The Music of Pain: On Inspiration for the Artist/Composer

Beethoven's madness brought on by a combination of personal failure in the rearing of his young nephew and his early hearing loss. Mozart's inability to accept adulthood and the loss of his childhood fame leading to his ruin. Depression destroying the lives of composers like Mussorgsky and Robert Schumann, and others. Yet, their music lives on, and the music of countless other composers and artists who have transformed tragedy, loss, depression, sadness, failure into masterpieces.

Is tragedy a necessary component of great art?

Can one be an artist, a creative individual, without having experienced great loss? If life is all a bed of roses, how can the artist truly delve into the deepest throes of darkness, of the soul, in their art? This does not mean that the artist needs to delve into depression or substance abuse. In fact, productivity often comes to a standstill when the creative person does allow themselves to get lost in the pits of despair, but to simply toy with sadness, to bring up old hurts and pain, to tickle the harsh emotions, and tease, but never lose oneself, that is when notes on a page, paint on a canvas, words on a page, can truly bring to life the universal truth that humanity is rife with valleys of despair, with the plateaus only occasionally lifted by the occasional mountaintop of joy.

So tonight I sit at my computer, my heart struggling with loss and sadness, over lost dreams and a changed future, and take small solace in that at least I know how to convert this deep emotion into words or notes or moving images. That the story that must remain untold for a time can show its shadows in my work, and that perhaps someday redemption can come through a song.
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Composer Sabrina Pena Young creates mind-numbing electronic works premiered throughout the world at venues like the Beijing Conservatory, the NY International Independent Film Festival, Miramax's Project Greenlight, the Athena Festival, ICMC, SEAMUS, 60x60, and numerous music festivals throughout Europe, Asia, Australia, and the Americas.

Young recently released A FUTURIST MUSIC ANTHOLOGY: The Electroacoustic Mind of Sabrina Pena Young 2001-2014
"Filtered through the lens of science fiction and fantasy, the electroacoustic works of Sabrina Pena Young explore the sonic outer dimensions of sound in a surreal world constantly balancing between reality and future dimensions of thought and music and the mind. With hundreds of works performed throughout Asia, Europe, Australia, and the Americas, Young's global reach extends past borders and through the Digital Realm with "groundbreaking" works like Libertaria: The Virtual Opera. Her work has been called "marvelously abstract", "epic", and "groundbreaking". Sabrina Pena Young continues to redefine electronic music. This unique anthology spans over a decade of electroacoustic works from Young's earlier days at SYCOM, where she explored the avant-guarde in sound synthesis, to sophisticated ambient explorations, and even dance influenced tracks."

A Composer's Brief Guide to Percussion Mallets

When composing for percussion, it is important to know the difference between a variety of mallets. Although in most cases the percussionist will choose the proper mallets for the passage, sometimes as a composer, you want a particular sound. It is always good to research a mallet before indicating it in your score. Consult a percussion catalogue for a more in-depth look at the hundreds of mallets available. 1. YARN MALLETS They come in every dynamic range from supersoft baseball-sized to forte. They are the multi-purpose mallet, used for toms, suspended cymbal rolls, marimba, xylophone, woodblock, and pretty much anytime a percussionist doesn't have time to pick up another mallet. 2. CORD MALLETS These are harder than the yarn mallets. More effective on xylophone and vibes, these mallets can also be used for a variety of percussion instruments. 3. BRASS MALLETS These are for use on the glockenspiel/bells and the occasional brake drum. They produce a more "tinny" kind of ...

Music Secrets: The Music School Survival Guide

Music Secrets: The Music School Survival Guide Don't have any time to balance rehearsals, exams, and a social life? Then read on! So you find that between playing in orchestra, the school musical, a solo recital or two, joining Sigma Alpha Iota or Phi Mu Alpha , playing in the alternative band at night, pep band, and marching band that you can't keep your eyes open, let alone study for the music history midterm next week or even begin to write your term paper on Debussy? Then read on and learn to balance life in Music School. 1) Musicians DO need to Sleep Yes, you need to sleep, even if it is only five hours a night plus catnaps. Your brain cannot function if you do not sleep. So sleep, even if that means that you can't play in that awesome alternative band that jams every other night till 5am at the local bar. 2) Eat right and exercise Okay, so I sound like your parents, or Oprah, but I am serious. My biggest mistake as an undergrad (well, one of my bigges...

Percussion 101: How to Play Hand Crash Cymbols

Young Girl Plays Cymbals The hand cymbals (or crash cymbals ) are extremely versatile percussion instruments . The hand cymbals are used in the military, drum and bugle corps , the orchestra, and wind ensembles. Proper percussion hand cymbal technique takes many years of practice and hard work, as well as stamina and upper body strength. The most common use of the hand cymbals is in the drum line, whether in a high school band or a professional drum and bugle corps. Two cymbals are held by straps to the cymbal player's hands. In marching band and drum and bugle corps, the cymbal player often will loop their own hand in the strap, then grab the strap. Protect Your Hands Tape, strap pads, and gloves are often used to protect the cymbal player's hands from blisters and the slow grinding away of skin during a lengthy band show. In the orchestra setting, where the crash cymbal is often reserved for music accents and shorter music passages, the percussion player does...

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