Preface

Now the ninth issue of this big-hearted web publication appears here. It has constantly matured and grown, and this large section of articles is becoming more than a footnote in the Icelandic debate about music. 

And like some other things that are well nourished and growing rapidly, it's as if it's messing around: This time, a special chapter is devoted to discussing the work of the composer Pauline Oliveros, a testimony from the Laboratory of Music at LHÍ, as Berglind María Tómasdóttir introduces us at the front of that chapter. 

Here is material that arose directly from the school's work, exactly as was hoped for in the establishment of Threads. It is no less gratifying that the school's students have a good share here: Tumi Árnason writes directly from the present about the work of Weston Olencki, while Þórbergur Bollason screens back to the Middle Ages and discusses Þorlák times. Students also give an account of a research project carried out under the guidance of Þorbjargar Daphne Hall in an article about the jazz music scene in Iceland. 

It should not be surprising that reflections on music studies from the school's two experienced and multifaceted teachers appear here: Sigurður Halldórsson talks about a special international collaboration on music in the field of health, but Elín Gunnlaugsdóttir wonders how best to teach composition, if it should be possible at all. 

Those who think that Threads overlook popular culture need to change their minds when Linda Bjargar Guðmundsdóttir's fascinating testimony about Eurovision is revealed to them. Although science can be considered our passion, passion can become a science in its own way, as in Linda Bjargar's article. 

This time there are two branches devoted to the great special field of composition On the one hand, Einar Torfi Einarsson leads us into the world of riddle music, for riddles can truly become music and do it regularly There may not be riddles, but certainly a hidden reality that underlies the serialistic compositions of the last centuryI thought it appropriate to translate and cook a slightly important article by György Ligeti that appeared in the heyday of serialism She has a message for all those concerned with the content and mission of compositions, as well as those in our day. 

This last-mentioned article is like a new sprout in the topsoil of Threads, because translations of the writings of well-known composers have not previously appeared here. I allow myself to hope that it will prosper and more will follow suit, as there is a good collection of articles by pioneers of new music that would be obtained in Icelandic. 

I thank Einar Torfa Einarsson and Þorbjörg Daphne Hall for their cooperation in the composition of this issue - no, code bundle - and I wish you the reader pleasure and benefit from reading. 

Atli Ingólfsson