Ursula Kwong-Brown - Part 2

For Good Measure

For Good Measure, by Ensemble for These Times (E4TT)
Episode 123: Ursula Kwong-Brown - Part 2
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In this week’s episode, we talk to Ursula Kwong-Brown about balancing acoustic and electronic elements in her music, her compositional process, and where she finds inspiration. If you enjoyed today’s conversation and want to know more about Ursula Kwong-Brown, check her out here: https://www.ursulakwongbrown.com/. This episode was originally recorded in February 2024.
This podcast is made possible in part by a grant from the California Arts Council and generous donors, like you. Want to support For Good Measure and E4TT? Make a tax-deductible donation or sign up for our newsletter, and subscribe to the podcast!
Intro music: “Trifolium” by Gabriela Ortiz, performed by E4TT (Ilana Blumberg, violin; Abigail Monroe, cello; Margaret Halbig, piano), as part of “Below the Surface: Music by Women Composers,” January 29, 2022
Outro music: “Lake Turkana” by Marcus Norris, performed by E4TT (Margaret Halbig, piano), as part of “Alchemy,” October 15, 2021
Transcription courtesy of Otter.ai.
Buzzsprout: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1903729/15652943
Producer, Host, and E4TT co-founder: Nanette McGuinness
Co-producer and Audio Engineer: Stephanie M. Neumann
Podcast Cover Art: Brennan Stokes
Interns: Renata Volchinskaya, Sam Mason, Hannah Chen, Addy Geenen, Yoyo Hung-Yu Lin

Don't miss Ensemble for These Times' upcoming concert 'Mujeres Ahora' on May 9 at the Community Music Center, presented as part of the San Francisco International Arts Festival. For more information, go to www.E4TT.org.

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Chapters

1. Ursula Kwong-Brown - Part 2 (00:00:00)

2. In this week's episode, we continue our conversation with Ursula Kwong-Brown, who we spoke to in February 2024. (00:00:38)

3. How do you balance acoustics and electronics in your music? Before you begin a project, do you decide whether you want your piece to be more oriented along the lines of a traditional concert piece, or with electronics, or online only, or does that... (00:00:46)

4. So when you're looking at the blank page of paper, and you're writing either for your own desire, or a commissioner has said, do what you prefer, do you just start imagining the sound you want, and then the sound comes to you, and then you realize, oh... (00:05:44)

5. Do you have synesthesia? (00:07:56)

6. For our listeners who might not know, some of the terms you use, could you tell people what the spectralist movement is? (00:08:26)

7. For those who aren't as electronically trained, you want to just briefly, Logic and Ableton, right? (00:10:15)