The Arts

In Columbus, Ohio nestled in the heart of the Midwest money was not the only reason you became well-respected. The severe boundaries between income brackets didn’t seem to exist. It was a more homogenous society, and as a result was more artistic. Success in life, enlightenment, wisdom and talent came from achievement, not necessarily money. I as a poor graduate student earned respect from the community with diligence, talent, and hard work in the field of music. The word “doctorate” is powerful. When I went to OSU I was not sure I was capable of getting a doctorate. I didn’t know what it took, and as a result I was uneasy. I knew there was a language requirement, and that would be a stumbling block. I took four years of Spanish in both high school and college, but you have no real need for Spanish in music composition. Italian, French, or German or more appropriate languages, seeing as these countries and Russia were the major areas of proliferation of musical creativity. The first Viennese school was in Austria, and Mozart, Beethoven, and Hayden all traveled and used a variety of languages in their musical composition. Spanish wasn’t one of them. When I first got to OSU I used the availability of its music students to get my music played. My first piece was a small orchestra work called “Toote Suite for Orchestra.” It had a concerto grosso-like quality with only two instruments in the Concertino group, piano and C trumpet. The Ripieno group was a pared-down orchestra. The work was based upon three preexistent songs written in a jazz-like style. They didn’t qualify as “jazz” works, because they didn’t include improvisation. I thought it appropriate to orchestrate them. That would be an appropriate introduction to composing serious music in orchestral style. The piece was very successful, although our Composer’s Workshop was always poorly attended. Like UNC nostalgia played a major role in musical tradition at OSU. The chorus and bands always had a good following, because there were using entertainment as an element in their music. They did not lose their following, because they were not pushing the boundaries of traditional music like “New Music” composers. Composers of new music should and do attempt to thwart the expectations of the listeners. As Dr. Robert Kehrberg so eloquently put it, “We don’t go for the bleep bloop music here at Western Carolina University.” What? Bleep bloop music? I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. After completing all the coursework for a D.M.A. in serious music composition at OSU, the Chairman of the Music Department was telling me they did not appreciate or understand modern music. Bleep bloop is slang for atonal or 12 tone serial music. It is often pointillistic, which means the use of extreme ranges or tessitura in music. Put those two definitions together and to an untrained ear it may sound like “bleeps” and “bloops.” What they were looking for at Western was nostalgia. When I heard the demo CD they gave me upon leaving my interview it was obvious for what they were looking. Western was a “feel good” school, and to them the Manhattan Transfer was jazz music. Happy entertainment was the requirement for music production rather than the exploring of serious issues in life with intellect. It was very appropriate I did not get hired, and Pavel Wlosek did. Although I was equally qualified as this Czech composer, the feeling in his music was similar to that of the record label EMI, when “New Age” was their staple. Keith Jarrett and Jan Gabarek really invented this form of semi-pastoral contemporary jazz. It has a loving feeling underneath. The emotional profile of the Midwest and Ohio specifically is different than most places, and it took me quite a few years to become accustomed to it. There are melancholic overtones to everything, because Ohioans are acutely aware of the “abyss.” The abyss is the big black cavern into which one can easily fall in life if you are not careful. Until you have “hit bottom” you may not know what the ‘abyss’ is. Ohioans demand you have understanding and respect for the abyss, so there is no room for a shallow “pop-like” existence. Although OSU let me bring my Southern roots to the Midwest, they would not allow to keep them. As my doctoral advisor said, “You all ready know jazz music.” (Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane, and Thelonious Monk were from the South) I had to put jazz music on a shelf in the closet and open myself up to the new experiences of European-based orchestra music. This I did with open arms, and it changed me. My voice became that of a budding young American composer influenced by the feelings of Aaron Copland, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Bela Bartok, and Charles Ives. While I can play good jazz on the piano, real jazz is mostly a lost art form as Wynton Marsalis explained last night on public television. He was saying the feeling of jazz music is difficult to find these days, and I agree. After working on ships for over four years, I have yet to find one group that plays real jazz. My last swinging piano trio was in Columbus, Ohio with bassist John Rivers and drummer Reggie Jackson. At least in Columbus they knew how to swing. The Vaughn Weister Big Band reinforces swing music on a weekly basis. When I play jazz piano I like to evoke the feeling of Antonio Carlos Jobim. While many students of jazz like to play his Bossa Novas, none of them really understands the root of his music because they have not heard it. The obvious reason this feeling is absent today is because we are at war. That may seem paradoxical, because during World War ll and the Great Depression music flourished. Glenn Miller became famous touring the country in a time war was smothering good times in America. One has to look to the decade of Viet Nam to understand what is happening now. It was a period of Civil Unrest. The country is every bit as poised to feel the same things, but the populace is being frightened and brain-washed into believing our state of affairs is okay. Do we even remember what a protest is? Another modern art form must be devised to represent what the country is feeling today. I feel the Grunge Movement from the l990’s is still the real message of the United States, and it is being stifled by the ridiculous shallow optimism of bubble gum pop music. Likewise the Expressionism of the l920’s still is viable. Because a small faction of spoiled children are allowed to digress on national television does not mean their indulgences represent the main stream in art. It has been well known for a few years the main stream has become so cloaked no one can understand what it is. Until something or someone comes along and sums up America’s feelings “as a whole” the country and the arts will remain weak.