Daily Titan News "A chilled wind swept through the night carrying with it a harmony, a hauntingly sweet melody, luring passersby to seek its source. Amidst the bustling streets lined with shops, restaurants and bars, stirring music poured from the wireless sound system, filling the air. Clothed in white, eyes closed and swaying slightly, Drew Tretick played his heart on the strings of his electric violin..." READ FULL STORY Becoming a Computer Musician
available through Barnes and Noble bookstores Becoming a Computer Musician, Jeff Bowen, $39.99 USA Sams/Macmillan (book/CD-ROM set), ISBN: 0-672-30513-5, 288 pp. The author interviews Drew Tretick in the first four pages of the book. Chapter 1 discusses "Why Become a Computer Musician." An excerpt by the author: "True story. I was strolling through the aisles of the Music Educators National Conference in Cincinnati when I found one of the most interesting music education subjects discussed in this book. Drew Tretick is the staff clinician for Zeta Music, manufacturer of a full line of high-quality MIDI string instruments. Drew sports a Masters of Music Degree from the Juilliard School and performed that school's first ever MIDI Master's recital, using his Zeta electronic violin (pictured with him). Drew has also served as an Assistant Professor at Berklee College of Music, and the author provides the following excerpts from an interview with him. "Well, all around us we hear sounds. We hear music in everything. So many of our environmental sounds have ended up in our music, our pop music- whether it is industrial music, you name it. It is rather interesting how the reality and music... are intertwined. Young children... they hear pop music or whatever it is that excites them, and it is something that is with us and we just can't turn it off. Now, if they can begin working with instruments and making sounds on their own and start being creative, they are, for themselves, having a vital role in doing something very creative. It is no longer, 'Here are some notes on the page... now, play that tune.' It gives them a chance now to be more involved with the very nature of expression... take a saxophone solo and play it on a flute and it is going to have a totally different feeling. So often we will hear instruments in orchestras and that instrument is used to convey a certain type of feeling by a composer. Well, now for a violinist you can not only experience playing rhythm and harmony--but timbre as well. These are the basic musical elements, and it is to me being able to take expression to a new level on the violin. It excites students and professionals and there are no limits to creativity and improvisation!" Guide to Teaching Strings
Guide to Teaching Strings, Norman Lamb, USA (classroom text), Wm. C. Brown Communications, Inc., Madison, Wisconsin, Melbourne Australia, Oxford, England. The author presents a variety of electric string instrument technology to classroom students, and highlights Drew Tretick's work. An excerpt by the author: "Drew Tretick has made a video, PRESENTING THE ELECTRONIC VIOLIN, in which he
describes the function of the instrument and the unique rhythmic and harmonic
possibilities that make performing on this instrument so interesting. He performs
canonic duets from the Baroque period using a MIDI delay processor that generates a
delayed second musical line at whatever interval and tone quality he chooses. He
continues by demonstrating more complicated MIDI violin techniques and plays several of
his compositions to illustrate the capabilities of the instrument and MIDI processing.
The spontaneity of live performance is enhanced by using an assortment of foot
pedals to change settings on the tone modules and MIDI processing equipment during a
performance. The video is available from SHAR Products Company. It could prove
of great interest to students who are fascinated by electronic MIDI technology as applied
to a stringed instrument." |
