Unpopular Music: Reflections on an Improbable Life

by William L. Cahn

Overview

The essays in Unpopular Music were written during the author's extensive performing career with the NEXUS Percussion Group, The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, The Paul Winter Consort, and more. The book highlights the author's personal connections with major composers and orchestra conductors such as Pierre Boulez, John Cage, Aaron Copland, Seiji Ozawa, Igor Stravinsky, and Edgard Varèse. Cahn's essays reveal his reflections and memoirs on the world of art music and aesthetics drawn through his own experiences, touching on non-musical subjects - travel, restaurants, art museums, and more. In addition to performing with major orchestras under renowned conductors all over the world, Grammy recipient Bill Cahn continues to perform with NEXUS, the Toronto-based percussion quartet which is dedicated to a genre of music that is unfamiliar to most listeners, but which forms a significant worldwide musical niche - music for percussion ensemble.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798350969788
Publisher:	BookBaby
Publication date:	08/01/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	270
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

William L. (Bill) Cahn has been a member of the NEXUS percussion group since 1971, and was the principal percussionist in the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra from 1968 to 1995. Born in Philadelphia in 1946, Bill has performed with conductors, composers, ensembles, and artists representing diverse musical styles - Chet Atkins, Pierre Boulez, John Cage, Aaron Copland, Sir Andrew Davis, Chuck Mangione, Mitch Miller, Seiji Ozawa, Steve Reich, Doc Severensen, Leopold Stokowski, Igor Stravinsky, Edgar Varèse, and Paul Winter. From 2006 to 2015 Bill was an Associate Professor of Percussion at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. He was also a faculty artist at the Showa Academy of the Arts in Japan and he has served as a guest artist at the Banff Centre for the Arts. Bill has produced many CDs and written several books and numerous articles about music and percussion. His book, CREATIVE MUSIC MAKING, on freeform improvisation was published by Routledge Books in 2005. His compositions are published and distributed worldwide by Bachovich Music, HoneyRock Publishing, Marimba Productions, Meredith Music, Warner Brothers Music, Wimbledon Music and William L. Cahn Publishing. Bill has received the Rochester Philharmonic League's FANFARE AWARD (1988) for a "significant contribution to music education" Mu Phi Epsilon's MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR AWARD (1993), and with NEXUS, the TORONTO ARTS AWARD in music (1989), the BANFF CENTRE FOR THE ARTS NATIONAL AWARD (1997), and induction into the Percussive Arts Society's HALL OF FAME (1999). In 2005 he received the SABIAN LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD, and in 2015 the Arts and Cultural Council for Greater Rochester LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD. In 2006 he received a GRAMMY Award as a percussionist with the Paul Winter Consort on the DVD titled, 2004 Solstice Concert.