Dan is...

The ramblings of music student/lunatic.
~ Thursday, December 8 ~
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How do you even notate this? I mean, it’s a bass clarinet harmonic gliss on T23|12, pianissimo (in terms of how much air I was using), but I genuinely have no idea how to actually put it on paper. Apologies for the awful recording quality.

Tags: music clarinet bass clarinet composition
62 notes
~ Wednesday, December 7 ~
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reblogged via emceefarlane
~ Tuesday, November 22 ~
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Why I Won’t be Protesting at UCD Today

I’ve garnered more criticism than I thought I would for this decision, so I thought I would attempt to coherently express my position here to avoid fumbling about for words when people ask me in person.

People have confused my decision not to protest with not supporting the protesters’ cause. On the contrary, I was appalled by the brutality exhibited by the police on Friday. Likewise, the massive fee increases expected over the next four years do nothing but make education less accessible. In reality, I’m not protesting because I lack a mandate to protest.

Every time I open my passport, my visa documents remind me that I am a J-1 visitor. I pay no taxes, I pay no university fees. Technically, I am still a student of the University of Adelaide. The UC Regents and the IRS are not taking my money — so, with this in mind, how can I have a say in how they’re run? I don’t pay the salaries of law makers, nor do I have a right to elect them, so why should I shout for them to represent my opinion? To say that I have a right to protest these issues is, to me, to devalue the opinions of my citizen, tax paying, fee paying peers; why should anyone but them have any say in how their country and university is run? This is an issue of sovereignty. 

However, I do have a mandate to comment; I do have a mandate to spread text, images and videos of what is happening here. And, perhaps, that is the best role an outsider can ever have in these affairs. 

I respect your right to sovereignty over your own affairs; please respect my right to remain on the side lines.


~ Friday, September 30 ~
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My first Californian assignment… write a piece using only 3 notes (and their transpositions) in a week. I chose a 5th and a 4th from my “tonic”. My aim was to write a piece that resonated in a very open, natural way. The clanging (and, at times, ridiculously complicated) rhythms are meant to be more reminiscent of bell ringing; completely unrelated to the meter and the steady quaver/dotted quaver phase patters. This recording was made using Garritan and, as such, doesn’t quite have the same resonance of an actual piano - but there’s no way I’m playing (13/14):7:dotted:6.5 - at least at this point. Anyhow, I hope you enjoy it - the score is here


~ Thursday, September 1 ~
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So, I actually play the piano. Yeah. This is Takemitsu’s Rain Tree Sketch II. Enjoy.


~ Tuesday, June 28 ~
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My stylistic demise. (synthesised by garritan). The piece is entitled “Caffeine, Insomnia and Self Doubt at 3:03am), this is the first movement.


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~ Wednesday, April 27 ~
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~ Tuesday, November 30 ~
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Hawaii Photos - Taster. The rest are available at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2096107&id=1165701820&l=55473590a6


~ Thursday, November 4 ~
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Many people have asked me how I “have all these ideas” in my head. I actually don’t. In actuality, I just video myself being weird with the piano and shit just happens. Enjoy.


~ Tuesday, October 19 ~
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… this was the only sad time in Paris because it was unnatural. You expected to be sad in the Fall. Part of you died each year when the leaves fell from the trees and their branches were bare against the wind and the cold, wintry light. But you knew there would always be the spring… When the cold rains kept on and killed the spring, it was as though a young person had died for no reason. In those days though, the spring always finally came, but it was frightening that it had almost failed.
— Hemingway; A Moveable Feast.
Tags: ... a literary geek