Bang on a Can, special guest faculty, John Schaefer (of WNYC’s New Sounds), Will Robin (writer and musicologist), and four writers in the early stages of their careers will gather at MASS MoCA (the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams, MA) to explore the role of criticism and journalism in today’s dynamic contemporary music scene. 

The aim of the workshop is to help writers generate a vocabulary, syntax and context that is most useful for readers/ listeners and to make modern music and criticism more accessible, welcoming, and exciting to all audiences.

The 2019 workshop will take place during the final week (July 27-Aug 5) of the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival at MASS MoCA – a residency and festival for composers and performers (13 faculty, 30 performers, and 9 composers) and will include daily meetings with faculty and daily writing assignments. Additionally, participants will be “embedded” in the festival activities, attending rehearsals, workshops, and performances, enabling more insights into the process of bringing music to the stage.  

Participants in the workshop will:

• meet with luminaries of the contemporary music field: Bang on a Can’s artistic directors, our performance faculty, and our guest faculty.
• witness the process of building new works from composition, to rehearsal, to performance.
• have access to “primary source material” i.e. the performers and composers.
• learn tools for a successful interview.
• be a part of a community of peers at a similar career stage.
• be embedded in the festival experience, do interviews, and write about them daily, to be published on the New Sounds website.