Sarah Wallin » Inspiration

ASIMO Conducts the DSO!

Sarah — Mon, 26 May 2008 04:43:16 +0000

That’s right! Everybody’s favorite little robot debuted conducting the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in a live performance of “Impossible Dream” from the 1965 Broadway show Man of La Mancha on May 13!

(Hm…. ASIMO should have hired this guy to be his concertmaster!!…)

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‘Glass’ Movie

Sarah — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 07:51:42 +0000

Yay! One of my favorite composers - exposed on documentary film!

Check the Official Site here…

‘The Visit’

Sarah — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 23:34:43 +0000

I realized I never got around to announcing my recent film scoring experience!

Earlier this month, the culmination of an independent short film competition was screened at a festival in Glendale. The competition, sponsored by Project 168, gives aspiring producers and directors the opportunity to create a ten-minute film in only a week, using both an underlying theme for the year (2008- “Free the Captives”) and a randomly drawn Bible verse!

Find the KNBC story on the competition here…

Steve Zelt took part in this project with the aim of creating a deep and meaningful, and slightly intellectual, film-going experience, based on his given verse, Ezra 9:8:

And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage.

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V.T.C.M.A. - 8

Sarah — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 09:33:08 +0000

The Baltic Baroque play Vivaldi - in style!!

Vivaldi’s “La Folia“:

Vivaldi’s Allegro (RV 565):

Check out more videos from this incredible group here!

Thought for the Day

Sarah — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 22:07:58 +0000

In the midst of my intense contemplations concerning my current in-progress work - my thesis composition for my Master’s degree, to be exact - I came across this fascinating interview with renowned composer, John Adams, concerning his Violin Concerto.

Excerpt:

Did the concerto genre and the expectations associated with it—especially that of virtuosic writing for the solo instrument—affect your customary compositional process in any ways that you can single out?

I think it did affect it a lot. I was very slow to come to the concerto form. In fact, even after finishing this work, I’m not entirely sure I’m comfortable with the form itself.

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Interview with John Copeland

Sarah — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 10:38:28 +0000

Sorry, I know this isn’t music-related, but it’s something that’s near and dear to me. With all the media hype covering the inquiries headed by Sen. Chuck Grassley, I was glad to see Kenneth Copeland Ministries‘ official answers, via 5 YouTube videos. Part 1 is posted below, visit YouTube for parts 2, 3, 4, and 5.

Also, you can find a pie chart detailing KCM’s spending here.

Good answers!

V.T.C.M.A. - 6

Sarah — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 06:29:03 +0000

“The trouble with you and me, Ned, is that we want everyone in the world to personally love us, and of course that’s impossible: you just don’t meet everyone in the world.”

-Leonard Bernstein, to composer Ned Rorem.

Presenting a brief clip from Bernstein’s acclaimed Norton Lectures at Harvard, 1973-74! A definite must-see for anyone interested in music, and the question of its existence as a universal language capable of conveying the metaphorics of human existence.

(You can get the book, too, Unanswered Question: Six Talks at Harvard, here!)

Upcoming Events - Nov. ‘07

Sarah — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 06:19:01 +0000

Check out these upcoming concerts and events! Hope to see you there!

Friday, November 2, 10am-11:45am: Jamie Bernstein - daughter of the famous Leonard Bernstein - will be speaking with our Copland/Bernstein class at CGU about her father’s life and works! This is a very special opportunity, and we are grateful to have her joining us this Friday. Find us in the Music Classroom in the basement of the Stauffer Hall of Learning. UPDATE: If you are seriously planning on attending, please email me with an RSVP, as seating is limited and really preferred for students!
Thursday, November 15, Noon: The Cal Poly MIDI Band will be performing a “teaser” concert to promote our evening concert on the 19th! Look for us outside, in the University Theater Breezeway at Cal Poly, Pomona. Click here for more info… Admission: FREE!
Thursday, November 15, 7:30pm: CGU’s Baroque ensemble, Collegium Musicum, will be performing at Master’s College in Santa Clarita! (I’ll be playing both Baroque violin and Baroque viola!) More info to come…
Friday, November 16, Noon: CGU’s Baroque ensemble, Collegium Musicum, will be performing at Balch Auditorium on the Scripps College campus. (I’ll be playing both Baroque violin and Baroque viola!) Click here for more details… Admission: FREE!
Saturday, November 17, 7:30pm: I’ll be joining the percussion section of the Claremont Winds for a formal concert at Garrison Theater in Claremont. Click here for more details… Admission: FREE!
Monday, November 19, 8pm: The Cal Poly MIDI Band will be performing our quarterly concert at the Music Recital Hall on the campus of Cal Poly Pomona. Come see my new six-string fiddle! Click here for more info… Admission: $7.

Check back soon for December concerts!!

V.Com Welcomes Hilary Hahn to the Forums!

Sarah — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 02:10:15 +0000

Laurie Niles conducted this interview with the esteemed violinist, Hilary Hahn. Check it out!

Also, check out this great quote toward the end of the interview!

Hilary: “…In Schoenberg [his concerto] I find the first step is just getting people familiar with the notes, and that takes time and it’s a lot of work. It’s tricky for everyone. And then it’s really important to take the academic out of it. You’re supposed to do that from the start, but it’s kind of scary to try to do all of that at once. A lot of people prefer in the rehearsal process to tackle one thing at a time. Then you really try to sort of make it be almost Brahmsian in some ways, like Stravinsky or Shostakovich in others. Not that it is that music, every composer stands on his or her own. But it’s not acceptable to play any composers in an academic way, including Schoenberg.

Laurie: Is it a piece that’s built on tone rows?

Hilary: I don’t care. I really don’t look at things from that perspective. It doesn’t matter how a melody is constructed, it’s still a melody. It doesn’t matter whether a structural element is there because a composer woke up with it from a dream, or they sat down and mapped it out. It doesn’t really matter. That’s all in the music, and it’s all there to be interpreted. People draw their inspiration from different areas, and whatever helps them express what they want to express musically should not be the determining factor for how it’s interpreted.

Our idea of melody is really quite random. Just because we’ve been trained from birth to think of some things as melodies doesn’t mean that they have any more right to be called a melody than anything else we’re less familiar with. If you played tone rows for little kids, they would start humming them. The first things they hum are very structural elements that go into the traditional melodies.

If you take all emotional bias out, everything has equal musical importance.

A Touching Note

Sarah — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 05:09:44 +0000

I just couldn’t resist sharing this… This is from a recent email by a very close friend of mine of many years, who is serving as a Christian missionary in Israel right now:

I think of you quite often, especially as I have had so often a chance to sing and play ‘Face in the Moonlight‘ here at Christ Church Jerusalem (it has become quite a favourite of our volunteers, and a huge blessing - thank you so much for giving me permission to share it).

I can’t tell you what a joy, thrill, and honor it is to hear how God is using this song to bless His people! It doesn’t matter who you are or whether you think you may or may not have any “talent” - if the Lord Jesus intends to use you for something in the spreading of the Gospel, and if as a member of His Body you’re open to Him, His strength and inspiration will see you through! After all, blessing people’s lives with the love of Christ is what it’s all about.