We're going to Italy!

It's officially summer in Ann Arbor as the semester ends, commencement commences, and the students get the hell out. Corey and I are looking forward to enjoying the city again, but we are planning one big trip: Italy!

Corey got accepted to the highSCORE Music Festival in Pavia, Italy. It's a two-week program of classes, lessons, and concerts, and I'm going too! It wasn't until after he was accepted that we found out he was allowed to bring a guest, and with some generous help from our wonderful families, we are making it happen!

I have never been to Italy and Corey has never been to continental Europe, so we are both really excited for the location. Pavia is a college town of about 70,000 located 35 km south of Milan, so we will be in northern Italy. It's a little weird because Pavia isn't really a big travel destination, so I haven't been able to find out too much about it, but it's nice that we will be somewhere peaceful and not bursting with tourists.

I began errands for the trip today. I went to Walgreens to get a photo for my new passport. (My old one isn't technically expired, but it's in my maiden name.) I also visited Barnes and Noble to pick up "The Pocket Idiot's Guide to Italian Phrases."

I remember pronunciation from my days as a classical singer, but I only remember the words for "heart" "love" and "spirit" - not so helpful when trying to order lunch or buy shoes.

Stay tuned for updates on the trip!

The Keith Karns Big Band Debut Tour and CD Release

After a little break from blogging, I'm excited to come back with a plug for a friend! Keith Karns is a boss trumpet player and former classmate of mine and Corey's. He is currently based out of the Indianapolis area after graduating with his master's in trumpet performance at Indiana University. He's been busting his butt putting together his big band, recording an album, and planning a tour.

The Keith Karns Big Band plays mostly original works and arrangements by Keith himself. The sound is really contemporary while remaining true to the roots of big band. Not sure if you're into that kind of thing? Give 'em a listen for free! As of last night, you can download the track "Salt Water Rocket" from the band's web site free of charge. The full CD, "Thought and Memory," will be available for download on May 1st. (The CD features other players that are former classmates and colleagues of ours that are great in their own right.)

You can catch the debut tour of the Keith Karns Big Band next month in cities throughout the greater Midwest. (I'm super jealous of Corey. He is going to WI to visit his former comp teacher's class, so he's going to catch the show in Minneapolis.)

I couldn't resist, so I asked Keith to be my guinea pig for my new "Musician File" interview feature. I hope you dig it!

Name: Keith Karns
Age: 27
Location: Indianapolis, IN
Musical occupation: Band leader/composer/trumpeter
Media: www.keithkarnsmusic.com, facebook.com/keithkarnsmusic

What are you working on now that you are really excited about?
I’m really pumped about the CD release and our tour at the beginning of May. The album sounds AWESOME and we had so many talented people work on it so I can’t wait to get that out there. We’re playing some really great venues, but the three that I am most excited about are at Jazz Central in Minneapolis on May 3rd, the State Theater in Eau Claire on May 5th, and the Blue Wisp in Cincinnati on May 13th. I think we’re going to have a great turnout and I’m pumped to get this music out there!

What are you working on now that you are really stressed about?
Getting all of the logistics together for the album release and tour has been pretty intense. A lot goes into planning something like this and that definitely keeps me busy. I have been lucky to have a great team of people helping me out with booking and promotion so that helps a lot. I don’t know what I would do if it were not for them!

What inspires you to keep writing/practicing/playing when you’re going through a rough patch?
I have a pretty strong work ethic, but there are defiantly days when all I want to do is sit on the couch and watch TV. Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately!) the trumpet is a pretty vindictive instrument so if you don’t have a solid practice regimen you really won’t be able to play the horn. Knowing that there are things I have to do on the horn every day regardless of how I feel keeps me coming back to the practice room. When I started writing when I was in college I applied that same kind of discipline to the rest of my creative endeavors and it seems to work out pretty well.

Tell me about your most memorable musical experience as an audience member:
When I was 12 or 13 Ingrid Jensen came through my hometown as a guest artist at the local jazz festival. I had been playing trumpet for a number of years in school, but wasn’t really serious about it. She totally blew my mind. It was the late 90’s and she was doing the post bop thing, playing in and out of the changes, I remember I walked out of that concert speechless. After that I knew I wanted to play like her so I signed up for a summer jazz camp and began take lessons, two things that eventually would lead me to where I am today.

What is your favorite not-music-related pastime?
I love the outdoors. I grew up in Alaska and so hiking and camping was a big part of what we did as a family up there. I don’t get enough of that stuff these days, but whenever I have the chance I try and get out as much as I can.

Would you recommend the last book or article you read to someone else?
I’ve been really into old school detective fiction this year. The two best novels I’ve read recently are Ross MacDonald’s Sleeping Beauty—which is SUPER dark, but a really well crafted story—and Mikey Spillane’s My Gun is Quick—which is so gritty its almost a caricature of the detective genre. I also just finished re-reading Nick Tucker’s “The Duke Ellington Reader” on the life and music of Duke Ellington. I think Tucker’s book is probably the best one out there right now about Duke. He does a great job and it really reveals a lot about Duke and how he ran his band and his compositional process.

Who would you invite if you could have any 6 people, living or dead, over for a dinner party?
I would have to go with Jim McNeely, Maria Schneider, Bob Brookmeyer, Duke Ellington, Doc Severinson and Woody Shaw. We would probably talk about music.

My First and Last Concert at Oakland University

I am shocked and appalled. If you follow me on Twitter, you may have noticed a few sniping comments I made about Oakland University this weekend. Long story short, Corey and I drove over an hour to the north suburbs of Detroit for a concert this weekend. We were met with shoddy directions, a campus that doesn't label street names, a box office phone that is not staffed during performances, and worst of all, music students that don't know how to shut up during a concert.

I was so upset by my experience that I wrote the following e-mail to the chair of the School of Music:

Dear Dr. -------,

I am writing to you because I strongly believe that the behavior I witnessed during a concert at your school needs to be brought to your attention.

Last night, my husband and I drove up from Ann Arbor to attend Alarm Will Sound. The performance was wonderful, but the only word I have for the audience behavior is appalling. Several groups of students in the audience were talking at full volume and noisily shuffling papers throughout the entire concert. I and other audience members had to ask these groups to be quiet several times during the performance.

Being a former music student myself, I understand that it is sometimes necessary to take notes during a concert, but the level of noise and distraction present at this concert was inexcusably rude and unacceptable. From some of the conversations that I overheard (during the second movement of John Adams' Son of Chamber Symphony, by the way) I could tell that these were actually students of the music school, which I find deeply troubling.

I wanted to make you aware of how poorly your school was represented last night. This level of rudeness and unprofessionalism from a group of young musicians is bewildering. I hope that this is the first and last time you have received a letter like this. I hope that last night's display was a one-time fluke, and I hope that someone apologized to the ensemble.

I am not in any way seeking a refund of my tickets or a personal apology. I simply thought, that as head of the department, that you would want to know that this is going on. I certainly would.

Regards,

Lauren B. Cunningham

I respect the privacy of the chair enough to not reprint her response here, but I can say that after reading it, I am not at all surprised by the students' behavior. After a flippant apology, she proceeded to tell me this sort of disturbance can happen anywhere, and the house has no control over such situations. She attended the concert herself, and could not hear any talking from where she was sitting, so "it must have been more localized" to me "than I realized." The school apparently "invited students from many schools in the area" and "there is no way of knowing where the students I heard were from." Even if they were her students, "undergrads don't always make the best decisions." (I couldn't make this up.)

Also, if I ever encounter this situation again, she advised that I simply move to a different seat. She finished the e-mail expressing her hope that I will return to Oakland University for future concerts. I can assure you, I wont.

As both and musician and a PR professional, I am outraged. The behavior of the students in the audience was rude, but this response is unacceptable. The chair blamed every other entity she could think of, including myself, for the problem, rather than simply taking responsibility, apologizing and assuring it wouldn't happen again. No educator or administrator I've ever met would dream of insulting a patron like this. And let me tell you, if my undergrad received and e-mail like this, we students would have gotten an earful (via a stern departmental e-mail).

This person is responsible for training future musicians and educators, which really troubles me. Doesn't this school teach the taking of responsibility for one's actions? After what I've seen, I sincerely doubt it.