New & Timely Song & Video: DREAM

Even more awards and accolades for Light As Paper!

Yet even more awards and accolades for Light As Paper, the beautiful and evocative short film created by my friends and collaborators at Evolve Puppets (Tanya Khordoc and Barry Weill). It’s been selected by the Coney Island Festival (previously it was a selection for the 2021 Vienna International Film Awards, and Animovies Festival of Animated Objects.)! Light as a Feather uses excerpts from my chamber piece Pas de Deux (for cello and piano, the complete work can be heard HERE) as its score. You can catch it Saturday, September 17, 2022 as part of the Coney Island Film Festival!

Joel’s Latest Beatles Course At Stanford’s Continuing Studies: Rubber Soul & Revolver!

I’m excited to announce my next Beatles class offered through our friends at Stanford’s Continuing Studies Program:

MUS 02 The Songwriting of The Beatles: The Experimental Sounds of Rubber Soul and Revolver Fall 2022

Instructor: Dr. Joel Phillip Friedman

Course Date(s): Sept. 28—Oct. 26, Note: No class on October 5

Course Time: Wednesdays, 6:30—8:30 pm (Pacific Time)

Tuition: $315

Registering is EASY. Just click HERE, Registration opens Aug 22, 8:30 am (PT)

Course description: More than 50 years after they exploded onto the music scene, The Beatles still capture our imagination as few groups have. In this course, we will delve into The Beatles’ career, development, and songwriting process through a deep dive into two extraordinary albums, the “bookends” of Rubber Soul and Revolver, which marked the end of the band’s commercially driven era and a transition to a more experimental sound.

Recorded in the fall of 1965 and a decisive step away from Beatlemania, Rubber Soul showcased the band’s growing maturity as songwriters and studio artists. It was also their second complete album of originals after 1964’s A Hard Day’s Night. Steeped in equal parts Bob Dylan, Stax, and Motown soul, Rubber Soul illustrated how pop was rapidly shifting from discrete pop singles to album-length artistic statements. Revolver (1966) was a landmark—arguably their greatest album. With its explosion of influences—psychedelia, American soul, avant-garde European classical/electronic music, Hindustani classical music, and British music hall—Revolver was the album that opened up vast, new artistic spaces and changed rock history. It was also their first album that could not be easily or adequately performed by the band live on stage. The course will include lectures, discussions, and the opportunity to listen closely to individual tracks, as we examine the studio process, equipment, techniques, and songwriting craft that brought these albums to life.

For students who have previously taken this course a few years back, you know Joel, while the structure is the same, some of the content is new!

• Q: If I’m not a Stanford student or I don’t live near Stanford can I take this class?
• A: Absolutely. It is live online and people Stanford, and non-Stanford, from age 20 to 80 register from all over the world. And since it is delivered via Zoom enrollment is not limited like a class room. Every seat is a front row seat.
• Q: I want to take this class but…
  • I can’t on Wednesday nights due to a scheduling conflict
  • I can’t make all 4 sessions
• A: Don’t worry. The classes are recorded and available on our class Canvas site so you can access the recordings any time you want, as often as you want during the rest of the Fall Stanford quarter.
• Q: Will I be able to hear and see what’s going on?
• A: Yes. The audio/video quality of these presentations is terrific and only limited by your technology. It’s recommended that you use headphones or good computer speakers.
• Q: I hear Joel always does a post-class Q&A session. Is that true?
• A: Of course. You know Joel!

as always: A splendid time is guaranteed for all!

All Things Are Set Ablaze in Keene and New York City.

Those three forces of nature, otherwise known as ModernMedieval – founder Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek, Martha Cluver, and Eliza Bagg – did two more superb performances of their Words of Love and Wisdom program, including my badass Hildegarde piece From: All Things Are Set Ablaze, as part of the Electric Earth Concerts, Keene, NH. and then at the spectacular Fuentidueña Chapel at The Met Cloisters. And Classical Voice North America loved the program too! Click here for the review. I don’t mind “While it was certainly raucous and exciting – the trio played a tambourine, a small mallet-hit hand drum, and a triangle as they sang – the piece was far from furious. In fact, it was so much fun that Horner-Kwiatek’s final triangle ting earned a chuckle from the audience.”

Elastic Band @Shenendoah Conservatory

I had a great time last week at Shenandoah Conservatory in beautiful Winchester, Virginia. A *very* full visit with friends conductor Tim Robblee and composer extraordinaire Jonathan Newman and the the faculty and students. I taught composition lessons, gave a masterclass, had rehearsal, and heard my Elastic Band (Octet version) performed at the über-hip Bright Box Theater in downtown Winchester. Thank you Jonathan and Tim!

Elastic Band CD submitted to the GRAMMYs!

I’m very pleased that the Acis album be•spoke has been submitted to the GRAMMYs for consideration. There is so much great work by Elena Ruehr, Julian Wachner, Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez, Marcus Thompson, the New Orchestra of Washington, Kevin Bourassa, and others on the CD.

I’ve received a 2018 Arts and Humanities Fellowship from the DC Arts Commission!

I’m thrilled to announce that I’ve been selected by the District of Columbia Commission on the Arts and Humanities for an 2018 Arts and Humanities Fellowship (AHFP) for my upcoming projects! I’d like to thank Arthur Espinoza, Jr., Executive Director of the CAH, their hard working staff and panel for their support. Onwards and upwards!

The Strad chimes in on my “fierce little viola piece!”

I am thrilled that violist extraordinaire Andrew Gonzalez (and pianist Ji, Yekwon Sunwoo) has received this positively glowing review in this October’s The Strad Magazine for his Bargemusic recital this past July. Bruce Hodges also had kind things to say about my “fierce little viola piece” When the World Disintegrates Before Your Eyes as well. Mark Peskanov, Bargemusic Artistic & Executive Director is doing great things there! Want to read the complete review? Want to peruse the score? Click here!

Elastic Band – in the recording studio!

Sunday night, fresh off a terrific pair of performances of Elastic Band at Georgetown’s Gonda Theatre and AMP/Strathmore, the New Orchestra of Washington, conducted by Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez, hit Omega Studios with producer Geoffrey Silver of Acis Productions at the helm. Great session, can’t wait to hear the final product! (photo: Christian Amonson)

Elastic Band, for chamber orchestra, premieres!