To the Editor:

While I have always considered Dr. Marc Segal’s column in Medical Marketing & Media to typically represent views that are conservative and thus quite the opposite of mine, I was particularly taken by his remarks against making emergency contraception (specifically, Plan B) available over the counter to young women under the age of 17. In contrast to the findings of the FDA committee that recommended its approval, Dr. Segal puts forth several rationales for his decision that fly in the face of medical evidence. 

For example, he maintains that OTC status would pose a risk of ectopic pregnancy, as he postulates that young women might assume Plan B has worked and fail to heed signs of an ectopic. There is no data to support this, and even if Plan B were not available, women of all ages may have an undiagnosed ectopic pregnancy regardless of the availability of emergency contraception. Taking EC does not make one more likely to “ignore” signs of an ectopic pregnancy.

I suspect his issue is more with the primitive, and unproven, notion among some people that anything that prevents undesired pregnancy will somehow corrupt our youth. This is suggested by his assertion that making Plan B available without prescription to teens would lead to “Undiagnosed sexually transmitted diseases that often accompany unprotected sex in teens.” I realize that Dr. Segal is not a gynecologist, but even he should know that STDs may accompany unprotected sex regardless of whether or not emergency contraception is available. The availability of emergency contraception does not increase licentiousness or STDs. It does, however, decrease the incidence of undesired pregnancy, and also can decrease the need for abortion. Indeed, one of the sad things is that despite the availability of Plan B to adults, many do not take advantage of it. 

I do not disagree with Dr. Segal’s assertion that “A discussion about sex and pregnancy is an opportunity for a discussion between a doctor and a teen…” But in reality, such discussions often do not take place in medical offices. Nor do many teens (and adults, for that matter) heed a physician’s advice about sexual intercourse, smoking, or many other lifestyle matters. 

All drugs have side effects. That includes all medications that are available over the counter. The known side effects cited by Dr. Segal, such as “Allergy and facial swelling” and “Nausea and vomiting” are also side effects common to many OTC drugs. Aspirin can be nephrotoxic and induce gastric bleeding and platelet dysfunction; acetaminophen is well known to be hepatotoxic at higher doses. Does Dr. Segal suggest those drugs be restricted to “by prescription only?”

Teen pregnancy is difficult and generally undesirable. We need to do more to prevent it. Emergency contraception is one approach, and I’m disappointed that any physician would propose in a national magazine that EC not be made available to teens under OTC status. Again, the FDA had recommended Plan B be made available over the counter, and regrettably the Obama Administration, probably for political reasons, chose to ignore their evidence-based recommendation. Unproven speculation about treatments with an important benefit for public health should not be given credence by publication in a magazine such as yours.

I was contacted last week by the contrabassist Ryan McMasters, who recently graduated with a masters from the Hartt College of Music and is now active in the Pittsburgh area. He noticed some of my works on the IMSLP site and asked if I might write him something for solo contrabass that he would perform and record next year. I got on it, despite a really full plate at home and at work, and wrote something in around four days that I think works pretty well. It is largely made up of whole notes followed by a quarter rest, although the middle section is more rhythmic (and played pizzicato and col legno throughout, rather than arco). It lasts longer than I would have thought, since I hadn’t been working on anything suitable for a contrabass piece. I did, however, manage to improvise something on December 17, and that formed the basis of the finished work.

The score is here.

The mp3 (generated with Finale 2012) is here.

On the other hand, this blog is served by WordPress, all for free. So I have started developing a page on WordPress.com which would basically serve the same HTML page that I am currently using for my music. I created a static, non-blog site which will go live soon.

The glitch however was that wordpress.com will not allow me to upload any MP3 files without a space upgrade. It’s somewhat overpriced at $20 a year, so I did look into soundcloud and also archive.org. Suncloud is great, but very expensive. Archive.org looked very promising, and I had already uploaded some files there previously. But trying to upload about 2 GB of my music was becoming very onerous. After uploading some files, I would get an error page at the end of the entire process telling me that there is a file naming problem. This happened too many times, and without any pattern, as some files uploaded perfectly fine. So out went the free option, and I purchased the space upgrade from wordpress.com. Why would have preferred my music files to exist on a free site that is not dependent on yearly subscription fees, I think this will work just fine.

On another note, I recently wrote a piece for solo contrabass at the request of the contrabassist Ryan McMasters. I’m hoping to launch the new site soon and have that piece up as well.

The existing new music site will probably be replaced with a page that redirects visitors to the new site on WordPress.com. And that redirect well of course go away at the end of June. The iDisk has served me pretty well, and I am sorry to see it go. I am now using SugarSync for my offsite file backup needs, and even with the $20 a year wordpress fee, this is still no more expensive than what I was paying for .Mac every year.

I got up at 3 AM EST to preorder the new iPhone 4s. My 3GS is long in the tooth and the new camera alone makes it a worthwhile upgrade. Plus at this point, I can get a reasonable amount for my 3GS on the market, so why not.

3AM: Apple Store down. Twitter is going nuts

3:45 AM: Store is now up. Great. I use the Apple Store iPhone app to preorder, and get all the way to checkout when the process freezes. The page essentially refreshed and nothing ever would go through. So I go downstairs to my wife’s iMac to try again.

4:30 AM: All attempts via the online Apple Store fail, as it times out when trying to verify my account with AT&T. As a final attempt, I go to att.com, and sure enough, it’s smooth sailing. Before hitting Submit, I give the Apple Store one last try, but no luck. I note that AT&T is not offering AppleCare+ as an option, but is offering their own warranty plan for $9.95.

4:45 AM: I go to the online Apple Store and there is no way to purchase AppleCare+ except when as part of the iPhone order process. I check online forums, and many others are in the same boat.

I get an e-mail confirmation from AT&T, and it makes it clear that no changes or cancellation are possible, as expected.

This morning, I call Apple to see what can be done. After about 90 minutes of going through various people (the first person, incidentally, wanted the phone’s serial number and order number. He didn’t get that I preordered via AT&T I suppose), First I was told I would have to cancel my AT&T preorder and reorder via Apple, just too get AppleCare+. The Apple Support rep, who was truly helpful, called AT&T himself, but the preorder stands. I would have to return it unopened to AT&T and get a refund and then order anew via Apple. Why?

What happened to Apple? It was never perfect. But details like this usually didn’t end up getting ignored. I get that the Apple Store crimped under a ton of traffic, although it’s not like Apple didn’t know it was going to have a massive load at 3 AM EST. Why not stagger it by time zone then?  And if you’re going to offer the iPhone on multiple carriers and offer a new warranty product that is required to be purchased along with the covered device, why not make sure your carriers have it in their systems?

So yes, I’m an idiot.

UPDATE: I sent an e-mail to Tim Cook and also via Apple’s Feedback page. Got a response from an executive at Apple and we just spoke on the phone. They’re trying to work on a fix. We’ll see.

Turns out the felt overlying some of the keys was worn. Fortunately, the same guy at Musician’s Electronic Service in Ardmore, PA was able to find some replacement felt and do some other tweaks, so it’s now working fine. I don’t tend to use the KS-32 much anymore since I usually only have time to compose when out on the West Coast, and then only at night. But it’s nice to have this still in good working condition. Ensoniq folded many years ago, which is a shame, since they made good synthesizers. The weighted keyboard action is just like using the real thing.

It’s been awhile since I have had any opportunity to compose music, with work and all that. I did, however, make it out to the office in California last week, and over 2-3 nights managed to write a short work for solo cello. It just happened; I didn’t go into this with any thoughts of writing for solo cello, nor did I have an abundance of ideas, so I’m glad this was the resultant output. It is based entirely on an improvisation, which just happened to work well for cello. It’s a stream of continuous 16th notes and also ends as it begins.

MP3 is here.
Score (PDF) is here.

I just submitted the following comment to the Nonesuch Records blog in reference to Steve Reich’s unfortunate decision to change the cover art for his forthcoming recording WTC 9/11.

I’m a composer and recently blogged about wtc 9/11 on my Web site (http://dtoub.wordpress.com/2011/06/05/wtc-911-some-thoughts/) and reviewed it for Sequenza 21 (http://www.sequenza21.com/cdreviews/2011/08/wtc-911/). I think that the cover is perhaps not what I would have chosen, but that said, who cares? It’s a cover. There are no bodies, in close up, falling from one of the towers (although that would certainly have made a more powerful statement than the current cover with the plane and the WTC). Just as with Different Trains, there are no images of bodies being piled up. I don’t think SR should have changed the cover, any more than I thought the Islamic cultural center a few blocks away should be moved. If some people are disturbed by the cover, so be it. They probably wouldn’t listen to the piece anyway. And Nonesuch might realize that the controversy, such as it is, might spur others to listen to the piece and purchase the album. I think it’s ridiculous, just like the objections to the John Adams opera about Leon Klinghoffer.

When I was a kid growing up in the 60′s, I had a LP set of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10 that had the photo of a poor Russian boy on the cover. Given that we were in the midst of a cold war and nuclear tensions, I don’t recall anyone complaining that he/she was offended or disturbed by the cover. I also had a recording of Shostakovich’s 13th symphony with a distorted, Munch-like photo of an old Jewish woman who one could imaging is being burned. Again, no controversy. Nor should there have been.

WTC 9/11, if you read my review and even worse, my blog post, is not my favorite piece by SR, whom I’ve met several times (I interviewed him 2-3 times in the early 80′s for my college radio program at the U of Chicago) and who had an important influence on the direction of my own music. But that’s my point-it’s the music that matters. Not the album cover. I am disappointed that the cover art is being changed. Artists should not bow to convention, even if the art in question is disturbing. Guernica is disturbing. Should we replace that too?

It’s unusual for my music to get performed. And even rare for me to be able to attend. But when my piece dharmachakramudra from last December was selected for this year’s soundON Festival of Modern Music in La Jolla, to be performed by members of San Diego New Music’s NOISE Ensemble, I moved mountains to make sure I was working on the West Coast this week and could take a day off from work to be in La Jolla. And I’m really glad I did.

It ended up being a very full day yesterday. After flying in from SFO and renting a car, I attended an open rehearsal of dharmachakramudra and it went well. The musicians (Mark Menzies, Franklin Cox, Morris Palter) got it. They had their own ideas about how to perform the piece, which I support. The only guidance I gave was that it be very quiet (although upon request, I was fine with upping the volume a bit) and the metronome marking did not have to be followed very strictly. After awhile, even though the musicians made it look easy, I came to the conclusion that it really is a difficult piece to pull off. The score looks pretty unremarkable, even simplistic. But it’s quiet and everything is exposed. There is no room for error, and the opening double-stop on the cello had to have provoked some angina for Franklin Cox, but he did the piece justice, as did Mark and Morris. So the performance was great, the audience was really into new music, and hey, it was in La Jolla. What’s not to like?

The Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, La Jolla, CA

Open rehearsal :Mark Menzies, violin; Franklin Cox, cello; Morris Palter, percussion

Group discussion. From left: Matthew Burtner, Christopher Adler, dbt, Frances White, Stuart Saunders Smith,

And another nice thing was being able to finally meet some good friends in person:

With friend and composer Christian Hertzog

With new music aficionado Paul Muller

People are streaming in and out, some are lying or sitting on the floor, others sitting in chairs, some pacing. But everyone is very silent, which is good, a the piece is generally extremely quiet.

I’ve known the work in both the FLUX and Ives Ensemble recordings for many years now. Both are amazing. But the FLUX Quartet recording clocks in a bit over six hours, while the Ives recording is just under five. Both are authoritative and excellent performances. But my preference remains the FLUX Quartet recording. And their live performance is incredible. Now, if only parking here didn’t require one to leave and add money every three hours. Guess they’re not used to six-hour concerts here.

The score is handwritten and has a grid-like quality to it, with equal numbers of measure on each page. The performers are playing from the full score, and sometimes one player has to turn a page for his colleague.

The acoustics here at the Philadelphia Cathedral in University City are great, and I really do hope for more concerts like this in venues like this.

The audience is mostly young, which is encouraging.

I give the FLUX Quartet a lot of credit for continuing to perform FSQ2, and playing it so well.

In contrast, my 2-hour string quartet for philip glass seems so short.

Nice to bump into Marvin Rosen of WPRB-FM here as well