Also at our Inaugural Concert: the a cappella group The Deaftones

As Brian Sengdala wrote a month ago on this blog, a cappella groups can be heard all over Princeton.  There are many excellent ensembles at both Princeton University and Westminster Choir College.  Additionally, there are some community a cappella groups in town.  At our inaugural “Music in Princeton” concert this coming Wednesday (Williamson Hall at Westminster Choir College at 7:30pm; free admission and reception to follow), you will hear Westminster Choir College’s Deaftones, which Brian Sengdala leads!  Here is a taste of what you will see:

Folk and its Folk – A Profile of Folk Music Journeys

People come to love Folk music from many different places. For many, folk music was just another form of popular music heard on the radio. For others, the oral and community tradition was just as appealing as the listening itself.

Let’s look at a few specific people and their journeys to the land of folk.

Arlene and Arthur Miller. Photo courtesy of Richard Titus

Arlene and Arthur Miller are some of the oldest members of the Princeton Folk Music Society. In 2011, Richard Titus (the current president of PFMS) conducted an interview with the couple about the origins of the group and their experiences with folk. The full interview is copyright to Richard and is available here.

Arlene and Arthur both grew up nearby: Arlene in the Bronx and Arthur in Brooklyn. Arthur then went out to California for school. Neither of them were really a part of the folk movement until college.

Arthur got interested in Folk music primarily after finishing graduate school. He decided that the guitar is a handily portable instrument for the musical partygoer, and began to take guitar lessons in Princeton. Some of the guitar music he learned to play were by the Weavers, a very influential folk group of the time.

Around this time he began dating Arlene, who further introduced him to the folk genre. Arlene was involved in folk “sings” and took Arthur with her. The “sings” are somewhat informal gatherings, where there tends to be a leader, but with an open invitation for anyone to sing or play along. Songs are generally simple and easy to pick up and follow.

Arlene was originally interested more in classical music. While she was a camp counselor, she and a friend decided to take a guitar course, and she purchased a $15 Maduro guitar. Through guitar lessons and her friend’s contacts, she started to meet people who were into folk music and they would get together to play and sing. Woody Guthrie songs were prominently featured.

Arlene and Arthur talk about the differences in the Princeton Folk Music Society when they joined. The group was much younger then, full of high school and Princeton University students. This was during the major folk revival of the 60’s, when folk really entered into the popular canon. Folk was in fashion.

By 1963, there was a group of these people holding their own folk “sings.” By 1965, the group had formalized; it started holding concerts for the community at large on a regular basis, as they still do today. Arlene and Arthur joined shortly after the group became official in 1965. They both talk about how the informal “sings” involved lots of people and their instruments at all levels of ability. They would then break off into groups in different parts of the house based on playing style and ability level.

Arlene and Arthur are still interested in new kinds of folk today. They’re always willing to learn new songs, new techniques, and broaden their musical interests.  You can find a list of their favorite songs and artists here.

Richard Titus is the current president of the Princeton Folk Music Society. He has graciously agreed to answer some of my own questions about folk music in general, his musical experiences, and the Society at large today. You can learn more about Richard (and see a great collection of his artwork!) on the main section of his website: http://www.richard-titus.com

Richard gained interest in folk music while growing up in the ’60’s; at the time it was back in fashion and being picked up by TV and radio as part of the pop genre. While growing up, his favorites were Simon and Garfunkel, Peter, Paul and Mary and the Smothers Brothers.

Richard also talks about the rock groups that had great success playing covers of traditional folk pieces. Some examples he gives are Turn, turn, turn, The Banana Boat song, Sloop John B, House of the Rising Sun, and Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme.

Traditional folk music has also been arranged, re-arranged and infused with sounds from rock and jazz.

Like many people, Richard originally joined PFMS because of interest in the monthly “sing.” It’s a great opportunity to learn and share music in the time-honored practice of oral tradition. Each month, a member volunteers to host one of these gatherings.

Often the host will pick a theme for the evening, so that everyone will bring something that has to do with similar topic. These can be almost anything, but some examples are childhood, comedy & tragedy, cowboys, history, home & away, love, rich & poor, war & peace, international, story songs, weather, rivers & oceans, and just about anything else you can think of. This challenges the participants to try something new and get a little out of the “comfort zone” of well-known songs. The sings encompass all skill levels, and are all carried out with the goals of community, respect, and self-expression. The focus is bringing people together through art and music.

Richard says that the one defining characteristic of PFMS members is their passion for the arts in general. Artists and creative people of all kinds can be found within the membership, from folk and blues lovers, to educators and writers, even to engineers and technology specialists.

Richard has a great love for the participatory nature of folk music. He finds wonder and real adventure in learning and performing music for himself and others. He likes the anti-elite attitude behind folk music – it’s music by everyone for everyone at any skill level.

Fun Facts:

Richard’s favorite folk artists now can be divided into three categories:

Virtuosic guitarists: Pierre Bensusan, Beppe Gambetta, Tim Farrell

Songwriters: Paul Simon and Stan Rogers

Up-and-coming talent: Jaymay

“Music in Princeton” Inaugural Concert next Wednesday

Westminster Choir College of Rider University

Initiated in January 2013, “Music in Princeton” is a public musicology initiative of Westminster Choir College of Rider University.  Its aim is to examine different types of music-making in Princeton, from professional groups like the Princeton Symphony to amateur groups like the monthly house sings of the Princeton Folk Society, and from student groups like Westminster’s Chinese Music Ensemble and Princeton University’s Taiko Ensemble to musicians who play at Small World Coffee and other establishments in Princeton.  Some of our findings are found on this blog and its associated Facebook page.  Each semester, the “Music in Princeton” project will also put on at least one live public event.

Our inaugural show will take place next Wednesday, April 3 at 7:30pm in Williamson Hall on the campus of Westminster Choir College (101 Walnut Lane, Princeton, NJ).  It will feature performances of sacred music that can be heard in Princeton’s churches, new music by Princeton composers, local singer-songwriters, and college a cappella groups.  Admission is free, and parking is available on campus after 5pm.  A reception with light refreshments will follow the concert.

Bob Mecklenburger

In the next few days, we will profile some of the musicians and composers featured on our concert.  Today, we present Bob Mecklenburger–a very familiar folk musician, singer/songwriter and guitarist in the Greater Philadelphia-Central Jersey areas.  He has performed for five decades; in fact, he met Judith, his wife of 41 years, through his music at Cornell University.  Mecklenburger says that his inspirations include John Denver, Judy Collins, Joni Mitchell, the Chad Mitchell Trio, Peter Paul and Mary, the Limeliters, Tom Rush, Tom Paxton, Gordon Lightfoot, Paul Simon and James Taylor.  Next Wednesday, he will perform on his Martin 6-string acoustic guitar, and use both fingerstyle picking and flatpicking styles.

Mecklenburger moved to the Princeton area with his family 24 years ago, and has been a long-time member and Past President of the Princeton Folk Music Society (PFMS).  He has also been active in the Bucks County Folk Song Society (BCFSS), with which he will perform on April 6, and a frequent headliner for the Philadelphia Area Songwriters Alliance (PASA).  In the Princeton area, you might hear him at Grovers Mill Coffee Company (West Windsor), It’s A Grind coffee house (Plainsboro), the Princeton Arts Council’s Café Improv, and the West Windsor Farmers Market.  Here’s a video of Mecklenburger performing at Café Improv:

We hope you will join us and Bob Mecklenburger next Wednesday at Williamson Hall of Westminster Choir College of Rider University!

WCC Proudly Presents, Thomas Rosin LaVoy

Greetings, ladies and gentlemen. As promised, we start with a student composer at Westminster Choir College. To begin, I thought it would be most fitting if we lightly explore the world of our composition department.

According to the chair, Dr. Anthony J. Kosar, the composition department has been a part of the college since its establishment in 1926. Although it was originally called the Theory and Music History Department, composition grew increasingly popular. The department took about 75 years to evolve into the Music Composition, History, and Theory Department (MCHaT). Currently there are 24 students who are theory and composition majors: 6 are graduate students, while the other 18 are undergrads. About 2-4 masters and 2-6 undergraduates enter the program each year. Among other duties, the Westminster composition major must perform at least one piece during one of three composition concerts held each year, and give a recital in his/her last year at WCC.

On March 9th, I was able to sing for one such special recital in the spacious halls of Bristol Chapel: the senior composition recital of Thomas Rosin LaVoy.

Tom LaVoy and a section of the Sisu Choir

Thomas, known to us as Tom, is one of the most talented student composers at WCC. He has already had several choral works published, performed by the Williamson Voices and Westminster Choir. Even so, he is modest and truly sincere towards music. He’s the kind of fellow that, as you pass by and smile, always has a smile to give back.

The recital featured performers Jared Slaymaker and Hannah King on the piano, the Sisu Choir (with me! I was in the soprano section!!), Renata Kapilevich as the exquisite soprano soloist, a small hired orchestra, and Tom himself on the piano, the conducting podium, and the guitar with a splash of singing. Since my emphasis is on choral music, I will mainly focus on the choral portion of his recital.

Tom opened his program with three piano pieces, Etude No. 1: Twelve by Twelve, Portrait of a Homeless Man, and 19. Until now, I had only heard Tom’s choral works, so the piano pieces practically sent my jaw to the floor. My personal favorite was the Etude; it was rhythmically driving and fascinating to watch as the pianist’s (Jared Slaymaker) hands danced on the keys. Although there is no recording for the Etude at the moment, here is a recording of 19, an equally compelling piece performed by Tom himself (recorded in 2010*).

After the pianists, it was time for the Sisu Choir to bring the house down (yea baby!). Now, what does ‘Sisu’ mean?” In Finnish, “Sisu” roughly translates to “a long-term sense of courage and determination, an ability to perform and complete a difficult task against impossible odds” – Thomas LaVoy. Although we had originally (for fun) called ourselves the “LaVoices,” (see what we did there??) Tom’s decision with “Sisu” was more fitting in the end. It certainly made us all stand a little taller when we heard what it meant.

We began with one of my personal favorites, As I Walk the Silent Earth. The melody is as simple as a folk tune, but the text (written by Tom himself), is reflective and full of child-like wonderment.

On the other hand, the Alleluia has only one word to the text, “Alleluia” (recorded 2012*). This piece is also simple, but the melody and the intertwining harmonies make the sounds blossom with warmth.

Our final pieces were two movements from A Child’s Requiem. The requiem was commissioned by The Marquette Symphony Orchestra to mark the 100th anniversary of the Italian Hall Disaster. Before we dove into the piece, Tom took time to tell us about how 73 people, mostly children, died in a crowd crush that resulted from a panicked reaction to a non-existent fire.

The text was written by his mother, Esther Margaret Ayers, and it portrays a mother who had lost her child to the disaster. We had a small orchestra accompaniment with Renata singing the solo as this mother. It is a heart-wrenching piece that, especially with the Lux Aeterna in the end, is about being burdened with so much loss but also finding the courage to move on and find peace. I have always believed that a great choral piece is a journey, and Tom’s pieces are exactly that.

The recital ended with Tom singing two songs with the guitar. The first was Inclined to Behave and it was about change and acceptance of himself. The second was his arrangement of a jolly Irish folk-tune he fell in love in, Arthur McBride. All I can say is, when he played he got soul!

In one word, Tom’s music is honest. It is the honest emotions from the experiences in his life which he weaves into every note and phrase in his music.

So, let me take this moment to reiterate. Besides his perfect wave of golden locks (Yes, he is our version Eric Whitacre) Tom sang beautifully. But he also conducted masterfully, played the piano brilliantly, strummed the guitar with ease, and blessed the world with the music he created and bestowed into our ears that evening…

Please excuse me while I shut myself up in a practice room for the next decade.

… Okay I won’t do that, but if all goes well, I will be a music teacher somewhere in the world and I’ll just nonchalantly pass Tom’s music out to everybody and say, “hmmm? Oh the autographs on your music? Indeed, they were personally signed by Thomas LaVoy himself. I sang for him in his senior recital at WCC, no big deal. I mean, it makes me extremely special of coarse but hey, what’s new?”

And it is in my moment of vanity, ladies and gentlemen, that I bid you all a good day!

Other works by Thomas LaVoy:

Death’s Protest

White Stones

* pieces not recorded during the recital itself.

Princeton Festival Gala Tonight!

One of the great events in town each June is the Princeton Festival.  Over the course of three weeks, the Festival puts on a major operatic production, concerts by major artists and area youth ensembles, a piano competition, and much more!  Led by Artistic Director Richard Tang Yuk, former Director of Choral Music at Princeton University and currently on the choral faculty at Indiana University, this year’s offering includes Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman, steelpan virtuoso Liam Teague, the renowned medieval ensemble Bernardus, and New Jersey’s own Lustig Dance Theater.  I will have more to say about the Festival’s program in the coming months.

This evening at 6pm, the Festival has its annual Gala at the Greenacres Country Club in Lawrenceville.  The evening includes delicious food, a live auction, dancing, and entertainment by Doug Miller (piano) and Bernhard Geiger (bass), the Courtney Colletti Band, John Dominick III (vocal bass) and Akiko Hosaki (piano), and drummers Aaron Potocny, Charles Madden and John Thompson.  Tickets for the entire evening start at $250.  You can also attend the cocktail hour for just $45.  Proceeds go toward the Princeton Festival.  To register for the Gala, call 609-258-2787.

Tom Turino on Old-time Music and Dance Scenes @ Princeton University, March 28!

Pop/Non-Western Music Colloquium Series

Professor of Musicology and Anthropology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; specialist in music of Latin America and southern Africa, semiotics, and music and politics

A Peircean Phenomenological Approach to Old-time Music and Dance Scenes

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Woolworth Center, Room 106, at 4:30pm

Bio

Thomas Turino’s primary areas of specialization are Andean music, Latin American music, and the music of southern Africa. He also specializes in the semiotics of music and in theoretical issues of music and politics. He has done major fieldwork in Peru and Zimbabwe funded by Fulbright, Inter-American Foundation, and Tinker Fellowships. His articles and reviews have appeared in a variety of books and journals including Ethnomusicology, The Latin American Music Review, and The World of Music. He is the author of two books, Moving Away from Silence: The Music of the Peruvian Altiplano and the Experience of Urban Migration (1993), and Nationalists, Cosmopolitans, and…

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An Electronic Esthetic: Concerts and Clubs

Gillian Hurst on Dance Music in Princeton!

hurstg

On the evening of Saturday, March 9, as I was getting geared up to spend a long night vociferously soaking in the culture and music of Princeton’s eating clubs, my roommate called me over.  She had been scanning the newspaper, desperately searching for live events, when she found something that just might fit the bill.  It was called A Pi Day Event: “Evening of Physico-Mathematica-Logical Music and Comedy” and started at the Paul Robeson Center in half an hour. Somewhere in there it mentioned “saxophone/synth wizard Eric Haltmeier” and a moment later I had my jacket on and was out the door to catch the 8:30 performance.  

The performance drew quite the interesting crowd.  There were many adults and college students as well as the occasional kid who had been dragged along by his parents.  The lineup of the night included the Pi Experience, a jazz combo who…

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The Value of Musical Theater Education

Located between two of the biggest cities in the United States (including one that few would argue is the musical theater capital of America), there are clearly lots of great theater near Princeton. But what does the town itself offer? When I began attending school here, I wanted to find out if I could see anything good without having to pay for that expensive train ticket to NYC. Luckily, I soon discovered a theater within walking distance that had many professional-quality productions, not to mention actors.

One of the best places to see theater and musical theater in Princeton, the McCarter Theater is located right on the Princeton University campus. It opened in 1930 as the home of the University’s Triangle Club and soon became a popular place to pre-showcase Broadway productions. Eventually, it grew into the venue it is today: with a regular theater season, several performances of all varieties, and a strong education and outreach program.

 

McCarter Theater

I had the chance to speak with Erica Berman, director of McCarter’s after-school programs: also known as McCarter First Stage. It was amazing for me to learn how much more there is to McCarter than just the mainstage shows. There are after-school classes in acting and musical theater for grades 3-8 as well as high school students. There are also a variety of summer programs, most notably the five-week Shakespeare Institute for high school students and the three-week musical theater intensive for grades 4-5 and 6-8. In terms of outreach for the kids, there are discounted or free matinee shows for students and a touring ensemble of professional actors that perform experiential theater for students, allowing them to be involved while watching the show. Pre-show talks, school visits, and sessions at the public library are other ways McCarter reaches out to youngsters. Something that I particularly loved hearing is that McCarter never turns students away due to inability to pay. They have many scholarships and need-based aid available so that all who want to participate have the opportunity. A complete listing of McCarter’s educational offerings can be found at the following link: http://www.mccarter.org/Education/education.aspx?page_id=50

Erica told me how geared toward the students the program is. That is, everyone gets a role, and the roles/productions are geared more towards the students than the production itself. I know how important it is to have a program like this from my personal experience growing up. I always wanted to do theater, but often had difficulty finding the right programs to take part in. This wasn’t necessarily due to a lack of available theater (which is also the case for Princeton), but more the issue of finding the right program for me–one that would open me up and allow me performance opportunities as I was. The great teaching artists at McCarter help to make the program work for everyone. There are all kinds of different teachers, with the right one for each student, and many of them come from New York or Philadelphia: some who have had great careers, but all love to teach.

Another topic we discussed that I personally related to was the value of theater education. Erica told me that the goal of the program at McCarter is not necessarily “to create Equity actors,” but “to make better people through theater. We’re teaching life skills through theater skills.” I found this interesting, because as she explained, so much emphasis is given in our society on the benefits of sports teams and other activities. Yet very few realize how much a child can learn by studying acting, or taking part in a production. This is not to say that McCarter doesn’t provide top-notch training that could take kids towards a professional career. As Erica explained, this is simply not the focus: “If their handshake is a little bit stronger, we’ve done our job.” Many children, and their parents in particular, shy away from theater classes if they don’t feel they want a “career” in it, because it seems difficult or a waste of time. But there is so much to be learned from it.

 

An adaptation of the Odysseus epic for children (Click image for more information)

McCarter offers more to the community than just good entertainment. Their mission, she says, is to “engage and challenge the community”; that is, to provide both classical and new works of theater to everyone. Erica points out that Princeton University helps to make the town a highly academic community, and thus one that can better appreciate newer and perhaps deeper theater. She also told me about some opportunities I was unaware of for non-equity actors. While McCarter’s mainstage shows cater mainly to more professional actors, there are a few chances for those up-and-coming but without an Equity card yet: the touring ensemble, the YouthInk festival (a day long festival of plays written by local high school students) and the annual production of A Christmas Carol, which also has a children’s ensemble.

 

 

Scenes from McCarter’s summer classes (click for more information)

Erica and I talked about the importance of theater in today’s day and age, especially with technology growing as rapidly as it is. Very few have the patience to sit and watch a show when they are so used to being tuned into their devices 24/7. But as we both agree personally, even attending theater is so valuable to a person’s life. Theater education can also be very important, even if a student never chooses to make a career of it; whether it teaches them teamwork, discipline, overcoming shyness, or just improving that handshake.

Interesting Musicians in Princeton Series #4: Dmitri Tymoczko

Dmitri Tymoczko

Dmitri Tymoczko is a composer and theorist at Princeton University.  Born in Northampton, Massachusetts in 1969 and trained at Harvard, Oxford and the University of California at Berkeley, he has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters for his compositions.  Tymoczko believes that classical music, jazz and rock are essentially parts of a single tradition, and his music freely combine elements of notation and improvisation.  Below is a performance of Piano Games (2001-02), a work that began with Tymoczko writing a computer program that would improvise with him.

Here is a link to the “Earthquake” movement from the suite Beat Therapy for jazz/funk ensemble.  This work mixes jazz rhythms and sounds with classical form and development.  You can purchase a recording of the full work here.

Today, Tymoczko is probably most famous for his work as a music theorist and particularly his novel ideas about musical tonality.  In 2006, he published “The Geometry of Musical Chords,” the first music theory article to ever appear in Science.  This led to numerous newspaper and magazine interviews and invited talks for audiences of musicians, philosophers, cognitive scientists, mathematicians, physicists and the general public.  The ideas presented in the Science article have now been expanded in his book, A Geometry of Music (Oxford University Press, 2011).  In essence, Tymoczko argues that tonality—the sense of home in music—is the result of five basic features that can be visually represented with simple diagrams.  More radically, he contends that tonality in Western music should be applied not just to the “common practice era” (1680-1850), but to everything from medieval polyphony to contemporary jazz.

The Children Helping Children Performathon: A Gathering of Great Musicians! by Fermin Santiago III

This year marks the 8th annual Children Helping Children Performathon!  This event, organized by the New Jersey Music Teachers Association, is the highlight of many musicians at Westminster Choir College, as they get to see performers from the Princeton area showcase some of the pieces they learned over the past few months.  The 2013 Performathon took place on Feb. 23-24, 2013, and over 300 local performers played on back-to-back concerts.  (View photos from the event here.)  The goal was to raise money for three Ronald McDonald Houses in New Jersey.  This event has always been a great experience for me, as I could hear all types of music from classical to reggae.  For the last three years, I have lent a hand and offered my time to help them move instruments or to set up and break down.

 

Ronald MacDonald House in New Brunswick, NJ

Ronald McDonald House is a charity that “creates, finds and supports programs that directly improve the health and well being of children,” and most are  connected to local children’s hospitals.  They provide a “home away from home” for families whose child is undergoing intensive treatment at the hospital.

I was able to interview one of this year’s performers and fellow volunteers.  Her name is Julianne, and she is a sophomore at Westminster Choir College who studies with Mrs. Betty Stoloff.   She said, “It was great last year to hear all of the local musicians and young talent.”  She added, “It will be an honor to be able to do this event and share my talent this year and be able to help fundraise for the Ronald McDonald House.”

Last year, the festival was able to raise $19,000; with more performers this year, we expect to see even more donations (the final tally has not available yet).  This year’s event was open to both piano teachers and students.  In total, there were 11 recitals on Saturday and 16 recitals on Sunday; each was an hour long, with 45 minutes for music and 15 minutes for awards and photos.  All took place in Bristol Chapel and Williamson Hall on the Westminster Choir College campus. 2013 marked the biggest Performathon yet!  Congratulations to all performers, and thank you to everything who donated their time and money for children in need!