Find New Music! Map
This free resource exists to help listeners find where to go to listen and help performers plan tours. The festivals, venues, and presenting organizations listed here are mostly in the US and primarily present New Music.
Help me upgrade!
I would like to move from Google Maps to MapMe, an interactive mapping software. You will be able to see organization info more easily and I can utilize multiple categories per item – meaning I can do things like differentiate new music festivals that do or do not have open applications. I can also make it more clear as to which organizations have a primary venue or not. Some orgs., like Oh My Ears, use multiple venues to present new music in their cities. Help me upgrade and maintain this map starting at $1 per month.
Ok, seriously, what is “new music”?
I’m always looking for a better way to explain “new music” to the uninitiated. In a pinch I say something along the lines of “It’s music that pushes the boundaries of what we consider music or mixes ideas in a way to make something new and interesting.” This leaves out the timeframe and culture – I usually think of “new music” as music stemming from Western musical traditions concerning formal concert and academic arenas since the 1950s (back when vacuum tubes produced the first purely electronic music). “Traditions” could mean symphonies, jazz, electronic music, chamber music, etc. As with any categorization, the boundaries are fuzzy. When defining music genres or traditions we will always end up in “no such thing as a fish” territory. It is not my intention to exclude non-Western traditions and instruments in my definition. They are of course, very welcome.
However, the term’s origin can be dated back to the 1920s and to the American composer Henry Cowell. Henry Cowell was an experimental composer, now most known among composition students for his massive tone clusters and utilizing the inside of the piano as part of performance. A piece I wrote in 2017, I saw the land break in half, is directly related to hearing the work of Henry Cowell. Published in 1930, Cowell’s New Musical Resources kicked off a string of events that established and perpetuated experimental music in America – New Music. The first new music organization was established by Cowell in 1925. So while “new music” isn’t new, it is 100+ years old, the tradition of experimentation and expansion is alive and well.
I always say I write music to tell stories. Extended techniques (the cool sounds you weren’t supposed to make on your clarinet in middle school but made by professionals), the inclusion of technology, and new theories around how to present music are all part of my language. I am part of this New Music tradition and proud to send it off into the future.