I watched 10 Masterclass courses in a week and here is what I learned

I watched the Masterclasses of 10 artists and boiled down what I learned into some generalizations about the creative process.

wordTim HoltAugust 26, 2021processComment

Poetics of the Fragment Conference

“A fragment, like a miniature work of art, has to be entirely isolated from the surrounding world and be complete in itself like a hedgehog” — Athenaeum Fragment 206

wordTim HoltJune 18, 2021Comment

Here's a hammer for your thesis statement

This is a quick way to make a point in your writing.

wordTim HoltDecember 14, 2020doctoral work Comments

The Utopian Syllabus

School can feel disorienting and esoteric. What say we embrace the fiction of the classroom?

Tim HoltAugust 1, 2019

Making Dark Sounds Together

My program note for Ah Young Hong’s April 7 recital looks at works by Milton Babbitt, Georg Friedrich Haas, and Michael Hersch as essays in darkness and light.

word, imageTim HoltMay 7, 2019program notes, michael herschComment

Hand Exercises for Artists

As artists, we all make esoteric things with our hands. Here are some other esoteric things you can do with your hands to take care of your hands.

wordTim HoltFebruary 19, 2019self-care, exercise, handsComment

Sometimes a music video becomes a blood orange fever dream

The problem of the torso— the root of everything cut off from everything— gives us an oblique way to think about music whose form is simultaneously so contained and yet chaotic.

motionTim HoltJanuary 27, 2019music, video, processComment

Writing On Walls

For a concert in a unique venue, I wrote a program note in the form of an extended simile of faces and walls.

wordTim HoltJanuary 9, 2019music, work, program notesComment

Meditation for Musicians: A Practical Guide

When I started getting curious about meditation, I was searching for concrete answers to questions like: What’s the point of this? How do I do it? How do I know it’s working?

wordTim HoltNovember 28, 2018process, meditation, music Comments