After a week of crafting possible cuts to our department’s budget, I drove up to the beautiful Lake Arrowhead area to attend an annual meeting, whose sole purpose is to give seed money to innovative curricular ideas. We arrived on Friday night; had cocktails and a lovely dinner, followed by a short meeting, and then we all retired to our rooms to finish reading the 36 proposals. Saturday morning and early afternoon were spent sitting around a large square table discussing each one.
As we finished early, I called Ronnie Rubin to see whether, by chance, she was in Palm Springs. I was tired of being cold and in the mountains. To my delight she was free and single. We went out for a lovely dinner, strolled down the main drag, I bought a new very cool rubber and stainless steel bracelet, and we drove home. I drove back to LA early on Sunday; Ronnie stayed to watch two more movies and returned at night.
I returned to grading 51 analyses by my students of pop songs of their choices, along with the YouTube link. I found I could only grade around 8 or 9 at a time, as listening, analyzing, and grading each song was exhausting. I have to admit that I loved the opportunity to assign and grade this project. The students learned from it as well.
At the same time, the midterm project for the class was to record and perform an original composition that features a falling bass line. It could be for (and was) for any instrumentation, and in any style. Then, they had to convert the file to an mp3, upload it to the class website, and then comment on each other’s pieces (which they did). Then in class this week, we listened to them all, and I gave brief critiques to each of the students. This was a delicate process as for most, this was the first time they had ever had a performance in front of peers. I consoled them before we began: “I know that for some of you, today might be like those dreams where you are naked in front of the class (or workmates) and can’t do anything about it. But hang in there.” The comments that the students made on the website were always helpful, collegial, encouraging and friendly.
I found out from several Chairs from other departments that I am teaching a heavy load for a Chair. One said she taught one course a year, another two courses: I teach 3 big classes along with 5 – 6 private composition students per term. I know that may sound light to some, but trying to do that and go to all the meetings one has to as Chair, can be overwhelming.
I am thrilled that I seem to be catching up. My To Do list is shorter. I think I can take this weekend off. Oh wait: I have a new choral piece to compose for the City of West Hollywood!
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.
We plowed through five decades of the three top selling singles — the last two decades got short shrift: no matter, they might as well have leapt to their feet singing along with Backstreet Boys or Kelly Clarkson.
We went from old to new. Few had heard of Bobby Darin, or the genre “bubblegum.” I kept wondering whether I had remembered it wrong. We looked at Madonna’s erota-spiritual “Like a prayer” but ran out of time for hearing “Boom Boom Pow.”
The class LOVED Gloria Gaynor singing “I will survive” and in that the words were on the screen in front of them, it turned into Karaoke at 10:15 am.
It occurred to me to look back at the top selling singles from the past 60 years in increments of 10 years. I’ll bring this to my class and use these songs for analysis and discussion. Questions: why do you think this song was so popular? What is unique about this song? What is the song structure? Is there anything harmonically or melodically unusual or eccentric in this song? Can you dance to it? Could it be Muzak? How are these three songs different than the songs from 10 years ago? [rankings from Billboard and other sources]
Today we looked at the various components of a [popular] song, as espoused by Wikipedia. We picked our way through the relevant appellations and critiqued the language, spelling, and content. They encouraged me to go in and change it right now, but I declined.
I gave them an assignment to analyze a popular song using one of the three methods they will be taught over these two weeks.
I shared a few of my own analyses of Rufus Wainwright music last week.
Today, we looked at Alan Pollack’s entertaining analyses of Beatles music — “When I’m 64″ is the one I chose. It’s interesting in that it doesn’t have a chorus. Only a hook/refrain at the end of the verse (”Will you still need me? Will you still feed me?”).
Here is the song in a clip from YELLOW SUBMARINE.
On Thursday, after studying resolutions of embellishing diminshed chords, we will hear from Robert Fink, who will discuss analyzing popular music, using Motown as examples. Should be interesting.
Back to the class, we then watched “Hound Dog” [see below] and discussed 12-bar blues structure. My finger was the bouncing ball as we followed the prescribed chords accurately listed in Wikipedia, while listening to sexy Elvis.
Students brought in more good examples of falling bass music, and the most fun was “Hit the Road Jack.”
For the first week of my music theory course, we have focused on songs with falling bass lines.
Today, we started with the so-called air on a G string by J.S. Bach. As an amusement, I quizzed what a G string was in context of a strip club, and Marcos correctly answered that it referred to a slim garment etc. I thought is odd that actually the thinnest string on a violin is an E string, so why don’t they call them E strings?
J.S. Bach: Air on a G string
When I grew up, the almost cartoon-like figure of a black-cloaked man with wild white hair as conductor was most likely created by Leopold Stokowsky, who conducts in Disney’s FANTASIA. Listen to the bass line that repeats over and over. That is what a passacaglia is: it is a variation form. The composer composes the bass line and jams over it. This orchestration is by Leopold himself, here rather elderly.
JS Bach/Stokowski: Passacagila and Fugue (Passacaglia only)
There are famous falling bass songs from the 1960s that people my age know, and you may hear from time to time on oldies radio stations. The most famous are:
Because my class is full of so many students of different backgrounds, their first assignment may be in any style for any instrumentation. But it must feature a falling bass line.
Today I introduced the ground bass. While I listened to this next performance by Jessye Norman, my t-shirt was wet from tears. I pulled it together to play it for my class, and let many of them cry instead.
As I mentioned below, it’s been a busy time — what with the end of the term and other pressing deadlines. Here’s a picture of one of them:
Matias and Jenny are staying with us for a while with little Katy (9 mos) who is just learning to crawl. [Daniel is her Godfather; I'm the Dogfather.] Our dogs are finally getting used to these little creatures, and now Cody is protecting her. Giaco wants to play with her as he does all other dogs and hasn’t quite figured out that babies can’t romp yet. Last night the four of us went out for dinner and Daniel’s mom, Josie, babysat — she was in heaven. Daniel and I won’t be having kids, but all of our friends are: Jason and Briana, Matias and Jenny, Damon and Jane, and we learned about 4 more at dinner last night. I thought that I’d be a grumpy old intolerant uncle, but I’m really enjoying them. Even the crying doesn’t bother me.
Balance that with the news that our friend Julia Shin died this week. Age 33, of cancer. Married to our dear friend and helper at our publishing company, Tiko Koreen, 27, who has been a tower of strength for her. Robin’s cancer is not going away; we are worried that Janet might have cancer. We keep wishing for a break from death, but it seems to have become our constant companion of late. The more people you know, the more likely it is.
At school, Tim Rice has tirelessly pursued the creation of a core course for our new School. This would be a course that blends the traditions of musical learning, with cultural studies from the points of view ethnomusicologists and musicologists. After much debate and discussion, a committee of all-star professors (Robert Winter, Rice, me, Susan McClary, Tamara Levin, Tony Seeger, Steve Loza, James Newton, and Munir Beken) are considering having ME be the primary teacher throughout the year, and then each quarter, a different pair of professors from musicology and ethno team-teach with me. I get to be Oprah. The meeting was an interesting coming-together of “music theory teaching” — “theory” being a word we are happy to get rid of — and musical context, history, and culture. The musicologists were reluctant to have a technique driven core, a request that seemed difficult to take in at first, but later, intriguing. So, we will march forward and continue to map out this brave new plan.
We still do not know what UCLA’s budget cuts will be. We have had numerous instances where our students’ parents have lost their jobs and they are in need of even more financial aid. I hear of endowments all over the academic community plummeting because of the financial downturn. Everyone is having to cut, or perhaps more accurately, prune. I look around Los Angeles and see all the new business and private properties empty. West Hollywood has added a lot of very cool condos and apartments to live in but many are empty. I am trying to stay calm and not be hysterical about possible impending cuts. Too much worrying will make a person sick.
I realized that I spend 60 hours per academic year with the Freshman class of Music History, World Music, and Music (performance, MusEd, and composition) majors. [120 hours if I teach them over two years.] Statistically, during the academic year, I probably spend more time with this first year class than they do with their parents.
So, being the childless, gay married professor that I am, I still have parenting instincts from time to time; and their parents would be proud of the words of wisdom I pass on to their children. I used to call them “commercials” — words of wisdom, selling nothing but my own take on reality. Now, I just cut to the chase and tell them something specific that has happened in my life, that will very likely happen in their lives or to someone they know. I tell them this, not to test them on the final, but as a compassionate big brother [I won't embrace "father"] figure.
When I spend as much time as I do with these eager-to-learn Freshmen, I can’t help but give advice.
“Don’t underestimate who could be hiring you in ten years. It could be that nerdy girl over there who never says anything. Or that gay guy who is so over-the-top. Or that know-it-all girl — the Hermione-type — who always raises her hand with any question. Or… Get along with each other.”
“Be open to learning about each other’s differences — and I don’t use the word TOLERANT.”
“Coming out” is an exorcism that belongs to everyone; not just gays and lesbians.”
I tell my students: Music is not just notes — yes, we will learn about the tradition of harmony, but music is life, death, love, cheating, longing, sadness, eroticism, relationships, play, and exorcisms of all kinds, cast in notes; harmonized with the soul of; and rhythmicized through the metabolism of, the composer.
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Many musicians and non-musicians who sing, have a “reset button” that they can access by playing music: the pains and stress of the world evaporate for one brief shining moment. Oftentimes musicians play, and others perceive it as magic, or a gift from God, or genius. We must realize that good musicians are magicians, and can conjure everything and exorcise all that needs to be exorcised — Like taking a baseball bat and smashing it against a tree after your wife has left you; but instead, you pour your chi into a Vivaldi oboe sonata and tear your audience’s heart out.
Today my music theory class, mentioned below, started with a YouTube playback of Elizabeth (”Liba”) Cotten singing her own “Freight Train.” I was offended to read in the folk music anthology that I own (that the publisher claims that THEY own the right to, which I trust only refers to the imprint — and not the music), the composer was attributed as “American” when it should have said “Elizabeth Cotten.” How much effort would it be to attribute that credit? Here is a black woman who composes REALLY good songs, and all she gets is “American”? Liba was a maid/nanny/gramma figure in Mike Seeger’s life. And it blows my mind that SHE wrote “Freight Train.” She is clearly one of the unsung roots of American folk music. I feel blessed to have seen this video. Can you imagine having this gal as your nanny? So cool!
Today was Visitors Day in my class. I knew that Mimi Alpert Feldman (a donor to our department and sister of Herb), and Rona Sebastian (exec dir of the Herb Alpert Foundation) would be coming for the second part of class. And for them, Wyatt and Joseph played and sang a beautiful rendition of “Shenandoah” with guitar and mandolin. They switched instruments and did one more song to the delight of the whole class and our visiting angels.
The first part of the hour was started with Liba’s performance of “Freight Train.” One minute into the introduction and chat, in came 35 fifth-graders with teachers, who lined up along the side of the room. I paused and explained what they were about to hear, and that they might sing along when so instructed.
As you’ll see if you watch the video, Pete Seeger encourages us to sing along. And then magically, the words appear on the screen — not optimally, but at least there for us to sing — and the 5th graders and my brilliant first year theory class sang along with “Freight Train.” What a moment to remember! (Be sure to check out an even better video of Liba.)
I asked: “What’s the story with her instrument that’s facing this way (I pointed to Liba holding her guitar) and THIS instrument (pointing to Pete’s guitar)? In a heartbeat, this black girl, who locked with my eyes the entire time — almost an Hermione-type personality — fired back: “She’s left-handed.”
“Correct!” I exclaimed, feeling slightly like Dumbledore, and continued: “Just like Paul McCartney of the Beatles: when he shares a microphone with George Harrison, the two face each other and their guitar’s mirror each other, just like Liba and Pete.” I was not convinced any of them had any idea who Paul McCartney was, not to mention John or George, but at that moment, the teachers thanked me and the whole group filed out.
That was a first is a so-called “music theory” class.
[Tony Seeger is one of my colleagues at UCLA and I will ask him to read this over and correct any errors in my Liba-Seeger narrative. And is it "Libba"?]
This just in from Tony:
Dear Roger,
Elizabeth (Libba, as she was called by the Charles Seeger/Ruth Crawford
Seeger kids who knew her when they were small) Cotten certainly wrote
the song (I think there are 2 bs in Libba), but it was made famous and
infamously copyrighted by a popular music group that made a fortune on
it. I can’t recall how the lawsuit ended up, but it is a scandal.
Perhaps that is why the wording is simply “American.” There is no doubt
she wrote the song, and cleaned and cooked for Charles Seeger, Ruth
Crawford, and their 4 children. Mike Seeger often toured with Libba in
her later years and spoke of her (and played some music in her style)
when he was here last year.
Sounds like fun. Those two Freshmen are really good. I’m glad they got
a chance to play for the group. I saw them coming back from it and they
were radiant.
Tomorrow in my music theory class, we start with a performance of “Shenandoah” for mandolin and guitar with 3 part harmony; after singing and analyzing “Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern” we will harmonize a chorale tune in the style of JS Bach. After the break we will do a group sing, with harmony of “Freight Train”
and finish off the class with an analysis of the first movement of the Mozart g minor symphony.
In the last class, we harmonized a melody in chorale style, and analyzed a Scarlatti sonata.
The class before that, I introduced all the diatonic secondary dominants, and analyzed “Gymnopedie” by Erik Satie.
[Mark O'Connor is around, so I wouldn't be surprised if he pops in to say hello.]
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