Travelling

Choralation will probably be on a brief hiatus, as I settle into my new surroundings at the University of York in the U.K. I'm looking forward to this great adventure and hope that I will have a lot to share in the coming months.

In the meantime, I would like to direct attention to a fine article by Terry Teachout at Commentary magazine. There is a new book which discusses popular song composition since 1950. The book is a sequel to Alec Wilder's classic American Popular Song which dealt with all of the great popular songs written from 1900-1950 in an informative but highly individual, wry manner. I hope to devote a post to Wilder's wonderful genre-straddling music in the future, but it deserves more than I can do right now. In the article, Teachout also explores the reasons for the decline of the "professional" tradition of popular song writing. Part of the reason, he says, is the combination of a shift in demographics, the rise of sophisticated rock and roll and singer-songwriters, and the decline of the Broadway theatre in the late 60's and 70's (What about Sondheim, you say? His music is, for the most part, character driven which makes it hard to perform out of context). While I do think the tradition of Arlen, Kern, Rodgers will probably never return, I am encouraged by a number of songwriters writing sophisticated songs both musically and lyrically, which could have life beyond the initial performance - Elvis Costello's North album and Rufus Wainwright are two that spring to mind. Songs will always live on and continue to speak of the human condition, we just have to be open to them wherever they may come from in the future.