Monday, March 21, 2011

Ten Blogging Tips

Ten Blogging Tips:

1. I like to use an add-on called Scribefire for blogging because it splits the screen, allowing you to view a website and write simultaneously. You can also save posts, change settings, write using HTML, insert youtube videos and images easily, and publish right to your blog.

2. Sign up for a Google News Alert on some aspect of your blog subject and you will receive periodic updates on the latest information.

3. Read other blogs related to your subject and comment on that blog as well as on your own.

4. Do a Google Image Search for interesting pictures related to your theme.

5. Do a "Ten Things..." list.

6. Make your opinion known. Write 200 words on what you have learned about your theme.

7. Blog about the group you will feature for your final project.

8. Blog about your listening presentations; include artist, composer, performers, label, where to find the recording etc.

9. Make comments on each others' blogs.

10. Blog about class-related topics, such as the pieces and composers of the Landmark Works lecture discussions, or current trends in brass ensemble literature.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Alvin Etler Pictures

Alvin Etler's grandson commented on this blog last year and was kind enough to share with me some pictures of Alvin Etler. We both noticed that there is not much information, especially photos of him, on the internet. Here are the photos:



Alvin Etler

Today, we studied the Brass Quintet by Alvin Etler, so I have re-posted this from last year:.

Etler's Wikipedia entry reads:

Alvin Derald Etler (February 19, 1913 - June 13, 1973) was an American composer and oboist. A student of Paul Hindemith, Etler is noted for his highly rhythmic, harmonically and texturally complex compositional style, taking inspiration from the works of Bartók and Copland as well as the dissonant and accented styles of jazz.
Though he played with the Indianapolis Symphony in 1938, he abandoned his orchestral life shortly thereafter to focus on his increasingly successful compositional career (which earned him two Guggenheim Fellowships during this period). In 1942 he joined the faculty at Yale University as conductor of the university band and instructor of wind instruments, where he began his studies with Hindemith. He also taught at Cornell University and University of Illinois before accepting a position at Smith College, which he held until his death. Notable works include his two woodwind quintets (from 1955 and 1957), a bassoon sonata, the 1963 "Quintet for Brass Instruments", and "Fragments" for woodwind quartet.
Etler is also the author of Making Music: An Introduction to Theory, an introductory-level theory text published posthumously in 1974.


Works list at G. Schirmer