A huge diversity of musical life has been spotted in the fertile pages of the Journal of Music in Irelandover the past eight years. Here's a small sample:
July-August 2002Cultural commentator and Benedictine monk Mark Patrick Hederman, now the abbot of Glenstal Abbey, muses on music and mathematics under the non-computational heading, "Silver on silver thrills itself to ice"
Jan-Feb 2003Composer and guitarist Benjamin Dwyer launches a missile at music critics. "Music criticism remains an orbiting satellite clinging to the gravity of the central, created work. If this point does nothing more it might at least offer a direction for music critics towards humility . . . "
March-April 2004Flute-maker Hammy Hamilton takes a big stick to the thunderous musical and political history of the Lambeg drum – "reckoned to be the loudest drum in the world at 120db, it is quite an experience to stand close to one being played and feel your insides rhythmically vibrate in sympathy to the drum heads."
July-August 2006Composer John McLachlan scratches his head over the tricky business of naming new musical compositions. "Avoid Sanskrit," he advises. "There are tons of Koans and Samsaras already."
Sept-Oct 2007Composer Raymond Deane begins his essay "On Fatwas and Compressed Frequencies" with the observation: "There are only two kinds of music: good and bad. Those who deliver this truism are usually considered to be expressing the ultimate in tolerance and pluralism. But is this appearance deceptive? Replace the word 'music' with 'people', and the formulation begins to acquire slightly less positive connotations . . . "
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