Introducing the Double Bar Newsletter
In Today’s Newsletter:
Main Idea: Welcome to the Double Bar Newsletter
What I’m Listening to: Autumn Vibes
100-Word Analysis: Mahler 5
Curated Content: How many Musical Elements are there?
4 minute read
The Double Bar Newsletter is a weekly email newsletter that helps musicians find their signature sound through deepening their understanding of music through composition, music theory, and musicology.
Welcome to the Double Bar Newsletter
Hello everyone! Happy Wednesday.
Today I wanted to introduce you to the new look of my email newsletter!
Perhaps you are asking: why the re-branding? And that’s a great question.
1) I wanted to focus the content of this newsletter.
I haven’t really had much of a thesis for my newsletter, other than keeping you up to date on what is happening in my life and work - but I told you some time back in the spring that I wanted to make the newsletter more valuable to you as a reader, and as a musician. This re-branding will give the content of this newsletter some focus.
2) I want to be more consistent in sending it out.
I understand that giving it a shiny new logo won’t automatically make me better at consistency - although, my ADHD brain certainly has hoped that it will. But, in all seriousness - giving it a name and a purpose will truly help me have a sense of urgency to get it to you on time. And I really like having a hard deadline.
3) This is a merging of newsletters
As I have told you before, I have tried to compartmentalize my different subjects - composition, music theory, and musicology; and that has had varying degrees of success. But now I am blending all of these subjects together, and I am only going to have one newsletter moving forward. Some of you have signed up for this newsletter from watching Two Minute Music Theory, and some of you from being listeners or performers of my music. And I want this new format to be a place for everyone.
“Okay, that’s great,” you say to me; “but, why ‘The Double Bar?”
Yes. You have arrived here today with an excellent set of questions.
The name and concept for The Double Bar comes from this video. It’s a habit that a professor of mine suggested I form when composing. “Get to the Double Bar” was his advice. And by that he meant, you need to get a complete picture of your composition before working on smaller details. Get a 30,000 foot view of the piece from downbeat to Double Bar - then you can start detailing.
I realized as I was working on that video for my YouTube channel that this is good advice for all musicians. Performers, theorists, conductors, doesn’t matter. It is crucial to have an overview of the music you’re working on from start to finish before you get down into the weeds.
And that’s where the name of the newsletter comes from. I want all of us to find our distinct musical voices, and in order to do that, we need to “get to the double bar.”
I will expound more on that as this newsletter progresses.
What happens now?
Every Wednesday at 10 AM Eastern time, I’ll be sending you a newsletter that looks just like this one into your inbox. I’ll have a bunch of different sections that will show up from week to week - some of them will be the same every week, some will rotate in and out. But, up at the top of each email, I’ll include a “In Today’s Newsletter” where you can get an overview of the newsletter before diving in.
What I Have Been Listening To
My Autumn Playlist on Spotify - The minute that Labor Day hits, we deck our home out in fall decor, light our seasonal candles, and I turn on this playlist. It definitely could use expanding, so please let me know what autumn music you listen to.
Jason Max Ferdinand Singers (BBC Proms) - This performance was incredible. I love listening to this ensemble whenever I get a chance. I also caught the Proms performance of Mahler 5 which I listened to with my daughter for 20 minutes before she asked “why is there no singing?”
Beta Test Sign Up Ends Soon!
If you would like to be a part of the beta test for the new membership community, the deadline to sign up is Wednesday, September 25. There are a limited number of spots left, and it is first come, first serve. Respond to this email to sign up.
The crowdfunding campaign is also in its last few weeks. We’re trying to raise $5,000 to cover the costs of content creation and web development. You can donate as much or as little as you like, but for a $100 donation or more, you will get lifetime membership for free. Lifetime membership will not be offered once the membership is live. You can donate here. The campaign runs through September 30.
Mahler 5: A 100-Word Analysis
Speaking of Mahler 5. One of the new segments I’ll be adding is this one where I will give an analysis on a facet of a piece in 100 words or less.
There are so many things to talk about with Mahler 5, but I always like to start by just listening and seeing what jumps out at me. This particular time, I noticed that throughout the symphony, Mahler uses a texture in which he gives a strong instrument or section (like the trumpets, or the brass section) the most important line, and then he gives a weaker instrument or section the countermelody, or some background texture. And I think this is a very smart, and efficient use of instrumentation. You want the important line to be at the very forefront, and you need the background material to not interfere.
So, I’m going to be trying this technique out in my writing, and I recommend you give it a try as well!
Curated Content
How Many Musical Elements Are There, Really?
I find it curious that no one can seem to agree on how many elements of music there are, so in this video, I’m going to try to find out.
Yet I Will Rejoice (SATB choir)
This week marks the 10 year anniversary of the premiere of my first choir piece. I wrote it while I was composer in residence at a church in Alabama. It remains my favorite, and most performed piece. The link is to a video of its European premiere in 2017.
Thanks for joining me this week.
I hope that you like the new format and where this email newsletter is going.
Jesse