Today Prof Steve Loza visited our class to share is passion. Of Mexican heritage, he studied classical music in college, but wanted more and became profoundly curious to learn of his own heritage, and ultimately became an Ethnomusicologist, but keeping his feet in performing and composition.
He spoke of the blend of indigenous, Spanish, and black cultures intermarrying in Latin America, and that it really became a new race. Besides the historical accounts of the blending of the different races and cultures, he stressed that one can hear the mix in the music. He played examples and quizzed the class as to what they heard, and their ears were well-tuned.
As there are no pure races any longer, it was refreshing to hear a professor embracing being Mestizo or Hapa, or, as Americans call them, mutts. (I prefer the Mexican appellation.)
Making the connection between musical languages, race, and culture tickled my brain.
Today in my “music theory” class, composer and colleague Paul Chihara spoke to us about working in Hollywood, and showed four stages of the evolution of a musical cue. The cut the director gives the composer that will have SMPTE time code on it and little or no sound, nor sound effects; a version with a synthesizer mockup that sounds damned good already; a third version that has the full orchestral (no synth) version with no dialog or sound effects; and then the final version that has it all. He annotated it as we went along. Paul is charming and lovable, referring to himself as “an old man” (b.1938), but in spirit, he was likely the youngest one there.
Today I was invited to a graduate course in architecture taught by Visiting Professor, Benjamin Ball, of Ball Nogues Studio. Here is a sample of his work.
He has a class of young architect grad students, working in teams, each pitching their vision of what the space will be. Casey Reas, the Chair of Design Media Arts, critiqued the work from the point of view of a designer — made terrific comments. Ben, was the teacher and coordinator of the critique, so he spoke more frequently. I brought in the element of sound to the design. One team assumed that music goes up, so I went through each instrument of the orchestra explaining where the sound comes from predominantly.
I requested a sexy podium for my scholars: “I don’t want talks to come from professors on a rolled out old podium. I want them thoughtfully placed and surrounded by elements that would make them feel like a rock star. I encouraged them to imagine exactly where stereo speakers might be.
I want one of our big-voiced opera singers to process around the space as she sings. I want a sitar recital; Korean drumming ensemble; the gamelan; contemporary chamber music; traditional chamber music; short films, and the list goes on. The only challenge is “interfering” with night classes that might be going on. I’m sure we’ll work all this out.
I emphasized that we need to get permission to do this to this space, you can’t just start putting up fabulous colorful netting and not get insurance and liability issues and such, covered. I’ve made a call.
This will be a temporarly structure. One of the challenges is that its components be recyclable when the structure is dismantled.
On Wednesday I went to the opening of BELOVED UPON A TIME, a full length musical at Royce Hall with music by one our our graduate students, Adam Gilberti, who rose to the occasion a produced a wonderful set of songs. Having trouble sitting for long periods of times these days I only stayed for an hour, which looked as though it would go on for another three. All of our closest straight couple friends are white plus Korean, so I felt I had had enough Korean culture for one night.
On Thursday, Ronnie and I went to hear Esa Pekka’s terrific and farewell performances of OEDIPUS REX and SYMPHONY OF PSALMS. Bill Kraft and I groused in the corner at intermission, complaining about the same issue, which I’ll omit here. Suffice it to say, the music didn’t need long interludes of slowly paced verbal dreaming, which dear Peter added, IMHO (and Bill’s). Ronnie and I both had a half dozen oysters, moules frites, and a lovely cab before.
On Saturday, Daniel and I met several new friends at Howard’s home. It became apparent that their bond was AA. Each had tremendous depth and smarts. One told us of several pop veterans who are still in bad shape from too much drugs/booze; Interesting behind the scenes political stories (her father was in California govt) and how she has helped younger alcoholic children. Another was an Oscar winning behind the scenes sound man. When I said the phrase “perforated septum” he jumped in and said “I have one of those; from too much blow.” He amazed us with interesting stories from his life, near death experiences, hitting bottom scenarios, and professional achievements. They all seemed in very good places, having heard how low they had at one time been. Daniel and I didn’t refrain from having a few glasses of wine; they didn’t seem uncomfortable at all.
After what was probably the busiest week I’ve had all year, things are slowing down, and I’m catching up. Today I grade 50 pop song analyses (many of my students are out in Coachella Valley this weekend. OY! It’s hot in LA today, probably broiling out there.); double check a TA’s grading of some chord progressions, work on promotion letters for five faculty members, work on the teaching assignment for next year, and then go to an undergraduate composer concert at 5 pm. Then, I come home, have dinner, watch a movie and veg.
I mentioned that we are in Auburn, CA for Gareth and Jenny’s wedding. Who is Gareth you ask? Gareth Smith is one of the founders of Shadowplay Studio and an old classmate of Daniel. Of course you remember the Possum Death Spree series with music by yours truly:
Possum Death Spree I
Possum Death Spree II
[Possum Death Spree III has some scenes not appropriate to all ages, so go to Atomfilms.com or YouTube to see that one.]
Gareth was one of the directors of that. He also did some famous opening credits you will likely remember:
And of course the opening title credits for THANK YOU FOR SMOKING.
I mentioned that our friend Julia Shin died last week. As you might imagine, her husband, Tiko (27), is devastated. One can be strong in such life drama for only so long. When my brother died, Daniel and I went to spend time with the family: just being with them, we figured, would be a good thing.
We agreed to invite Tiko’s family stay in our home while they came to town to be there for their grieving son. Staying with us are mom, dad, two sisters, one with a 5 month old baby, and Tiko. I figured that they would be scattered around the house, but no, they are ALL staying in one room — one big family, playing video games, watching movies, napping, visiting, sleeping, and loving their son/brother. Tiko has decided to spend all this time with his family. He’s not reaching out to friends or going to school or working, he’s just letting them surround him with their love. I am touched by the sheer simplicity of this kind of healing. Words, shmerds: just being there means so much.
—
Update: after a long weekend of nightly singing around the piano till 2, there are more smiles around here. I’m off to Palm Springs and will leave Tiko and family here to spend more time before they go back to Canada, and Tiko tries to get back in the swing of life.
Andy had cancer when he was 17, and the radiation therapy that saved him in 1971, slowly took his life away over the last few years. He checked into a hospice in December. That act alone let us all know he was ready. Even when he was at the hospice, he had a hard time deciding to die. His doctors said then as they always have: his urge to stay alive kept him alive. Looking into the faces of his children made it difficult to leave. [Funny simultaneity: Andy's son just texted me and we chatted, er texted.]
Andy and I always had a deal: whoever died first, the dead one would do something to say that they were on the other side; like stopping a clock. Andy and I revisited that promise a few months ago. He didn’t remember the stopping the clock part, but remembered that we would send a sign.
This morning, after I gathered my thoughts, I decided to write this post. I couldn’t access my blog. I panicked. I checked other websites on the same server and they were all working. I tried my website. It wasn’t working. I tried another browser, no luck. I restarted my computer, no deal. My blog was unavailable. Dead.
Not knowing what else to do, I texted Daniel who said it was working just fine. I called it up again, and there it was.
My composers colleagues may remember the famous COMPOSERS IN RED SNEAKERS from Boston. (They are still in existence I hear.) One of the founding members was Christopher Stowens, famous for doing the taped introductions to the concerts. He left New England a few years back and is living happily in Oaxaca, Mexico. I can’t recommend highly enough, his blog called Oaxaca – The Year After. He has had access to many of the great artists and chefs of this region. I can’t wait to visit him.
Here is a video he made of his visits. I especially love the incidental music he has cut in. What is it Chris?? You’re driving me crazy! Especially, the ending music.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Sopa de Hongos – Cuajimoloya, Oaxaca
I have a series of videos of the cooks of Oaxaca and here is a special one. Normally, I filmed the most famous cooks from the best restaurants. I would spend all day with them, from early in the morning, when we would go to various markets, through a day of cooking and then, at the end of the day, eating everything they had cooked. I know, it’s tough work, but….
This is a restaurant up in the mountains in a village called Cuajimoloya, which is famous for its mushrooms. All kinds of mushrooms. The village is about 40k northeast of the city and is 25k up from the weaving village of Teotitlan del Vaille. The food was very simple, but absolutely delicious. It was a blast to film this woman just like the cooks from all those five star places.
rss feed
