Ben Ryer

I don’t know why exactly, but I always feel like my creativity peaks on gray and dreary days. Maybe something about the comfort of working at my desk and looking out the window… who knows!

Klezmer is still heavily on my mind for the next month or so as I wrap up work on my upcoming lecture recital and dissertation defense. For those unfamiliar with klezmer, I’ve tried my best to sum up my view in the abstract for my dissertation:

“Klezmer” is the term commonly used today to refer to music Jewish music from Eastern Europe and is often associated with the Yiddish language and Ashkenazi Jews. Since the 1970s a renewed interest in klezmer has led musicians, both Jewish and non-Jewish, to explore this style with its hallmark modal melodies and rhythmic patterns, and to interpret it through their own individual cultural lenses. These varied interpretations of klezmer nonetheless share a certain set of characteristics, from melodic and harmonic tendencies to a core repertoire which has persisted since the beginning of the twentieth century.

To give a little better demonstration, and as a preview of my upcoming lecture recital, here’s a brief excerpt of my piece for concert band “The Badchen.” I hope it piques your interest!

Hello internet, I’m back!

For those of you who may visit this website, you may have noticed it’s been quite some time since I’ve been active here. Everything has sort of revolved around my dissertation for the past year, and sadly composition has taken a back seat in my mind to finishing this enormous paper. But there is light at the end of the tunnel! I am set to wrap up and defend my dissertation in April of 2020 and complete my Doctor of Musical Arts Degree! Over the course of my research, I’ve learned a lot about klezmer and been exposed to some amazing and interesting music; I plan on posting again soon with an overview of my research and a few links to performances which have stood out in my mind.

Despite most of my attention being pulled away from composing lately, the wheels have begin to turn and I’m getting back into it. Last summer, I was honored to compose a short piece helping to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the first enslaved Africans landing in English-occupied North America entitled “The Silent Founders: In Memoriam” (you can see the video here). I finished my composition for wind band, “The Badchen,” a few months back as a companion piece to my dissertation and I look forward to hearing a premiere performance. I recently completed a smaller-scale work at the end of 2019 entitled “Quinta Essentia” for viola and piano, and I am excited to get that piece out into the world as well (hit me up violists!) Finally, in the past week I’ve begun digging through old material to put together a new string quartet, which I hope to finish by early summer (we’ll see how I do).

I promise to update more diligently from here on out, hope everyone’s month is off to a great start and I’ll be posting again soon!

It’s been a while, finally getting settled into upstate NY! I’ve been quieter on the musical front lately, work has been very busy and I’ve been putting a lot of free time into my dissertation on klezmer in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. I’ve been making music here and there, though, including some composing for a friend’s new upcoming podcast as well as some ceremonial music for my wedding in October! I’m working back into some more regular composing, and looking forward to visiting the Washington, DC area in May to hear the Washington Metropolitan Gamer Symphony Orchestra play an arrangement of mine.