“[Competitors’] Relative performance tells us nothing of interest because all of them may be shamefully low — or impressively high — on whatever measure we’re using. Comparative success just gives the winner bragging rights (“We’re No. 1!”). And again, it creates the misleading impression of inevitable, permanent failure for some.
But boy, do we love to rank. Worse, we create artificial scarcity by giving out awards — distinctions manufactured out of thin air specifically so that some cannot get them.
Framing excellence in these competitive terms doesn’t lead to improvements in performance. Indeed, a consistent body of social science research shows that competition tends to hold us back from doing our best. It creates an adversarial mentality that makes productive collaboration less likely, encourages gaming of the system and leads all concerned to focus not on meaningful improvement but on trying to outdo (and perhaps undermine) everyone else.”
Saturday night 3/30/19 I make my Carnegie Hall main stage debut in Jason and Alicia Moran’s “Two Wings”. It’s pretty powerful to see your name on the display. I’ve been working so hard on my solo arrangement to represent the classical guitar well. Fingers crossed that I break ALL the legs and lift up an overlooked composer! #classicalguitar #carnegiehall #practice #music #nyc #concert
https://www.instagram.com/flippinguitar/p/Bvl-QRggJL7/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1ualy1uo8xj5f
It’s been 1 month since Duo Noire released our album Night Triptych, featuring 6 incredible new classical guitar duets by brilliant women composers from around the world: Clarice Assad, Courtney Bryan, Golfam Khayam, Mary Kouyoumdjian, Gity Razaz, and Gabriella Smith.
We are honored to have worked with them and to have received such amazing reviews, including this newest one from
Stereophile.
We hope the guitar world enjoys and embraces this music of our time.
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“There’s a goldmine of ideas here, whose riches will unveil themselves more and more over time.” -Stereophile
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“Flippin and Mallett [are] virtuosos who invest their performances with energy and conviction. To claim that the two break new ground in the world of classical guitar music on the hour-long release isn’t overselling it.”
-Textura.org
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“All contemporary programs of guitar music are not common, and this may be the first to feature exclusively female composers…A truly pathbreaking recording that is greatly satisfying in its own right.” -AllMusic
#newfocusrecordings #gabriellasmith #classicalmusic #classicalguitar #classicalguitarist #classicalguitarasia #strings #music #newmusic #composer #guitar #guitarduo #albumcover #albumart #acousticguitar #guitarstagram #womeninmusic #womencomposers #classicalmusician
“The only thing that remains really true is the feeling that at the end of the day, I know that I really played good or I didn’t. Or that I made some progress and I understand something that I didn’t understand at the beginning of the day, or I don’t. This to me, is the real currency of what it is to have a life of a musician. This accumulated wisdom and insight into the reality of music, and as much of a stretch as it might be sometimes, therefore into life and living…The main thing in my life, even as I stand here right now, right this second, is that I really need to go home and practice.”
Duo Noire had a blast @ Juilliard for our dear friend Raymond Lustig’s composition class. We performed some of Ray’s “Figments” from our album of his music and talked about composing for the guitar with an absolutely wonderful group of adult students. Good times!
“I have made this mistake many times. I have played things that are not playable. You know, trying to prove that I could play more notes than other guitarists could. And then, at one point, you realize that “really, is that so important for me to show?” As you get older, at least for me, it’s much more about the beauty.
At the very beginning, it was the sound of the guitar. Then at one point, you realize that it’s more than the sound, that there’s music that’s even more interesting… But then you realize at one point that there is another level, it can become art.
”
119 Likes, 5 Comments - Thomas Flippin (@flippinguitar) on Instagram: "Here's a little compose-a-gram from my "practice" this evening. Anyone else awake? #nightmusic..."
Here’s a little compose-a-gram from my “practice” this evening. Anyone else awake? #nightmusic #theorbo #insomnia #lute #classicalguitar #nocturnal #music (at New York, New York)
“We’ve realized that we fell in love with the guitar for the same reason- not because we saw somebody play perfectly but because it touches us where we live.”
“You know, music is just not that important … I don’t enjoy messing up, but I accept that the only way to get better is to suck. And some people work really hard to circumvent that process by never playing a song that they haven’t immaculately prepared, and when you play like that and think like that, then nothing magical can happen on stage. You have to learn to leave some room to let things happen. But that requires risk. And if you’re risk averse, you shouldn’t be doing this. You should be an accountant.”
A behind-the-scenes look from Duo Noire’s recording session in Brooklyn last summer. This is our recent arrangement of R. Nathaniel Dett’s famous “Juba” dance. It was a common dance performed by slaves on plantations across the south. People would clap and slap their thighs and chests while singing and stomping their feet in 2/4 time (8th + two 16ths). Sometimes a lead fiddler or dancer would show off with increasing virtuosity as the crowd encouraged them. Slaves used their bodies for percussion because they were forbidden from having drums due to a fear that they would transmit coded messages. Glad to share this with the guitar community in the new issue of Soundboard.