AMERICAN MUSIC SERIES                        316 a-c                                                   1 

Steve Mackey

with Jack Vees

New Haven, Connecticut

February 22 and 23, 2001

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Side a:                                                                                                                        pp. 1-22

Early family history and musical memories--tap dancing--guitar playing--influence of popular music: Beatles, Doors, etc.--Michael Gordon--other popular musical influences (Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Santana, Yes)--Yes concert--studying at University of California at Davis--graduate school at State University of New York at Stony Brook-- harmonic language--jazz--interest in early music--late 19^th century opera and heavy metal--serialism--Donald Martino--Notturno--Triple Concerto for Three Clarinets--Milton Babbitt--American avant-garde--Varèse--return to UC Davis to teach guitar--going to Brandeis.

Side b:                                                                                                                       pp. 22-41

Study at Brandeis (continued) with Donald Martino and Andrew Imbrie--Summer Air--First String Quartet: work with the Lydian Quartet, discussion of the music--Crystal Shadows--teaching job at College of William and Mary--dissertation: The Thirteenth Note: the Function of Octaves in Non-Tonal Music--Webern Op. 21--teaching at Princeton--Milton Babbitt--Paul Lansky--Jim Randall--improvising and playing the electric guitar--Journey to Ixtlan--Fumeux Fume--rock music--his music as various discoveries of places and inhabiting those places--minimalism and serialism--Steve Reich and Philip Glass--Ravenshead: narrative dramatic elements and music.

Side c:                                                                                                                                    pp. 41-42

Humor in his music--more on Ravenshead--popular opera.

AMERICAN MUSIC SERIES                                                                              316 e-g

Steve Mackey

Yale Composers Seminar

Feb. 22 and 23, 2001

                                                TABLE OF CONTENTS

Side e                                                                                                             pp. 1-6

Deal--improvised parts in Deal--sketches for it--decision to write completely notated guitar part--Tuck and Roll.

Side f                                                                                                             pp. 6-26

Harmonic language--choosing pitch-class  sets--Deal--references to other music in his orchestration--form as a journey or trip--revising--orchestration--notation--cadenza in his piece--Frank Zappa--audience's feelings about electric guitar--Mahler--post-tonality--Ars moriendi--story behind Ars moriendi.

Side g                                                                                                             pp. 26-27

Ars moriendi (continued).

AMERICAN MUSIC SERIES                                                                     316 j-k

Steve Mackey

with Jack Vees

Princeton, New Jersey

June 22, 2001

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Side j                                                                                                              pp. 1-20

Ravenshead--influence of Debussy--guitar lessons at U. C. Davis--interest in sense of movement in music, not goal-oriented--improvisation--importance of work with Jim Randall:  being released from paradigms of counterpoint and voice-leading--balance between composer and player--Tuck and Roll--idea of concerto--Deal--Ravenshead--Banana Dump Truck--performing on the guitar--“allergy” to older formal devices and reaction to “German formalist thinking”--“granular” texture:  little sounds that combine to form a unified effect--formal clarity--Bach--Ravel--Ligeti--Ars Moriendi--Pedal Tones.

Side k                                                                                                                        pp. 20-31

Pedal Tones (continued)--Heavy Light--Timothy Leary--Two Dances from William Carlos Williams--piece for a vocalist projected for the 2003 Holland festival--Among the Vanishing--Ravenshead--desire to write choral pieces--singers in compositions--embracing melody--relating to technology--projections about role of composer, performer and audience in five years--sampling--post-modernism--future direction.