christine Duncan, and Continuum Contemporary Music. We also discuss Urbanvessel (Juliet is the founder and Artistic Director), thethe surprising music that she is making at home for fun, and the birds of New Zealand who star in their own daily radio spot. 

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    Fresh Sounds / Open Ears is an interview podcast about composition and music education, hosted by composer Alex Eddington. Every episode, I have a conversation with a different Canadian composer - with a focus on their writing for/with young and amateur musicians.

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    LINKS!

    www.julietpalmer.ca

    Video/Audio of Juliet Palmer's music and projects mentioned in this episode (go back to Episode 5 for plenty more work):


    Choreography of Trauma (The Element Choir, Continuum Contemporary Music) *excerpt in podcast
    Ukiyo: Floating World at the 2019 Ongaku Festival (Urbanvessel, Thin Edge New Music Collective) *excerpt in podcast
    The Homing Project (Urbanvessel)

    Namedropping pick-up zone! (organizations and people mentioned):


    James Rolfe (composer): www.jamesrolfe.ca
    Urbanvessel: urbanvessel.wordpress.com
    Continuum Contemporary Music: www.continuummusic.ca
    The Element Choir: www.facebook.com/theelementchoir, leader Christine Duncan
    Musicworks Magazine interview with Christine Duncan about The Element Choir



    And finally:


    An archive of The Birds on Radio New Zealand, whose songs have been broadcast every day before the Morning Report - for the last 40 years.



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    CREDITS:

    Fresh Sounds / Open Ears is hosted, edited and produced by Alex Eddington: www.AlexEddington.com

    Logo 1.0 design and administrative support by Stephanie Chua.

    Theme music by Saman Shahi. Hear more of his work at samanshahimusic.com

    Fresh Sounds is presented by the Alliance for Canadian New Music Projects (ACNMP): acnmp.ca

    • 29 min
    FSOE episode 5: Juliet Palmer - Part 1

    FSOE episode 5: Juliet Palmer - Part 1

    Episode 5 (May 5, 2021): This is Part 1 of a two-part episode. Today, Juliet Palmer and I talk about her most collaborative composition projects with community arts organizations, children's choirs, youth orchestras, high school students and professional musicians alike. 

    Many names are dropped in this episode! (see below for links). 

    Somehow we got onto swapping stories about musical page turning in high-pressure situations and that was the best place to leave off. Are there really page turning competitions somewhere in the world? Let us know on Facebook or Twitter because I am *certain* that they must exist, but can't find them.

    You can listen to Part 2 of our conversation next week: FSOE episode 6.

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    Fresh Sounds / Open Ears is an interview podcast about composition and music education, hosted by composer Alex Eddington. Every episode, I have a conversation with a different Canadian composer - with a focus on their writing for/with young and amateur musicians.

    ---------

    LINKS!

    www.julietpalmer.ca

    Video/Audio of Juliet's music and projects mentioned in the podcast:


    Gregory Oh's video interview with Juliet Palmer and Ian Cusson about the Unsilent Project (with National Youth Orchestra of Canada, Michael Greyeyes and Falen Johnson
    Burl (solo piano)
    Round the Table (Jumblies Theatre)
    Like an Old Tale (Jumblies Theatre)
    Quarry (Continuum, Jumblies Theatre, soprano Sarah Albu) 

    Namedropping pick-up zone! (organizations and people mentioned): 


    James Rolfe (composer): www.jamesrolfe.ca
    Continuum Contemporary Music: www.continuummusic.ca
    Jumblies Theatre: www.jumbliestheatre.org - Artistic Director Ruth Howard, Gather Round Singers, Choir Director Shifra Cooper
    Community Arts Guild: http://communityartsguild.ca - Artistic Director Beth Helmers
    VIVA Singers: www.vivasingerstoronto.com - Artistic Director Carol Woodward Ratzlaff
    David Fallis (conductor): www.deanartists.com/david-fallis
    St. Lawrence String Quartet: www.slsq.com


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    CREDITS:

    Fresh Sounds / Open Ears is hosted, edited and produced by Alex Eddington: www.AlexEddington.com

    Logo 1.0 design and administrative support by Stephanie Chua.

    Theme music by Saman Shahi. Hear more of his work at samanshahimusic.com

    Fresh Sounds is presented by the Alliance for Canadian New Music Projects (ACNMP): acnmp.ca

    • 52 min
    FSOE episode 4: Daniel Gardner

    FSOE episode 4: Daniel Gardner

    Episode 4 (April 17, 2021): Daniel Gardner and I talk about percussion, punk music, serialism, live electronics promoting accessibility, a public sound sculpture in London Ontario, turtle-like creative habits, and Universal Design, among other things...

    Fresh Sounds / Open Ears is an interview podcast about composition and music education, hosted by composer Alex Eddington. Every episode, I have a conversation with a different Canadian composer - with a focus on their writing for/with young and amateur musicians.

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    LINKS!

    dgcomposer.com

    Music by Daniel Gardner mentioned in the podcast:


    Enceladus for saxophone and electronics
    Prufrock for baritone voice and electronics
    Three Studies for trumpet and electronics (which is based on Ricercare una Melodia by Jonathan Harvey

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    Other things we talked about that you might want to click on:

    Sound It Out! podcast (host Rachel Elliot - from the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation in Guelph, Ontario)

    Pression for solo cello (with  extended techniques) - by Helmut Lachenmann 

    Jonathan De Souza's book Music at Hand

    Universal Design: 7 principles

    Universal Design for Learning

    99% Invisible podcast - episode on the curb cuts in Kalamazoo (an early experiment in Universal Design)


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    ADVERTISERS:

    New Musings on New Music - a podcast by suddenlyLISTEN in Halifax

    (The interview with Alex Eddington is episode 16) 

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    CREDITS:

    Fresh Sounds / Open Ears is hosted, edited and produced by Alex Eddington: www.AlexEddington.com

    Logo 1.0 design and administrative support by Stephanie Chua.

    Theme music by Saman Shahi. Hear more of his work at samanshahimusic.com

    Fresh Sounds is presented by the Alliance for Canadian New Music Projects (ACNMP): acnmp.ca

    • 1 hr 9 min
    FSOE episode 3: Katerina Gimon

    FSOE episode 3: Katerina Gimon

    Episode 3 (April 2, 2021): Katerina Gimon and I talk about composing collaboratively with choirs, aleatoric notation, the kind of music that 5-year-olds write, how myths and archetypes can be an entry point for creating with students, the musicality of cats, and Regina Spektor, among other things...

    **Note! You will hear me speculate that Katerina is in her early 30s... but she is actually not yet even 30. CBC even named her a "top 30 under 30" in the Canadian musical landscape.

    Fresh Sounds / Open Ears is an interview podcast about composition and music education, hosted by composer Alex Eddington. Every episode, I have a conversation with a different Canadian composer - with a focus on their writing for/with young and amateur musicians.

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    LINKS!

    www.katerinagimon.com

    Music by Katerina Gimon mentioned in the podcast:


    Elements (Earth, Air, Fire and Water)
    All Together We Are Love

    Click to watch Mount Royal Kantorei's gorgeous video of All Together We Are Love, made in tribute to the women in healthcare leading Canada through the COVID crisis (an excerpt of their recording plays under the end of this episode).

    Find out more about the Sonic Timelapse project - a commissioning consortium organized by Katerina along with Laura Hawley (whom I interviewed in the first episode of this podcast!)

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    Other things we talk about quickly that you might want to click on:


    Aleatoric notation - here's an example from Katerina's piece "Fire"
    R. Murray Schafer's graphic scores
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    CREDITS:

    Hosted, edited and produced by Alex Eddington: www.AlexEddington.com

    Logo 1.0 design and administrative support by Stephanie Chua.

    Theme music by Saman Shahi. Hear more of his work at samanshahimusic.com

    Fresh Sounds is presented by the Alliance for Canadian New Music Projects (ACNMP): acnmp.ca

    • 1 hr 10 min
    FSOE episode 2: Dean Burry

    FSOE episode 2: Dean Burry

    Episode 2 (March 19, 2021): Dean Burry and I talk about writing opera for kids (and with kids), composers as storytellers, program music, R. Murray Schafer, John Cage, Spider-Man comics and the puppet plays Dean performed as a child, among other things... 

    Fresh Sounds / Open Ears is an interview podcast about composition and music education, hosted by composer Alex Eddington. Every episode, I have a conversation with a different Canadian composer - with a focus on their writing for/with young and amateur musicians.

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    LINKS!

    www.deanburry.com

    Music by Dean Burry mentioned in the podcast:


    The Brothers Grimm
    Shanawdithit
    Tracing Colville

    At the end of the episode, stay for a recording of the orchestral version of the aria "Above the World" from The Brothers Grimm.

    Canadian Children's Opera Company

    Canadian Opera Company: programs for children and youth 

    Find out more about the inaugural Watershed Festival (tagline: "reimagine music theatre") happening May 25-28, 2021.

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    Other things we talk about quickly that you might want to click on:


    AOC (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) playing "Among Us"
    Serialism (music composition technique) explained
    R. Murray Schafer and "ear cleaning"
    John Cage: the story behind 4'33"

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    CREDITS:

    Hosted, edited and produced by Alex Eddington. Learn more at www.AlexEddington.com

    Logo 1.0 design and administrative support by Stephanie Chua.

    Theme music by Saman Shahi. Hear more of his work at samanshahimusic.com

    Fresh Sounds is presented by the Alliance for Canadian New Music Projects (ACNMP): acnmp.ca

    • 1 hr 12 min
    FSOE episode 1: Laura Hawley

    FSOE episode 1: Laura Hawley

    Episode 1 (March 5, 2021): Laura Hawley and I talk about collaboration with choirs, music-making in a time of COVID, the value(s) of music education, deep listening, how to survive Edmonton winters, and much more...

    Fresh Sounds / Open Ears is an interview podcast about composition and music education, hosted by composer Alex Eddington. Every episode, I have a conversation with a different Canadian composer - with a focus on their writing for/with young and amateur musicians.

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    LINKS! 

    www.laurahawley.ca

    Music by Laura mentioned in the podcast:


    Droplets
    The Sun is Mine

    Find out more about the Sonic Timelapse project.

    At the end of the episode, stay for a complete recording of Laura Hawley's piece Absence, performed by Pro Coro Canada under the direction of Michael Zaugg.

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    CREDITS:

    Hosted, edited and produced by Alex Eddington. Learn more at www.AlexEddington.com

    Logo design and administrative support by Stephanie Chua.  

    Theme music by Saman Shahi. Hear more of his work at samanshahimusic.com

    Fresh Sounds is presented by the Alliance for Canadian New Music Projects (ACNMP): acnmp.ca

    • 1 hr 14 min

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