Distinctive Tonal Music Inspired by Magical Places
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THE FINE LINE: Thoughts and Music of a Contemporary American Composer at Forty.

Article 17.08.2016, 18:07

INTRODUCTION I’m not “special”--at least no more “special” than you are. If there’s anything unusual about me, it’s my undying belief that we’re all born “special.” The products of our lives may or may not be outstanding, but we never lose the opportunity (unless we give it up voluntarily or unkowingly from lack of use) to see and celebrate (share) the “specialness” of life itself--a fine balance between novelty and predictability, order and chaos. Why is it then that we often find the seeing and ...

 

Composition Workshop for High School Orchestra

Article 23.05.2016, 21:33

Composing & improvising can be fun, whether you're a music-theory expert or not. The trigger for most of us is enjoying (with the listener) musical gestures that remind us of things in our environment that we all share. The gestures can be explored even before learning about chord-function. You and another instrumentalist or two can experiment with them with surprising results. Gravity/Magnetism: +Pulling away, being pulled back (“board-pool”) +Progressively overcoming the pull ...

 

The Spiritual Significance of Music

Article 05.08.2014, 02:46

The "ecstatic memories" (Greek: ek statis--standing outside ourselves) of delight or fear, or both, that radiate through our lives are self-validating, like all peak experiences. As with religious services, art shows, plays or concerts that do not always move us, we are unable to produce such experiences at will. We cherish them largely for that reason. But we continue to set up what we think are the conditions they require. Moments of "ek statis" may seem like fleeting visions, but they are pieces of ...

 

Amazon Review of "Enchanted Land" CD

Article 08.12.2013, 15:16

Michael Mauldin is both the composer and conductor of these wonderful orchestral works performed by the New Mexico Symphony. "Enchanted Land" is an Orchestral Suite on tracks 6-10 with narration by Kathleen Church that demonstrates Mr. Mauldin's great love for Nature, Native American culture and spirituality, and the southwestern United States in general. Both the narrative and the orchestral tapestry powerfully evoke the spirits of the Earth, Sky, Ancestors, et al. These performances by the New Mexico ...

 

The Spirit That Needs Me

Article 10.11.2013, 21:26

The Spirit That Needs Me Michael Mauldin, December 21, 2010 Of all human endeavors, music is perhaps closest to representing the world of the spirit.  In music we attempt to render into form what is essentially formless, we attempt to describe what is beyond description, to frame silence, to measure infinity.  --STING As I tried to see the total eclipse of the full moon (on the Winter Solstice, exactly two years before the celebrated alignment in 2012), it occurred to me that it's ...

 

Why Some Contemporary Music is a Turnoff

Article 04.11.2013, 16:10

Why Some Contemporary Music is a Turnoff Michael Mauldin, November 1, 2013 It may have been 15,000 years since we (logically) evolved into farmers, but we were hunter-gatherers for much longer than that. I think there's a part of us that still wants (perhaps needs) to sit in a circle, our faces lit by the campfire (concert stage), anticipating the story that the Shaman will tell. We’ve heard it before, but we’ve learned that he’ll elaborate on it, adding characters, orbiting into side-stories, ...

 

Michael Mauldin

Article 24.09.2012, 03:57

Michael Douglas Mauldin (b. 14 June 1947 , Port Arthur , Texas ) first discovered the landscapes of New Mexico while still a boy, and has never ceased to marvel at the timeless interplay of space and light that imbues them with a sense of place unique in all the world.   The son of a Presbyterian minister, during his school vacations in the 1950s Michael traveled with his family to church conferences held at Ghost Ranch, where he composed short pieces on an old piano he discovered in the convocation ...

 

Programmatic Music

Article 23.09.2012, 05:02

My decision to put programmatic content/titles with my music  came in the early 70’s.  I had been conditioned, like all young composers then, to see programmatic music as inferior to absolute music.  I was told that many superficial, nineteenth-century works with programmatic titles would not hold the audience’s attention without their programs. I heard some of those pieces.  They were so poorly put together that I’d have quickly lost interest if I hadn’t been ...

 
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