Naples Florida Webmaster - Personal Diary

What is music? Tonight I asked this question to myself over and over again. I've been doing some exploring lately and found out about New College of Florida (located in Sarasota). It's located right next to the Ringling museum and looked quite nice (at least at night). In fact, the setup was amazing. Imagine having bands playing around you in a courtyard. When one band ends, you get up out of your earthly seat (sitting on the grass) and watch the new band. At the end, all the bands come together and you get a fantastic range of music & surround sound. They even had dancers there.

So, I ask you, what is music? Although the music was playing, I was not in tuned with it. It might have been the environment around me: campus college students ranging from 18-22, some smoking weed while others were trying to dance (BTW, what happened to actual dancing with someone?). They were having a good time. And, at times I was having a good time. But man, the music...oh man, the music was beyond strange at times. Here's a recap of the bands:

- The Done For...these guys started it off and I actually got their music. Sometimes it felt a little off-kilter, but I like their style. When they combined some of the orchestral pieces with their modern music style, it got even better. Good rhythmn overall.

- Tyger Beat...the program called them a "high-energy punk duo". Well, if you consider hitting the drums as fast as you can and yelling at the mike a "punk duo", then they nailed it. The best part was watching the guitarist come in a bit later and try to keep up with them. He started to laugh a bit when he knew there was no way to keep up. I will admit, though, there was some rhythmn there. So I'll give them some points for that...just not too many.

- Skeleton Warrior...yep, the bad name is just as bad as their music. I mean, wow...leaving for the bathroom while they played was pure bliss. In the program it says that "Skeleton Warrior could be described as a noise band." If anyone asks you to go see a "noise band", run away in the opposite direction. And then run faster. It was a mix of noise, computer beeps, and karaoke singing. The interesting part, though, was the college students gave this band the biggest applause. So I ask again...what is music?

In the end, they brought in some Sarasota Orchestra players and all 3 bands were playing off each other. To me, this was the best part of the night. I can clearly see how imagination and interactivity with three bands in a courtyard could work (and it could be a very cool way of having a wedding after-party). At times, I got to really enjoy the music. At other times, I was just totally lost. Call it good or bad, this contemporary music series was one of the most unique musical experiences of my life and I loved being part of it.

To read more about this experience, head over to the New Music College web site at http://www.ncf.edu/newmusicnewcollege.

Labels: contemporary music, florida, New Music College, sarasota