Is naming me small diminishing my power
Am I wrong to be flattered
You’ve done nothing
I don’t think
You don’t deserve scrutiny or skepticism but
I’m searching for someone in me to tell me if myself is with you
If when we speak we are on the same page
If the lines of possibilities that scroll through my head
Match anything that lies in yours
Welcome back to her kind; I hope you all had a lovely holiday break (and can manage to hang on for just a couple more weeks before the 
semester ends)!
This week, I want to dive into another composer I love—one who is still making waves throughout the contemporary scene today: Sky Macklay. Macklay is currently teaching at Peabody, and as a 2021 Guggenheim Fellow, she’s working to release a chamber music album that synthesizes her work as a composer as well as her “raucous, multiphonic-rich oboe practice.”
Macklay’s music is filled with unexpected and conventional textures—one can hear this in her piece ‘White/Waves’ and ‘Chopped,’ as well as her iconic string quartet, ‘Many Many Cadences.’
‘Many Many Cadences’ is one of my favorite string quartets, and one of the first string quartets I discovered by a living composer. The piece re-contextualizes traditional harmonies—repeating a series of cadences in quick succession to form phrases and motives. The colors and textures Macklay extracts from the strings through developing the material provides an effective contrast to the bright, piercing nature of the initial motive. It’s wonderfully playful, which is something I strive for in my own writing, as well. At the end of the piece, when the initial motive returns, it’s transformed through the most delightful onslaught of slides—the motive is almost indistinguishable, but ultimately it’s just present enough for the ear to catch on.
Another stunning piece by Macklay is her violin and piano duo, FastLowHighSlow. Immediately, one can hear her playing with textures and registers—which is implied by the title. The piece particularly direct in concept, but it kept my interest the whole way through listening because of Macklay’s unique use of textural combinations.
Aside from her music, Macklay’s outlook on music also resonates with me:
“I love weird contemporary music and sharing it with the next generation,” she explained. “I think a lot of it is sharing my own personal perspective on it—just show how much a particular sound excites me and how beautiful I think it is. I think that’s sort of contagious, or at least let’s people perceive it as a beautiful thing, or something that some person thinks is a beautiful thing. I also think that exposure, experience, experiential education, and experiential pieces are really a great way to do outreach. … That’s something I think more composers should do: write music that has a participatory role for amateur musicians, or for just audience members.”
Finding ways to connect over the beauty of something—sounds, colors, experiences—is the primary reason I pursue art. If you want to connect over the beauty of Macklay’s music, you can listen here on the her kind playlist, or check out her scores on YouTube!
Welcome back y’all! I hope everyone had a great break and isn’t feeling too overwhelmed about getting back into school.
As I’m sure you’ve all realized by now, the size of my pen collection is a bit absurd, and definitely not the most conducive to college housing. I had to leave a lot behind when I came to school, so whenever I go home, I get really excited to use them all again. I have a lot at home right now, and a little more room than I thought I would for pens, so I thought it would be fun to show you guys how I went through them all and picked what to bring back to Ann Arbor. For the major pen sets, I included their swatches and my opinions on them below. I know the swatches for some of the smaller pens are really tough to see, but I hope you can at least kind of see the colors and the size of the nib. I did also bring home the posca set you can see in the box picture, but I forgot to take pictures of those swatches.
After that came all the random, individual pens. I tested a ton, but here are the ones I brought back. From left to right:
Pentel Tradio Stylo Sketch Pen: so smooth and precise, very fun to write with
Uni Ball Signo 207: Very smooth and a great pen for writing, plus I have the rest of this set in Ann Arbor anyway
Bcmini Donut Bear Pen: Besides being adorable, this pen is so incredibly smooth and fun to write with
Uni Posca: Posca pens are amazing, don’t know why I left this behind in the first place
Campus ViviDry: these are also super smooth and similar to the uni ball signo
It was really hard for me to be so picky and not bring back everything, but I’m super happy with the ones I chose and can’t wait to do some reviews for you guys! Enjoy the week 🙂
Since the chunkiness of the squirrels on the Diag reached a new level this year and became a sensation, I thought of doing a short but cute appreciation post just for these (not-so-)little guys 🙂
Welcome back from break! Hope you all had a relaxing time and are doing alright getting back into things. I was sluggish this morning on my way to class, throwing together a bulky, stupid outfit and ready to zone out for hours. My roommate offhandedly made a comment that I looked like a celebrity at the airport (I supposedly captured the comfortable yet mysterious and hidden aura, haha) and though I don’t think it was meant to, it boosted my confidence and motivation for the day. I walked down the street with a childlike whimsy, a runway strut in my mind as I listened to my music and basked in the mysterious feeling I evidently carried. I love compliments like that, ones that are oddly specific; they feel so cute and personal, something that drives me creatively and makes me love the world around me a lot more. Compliments are so nice, which is such a silly, obvious thing to say, but I really remembered that today. Feeling grateful. I hope you all compliment someone you care about soon, too, and have a great Tuesday!
