Udderbot repertoire build

I should parenthetically state that this blog, udderbot.blogspot.com, will remain my main blog, even as I begin work on a composerly website and continue work on the La Casa blog, the Udderbot wiki, the Xenharmonic Wiki & Ning, the Polyproject wiki, the ODDMUSIC-UC blog, and so on. More redundancy between these may become desirable, lest they all starve.

2009 began with the launch of an Udderbot Repertoire Build, which has all but petered out. That's okay; these things need new life breathed into them every year or so anyway. The ambition looked like this: learn a new piece on udderbot every month. You can alternate newly composed pieces with arrangements of existing pieces.

Here's almost a year in review of udderbot performances.

• January: learned & performed that really slow cello movement from Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time! watch on youtube
• February: learned & performed a piece by Snow Leopard for udderbot and piano.
• March: no udderbot features, but played udderbot (plus tubes & trombone) in JARband's 17-tone medley. "Trotsky was stabbed with an icepick in Mexico." another youtube
• April: composed & toured with "Hoprock" composed for solo udderbot, with the speaking of text & many extended techniques. Video.
• May: double-barrelled udderbot experiment! for La Casa House Band rendition of Talking Heads' "This Must Be The Place". Takes a lot of breath!
• August: Kyle Gann's "Fractured Paradise" arranged for udderbot & synth accompaniment. Could use revisiting.
• October: In an improvising ensemble as part of Hallie Aldrich's site-specific dance piece "With Love and Vanish" at the University of Illinois Arboretum.

I'm probably forgetting something.

The point is, more music for udderbot! It's not dead yet! I want to re-approach composers with the idea of writing for udderbot, perhaps with an all-udderbot recital of new works sometime in 2010. I've been stuck at producing a "composer's guide to the udderbot" piece of writing with audio examples for some time now, but maybe I should put the ball in the composers' courts, let them ask the questions.

The ideas for arranging existing repertoire for udderbot(s) include:

• revisiting the Messiaen piece, arranged for all bottles
• Gyorgy Ligeti's Hungarian Rock, for all bottles
• Martinu's Fantasie for ondes martenot, oboe, string quartet, and piano. This one's been a long-standing to-do.