Learning from Oral History

For students pursuing a music education today, the pressure of acquiring a job as a full-time musician is all too familiar. The years of study are meant to prepare the individual and provide them with the necessary skills required of them as a future professional. A university and private instrumental study, however, cannot account for all the possibilities and requirements a job might entail, especially when that means balancing several different jobs at once. A student’s wide range of musical abilities cannot all be accessed at the college level; there is simply not enough time or specificity in the provided curriculum. The majority of growth actually happens after venturing out into surrounding community, where the student can discover through first-hand experiences in the music field. The goal is to test their personal strengths and recognize areas that need more application, while applying the fundamental skills they have already acquired.

It has been an enriching experience personally developing a level of musicianship that will pave the way for a music career. In this regard, the oral history interview I conducted shed light on the possibilities and opportunities for a modern musician. Nicole Cochran, the young organist who answered my questions, is actually a friend of mine. We had first met during my freshman year studying the organ at Westminster Choir College, where Nicole was pursuing a graduate degree in Organ Performance. After completing the graduate program she moved to the Princeton area permanently, in order to continue building her musical resume. It was a great opportunity to be able to interview her in-depth, and also to record the process and share it with anyone interested in learning about the daily demands of a musician’s life.

Besides the personal stories Nicole shared in our interview, I felt she eloquently captured the reason many people pursue studying music and commit to practicing an instrument. Although a challenging and often times tedious instrument to play, the pipe organ holds seemingly endless musical possibilities for Nicole. The excitement in the approach to the instrument and its practice is the principal aspect of sincere musicianship. An attitude of inspired interest, such as Ms. Cochran’s, lays the foundation for developing other musical methods. As evidenced by her ability to simultaneously hold jobs such as teaching privately, choral accompanying, and general performance on the organ and piano. Time management was also reiterated as a necessary step in balancing the grind of travel and organization.

Another discovery from the interview was the importance of synthesizing the skills at our disposal in order to fulfill a role that has not been taught or practiced directly. As a current student of music this is a highly important, yet untaught, part of my musical education. This means developing through experiences with music is equally as important as routinely studying and building practice discipline. It was a positive experience to be able to ask a fellow organist and young musician questions and receive direct feedback. To be able to pass along this knowledge to others who are wondering and asking the same questions is a truly wonderful aspect of an oral history interview.

Building a Foundation for a Music Career

For many people, the idea of pursuing a full-time career in music is considered laughable. Due to the economic upheavals being suffered by our current generation, and the lack of support for paid and unionized musicians, the average American is bound to look at a music performance education tentatively, if not suspiciously. Basically thinking, why pay so much money for an education that cannot guarantee a secure job or other typical employment benefits?

Fortunately some students are not so easily convinced of promised failure and the myth of the starving artist. Many decide that pursuing a liberal arts or performance degree in a university environment is quite worth the financial commitment. Besides the obvious academic advantages, these environments allow students to combine their passion and skill for their chosen instrument while simultaneously cultivating their overall musical ability. The undergraduate and graduate level of a musical education are also designed to hone the professional skills needed for their specialized field post-college. They also provide an introduction and specific study of private teaching, choral conducting, accompanying for solo and choral performances, as well as composing and arranging.

One of these former students is a young woman by the name of Nicole Cochran. Growing up in the town of McKeesport, Pennsylvania, Nicole played many different instruments from a young age. This ranged from clarinet lessons in middle school, to the viola and bassoon, and her main focus: the pipe organ. Deciding in high school that her passion could be pursued seriously at the Juilliard School of Music, Nicole auditioned and was accepted into the undergraduate program for Organ Performance. After completing the program, Nicole decided to pursue a Master’s Degree for Organ Performance in order to raise her marketability as a musician which she completed in 2012 at Westminster Choir College in Princeton.

Now living in the Princeton area, Nicole has been working steadily to create a musical resume that will give her the foundation she needs to acquire any job she wants. This includes accompanying for several high school choirs in New Jersey, including Princeton High School. She also teaches piano and bassoon privately, and plays keyboard and sings back-up vocals for a local Princeton cover band. Her schedule can be hectic at times, as she must drive to different towns and homes for rehearsals and lessons. She is also required to juggle lots of repertoire, and simultaneously learn and perform many pieces of music widely ranging in style and genre.

So how can such a magical career be achieved? Well there is really no specific insider secret to Nicole’s success in these early stages of her musical career. Not only are her skills varied over many styles of playing, but her flexibility and adaptability allow her to approach any musical task as an opportunity to learn and to teach. Generally, the musician’s adaptability is what allows them an honest confidence when applying for jobs that they have not necessarily studied or been specifically trained for. As with many careers, the musicians must balance between many factors when taking on any job. The music degree, however, is what gets the proverbial foot in the door.

Saving Music in Schools

It would be overkill to give a huge long statement about the cutting of funding from arts programs in schools. We all know that this de-funding happens more often than not, and we all just sit and accept it. Well, personally I am not one of those people to lie idly around. Music has always brought me a strange joy, a beautiful outlet, and a yearning desire to always be around it. For someone to not be exposed to this joy and beauty like I was is simply heart-breaking to me.

This de-funding started happening when I was in high school, and it nearly destroyed our musical theatre program with the budget cuts. With fundraising we were able to put on a show, and it showed me that people out there cared about what we did on that stage. So that got me thinking about how else I could bring music out into the world and show people what we can do, and maybe even expose them to something they’ve never been exposed to before. At the time, I was a part of an organization that raised money for building schools in a small African country called Uganda. I began thinking about programs that would raise money for this organization that played on my own strengths. The only thing I knew anything about was music, so I started a choir called “Generation Choir.” We rehearsed twice a week for a total of 3 hours, exploring choral repertoire far out of a normal high schooler’s skill level. It was hard, frustrating and nearly tragic getting everyone together every week and working on these extremely difficult pieces, but we all pulled through. We all had a common goal: to raise money for those less fortunate, and to share our gifts with the our community.

We traveled to churches, synagogues, and other public spaces singing our program. The amount of positive response we got was unbelievable. We raised thousands of dollars for the children of Uganda. Of equal importance, we enlightened many of the audience members in the beauty and dedication of music. They saw and heard the difficulty and complexity of the music we performed, and really appreciated what we had to offer. Generation Choir will always be one of my proudest achievements. Not only was I able to help kids in need, but also spread the beauty of music all around my hometown and promote the arts programs.

My interviewee is Melanie Clarke, the executive director of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra and the founder of BRAVO!. BRAVO! is a program that brings music to schools all around the Princeton area and tries to inspire young kids to participate in their school’s music programs. I believe that this is so important, and I am really looking forward to learning more about where this idea came from. She is also a mother of four kids, one of whom is the age I am now. I am interested in learning how she balances family life, personal time, BRAVO!, and her job as executive director.

Programs like BRAVO! are the reason that music is not completely cut out of schools. I hope to start a program myself one day to promote the arts, and I am ready to learn as much as I can about running one. We cannot let the arts die in our schooling system. After all, “the earth without art is just ‘eh’.”

The Importance of Art in the Liturgy: A Closer Look at Music in Worship.

From Isabella Burns

burnsiblog

Church musicians are frequently asked why they dedicate so much time toward the perfection of their art. Why must there be months of planning and rehearsing for liturgy? Isn’t one song just as good as the next? A more immediate answer could simply be that no congregation enjoys bad music-music that sounds bad and has no spiritual significance to their lives. A deeper examination however, will show that the answer to this is far more complex in the realm of worship.

There is no parallel medium in the world to the human voice. And still no comparison to that of a well-trained and well-rehearsed choir. It is one of the most honest forms of communication. When that element is paired with well written music, it is one of the highest art forms in existence. It has been for many centuries. Indeed, there is a vast collection of excellent music which…

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Interesting Musicians in Princeton Series #5: Joseph N. Straus, scholar of Music and Disability

I always read the Acknowledgements and Introduction to scholarly books.  In them, you are privy to the authors’ intent and motivation in writing the book.  In Princeton-resident Joseph N. Straus’ Extraordinary Measures, you find not only a scholar and professor, but also a parent. In a few weeks, Professor Straus (Professor of Music and Director of Doctoral Studies in Music at the Graduate Center, CUNY) will convey the keynote address following student presentations at the 6th Annual Celebration of Westminster Student Research.

Here, in an online interview, Prof. Straus answered a few questions as a preview.

The Scholar:

1. When most people think about disability in relation to music, they think either about pedagogy (accommodating students with disabilities in the classroom) or therapy (using music to assist people with disabilities), but your approach seems to be much more theoretical.
In your view, what do disability and music have to do with each other?

My thinking about disability in music is grounded in the new, interdisciplinary field of Disability Studies.  Like what feminist theorists do for gender and queer theorists do for sexuality, disability scholars are trying to do for music.  For musical scholars like me, that means studying the ways that music both reflects and assists in the cultural construction of disability. Disability is understood not as a medical pathology (something that resides inside your body and needs to be cured by a doctor) but as a product of social interaction. Disability, as both a concept and a lived experience, is different in different times and places.  It has a history and a culture, and I’m thinking about how that plays out in relation to the history and culture of music.

2.  In your introduction, you acknowledge the boundaries that you had made in choosing composers (Beethoven, Schubert, Schoenberg, Webern, Stravinsky, Bartók, Copland, and others).  Can you reveal more about your choices?  Which composers were clear to include, which did not make the cut at this time, and which might have been a surprise to you?

If you start thinking about major classical composers with disabilities, I think anyone would think first of Beethoven.  The one thing that absolutely everyone knows about him, including people who’ve never heard a note of classical music, is that he was deaf, and in fact his deafness does have a major impact on the music he wrote and the way that people have responded to it.  Then you realize that lots of composers had disabilities: Schubert dealt with the disabling effects of syphilis, Copland had dementia in his later years, and so on.  And then, if you take a sufficiently broad view of disability, and start thinking about the sorts of stories music can tell–of impairments heroically overcome, of extreme, seemingly pathological emotional states–you start realizing that disability is absolutely everywhere.

The Professor: 
3. Are there other musical scholars working in the area of music and disability.

Yes! This work has been going on within musicology for about ten years, and during that time we’ve seen an explosion (well, maybe a modest but rapid expansion) of activity.  I’m co-editing a book right now for Oxford University Press called the Oxford Handbook of Music and Disability Studies.  My three co-editors are younger scholars in the area and two of them were actually students of mine.  The volume will include 45 essays and an amazing variety of musical topics!

The Parent:
4. Is it true that your interest in this field of study grows out of your own personal experiences.

Yes, like many people in this field (and like many feminist and queer theorists), my interest grew out of my own life experience, in my case the experience of raising and living with my autistic son, now age 21. Initially, I thought of him as having a sort of medical defect, and I hoped for a cure.  Now, partly through my engagement with disability studies and disability political activism, I understand him as having a distinctive way of being in the world–he’s not a medical patient with a disease but a somewhat unusual but thoroughly engaging and loveable young man. So he has helped me to think about music differently, and this new way of thinking about music has changed my relationship to him.  The fact that he and I play piano four-hands together is an added bonus!

6th Annual Celebration of Westminster Student Research

Where: Williamson Hall, Westminster Choir College.
When: Tuesday, April 23 at 6:30pm.

For more information on Music and Disability:

1. The official website for Music and Disability: Society for Music Theory Interest Group & American Musicological Society Study Group.
   http://smt.esm.rochester.edu/dismus/
2. On Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/groups/musicanddisability/
3. The official blog for the Music and Disability Studies at the American Musicological Society and the Society for Music Theory. http://musicdisabilitystudies.wordpress.com/
4. Neil Lerner and Joseph N. Straus. Sounding Off: Theorizing Disability in Music (New York: Routledge, 2006).
   

Also a Princeton-area resident, Jennifer C.H.J. Wilson is a Ph.D. Candidate at The Graduate Center, CUNY.

“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!

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.

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!

He Still Watches Over Us: Westminster Choir College’s Jubilee Singers

The Jubilee Singers is a student-populated, institutionally-run choir of Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ. Its repertoire focuses on the African American tradition, especially spirituals and other religious works. The Singers’ most recent performance, a joint effort with a student-run choir within the same College, was titled He Still Watches Over Us, evidence of its religious focus and wholesome message.

The Jubilee Singers has had a change of leadership over the last few years. Since the shift, the choir has seen a considerable decline in membership. Indeed, its entire tenor section is, at this time, comprised by a single, indefatigable tenor. The reasons for this decline are in dispute. However, it is clear that scheduling is at least partially at fault for the reduced student participation.

The Singers’ rehearsal time changes each semester. It conflicts with core classes belonging to several majors within Westminster on a regular basis. Beyond this conflict of class time, there is a dearth of time in general; according to my own impressions from talking to Westminster students, the other demands of the school ensure that very few have the time necessary to devote to the Jubilee Singers.

The 2013 Jubilee Choir performs their His Light Still Shines concert.

The Jubilee Singers aims at bringing out African American vocal literature in the Christian tradition. Indeed, I see audience members mesmerized entirely by the Christian energies of the Jubilee concerts, their bodies swaying and their arms extended in supplication as entranced thralls of Jesus Christ. That’s love, baby. The performances possess a quality that I can only describe as inspiration. This choir’s songs and chorales and other pieces have the spark of life that inspires thought and love from all those blessed enough to be sensitive to it. It is readily apparent to me that they, the singers, love what they do; they pour their hearts and souls into the Jubilee Singers, as much as they can, and it shows.

The choir does not get much time to practice. It performs a large quantity of works, and gets its word out as loud and proud as it can. The product lacks the shining perfection typically seen from a Westminster Choir College performance. But amazingly, whatever imperfections persist from rehearsal into performance do not mitigate the magnitude of the Singers’ power and effectiveness; indeed, that the Jubilee Singers stands undaunted and presents itself honestly, as-is, makes it a cynosure of what a choir can be. There is no pretense. Humanity is what it is. There is no need to eliminate the individual, for when there is love of music of this purity, the collective synergy agglomerates into superior magic. The whole is more than the sum of its parts, a true rarity.

Princeton Pipings

Though not apparent at first glance the pipe organ is alive and well in Princeton. There are a number of notable organs hidden around town and if you know where to look you will find them. There are even famous organists from around the world visiting Princeton on a relatively frequent basis in addition to a handful of well-known organists who work and teach in Princeton and who often perform on these instruments.

Princeton University Chapel Organ

To get a better idea of these instruments you have to hear them played; you can’t just read about them. Fortunately, there are a number of recitals and concerts held regularly that you can go to in order to hear these organs and the organists performing on them. The best place to start would be at the Princeton University Chapel, where concert organist Eric Plutz is University Organist. Housed in the chapel is the largest organ in Princeton in what is probably the most beautiful space to hear music in town. Installed in 1928 by the American organ building firm Skinner (later renovated by Mander of London) it was praised as a revolutionary instrument, particularly because of its new contra faggotto stop which was the very first of its kind. The stop is a low-pitched double bassoon sound that could mimic the sound of a bow drawn across strings. It also possess the ability to play music equally well from Bach to French romantic, something many organs of the time could not do. Each Thursday afternoon, following the noon mass, as part of the After Noon Concert series, is a short half-hour organ recital from 12:30 to 1pm. Organists range from current students at Westminster Choir College and the Curtis Institute of Music to famous concert organists from around the world. And the best part of all is that it’s free! For anyone not familiar with organ music this really would be the best place to start; great organ music in a great space.

Princeton Theological Seminary Organ

Just down the street from the Princeton Chapel is the Princeton Theological Seminary. This is the home of another fine Princeton organ, which can be found in Miller Chapel. Much smaller than the University Chapel organ and installed in 2000 is the Paul Fritts organ. Like the University, the Seminary hosts concerts on their organ regularly as well. With musicians, again, coming from all parts of the world. This organ is quite different from the Skinner organ in the Princeton Chapel. It is a tracker organ (which means that the action of the keyboard is mechanical and not electric) and is very well suited for the music of the Baroque era. Another unique feature is that it is able to be powered both with electricity, like most modern organs, and manually! An assistant would need to walk continuously on two foot pumps behind the organ to manually send air into the instrument while the organist plays. So if there is ever a power outage during a concert one need not worry: the concert will go on!

Westminster Choir College Bristol Chapel Organ

On the other side of town there sits nestled away in its own little corner of the world Westminster Choir College. Even though this school’s reputation is for its choral singing it has a dedicated organ department. The newly appointed head of their organ department is renowned concert organist Alan Morrison. Located on this campus, in addition to a variety of practice instruments, there are three main performance organs. In Bristol Chapel there is a three manual 1935 Aeolian-Skinner organ; in the basement of the dorms is a three manual 1969 Casavant organ; and in the lower level of Bristol Chapel is a small two manual 1978 Fisk tracker organ.

Westminster Choir College Fisk Room Organ

If you’re interested in a more personal concert setting then you might want to sit in on the Organ Performance class. Every Monday afternoon from 3:20 to 4:20 students from within the department perform for their classmates and anyone else who wants to show up. If you’re lucky, on occasion instead of performance class the department will host a masterclass with notable organists from all over. Just recently was a masterclass with the Titular Organist at Notre Dame in Paris, Olivier Latry. He worked with current students on French music, particularly that of Messiaen and Duruflé.

Below are some links to find out further information on these organs and concerts that are going on. Enjoy!

Princeton University Chapel Concerts: http://www.princeton.edu/religiouslife/chapel/music/2009-spring-concerts/

Princeton University Chapel Organ: http://www.princeton.edu/religiouslife/chapel/music/organ-specifications/

Princeton Theological Seminary Organ: http://aam2012.org/2011/11/miller-chapel-fritts-organ/

Westminster Choir College Organs: http://rider.prod.acquia-sites.com/wcc/undergraduate-programs/organ-performance/wcc-organs