Symphony in D

[marshamusic]

Symphony in D, composed by Bostonian/MIT professor Tod Machover, made its debut at the DSO last week, conducted by Leonard Slatkin.

I was honored to have been a part of it, and to have the piece that I was commissioned to write for the performance, a poem, published as the Opinion Page feature of the Free Press yesterday [[along with a poem by Tonya Matthews, who is also the director and CEO of the Michigan Science Center).
http://www.freep.com/story/opinion/contributors/2015/11/29/symphony/76390016/

Here is Symphony in D, linked below. It is a beautiful work [[I, and others, come on at about 13:00). It was live streamed and projected on the southern DSO wall for an outdoor event during the Saturday night performance.
https://youtu.be/ZFNyuC3p8fs

Reviews are mixed but mostly good; here's a favorable one:
http://hyperallergic.com/256578/composing-the-sounds-of-detroit-into-a-symphony/

It was a wonderful experience and the collection of "Detroit sounds" for this work was a stupendous endeavor. Machover is amazing.

In an interview before the performance, I expressed my grateful to folks on DetroitYES for the illuminating discussions that we had a few years ago, regarding the primordial formation of the swamp-like lands of what came to be called Black Bottom, and the early history of the city. These greatly inspired my opening stanzas and approach.

I hope for great holidays for you all.

Marsha Music

[Gistok]

Well Marsha.... very very impressive...

At first I was a bit baffled by the [[as they call it) cacaphony of sounds.... but it soon grew on me... and all the dissonant chords came together quite nicely.

I can honestly say I've heard nothing quite like this! Good job by all.... loved your poetry....

Also loved your hair! [[Diana Ross... eat your heart out!)

A well deserved BRAVO!!

[Lowell]

Indeed. Bravo Marsha.

[archfan]

Congratulations - I really respect the amount of hard work it took to bring that together.

[marshamusic]

Well Marsha.... very very impressive...

At first I was a bit baffled by the [[as they call it) cacaphony of sounds.... but it soon grew on me... and all the dissonant chords came together quite nicely.

I can honestly say I've heard nothing quite like this! Good job by all.... loved your poetry....

Also loved your hair! [[Diana Ross... eat your heart out!)

A well deserved BRAVO!!

Thank you for your kind words, Gistok. [[and thanks to Lowell and archfan, too.)

At first, after hearing/reading so much about the collecting of thousands of "Detroit sounds" for the project, one might expect them to be individually distinguishable and identifiable; it may seem, upon listening, that there were no actual "sounds" at all, only music.

But a close listen [[and especially at the live performance) it is obvious that what is being played is not all "music" but also the "sounds" that have been mixed into musical forms [[Machover is, among other tech things, the inventor of Guitar Hero).

The children [[from Youthville, on Woodward Ave.), who are in the concert video banging on their keyboards, are actually playing samples of hundreds of Detroit sounds. Perhaps another project may evolve from this, in which the sounds, annotated, can be accessed for public listening. It really was an amazing endeavor, and a documentary film will come of it, as well.

As for my "hair", thank you! It was actually a huge fluff of tulle tutu - I thought that this was an event worthy of homage to Detroit's Lady Diana.

.