American Mavericks Finale

Today was the final concert of the American Mavericks Festival in Ann Arbor. The San Francisco Symphony and crew has shipped of for NYC for the final leg of performances.

Overall, I really enjoyed the festival. The programs were exciting, a great balance of "older" maverick works (Ives, Cage, Varese) and brand-new pieces (Bates, Adams, Monk). Some of the pieces were "easier" on the audiences than others, some of the new pieces were disappointing, but it was awesome to experience this festival. Click here for the full listing of the Ann Arbor series.

Maverick Highlights:

Concert 1:
I wrote a whole post on this one. I really dug the Mason Bates piece, but the whole program was great.

Concert 2:
Cage's Song Books induced booing from a member of the audience. It was more of a piece of performance art that just a work of music. I can't really do the piece justice in words, so let's just say that Micheal Tilson Thomas made a smoothie onstage. Literally. It was quite an experience.

The 45-minute intermission was ridiculous. I realize that the Cage had a huge set to tear down, but it should have been better organized and the orchestra should not have taken 15 minutes to get situated. Please be considerate of your audience.

The overall consensus for the John Adams commission Absolute Jest was that it was not his best. It was meant to be a piece of Beethoven quotations, but it lost focus about two-thirds of the way through. (Corey is a big fan of Adams, and he was disappointed in the piece.)

Concert 3:
Three pieces by three really interesting dudes. MTT gave a brief description of each before the piece was performed. In short, Ruggles was a small guy with a huge temper, Feldman was a huge guy with a quiet demeanor, and Ives had a great sense of humor. I particularly love Ives' sense of humor in his music. A Concord Symphony plays with Beethoven's 5th, and throws in a whole bunch of other styles, like hymn, ragtime and march. Your local library should have a recording of this, and I highly recommend it.
Concert 4:
All chamber works performed by members of the SF Symphony. My favorite piece was Lukas Foss' Echoi, a heavily improvised piece for piano, cello, clarinet, and percussion. However, the standout piece was Jacob's Room, a monodrama taken from Morton Subotnick's opera of the same name. The piece calls for a single vocalist to play all of the parts and narrate the story. The story was about a boy during the holocaust. The vocalist used extended techniques to add drama and characterize the emotions of the beaten mother and frightened child.

Corey and I feel very lucky to live in a place where we have the opportunity to attend concerts like this. We came from a town where new music was not performed very much, so we try to go to as many concerts as we can. A friend of mine, who is the wife of one of Corey's colleagues, once commented on how "good" I am about attending concerts. She says she would like to go to more but lacks motivation. My response was that the novelty may soon wear off for me, and I will stop attending so much, but I hope not.

The American Mavericks Festival, Concert 1

The San Francisco Symphony is in town presenting the American Mavericks Festival; the first concert last night was awesome.

Prior to the show, Corey had been at the American Orchestra Summit (#orchsummit2012) all day. On our walk from the parking garage to the auditorium, he told me about a panel discussion he attended earlier in the afternoon about how orchestras can better serve their audiences and in turn grow them. Apparently, there was a resounding disapproval by the panelists for social media involvement in audience relations. I find that extremely disappointing. These orchestra managers say they want to gain a broader audience and engage young people, but it seems they are not willing to meet them half way. Corey also noted that there was very little discussion about actual music and new programming.

This conversation was fresh in my mind last night during one of the most engaging concerts I have ever attended. For the first half, the full SF Symphony played Copland's Orchestral Variations and Piano Concerto by Henry Cowell. Conductor extraordinaire Micheal Tilson Thomas introduced each piece and talked about what made them "maverick" works of their times. I really enjoyed his descriptions; they didn't go on too long, told me what to listen for, but didn't give everything away. While the first half of the concert was a solid performance of two impressive works, the second half was much more exciting.

The second half opened with a new work by Mason Bates called Mass Transition. It is a piece for mixed choir, organ, and electronics. The text is taken from a conversation between a mother and daughter via telegraph transmission in the 1920s. The mother was in Holland, the daughter in Java. It was once of the first instances of a long-distance transmission for personal use. At first, I was just enjoying the piece as an interesting text concept and astute use of electronics, when all of a sudden, two soloists stepped out the of choir and sang the parts of the mother and daughter. Unexpectedly, I got really emotional! I didn't expect it, and it was a very fleeting experience, but I was close to actual tears. I always talk about the human element in music being the thing that really draws me in. Mason Bates just made a big fan yesterday.

Another thing I love is percussion music. I am fascinated by the visceral reaction we all have to just loud, driving percussion beats. (I think it's because my dad was in drum corps and I attended competitions while still in utero.)

The last piece on the Thursday night concert was Concerto for Organ with Percussion Orchestra by Lou Harrison. Before they began, MTT said that Harrison was influenced by music from all over the world, and you could tell in this piece. The eight percussionists played a menagerie of instruments from all corners, including some that Harrison himself invented for the piece. You could feel the excitement reverberating from the audience during the silence between movements. The end applause lasted for three bows.

At dinner, Corey and I were discussing the concert and the conference. The concert proved that new, exciting music is much more effective at engaging audiences. I think that these struggling orchestras would meet their goal of gaining a wider audience if they would present music that is more relatable than Bach or Mozart. For example, if you are trying to reach a teenage kid from the inner-city, present music written and played by people who are interested in and influenced by the same types of music that he already likes (hip-hop, rock, R&B, etc.) The music, life and times of Bach is about as far from his realm of experience as one can get.

That doesn't at all mean dumbing down your programs, just broaden your commissions and personnel. Once the kid is hooked by a really high-energy performance, he will be receptive to more "traditional" programming, just one step at a time. From this new composer, take a step back to Phillip Glass, to Copland, to Stravinsky, to Beethoven, to Mozart, and finally, to Bach. This reverse-chronological approach to music appreciation will take that kid just one step further out of his box at a time. I think this gradual transition from the familiar to the unfamiliar would be a much more affective and valuable experience for kids, rather that just making them listen to Mozart "because it's good for them."

I am really excited to attend the rest of the American Mavericks Festival concerts this weekend. I promise the rest of my posts wont be as long or rant-y. :)

At the DSO with George Takei

Say what you want about pops concerts, I had a blast on Sunday.

At the last minute, I found out that George Takei was going to be in the house when the Detroit Symphony Orchestra did a Sci-Fi themed pops concert. I was SO there.

I'm not a big Star Trek fan, but I am a HUGE fan of George Takei the LGBT activist and humanitarian. If you do not currently follow him on Facebook or Twitter, do it now. He is equally hilarious and wise. He's also leading a social media unification movement of "Star Folk" (both Wars and Trek) against the atrocities of the Twilight Saga. (I'm sorry Team Sparkle, pick up an Anne Rice novel and get an education.)

Anyways, I was really excited to hear some sweet Sci-Fi film music (a.k.a. the John Williams show) and see Mr. Zulu in person. There was no meet-and-greet with Mr. Takei, but it was worth it just to hear him speak onstage. He did a moving intro to the Star Trek music, and performed the final speech from The Day the Earth Stood Still.

It was actually very relaxing to go to a chill pops concert after attending a string of more "serious" works. It was exciting to hear iconic film music played by a really good ensemble, rather than XYZ High School concert band does "Selections from Star Wars." It ended up being a bucket list item I didn't know I had.

Anna Netrebko at Women in the World Summit

Miss Netrebko took time out from her busy rehearsal schedule to bust out a quick aria at the close of day two of the Women in the World Summit. Thanks to The Daily Beast for posting the video!

<The video has been removed by The Daily Beast's YouTube channel. Sad day.>

Puccini's "O mio babbino caro" is a bit of a cliche, and kind of a let down for those familiar with Netrebko's vocal prowess, but I can understand why she chose this. It's a short aria you can throw together with any accompanist. I don't know who the accompanist in this performance was, but I can guarantee anyone versed in collaborative piano has played this ditty before.

A great performance by an amazing musician for an inspiring event. Follow Women in the World 2012 at The Daily Beast or on Twitter with #WitW12.

Article published on DivineCaroline.com!

Hello friends!

Last week I discovered DivineCaroline.com, and online community for women that encourages members to write articles, stories, anecdotes, and other wisdom for all to read. I actually found them through the Ladies Home Journal. Not a magazine I would have picked up on my own, but I took it home from the office and I really enjoyed it! There new model is very focused on reader contribution, which is really cool.

So check out The Grad Student's Wife on DivineCaroline. It's a little more emo than I usually get here, but I'm proud of my husband and dammit, I want to tell the world!

I've also been spending some of my writing time on more contributions to my BFF's beauty blog, TruBeautyGems. It's becoming an addiction of mine. What do you think? Can I be taken seriously as a music writer AND a beauty writer at the same time?

Liberty's Secret: The National Security Musical

I'm going to be in a movie!

Well, a demo, for an indie film...but it was really fun to do the shoot :)

Corey's professor for his "Music and Sound for Film" class wrote this movie called Liberty's Secret: The National Security Musical. It's musical comedy that starts at the Republican National Convention, and through a series of events, their only option for a vice-presidential candidate is the Christian pop singer who was performing at the convention. Through the campaign she learns a dark national security secret that could bring down the establishment.

Anyway, Corey's prof asked for volunteers to act in a crowd scene he is filming for a demo. Why not?

It was hilarious. They gave us costumes and props to look like crazy, over-zealous delegates. Think and ugly sweater party, but "America" themed. Here's a snap-shot of me:



It was super fun and we got a free lunch out of it. So I'd say this was a pretty successful Saturday.

Check out more about the movie at facebook.com/liberty.secret.

The writer's quaters

We have started our search for a new apartment. We don't hate our current place, it's just on the very edge of town and a 30 min commute to work and school. Since we have only one car and don't live near the bus route, Corey and I have to drive in to Ann Arbor every morning together and he has to stay on campus the entire time I'm at work. It's usually okay, but if I have a late meeting or something, I feel really bad making him wait. We are also spending a lot of money on gas. Moving in to Ann Arbor proper will cost us at least $100/month more in rent but save us at least $50/month in gas.

It was difficult finding a place here last summer, especially because I didn't have a job at the time. Now we are situated and ready for an upgrade! I really want 2 bedrooms so Corey can have a studio space. His hardware setup is expanding rapidly in what is now our "dining area."

We've toured one place already (loved it!) and checking out one more tomorrow. My head is spinning from analyzing floor plans and imagining where I'd put our stuff (and what new stuff I would want!). Corey and I are not into cheesy music decor, but we do have a few pieces that we love:




This was painted for Corey by his grandparents' friend. She is amazingly talented and she is super supportive of Corey's music. There are two more of her music-inspired paintings in Corey's old bedroom at his parents' house, and we have another wine-themed one in our kitchen.



Corey bought this pictures in London shortly after high school.



My favorite! Our cello wine rack! Thanks Mom and Dad Cunningham!

I can't wait to place these in a new apartment! (And banish Corey's equipment to the second bedroom.)