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The Laboratory #2

Posted by epsilon on February 8, 2014
Posted in: Photography, Science. Tagged: laboratory glassware. Leave a comment

lab_antarctica

The laboratory

Posted by epsilon on February 4, 2014
Posted in: Photography, Science. Tagged: chemistry, laboratory apparatus, science. Leave a comment

2014-02-03 12.15.02

Photo of a photo with iPhone 5s

View from above #2

Posted by epsilon on February 3, 2014
Posted in: Art, Photography. Tagged: adobe lightroom, aerial photograph, iphone 5s, pixelmator. Leave a comment

dc_blue

Aerial photo – desaturate, increase contrast, then overlaywith two color masks using “multiply” to mix them with the layer below. Tools: Adobe Lightroom, Pixelmator. Camera: iPhone 5s

View from above

Posted by epsilon on February 3, 2014
Posted in: Photography. Tagged: adobe lightroom, aerial photography, false color, iphone 5s. Leave a comment

dc-1

Photo of an aerial photo developed with Adobe Lightroom. Camera: iPhone 5s

Posting weather data on your web site

Posted by epsilon on January 26, 2014
Posted in: Code. Tagged: html, php, weather. Leave a comment

Being trapped inside by cold and snow gave me idle time to write PHP code for displaying the temperature and weather conditions in various cities, e.g. the below at 4:55 pm today. (Brrrr!)

Upper Arlington: -2 °C, 28 °F (Cloudy)

Chicago: -1 °C, 31 °F (Mostly Cloudy)

For the HTML and PHP code, see PHP code at vschool.herokuapp.com. The code was based on an example found at codingforums.com

Whither Classical Music

Posted by epsilon on January 26, 2014
Posted in: Music. Tagged: bach, beethoven, chamber music concert, clasical music, classical music, contemporary classical music, future of classical music, group muse, house concert, mozart, music industry. 2 Comments

Of course the term makes me cringe. Does it refer to the music from the time of Mozart to the time of Beethoven? Does it include Wagner? Ravel? Debussy? Cage? Shostakovich? Bach? Monterverdi? Gesualdo? Dufay? Ockeghem? Machaut? And there is contemporary classical music, which seems like a contradiction in terms — how can it be classical if it is contemporary? I thought a composer had to be dead to be in the running for “classical”. In real life, I think the term is shorthand for music which is composed and which is or might be played in a concert hall

The important issue is not the definitional boundaries of the term, but rather “what is the future of the genre”. Here is a depressing view of that future: I learned about Vanhoenacker’s article from a posted to Facebook.

There is a mostly thoughtful rebuttal by Andy Doe. However, there is a problem — we who love “classical” music would like it to thrive, and one can’t help but think about new models of connecting musicians and audience. , which describes itself as

halfway between a chamber music concert and a house party.
It’s equal parts musical and social. It’s a way to enjoy yourself and enrich yourself.

Groupmuse seems to have a good idea. Their philosophy is described in more detail at their blog, blog.groupmuse.com Here is an extended quote

Sam and I often speak about how one of our goals is to “change the social role of classical music.” By this we refer to changing the perception of classical as outmoded, boring, elitist, expensive, etc. But we also refer to reforming it’s socioeconomic role.

The music performed at groupmuses is small scale: small spaces, few listeners, fewer performers. Where else in the music industry but Groupmuse are such performances economically feasible? The pop and dance music industries are dominated by huge stadium tours and festivals. Few small venues can afford to operate and few acts can afford to tour them—and most of these venues and tours are hardly profitable. The classical music industry is increasingly dependent on donations and endowments, so small organizations putting on Groupmuse-size concerts have difficulty staying in business.

It’s naturally difficult to profit off a small concert—fewer audience members mean fewer ticket sales, after all. Then there are venue and marketing costs to consider. At the end of the day, it’s rare for the musicians and the venue operator to walk away with a wad of cash worth the time they spent on the concert.

A groupmuse, when you look at it through the eyes of a heartless, cold-blooded money-shark, is the same small concert, minus the costs of marketing, maintaining a venue, and paying the venue operator. More $$ for the performers means more viable small concerts. And that’s reforming the socioeconomic role of classical music.

– Ezra

Now that is something to think about. Let’s do think. And then let’s act — if not with this model, another.

PS. A great write-up on Groupmuse at DigBoston

Saturday Afternoon in Domingo’s Office

Posted by epsilon on January 18, 2014
Posted in: Mathematics, Photography. Tagged: blackboard, Mathematics. Leave a comment

math_blackboard-1

Calle San Sebastián, Puerto Rico

Posted by epsilon on January 18, 2014
Posted in: Photography. Tagged: Calle San Sebastián, photography, Puerto Rico. Leave a comment

Calle_San_Sebastian_Puerto_Rico-

New York

Posted by epsilon on January 1, 2014
Posted in: NYC, Photography. Tagged: New York City. Leave a comment

time_to_eat

Art @ KIAS, Seoul Korea

Posted by epsilon on December 31, 2013
Posted in: Art. Tagged: Art, KIAS, korea, painting, Seoul. Leave a comment

Art-KIAS-2013-51

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