Artist’s Corner: Kevin Baldwin

Time Study No., in Blue

The score of a musical work is fascinating. As a composer, I spend hundreds of hours alone with a score to unearth and present the uniqueness of every sound. I consider the physicality of a sound, both in the depth of overtones and frequencies and in the most mi-nuscule human motions it takes to produce them. I consider texture, the harsh and grinding color of the cellist utilizing over-pressured bowing, and the intimate fragility of the flautist’s unstable multi-phonic. I consider shape, from violent rhythmic gestures to light, lyrical flurries. I consider, how variations larger blocks made up of colors, texutres, layers, and rhythms work together to highlight every unique aspect of a sound. I consider the weight of each and every observance I make, and I ensure every mark in the score best reveals the essence of a sound.

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Aphrodite’s Tango: A Wandering Improv of Love, Travel & Togetherness

Conditions were suspiciously perfect as a full moon hung over a rainbow sea of city lights in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. We danced on a rooftop to tango music, becoming sudden converts to whatever religion Aphrodite commanded and thus had a god(ess)-given responsibility to romance, given the circumstances. I am very much not a dancer, but that evening I appeared to be and so I think our first date was spoken through movement and embrace. Ideal, actually, given our native languages were not the same. Victor, my dance partner that evening, and I were part of a tango festival as dance teacher/performer and musician respectively. My colleagues on violin encouraged us (though we needed little convincing) and Victor ended up joining us on the rest of our tour through Mexico.

A Letter to the Painter I Didn’t Know I Was Becoming

Dear reader, I didn’t think I’d become a painter. When I was four years old, I told my parents I wanted to be a dessinatrice—a graphite artist. I didn’t know what that fully meant, only that I wanted to spend my life with pencils in hand, in a quiet room, making images appear where there was once only blankness, until late in the night. It felt like a kind of peaceful magic, and it still does. But life, as it often does, led me through a long and scenic route.

Artist’s Corner – Kevin Baldwin: Composition No. 10

The score of a musical work is fascinating. As a composer, I spend hundreds of hours alone with a score to unearth and present...

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