Vance Maverick
@vancemaverick.bsky.social
Computer programmer and composer in San Francisco
vancemaverick.com
vancemaverick.com
No complaints about the performance. As for the composition:
- I think I did handle the rhythmic challenge of Rukeyser’s prosy free verse. (Not a knock! She’s subtle and I mostly honored how I hear it.)
- My form works but imposes an arch structure that isn’t really there in the poem.
- I think I did handle the rhythmic challenge of Rukeyser’s prosy free verse. (Not a knock! She’s subtle and I mostly honored how I hear it.)
- My form works but imposes an arch structure that isn’t really there in the poem.
I have some thoughts about how this came out, but mainly I'm very pleased.
November 12, 2025 at 5:42 AM
No complaints about the performance. As for the composition:
- I think I did handle the rhythmic challenge of Rukeyser’s prosy free verse. (Not a knock! She’s subtle and I mostly honored how I hear it.)
- My form works but imposes an arch structure that isn’t really there in the poem.
- I think I did handle the rhythmic challenge of Rukeyser’s prosy free verse. (Not a knock! She’s subtle and I mostly honored how I hear it.)
- My form works but imposes an arch structure that isn’t really there in the poem.
Now I have the recording of my setting of this poem! By Sarah-Nicole Carter, mezzo, and Phil Dannels, piano.
youtu.be/T4BxHEW5ALk
youtu.be/T4BxHEW5ALk
November 12, 2025 at 5:02 AM
Now I have the recording of my setting of this poem! By Sarah-Nicole Carter, mezzo, and Phil Dannels, piano.
youtu.be/T4BxHEW5ALk
youtu.be/T4BxHEW5ALk
Reposted by Vance Maverick
I've been working hard at the day job lately, on a project that has let me do a lot of fun software design and coding. Last week, I realized that there's a tiny subproblem (formatting some tabular output) which is actually somewhat challenging to get right....
November 8, 2025 at 10:41 PM
I've been working hard at the day job lately, on a project that has let me do a lot of fun software design and coding. Last week, I realized that there's a tiny subproblem (formatting some tabular output) which is actually somewhat challenging to get right....
I think this is the best!
November 8, 2025 at 9:24 PM
I think this is the best!
I’m going to have to read this, if only because every time I see it mentioned, I wonder again whether its title is an allusion to a poem that could hardly serve the theme without being forcefully recontextualized ;-)
www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43285/...
www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43285/...
November 8, 2025 at 8:13 PM
I’m going to have to read this, if only because every time I see it mentioned, I wonder again whether its title is an allusion to a poem that could hardly serve the theme without being forcefully recontextualized ;-)
www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43285/...
www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43285/...
I did not realize this was Saxophone Day! Dr. TM's suggestion is a good one, and I'll add some of the only music I've written for the instrument.
In my opera, the part of the spirit or fairy is played onstage by a dancer, and in the audible realm by a saxophonist.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=afQd...
In my opera, the part of the spirit or fairy is played onstage by a dancer, and in the audible realm by a saxophonist.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=afQd...
November 7, 2025 at 5:42 AM
I did not realize this was Saxophone Day! Dr. TM's suggestion is a good one, and I'll add some of the only music I've written for the instrument.
In my opera, the part of the spirit or fairy is played onstage by a dancer, and in the audible realm by a saxophonist.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=afQd...
In my opera, the part of the spirit or fairy is played onstage by a dancer, and in the audible realm by a saxophonist.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=afQd...
There has been a long-anticipated insurgent campaign to replace her -- I think this means we will get a new establishment candidate (meaning the insurgent will have a different problem to solve)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Nancy Pelosi won't seek reelection, ending her storied career in the US House.
November 6, 2025 at 4:00 PM
There has been a long-anticipated insurgent campaign to replace her -- I think this means we will get a new establishment candidate (meaning the insurgent will have a different problem to solve)
I caught a video ad for a product called Reputation Defender, in which the protagonist suffers some kind of calumny but then is made whole so that a search for him shows a "successful businessman". His name in the ad is William Blake, so one can imagine the misunderstandings....
November 6, 2025 at 5:52 AM
I caught a video ad for a product called Reputation Defender, in which the protagonist suffers some kind of calumny but then is made whole so that a search for him shows a "successful businessman". His name in the ad is William Blake, so one can imagine the misunderstandings....
Maybe George Oppen's Collected? With most poets, I jump around in their collections and focus on individual poems. With Oppen, I remember just reading with pleasure from beginning to end like a novel.
let's talk poetry...
tell us about your favorite collection (read or written)
or if youve read my work & wanna ask me wtf i was on when i wrote something (or if just wanting insight to a particular piece or entire collection)
or link to a fave poetry podcast or book review
- whatever you want.
tell us about your favorite collection (read or written)
or if youve read my work & wanna ask me wtf i was on when i wrote something (or if just wanting insight to a particular piece or entire collection)
or link to a fave poetry podcast or book review
- whatever you want.
November 5, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Maybe George Oppen's Collected? With most poets, I jump around in their collections and focus on individual poems. With Oppen, I remember just reading with pleasure from beginning to end like a novel.
Opera/lied people, New Wave Opera in Portland is looking for singers and composers!
@lisaneher.bsky.social seems not to have announced this here yet....
www.newwaveopera.org/work-with-us...
@lisaneher.bsky.social seems not to have announced this here yet....
www.newwaveopera.org/work-with-us...
Work With Us!
Interested in performing with us or having one of your own works performed? Get in touch with us today! We are always excited to meet artists who share our mission
www.newwaveopera.org
November 3, 2025 at 9:29 PM
Opera/lied people, New Wave Opera in Portland is looking for singers and composers!
@lisaneher.bsky.social seems not to have announced this here yet....
www.newwaveopera.org/work-with-us...
@lisaneher.bsky.social seems not to have announced this here yet....
www.newwaveopera.org/work-with-us...
Nagged by the thought that I was quoting something as I sketched a piece, realizing it’s Parsifal
(and I haven’t been to the current production — it’s in the air)
(and I haven’t been to the current production — it’s in the air)
November 2, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Nagged by the thought that I was quoting something as I sketched a piece, realizing it’s Parsifal
(and I haven’t been to the current production — it’s in the air)
(and I haven’t been to the current production — it’s in the air)
Nobi is doing much better. And you know the saying "fortune is bald behind"? For some reason, since this urological procedure, I find myself thinking about it as he strolls around the house.
My cat has just gotten home from a few days at the vet. He’s still a bit woozy, but apparently recovering (a kidney/bladder thing). He’s not ready for pictures, so here’s one from a few days ago.
October 30, 2025 at 5:10 AM
Nobi is doing much better. And you know the saying "fortune is bald behind"? For some reason, since this urological procedure, I find myself thinking about it as he strolls around the house.
Change one letter, ruin a candy:
Horehound (I swapped the first and second h's)
Horehound (I swapped the first and second h's)
Change one letter, ruin a candy:
Milky Wax
Milky Wax
Change one letter, ruin a candy:
Stickers
Stickers
October 29, 2025 at 10:45 PM
Change one letter, ruin a candy:
Horehound (I swapped the first and second h's)
Horehound (I swapped the first and second h's)
My cat has just gotten home from a few days at the vet. He’s still a bit woozy, but apparently recovering (a kidney/bladder thing). He’s not ready for pictures, so here’s one from a few days ago.
October 29, 2025 at 2:39 AM
My cat has just gotten home from a few days at the vet. He’s still a bit woozy, but apparently recovering (a kidney/bladder thing). He’s not ready for pictures, so here’s one from a few days ago.
My cello teacher asked me about the goals of performance, i.e. to what end we're putting together our little phrases. I went down various byways of aesthetics, mostly denying that there was a singular nameable thing at the end. ...
October 27, 2025 at 8:35 PM
My cello teacher asked me about the goals of performance, i.e. to what end we're putting together our little phrases. I went down various byways of aesthetics, mostly denying that there was a singular nameable thing at the end. ...
I follow a classical performer on Instagram who posts advice on practicing in the light of neuroscience. I may be too reflexively skeptical…but just once I’d like her to say “here’s the problem, here’s the surprising solution”, with a demonstration, and only then invoke the hippocampus.
October 26, 2025 at 2:10 AM
I follow a classical performer on Instagram who posts advice on practicing in the light of neuroscience. I may be too reflexively skeptical…but just once I’d like her to say “here’s the problem, here’s the surprising solution”, with a demonstration, and only then invoke the hippocampus.
October 25, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Obligatory excerpt from Cage's "Silence":
October 24, 2025 at 7:35 PM
Obligatory excerpt from Cage's "Silence":
Jessica Smith marveled at why her students are majoring in business rather than in the humanities/creative fields many of them love. My own story was a little different, because I had the privilege of supportive parents who were happy I wanted to study music...
October 24, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Jessica Smith marveled at why her students are majoring in business rather than in the humanities/creative fields many of them love. My own story was a little different, because I had the privilege of supportive parents who were happy I wanted to study music...
my one quibble, of course, is that "Some metric" belongs on the Y axis, and time running from left to right on the X axis
October 24, 2025 at 4:24 PM
my one quibble, of course, is that "Some metric" belongs on the Y axis, and time running from left to right on the X axis
Is it too banal to say it's both? We have the power to use words to make new phrases, but we mostly don't use it. There are well-known demonstrations of invention ("colorless green ideas"), and also underminings of set phrases ("I lust after Bob because he always gets it over with so fast")
i feel like most language is composed out of set phrases rather than words
October 22, 2025 at 11:23 PM
Is it too banal to say it's both? We have the power to use words to make new phrases, but we mostly don't use it. There are well-known demonstrations of invention ("colorless green ideas"), and also underminings of set phrases ("I lust after Bob because he always gets it over with so fast")
For daily music writing, I found it helped me to use a special pencil on quite ordinary paper. I wouldn't argue for this particular combination, but it feels like bringing a well-balanced wrench into the greasy machine room, to do the grubby job right
I write everything on a work laptop because I don't have one of my own. I type it all into Google docs and just download it to back it up, if I remember to. Firm believer that you do not need anything fancy, just do the work.
#horrorwriterschat
#horrorwriterschat
QUESTION TWO
We stand before your writing area #HorrorWritersChat
Which three tools (apps? Items? objects?) do you find useful when writing?
Are there any you’d recommend to other writers?
The stranger the better...
We stand before your writing area #HorrorWritersChat
Which three tools (apps? Items? objects?) do you find useful when writing?
Are there any you’d recommend to other writers?
The stranger the better...
October 22, 2025 at 6:42 PM
For daily music writing, I found it helped me to use a special pencil on quite ordinary paper. I wouldn't argue for this particular combination, but it feels like bringing a well-balanced wrench into the greasy machine room, to do the grubby job right
As a rusty old programmer currently working with Jira in a soup of other strange names, I identify
still cant believe team cherry didnt know what jira was. they didn't even know tubu. i got a blank stare when i told them about heebee. they dont use poodee or dippy. they said whats weeno. dude they were unaware of gumpy. they dont have a pheebo subscription. they don't even use poob. not even poob
October 22, 2025 at 3:19 PM
As a rusty old programmer currently working with Jira in a soup of other strange names, I identify
Writing songs, I often turn to old poetry, for reasons of taste and rights. I still haven't worked out to my satisfaction, though, how to deal with meter.
So I was glad to participate in the performance of a new song setting a long poem in quatrains, in which each verse took exactly 16 bars...
So I was glad to participate in the performance of a new song setting a long poem in quatrains, in which each verse took exactly 16 bars...
October 21, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Writing songs, I often turn to old poetry, for reasons of taste and rights. I still haven't worked out to my satisfaction, though, how to deal with meter.
So I was glad to participate in the performance of a new song setting a long poem in quatrains, in which each verse took exactly 16 bars...
So I was glad to participate in the performance of a new song setting a long poem in quatrains, in which each verse took exactly 16 bars...