mnmlist: #newmusens: Preparing New Music Ensemble profiles – preliminary stage
Goal: to collect and present factsheets about New Music Ensembles
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Questions to get started:
- Whom to include in which order?
- Which information to collect?
- How to present this information?
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1. Whom to include in which order?
- Ignore any definitions of New Music Ensembles and start collecting. “I’ll know it when I see it”-approach
- Ask for suggestions online
- Sort by concert numbers to establish a working order
- Have a realistic cut-off for the first round. 20 ensembles max. maybe, then go on to next stage. Preliminary inclusion criteria could be: 40+ concerts a year (edit: needs reconsideration – ca. 30? see changelog), 60%+ repertoire after 1980, 6-26 (edit: instrumental) members (edit – maybe exclude groups of all the same instruments for the first round? (I intentionally made these up without checking against ensembles I’d think should be / should not be included, thus checking the criteria themselves, confronting myself with their results first. Please note that the resulting cut-off is not intended to define what a New Music Ensemble is, but merely how much I can handle initially.)
- Evaluate the results of this preliminary approach and decide if it’s a basis for further work
- Include feedback from Facebook, Google+ and Twitter and improve criteria, revise on the fly
- Don’t get stuck in detail questions!
- Avoid qualitative criteria on all costs. Stay with a quantitative approach.
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2. & 3. – attack these later.
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Anyone is invited to weigh in:
- Twitter: #newmusens
- Google+
I’ll summarize any reasoning from there here below.
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Here we go – collecting suggestions and start checking soon:
1965 Asko (how to handle Schönberg merger?)
1968 @Ldn_Sinfonietta
1976 @Ensemble_inter
1980 @nieuwensemble
1980 @ensemblemodern
1985 @KlangforumWien
1985 Ensemble Recherche
1986 @ElisionEnsemble
1987 @bangonacan
1987 @bcmg
1988 KNM Berlin
1990 @musikFabrik
1992 @fEARnoMUSIC
1994? @IctusEnsemble
1994 Ensemble Resonanz
1996 @eighthblackbird
2000 @RemixEnsemble
2001 @AlarmWillSound
2001 @ICEensemble
2004 @dalniente
2004 ACME
2005 @newspeakmusic
2006 @TaleaEnsemble
2006 yMusicNYC
2008 @EnsembleSignal
2008 @ncpmusic
2011 @HotelElefant
Outside the preliminary set of criteria for inclusion:
- less than 6 members: @YarnWire iktusPercussion, 1999 @sopercussion, 2005 @thirdcoastperc Janus Trio Trio Kavak The Living Earth Show @kronosquartet @CALEFAX, any string quartet, trio, duo…
- all members play the same instrument: @MantraPercNYC Les Percussions de Strasbourg Schlagquartett @SlagwerkDenHaag
- more than 26 members: @AmerCompOrch
- less than 30 concerts / year: @Citywater_Music @RiotEns @artoftime @neweuropean @HEB_Ensemble @NewMusicRaleigh, 1971 exxj
- Choirs and vocal ensembles like @C4Ensemble @EXAUDIensemble
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Listing all additions & corrections in a changelog gets too complicated. I’ll republish as a new article once the first series of editions is done.
Minimum no. of concerts for inclusion seems to be too low (@bcmg seems to be around 30/year). Criterium suspended for now, awaiting later reconsideration.
Exclude ensembles consisting of x musicians of the same instruments first? Example: @MantraPercNYC - there are a lot of them, and they’re clearly New Music Ensembles, but a special branch. Les Percussions de Strasbourg & Schlagquartett come to mind, too.
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Suggestions received which are not implemented / discussed yet:
@bcmg: perhaps should consider no of commissions and premieres per year on average?! (maybe av size of pieces for context?) #newmusens
@bcmg: a map of new music created across ensembles over X time could be interesting!
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Thanks for their contributions to: @CBCarey @BCMG @tonalfreak @CSharp_minor @gordonkerry @baldinic @rjphawley @Citywater_music @mikebreneis @AlarmWillSound @SOpercussion