New, exciting McLEAN MIX concert -- check
it out!
New easily set up, low budget events being proposed for 2006 and beyond
Table of Contents
PRISCILLA McLEAN'S "HANGING OFF THE EDGE"
— "Revelations of a Modern Troubadour" A
New Autobiography from iUniverse, Inc., "Editor's Choice":
Reviews of McLean CDs and McLean
Mix Performances
Testimonials from Recent
McLean Mix Sponsors
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The McLean Mix:
Philosophies and Soliloquies by Barton McLean. Found in "Asterisk
A Journal of New Music," Vol 2 #2, May, 1976. Ann Arbor, MIchigan.An often
humorous early cross-section of the first concerts and tours by Priscilla
and Barton McLean, as they begin their first tentative steps into touring.
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Fire and Ice: A Query by Priscilla
McLean. Seen in "Perspectives of New Music, " Fall/Winter 1977.
Some valuable insights into the theoretical basis of what she calls "imago
- abstract" sounds, which are those sounds that are both electronic and that
have a subconscious meaning in the human mind beyond their immediate context.
Forms a theoretical basis for electronic sounds that are outside traditional
tonal pitch-rhythm contexts.
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Coping with Shattered Illusions by
Barton McLean. Appearing in "Polyphony" (which was the forerunner
of "Electronic Musician," Jan/Feb. 1980, pp. 9-11, 20. Some theoretical
and practical considerations in composing for live instrument and tape, with
examples from McLean's "Dimensions" series.
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Zagreb's Music Biennale No. 11
by Priscilla McLean. In "Musical America," October, 1981,
pp. 33-34. This is one of several reviews and articles Priscilla wrote for
Musical America, and gives an insight into the contemporary music scene in
Europe at that time period, along with some personal experiences of The McLean
Mix as they participated in this festival.
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The McLean Mix: Inner Tension of the
Surrealistic by Priscilla and Barton McLean. AWC News (American
Women Composers), January 1982, Vol. 3 #3, pp. 8-14. Another slice
of McLean Mix touring and a theoretical basis for their approach as analogous
with Surrealism.
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Symbolic Extension and its Corruption of
Music by Barton McLean. Appearing in "Perspectives of New Music",
Fall-Winter 1981-Spring-Summer 1982 (Vol. 20, nos. 1 &2). In this
seminal piece, McLean explores ideas by cultural anthropoligist Edward T.
Hall, Marshall McLuhan, Trevor Wishart, Rollo May, etc.as they apply to some
of the fundamental crises in education (music composition, music theory,
and musicology). Central to his theme is how the "extension" process of of
the human mind (building ever greater theoretical models which ultimately
relate to only themselves and not the underlying music they are subsuming)
has fundamentally corrupted much of what we teach in music theory, history,
and composition. A scathing critique.
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The McLean Mix Tours Australia
-- First Impressions by Priscilla and Barton McLean. "Sounds
Australian" (the equivalent to the American Music Center publication), #28,
Summer, 1990, pp. 32-33. A vivid account of The McLean Mix Pacific Rim tour
and some comparisons between new music support in Australia, New Zealand,
and the USA.
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Touring the South Pacific: Images
of Faraway Places by Barton McLean. Appearing in the
"Journal SEAMUS ," Nov. 1990. Describes an extended tour-adventure
of the McLeans' duo The McLean Mix in the Pacific Rim (Australia, New
Zealand, Hawaii), along with insights into their respective contemporary
music scenes and composers.
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Composition with Sound and Light by
Barton McLean. "Leonardo Journal," Vol 2, No. 1, pp. 19-22,
1992. McLean describes two interlocking aspects of his work: (1) the
MIDI keyboard-controlled Sparkling Light Console which he developed,
along with the esthetic considerations of developing a new abstract medium
of light with which to compose.
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The McLean Mix Muses Upon the Ultimate Musical
Instrument by Priscilla and Barton McLean. "Experimental
Musical Instruments," Sept. 1994, pp. 20-23. Two ideas run through
this article. First, esthetic and practical consideration of adoping
natural sounds (the "ultimate musical instrument") to a compositional approach.
Second, exploring how the McLeans invent instruments of their own (natural
or hi-tech) as their compositional needs require.
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A Professional Composer's View of the
Theory/Composition Curriculum and its Relevance to the Community-at-Large
by Barton McLean. "The SCI Newsletter," Vol. 25, #7, Aug/Sept.
1995. This is the piece which stirred a hornet's nest of controversy
among university teachers of composition and theory. These reverberations
echoed through two years of rebuttal and counter-rebuttal in the SCI
Newsletter's pages. It explores the relevance of today's typical comp/theory
curricula and its relevance (or lack thereof) to the larger arts community
and to the career prospects of the students.
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In Search of an Audience: Outside the
Bubble by Barton McLean. "Journal SEAMUS," April '96,
Vol. 11, #1, pp. 4-7. Where have the large, enthusiastic audiences
for electroacoustic music of the 60's and 70's gone? McLean explores
some reasons for the separation of abstract electroacoustic music from the
arts community audience in general, and offers personal insights into how
he and his wife Priscilla, as The McLean Mix, grapple with this problem as
they make their full-time living from touring.
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TUNUGAN -- A Report by Priscilla
McLean. "Society of Composers, Inc., Newsletter," Vol 27 #6, June/July
'97. The McLean Mix was recently chosen as the USA representative of
the International Asian Composers League Festival -- TUNUGAN in Manila,
Philippines. Priscilla's subsequent report details fascinating
insights into how Asian serious composers interact, along with similarities
and differences between Western and Asian composers. Included is a hair-raising
account of the McLean Mix's outdoor performance in a courtyard with
an impending typhoon on the horizon.
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Planting the Seeds of Music Technology in
Borneo by Priscilla McLean. "Journal SEAMUS," Vol. 13, #1,
April, '98, pp. 4-7. "The trip of a lifetime," as Barton and Priscilla McLean,
at the invitation of the government of Malaysia, establish residency at the
Universiti Malaysia-Sarawak for 4 months, undergoing extensive field trips
into the pristine jungle, living with former headhunter tribes, partaking
of the rich Islamic culture, recording and documenting tribal musics and
nature sounds never before heard outside the country.
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JAMBORI RIMBA: Audience-Interactive
Installation by Barton McLean. This is a companion
to the above and describes what the McLeans did as a final project for their
residency in Malaysia -- a project which was subsequently broadcast
nationally over the Malaysia TV -1 network.
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How to Survive and Prosper as Revealed by
the "Newsletter Nine" by Barton McLean. "Society of
Composers, Inc. "Newsletter," Vol. 13, Aug/Sept '98. As a member
of the Executive Committee of SCI (Independent Composer Representative),
McLean coordinated a series of articles in the SCI Newsletter by nine independent
composers who are succeeding in making a full-time living from their work.
Many lessons were gleaned from these pieces, including a few real surprises.
In this article, McLean summarizes his conclusions drawn from working with
these nine artists.
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The Ultimate Symphonius 2000, by
Barton McLean. Journal SEAMUS, Fall, 1999. McLean narrates
the inception and execution of this most elaborate of all the McLean Mix
audience-interactive events.
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What May Happen
to Your Music After You Die and What You Can Do About It, by
Barton McLean. Groundbreaking, exhaustive research article appearing
in the August, 2001 issue of the American Music Center's NewMusicBox. August,
2001. This links directly to the AMC site.
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The Electronic Marriage by Joseph
Dalton. The Albany Times Union, 1/16/05. This is a 2-page feature
article in the Arts Section of the Sunday paper, detailing various aspects
of the McLeans' professional as well as personal lives with many lively anecdotes
spanning their more than 40 year history together.
Recent Reviews of McLean CDs
"Again and again, The McLean Mix comes up with awesome
sounds and textures - and I mean "awesome" quite literally. Even though this
is modern music that places communication with a non-specialist audience
high on its agenda, listeners will get no free rides from it. They'll have
to put aside their prejudices and hear it for what it is."
...Raymond Tuttle in Classical.net
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Comprehensive review of three Capstone CDs: Gods, Demons and the
Earth, Rainforest Images, The Electric Performer, appearing in
20th Century Music
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Defining review of the four Capstone McLean Mix releases by Ray Tuttle in
Classical.net, 2001.
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Review of Gods, Demons and the Earth and Rainforest Images
in Today, a weekend
arts magazine published in Manila, Philippines.
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Review of The Electric Performer in
American Record Guide
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Review of Forgotten Shadows in
International
Record Review
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Review of Forgotten Shadows in
Soundtracks
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Review of Forgotten Shadows in
Fanfare
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Review of Forgotten Shadows on
Classical Net
by Raymond Tuttle
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Review of The McLean Mix and the Golden Age of Electronic Music from
Amazon.com web site
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Review of The McLean Mix and the Golden Age of Electronic Music from
Jazzbeat
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Review of The McLean Mix and the Golden Age of Electronic Music from
The American Record Guide
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Review of The McLean Mix and the Golden Age of Electronic Music from
Forced Exposure web site
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Review of Rainforest Images from
Experimental Musical Instruments magazine
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Review of Rainforest Images from
Journal SEAMUS
Testimonials from Recent
McLean Mix Sponsors
Comments from a dozen or so sponsors of recent McLean Mix performances of
MILLing in the ENNIUM and Rainforest. Click
here.
To the McLEAN MIX home page, detailing performances,
reviews, events offered, compact discs, bios, and listings according to types
of venues.