New article on music in Second Life

Music Island: Five Years of “Virtual Concerts in the Park”
An article I recently published in my default identity in H+ magazine.

A vibrant and busy December Schedule

For the latest schedule and information on the web visit http://musicisland.spruz.com

Sat Dec 3, 2 pm SLT
Voodoo Shilton, guitar

Wed Dec 7 6 pm SLT
Duo Appassionato, violins/viola
Winter holiday concert

Sat Dec 10 2 pm SLT
Tip Corbett, composer, pianist

Sun Dec 11 1 pm SLT
Kain Scalia, tenor
Once Upon a Winter

Sat Dec 17, 11 am SLT
Let's Talk Classical Music
A Classical Christmas
with host, Aelthing Aeon

Sun Dec 18, 2 pm SLT
Schumann Duo
piano, oboe and surprises

Wed Dec 21, 1 pm SLT
Fingersatz Barbosa, classical guitar

Sat Dec 31 12 pm SLT
NEW YEARS REZZ-OLUTIONS
Cypress Rosewood, ambient music

November 27 Women in SL Music

What's this?

No concert at Music Island this week?

Yes, but wait!

It's time for the annual festival of SL Women in Music offered in partnership with Ohio State University's Department of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies. This year the festival will be a kick off event for16 Days of Action against Gender Violence with events in RL and SL both.
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Minerva/10/10/29/

11 am Cindy Ecksol, folk

12 noon AMFORTE Clarity, rock

1 pm Prowess Rayna, piano

2 pm SonyaJevette Charisma, blues

3 pm Choo Choo Chicks, vocal trio with live ensemble..

DETAILS:

11 am Cindy Ecksol - American Folk
Cindy Ecksol has been making and teaching music with voice, autoharp, fiddle and a variety of other instruments for as long as she can remember. She is particularly interested in traditional music of many varieties, and her repertoire includes everything from Irish tunes and Israeli dance music played on autoharp to dark Appalachian fiddle tunes from the mountains of West Virginia. But her playful side can't resist amusing modern songs about real life, which somehow co-exist with folk songs from long ago.

12 pm AMForte Clarity - Rock and Blues
Driven to succeed, A.M.Forte has sought out different avenues for exposure. As a singer/songwriter, she will never give up in her dreams . With Punk/Rock/Pop flairs, this artist has influences that include, U2, Nirvana, RadioHead, Alanis Morrissette, Coldplay, MCR, AAR, The Cranberries, Our Lady Peace and Elliott Smith. She WON the Best of SL Magazine Musician of 2009 Ministry of Motion Contest!

Visit her at the following Websites:
http://www.amforte.com
http://www.myspace.com/amforte
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFMvM0JSOXc

1 pm Prowess Rayna, piano
Prowess Rayna, a true artist on the piano, began playing at 3, composing at 7 & performing professionally by 14. Countless souls have been uplifted by her sensuous, passionate expression, fluid technique & beautiful melodies. Her reputation flourishes as she shares her evolving talents with live music lovers in SL


2 pm SonyaJevette Charisma
The words sultry, cool, and eccentric best describe the singer, songwriter, and musician Sonya Jevette. She grew up singing to the great R&B tunes that dominated the airwaves in the seventies. As a teen she honed her vocal talent through the church choir. Winning a talent contest at the age of seventeen was the beginning of Jevette's journey. From there, she went on to win dozens of competitions. These successes translated into media attention from radio & newspaper with appearances at over one hundred festivals.

Jevette combines her rich, passionate voice and her gut-wrenching lyrics with classical, latin and jazz style guitar. Jevette's configuration produces a style that can only be described as unique.

http://www.iTunes.com/sonyajevette
http://www.cdbaby.com/sonyajevette

3 pm The Choo Choo Chicks
The Choo Choo Chicks are sassy, sizzling jazz and blues live from Red Lotus Records in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Tight harmonies and a kickin' rhythm section are the hallmarks of this group, who perform original music written by lead singer Angua Ashbourne and cover the classics from Robert Johnson to Lady Day.

Weblinks: www.redlotusrecords.net http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5V0F-9xMuo

Nov 19 "Let's Talk Classical Music" with Aelthing Aeon

Let's Talk Classical Music
November 19 @ 11 am SLT
Music Island, Sea Turtle Island

Like to listen and learn about classical music? Aelthing Aeon, a guest lecturer with the National Federation of Recorded Music Societies (UK) will present an informative talk on selected classical recordings. This month's topic "Innovation and Conservation in Early Music".

The format for this series is selected recordings on the SL music stream accompanied by informative text chat by the host. Questions and comments from the audience in text are welcome during the presentation.

Nov. 20 Atheene Dodonpa: Songs of the Anunciation & Advent Season

Atheene Dodonpa, soprano
Early Songs of the Anunciation & Advent Season
(live concert in 3D virtual reality)
Sunday November 20, 2011
12 noon SLT (Pacific Time)
Music Island, Sea Turtle Island

Atheene Dodonpa is the pre-eminent wandering minstrel of Second Life, entertaining townsfolk and castle dwellers alike with authentic music from many cultures delivered in her thrilling soprano, accompanying herself on period instruments and illuminating the audience with warm, engaging, explanatory chat.

PROGRAM:

Songs of the Annunciation and the Advent Season

4 Early Syrian hymns

• Yawnu Tlitu (Little Dove, Birth of Christ)
• Qurbone Qarebun (Prayer of the Priests)
• Enono nuhro shariro (I´m the true Light)
• Ayn Qai (People died in faith)

6 songs from the Laudario di Firenze

• Laude novella (Virgin Mary)
• Voi ch´amate lo criatore (Virgin Mary´s lament)
• Novel canto dolce sancto (Apostle Thomas)
• Peccatrice nominata (Mary Magdalene)
• Sancto Marco glorioso (Evangelist Mark)
• Sancto Symeom beato (Simeon who saw the baby Jesus)

3 songs by Hildegard von Bingen

• O quam preciosa (Virgin Mary)
• O nobilissima viriditas (Praising the virginity)
• Mathias sanctus (Evangelist Matthew)

The Florence Laudario is a collection of monophonic hymns dating from the 14th century, and is only one of two extant that include the written music, the other being the Cortona Laudario from the 13th century. The Florence Laudario belonged to the Company of Santo Spirito, an ensemble of “laudesi” (much like a group of cantors, or even a schola), which sung the compline service every evening for the Church of Santo Spirito. A church of any renown had its company of laudesi whose chief job it was to help the congregation sing the hymns, the way we still use cantors today. Hymns were composed with a ritornello (“refrain”) that was easy enough for the congregation to learn. All text, notably, was in the vernacular, not in Latin, again providing the congregation with access to the language. This is probably why these hymns are still around in some version or another. Unlike the Cortonese who kept their laude simple, the laudesi of Florence, being Florentine, of course refined and ornamented their laude such that only trained singers could successfully sing the complex bits. However, the ritornello was always there to return to, and the congregations could, and would, join in.
- Amelia LeClair

HILDEGARD VON BINGEN, (1098-1179), was a remarkable woman, a "first" in many fields. At a time when few women wrote, Hildegard, known as "Sybil of the Rhine", produced major works of theology and visionary writings. When few women were accorded respect, she was consulted by and advised bishops, popes, and kings. She used the curative powers of natural objects for healing, and wrote treatises about natural history and medicinal uses of plants, animals, trees and stones. She is the first composer whose biography is known. Clearly a force to
contend with, she wrote books and letters on all of the above topics, traveled widely, and penned what is arguably the first opera in western music, the “Ordo Virtutem”. She founded a vibrant convent, where her musical plays were performed. Her music is radically different from the chant that surrounded her: she takes great leaps of fifths followed by fourths frequently (thus spanning an octave), and the expressive writing is not meant for the faint of heart. She obviously had very well trained singers at her disposal. Her poetry is raw and wonderful, and has no known precedent.

Although not yet canonized, Hildegard has been beatified, and is frequently referred to as St. Hildegard. Revival of interest in this extraordinary woman of the middle ages was initiated by musicologists and historians of science and religion. More controversially, Hildegard's music had been adapted and interpreted by the New Age movement, whose music bears some resemblance to Hildegard's ethereal airs.

Her story is important to all students of medieval history and culture and an inspirational account of an irresistible spirit and vibrant intellect overcoming social, physical, cultural, gender barriers to achieve timeless transcendence. For her, Mary, the mother of Jesus, was a frequent artistic theme.