Nolan Kehler reached Brandon University music theory professor and composer Luis Ramirez to talk about his nomination in the Classical Composer of the Year category at the Western Canadian Music Awards and to learn more about "Leaven", the piece that earned the nomination.

Host Janna Sailor interviews Composer, pianist, conductor, and scholar Luis Ramirez! Tracklist Leaven Luis Ramiriez • The Music of Luis Ramirez Picante Luis Ramirez • The Music of Luis Ramirez Chido Luis Ramirez • The Music of Luis Ramirez

Music, film, and performance by Luis Ramirez Commissioned by GroundSwell as part of their 30th anniversary season in 2021-2022 Created as part of my PhD research. Special thanks to Scott Howarth for letting me use his piano. Program notes: The terms “doomsurfing” and “doomscrolling” emerged as a way to describe the behavior of nonstop consumption of bad news that a lot of people adopted during the Covid-19 pandemic. This behavioral addiction stemmed from the isolation and general gloom that people have experienced in the last couple of years. The already damaging behavior is exacerbated by the designs and interface of the various online platforms. The attention economy drives companies to employ hundreds of people whose job is to keep the user hooked and take advantage of their psychological vulnerabilities for their profit. Addictions develop with the idea that the behavior is protecting us from psychological distress. Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, etc., can all trigger behavioral addictions for us to mitigate our problems and troubles. All procrastination is just like an addiction - you start doing it because you want to have fun, but you continue because you don't want to feel unhappy. Loneliness is the biggest culprit for addiction, and while it is really difficult to escape the doomsurfing temptation when we have our own internal problems, it is even more so with the amount of external tumult and uncertainty in our current world. The struggle begins with our surroundings. The gravitational pull of my phone is much stronger if I wake up next to it, and this accessibility inevitably leads to the rest of my day being mostly unproductive. The morning is typically my best time for ideas and productivity, and the limited bandwidth of our brain can be quickly cluttered if I dive into internet rabbit holes too early on. Once the phone takes over it is really hard to escape, and it feels like a battle for my attention between a productive day and the Internet’s infinite content. I have found that delaying the first interaction with my device by even just half an hour results in me having a much more productive and fulfilling day. Going for a walk, getting direct sunlight in my eyes, drinking lots of water… It is small steps like these that can lead to building good habits and a general improvement in your life. I wanted to represent this struggle with my music and share what I have learned with the hope that it can benefit someone in similar circumstances. #doomsurfer #doomscrolling #piano #depression #newmusic #contemporarymusic

Conlon Nancarrow (1912-1997) was an American-Mexican composer who wrote almost exclusively for player piano. This allowed him to explore complexity in rhythmic and melodic writing beyond what is humanly possible, due to the mechanical nature of the instrument. He was an extremely influential composer and one of the earliest examples of human-machine collaboration for making music. This piece is his Study no. 21 for Player Piano, written between 1961 and 1965 and also known as Canon X. Both hands are playing the exact same sequence of notes, but the right hand begins at a fast tempo and decelerates while the left hand begins slowly and accelerates towards an impossibly fast tempo. I wondered what it would look like to physically perform his music. It was a fun quarantine project and I hope you enjoy it! Performed and edited by Luis Ramirez https://www.cutza.xyz

My First Vlog, for Cello and Youtubers performed by Alanna Hunter on Cello composed, filmed, and edited by Luis Ramirez Everything you hear in this piece (except for the cello) was derived from the Youtubers' voices. I like to make music that explores Internet Culture. If you are interested in the score, contact me at cutza7@gmail.com For more music like this, visit my website http://www.cutza.xyz Smash that thumbs up button! All featured Youtubers in order of appearance: Jordyn Jones: https://www.youtube.com/user/Stepsgirl WolfieRaps: https://www.youtube.com/user/WolfieEnt Bongizzlez: https://www.youtube.com/user/BongoBicher BookofKen: https://www.youtube.com/user/BookOfKen Anastasia Kingsnorth: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwR-g7XxcLxjYVTS5qncFhg Just Dustin: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCau_n8AK1uk3Ys5bEnRAoqg Taye Edwards: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoj-cQBPVY6qdhgoq0ld5_w Logan Paul: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG8rbF3g2AMX70yOd8vqIZg Poppy: https://www.youtube.com/user/thatPoppyTV Pewdiepie: https://www.youtube.com/user/PewDiePie grav3yardgirl: https://www.youtube.com/user/grav3yardgirl JoshuaSuarez: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkHHVb6_9FatL1TxUijyMeA Durv: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsNU-z2Nxsm5xfSusglV9Zw Morgz: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBwSufNse8VMBvQM_rCSvgQ Sophie Clough: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj1PZqhFiJIoMLH3cAPrsQQ makeupbyjamiekyle: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVbV9anIi3lEjlBE7gcNocQ MyaNicole: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdpHMCMHVfVS8wa-5LS3fCQ lookingforlewys: https://www.youtube.com/user/lookingforlewys Simply Kian: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTj_t4HUXqJgKbR4wtbJhrg Elektras XOXO: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFORCKY86mWzYKDiRtqHz-w Fun Factory: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC40Q0IQcy9AAz2rctU2CaXw Magic Box Toys Collector: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrViPg5cdGsH8Uk-OLzhQdg Onyx Kids: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpJlmVOckoFYvK4Mf7tM4bQ Life with Beans: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT0at69aCu3dgYS9PGasp1Q Little Heroes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC59ejpMDHCZESZid3Q4UGvg Princess Fun Place: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd2rTHJH5AsOzLTpHkP99kg MaddaKenz: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzLr80fUkC1FejyjggHuMSQ Hailey's Magical Playhouse: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZb6NHiHNZZ0jeKDLqwm3DQ Ryan ToysReview: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChGJGhZ9SOOHvBB0Y4DOO_w His and Hers: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCybp8yu3ec0ZuuRgqGjL9og

www.reddit.com/r/pencilmusic Sheet music: http://bit.ly/mariopencil

The Internet Jaimie Rose, soprano Luis Ramirez, piano Lyrics by Poppy, https://youtu.be/wwnODNJ_6Eg "Do you have a Facebook? The Internet is my favorite place for activities. Sometimes I forget my password. I like to purchase things on Amazon.com. I log in to Facebook using my password. What is your favorite website? I have to use a password to log on to the Internet. Do you ever use the Internet to look at pictures? After all of us are dead our content will last forever on the World Wide Web! That's why I love the Internet. Sometimes I log on to the Internet to look at pictures. Do you have a Facebook? Facebook is a website on the Internet. I log in to my Facebook with a password. I love the Internet." - Poppy Composed, filmed, and edited by Luis Ramirez https://www.cutza.xyz

Lyric - George Walker (1922 - 2018) arranged for piano by Luis Ramirez The classical music world is overwhelmingly white and male. It is embarrassing to admit that it was only a few years ago when I understood how problematic this systemic racism is, but I want to take action and improve things within my field. I wrote this arrangement for piano of George Walker's "Lyric", a beautiful piece of music that I thought would be an appropriate counterpoint to the chaotic state of the present world. I am hopeful that times are changing, and I hope you consider incorporating and advocating for the music of marginalized communities in your performances. Dedicated to the victims of police abuse. #BlackLivesMatter https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/