Charles B. Griffin » Musings

Generative Music – Part I – Tiction

Charles — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 21:12:02 +0000

One of the reasons you’ve been seeing posts from me lately about the graphic arts software programs Inkscape and Processing is because I’m in the planning stages of a multi-movement, electroacoustic, multi-media work that I will write for a flute quartet based in Rīga (and possibly a second [...]

Solving an Inkscape Effect Problem with “Path to Pattern” on Mac OS X 10.5.8

Charles — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 08:44:25 +0000

I’m new to Inkscape and have been trying a small handful of tutorials I’ve found online. In the middle of a compass-making tutorial, while trying to use “Path to Pattern Effect”, I ran into the following wall:

The fantastic lxml wrapper for libxml2 is required [...]

Griffin Ensemble in Durbe, Liepāja and Cēsis, Part III

Charles — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 16:06:53 +0000

After the concert in Liepāja, we were all fired up to perform in Cēsis. Latvijas Koncerti arranged for a small bus to chauffeur us there, and the trip took a bit over five and a half hours, Cēsis being over an hour on the other side of Rīga. I’m becoming accustomed to these Baltic summers, [...]

Set fire to have light – The Griffin Ensemble in Durbe, Liepāja and Cēsis, Part II

Charles — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 16:08:29 +0000

I just uploaded to YouTube a second video from the Liepāja concert, this time of the string quartet playing Set fire to have light. Click on the link for a PDF of the score if you’d like to follow along. The title is taken from a [...]

The Griffin Ensemble in Durbe, Liepāja and Cēsis, Part I

Charles — Wed, 23 May 2007 16:36:14 +0000

Here is the poster that was displayed in Liepāja and Cēsis advertising our concerts.

This past week, between Sunday and Saturday, we gave three performances, one each in Durbe, Liepāja and Cēsis. As one might expect, the week brought both problems and successes.

The performance in Durbe [...]

World Music and Musicianship.

Charles — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 16:41:59 +0000

I spent much of February preparing and giving 4 workshops in Rīga on rhythmic organization in music outside the European tradition. Antra Dreģe, the director of the women’s vocal ensemble Putni (whom I wrote about in this blog previously), applied for a grant to bring me to Rīga, ostensibly to help the ensemble cohere better [...]

Back to our regularly scheduled program…

Charles — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 16:45:11 +0000

Wow, it’s been a month since my last post. But I’ve got good reasons, being on the road for most of the time since Christmas. I welcomed in the New Year in Switzerland. We were there for an expensive week of bears, fondue, mountains, markets, churches and art. We went to Lucerne, Bern, Interlaken and [...]

A qualified success. Putni and my three-in-one premiere.

Charles — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 16:47:04 +0000

In December 2005 I learned that the Riga-based women’s vocal ensemble, Putni (Birds), was coming to Liepaja to give a performance at the local theater. I had recently written a new a cappella piece for eight women’s voices, a setting of Ihara Saikaku’s (1642-93) haiku:

I have gazed at it now
For [...]

From the Faraway Nearby

Charles — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 12:13:02 +0000

From the Faraway Nearby. That’s how Georgia O’Keeffe sometimes signed her correspondence. It’s also the title of one of her paintings. I took that title for one of my own compositions, a suite of pieces for two guitars that are inspired by her paintings. Now I’m taking it for the title of my blog.

I’m [...]