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“The Tilting of the Sombrero” Op. #2

Spending a little time digging through some old paperwork frozen away deep in unused file cabinets out in the garage. I found a folder of old music papers from college back in 1990-91. Among them is an assignment given to us in Bradfield’s 20th Century Music class.

The 20th century marked the point in history where virtually every possibility had been explored in Western classical tonal music theory. 20th Century composers of music began to aggressively break the rules that came out of the Classical period. New devices were brought to compositions, including lots of dissonance, serialism, metric modulation, microtonality, minimalism, and technology. Everything from the experimental to the avant-garde. Music by guys like John Cage, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Igor Stravinsky, and Arnold Schoenberg would be classic examples of this stuff.

Sometimes, for some people, it’s just noise.

Anyway, one assignment was to study, analyze, and provide a review of “The Roachville Project” by Barney Childs. Here it is. Click the image to view a larger version:

the roachville project

So that was that. I had a few things to say about it, but I figured a boring review of it wouldn’t do my opinion of the composition justice. Instead, I used the piece as a source of inspiration to compose my own piece. A pseudo-cover, if you will. It also represented what I really thought of “The Roachville Project” in not so many words.

I therefore submit to you, for your listening — and performing — pleasure, “The Tilting of the Sombrero” Opus #2. Click the image to view a larger version:

the tilting of the sombrero

2 comments… add one
  • vincenzo August 29, 2007, 2:44 pm

    that is one of the funniest things i’ve ever read.

  • pauliepopolito December 1, 2008, 10:47 am

    that’s some great shee-yit Man! True to Childs’ form. Love it!

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