lucier

In honor of revolutionary composer, experimental musician, and professor emeritus Alvin Lucier's 90th birthday, several Wesleyan faculty, staff, and alumni participated in a 27-hour-long performance of Lucier's paradigmatic work "I Am Sitting in a Room." Lucier, the John Spencer Camp Professor of Music, emeritus, retired from Wesleyan in 2010 and earned a Master of Arts ad eundem gradum from Wesleyan in 1979. Lucier personally chose 90 colleagues, friends, and former students to participate in the event, of which 15 are acquaintances from his time at Wesleyan. The concert spanned from 8 p.m. Thursday, May 13 to 11 p.m. Friday, May…

Alvin Lucier, John Spencer Camp Professor of Music, Emeritus, is the author of Music 109: Notes on Experimental Music, published by Wesleyan University Press, 2012. In this insider’s view, composer and performer Lucier brings clarity to the world of experimental music as he takes the reader through more than a hundred groundbreaking musical works, including those of Robert Ashley, John Cage, Charles Ives, Morton Feldman, Philip Glass, Pauline Oliveros, Steve Reich, Christian Wolff and La Monte Young. Lucier explains in detail how each piece is made, unlocking secrets of the composers’ style and technique. The book as a whole charts…

Wesleyan University Press's Music 109: Notes on Experimental Music by Alvin Lucier was named an "Overlooked Book" of 2012 by the Slate Book Review. Lucier is the John Spencer Camp Professor of Music, emeritus. In the article published Nov. 28, the Slate Book Review critics suggested "20 great books you never heard about—but should’ve." Slate editorial assistant J. Bryan Lowder writes, "Gleaned from Lucier’s long-taught contemporary music course (No. 109) at Wesleyan, Music 109 is, indeed, Lucier’s notes, clippings from a lifetime spent making, performing, and, most importantly, listening to the 'classical' music of our era. For John Cage and other…

For 40 years, Alvin Lucier, the John Spencer Camp Professor of Music, emeritus, has pioneered music composition and performance, including the notation of performers’ physical gestures, the use of brain waves in live performance, the generation of visual imagery by sound in vibrating media, and the evocation of room acoustics for musical purposes. On Nov. 4-6, the Music Department and Center for the Arts celebrated Lucier’s remarkable musical career and contributions. Lucier retired in June 2010. Photos of the event are below. (Information provided by Andy Chatfield, press and marketing manager for the CFA) (more…)

For 40 years, Alvin Lucier, the John Spencer Camp Professor of Music, has pioneered music composition and performance, including the notation of performers' physical gestures, the use of brain waves in live performance, the generation of visual imagery by sound in vibrating media, and the evocation of room acoustics for musical purposes. His recent works include a series of sound installations and works for solo instruments, chamber ensembles, and orchestra in which, by means of close tunings with pure tones, sound waves are caused to spin through space. On Nov. 4-6, the Music Department and Center for the Arts will…

Lucier’s 90th Birthday Celebrated with 90 Artists Recording “I’m Sitting in a Room”

Wesleyan U. Press Publishes Lucier’s Notes on Experimental Music Book

Slate Book Review Praises Lucier’s Experimental Music Book

Alvin Lucier’s Career Celebrated through Installation, Performance

Celebration, Participatory Installation to Honor Lucier’s 40-Year Career