Tiny Alligator Music: Archive

Dec 16th

The Ford Brothers’ Bling Won’t Build a Real City

People like shiny things. Human beings seem to have an inherent dislike for well-worn normalcy. From a young age, we can’t wait: we can’t wait for Christmas, for the cookies to come out of the oven, for school to be over. Most people learn, at some point, that shiny things are not necessarily real. Being a grown-up means appreciating the space between the shiny things in life, understanding the...

Aug 31st

Towards the Land of Things

In Which I am having post-minimalist thoughts, post-production. I had a great nerd-out this week with composers Adam Sherkin, Alex Eddington, Brian Harman, and Mitch Renaud. Our topic was post-minimalism, and as we started, it became apparent that our first task was to define post-minimalism. The scores that we brought in as examples of the style included elements of hard-core minimalism, but all...

Jun 5th

Guest Blog Post no. 2: The Clue is in the Title.

By Susan Bond While Safe and Healthy Homes is in some ways a reflection of Caitlin’s personal experience and situation in Brooklyn, it’s also a meditation on a larger state of affairs. Living on a meagre (but greatly appreciated!) grant that didn’t allow her to work meant that she wound up living below the poverty line in a country with almost no social safety net. Caitlin was disturbed to...

Mar 10th

Guest Blog Post: What on earth is about to happen...

By Susan Bond Caitlin’s note: Susan is a fantastic Toronto-based dramaturge who has been kind enough to help me sort through the jumble of ideas I have had about this show. She helped me to fix the libretto before I began reorchestrations this fall. Below, she miraculously pulls together my song cycle into one coherent narrative for you. Amazing! As the title tells us, Safe and Healthy...

Mar 3rd

It takes a village to raise an Alligator

Wait. I hate to jinx this, but let’s just pause to appreciate this fact: it’s four weeks before show time, and nothing seriously major has gone wrong yet. This is a first in Alligatorland. I know, there’s still lots of time for things to explode. And yes, I’ve only handed half of the score to my copyist, I’m still unable to lift my left arm high enough to conduct...

Feb 14th

“As a composer, I need to take specific, pointed risks; as a conductor, I need to...”

– Me, describing on a grant application how the grant money would magically make me into three super-humans. In fact, it has just made me into one sleepless human. Why, Caitlin, why?

Jan 26th

“…When you’re making art, there’s a leap of faith that’s...”

– Julian Schnabel, in an interview with Eleanor Wachtel, on “Wachtel on the Arts” on CBC Radio.

Dec 13th

An Open Letter to Our New Mayor

Citizens of Toronto: You can send this email, or create your own. Keep it polite, but let him know that transit riders are now his customers. As a self-proclaimed “customer-service” focused man, he needs to know that scrapping Transit City would be a devastating shame. ———- from Caitlin Smith <caitlin@tinyalligator.com>tomayor_ford@toronto.ca date1 December...

Dec 2nd

that song stuck in my head

I woke up this morning with an earworm: the line from “Gemini” (off Ben Monder’s 1997 album with Theo Bleckmann, No Boat). It goes like something like this: (Feel free to correct my transcription; guitar harmonics not indicated as such. Also, Theo Bleckmann sings this line. With his voice.) It took me a full twelve hours to remember what the song was, who it was by, where the...

Nov 21st

They don't need no education; I am about to do...

I was just sitting down this afternoon to draw up my first lesson plans for teaching at the Regent Park School of Music. Today is my very first day there, teaching clarinet, sax, and flute. I’m also going to be starting a jazz ensemble with them in a few weeks. So imagine my surprise when I turned on CBC1 and heard an interview with the super-human Richard Marsella, Director of RPSM. The...

Sep 15th

Ideas About Songs on Stages

Saw The Little Death, Vol 1 last night at St. Marks Church. Seeing Matt Marks’ song cycle/opera/musical was a revelation for me. His songs are funny, poignant and musically enthralling. He and Mellissa Hughes (a Tiny Alligator favourite) treat Marks’ songs, and the stage, with total abandon. The show continues through next week. Equally brilliant is the music video of the hit song...

Jul 12th

14 tags

Tendency No. 8, "Moon Has Set," the tendency...

Tendency No. 8 “Moon Has Set” the tendency towards contentment Moon has set and Pleiades: middle night, the hour goes by, alone I lie. -Sappho, fragment, c. 600 BC It’s a hard, lonely job sometimes, tending to the Alligators up here on the Farm at the Darkest Northern Tip of Dupont Street. They can get pretty snippy when they’ve been cooped up long. I always tell them, if you can’t say...

Apr 14th

Tendency No. 7, "New Love," the tendency to...

Tendency No. 7 “New Love” the tendency to overestimate novelty Strange, that you love the world in all the gentle ways I do; it’s strange to live where I can see the sky. For all these incandescent episodes I’m unprepared, hewn by the heft of our whims.

Apr 13th

Tendency No. 6, "The Woman Who Lived in a Shoe,"...

Tendency No. 6 “The Woman Who Lived in a Shoe” the tendency to underestimate oneself The first piece of mail I got when I moved to New York was a housewarming gift from Jen Ryan, a copy of Sheila Heti’s short-story collection “The Middle Stories”. Jen made a lovely inscription on the flyleaf; inscriptions from the givers of books might be my favourite thing ever. These intense little fables have...

Apr 12th

Tendency No. 5, "(In a Different Life I Would)...

Tendency No. 5 “(In a Different Life I Would) Tango” the tendency to daydream Oh my stars I wish I could dance. I took one ballet class when I was six, and went home crying halfway through (although I do remember rocking that burgundy leotard for many months afterwards). As a grown-up, I’ve taken several of the Toronto Dance Theatre’s excellent classes. I always have a...

Apr 11th

Tendency No. 4, the tendency towards restlessness

Tendency no. 4 the tendency towards restlessness I’m getting a little impatient with the format of these posts, so instead of talking about the song today, let’s talk about the singers. Alex Samaras will sing No. 4. He’s a pretty rad singer. They’re all pretty rad, Kristin, Jen and Alex. They’ve been giving me some politely raised eyebrows in rehearsals, and I could tell that at first they were...

Apr 10th

Tendency No. 3, "Public Service Announcements,"...

Tendency No. 3 “Public Service Announcements” the tendency to nest, poorly I spent a LOT of time on the R train when I lived in Brooklyn. The R train is old, creaky, and makes every single, painful stop from the bottom of Brooklyn, through all of Manhattan, to the end of Queens. One night, as I settled myself into the plastic bench for another hour and a half of noisy, jolting fun, I...

Apr 9th

Tendency no. 2, "Otium," the tendency to seek...

Tendency No. 2 “Otium” the tendency to seek comfort A few years ago, I moved to Brooklyn, with not much money and only an ambitious but vague grant application essay for direction. In my time there, I learned lots about music, life and cockroaches. But New York is not a great city to live in if you’re feeling unsure. Everyone else is completely sure, and, unless you are firm about where you’re...

Apr 9th

Tendency No. 1, "Prelude," the tendency to...

Tendency No. 1 “Prelude” the tendency to procrastinate So here it is 7pm, and I’ve been working for the last 12 hours getting last-minute re-orchestrations ready, and somehow have found a way to avoid actually writing the first blog post in my “Eight Days of the Alligator” series. Welcome to Tendency no. 1. I really do have exciting things to say about all of the other movements of this show, but...

Apr 7th

Eight Days of the Alligator

Eight days until Tiny Alligator, Large Band “And All of Your Animal Tendencies” hits at the Music Gallery in Toronto, on Thursday, April 15th at 8 pm. I’m really excited, and totally exhausted. 19 Alligators! They’re so much work… always demanding more notes to play, a well-lit stage to play on and a rapturous audience to play for… it’s enough to drive a composer mad. So for this show, I’ve...

Apr 7th

12 tags

daughters of feminists like to wear pink

Designer Breeyn McCarney, whose beautiful Fall/Winter 2010 collection debuted to great acclaim in a runway show in Toronto a few weeks ago, is dressing me for next week’s Tiny Alligator show! I get to conduct in this! (She’s adding straps for me, to avoid any possible wardrobe malfunctions.)

Apr 6th

To the Opera! Wearing a Bright Orange Saftey Vest!

Because I wasn’t going to be busy enought this week… I’ve been volunteering this week with Tapestry New Opera Works for their “Opera to Go” show. When I have time, I’m going to figure out a way to distill the beautiful heap of drama that is these five short operas into a blog post, but for now, I wanted to mention: This is new Canadian opera, performed on a...

Mar 25th

Scratchy-scratchy

Thanks to Dan Jamieson for the kind words on his blog about our upcoming show. I’m excited to be heading down to New York to help out Jim McNeely as he produces Dan’s first big band record this May. Check out recordings of Dan’s recent trip to Toronto! It’s always reassuring to remember that I’m not the only person crazy enough to run a big band….

Mar 21st

It. Is. On. →

Mar 15th

Mar 3rd

In Which Tiny Alligator Dances With Joy, Then Has...

Following message arrived for me on Twitter today (oh social media! win!) @tinyalligator: do it! from sheilaheti (Also, I made her blush!) And so, to all Twittering-naysayers: told you so. In this day and age, it is possible to slather oneself in honey, jump into a bear pit, and wait for the bears. Bears will come, and bears will agree to the making of art. Step 2: finish orchestrating 45...

Jan 27th

11 tags

Jan 20th

mccain on maddow

Why does this interview http://gawker.com/5168770/meghan-mccains-failed-pundit-audition BrowserDetect.init(); Skip navigation s_account="msnbcom"

Mar 13th

tiny alligator faces mammoth project, quakes in...

O, I am fortune’s fool. About six months ago, jazz composer and trombonist Sara Jacovino and I decided that we needed an orchestra. A really, really big orchestra. Both new to New York, we were overwhelmed by the glut of friendly, creative and insanely gifted players in this city. Two composers in such a candy shop could surely come up with something delicious. Which we are. Next week,...

Mar 12th

Heartwarming Holiday Update: What A Wonderful...

Though I’ve been the most errant of bloggers lately, I can do no better than weary explanations and empty promises. Weary explanation: I’ve been happy to have been involved in much music-making lately, and less thrilled to have been involved in very little sleep. Most recently thrilling was spending a few intense days this week hanging out with the gentle souls of Darcy Argue’s...

Dec 20th

Make music happen.

Tiny Alligator Idol Darcy James Argue published an appeal today for help with the upfront costs of producing his upcoming Secret Society record. A better cause I cannot think of. It’s nigh on miraculous that he has managed to keep a band together this long, with incredible players playing amazing original music. It’s understandably exciting for me as a young composer to see Darcy...

Oct 8th

Afganistan as a Canadian Election Issue

If you’re still feeling overwhelmed by your choices in the Canadian election, please stop reading. Here’s one more issue to chew on: How well do you know each party’s position on Afganistan? My brother gave a brilliant, detailed interview on CBC’s Dispatches this weekend (October 6th edition), which I think gives a very grounded summary of what it’s like over there...

Oct 8th

Watch

Palin on CBS: the most awkward five minutes of my life.

Sep 26th

Margaret Atwood Hates Harper More Articulately...

I’ve been fuming for days, ever since Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s ignorant and pandering remarks about ‘ordinary Canadians’ disliking ‘liberal elite artists’. Mr Harper suggests that all artists ever do is attend shiny, expensive galas, bathing in jewels while whining about their diminishing grant funding. Since then, I’ve been planning this...

Sep 25th

Give the Gift of Original Music

Please do not be alarmed: the Holiday Season fast approaches. This year, be awesome and give the gift of original music. It’s personal, eco-friendly, cost-effective and guaranteed to jerk many happy tears. Here’s how it works: 1) You email caitlin@tinyalligator.com to tell me who you love enough to commission an orignal song about them. 2) I call you, and we gab for hours about the...

Sep 20th

Tiny Alligator's Pre-Turkey Surprise

There’s nothing like the crisp deliciousness of fall to make a girl feel homesick. Come and hear us sing many songs to this effect: Caitlin Smith and Tiny Alligator Large Band Sunday, October 5th, 8pm Trane Studio (964 Bathurst St) Toronto $20/$15 **Save money and Alligators! Take transit or bike to the show, and help us to increase Tiny Alligator’s eerie greenish-glow: Show us...

Sep 20th

Women of my generation: stop trying to be hip and...

I have a theory about all this Palin madness: her instant stardom goes beyond the usual American craving for starfuckery. In a fluffy news piece on NPR this morning, I heard middle-aged women in a conservative mid-west town expressing admiration at how this woman was being herself, loudly, on a national stage. These were women who had grown up as the third or fourth generation to have the vote,...

Sep 8th

Aug 23rd

Tiny Alligator: New York plays the music of...

Tiny Alligator: New York Plays the Music of Caitlin Smith at the Brooklyn Lyceum 227 4th Ave, Brooklyn, NY (R train to Union) Wednesday, September 3rd 8 pm $10 Featuring Yoon Sun Choi, vocals Anne Ricci, soprano Aaron Irwin, alto sax and flute Rob Mosher, clarinet and oboe Dan Willis, tenor sax, soprano sax, clarinet Tony Barba, tenor sax, clarinet, flute Josh Sinton, bass clarinet and bari sax...

Aug 21st

This Week in Awesomeness: Gfscott; Fighting Sad...

Tiny Alligator’s loyal web/design/coolness consultant is taking another big step towards running the world. We give Alligator Claps for him. However, we also stress here his previous loyalty, because we are quaking in our Alligator Boots that he might leave us/bankrupt us now that he is famous and all. Were such a day ever to dawn on the Alligator Farm, we might find ourselves cuddled up in...

Aug 5th

Jul 18th

In Which I Learn To Recycle (or, It's All Been...

I have a knack for standing quite still and pretending I’m not there. Apparently, I’m quite convincing: last week, while waiting, late night, for an interminable F train, a roach crawled over my foot. Two things followed quite quickly: one, I resolved to never ever wear sandals ever again in this city, ever; two, some words flashed through my head. These words have been tumbling...

Jul 8th

Zimbabwe election: The stolen ballots | World news... →

Jul 5th

Making Mr. Rushdie Proud?

Oh the pain. After having written nothing fit for listening since having packed up my crockpot, I just wrote a pop tune. A completely diatonic, teenage pop song, playable by sensitive youths with hair over their ears and mistuned acoustic guitars who wish to decry injustices they have yet to identify. If such a strapping lad were to sing it, the unadulterated angst would cause your...

Jul 1st

Visiting Florida? Rent a car.

I had opportunity to attend the International Jazz Composers’ Symposium in Tampa, Florida this weekend. It was a fun hang, and a rare opportunity to geek out over obscure musical details with like-minded composers. Highlights included readings of new charts by Lars Moller, Peter Jensen and Alan Ferber, an intimidatingly life-changing paper on Augmented Scale Theory by Javier Arau, and...

Jun 16th

Politesse at The Symphony

I heard the New York Philharmonic play Mahler 9 tonight. It gave me a funny impression of New Yorkers’ ideas about politeness. I splurged and bought a $40 nosebleed seat online, at the very back of the last balcony. Running late, having not quite figured hammered it into my brain yet that Bay Ridge to Upper West Side = a very long ride, I made it to the will call window at the box office...

Jun 6th

O but I miss Toronto.... →

May 19th

“Caitlin Smith’s sophisticated mix-and-match style of music was realized...”

– http://www.thelivemusicreport.com/2008/March/TinyAlligator_mar08.html

Apr 6th

New Website!

Tiny Alligator’s shiny new website redesign is now up, courtesy of Graham F. Scott. Check out www.tinyalligator.com.

Apr 5th