A ROOM WITH A VIEW (3/26,27,30/2011)

Entrance to The Flea Theater in Tribeca

Even though New York has a reputation for being an extremely competitive environment, and indeed it is, there are also many instances where performers support, encourage and assist each other.  One such performer is pianist Kathleen Supove who for the last five years has coordinated a special festival at The Flea Theater in Tribeca.

Website for The Flea Theater

This festival, Music with a View, not only presents composers and performers at various stages of their careers but also compositions at various stages of completion and a range of styles from traditional to highly experimental.  Demonstrations of unusual instruments and discussions among performers, composers and audiences are also integral to the festival.

 Webpage for Music with a View

I was able to experience three of the many FREE events of the festival.   The first that I attended was a demonstration of  some robotic instruments created by Eric Singer.  The instruments, all linked to a Mac computer where they can be controlled either from the computer or from Wii sticks, have a deliberately "home made" look.  While some of the instruments, such as the xylobot, make use of pre-existing

instruments, some, such as the guitarbot, are completely hand crafted.

Xylobot created by Eric Singer



Guitarbot (Note Eric Singer at the computer below the guitarbot.)

As chance would have it, the following Sunday morning, the CBS show Sunday Morning, featured a segment on guitarist Pat Matheny who had commissioned Eric Singer to develop instruments such as the xylobot.

Pat Matheny on CBS Sunday Morning

The second event of the series I was able to attend was a "salon" featuring performers and composers at all levels of advancement. It was a tremendously eclectic mix that ranged stylistically from rock to traditional classical and from beginning students to advanced, professional performers. Although a list of composers and most of the performers was provided, the titles of works were not included. The twenty+ works by eighteen different composers indeed provided a cross section of styles, genres and mediums currently in vogue.   

A final event I was able to attend was ostensibly to have been a forum to discuss aspects of the current music world. Headed up by a panel of three names in the New York music scene, Peter Catapano (an editor in the online opinion section of the New York Times), Daniel Felsenfeld (composer and writer on music), and Ian Moss (a specialist in cultural asset mapping and Research DIrector for Fractured Atlas).  


This event was sparsely attended and the topic put forth did not hold much interest for me.  I did try to engage the panelists after the formal forum was over to discuss an aspect of music that has long interested me, that of making changes to the core music curriculum.  The only responder to my query, Daniel Felsenfeld, seem to think that everything was just fine and that any discussion of changes was a waste of time.  Oh well.  I guess music can only take so many views.