Welcome to Rhythm Begins
This newsletter is a continuation of a blog that I started back in 2010. Along with my life as a musician, I have always enjoyed writing about music and documenting the trends, thoughts, and influences that I encounter. Making a career as percussionist has stimulated me to find ways of telling complex stories in relatable ways, and of connecting my current activities to longer flowing currents from the past. I also studied piano, choral singing, and conducting, and am frequently finding ways to integrate all of those activities into my work.
I will be writing essays of personal reflection here, as well as deep-dive explainer articles on composers and artists. My subjects include pedagogy, artistic lineage, creativity, collaboration, and much more. I love reading literature, and will as likely reflect on that my current reading as write about music.
I am a longtime member of the group Sō Percussion, the Edward T. Cone Perfomers-in-Residence at Princeton University, where I am also a Lecturer. We have commissioned many new pieces from composers such as Steve Reich, Julia Wolfe, and David Lang, written our own music, and collaborated with beatboxers, indie rock musicians, choreographers, and more. As part of my love for scholarship and writing, I earned a doctorate from Yale University in 2009.
I can be reached at adam@sopercussion.com.
NEWS
I am just beginning to work on a catalog of Sō Percussion commissions going back to our first piece in THE YEAR TWO THOUSAND. Some percussion teachers have asked to have this body of work in one place to help them in programming their concerts. Stay tuned…
I have written another chapter for the Cambridge University Press. This time, it is in the "Cambridge Companion to Rhythm." My article examines how composers from Messiaen to Reich to Wolfe have conceptualized the role of rhythm in their music and society.
Cambridge Companion to Rhythm on Amazon
OTHER LINKS
Sō Percussion
The "bitKlavier," a digital instrument invented by Dan Trueman. One of my biggest and most favorite personal projects.
My first solo album, the "Nostalgic Synchronic" etudes for bitKlavier by Trueman.
Other than on this site, I have writings in a few other places:
- I contributed a chapter to the Cambridge Companion to Percussion on Cambridge University Press. I write about percussion as a chamber music medium, going back to John Cage as a bridge between old and new.
- For Sō Percussion's production "A Gun Show," I contributed an essay to The Log Journal, and also wrote a book with Lynne DeSilva Johnson, published on The Operating System.
My bio on the So Percussion website
