Saturday, May 23, 2009

F-Art-ing around with Aleatoric Antics


On Friday, May 1, 2009 (I know - this posting is a bit late), a dear friend performed in a group he affectionately calls, "F-Art". This is a group from his college days dating back to the 70s I believe. It was a group of music major misfits (my words) that were experimenting with new music and music creation. Remember, this was a time of polytonality, aleatory, and good old fashion fun. 

The recital started with my friend Gil playing Schubert and pretending to be rather reserved. Well, one look at the accompanying photo and you'll see that Gil can be anything but reserved. I mean, geez, look at his Santa Claus hair and beard! This guy is a walking music library. Although he is not a musicologist, he has more information in his head than any musicologist I've met in any of the three universities I've attended. At any rate, after he presented some of Mr. Schubert's works, Gil progressively regressed to the F-Art-dom and began his aleatoric diatribe. Although seemingly random passages performed sometimes pantomimically on the piano, Gil would sneak in a musical quotes from old Hannah-Barbera cartoons and common folk songs. And, just when things seemed plaintively benign, he would slam his arms down on the keyboards with full fortississimo force! 

I must say this was a rousing recital of the revived "F-Art" ensemble. 
Kudos to experimentation and a jolly good time of music making. 

ps- the recital was held at a women's clothing shop downtown Greensboro, NC. Wasn't that the cherry on top of the whip cream. Randomness at it's best!

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