Syllabus

Interview with Tim Daisy

Chicago is blessed to have number of very talented jazz drummers. But Tim Daisy has stood out for years as one of Chicago’s most engaging, musical and adventurous percussionists. Tim was kind of enough to give Homeroom an email ahead of the Phsyics for Listeners performance this Thursday, June 7 at Strobe Studios. To hear Tim’s new composition, along with the 5 other new works debuted through Physics for Listeners, email strobesessions@gmail.com.

1. When did you start composing? What inspired you to begin writing your own music?

I started composing around 1997. I had just moved to Chicago and was playing with as many people as I could, forming bands, and bouncing ideas around. At the same time, soaking up all of the great music happening every night of the week. This inspired me to begin composing my own music and bring it into rehearsals with some of the groups I was working in at the time.

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Interview with Katherine Young, bassoon extraordinaire

Katherine Young is one bad-ass bassoonist. She is one of the composers participating in Physics for Listeners: a Composers’ Concert, which will be performed for the last time this Thursday, June 7 at Strobe Studios (RSVP at strobesessions@gmail.com). Katherine was nice enough to give Homeroom a quick interview about her music and composing history.

1. When did you start composing? What inspired you to begin writing your own music?

I began composing in earnest when I moved to Chicago (for the first time!), right after finishing my undergrad studies in bassoon performance. I desperately wanted to be more creatively engaged and in charge of my musical life, so I started both composing and improvising right around the same time. I think I had a backlog of creative energy that needed to get expended!

Photo by Peter Gannushkin
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interview with Matthew Dotson

Our next interview is Matthew Dotson, one of our featured guitarists for Physics for Listeners. Read on below to hear what he has to say and of course, afterwards make sure to see him in action at our Composers Concert at the Hideout this Sunday the 3rd and our Physics for Listeners Recording Session at Strobe Studios Thursday, June 7th.

Interview with William Jason Raynovich

William Jason Raynovich is a composer, cellist, and professor at Chicago State University. He is also one of the featured composers in Homeroom’s Physics for Listeners. He was kind enough to humor us in a short interview.

1. When did you start composing? What inspired you to begin writing your own music?

I started composing at 19. It was quite honestly a bet with a graduate student composer who basically wanted to make additional income that semester. He “bet” me a dinner that I could not compose a piece of music. I ended up composing a 30 minute “opera” called, “The Violist Nightmare,” for string trio and some other instrumentalists. It is lost now. The composition department took interest in me and asked me to seriously consider composition lessons.

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Interview with Tobin Summerfield from our Upcoming Physics For Listeners Concert

This Sunday, June 3rd Tobin Summerfield will be featured at out Physics for Listeners Composers Concert at the Hideout (1354 W Wabansia) and Thursday, June 7th at our Physics for Listeners Recording Session at Strobe Studios (2631 W Division). Head over to our events page to learn all about those two events. Tobin was nice enough to give Homeroom a brief interview and talk about his music.

Read on below and afterwards make sure to see Tobin in action at our Physics for Listeners events!

Check out the Semi-Opera "Here Are Lions" at Elastic Arts Through June 2nd

Here Are Lions is a semi-opera directed, written and created by David Amaral with music composed and created by Joshua Dumas that is being performed at Elastic Arts (2830 N Milwaukee) on the weekends through June 2nd. The production is being produced and performed by New Beast Theatre Works, which creates dynamic and boldly new theatrical experiences aiming to explore innovative methods of storytelling. The company has produced two semi-operas, Light Waves & Their Uses (Spring 2011) and One Thing & Everything Else (Spring 2010), and in Summer 2011, New Beast collaborated with Vintage Theatre Collective to create Oedipus Rex Play, a meta-theatrical retelling of Oedipus.

The play takes place during the amid the 1968 National Democratic Convention in Chicago and deals with issues of self-discovery, memory, and social change. Tickets can purchased here or email newbeastworks@gmail.com and more information about the play can be found below.

Cosmic Debris lands outside Comfort Station

If you are wondering what that striking art installation outside of The Comfort Station in Logan Square is, then watch this excellent video by Ben Poster featuring the artists Sarah Belknap and Joseph Belknap.