Patio Performances at the Alchemist and Barrister: Part One

I’ve been employed by The Alchemist & Barrister for almost a year, but it took me until just this past Thursday to experience their music scene.  Apparently it just so happens that I seem to work on all the nights that there isn’t live music…so I did not know what I was missing out on!

My first visit was on Thursday, April 3rd.  I arrived at approximately 10:00 PM, and the band was setting up (testing sound, moving things, etc).  I took a seat at one of the tables in the covered patio, where the band was going to be.  As I looked around, I saw that 6 out of the 12 tables in the patio were being occupied by customers.  The bar had much more activity, and I wondered if people in the bar area could hear the music as well.  The crowd in the patio was on average, mid-20s-30s.  It seemed like mostly  groups of friends, a few dates here and there.  Most of the tables only had alcohol on their tables.  Perhaps they had finished dinner and were enjoying each other’s company over one more beer before heading back out into the rain.  Or, maybe they solely came for drinks…or to hear the band!  Who knows.

The band looks about ready to start at just around quarter after.  This band is comprised of two men, both middle-aged.  One has an electric guitar, and the other is sporting an electric bass.  There are two microphones.  I heard a harmonica…but it didn’t make an appearance during the set (at least while I was there).  The band begins without announcing who they are or interacting with the guests at all.  As the music starts, I notice that each song is primarily guitar/bass with a few vocals here and there.  The songs I heard were all covers.  I would classify the genre as “soft rock” but they also played country hits like “Margaritaville.”

The band members seemed very “into” what they were doing.  You  could tell that they really enjoyed playing and singing and were in the zone.  From a customer point of view, their presence was not distracting — to me at least.  The other customers seemed to go about their conversations, laughing and talking.  They didn’t seem affected by the music in anyway.  It’s as if the customers are characters in a movie and the background music isn’t actually playing in real life, but it’s heard by the movie watchers….

After leaving, I wondered if the crowd would have been bigger if the weather was nicer…or if the people at the bar were enjoying the music (or could even hear it..)  I decided that on my next visit I would sit at the bar and hopefully answer that question.

Composers are Interesting People

I had a really fun time doing some oral history interviews on the student composers of the American Art Song Festival. I gotta admit, I was a little nervous going into this whole thing because I’ve never really held interviews for anything before and had no idea how it was gonna work out. I kinda felt like I was being thrown in the pool to learn how to swim. Anyway, the three composers I interviewed were Cortlandt Matthews, Patrick Dunnevant, and Ian Good. Cortlandt’s an undergrad who isn’t even a composition major. He’s studying sacred music and composes for fun on the side. The others are both graduate comp majors. I think getting to interview three different people was pretty neat, because each had different previous experiences and each had different styles of composing.

I went into the interviews having a good idea of the way I wanted them to go. My goal was to gain some insight on their academic background and their composition experiences, and then to work my way into their compositions for the song fest. One of the things I asked which I thought was obvious is what they were studying in school. This is how I found out Cortlandt was actually a sacred music major, which is sad on my part- I didn’t know that after being in his class the past 4 years 😦 I didn’t realize how much arranging and composing Patrick and Ian did outside of school, especially for other groups other than the ones here on campus. I also learned that Patrick has a great interest in conducting, which he’s doing as much now, if not more, than composing. This was particularly interesting to hear because I ended up going to Patrick’s grad composition recital soon after our interview and in addition to hearing a wide variety of his works, I got to see him conduct all of his own choral arrangements. I hope to make it to Ian’s recital too! (I think the two of them are the entire second-year graduate composition class, lol)

Once I got to talking to each composer about their songs for the festival, I started asking questions that I had no idea what their answers might be. This is when I realized how interesting and creative composers are. For example, Cortlandt explained to me that the inspiration for writing his “Two Love Songs” was an E.E. Cummings poem. He originally wrote the second song to this text. When I asked why he wrote two songs, his answer was simple: The first song he wrote was short and he wanted to make it longer, so he wrote another one and plans to write a third as well to make it more substantial. I asked Patrick why he wrote his song for tenor, expecting some crazy compositional reason. His answer, “I don’t really have an interesting answer for that.” This was funny to me after hearing about all the specific reasons he set the music to paint the text the way he did. I guess in the back of my head, I was expecting everything to have some sort of logic behind it. I was going to ask Ian the same question: why did he set his score for soprano? I learned that not only did he do it because he had a specific soprano in mind to perform it, but much of the compositional technique involved revolved around what this voice was able to do as opposed to strictly painting the text as in Patrick’s piece.

I could go on forever about all the interesting things I learned about how these guys went about composing their songs–like how Ian’s accompaniment was based off of pieces of recorded improv–but I’ll maybe save that for another time. Next time you’re hanging out with a composer, start asking them lots of questions about their process, and you’ll see for yourself just how interesting composers are.

Some Strumming & Some Shopping!

It is my second time round doing field work on music venues at McCaffrey’s Super Market in Princeton Shopping Center. As I said before, it is not a typical location for live music to take place, so I decided to blend in with my surrounding and go grocery shopping in conjunction with listening to more music. Arturo Romay performed once again on the guitar. I went on another Saturday morning from 11:30 AM to 12:30PM in the bakery section. The area where he performed was lit the same way as last week. The vibe did not really change in any special way to compliment the performer.

His set up consisted of the same single amp and a chair for him to sit on. Once again, an iPod was used to provide the rest of the instruments. I did not lean on the hot food counter like last time. I did not want to feel awkward or out of place. The music was pretty much the same. You could tell there was Latin rhythm and flare to it.

Instead of staying in one place like last time I decided to shop, stop and watch, and then shop again. I repeated this multiple times. It was pleasant background music to shop to and sort of calmed me down when going about my list. I noticed other people’s reactions when they went about their shopping. Some would shop to the speed of the music. Others would tap their hand or foot against the cart. I found myself being caught in the rhythm as well. Last time he seemed to be part of the background when I acknowledged him from one spot, but when I shopped, his presence became more known. Those acknowledging the music without seeing him were people of all ages, but when I went to see him and watch, it was the same middle-aged women stopping to give him a tip or a smile.

I was supposed to sing with him, but this did not happen because we could not find a song in common. I also had to run errands and was not able to stick around too long. When I stopped in front of him again, I asked another woman who stopped what she thought of him. She thought he was great, but wished there were chairs so she could sit and enjoy him for a little bit rather than standing. It almost felt as if you were limited in time to watch him because of the venue. Last time my feet got so tired from standing. I needed a little break! At least I could lean on a shopping cart if I wanted to this time around.

Once again, the music was all instrumental guitar with a beat. The tempo was a little faster today, and then he decided to slow it down a few times. I found that he grabbed more attention when playing songs with a faster tempo. It really got me into the shopping zone. I almost felt myself slowing down with the tempo when it was a slower song. Nevertheless, the music still had a morning punch to it because of its bright timbre and his funky noodling of the guitar. He had a stack of CDs out and cards again, which people did acknowledge. A few people did stop to take some photos, but not as many as my first trip. It seemed to be this way because it was a much busier day at McCaffrey’s.

 

Interviewing Helen Kemp

In going to my second oral history review, I again was unsure what to expect. The interview was being held at Helen Kemp’s house, a place I had never been before. I had no idea what my surroundings were going to be, if the lighting would be okay, if there would be enough room where she wanted to interview for both of us and the camera, and about a billion other, many of them, silly, worries and concerns.

However, what I found, was nothing problematic at all. Helen Kemp was a delightful person to work with, and she was super prepared for me to come, she had a plan for where we could do it, she just needed help rotating the arm chair she wanted to sit in (understandable at 96 years of age). She was warm and friendly and ready to get started right away. It was a delightful hour.

I had met her briefly before in the past, but getting to spend so much more time with her was amazing, she is such a wealth of information and knowledge, she has done practically everything, she played basketball in high school (and was the captain), attended Westminster Choir College where she later worked, she founded an organization aimed at creating music for children’s choirs, and my personal favorite was part of a Westminster Choir that not only got to record for the Disney Movie for Fantasia, but also go to eat at his house! I was blown away by the multitude of things she had accomplished in her life, and she was so full in her explanations that it made finding new questions and discussing other topics just seem to flow.

Unlike my first interview where I felt confined to a topic, I felt with the freedom came an ability to go off and discover new avenues of conversation that might not have been part of my prepared topics, all while staying within a flow instead of hoping around (although we did a bit of that, as sometimes she would reference 2-3 things I wanted to talk about in one answer and I would have to hop back to that answer to spring board into the next topic.

When all was said and the taping was done, I found that the hour had simply flown by (and I had almost made her really late for dinner! Although she did not seem to mind). I am sure we could have spend several more hours delving into all of the amazing things she has done, and all of the people whose lives she has touched across the nation. The best part for me is that even today she is in contact with people helping them out, and giving suggestions through email and Facebook.

Let’s be real, it’s all about the Bacon-Wrapped Dates…

Mediterra’s Taverna (http://www.mediterrarestaurant.com/mediterra_photo_gallery)

Mediterra is known to be one of the best restaurants in Princeton. I was super excited to use it as my venue for the Music in Princeton fieldwork project when I found out they had Latin Jazz on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I was all set to go and eat paella and drink sangria while I did my “research,” when I decided to look at the menu online before I left. What did I find? $2 Tapas. No, you did not misread that. I’m talking about bacon-wrapped dates for just TWO LITTLE DOLLARS. Screw the paella!

So I rounded up a few friends and we headed out to Mediterra around 9 on a Tuesday night. When we got there, the restaurant wasn’t particularly busy, but wasn’t empty either. The Taverna, (…also know as Mediterra’s bar section. Could they just call it the bar? Sure, but it’s so much more fun to be exotic and dangerous!) however, was PACKED. I went with two other people, and we awkwardly stood for at least five minutes trying to find a group that was leaving so we could sit together. Luckily we were able to pounce on a group of three stools together at the bar. I was excited for the food. Also for the music, but mostly for the bacon-wrapped dates.

We sat and it got even better. They had wine specials too! Spanish wine! No wonder it was so crowded in the Taverna! We ordered some wine and several tapas to share and the wait began. Then I remembered why I was even there in the first place…

Oh yeah, the Latin Jazz band! Wait, where are they? The hostess on the phone earlier said they usually start around 8 or 8:30. *Looks at watch* It’s after nine. Hmm. *Looks around* Oh, well I see some instruments over by the wine. Maybe they’re on a little break or something.

Nearly fifteen minutes go by and I see a group of three men go back up to the wine wall. I reassure myself that it must be the band. Almost instantaneously, our tapas are served to us. Victory on all fronts! A glass of Spanish Red, Falafel, bacon-wrapped dates, and empanadas… This girl was content.

The band started playing and it was groovy. It was the most perfect accompaniment for the food we had just begun to enjoy. The music sounded like traditional Spanish music, although I was not very familiar with this type of music. It was just loud enough where we could focus on the music if we chose to, but could easily have a conversation over the music as well. The band featured a drummer, a guitar player, and…wait, is that a flute?

The flute player started to play and he was fantastic! (Not to mention handsome ;]) It was all improvisation. The whole Taverna listened as he laid it down. It was exciting and different! When he was done playing, he received a lot of well-deserved applause. The rest of the band continued and the drummer and flute player joined in with some singing (in Spanish, of course). Who knew they could sing too! I was more and more impressed as they played on.

Little did I know, they wouldn’t play on for very much longer. They took another long break (exactly 30 minutes), and then continued with only one more set. Less people had stuck around for this set, but the crowd that remained was entertained and engaged. I found it very strange that they played for such little time.

It was obvious that the people in the Taverna were there primarily for the food (hello, bacon-wrapped dates for two bucks!) and drink, but it was also obvious that the Latin Jazz enhanced their experience. The music didn’t annoy a single person in the Taverna, and most of the crowd was bobbing their heads or tapping their feet to the music. One couple seated close to the band actually turned their bar stools around to face the band. No dancing, though. I guess there just wasn’t a place for it even if the diners were so inclined.

So, my first fieldwork experience was a smashing success. I was left looking forward to my next trip to Mediterra for some more bacon-wrapped “research.”