Barrett, Richard (b. 1959)

[Richard Barrett]

Meanwhile, 17 years ago http://www.rogerreynolds.com/futureofmusic/barrett.html which contains, in quotes, the very title of the new book.

As indeed is mentioned in its introduction!

[Joseph K]

Some people here have asked me about my forthcoming book... well, I'm happy to say it isn't forthcoming any more but actually exists! (although I haven't actually had my hands on one yet)

More information here, where copies can also be ordered. (It's a mere £25 by the way.)

Ordered.

[Bryn]

Some people here have asked me about my forthcoming book... well, I'm happy to say it isn't forthcoming any more but actually exists! (although I haven't actually had my hands on one yet)

More information here, where copies can also be ordered. (It's a mere £25 by the way.)

Should one be able to order it through a local bookshop, or is distribution limited to mail order from Vision Edition?

[edashtav]

Another order. Well done, I look forward to studying your book, Richard.

[Richard Barrett]

Should one be able to order it through a local bookshop, or is distribution limited to mail order from Vision Edition?

I'm not sure how distribution works, but I will try to find out.

[Richard Barrett]

Another order. Well done, I look forward to studying your book, Richard.

Thanks! I hope you'll find it interesting. Some of it is a little technical, but I take a cue from Roger Penrose's remarks on the mathematical formulae in his books, advising the reader to take a quick look at them and pass on for the moment to less "obscure" territory, perhaps returning for another look later on.

[Richard Barrett]

And while I'm here, I should maybe say something about what this book actually contains.

It's in four parts. The first consists of a discussion of what for me are the four most crucial developments in musical thinking that took place in the 20th century (systematic composition methods, free improvisation, electronic/digital technology, and awareness of the geographical/historical/political situatedness of music) and how I think they can be brought together and radicalised for the 21st century. The second puts these ideas into a personal and practical context by going into detail, from conception to realisation, about several compositions for different instrumentations (mostly also involving electronics) written during the 2013-16 period (world-line, close-up, urlicht, eiszeiten and wake). The third part consists of "dialogues" between me and five of my closest musical collaborators (Daryl Buckley, Paul Obermayer, Arne Deforce, Kees Tazelaar and Milana Zarić) about our various ways of working together; and the fourth and final part brings the story more or less up to date with some remarks about compositions completed since 2016. (It's already out of date of course! - I tried to keep updating this chapter through the revision and proofreading process, but eventually I started feeling like Tristram Shandy and a line needed to be drawn.)

edit: in answer to Bryn's question - for the moment it can only be ordered directly from the publisher, who told me today he wasn't interested in making it available through Amazon since that would only serve to line bottomless pockets, and one can only agree.

[Bryn]

And while I'm here, I should maybe say something about what this book actually contains.

It's in four parts. The first consists of a discussion of what for me are the four most crucial developments in musical thinking that took place in the 20th century (systematic composition methods, free improvisation, electronic/digital technology, and awareness of the geographical/historical/political situatedness of music) and how I think they can be brought together and radicalised for the 21st century. The second puts these ideas into a personal and practical context by going into detail, from conception to realisation, about several compositions for different instrumentations (mostly also involving electronics) written during the 2013-16 period (world-line, close-up, urlicht, eiszeiten and wake). The third part consists of "dialogues" between me and five of my closest musical collaborators (Daryl Buckley, Paul Obermayer, Arne Deforce, Kees Tazelaar and Milana Zarić) about our various ways of working together; and the fourth and final part brings the story more or less up to date with some remarks about compositions completed since 2016. (It's already out of date of course! - I tried to keep updating this chapter through the revision and proofreading process, but eventually I started feeling like Tristram Shandy and a line needed to be drawn.)

edit: in answer to Bryn's question - for the moment it can only be ordered directly from the publisher, who told me today he wasn't interested in making it available through Amazon since that would only serve to line bottomless pockets, and one can only agree.

Thanks, Richard, though I was not thinking of Amazon but a local 'high street' bookshop, the sort which is rarer and rarer these days. I guess the whole book distribution world has changed radically in the past couple of decades.

[Richard Barrett]

Thanks, Richard, though I was not thinking of Amazon but a local 'high street' bookshop, the sort which is rarer and rarer these days.

Yes, I realise that. Bear in mind also that the publisher is principally a music publisher anyway, and therefore to dealing directly with customers rather than having its products stocked by bookshops. I could have had the book published by a "proper academic publisher" like Ashgate or OUP, but then it would certainly cost three times as much, and I wanted it to be at the sort of price I could (just about) have afforded when I was a student, rather than having it stuck in academic libraries. (Part of the cost saving was that I had to provide the publisher with print-ready material, including the index and complete formatting, which was a little stress-inducing for a first timer I can tell you. Although on the other hand I've always been a believer in the idea that if you want something done according to your wishes the best way is to do it yourself.)

[Bryn]

Yes, I realise that. Bear in mind also that the publisher is principally a music publisher anyway, and therefore to dealing directly with customers rather than having its products stocked by bookshops. I could have had the book published by a "proper academic publisher" like Ashgate or OUP, but then it would certainly cost three times as much, and I wanted it to be at the sort of price I could (just about) have afforded when I was a student, rather than having it stuck in academic libraries. (Part of the cost saving was that I had to provide the publisher with print-ready material, including the index and complete formatting, which was a little stress-inducing for a first timer I can tell you. Although on the other hand I've always been a believer in the idea that if you want something done according to your wishes the best way is to do it yourself.)

Thanks, my order now placed. I will also have a go at ordering it at the local library, and would encorage others to act similarly. When I travel to London I get off the bus very close to the Westminster Music Library. I will try making enquiries there, too.

[Mal]

... I take a cue from Roger Penrose's remarks on the mathematical formulae in his books, advising the reader to take a quick look at them and pass on for the moment to less "obscure" territory, perhaps returning for another look later on.

Saves him the trouble of explaining the formulae, or from entertaining readers in other ways than perplexing them, that's hard work! I have a physics degree and found most textbook writers and lecturers had that approach... they had better things to do (research) and thought that making undergrads suss out derivations ourselves, or "accepting matters" and moving on, maybe coming back later, would be good for us. Fair enough, really, for physics students, but it seems a bit harsh foisting that approach on the general public!

[Richard Barrett]

Fair enough, really, for physics students, but it seems a bit harsh foisting that approach on the general public!

Personally I prefer Penrose's approach (in his books intended for a general readership, I should emphasise! - and he does go to some pains to explain himself) to authors whose approach is "what's really going on here is, according to me/my publisher (delete as applicable), too complicated for you even to be allowed to see it". So: a book written by a composer about composition is going to have, for example, some notation in it. Some readers might not be able to read music, and that's fine as far as I'm concerned, but those readers might at least be interested in taking a look at the nuts and bolts, and if they aren't they can surely appreciate that others might be.

[Bryn]

Saves him the trouble of explaining the formulae, or from entertaining readers in other ways than perplexing them, that's hard work! I have a physics degree and found most textbook writers and lecturers had that approach... they had better things to do (research) and thought that making undergrads suss out derivations ourselves, or "accepting matters" and moving on, maybe coming back later, would be good for us. Fair enough, really, for physics students, but it seems a bit harsh foisting that approach on the general public!

It's not just music and physics to which this applies, either. I well remember struggling with the econometric equations in Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen's The Entropy Law and the Economic Process before eventually giving up and concentrating on the verbal text. Great seminal text for Green economics, by the way.

[Mal]

... a book written by a composer about composition is going to have, for example, some notation in it. Some readers might not be able to read music, and that's fine as far as I'm concerned, but those readers might at least be interested in taking a look at the nuts and bolts, and if they aren't they can surely appreciate that others might be.

Why not put up a few key chapters on your website?

[doversoul1]

Fair enough, really, for physics students, but it seems a bit harsh foisting that approach on the general public!

I’ve just finished reading The Demon in the Machine by Paul Davies, a professor of Physics. The subtitle of the book says How hidden webs of information are solving the mystery of life My knowledge, if it can be called that, of physics, biology, and information technology is less than minimum and I cannot possibly say I understood what it was in the book. Yet I found the book fascinating to read in a similar way as watching unfamiliar scenery passing outside the window when you sit in the train. Also, since I read this book, I find articles and news about human cells, genetics or evolution, and other related subjects make more sense (of a kind) and get a sense that there are wider implications to the subjects. Based on this experience, I am thinking about tackling Richard B’s book.

I don’t suppose this is a sort of ‘reading’ authors wish but there you are. We read books for all sorts of reasons.