Here and Now

This book is about music here in the world and now at this time. It is a lively and informative pleasure, a diversity of wonderful ideas and observations, a pointer to the ways that sound and music let us interact with the world. It is required reading for every composer, every student, everyone who is interested in music today.


It is not a single story, as is pointed out in the foreword, but rather an entry point to the multiple ways we can think about music.  The thoughts in the book range from a new cadenza in a Beethoven piano concerto to jazz compositions based on Carnatic rhythms, from a new theory on prepared pianos to environmental issues in India, from building a new listening environment to structuring a festival, from relating occurrences in life to music performed at Tanglewood, from music down the street to rethinking Bach’s Goldberg Variations.


The book is a snapshot in an ongoing musical process, conceived, created, and written by a remarkable group of composers and performers based in the Queensland Conservatorium Research Centre at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia. Wherever you live in the world, it will certainly enrich your life to become a part of that ongoing musical process. Read the book and let us know what you think.