Music Videos
Blue on Blue Recording Studio has a special focus working with classical musicians and composers to create music videos of their music.
Blue on Blue Recording Studio has a special focus working with classical musicians and composers to create music videos of their music.
Choreograph Collection (2020)
Rochester-based quintet fivebyfive and Blue on Blue Recording Studio explore the intersection of music and art in this collection of music videos. fivebyfive commissioned three composers to create new music in response to the “Choreograph” exhibition by internationally renowned photographer Jame Welling. The collection was premiered in November 2020 as a single video that takes place in a mystical museum whose rooms become increasingly surreal.
1. It Can't Not Be Dance Music, by Robert Lydecker - 0:11
2. Dancing About Architecture, by Kamala Sankaram - 8:38
3. BOKEH, by Yuanyuan (Kay) HE - 17:23
Commissioned and performed by fivebyfive
Flute/Accordion: Laura Lentz
Clarinet/Bass Clarinet: Marcy Bacon
Electric Guitar: Sungmin Shin
Piano: Haeyeun Jeun
Acoustic Bass/Electric Bass: Eric J. Polenik
Audio/Video: Marc Webster at Blue on Blue Recording Studio
Recorded in our homes during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thank you to the George Eastman Museum, New Music USA, Rochester Institute of Technology Performing Arts and Genesee Valley Council on the Arts for their support of this project.
Rochester-based quintet fivebyfive and Blue on Blue Recording Studio explore the intersection of music and art in this collection of music videos. fivebyfive commissioned three composers to create new music in response to the “Choreograph” exhibition by internationally renowned photographer Jame Welling. The collection was premiered in November 2020 as a single video that takes place in a mystical museum whose rooms become increasingly surreal.
1. It Can't Not Be Dance Music, by Robert Lydecker - 0:11
2. Dancing About Architecture, by Kamala Sankaram - 8:38
3. BOKEH, by Yuanyuan (Kay) HE - 17:23
Commissioned and performed by fivebyfive
Flute/Accordion: Laura Lentz
Clarinet/Bass Clarinet: Marcy Bacon
Electric Guitar: Sungmin Shin
Piano: Haeyeun Jeun
Acoustic Bass/Electric Bass: Eric J. Polenik
Audio/Video: Marc Webster at Blue on Blue Recording Studio
Recorded in our homes during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thank you to the George Eastman Museum, New Music USA, Rochester Institute of Technology Performing Arts and Genesee Valley Council on the Arts for their support of this project.
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"Really great playing and incredible visuals. I was constantly fighting my habit to listen with closed eyes because video was actually complementing music. A true synergy, kudos to everyone who was involved. This is so good that it deserves wider recognition" - Petar Kodzas, Associate Dean of the Eastman Community Music School
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For more about fivebyfive, please visit www.fivebyfivemusic.com
For more Robert Lydecker's works, please visit www.lydeckermusic.com
For more Robert Lydecker's works, please visit www.kamalasankaram.com
For more Kay HE's works, please visit www.kayhecomposer.com
For more Robert Lydecker's works, please visit www.lydeckermusic.com
For more Robert Lydecker's works, please visit www.kamalasankaram.com
For more Kay HE's works, please visit www.kayhecomposer.com
Lake George Music Festival (2020)
Lake George Music Festival and Blue on Blue created these three videos for their 2020 virtual music festival! All recorded virtually in each musicians home!
Lake George Music Festival and Blue on Blue created these three videos for their 2020 virtual music festival! All recorded virtually in each musicians home!
Magic Cards - Mendelssohn String Octet Op.20, iv. Presto (2020)
Recorded in our homes during COVID-19 as part of the Lake George Music Festival
Composed by Felix Mendelssohn
Violins: Gregory Lewis, Sophia Szokolay, Evgeny Zvonnikov, Petros Karapetyan
Violas: Jebat Kee, Yumi Oshima
Cellos: Mia Barcia-Colombo, Evan Kahn
Audio and Video by Marc Webster at Blue on Blue Recording Studio
For more about the Lake George Music Festival, please visit www.lakegeorgemusicfestival.com
Recorded in our homes during COVID-19 as part of the Lake George Music Festival
Composed by Felix Mendelssohn
Violins: Gregory Lewis, Sophia Szokolay, Evgeny Zvonnikov, Petros Karapetyan
Violas: Jebat Kee, Yumi Oshima
Cellos: Mia Barcia-Colombo, Evan Kahn
Audio and Video by Marc Webster at Blue on Blue Recording Studio
For more about the Lake George Music Festival, please visit www.lakegeorgemusicfestival.com
An Afternoon in Shepard Park - Cras Quintet, i. Assez animé (2020)
Recorded in our homes during COVID-19 as part of the Lake George Music Festival
Composed by Jean Cras
Harp: Rosanna Moore
Flute: Vincenzo Volpe
Violin: Alice Hong
Viola: Kristyna Kolarova
Cello: Sam DeCaprio
Audio and Video by Marc Webster at Blue on Blue Recording
For more about the Lake George Music Festival, please visit www.lakegeorgemusicfestival.com
Recorded in our homes during COVID-19 as part of the Lake George Music Festival
Composed by Jean Cras
Harp: Rosanna Moore
Flute: Vincenzo Volpe
Violin: Alice Hong
Viola: Kristyna Kolarova
Cello: Sam DeCaprio
Audio and Video by Marc Webster at Blue on Blue Recording
For more about the Lake George Music Festival, please visit www.lakegeorgemusicfestival.com
Night at the Museum - Raum, Processional Fanfare (2020)
Recorded in our homes during COVID-19 as part of the Lake George Music Festival
Composed by Elizabeth Raum
Trumpets: Eric Rizzo, Saori Kataoka
Trombones: Kevin Dombrowski, Alexander Theiss,
Bass Trombone: Zachary Haas
Audio and Video by Marc Webster at Blue on Blue Recording
For more about the Lake George Music Festival, please visit www.lakegeorgemusicfestival.com
Recorded in our homes during COVID-19 as part of the Lake George Music Festival
Composed by Elizabeth Raum
Trumpets: Eric Rizzo, Saori Kataoka
Trombones: Kevin Dombrowski, Alexander Theiss,
Bass Trombone: Zachary Haas
Audio and Video by Marc Webster at Blue on Blue Recording
For more about the Lake George Music Festival, please visit www.lakegeorgemusicfestival.com
The Seduction of Brie (2020)
Recorded in our homes during the COVID-19 lockdown!
Composed by Marc Mellits
Flute: Laura Lentz
Bass Clarinet: Marcy Bacon
Violin: Shannon Reilly
Cello: Lars Kirvan
Marimba: Kristen Shiner McGuire
Piano: Marc Webster
Audio mixing and video animation by Marc Webster at Blue on Blue Recording Studio
Recorded in our homes during the COVID-19 lockdown!
Composed by Marc Mellits
Flute: Laura Lentz
Bass Clarinet: Marcy Bacon
Violin: Shannon Reilly
Cello: Lars Kirvan
Marimba: Kristen Shiner McGuire
Piano: Marc Webster
Audio mixing and video animation by Marc Webster at Blue on Blue Recording Studio
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"Watch one of the most unique and dynamic performances captured during this lock-down!" - Sean Donnelly, Filmmaker
"...complete with 360-degree perspectives, sudden close-ups and quick pans, and even the dynamic movement of individual video panels. All these techniques serve to underscore the energy of the players, the propulsive, unpredictable rhythms of Mellits’s mixed-meter composition, and the shared intimacy of joint music-making. It’s enough to make the viewer forget that the six performers were never in the same room together." - Rochester City Newspaper |
For more music by Marc Mellits, please visit www.marcmellits.com
Waiting in the Rain for Snow (2019)
Composed by David Crowell
Performed by fivebyfive: Flute Laura Lentz, Clarinet Marcy Bacon, Acoustic Bass Eric Polenik, Electric Guitar Sungmin Shin, Piano Hae-Yeun Jeun
Audio and video by Marc Webster at Blue on Blue Recording Studio
This video features a “magic pond” with rain drops in the middle of the recording studio that freezes as it starts to snow.
Composed by David Crowell
Performed by fivebyfive: Flute Laura Lentz, Clarinet Marcy Bacon, Acoustic Bass Eric Polenik, Electric Guitar Sungmin Shin, Piano Hae-Yeun Jeun
Audio and video by Marc Webster at Blue on Blue Recording Studio
This video features a “magic pond” with rain drops in the middle of the recording studio that freezes as it starts to snow.
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"Produced by Marc Webster at Blue on Blue Recording Studio, the performance video features skillfully edited close-ups that fade in and out quickly on the individual musicians. This camerawork provides a visual representation of the contemporary classical quintet’s cohesion and unflappable melodic interplay" - Rochester City Newspaper
"I’ve been aware of this group for a while now having seen notices here and there promoting their gigs. Now I have heard them and I’m a fan. Nice video, good recording, interesting music and great playing—deserving a wider" audience.” - Ramon Ricker, Professor Emeritus of Saxophone, Eastman School of Music |
For more about fivebyfive, please visit www.fivebyfivemusic.com
For more David Crowell works, please visit www.davidcrowellmusic.com
For more David Crowell works, please visit www.davidcrowellmusic.com
Stay in School (2019)
Composed/Produced by Marc Webster
Glory, Mark 2
Strings for Success at School #19
Fivebyfive quintet
Little Red Dance Studio
Audio and video recording Marc Webster
Composed/Produced by Marc Webster
Glory, Mark 2
Strings for Success at School #19
Fivebyfive quintet
Little Red Dance Studio
Audio and video recording Marc Webster
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"Amazing people do amazing things. If you watch just one video today watch this one. Our community has such a treasure in these people" - John Bernunzio, of Bernunzio's Uptown Music Store
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This video was the culmination of a several months of collaboration with the fivebyfive quintet and the violin students in Strings for Success, a program of The Center for Youth in partnership with Dr. Charles T. Lunsford school 19 in the Rochester City School District.
This video include the #StayInSchoolChallenge to music teachers and students to make their own video of Stay in School. Sheet music and mp3 are available at StayInSchoolChallenge.
Full cast and crew:
Rap: Glory, Mark 2
Violins: Strings for Success at School #19, Program Director Patty Yarmel, Music Director Gretchen Judge
fivebyfive: Flute Laura Lentz, Clarinet Marcy Bacon, Electric Guitar Sungmin Shin, Piano Haeyeun Jeun, Bass Eric Polenik.
Dancers: Little Red Dance Studio, Dance Director Lisa Allaine, Choreographers Sarah Albano, Sarah Rothrock-Rickel
Additional artistic direction Diana Elena Alvarez
This video include the #StayInSchoolChallenge to music teachers and students to make their own video of Stay in School. Sheet music and mp3 are available at StayInSchoolChallenge.
Full cast and crew:
Rap: Glory, Mark 2
Violins: Strings for Success at School #19, Program Director Patty Yarmel, Music Director Gretchen Judge
fivebyfive: Flute Laura Lentz, Clarinet Marcy Bacon, Electric Guitar Sungmin Shin, Piano Haeyeun Jeun, Bass Eric Polenik.
Dancers: Little Red Dance Studio, Dance Director Lisa Allaine, Choreographers Sarah Albano, Sarah Rothrock-Rickel
Additional artistic direction Diana Elena Alvarez
On the Pivot of an Abandoned Carousel (2019)
Composer, Video Artist: Kay HE
Flutist: Laura Lentz
Audio and video by Marc Webster at Blue on Blue Recording Studio
This video is a collaboration between composer and video artist Kay HE, flutist Laura Lentz, and Marc Webster of Blue on Blue Recording Studio. It is a studio production of the piece Kay premiered as a stage production in 2015.
The piece describes the haunted scene of a carnival that was once a beautiful place full of happiness and joy. Years ago, the calliope, a small simple carnival organ, was a signature of the carnival, representing simple childhood happiness. Here, the flute, imitates the calliope, becomes increasingly more distorted until it collapses later in the piece. The scene becomes abandoned. The flute and electronics overlap so the audience cannot determine what is real and what is not. This mimics our memories, so as to show the exaggerations and delusions that form in our head. On one hand, the music can recall amazing memories of wonderful experiences. On the other, the music is creepy and haunted. This is the human brain’s ability. Things can be interpreted in a multitude of ways. Experience the mind’s illusionary power.
For more Kay HE's works, please visit www.kayhecomposer.com
Composer, Video Artist: Kay HE
Flutist: Laura Lentz
Audio and video by Marc Webster at Blue on Blue Recording Studio
This video is a collaboration between composer and video artist Kay HE, flutist Laura Lentz, and Marc Webster of Blue on Blue Recording Studio. It is a studio production of the piece Kay premiered as a stage production in 2015.
The piece describes the haunted scene of a carnival that was once a beautiful place full of happiness and joy. Years ago, the calliope, a small simple carnival organ, was a signature of the carnival, representing simple childhood happiness. Here, the flute, imitates the calliope, becomes increasingly more distorted until it collapses later in the piece. The scene becomes abandoned. The flute and electronics overlap so the audience cannot determine what is real and what is not. This mimics our memories, so as to show the exaggerations and delusions that form in our head. On one hand, the music can recall amazing memories of wonderful experiences. On the other, the music is creepy and haunted. This is the human brain’s ability. Things can be interpreted in a multitude of ways. Experience the mind’s illusionary power.
For more Kay HE's works, please visit www.kayhecomposer.com
Heartbreaker (2019)
Composed/Produced by Marc Webster
Violin Shannon Reilly, Rap Glory
Audio and video by Marc Webster at Blue on Blue Recording Studio
This piece is set as a lover’s quarrel between the rapper and a violinist. The rapper, full of bravado announces he's just a heartbreaker and she just has to accept that, and the violinist plays back her response, which is basically "hell no".
After the opening statements the piece develops as a battle - the rapper raps 4 bars, then violinist plays back 4 bars, trading back and forth, each trying to outdo the other. The argument becomes increasingly chaotic, until it self destructs, and out of the dust comes a love song.
The love song lyrics are from a 14th century Italian love sonnet and are sung by a tenor, representing the rappers innermost thoughts. The lyrics tell how one Sunday morning he went to church and saw the most beautiful girl and fell truly, deeply, in love. The love song turns into a tango, which becomes more and more assertive, until it transforms into the opening argument theme. The lyrics have been switched up for their reconciliation, except he can't help throwing in that he's still a heartbreaker, and of course she doesn't take it, which looks like it’s going to lead to another argument, and probably another love songs and another reconciliation, but that's another song.
Ultimately, Heartbreaker is a piece about fighting with a person you love. It’s about the contradictions and emotions that happen in such a fight. And it’s about the power of music to communicate, sometime even more powerfully than words.
For more Marc Webster's works, please visit www.marcwebstermusic.com
Violin Shannon Reilly, Rap Glory
Concertino: Violin Holly Workman, Viola Josh Lohner, Cello Lars Kirvan, Bass Eric Polenik , Tenor Pablo Bustos, Dance Travis Widrick, Dance Melissa Parkhust
Ripieno: Violin Liana Koteva Kirvan, Violin Aika Ito Violin, Ellen Sonnenberg, Violin Julie Gray, Viola Neil Miller, Cello Andy Barnhart, Bass Drew Bunson, Harpsichord Marc Webster
Additional video by Dan Finklestein, Makeup and additional artistic direction for Shannon/Glory by Diana Elena Alvarez
Composed/Produced by Marc Webster
Violin Shannon Reilly, Rap Glory
Audio and video by Marc Webster at Blue on Blue Recording Studio
This piece is set as a lover’s quarrel between the rapper and a violinist. The rapper, full of bravado announces he's just a heartbreaker and she just has to accept that, and the violinist plays back her response, which is basically "hell no".
After the opening statements the piece develops as a battle - the rapper raps 4 bars, then violinist plays back 4 bars, trading back and forth, each trying to outdo the other. The argument becomes increasingly chaotic, until it self destructs, and out of the dust comes a love song.
The love song lyrics are from a 14th century Italian love sonnet and are sung by a tenor, representing the rappers innermost thoughts. The lyrics tell how one Sunday morning he went to church and saw the most beautiful girl and fell truly, deeply, in love. The love song turns into a tango, which becomes more and more assertive, until it transforms into the opening argument theme. The lyrics have been switched up for their reconciliation, except he can't help throwing in that he's still a heartbreaker, and of course she doesn't take it, which looks like it’s going to lead to another argument, and probably another love songs and another reconciliation, but that's another song.
Ultimately, Heartbreaker is a piece about fighting with a person you love. It’s about the contradictions and emotions that happen in such a fight. And it’s about the power of music to communicate, sometime even more powerfully than words.
For more Marc Webster's works, please visit www.marcwebstermusic.com
Violin Shannon Reilly, Rap Glory
Concertino: Violin Holly Workman, Viola Josh Lohner, Cello Lars Kirvan, Bass Eric Polenik , Tenor Pablo Bustos, Dance Travis Widrick, Dance Melissa Parkhust
Ripieno: Violin Liana Koteva Kirvan, Violin Aika Ito Violin, Ellen Sonnenberg, Violin Julie Gray, Viola Neil Miller, Cello Andy Barnhart, Bass Drew Bunson, Harpsichord Marc Webster
Additional video by Dan Finklestein, Makeup and additional artistic direction for Shannon/Glory by Diana Elena Alvarez
Hacky Sack (2018)
Composed/Produced by Marc Webster
Performed by the fivebyfive: Flute Laura Lentz, Clarinet Marcy Bacon, Electric Guitar Sungmin Shin, Piano Haeyeun Jeun, Bass Eric Polenik.
Audio and video by Marc Webster at Blue on Blue Recording Studio
Hacky sack is a game where players stand in a circle and toss a small bag among themselves using only their feet, with the goal of keeping the bag from touching the ground. This piece features a section which is essentially a game of hacky sack played in music
In the Hacky Sack section (starting at 1:39), the flutist starts with the "hacky sack", plays a 4 bar solo, then tosses it to the next player, who plays a 4 bar solo, then tosses it to the next player. Just like the game of hacky sack, the order of the players is improvised, but follows the traditional rules of "don't hog the hacky sack, make sure to pass to players who have not gotten it recently, etc".
The score provides a technique of practicing improvisation within the 4 bar phrases as well. The score provides each player with several 4 bar lines written such that any player can play any line, or even switch mid-line at any time, and the ensemble will work. If the ensemble becomes comfortable with that level of improvisation, the score also provides the rules so that player can also write or improvise they own lines as well. The point is to pick a level that is fun for the players and fun for the audience, and challenging enough that the ensemble grows in it’s ability to improvise. The Hacky Sack section starts at time 1:39.
For more about fivebyfive, please visit www.fivebyfivemusic.com
For of Marc Webster's works, please visit www.marcwebstermusic.com
Composed/Produced by Marc Webster
Performed by the fivebyfive: Flute Laura Lentz, Clarinet Marcy Bacon, Electric Guitar Sungmin Shin, Piano Haeyeun Jeun, Bass Eric Polenik.
Audio and video by Marc Webster at Blue on Blue Recording Studio
Hacky sack is a game where players stand in a circle and toss a small bag among themselves using only their feet, with the goal of keeping the bag from touching the ground. This piece features a section which is essentially a game of hacky sack played in music
In the Hacky Sack section (starting at 1:39), the flutist starts with the "hacky sack", plays a 4 bar solo, then tosses it to the next player, who plays a 4 bar solo, then tosses it to the next player. Just like the game of hacky sack, the order of the players is improvised, but follows the traditional rules of "don't hog the hacky sack, make sure to pass to players who have not gotten it recently, etc".
The score provides a technique of practicing improvisation within the 4 bar phrases as well. The score provides each player with several 4 bar lines written such that any player can play any line, or even switch mid-line at any time, and the ensemble will work. If the ensemble becomes comfortable with that level of improvisation, the score also provides the rules so that player can also write or improvise they own lines as well. The point is to pick a level that is fun for the players and fun for the audience, and challenging enough that the ensemble grows in it’s ability to improvise. The Hacky Sack section starts at time 1:39.
For more about fivebyfive, please visit www.fivebyfivemusic.com
For of Marc Webster's works, please visit www.marcwebstermusic.com