WEBVTT

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I would like to write music that is a signal

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of my love for humanity and for my audiences.

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So I try to write music that uplifts and educates,

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but also soothes people and makes them feel loved

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and makes them feel that the world is in fact

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going to be a better place than it sometimes

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seems. The way I try to describe my music, my

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shorthand for it is it's an act of love, an act

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of honor and respect and love for my audiences.

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I would just like to think that my music points

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a way forward for people, that I can bridge the

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gap between a more distant past and a future

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that speaks to, you know, generations to come.

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Hello, friends, and welcome back to season six

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of The Piano Pod, our season of creativity and

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connection. I'm so excited about today's episode

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because my guest brings both of those ideas to

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life in such a powerful way. Composer Stefania

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De Canessi has written music for just about every

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stage you can imagine, from Carnegie Hall and

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Lincoln Center to international festivals. And

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she's also been a champion for women in music

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throughout her career. But at the heart of our

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conversation is her latest and in many ways her

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most personal project, microvids. What started

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as 19 tiny piano pieces during the pandemic has

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since grown into something so much bigger. A

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whole world of music, poetry, improvisation,

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orchestral color, even visuals. It's a project

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full of love, resilience, and collaboration,

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and it shows how something small can open up

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into something truly expansive. In our talk,

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Stefania shares the story of microvids, what

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it taught her about writing in miniature, how

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collaboration shaped the project, and why supporting

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women composers has always been at the core of

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her work. Before we jump in, I just want to thank

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you for listening. Every time you like, rate,

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subscribe, or share an episode, you help the

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show keep going, and I am so grateful. So here

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it is, Season 6, Episode 3 of The Pianopod, The

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World of Microvits, from miniature piano pieces

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to a boundless work of music, poetry, collaboration,

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and love. Please enjoy the show. You are listening

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to The Piano Pod, where we talk to the brightest

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minds in the industry about how they are bringing

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the piano into the future and thriving in a complex,

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ever -evolving world. Stefania, welcome to The

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Piano Pod, and thank you so much for being here.

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Well, thank you for having me. I'm really and

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truly honored. And as I was saying, I'm doubly

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honored because although I play piano, I'm not

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really a pianist. I'm a composer. So it's really

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a thrill for me to be here and to talk to you.

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And you composed wonderful piano pieces that

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I can't wait to talk about. That's why, that's

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the reason you're here. But we first met last

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spring through our mutual friend, the amazing,

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incredible Donna Wang Friedman, who is, you know,

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not only a powerhouse in the music world, but

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also, you know, you guys collaborated together

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with this. you know the album that we're about

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to talk about but also she was the guest past

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guest uh on season two and then donna and i were

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getting ready to perform this full hands piece

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at this event called history of movie music event

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uh presented by arts rock in nyack new york which

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is like like an hour, an hour and a half away

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from New York City. And then somehow you were,

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you turned the page for us. And then to get there,

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the organizer sent us a driver. And then he mentioned

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that he also needed to pick up the main guest

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of the evening and none other than the legendary

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conductor, Leonard Slatkin. And so we were together

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squeezed into this van. Oh, like five, six of

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us. Right, right. Yeah, that was a lot of fun.

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Yeah. One of the great things about Donna Wang

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Friedman is that she's not only a great pianist,

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but she has great friends and she does all sorts

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of really fun activities. So if any time Donna

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says, hey, I'm thinking of doing X, want to come

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along? My response is invariably, if I'm in town,

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I'm coming along. Sure. Because I get to meet

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fun people like you, for instance, you know.

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And none of it is according to a grand plan,

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but these things happen and they're always really

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happy events in my life. So I'm always grateful

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to her for making these random connections that

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turn out to be absolutely joyous. Yes, and absolutely

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memorable, you know. Right. Yes, yes. So anyway,

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and I remember sitting with you in the back and

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talking about your work and then your upcoming

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project and feeling immediately inspired. by

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your vision and project. So I knew right away

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that I had to invite you to the PianoPod. And

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so I'm really especially grateful that we're

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having this conversation today. So to begin,

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let me start with my signature opener. If you

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had to describe your mission or passion in just

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a few sentences, how would you put it? I would

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like to write music that is... a signal of my

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love for humanity and for my audiences. So I

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try to write music that uplifts and educates,

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but also soothes people and makes them feel loved

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and makes them feel that the world is in fact

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going to be a better place than it sometimes

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seems. Literally, the way I try to describe my

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music, my shorthand for it is it's an act of

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love. So I try to write beautiful melodies, beautiful

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rhythms, things that people can remember. So

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my music tends to be a lot more tonal, a lot

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more audience friendly than most contemporary

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music as a result. Or I think it is, or I try

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to be. But for me, it really is an act of honor

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and respect and love for my audiences. That's

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the best way I can write it. And I mean, the

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best way I can describe it. And of course, I

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have music playing in my head all the time. It's

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a disease, an obsession, a gift. It's whatever

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you want to call it. But to get that out there

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and to make it as loving an act as possible would

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be the way I would describe it. Beautifully said.

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And it's really what you just said coming through

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your music. So let's talk about this. micro bits

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uh you composed so i've actually have had the

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pleasure of visiting your beautiful home already

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twice and then in fact you know a couple weeks

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ago you opened up your beautiful home and for

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your album release party and uh and i was uh

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invited and i was struck by how much this new

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project reflects your artistic vision and that

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brings me to what i've Love for us to focus on

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and dive into today. We're going to really talk

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about focus on microvids. And it's such a fascinating

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concept because it feels both intimate and expansive

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at the same time. So for our listeners who may

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be new to it, what is this new album, microvids?

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So microvids, the album is three versions of

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microvids. And the genesis of microvids actually

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goes back quite a ways to the pandemic. when

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I was locked up in the apartment that you kindly

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visited for many months and feeling kind of depressed

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about my future because I thought I'm a classical

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musician. I write almost exclusively concert

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music. Concerts are not going to be happening.

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It's the end of my life. So I was really... quite

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depressed for a while. And then I started to

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come out of it and I thought of all the people,

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especially younger players who are sitting at

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home locked up also. And I thought, wouldn't

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it be lovely to write them something that they

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could practice, that they could enjoy practicing

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and just have fun with? And I thought back on

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my own childhood and I grew up on Bartok's Microcosmos.

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And I always loved those, but they're fairly

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naughty pieces. You know, they are not that easy

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to digest. And, you know, I went to music school

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and I come from a Hungarian background. So for

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me, it was relatively easygoing. But I'm not

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sure they're that easy for young American audiences

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or pianists. So I thought, well, what if I did

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something like that with a more contemporary,

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more American, more loving flair, if that's the

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right way to put it? And so I wrote 19 miniatures,

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19 short pieces that connect to one another,

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but can also be played separately, that do form

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an arc from beginning to end, but also are a

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book from which you can extract exercises that

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go from relatively simple to relatively complex.

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So it mirrors the Bartok microcosmos in that

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sense. Except they're more tuneful, frankly,

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and more American -ish, if that's the right adjective

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for it. And I just had a beautiful time writing

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them. And I felt my spirit soar. And I felt like

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I was giving something to the world again. And

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that felt very, very satisfying. So that was

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the initial impetus behind micro bits. The other

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thing that made it very satisfying for me, which

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is purely selfish and purely personal, is that

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with each piece I now write, now that I'm in

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my dotage, I promised myself that I would do

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at least one thing that I've never done before.

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just one thing even if it's relatively small

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and even if only i know that i've never done

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it before but something that expands my horizon

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and my repertoire and i've never written miniatures

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before ever I tend to write large scale forms.

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And for me, a short piece is, say, four to six

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minutes. A regular movement can be eight to ten

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to twelve. And then there are several movements,

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that whole methodology. And so this was the first

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time I wrote miniatures. And that was kind of

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a challenge, but enormous fun also. So that's

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the personal part of it. When I finished these

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19 miniatures in honor of COVID -19, I gave them

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to Donna Wang Friedman. I didn't know what to

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do with them. I'm a typical composer. You get

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the music, you write it, you copy it over, you

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give it to a performer, and then you let go and

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you move on. But Donna said that these were the

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most fantastic things she had ever heard. And

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she said she would love to play them. And would

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I give her rights to play them? And when I went

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over to her apartment to hear the first rehearsal,

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you know, after our masks were off and it was

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safe to do so, she said, can you just sit down

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and don't interrupt me? I'm taking all sorts

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of liberties with what's actually on the written

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page. I don't know if you're going to like it

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or hate it, but can I just play them for you?

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And so I sat down and she started to play. And

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there were such. an incredible performance of

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these 19 miniatures that I started to cry. It

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was that good. It was that brilliant, insightful,

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sensitive performance. So from that moment on,

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Don and I bonded musically over these 19 miniatures.

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And she just kind of took the ball and ran with

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it. And she's been kind of spearheading what

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I would call the microvids movement, the expansion

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of microvids, the second and third and fourth

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life of microvids, and eventually this recording

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of microvids. So to finish that story, she said,

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these are brilliant. I'm going to give them to

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students and we'll get them out there. But I

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think they need titles. You know, because I just

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gave them numbers because, you know, I'm just

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a composer. So I thought, OK, what are some titles

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that would work? And then she said, you know,

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and they need short poems that enable people

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to focus in on the individual crystalline sentiment

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or emotion of each short miniature. and I thought,

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okay, I can ask some of my poet friends to do

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something, but why don't I try my hand at it

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since I have some sense of what emotion each

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miniature kind of dives deeply but briefly into.

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So I wrote 19 couplets and gave them to Donna,

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and she said, these are brilliant. That's it.

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We're done. So now microvits exist as 19 short

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poems that precede 19 short piano miniatures.

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Right. And these poems are spoken, not sung,

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right? Yes, absolutely. No, they're spoken. And

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on the recording, we were blessed to get the

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recitation or narration by Crystal Joy Brown,

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who was a Broadway star in her own right. And

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she contributed her talents to it and she reads

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them absolutely brilliantly. So, you know, it's

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a very different kind of approach to music, but

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it works, I think, I think brilliantly. Pure.

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joy, rippling reflections, sunlight dappled white,

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pure joy, sweetly pleasured, heaven's blue delight.

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And then that evolved to... Well, so that was

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the beginning. And then Donna called me up and

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said, I have another idea. Microvids could be

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expanded to have another instrument. And so we

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did. I first added a flute part. Later, I added

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a violin part. There are actually several duo

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versions of microvids. And again, the thing that

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made this very unusual. was both it exploited

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the potential richness of the musical material

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right so because they're miniatures and so much

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is so densely packed emotionally into each little

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piece you can pull out some of that emotion and

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you know uh do it fruitfully in a way that you

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might not if the piece started out as a big piece

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for orchestra for instance right then you wouldn't

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want to double the orchestra or add a bassoon

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solo or whatever right so it works with these

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miniatures um The other part that made it, again,

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for me personally interesting is Donna said,

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and I agreed, that the piano part should remain

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as it is. So when I add new instruments to my

00:15:00.799 --> 00:15:03.820
Kravitz, as I have done, I'm not orchestrating

00:15:03.820 --> 00:15:06.480
them. You know, orchestrating typically means

00:15:06.480 --> 00:15:08.759
you take the existing musical material and you

00:15:08.759 --> 00:15:11.580
divide it among new instruments. So, for instance,

00:15:11.720 --> 00:15:13.940
you could give the melody to the oboe and the

00:15:13.940 --> 00:15:15.580
flute and you could give the bass line to the

00:15:15.580 --> 00:15:17.299
cellos and the double, et cetera, et cetera.

00:15:17.399 --> 00:15:19.740
You can sort of finish that sentence. But that's

00:15:19.740 --> 00:15:22.519
not what I do in the versions of micro bits that

00:15:22.519 --> 00:15:25.580
are piano plus an instrument. I actually create,

00:15:25.860 --> 00:15:29.879
imagine and weave a new sonority, a new part

00:15:29.879 --> 00:15:34.370
around the existing piano music. And that's completely

00:15:34.370 --> 00:15:37.590
different an approach from normal orchestration

00:15:37.590 --> 00:15:41.090
or normal transformations of piano music. So

00:15:41.090 --> 00:15:43.250
that was enormous fun because, again, it made

00:15:43.250 --> 00:15:47.789
me think, what is the essential emotional undertone

00:15:47.789 --> 00:15:50.789
of, say, this microvid? And in the case of the

00:15:50.789 --> 00:15:53.870
fourth microvid, which is very, very airy, it

00:15:53.870 --> 00:15:56.669
was to have, in this case, the violin, but some

00:15:56.669 --> 00:15:59.330
instrument in the absolute stratosphere just

00:15:59.330 --> 00:16:03.179
floating above it. you know, like a breath or

00:16:03.179 --> 00:16:06.419
a breath of fresh air. Because the title is Reach

00:16:06.419 --> 00:16:09.379
for the Sky. Yes, exactly. Right, right. It just

00:16:09.379 --> 00:16:11.740
made sense and it makes sense and it works like

00:16:11.740 --> 00:16:15.759
magic. So that was the second iteration of it

00:16:15.759 --> 00:16:22.240
for piano with a solo instrument. This is not

00:16:22.240 --> 00:16:24.720
going in chronological order, but the next sort

00:16:24.720 --> 00:16:28.200
of logical part of it was we heard the incredible

00:16:28.200 --> 00:16:33.240
violinist Curtis Stewart perform. And he both

00:16:33.240 --> 00:16:37.679
performs existing repertoire and does improvisational

00:16:37.679 --> 00:16:41.580
material and connects with audiences. And we

00:16:41.580 --> 00:16:44.200
looked at one another and we said, we've got

00:16:44.200 --> 00:16:47.919
to work with Curtis. And Donna's idea was both

00:16:47.919 --> 00:16:51.179
to have Curtis record my violin part as part

00:16:51.179 --> 00:16:54.679
of, you know, a dual version of Mike Kravitz,

00:16:54.840 --> 00:16:58.759
but also to ask him to improvise on top of those

00:16:58.759 --> 00:17:01.200
violin parts or from those violin parts or on

00:17:01.200 --> 00:17:03.159
top of the piano, whichever way you wish to think

00:17:03.159 --> 00:17:07.460
of it. So he created, together with Donna, a

00:17:07.460 --> 00:17:09.779
version of Mike Kravitz, which is for piano,

00:17:09.880 --> 00:17:13.079
with Donna playing, and violin improvisation.

00:17:13.819 --> 00:17:34.279
which Curtis Stewart is doing. And that again

00:17:34.279 --> 00:17:37.480
is very different for my compositional practice.

00:17:38.220 --> 00:17:39.680
So I'm going to keep going back to how these

00:17:39.680 --> 00:17:42.519
are things I've never done before, because I've

00:17:42.519 --> 00:17:45.259
always been a control freak. And I've always

00:17:45.259 --> 00:17:47.240
been brought up in sort of the Germanic tradition

00:17:47.240 --> 00:17:49.460
of music where you control all the parameters

00:17:49.460 --> 00:17:52.859
of your composition. You tell all the instrumentalists

00:17:52.859 --> 00:17:54.839
what to do, when and how to do it, et cetera,

00:17:54.900 --> 00:17:59.059
et cetera. And here Curtis was just improvising

00:17:59.059 --> 00:18:03.259
away and his improvisations are rooted in loosely

00:18:03.259 --> 00:18:08.309
in. American blues, jazz, some country, you know,

00:18:08.329 --> 00:18:12.049
all sorts of influences, but very, very American

00:18:12.049 --> 00:18:15.630
leaning, if I can put it that way, and very improvisational.

00:18:16.029 --> 00:18:19.369
And totally brilliant because his technique is

00:18:19.369 --> 00:18:22.230
as good as anybody's technique in sort of Western

00:18:22.230 --> 00:18:25.869
European violinistic Paganini -like terms. So

00:18:25.869 --> 00:18:28.750
again, it's a really, really interesting combination

00:18:28.750 --> 00:18:32.809
of things. And that is actually the opening album

00:18:32.809 --> 00:18:36.490
on our, or opening disc on our current album.

00:18:36.609 --> 00:18:39.190
These improvisations that Curtis does on top

00:18:39.190 --> 00:18:43.670
of the piano part that Donna is playing. The

00:18:43.670 --> 00:18:49.819
third version. Because this never ends. The third

00:18:49.819 --> 00:18:52.380
version of Mike Kravitz, which is represented

00:18:52.380 --> 00:18:54.480
on the album that is being published or was just

00:18:54.480 --> 00:18:59.240
released, came at the behest of the New Jersey

00:18:59.240 --> 00:19:01.619
Youth Symphony and its music director, Helen

00:19:01.619 --> 00:19:04.680
Cha Pio. And again, it was through the intervention

00:19:04.680 --> 00:19:07.640
or through a connection created by Donna Wang

00:19:07.640 --> 00:19:09.960
Friedman. She thought that it would be really,

00:19:10.019 --> 00:19:12.269
really interesting since I... originally wrote

00:19:12.269 --> 00:19:15.390
these pieces for you know young players to have

00:19:15.390 --> 00:19:18.950
an orchestra of young players accompanying the

00:19:18.950 --> 00:19:22.910
piano part which again made perfect sense so

00:19:22.910 --> 00:19:26.769
i created i again a an orchestral part which

00:19:26.769 --> 00:19:30.289
is woven around the piano music so the piano

00:19:30.289 --> 00:19:33.769
part remains in all these iterations virtually

00:19:33.769 --> 00:19:36.869
identical in one or two of the movements there's

00:19:36.869 --> 00:19:38.549
a you know a bar at the beginning where she's

00:19:38.549 --> 00:19:41.029
not playing and you know there's a trumpet solo

00:19:41.029 --> 00:19:43.430
that comes in or you know at the very end there

00:19:43.430 --> 00:19:45.069
may be an extension of one bar but otherwise

00:19:45.069 --> 00:19:49.329
the piano part is 99 .99 % the same in all these

00:19:49.329 --> 00:19:52.289
versions oh good to know yeah yeah no it's always

00:19:52.289 --> 00:19:54.750
the same but there's an entire orchestral part

00:19:54.750 --> 00:19:57.009
around it and it sounds like a completely different

00:19:57.009 --> 00:20:01.019
piece of music It really does, because the emotions

00:20:01.019 --> 00:20:03.599
and the orchestration and the whole vibe of the

00:20:03.599 --> 00:20:06.880
piece is radically different. It's not that it's

00:20:06.880 --> 00:20:10.000
not recognizably the same, but it's different

00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:12.339
enough so it's not immediately apparent that

00:20:12.339 --> 00:20:15.380
you're dealing with the exact same basic material.

00:20:15.700 --> 00:20:18.519
There's so much new that's woven around it. And

00:20:18.519 --> 00:20:21.500
so, you know, that's the third important version

00:20:21.500 --> 00:20:23.819
of it. That's the third disc on our current album.

00:20:24.619 --> 00:20:27.740
And in part because I'm not born in this country

00:20:27.740 --> 00:20:30.859
and in part because I think it's important always

00:20:30.859 --> 00:20:34.099
to have an international outlook. I thought it

00:20:34.099 --> 00:20:36.420
would be important not just to have the poetry

00:20:36.420 --> 00:20:39.720
recited in English as it is on the second track

00:20:39.720 --> 00:20:41.660
of the album, although Crystal Joy Brown does

00:20:41.660 --> 00:20:45.319
an absolutely brilliant job of it. So we asked

00:20:45.319 --> 00:20:48.710
for we figured out a way to get. translation

00:20:48.710 --> 00:20:52.109
into Spanish from a young poet whom I haven't

00:20:52.109 --> 00:20:53.950
actually met, but was highly recommended to me,

00:20:54.029 --> 00:20:58.190
Eloisa Amescua, who is American, but of Spanish

00:20:58.190 --> 00:21:01.660
descent and bilingual. And she created these

00:21:01.660 --> 00:21:04.720
beautiful translations of the couplets, which

00:21:04.720 --> 00:21:08.700
are then recited by an actress who also does

00:21:08.700 --> 00:21:11.960
an amazing job. And we found through Crystal

00:21:11.960 --> 00:21:15.200
Joy Brown, her recommendation. Her name is Lola

00:21:15.200 --> 00:21:19.240
Lopez Wardone, and she recites the poetry in

00:21:19.240 --> 00:21:23.599
Spanish. So that opens up a whole new world of

00:21:23.599 --> 00:21:33.309
listeners to whom we are reaching out. Soñador,

00:21:33.309 --> 00:21:39.170
grácil, alto, diáfano, agarro una nube, alcanzo

00:21:39.170 --> 00:22:08.599
el cielo. And I think it's important to, you

00:22:08.599 --> 00:22:10.839
know, we always say that music is a worldwide

00:22:10.839 --> 00:22:15.339
language and it is meant to be universal. And

00:22:15.339 --> 00:22:18.400
I think we kind of mean it, but we don't, you

00:22:18.400 --> 00:22:20.759
know, as with all good intentions, it's not always

00:22:20.759 --> 00:22:24.440
100 % realized in reality. So I think it's very,

00:22:24.500 --> 00:22:26.839
very important that we have on this album, both

00:22:26.839 --> 00:22:29.799
English and Spanish, which are major languages

00:22:29.799 --> 00:22:33.420
in the world still represented. The ideal is

00:22:33.420 --> 00:22:36.299
for at some point, if Microbits keeps going,

00:22:37.130 --> 00:22:40.390
I have no idea whether it will or where it can

00:22:40.390 --> 00:22:44.009
go. But my wish would be that it would be translated

00:22:44.009 --> 00:22:47.609
into multiple languages. And if there are performances

00:22:47.609 --> 00:22:51.430
elsewhere, that those performances, the recitation

00:22:51.430 --> 00:22:54.430
or the narration of the poems take place in the

00:22:54.430 --> 00:22:57.029
languages that are pertinent to that country.

00:22:57.970 --> 00:23:01.579
Some of that seems to be happening. there's going

00:23:01.579 --> 00:23:04.000
to be a performance of my Krivitz with Donna

00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:07.680
at the piano by the Virago Symphony Orchestra,

00:23:08.140 --> 00:23:11.500
which is an all -female orchestra based in Antwerp,

00:23:11.579 --> 00:23:16.180
Belgium. And the poetry recitation will be done

00:23:16.180 --> 00:23:20.299
by Esohe Weyden. I think I'm pronouncing her

00:23:20.299 --> 00:23:22.119
last name correctly, but I'm not 100 % sure,

00:23:22.240 --> 00:23:25.259
who is the poet laureate of the city of Antwerp.

00:23:25.380 --> 00:23:28.099
And she's going to be reciting them probably

00:23:28.099 --> 00:23:31.150
in Dutch. This is still being discussed, but

00:23:31.150 --> 00:23:33.769
I would love for that to happen. And the other

00:23:33.769 --> 00:23:36.309
sort of international aspect of this, which is,

00:23:36.329 --> 00:23:39.910
again, not 100 % realized yet, but is one of

00:23:39.910 --> 00:23:43.069
my goals. I attended the United Nations International

00:23:43.069 --> 00:23:46.529
School when I came to this country. And I went

00:23:46.529 --> 00:23:50.670
back to them. And I asked students there if they

00:23:50.670 --> 00:23:53.930
would be interested in taking a couplet or two

00:23:53.930 --> 00:23:57.369
and translating them into their own native language.

00:23:58.160 --> 00:24:01.000
and then reciting them and being video and audio

00:24:01.000 --> 00:24:05.839
recorded in those languages. And they did. I

00:24:05.839 --> 00:24:09.089
saw the video. Yes, yes, it's wonderful. And

00:24:09.089 --> 00:24:12.049
the ages range from, I'm going to say, 8 to 18,

00:24:12.430 --> 00:24:15.710
although I could be, maybe it's 9 to 17, but

00:24:15.710 --> 00:24:19.269
something along those lines. And the languages

00:24:19.269 --> 00:24:22.470
range from your standard European languages,

00:24:22.509 --> 00:24:28.289
which are French and Spanish, to Tamil and Hindu

00:24:28.289 --> 00:24:32.430
and other Asian languages. So I'm very, very

00:24:32.430 --> 00:24:35.049
happy with that as an indication of the kind

00:24:35.049 --> 00:24:37.789
of direction. in which I would love for this

00:24:37.789 --> 00:24:41.430
piece to eventually go, because it should be

00:24:41.430 --> 00:24:43.869
universal. You know, grief and joy are universal

00:24:43.869 --> 00:24:47.930
emotions. And to the extent that language expresses

00:24:47.930 --> 00:24:50.390
those, those languages should be used that speak

00:24:50.390 --> 00:24:56.430
to listeners in their own context. Wow, it's

00:24:56.430 --> 00:25:02.009
a lot to uncover here. But you know, the title

00:25:02.009 --> 00:25:09.059
is start with micro. And then as I was listening,

00:25:09.180 --> 00:25:14.339
every piece is like some of them are 30 seconds.

00:25:14.460 --> 00:25:19.039
Some of them max maybe a minute and 10 seconds,

00:25:19.059 --> 00:25:21.339
somewhere around that realm. Correct. So they

00:25:21.339 --> 00:25:27.500
are really tiny little pieces. But what's the

00:25:27.500 --> 00:25:31.539
challenge? What was the challenge of composing

00:25:31.539 --> 00:25:34.259
them? You know, you mentioned you are so used

00:25:34.259 --> 00:25:39.150
to. composing massive pieces, whether that is

00:25:39.150 --> 00:25:43.609
dance, you've written operas too, and so many

00:25:43.609 --> 00:25:48.569
others. Then here comes this microvitz. So what's

00:25:48.569 --> 00:25:51.569
the challenge? Well, the challenge is to find

00:25:51.569 --> 00:25:54.190
something that is pertinent to say that is really

00:25:54.190 --> 00:25:58.589
meaningful, but doesn't require more than a sentence

00:25:58.589 --> 00:26:01.529
to say, right? So it's the equivalent. You have

00:26:01.529 --> 00:26:03.769
to have some idea. You can't just keep talking.

00:26:04.359 --> 00:26:06.519
and cover your tracks and wait till you get a

00:26:06.519 --> 00:26:09.640
good idea. So the same thing with these miniatures.

00:26:09.660 --> 00:26:13.839
You can't have, say, a beautiful intro that then

00:26:13.839 --> 00:26:16.420
leads to, you know, eventually your beautiful

00:26:16.420 --> 00:26:18.500
melody or your beautiful idea. You've really

00:26:18.500 --> 00:26:21.319
got to think about what is it that you want to

00:26:21.319 --> 00:26:24.279
say? What is that emotion? And what is its musical

00:26:24.279 --> 00:26:28.420
equivalent? And make it as compact as possible.

00:26:29.480 --> 00:26:33.740
And to some extent, to not be afraid of... just

00:26:33.740 --> 00:26:36.839
focusing on that. You know, part of our Western

00:26:36.839 --> 00:26:38.960
musical tradition, or certainly my training,

00:26:39.059 --> 00:26:42.759
is to always be as complex and sophisticated

00:26:42.759 --> 00:26:45.720
as possible. And that's a very laudable goal

00:26:45.720 --> 00:26:48.900
in many ways. But it also means that you're already

00:26:48.900 --> 00:26:53.180
and almost always piling things upon. things

00:26:53.180 --> 00:26:56.259
so you know you're doing harmony and counterpoint

00:26:56.259 --> 00:26:58.039
and orchestration and you're thinking of all

00:26:58.039 --> 00:27:01.420
these things all the time and that's that's certainly

00:27:01.420 --> 00:27:04.339
not in fact it's very very wonderful but you

00:27:04.339 --> 00:27:06.940
also have to be content in 30 seconds to just

00:27:06.940 --> 00:27:11.359
do one thing you know um so it's a little bit

00:27:11.359 --> 00:27:15.099
like being asked to to create 19 appetizers i'm

00:27:15.099 --> 00:27:18.519
not doing 19 main courses So I'm not doing, you

00:27:18.519 --> 00:27:20.460
know, the pasta and the sauce and the salad,

00:27:20.559 --> 00:27:24.440
right? I just have to make the sauce or I just

00:27:24.440 --> 00:27:27.859
have to make the, you know, the tomato salad.

00:27:28.019 --> 00:27:30.220
I don't know. These are terrible metaphors, but

00:27:30.220 --> 00:27:34.460
concision, really focusing in on a particular

00:27:34.460 --> 00:27:37.039
flavor and a particular thought and a particular

00:27:37.039 --> 00:27:40.259
emotion and not being afraid to just do that.

00:27:41.480 --> 00:27:43.819
And it has a kind of intensity to it that is

00:27:43.819 --> 00:27:47.000
also a little bit scary because there's no deflection.

00:27:47.019 --> 00:27:48.700
You know, you really have to delve into that

00:27:48.700 --> 00:27:52.259
emotion. But it's also wonderful if you can sort

00:27:52.259 --> 00:27:55.099
of manage to pull it off. Yeah, they're more

00:27:55.099 --> 00:27:59.420
like I was thinking of haikus. Yes, that's a

00:27:59.420 --> 00:28:01.759
good metaphor. Yes, haikus. Yeah, that's that's

00:28:01.759 --> 00:28:03.559
much better than my cooking metaphor. Thank you.

00:28:03.579 --> 00:28:06.059
No, no, no, no. But really, like comes in bite

00:28:06.059 --> 00:28:09.660
size and, you know, just to the point. To the

00:28:09.660 --> 00:28:13.319
point, but with a kind of depth that allows and

00:28:13.319 --> 00:28:15.279
asks for revisiting. Right. Because you don't

00:28:15.279 --> 00:28:16.839
want it to be so shallow that people don't want

00:28:16.839 --> 00:28:18.539
to come. Right. So the same with haikus. You

00:28:18.539 --> 00:28:21.420
want you don't you get them the first time, but.

00:28:21.660 --> 00:28:25.059
Not 100%. So you reread them, right? You read

00:28:25.059 --> 00:28:26.859
them again and again. And each time you find

00:28:26.859 --> 00:28:29.619
something slightly different, slightly deeper

00:28:29.619 --> 00:28:32.740
in its meaning, in spite of its brevity. And

00:28:32.740 --> 00:28:34.579
that's not that easy to do, but it's a lot of

00:28:34.579 --> 00:28:41.259
fun. So you have the gift of poetry, like writing.

00:28:42.900 --> 00:28:47.190
Well, I mean, yeah. Yeah, they were great. I

00:28:47.190 --> 00:28:50.569
mean, in this case, I had the gift of poetry.

00:28:50.750 --> 00:28:53.210
And I think it was really, I don't think I'm

00:28:53.210 --> 00:28:55.390
much of a poet, frankly, but I think in this

00:28:55.390 --> 00:28:59.569
case, I was so inspired by the idea of these

00:28:59.569 --> 00:29:03.509
19 miniatures and the occasion and the purpose

00:29:03.509 --> 00:29:07.450
that it just all kind of fell into place simultaneously.

00:29:08.269 --> 00:29:10.710
I'm not sure if you asked me to sit down now

00:29:10.710 --> 00:29:12.990
and come up with a great poem in the next 24

00:29:12.990 --> 00:29:17.579
hours that I could really do it. So I would like

00:29:17.579 --> 00:29:19.920
to excuse myself from being considered a poet.

00:29:20.039 --> 00:29:22.339
But I think in this case, they actually do work.

00:29:22.500 --> 00:29:25.339
And I'm very happy with the little couplets that

00:29:25.339 --> 00:29:27.599
I wrote for each miniature. I think they balance

00:29:27.599 --> 00:29:30.779
the music well and they illuminate the emotional

00:29:30.779 --> 00:29:34.220
character of the music. And each version is so

00:29:34.220 --> 00:29:36.180
different, as you mentioned, sounds so different.

00:29:36.240 --> 00:29:38.660
Although you can, underneath, you can hear the

00:29:38.660 --> 00:29:41.960
same melody. But yeah, that's amazing. Quite

00:29:41.960 --> 00:29:45.180
amazing. You thought of, you know, while you

00:29:45.180 --> 00:29:47.119
were writing the actual piano piece, you were

00:29:47.119 --> 00:29:49.660
thinking, oh, short pieces. But then did you

00:29:49.660 --> 00:29:53.819
imagine that short pieces become such a big,

00:29:53.960 --> 00:29:57.880
expansive thing? Well, I knew that I was going

00:29:57.880 --> 00:30:00.740
to, or I imagined from the first that I would

00:30:00.740 --> 00:30:03.440
write a book of them. So 19. So in some sense,

00:30:03.460 --> 00:30:07.779
I did know that I was aiming for, like I said,

00:30:07.799 --> 00:30:11.279
like a collection of them. What I didn't realize

00:30:11.279 --> 00:30:14.640
is that they would serve. grow one after the

00:30:14.640 --> 00:30:17.220
other. I didn't write them 100 % in sequence,

00:30:17.299 --> 00:30:20.420
but more or less in sequence. So what I didn't

00:30:20.420 --> 00:30:23.519
count on was that they would develop a kind of

00:30:23.519 --> 00:30:26.720
narrative arc of their own. So even though they're

00:30:26.720 --> 00:30:28.619
technically independent, and like I said, they

00:30:28.619 --> 00:30:31.420
can be extracted and played separately and all

00:30:31.420 --> 00:30:34.700
of those things, there is a kind of growth to

00:30:34.700 --> 00:30:37.799
them from start to finish. And that makes them

00:30:37.799 --> 00:30:41.500
miniatures in one sense, but not miniatures or

00:30:41.500 --> 00:30:44.799
not just miniatures. Right. So there's a macro

00:30:44.799 --> 00:30:48.200
element to it, too, in spite of the micro title.

00:30:48.759 --> 00:31:08.980
Right. Right. Yeah. Makes sense. So now I want

00:31:08.980 --> 00:31:12.460
to talk about this violin and piano version particularly.

00:31:13.519 --> 00:31:18.079
It's very fascinating that violinist Curtis Stewart,

00:31:18.200 --> 00:31:25.339
he is improvising. But for example, if I want

00:31:25.339 --> 00:31:28.400
to work with a violinist and I want to play the

00:31:28.400 --> 00:31:33.140
piano part, purchasing a score, how would that

00:31:33.140 --> 00:31:37.480
work? Is there instruction on how the violinist

00:31:37.480 --> 00:31:41.720
would improvise? So that's a brilliant question

00:31:41.720 --> 00:31:43.900
and a question to which I don't have an answer.

00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:49.380
In part because I've never done this. So it's

00:31:49.380 --> 00:31:51.460
an absolute first for me. And like I said, the

00:31:51.460 --> 00:31:53.680
album was just released. So all of this is very

00:31:53.680 --> 00:31:58.079
fresh stuff to me. But the second answer to that

00:31:58.079 --> 00:32:01.640
is I do have a version with my written violin

00:32:01.640 --> 00:32:05.589
part. So that can be used as a guidance. So my

00:32:05.589 --> 00:32:08.049
as I'm thinking through it and I'm just thinking

00:32:08.049 --> 00:32:11.190
out loud is that I would I would send that part

00:32:11.190 --> 00:32:14.289
and then say, use this as a template or as a

00:32:14.289 --> 00:32:17.490
springboard for the kinds of things that you

00:32:17.490 --> 00:32:21.210
might want to do as a violin improviser. And

00:32:21.210 --> 00:32:22.690
I don't know if that would work in all honesty,

00:32:22.809 --> 00:32:25.210
but that's that's kind of the way we did it.

00:32:25.390 --> 00:32:28.289
And it worked brilliantly. Now, Curtis is a brilliant.

00:32:29.109 --> 00:32:31.750
musician and a brilliant improviser. So I don't

00:32:31.750 --> 00:32:34.490
know if this method would work for everyone.

00:32:34.690 --> 00:32:37.190
You know, I really don't. That's why I said I'm

00:32:37.190 --> 00:32:39.289
not sure I have an answer for your question.

00:32:39.390 --> 00:32:41.609
It's a brilliant question and I'll try and think

00:32:41.609 --> 00:32:43.589
about it. And maybe I should write some verbal

00:32:43.589 --> 00:32:46.029
instructions, but I don't know. Like I said,

00:32:46.069 --> 00:32:49.750
I try to expand my compositional practice with

00:32:49.750 --> 00:32:53.490
each piece. And part of the fun part of that

00:32:53.490 --> 00:32:55.490
and part of the scary part of that is I don't

00:32:55.490 --> 00:32:59.079
always know 100 % what I'm doing. Right. So I've

00:32:59.079 --> 00:33:02.740
never done improv involving pieces of my own

00:33:02.740 --> 00:33:06.079
before. So I'm going to have to figure it out,

00:33:06.099 --> 00:33:08.700
you know, and I haven't 100 percent yet figured

00:33:08.700 --> 00:33:11.420
it out, in part because Curtis made it so easy.

00:33:12.519 --> 00:33:14.819
He just did such a brilliant job that I could

00:33:14.819 --> 00:33:18.039
just sigh relief and it's done. You know, he

00:33:18.039 --> 00:33:20.819
did nothing wrong. He kind of elevated the piece

00:33:20.819 --> 00:33:23.559
and took it into realms that made perfect sense

00:33:23.559 --> 00:33:26.980
emotionally and musically. So he kind of saved

00:33:26.980 --> 00:33:30.160
me the trouble of having to think about how do

00:33:30.160 --> 00:33:32.720
I get other people to improvise on top of it?

00:33:32.779 --> 00:33:34.420
So that's why I don't quite have an answer for

00:33:34.420 --> 00:33:38.059
you yet. Okay. Well, I can't wait to see where

00:33:38.059 --> 00:33:41.980
does this, the piano violin version. would evolve

00:33:41.980 --> 00:33:47.980
and being accessible. Yeah. Who knows? Now I

00:33:47.980 --> 00:33:50.279
love that all the titles out of place, skipping

00:33:50.279 --> 00:33:54.880
stones, like a rock or just joking, dream away.

00:33:55.359 --> 00:33:59.380
It's so modern and, you know, relatable, almost

00:33:59.380 --> 00:34:02.960
like flipping through a photograph. Like, you

00:34:02.960 --> 00:34:06.799
know, every photograph has a specific place of

00:34:06.799 --> 00:34:09.949
memory. You know, that sort of idea, you know,

00:34:09.949 --> 00:34:13.170
it's, it's different from taking phones, you

00:34:13.170 --> 00:34:15.769
know, pictures on your smartphone and flipping

00:34:15.769 --> 00:34:17.389
through. It's a little different. It's like a

00:34:17.389 --> 00:34:20.809
photograph, like a good old photograph. I'm old

00:34:20.809 --> 00:34:24.789
enough to remember photographs. Yeah, same. So,

00:34:24.809 --> 00:34:27.550
you know, every single one has this, everybody

00:34:27.550 --> 00:34:30.090
is posing certain way. It's not this one of those

00:34:30.090 --> 00:34:33.590
random photos, but there's like a specific meaning

00:34:33.590 --> 00:34:36.869
to it. It just gave me that vibe. I don't know

00:34:36.869 --> 00:34:40.590
if I am right or wrong with my impression, but.

00:34:40.710 --> 00:34:42.730
It's a brilliant simile or a brilliant description.

00:34:43.590 --> 00:34:45.590
Really is. No, that's very insightful. You really

00:34:45.590 --> 00:34:47.670
got them. I mean, that's, I hadn't thought of

00:34:47.670 --> 00:34:49.789
that, but you're absolutely on target. Yeah,

00:34:49.789 --> 00:34:52.409
that's it. Yeah, you know, the moment you. hold

00:34:52.409 --> 00:34:55.869
a photo and then just brings you a lot of feeling.

00:34:55.969 --> 00:34:59.070
Oh, I remember her or I remember the place, that

00:34:59.070 --> 00:35:01.230
sort of thing. Yeah, no, that's true. That's

00:35:01.230 --> 00:35:04.610
true. So I hadn't thought of the photograph as

00:35:04.610 --> 00:35:08.090
a, you know, as a simile or a metaphor for it.

00:35:08.110 --> 00:35:10.789
But Donna Wang, who was kind of multi -talented

00:35:10.789 --> 00:35:14.030
and keeps astounding me with her range of talents,

00:35:14.150 --> 00:35:18.070
has taken a few of these miniatures and added

00:35:18.070 --> 00:35:21.579
videos to them, added visuals to them. The most

00:35:21.579 --> 00:35:26.639
recent one is, Shiachi is just released on YouTube.

00:35:26.760 --> 00:35:30.980
It's called A Silent Cry. And it takes one of

00:35:30.980 --> 00:35:35.679
the miniatures from microvids and creates a little

00:35:35.679 --> 00:35:40.000
music video out of it. No text, no speaking,

00:35:40.179 --> 00:35:45.079
just the music and visuals. And the visuals or

00:35:45.079 --> 00:35:51.150
the video is about habitat loss. and ecological

00:35:51.150 --> 00:35:54.750
sort of disaster as it relates to the Himalayan

00:35:54.750 --> 00:35:57.829
snow leopard. And it's a beautiful short little

00:35:57.829 --> 00:36:01.650
piece, very, very moving. And she's entered it

00:36:01.650 --> 00:36:06.170
in, I think, 15 or so festivals, film festivals

00:36:06.170 --> 00:36:09.570
that honor short music videos and got 15 awards

00:36:09.570 --> 00:36:14.170
already. So it's so that that idea of there being

00:36:14.170 --> 00:36:17.530
a visual component to these microvids is also

00:36:17.530 --> 00:36:20.550
something that we are exploring or that donna

00:36:20.550 --> 00:36:22.690
has started to explore and you know as usual

00:36:22.690 --> 00:36:26.570
has started to explore it brilliantly so um that's

00:36:26.570 --> 00:36:29.630
the sense in which micro bits keeps having more

00:36:29.630 --> 00:36:34.389
and more life to it and uh and actually my kids

00:36:34.389 --> 00:36:37.190
both a couple of days ago said why don't you

00:36:37.190 --> 00:36:40.650
have videos of each of the 19 miniatures you

00:36:40.650 --> 00:36:42.989
know that that could be because it you know it's

00:36:42.989 --> 00:36:47.030
a visual culture and these pieces are so colorful

00:36:47.760 --> 00:36:51.500
as it is you know they're so dense with emotion

00:36:51.500 --> 00:36:54.760
and dense with musical color i don't even know

00:36:54.760 --> 00:36:57.840
what words to use uh uh that it could actually

00:36:57.840 --> 00:37:01.320
work itself you know uh into a visual medium

00:37:01.320 --> 00:37:06.719
um and so you know i was uh talking to donna

00:37:06.719 --> 00:37:09.420
and she kind of agrees so we're thinking about

00:37:09.420 --> 00:37:13.440
maybe if i can find funding or something to to

00:37:13.440 --> 00:37:17.750
create 19 videos of these 19 micro bits so it

00:37:17.750 --> 00:37:20.829
may have it may have a life over and beyond music

00:37:20.829 --> 00:37:22.929
so it's going to be music and poetry and visuals

00:37:22.929 --> 00:37:26.429
and videos and i i don't know what else but i'm

00:37:26.429 --> 00:37:28.730
having you know the time of my life with them

00:37:28.730 --> 00:37:31.929
because i thought i was just creating these tiny

00:37:31.929 --> 00:37:37.329
little nothings you know 19 you know 30 second

00:37:37.329 --> 00:37:39.469
pieces of music and one minute i mean that's

00:37:39.469 --> 00:37:42.190
that's nothing in my you know in my vocabulary

00:37:42.190 --> 00:37:46.380
and it turns out to be the richest things i've

00:37:46.380 --> 00:37:49.099
ever created and that's an incredibly lovely

00:37:49.099 --> 00:37:53.820
surprise really really amazingly satisfying and

00:37:53.820 --> 00:37:57.860
wonderful and fulfilling and i feel like um more

00:37:57.860 --> 00:38:00.440
and more audiences are being reached by it and

00:38:00.440 --> 00:38:03.099
like i said you know for me these are acts of

00:38:03.099 --> 00:38:06.199
love so the idea that i can i can you know move

00:38:06.199 --> 00:38:08.820
more and more people with the music i've written

00:38:08.820 --> 00:38:14.050
it just makes me happy even when they cry You

00:38:14.050 --> 00:38:15.750
know, even if it's a sad piece that I've moved

00:38:15.750 --> 00:38:18.630
them and that these pieces have meant something

00:38:18.630 --> 00:38:22.389
to them in their lives, I think is especially

00:38:22.389 --> 00:38:24.789
in this day and age when everything is upside

00:38:24.789 --> 00:38:27.829
down and everything is turbulent and everything

00:38:27.829 --> 00:38:30.210
feels uncertain and everything feels like it's

00:38:30.210 --> 00:38:33.289
shifting from under your feet to have something

00:38:33.289 --> 00:38:37.329
that. that speaks to people and gives them joy

00:38:37.329 --> 00:38:40.590
and satisfaction and love is just very meaningful

00:38:40.590 --> 00:38:44.690
to me. It really is. Yeah. Wow. In that sense,

00:38:44.690 --> 00:38:47.570
really from the bottom of my heart, congratulations.

00:38:48.170 --> 00:38:51.400
Thank you. Very sweet. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's

00:38:51.400 --> 00:38:53.980
but it's been in part because I think I wrote

00:38:53.980 --> 00:38:55.820
these good pieces of music, but in part because

00:38:55.820 --> 00:38:57.619
I've worked with these magnificent collaborators,

00:38:58.059 --> 00:39:00.179
the first and foremost being Donna Weng Friedman.

00:39:00.360 --> 00:39:02.559
But the others as well, you know, Curtis Stewart

00:39:02.559 --> 00:39:06.380
lent his hand and Crystal Joy Brown. So Helen

00:39:06.380 --> 00:39:08.800
Chapiot. I mean, it's been a real team effort

00:39:08.800 --> 00:39:13.139
at every level of the way. And that's the other

00:39:13.139 --> 00:39:16.320
thing that I was not brought up to appreciate.

00:39:17.119 --> 00:39:20.280
I think sufficiently, the power and need for

00:39:20.280 --> 00:39:25.320
collaboration. So I was brought up, again, with

00:39:25.320 --> 00:39:27.860
good reason to be a composer in my own right.

00:39:28.019 --> 00:39:30.760
That means taking charge, taking charge of your

00:39:30.760 --> 00:39:33.360
musical materials, taking charge of the conceptual

00:39:33.360 --> 00:39:36.900
space. And that's all fine, but it downplayed.

00:39:37.119 --> 00:39:40.320
the importance of having collaborators people

00:39:40.320 --> 00:39:43.059
with whom you work who give you new ideas who

00:39:43.059 --> 00:39:46.699
support you who ask you oh well i like it going

00:39:46.699 --> 00:39:48.880
in this direction but what if it went slightly

00:39:48.880 --> 00:39:51.840
in that direction what would that feel like and

00:39:51.840 --> 00:39:53.619
suddenly you know they give you an idea that

00:39:53.619 --> 00:39:55.780
you didn't actually have on your own and that

00:39:55.780 --> 00:40:01.269
opens up new vistas So I'm very big now on the

00:40:01.269 --> 00:40:03.949
importance of telling younger people, don't forget

00:40:03.949 --> 00:40:06.309
how important collaboration is. Maintain your

00:40:06.309 --> 00:40:09.309
own vision and be your own person. And goodness

00:40:09.309 --> 00:40:12.070
knows, as a female composer, you really have

00:40:12.070 --> 00:40:14.949
to stand your ground and be your own person and

00:40:14.949 --> 00:40:17.469
have your own vision. But that does not mean

00:40:17.469 --> 00:40:21.230
that you underplay the importance of having collaborators

00:40:21.230 --> 00:40:24.909
and being open to collaborative ideas and collaborative

00:40:24.909 --> 00:40:29.460
practices. And so for, I mean, I'm going to talk

00:40:29.460 --> 00:40:33.159
more about this album, but for our listeners,

00:40:33.360 --> 00:40:36.380
if they, I would like for my listeners to listen

00:40:36.380 --> 00:40:40.239
to all 19 pieces. So can they listen to them

00:40:40.239 --> 00:40:43.820
on like streaming services? Yes. No, the album

00:40:43.820 --> 00:40:45.539
has been released. It was officially launched

00:40:45.539 --> 00:40:49.159
on July 25th and it's available on all the usual,

00:40:49.239 --> 00:40:55.610
you know, Spotify, Amazon. Apple, all the normal

00:40:55.610 --> 00:41:00.550
streaming services. And if you go to Navona Records

00:41:00.550 --> 00:41:04.829
is the imprint. Parma is the record company that

00:41:04.829 --> 00:41:07.590
has Navona as its imprint. And if you go to either

00:41:07.590 --> 00:41:11.289
of those websites and type in, you know, microvids

00:41:11.289 --> 00:41:13.889
or my name, it will pop up and then it takes

00:41:13.889 --> 00:41:17.170
you directly to the streaming links. So it should

00:41:17.170 --> 00:41:20.750
be readily available. Sure. Yes. Of course, I'm

00:41:20.750 --> 00:41:22.690
the last one to listen to them because I've had

00:41:22.690 --> 00:41:27.530
so much microvids. in my brain that I haven't

00:41:27.530 --> 00:41:29.710
actually listened to the piece since July 25th,

00:41:29.710 --> 00:41:33.050
since it was released because anyway, but yes,

00:41:33.090 --> 00:41:35.989
it is available there. Yeah. And then I also

00:41:35.989 --> 00:41:39.570
listened to purely piano version too. Uh -huh.

00:41:39.670 --> 00:41:43.010
Right. Yes. So yeah. Yeah. That's cool. And then

00:41:43.010 --> 00:41:48.000
it's the score. Yes, I self -publish. But if

00:41:48.000 --> 00:41:51.119
anybody wants the score, I'm happy to, you know,

00:41:51.119 --> 00:41:53.880
I do respond and I can be reached easily at my

00:41:53.880 --> 00:41:57.860
email address. So it's DeKennessey at Gmail.

00:41:58.019 --> 00:42:01.019
Very simple. No space. Just DeKennessey at Gmail.

00:42:01.179 --> 00:42:04.179
Gmail .com and then? And then, yes. And then

00:42:04.179 --> 00:42:07.159
I will respond to you and I self -publish. But

00:42:07.159 --> 00:42:08.980
I send out very nice looking scores. It's got

00:42:08.980 --> 00:42:11.099
a nice cover and everything. It looks very professional.

00:42:11.400 --> 00:42:13.119
And I think I've caught all the wrong notes.

00:42:13.159 --> 00:42:17.570
So it's pretty clean. Wonderful. Wow. And so

00:42:17.570 --> 00:42:22.769
I know you may have already mentioned, but what

00:42:22.769 --> 00:42:27.289
do you hope listeners would feel after hearing

00:42:27.289 --> 00:42:33.949
microvids? So I mean, I hope that they would

00:42:33.949 --> 00:42:43.599
feel a sense of joy, a sense of how it's possible

00:42:43.599 --> 00:42:47.199
to have a full range of emotions that go from

00:42:47.199 --> 00:42:54.079
despair to utter joy and still be a functioning

00:42:54.079 --> 00:42:57.500
human being, right? So one of the things for

00:42:57.500 --> 00:43:00.880
me in this piece is that it does have moments

00:43:00.880 --> 00:43:06.360
that are really, really bitter and empty and

00:43:06.360 --> 00:43:10.000
forlorn, but the piece doesn't reside there.

00:43:10.039 --> 00:43:12.820
It doesn't just live there. It also has moments

00:43:12.820 --> 00:43:15.280
that are joyous. One of them is called pure joy.

00:43:17.659 --> 00:43:22.400
So for me, the real trick is just to be able

00:43:22.400 --> 00:43:25.099
to negotiate that terrain. So to enable people

00:43:25.099 --> 00:43:28.659
to both feel that, yes, life is incredibly hard

00:43:28.659 --> 00:43:31.500
and it's incredibly sad. And frankly, we all

00:43:31.500 --> 00:43:34.760
die at the end, right? So it really is. It really

00:43:34.760 --> 00:43:38.590
is sad. On the other hand, as we go through life,

00:43:38.690 --> 00:43:41.989
we also experience enormous satisfaction and

00:43:41.989 --> 00:43:45.510
joy from music and friends and whatever it is,

00:43:45.570 --> 00:43:49.570
right? So to both acknowledge both, so not to

00:43:49.570 --> 00:43:52.909
be Pollyanna -ish about the joy, about the beauty.

00:43:52.989 --> 00:43:56.989
It's not just beautiful, satisfying music, but

00:43:56.989 --> 00:43:59.469
also to offer something more than just despair

00:43:59.469 --> 00:44:03.670
and emptiness, right? So to bridge that gap between

00:44:03.670 --> 00:44:07.679
the two. I hope gives people a sense of it being

00:44:07.679 --> 00:44:12.739
authentic and yet satisfying, you know, so in

00:44:12.739 --> 00:44:16.800
that sense, feel loved, you know, but in a genuine

00:44:16.800 --> 00:44:20.659
way, not just in a saccharine's over sweet way.

00:44:20.960 --> 00:44:23.760
Does that make sense? Yes, it does make sense.

00:44:23.960 --> 00:44:26.619
In terms of the album is just, you know, to try

00:44:26.619 --> 00:44:29.420
and get it as many places as possible and to

00:44:29.420 --> 00:44:31.800
try and get as many people to really enjoy it

00:44:31.800 --> 00:44:35.460
as possible. especially orchestra version it

00:44:35.460 --> 00:44:38.699
would be nice to have music teachers educators

00:44:38.699 --> 00:44:42.599
to purchase the score and being able to perform

00:44:42.599 --> 00:44:45.639
that piece it would be a lot of fun and and again

00:44:45.639 --> 00:44:49.699
um i believe i'm not an expert on this and donna

00:44:49.699 --> 00:44:51.679
could probably speak more eloquently to this

00:44:51.679 --> 00:44:55.639
but i believe that both piano teachers and youth

00:44:55.639 --> 00:44:59.039
orchestras do not have that many materials of

00:44:59.039 --> 00:45:03.969
this sort materials that are so Classical in

00:45:03.969 --> 00:45:06.630
one sense, but completely contemporary in another

00:45:06.630 --> 00:45:09.329
sense. Right. Because the sonorities are not

00:45:09.329 --> 00:45:12.230
just, you know, Mozartian or anything like that.

00:45:12.889 --> 00:45:16.289
And with poems that are really about emotions

00:45:16.289 --> 00:45:19.349
and emotional vulnerabilities and joys rather

00:45:19.349 --> 00:45:24.010
than, say, animals. Right. Yeah. Yeah. So it

00:45:24.010 --> 00:45:27.329
doesn't. So these are skewed towards younger

00:45:27.329 --> 00:45:31.019
audiences, but not it doesn't it's not. It's

00:45:31.019 --> 00:45:34.119
not childish stuff. The themes are not childish.

00:45:34.199 --> 00:45:37.880
The music is not childish. I mean, I hope it

00:45:37.880 --> 00:45:40.420
has the freshness of youth, but that's very,

00:45:40.480 --> 00:45:43.179
very different. And if you think about the repertoire

00:45:43.179 --> 00:45:45.880
that's available, say, for youth orchestras,

00:45:45.960 --> 00:45:48.619
you know, there's the Britain, there's Peter

00:45:48.619 --> 00:45:50.340
and the Wolf. There are a couple of pieces, but

00:45:50.340 --> 00:45:53.519
not that many. It's not an infinitely large repertoire.

00:45:54.139 --> 00:45:57.000
So to get it into that repertoire would be a

00:45:57.000 --> 00:46:00.300
lot of fun. Donna keeps saying that this is the

00:46:00.300 --> 00:46:02.400
next carnival of the animals, only it's not about

00:46:02.400 --> 00:46:05.780
animals. It's about emotions, you know, emotions

00:46:05.780 --> 00:46:08.320
that came out during COVID. I mean, how can you

00:46:08.320 --> 00:46:11.360
be more relevant than that? Right. And that again,

00:46:11.599 --> 00:46:14.320
you know, some younger listeners or players can

00:46:14.320 --> 00:46:17.059
relate to that, but goodness only knows teenagers

00:46:17.059 --> 00:46:21.360
can really relate to that. And in general, I

00:46:21.360 --> 00:46:23.340
get the feeling, and again, I'm not the expert,

00:46:23.380 --> 00:46:26.559
but I get the feeling. That when we talk about

00:46:26.559 --> 00:46:29.099
music for children, we tend to skew to the younger

00:46:29.099 --> 00:46:32.800
ages. So there's music for people, you know,

00:46:32.800 --> 00:46:35.460
college age and in their 20s and 30s, young adults.

00:46:35.599 --> 00:46:38.719
And there's music for repertoire for young children,

00:46:38.800 --> 00:46:42.380
but not that much that really addresses tweens,

00:46:42.380 --> 00:46:44.440
as they're called, I believe, or, you know, teenagers.

00:46:44.820 --> 00:46:47.760
And this, I think these pieces are firmly in

00:46:47.760 --> 00:46:50.679
that camp. So I would be delighted if either

00:46:50.679 --> 00:46:53.480
piano teachers or, you know, youth orchestras.

00:46:54.519 --> 00:46:59.760
had access to this. And I think their students

00:46:59.760 --> 00:47:03.000
would really, really enjoy them precisely because

00:47:03.000 --> 00:47:07.880
they hit that sweet spot between purely professional

00:47:07.880 --> 00:47:11.800
requirements, which teenagers don't quite have

00:47:11.800 --> 00:47:15.460
yet, and truly beginning students who are at

00:47:15.460 --> 00:47:17.559
the age of five or six can only manage so much

00:47:17.559 --> 00:47:21.460
technically and emotionally. So I think that

00:47:21.460 --> 00:47:25.809
would be one of my... wishes to get these versions

00:47:25.809 --> 00:47:30.610
out into those kinds of places. If you are enjoying

00:47:30.610 --> 00:47:32.809
this conversation so far and you are inspired

00:47:32.809 --> 00:47:35.050
by Stefania's journey in creating microvids,

00:47:35.130 --> 00:47:37.780
I encourage you to check out the album. It brings

00:47:37.780 --> 00:47:40.420
together all three versions, the violin and piano

00:47:40.420 --> 00:47:42.679
collaboration with Curtis Stewart, the English

00:47:42.679 --> 00:47:45.099
narration by Broadway star Crystal Joy Brown

00:47:45.099 --> 00:47:48.059
with pianist Donna Wang Freeman, and the Spanish

00:47:48.059 --> 00:47:50.239
narration with piano in the New Jersey Youth

00:47:50.239 --> 00:47:53.420
Symphony under Helen Chapiao. You can also experience

00:47:53.420 --> 00:47:55.679
the award -winning films born from this project,

00:47:55.840 --> 00:47:58.460
including Silent Cry, now available on YouTube.

00:47:59.780 --> 00:48:03.219
Let's talk about your maybe artistic approach,

00:48:03.480 --> 00:48:08.940
and I've listened to your... chorale music, some

00:48:08.940 --> 00:48:13.880
excerpts of opera that was available on YouTube,

00:48:14.059 --> 00:48:20.219
and then dance and film scores. So your music

00:48:20.219 --> 00:48:24.780
strikes me as melodic, feminine. Feminine as

00:48:24.780 --> 00:48:28.739
in, I'm not saying girly, but feminine, strong

00:48:28.739 --> 00:48:33.800
female, you know, quality. And also folky, folk

00:48:33.800 --> 00:48:38.349
music. You know, I hear at times and daring and

00:48:38.349 --> 00:48:40.989
experimental too, because I've listened to this

00:48:40.989 --> 00:48:43.869
one, several dance music. I don't remember the

00:48:43.869 --> 00:48:47.269
title, but because you collaborate with this

00:48:47.269 --> 00:48:51.389
dance company, it was electronic music. Yeah.

00:48:51.510 --> 00:48:54.869
So, but yet I feel like always find a way to

00:48:54.869 --> 00:49:01.170
your essence of your style, which is tonal, contemporary,

00:49:01.469 --> 00:49:05.699
but. you know, approachable because it's tonal

00:49:05.699 --> 00:49:09.960
and melodic. So maybe what makes your approach

00:49:09.960 --> 00:49:13.019
or what makes your style, in your opinion, unique,

00:49:13.119 --> 00:49:16.099
stand out from others? Oh, you know, that's a

00:49:16.099 --> 00:49:18.039
difficult question. Talking about your own self

00:49:18.039 --> 00:49:23.420
is horrendously difficult. It's like describing

00:49:23.420 --> 00:49:26.039
what you look like, you know, I'm only five foot

00:49:26.039 --> 00:49:28.949
three. I never think of myself as small. Right.

00:49:29.070 --> 00:49:32.389
And I know that's not truthful. So so getting

00:49:32.389 --> 00:49:36.110
back to my music, you know, I had an education

00:49:36.110 --> 00:49:38.889
in Eastern Europe at a music school founded by

00:49:38.889 --> 00:49:41.710
Zoltan Kodai. So I was brought up on a lot of

00:49:41.710 --> 00:49:45.829
bar talk and by American standards on relatively

00:49:45.829 --> 00:49:48.909
dissonant contemporary stuff. A lot of Kabalevsky,

00:49:49.010 --> 00:49:50.849
a lot of bar talk. I don't even remember the

00:49:50.849 --> 00:49:55.199
other ones. So for me. sort of crunchy dissonant

00:49:55.199 --> 00:49:59.159
music never had the same appeal of novelty that

00:49:59.159 --> 00:50:01.800
it did for a lot of my peers who, you know, at

00:50:01.800 --> 00:50:03.760
age 18 would discover Stravinsky and they were

00:50:03.760 --> 00:50:06.119
like, oh my God, those dissonances are so much

00:50:06.119 --> 00:50:11.179
fun, right? So I tend to write music that's frankly

00:50:11.179 --> 00:50:16.809
a lot more consonant than most of my peers. In

00:50:16.809 --> 00:50:20.190
part also because of my upbringing, I also have

00:50:20.190 --> 00:50:23.730
always skewed towards music that has folk elements.

00:50:23.849 --> 00:50:27.429
Those were heavily emphasized in this school,

00:50:27.530 --> 00:50:29.949
founded by Zoltán Kodály. We had a lot of Bartók

00:50:29.949 --> 00:50:35.250
folk songs. And my heritage is half Hungarian,

00:50:35.329 --> 00:50:38.710
half Bulgarian, which is neither here nor there

00:50:38.710 --> 00:50:42.110
for the purposes of microbits, except that Hungarian

00:50:42.110 --> 00:50:46.440
music and Bulgarian music are both... rhythmically

00:50:46.440 --> 00:50:49.219
and tonally a little different from Western European

00:50:49.219 --> 00:50:52.800
musics. So specifically, Hungarian music tends

00:50:52.800 --> 00:50:55.659
to be modal. It has, you know, flat sevens and

00:50:55.659 --> 00:50:58.039
it tends to be what, you know, what we can call

00:50:58.039 --> 00:51:00.639
Dorian or Mixolydian, et cetera, et cetera. And

00:51:00.639 --> 00:51:03.119
Bulgarian rhythms also tend to have a lot of,

00:51:03.139 --> 00:51:06.639
you know, 3 -3 -2 or 2 -2 -3 or, you know, regular

00:51:06.639 --> 00:51:09.559
patterns, but of irregular underlying beats,

00:51:09.719 --> 00:51:13.579
which I also sometimes use. So my heritage in

00:51:13.579 --> 00:51:17.409
some sense. was filled with both very classical

00:51:17.409 --> 00:51:20.070
music, because that's what I grew up on, but

00:51:20.070 --> 00:51:23.170
also infused with folk music. So you're very

00:51:23.170 --> 00:51:26.469
right to pick up on that. And that has always

00:51:26.469 --> 00:51:29.329
been part of what I've tried to do. And frankly,

00:51:29.650 --> 00:51:33.150
one of the things that I realized as a composer

00:51:33.150 --> 00:51:36.150
is, if you think about the development of music,

00:51:36.170 --> 00:51:39.670
even in Western Europe, it goes from modal scales.

00:51:40.590 --> 00:51:43.530
to tonality, which is just a reduction of those

00:51:43.530 --> 00:51:46.670
scales to only two, major and minor. And then

00:51:46.670 --> 00:51:48.570
it becomes more and more chromatic and dissolves

00:51:48.570 --> 00:51:51.329
into 12 -tone music. But one of the things that

00:51:51.329 --> 00:51:53.030
I thought would be interesting is to have it

00:51:53.030 --> 00:51:55.789
move back to a kind of modality that we haven't

00:51:55.789 --> 00:52:00.550
had since the Middle Ages or since the Renaissance.

00:52:01.090 --> 00:52:03.809
And that is the modality that is familiar to

00:52:03.809 --> 00:52:07.360
me from my childhood. from my Hungarian and Bulgarian

00:52:07.360 --> 00:52:10.639
roots. It also is the modality that is at the

00:52:10.639 --> 00:52:15.579
root of American contemporary music and pop musics.

00:52:15.699 --> 00:52:18.659
You know, all blues and blues derived rock and

00:52:18.659 --> 00:52:22.019
roll idioms, for instance, are modal the exact

00:52:22.019 --> 00:52:25.059
same way that medieval music and Hungarian and

00:52:25.059 --> 00:52:27.320
Bulgarian music tend to be. So there are a lot

00:52:27.320 --> 00:52:29.539
of sort of influences that kind of converge.

00:52:32.650 --> 00:52:35.610
in the contemporary moment or that I try to use

00:52:35.610 --> 00:52:39.150
as a converging point in my own music. And I

00:52:39.150 --> 00:52:41.170
hope that that's enough to make it fresh and

00:52:41.170 --> 00:52:44.210
different so that my music doesn't actually sound

00:52:44.210 --> 00:52:46.590
like Brahms or Mozart and it doesn't emulate

00:52:46.590 --> 00:52:49.650
them, except insofar as they have very clear

00:52:49.650 --> 00:52:54.130
structures and clear melodies and music that

00:52:54.130 --> 00:52:58.050
is fun and understandable on a first listening,

00:52:58.250 --> 00:53:02.440
but then invites return. and return and return

00:53:02.440 --> 00:53:04.980
you want to hear it again both because it's fun

00:53:04.980 --> 00:53:07.059
and because there's something about it that's

00:53:07.059 --> 00:53:11.679
new each time so and that's they're tough competitors

00:53:11.679 --> 00:53:15.760
sometimes i hate those guys i have total professional

00:53:15.760 --> 00:53:19.760
jealousy when it comes to those men right oh

00:53:19.760 --> 00:53:22.239
we can talk more about that later you know but

00:53:22.239 --> 00:53:26.699
wow but also i feel like what sets you apart

00:53:26.699 --> 00:53:33.050
is um there's always like clear intention or

00:53:33.050 --> 00:53:36.909
maybe i don't know you intend it that way or

00:53:36.909 --> 00:53:39.750
not but message behind your music whether that

00:53:39.750 --> 00:53:47.630
is a about feminist or you know uh climate or

00:53:47.630 --> 00:53:54.619
political message is it I mean, I would say in

00:53:54.619 --> 00:53:56.280
the last 10 years, that's certainly been the

00:53:56.280 --> 00:53:58.800
case. It was probably not so very early on in

00:53:58.800 --> 00:54:00.800
my career when I was just writing like a string

00:54:00.800 --> 00:54:03.139
quartet or a clarinet quintet or whatever. But

00:54:03.139 --> 00:54:05.079
yes, it's become more and more important to me

00:54:05.079 --> 00:54:09.360
to have some, not explicit meaning behind the

00:54:09.360 --> 00:54:15.500
music, but some larger purpose for it. And goodness

00:54:15.500 --> 00:54:19.219
knows we have so many issues besetting us that

00:54:19.219 --> 00:54:22.260
to... try and address those in ways that are

00:54:22.260 --> 00:54:24.980
not ideological and not simple -minded. You know,

00:54:25.000 --> 00:54:28.559
you don't want to be jingoistic or do something

00:54:28.559 --> 00:54:32.019
that is so obvious that, you know, there's no

00:54:32.019 --> 00:54:34.579
mystery to it or no illumination at the end of

00:54:34.579 --> 00:54:38.500
the day. So, but I have written, you know, numbers

00:54:38.500 --> 00:54:43.219
of pieces that are feminist in nature, meaning

00:54:43.219 --> 00:54:47.460
that, you know, they call for the possible equality

00:54:47.460 --> 00:54:49.800
of women. They call for the treatment of women

00:54:49.800 --> 00:54:54.039
in better ways. And those are goals that we have

00:54:54.039 --> 00:54:57.599
to keep setting for ourselves because they are

00:54:57.599 --> 00:55:01.079
far from having been met. I've seen some progress

00:55:01.079 --> 00:55:03.199
in my lifetime, in fact, quite a lot. And I'm

00:55:03.199 --> 00:55:07.420
very grateful for that. But it's important to

00:55:07.420 --> 00:55:16.360
keep going. Back in the 90s, I founded the International

00:55:16.360 --> 00:55:19.619
Alliance for Women in Music, whose goal was to

00:55:19.619 --> 00:55:23.320
unite the then three composer groups that existed

00:55:23.320 --> 00:55:27.099
for female composers and both to unite them to

00:55:27.099 --> 00:55:29.559
give a stronger voice, you know, because we're

00:55:29.559 --> 00:55:32.780
always stronger together than apart, and to also

00:55:32.780 --> 00:55:35.420
invite other performers and even men, if they

00:55:35.420 --> 00:55:37.960
like, to come and support. So it's the International

00:55:37.960 --> 00:55:41.250
Alliance for Women in Music. not just of women

00:55:41.250 --> 00:55:44.730
in music, right? So whoever, so that has always

00:55:44.730 --> 00:55:49.030
been important to me, like I said, because I've

00:55:49.030 --> 00:55:53.030
labored in a field that has been 99 .9 % male,

00:55:53.130 --> 00:55:55.670
you know, all my life. And in part because of

00:55:55.670 --> 00:55:58.190
the world around me, because it still has, it's

00:55:58.190 --> 00:56:02.590
far, far from doing justice to women and women's

00:56:02.590 --> 00:56:09.610
work and women's genius. And perhaps not coincidentally,

00:56:09.789 --> 00:56:12.570
I'm the composer or I have been the composer

00:56:12.570 --> 00:56:17.050
in residence for three groups, one a dance company,

00:56:17.250 --> 00:56:21.630
one a chamber ensemble, and one a choral chorus,

00:56:21.949 --> 00:56:25.949
all of which are all female. And that's been

00:56:25.949 --> 00:56:29.030
great. It's really pleased me that they asked

00:56:29.030 --> 00:56:31.070
me to be. So I'm composer in residence for the

00:56:31.070 --> 00:56:34.889
Dalsonia Ensemble, which is a sextet of six chamber

00:56:34.889 --> 00:56:38.000
musicians. I'm composer in residence for Ariel

00:56:38.000 --> 00:56:43.280
Rivka Dance, which is an all -female dance company

00:56:43.280 --> 00:56:46.619
led by a female choreographer, Ariel Grossman.

00:56:46.860 --> 00:56:50.539
And I'm composer in residence for the Accord

00:56:50.539 --> 00:56:53.219
Treble Choir, which is an all -female treble

00:56:53.219 --> 00:56:57.460
choir led by Liz Geise -White, who's their director.

00:56:57.619 --> 00:57:00.340
So it's been very, very sort of pleasing for

00:57:00.340 --> 00:57:04.119
me to... to do that work and to do that work

00:57:04.119 --> 00:57:06.500
and to work with companies that are excellent,

00:57:06.539 --> 00:57:08.719
not because they're all female, but because they're

00:57:08.719 --> 00:57:11.559
really excellent. Right. So it's been a lot of

00:57:11.559 --> 00:57:14.260
fun. It's been very, very pleasing at very sort

00:57:14.260 --> 00:57:16.760
of an emotional level. Very, very gratifying

00:57:16.760 --> 00:57:41.519
for me. I know you said 99 % in the class was,

00:57:41.639 --> 00:57:49.579
or in your field, was male. And you are one of

00:57:49.579 --> 00:57:54.179
the very few in the group female as a composer,

00:57:54.360 --> 00:58:00.639
right? Has any of that changed? Yes, I think

00:58:00.639 --> 00:58:04.179
it's slowly changed, but far more slowly than

00:58:04.179 --> 00:58:09.210
one might wish. Right. So, yes, there are more

00:58:09.210 --> 00:58:15.489
women represented in conservatories and in music

00:58:15.489 --> 00:58:19.550
programs than before. And there are more women

00:58:19.550 --> 00:58:22.269
being programmed, say, in orchestral settings

00:58:22.269 --> 00:58:27.110
than before. But there is nothing like the 50

00:58:27.110 --> 00:58:31.090
percent parity that one imagines should be the

00:58:31.090 --> 00:58:35.449
norm. Nothing even close to that. So I'm not,

00:58:35.489 --> 00:58:38.090
I don't have my finger on the pulse of contemporary

00:58:38.090 --> 00:58:40.429
society well enough to be able to tell you why

00:58:40.429 --> 00:58:43.070
not. But certainly, you know, if things were

00:58:43.070 --> 00:58:46.389
egalitarian, you know, there's nothing about

00:58:46.389 --> 00:58:49.369
composing music that takes physical brawn. And,

00:58:49.389 --> 00:58:51.730
you know, you don't have to be six foot two and

00:58:51.730 --> 00:58:56.789
250 pounds of muscle to write music. So there

00:58:56.789 --> 00:58:58.710
should be just as many women doing it as men,

00:58:58.929 --> 00:59:01.369
right? There should be no limitation. And yet

00:59:01.369 --> 00:59:05.150
it's not nothing like 50 -50. So I just think

00:59:05.150 --> 00:59:07.929
we have a ways to go. In general, I would say

00:59:07.929 --> 00:59:13.030
society and classical music circles still tend

00:59:13.030 --> 00:59:20.289
to not allow or encourage women to be in positions

00:59:20.289 --> 00:59:24.690
of power, in positions of authority. So it is

00:59:24.690 --> 00:59:27.010
much, much more difficult for a woman to become

00:59:27.010 --> 00:59:30.090
a conductor, for instance, than to play in the

00:59:30.090 --> 00:59:32.710
orchestra, because the conductor tells the orchestra.

00:59:33.389 --> 00:59:36.369
how to play. They're the boss. They tell you

00:59:36.369 --> 00:59:39.429
what to do. I'm being very, very graphic and,

00:59:39.429 --> 00:59:42.650
you know, very dirty about this. And the same

00:59:42.650 --> 00:59:44.489
thing is true for a composer. The composer tells

00:59:44.489 --> 00:59:46.550
the conductor what to do and the conductor then

00:59:46.550 --> 00:59:48.849
tells the orchestra, right? So the closer you

00:59:48.849 --> 00:59:51.869
are, I think, to what I would call position of

00:59:51.869 --> 00:59:55.110
authority or being the boss, the less likely

00:59:55.110 --> 00:59:57.630
it is to be accepted if you are a woman doing

00:59:57.630 --> 01:00:04.550
that. Because still people don't want. female

01:00:04.550 --> 01:00:08.510
to tell others what to do. Yeah, I think it's

01:00:08.510 --> 01:00:10.510
just that simple. I mean, again, you know, I'm

01:00:10.510 --> 01:00:13.230
not speaking as a sociologist. I'm not an anthropologist.

01:00:13.510 --> 01:00:16.449
So this is just kind of conjectural stuff on

01:00:16.449 --> 01:00:19.530
my part as a composer. But I do think there is

01:00:19.530 --> 01:00:22.530
still quite a bit of resistance, sort of psychologically,

01:00:23.070 --> 01:00:28.250
if nothing else, to having women be to, you know,

01:00:28.250 --> 01:00:31.929
having them be the CEO, as it were, of a company.

01:00:32.489 --> 01:00:35.269
of an orchestra, of a compositional setting,

01:00:35.449 --> 01:00:38.210
right? There is still resistance to that. And

01:00:38.210 --> 01:00:41.489
it's crumbling slowly but surely, but there's

01:00:41.489 --> 01:00:43.630
also reactions against it now. You can see the

01:00:43.630 --> 01:00:46.550
political sphere. So yes, it's always, you know,

01:00:46.550 --> 01:00:48.369
a couple of steps ahead and then maybe a couple

01:00:48.369 --> 01:00:50.050
of steps back. And you hope that there are more

01:00:50.050 --> 01:00:54.719
steps ahead than steps back. But, you know, there's

01:00:54.719 --> 01:00:56.900
a lot of work to be done. There really is a lot

01:00:56.900 --> 01:01:00.639
of work to be done. Yeah. What can we do? I know

01:01:00.639 --> 01:01:02.900
you've created this international alliance with

01:01:02.900 --> 01:01:04.900
women, like, as you mentioned, New York women

01:01:04.900 --> 01:01:09.260
composers, you know, you're the board. I mean,

01:01:09.280 --> 01:01:12.039
I don't have an answer to that because there's

01:01:12.039 --> 01:01:14.380
so much work to be done that I, you know, I don't

01:01:14.380 --> 01:01:17.059
have like a grand or master plan. And honestly,

01:01:17.320 --> 01:01:19.300
I like to spend my time writing music rather

01:01:19.300 --> 01:01:22.000
than, you know, thinking about these things.

01:01:22.429 --> 01:01:27.010
But my philosophy also is everybody does just

01:01:27.010 --> 01:01:31.269
a little thing. If we can all move forward just

01:01:31.269 --> 01:01:34.030
one inch, if you move for one inch and I do an

01:01:34.030 --> 01:01:37.409
inch and my friend does an inch, eventually there

01:01:37.409 --> 01:01:40.989
is real progress. So I content myself with thinking

01:01:40.989 --> 01:01:43.550
that so long as we all keep doing something,

01:01:43.869 --> 01:01:47.670
however little, it will add up in the end. And

01:01:47.670 --> 01:01:51.030
I think there's some truth to that. It's slow,

01:01:51.110 --> 01:01:54.230
but I think progress is slow, if you think about

01:01:54.230 --> 01:01:58.090
it. The Enlightenment is the 18th century, and

01:01:58.090 --> 01:02:00.989
it's not until the 20th century that women are

01:02:00.989 --> 01:02:04.809
allowed to vote. Right? You would think that

01:02:04.809 --> 01:02:07.250
that progression might have taken like two years,

01:02:07.329 --> 01:02:12.309
not 200. Right? So I think we have to acknowledge

01:02:12.309 --> 01:02:15.269
that progress in all sorts of spheres of life

01:02:15.269 --> 01:02:18.280
is... just a whole lot slower than we'd like

01:02:18.280 --> 01:02:20.420
to imagine we're not quite as brilliant creatures

01:02:20.420 --> 01:02:24.179
as we think we are but we have to keep going

01:02:24.179 --> 01:02:26.059
we have to keep going you know we have to keep

01:02:26.059 --> 01:02:28.820
going and if it even even if like i said you

01:02:28.820 --> 01:02:32.699
only progress one inch you've done an inch and

01:02:32.699 --> 01:02:35.380
you you will take another inch or another two

01:02:35.380 --> 01:02:37.519
and then donald will take another you know what

01:02:37.519 --> 01:02:41.119
i mean it's just uh um i think it's a collaborative

01:02:41.119 --> 01:02:44.460
again a collaborative and cumulative effort to

01:02:44.460 --> 01:02:47.500
move forward and and so I'm not I'm not I don't

01:02:47.500 --> 01:02:51.820
despair I'm not I wouldn't I don't know if I'm

01:02:51.820 --> 01:02:54.579
an optimist but I'm realistic I actually think

01:02:54.579 --> 01:02:57.199
that things do get better over time they just

01:02:57.199 --> 01:03:01.000
happen much much more slowly and much more effortfully

01:03:01.000 --> 01:03:08.539
than we'd like to imagine yeah right so Sorry,

01:03:08.599 --> 01:03:10.659
I didn't mean to make you sigh like that. No,

01:03:10.780 --> 01:03:14.840
no, no, no, no, no. But at the same time, I am

01:03:14.840 --> 01:03:21.360
encouraged to, like, as a female, you know, artist,

01:03:21.420 --> 01:03:26.519
and I'm not the only one who struggles or, you

01:03:26.519 --> 01:03:31.159
know, as a female artist, I think we, us, have

01:03:31.159 --> 01:03:35.179
to stick together. Support each other. And help

01:03:35.179 --> 01:03:37.559
each other and be realistic about the limitations

01:03:37.559 --> 01:03:41.380
and figure out a way to overcome them. And work

01:03:41.380 --> 01:03:43.500
at overcoming them. And work at overcoming them

01:03:43.500 --> 01:04:23.880
together. You're such a wonderful teacher. I'm

01:04:23.880 --> 01:04:28.599
learning a lot. And so in July, while I was at

01:04:28.599 --> 01:04:33.639
your beautiful home and it was, I met one, one

01:04:33.639 --> 01:04:36.820
of your former students while you were teaching

01:04:36.820 --> 01:04:39.099
at the new school, you were a composition teacher.

01:04:39.800 --> 01:04:43.039
And I don't know if she learned composition or

01:04:43.039 --> 01:04:46.579
not, but. I think I was, I don't remember what

01:04:46.579 --> 01:04:48.639
classes she took. She was one of my first students.

01:04:49.789 --> 01:04:51.909
And I don't remember what class I taught, but

01:04:51.909 --> 01:04:58.489
I actually always try to combine courses or to

01:04:58.489 --> 01:05:00.989
create courses that combine different kinds of

01:05:00.989 --> 01:05:06.869
sub -disciplines in music. Because if composition

01:05:06.869 --> 01:05:10.099
class just means... having your students bring

01:05:10.099 --> 01:05:12.280
me bring you sketches and then critiquing them

01:05:12.280 --> 01:05:14.440
I just don't find that that's very helpful or

01:05:14.440 --> 01:05:17.260
very interesting once or twice of course you

01:05:17.260 --> 01:05:20.400
one does that but I also believe that in order

01:05:20.400 --> 01:05:23.780
to become a composer you have to teach them ideas

01:05:23.780 --> 01:05:27.400
and techniques and the techniques come from emulating

01:05:27.400 --> 01:05:31.019
other composers you know because that's that's

01:05:31.019 --> 01:05:34.119
the way you learn your craft so to speak and

01:05:34.119 --> 01:05:37.179
uh honestly I can't teach anybody how to be a

01:05:37.179 --> 01:05:39.179
composer composer in some real sense, because

01:05:39.179 --> 01:05:43.559
I cannot teach you how to be you, right? That's

01:05:43.559 --> 01:05:46.719
your own soul, your own abilities, your own vision,

01:05:46.940 --> 01:05:48.820
your own whatever. And I can't, you know, I'm

01:05:48.820 --> 01:05:50.679
me and you're you, and I don't see how I teach

01:05:50.679 --> 01:05:54.059
you to be you. What I can do is I can teach you

01:05:54.059 --> 01:05:56.940
how to write a Bach fugue or a medieval motet

01:05:56.940 --> 01:06:01.500
or a Chopin nocturne, right? Because that brings

01:06:01.500 --> 01:06:06.360
to the foreground set of skills. that can be

01:06:06.360 --> 01:06:09.599
adjudicated. And it either does sound like Chopin

01:06:09.599 --> 01:06:11.960
or it doesn't sound like Chopin. And if it doesn't,

01:06:11.960 --> 01:06:14.079
figure out why not. What is it that you're doing

01:06:14.079 --> 01:06:18.179
wrong, right? So I've always tried to give courses

01:06:18.179 --> 01:06:21.139
where I teach a lot of repertoire in analytic

01:06:21.139 --> 01:06:25.199
terms. And analytic terms not in ways that make

01:06:25.199 --> 01:06:27.940
theoretical mincemeat out of the pieces. I don't

01:06:27.940 --> 01:06:32.630
care for theory. for its own sake, but that illuminate

01:06:32.630 --> 01:06:36.050
what makes that Chopin Nocturne so beautiful,

01:06:36.230 --> 01:06:38.769
what makes that particular turn to that particular

01:06:38.769 --> 01:06:43.250
tonality so amazing, right? So that you can sort

01:06:43.250 --> 01:06:47.690
of steal and copy, right? Sure. And the other

01:06:47.690 --> 01:06:51.030
part of teaching composition is kind of an aesthetic

01:06:51.030 --> 01:06:53.610
sensibility, you know, so you have some intellectual

01:06:53.610 --> 01:06:57.449
sense of what is it in Macho's world that...

01:06:57.849 --> 01:07:01.030
that is beauty in music in the 14th century?

01:07:01.150 --> 01:07:03.869
How would you define the beautiful in the 14th

01:07:03.869 --> 01:07:06.329
century versus how would you define the beautiful

01:07:06.329 --> 01:07:10.090
for Bach or the beautiful for Dvorak, right?

01:07:10.269 --> 01:07:12.489
And the answers are quite different. And if you

01:07:12.489 --> 01:07:15.809
start to think about those, then you again think,

01:07:16.010 --> 01:07:18.909
I believe, in compositionally really interesting

01:07:18.909 --> 01:07:21.789
terms. So most of the courses that I've taught,

01:07:21.869 --> 01:07:24.690
I try to bridge the gap between what I would

01:07:24.690 --> 01:07:28.960
call music history, music theory, composition

01:07:28.960 --> 01:07:33.739
and aesthetics or intellectual history. So, you

01:07:33.739 --> 01:07:36.800
know, and one of the great virtues of having

01:07:36.800 --> 01:07:38.900
been at the New School, and I'm very grateful

01:07:38.900 --> 01:07:41.880
to the institution for this, they allowed me

01:07:41.880 --> 01:07:46.480
my entire career to design my own courses. So

01:07:46.480 --> 01:07:48.900
I was never given a textbook and told what to

01:07:48.900 --> 01:07:52.769
teach and how to teach it. which it was a great,

01:07:52.789 --> 01:07:54.650
great freedom. Now, there's also a burden because

01:07:54.650 --> 01:07:56.389
you have to think of these things, you know.

01:07:56.550 --> 01:07:59.130
But I've taught courses on opera. I've taught

01:07:59.130 --> 01:08:02.610
courses on Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms. I've

01:08:02.610 --> 01:08:04.929
taught courses, you know, that are, you know,

01:08:04.929 --> 01:08:07.670
the human voice through the ages, for instance.

01:08:07.769 --> 01:08:09.510
That was one of my favorite ones where you look

01:08:09.510 --> 01:08:11.969
at what is it that the human voice does, both

01:08:11.969 --> 01:08:14.269
in terms of vocal technique, but also in terms

01:08:14.269 --> 01:08:18.130
of approach to text and subject matter from Gregorian

01:08:18.130 --> 01:08:20.779
chant. to Milton Babbitt, my own teacher at Princeton,

01:08:20.960 --> 01:08:26.140
right? So the courses have always been a hybrid.

01:08:27.579 --> 01:08:29.460
Technically, they're composition classes, but

01:08:29.460 --> 01:08:32.279
not just or not really or not the way that they

01:08:32.279 --> 01:08:35.300
are typically taught in either conservatories

01:08:35.300 --> 01:08:38.640
or typical music majors. And that was a lot of

01:08:38.640 --> 01:08:41.739
fun and kept it interesting. And it also meant

01:08:41.739 --> 01:08:43.619
that I never had to repeat the same course twice.

01:08:43.640 --> 01:08:47.069
So even if the course had the same title. I could

01:08:47.069 --> 01:08:49.170
inside the class, you know, choose different

01:08:49.170 --> 01:08:51.630
pieces to demonstrate different ideas or different

01:08:51.630 --> 01:08:54.310
developments historically or aesthetically or

01:08:54.310 --> 01:08:57.369
compositionally. So that was a lot of fun. It

01:08:57.369 --> 01:08:59.289
kept me on my toes and it enabled me to keep

01:08:59.289 --> 01:09:03.890
learning myself. It kept it alive. Oh, wow. That

01:09:03.890 --> 01:09:08.590
sounds so fascinating. I wish I were. I don't

01:09:08.590 --> 01:09:12.729
know. A composition student and learn from you.

01:09:12.810 --> 01:09:17.470
Yeah, that sounds so, so fun. So you mentioned

01:09:17.470 --> 01:09:22.010
about your teacher, Mr. Babbitt, Milton Babbitt,

01:09:22.130 --> 01:09:24.710
right? Yes. And he's a very famous composer.

01:09:24.909 --> 01:09:30.930
And I've interviewed a few composers throughout

01:09:30.930 --> 01:09:34.250
five, six years of this podcast. And then there

01:09:34.250 --> 01:09:37.170
were several who studied with him. So he seems

01:09:37.170 --> 01:09:42.449
like a really a... influential and big, huge

01:09:42.449 --> 01:09:46.149
figure in the composition. He was. I mean, he

01:09:46.149 --> 01:09:50.210
was a short man, but he was really a giant in

01:09:50.210 --> 01:09:53.390
his field. He really was. And he was one of the

01:09:53.390 --> 01:09:57.409
most brilliant intellectuals and speakers that

01:09:57.409 --> 01:09:59.069
I've ever met. I mean, I've met a lot of smart

01:09:59.069 --> 01:10:01.170
cookies in my life, and Milton was really, really,

01:10:01.189 --> 01:10:04.090
really smart. So it was just a privilege to be

01:10:04.090 --> 01:10:05.689
in a room with him and to have conversations

01:10:05.689 --> 01:10:08.920
with him. Although aesthetically, our approaches

01:10:08.920 --> 01:10:11.859
couldn't have been more different from the get

01:10:11.859 --> 01:10:15.460
-go. And one of the great things about Milton

01:10:15.460 --> 01:10:18.439
was that he never, among all my teachers, he

01:10:18.439 --> 01:10:21.880
never ever, not even once, asked me to set aside

01:10:21.880 --> 01:10:24.819
what I was doing, which even back then was writing

01:10:24.819 --> 01:10:29.039
tonal pieces, and write something along the lines

01:10:29.039 --> 01:10:31.680
of what he writes or was writing, which was 12

01:10:31.680 --> 01:10:34.710
-tone music. And he never never asked me that.

01:10:34.810 --> 01:10:37.170
He always took my pieces when I went in for my

01:10:37.170 --> 01:10:39.710
composition lessons on their own terms. We'd

01:10:39.710 --> 01:10:41.930
sit down with, say, a piano trio and he'd look

01:10:41.930 --> 01:10:44.470
at the development section. He'd say, hmm. So

01:10:44.470 --> 01:10:47.529
the transition from the first section, the main

01:10:47.529 --> 01:10:50.090
theme to the second theme. Do you think that

01:10:50.090 --> 01:10:53.189
transition is too long or too, you know, is it

01:10:53.189 --> 01:10:55.569
too short or does it go through too many keys

01:10:55.569 --> 01:10:57.529
or too few keys? In other words, he worked on

01:10:57.529 --> 01:11:01.260
the material on its own terms. And that was really,

01:11:01.439 --> 01:11:05.140
really wonderful. And very few, in my experience

01:11:05.140 --> 01:11:07.340
at least, relatively few composition teachers

01:11:07.340 --> 01:11:10.920
would do that because most of them do by example.

01:11:11.020 --> 01:11:14.220
They teach by example. This is what I do. This

01:11:14.220 --> 01:11:16.939
is how I do it. Why don't you, young person,

01:11:17.020 --> 01:11:18.840
try and do it? And then I can tell you if you

01:11:18.840 --> 01:11:21.460
do it well or not well. And Milton didn't do

01:11:21.460 --> 01:11:23.840
that to me because I was not interested ever

01:11:23.840 --> 01:11:28.220
in writing 12 -tone music. And he knew that from

01:11:28.220 --> 01:11:30.840
the time I went for my interview, you know, for

01:11:30.840 --> 01:11:36.119
the PhD program. I know we talked about your

01:11:36.119 --> 01:11:39.739
teacher and you being an educator. So what qualities

01:11:39.739 --> 01:11:44.260
do you think this modern musicians and composers

01:11:44.260 --> 01:11:50.779
should or must have besides musical skills? Oh,

01:11:50.779 --> 01:11:54.510
my goodness. What qualities? Well. Oh, skills.

01:11:55.930 --> 01:11:59.489
I mean, life skills. I think I mean, I think

01:11:59.489 --> 01:12:02.750
for me, there are two aspects to it. One, you

01:12:02.750 --> 01:12:05.909
need to have a really good sense of craft. And

01:12:05.909 --> 01:12:10.310
I think young I'm going to generalize. So forgive

01:12:10.310 --> 01:12:12.930
me for doing that. But I think the younger generation

01:12:12.930 --> 01:12:17.109
is getting a lot of craft. in techniques that

01:12:17.109 --> 01:12:19.369
are contemporary, that have to do with electronic

01:12:19.369 --> 01:12:23.149
music, with sampling, etc. But I think they're

01:12:23.149 --> 01:12:25.390
getting very little grounding in what I would

01:12:25.390 --> 01:12:28.689
call time -honored or older Western European

01:12:28.689 --> 01:12:31.670
techniques. And I think that's a loss. And I

01:12:31.670 --> 01:12:33.109
don't think they're getting enough of that. I

01:12:33.109 --> 01:12:34.810
think they need more harmony and counterpoint

01:12:34.810 --> 01:12:38.949
and all that seemingly dry -sounding, old -fashioned

01:12:38.949 --> 01:12:41.909
stuff. But I think... If you can have that under

01:12:41.909 --> 01:12:44.289
your belt, it will really do you in good stead

01:12:44.289 --> 01:12:46.810
in the long term. So I think they need craft.

01:12:47.010 --> 01:12:50.890
The other thing that I think, and I think this

01:12:50.890 --> 01:12:53.770
has been always true of composers, contemporary

01:12:53.770 --> 01:12:56.810
and the older generation like me, is they need

01:12:56.810 --> 01:13:00.770
to have a sense of context. So to be a composer,

01:13:00.930 --> 01:13:03.010
of course, you need the tools with which to say

01:13:03.010 --> 01:13:04.770
something. You need the craft, the techniques.

01:13:05.409 --> 01:13:09.399
But you also have to have something to say. And

01:13:09.399 --> 01:13:12.380
if you haven't read novels or if you haven't

01:13:12.380 --> 01:13:15.260
traveled or if you haven't studied math or Chinese,

01:13:15.359 --> 01:13:18.720
I don't even care what. But if there's no bigger

01:13:18.720 --> 01:13:21.119
context there, then I don't see how you have

01:13:21.119 --> 01:13:23.680
anything to say. And if the only thing you have

01:13:23.680 --> 01:13:26.359
to say is this chord moving to that chord or

01:13:26.359 --> 01:13:29.319
this sample being torn apart into those samples,

01:13:29.399 --> 01:13:35.149
then I'm just not sure what the point is. So

01:13:35.149 --> 01:13:38.029
for me, what I would argue is to have a general

01:13:38.029 --> 01:13:42.050
education, a real education and a real sense

01:13:42.050 --> 01:13:45.170
of intellectual curiosity about the world and

01:13:45.170 --> 01:13:47.810
not just the contemporary world, but the ancient

01:13:47.810 --> 01:13:50.970
world, because the ancient world has a lot to

01:13:50.970 --> 01:13:54.229
teach us also. And it has full of surprises and

01:13:54.229 --> 01:13:57.529
full of innovations that get sidelined or get

01:13:57.529 --> 01:14:01.109
forgotten about. So I would say both, you know.

01:14:01.500 --> 01:14:04.020
both more technique, but also more general education.

01:14:04.479 --> 01:14:08.460
And I wouldn't want to prescribe to anyone what

01:14:08.460 --> 01:14:11.500
that means, but everybody should take their own

01:14:11.500 --> 01:14:15.359
path. But if you're interested in China, learn

01:14:15.359 --> 01:14:19.399
Chinese and go there and do Chinese history and

01:14:19.399 --> 01:14:25.680
go on some excavations. So I can imagine all

01:14:25.680 --> 01:14:28.399
sorts of ways in which you have what I would

01:14:28.399 --> 01:14:32.260
call a fertile imaginative context, which then

01:14:32.260 --> 01:14:35.159
gets expressed in music. And then you, of course,

01:14:35.159 --> 01:14:38.779
need the skill set with which to make that happen.

01:14:39.359 --> 01:14:41.979
But the skill set, I think, is easier to conquer

01:14:41.979 --> 01:14:46.579
than this sense of general curiosity and a general

01:14:46.579 --> 01:14:50.500
ability to understand the world, which is increasingly

01:14:50.500 --> 01:14:54.000
complicated and increasingly difficult to scope

01:14:54.000 --> 01:14:56.199
out. But if you want to have something to say

01:14:56.199 --> 01:14:58.829
to people, you need to... You need to have an

01:14:58.829 --> 01:15:01.050
understanding of the world. I don't claim to

01:15:01.050 --> 01:15:04.449
have any, you know, synoptic, overarching understanding,

01:15:04.789 --> 01:15:08.189
but something that you can give that other people

01:15:08.189 --> 01:15:10.949
don't quite see yet, that you can translate into

01:15:10.949 --> 01:15:13.810
music. And life experience too. And life experience

01:15:13.810 --> 01:15:16.489
also, yes, absolutely. All of those things, yeah.

01:15:18.369 --> 01:15:24.010
So now, what's next for you? Well, the very next

01:15:24.010 --> 01:15:28.189
thing is August 30th. Donna Wang Friedman and

01:15:28.189 --> 01:15:30.810
the D 'Alsonio Ensemble is going to create, to

01:15:30.810 --> 01:15:35.569
perform another version of microbit. Yes. It

01:15:35.569 --> 01:15:39.989
just keeps evolving. That's great. And this is

01:15:39.989 --> 01:15:42.390
for Piano Sextet. And it's going to be the opening

01:15:42.390 --> 01:15:46.090
concert at Barge Music of their Here and Now

01:15:46.090 --> 01:15:49.439
Labor Day weekend festival. And I'm very much

01:15:49.439 --> 01:15:51.560
looking forward to that, in part because they're

01:15:51.560 --> 01:15:54.359
brilliant musicians. And this is yet another

01:15:54.359 --> 01:15:56.439
iteration of Microvitz. So I just want to see

01:15:56.439 --> 01:15:59.819
how, you know, how it works. And in part because

01:15:59.819 --> 01:16:02.659
barge music is no longer on a barge itself. So

01:16:02.659 --> 01:16:05.939
I will no longer get seasick when I go. Oh, really?

01:16:06.439 --> 01:16:09.960
Yes. Yeah, they've moved on to land. So it's

01:16:09.960 --> 01:16:14.060
very close to the original barge. But it's on

01:16:14.060 --> 01:16:16.880
land. And the last couple of times I went, I...

01:16:17.119 --> 01:16:18.960
You know, I get seasick really, really easily.

01:16:19.699 --> 01:16:21.779
So this sounds very, very silly, but I'm very

01:16:21.779 --> 01:16:24.420
happy that it's going to be in a regular house

01:16:24.420 --> 01:16:27.239
or it's in the boathouse very close to the original

01:16:27.239 --> 01:16:30.460
venue. Barge music used to be like literally

01:16:30.460 --> 01:16:33.859
was it was a boat on the boat or in the boat.

01:16:33.920 --> 01:16:39.039
So I remember going there to my colleagues concerts

01:16:39.039 --> 01:16:41.199
or whatever. And all of a sudden the background

01:16:41.199 --> 01:16:46.210
is moving. And the first time I went there a

01:16:46.210 --> 01:16:48.069
couple of years ago, I heard Donna perform something.

01:16:48.189 --> 01:16:49.949
I don't even remember what, but I went up to

01:16:49.949 --> 01:16:52.029
her to try and congratulate her afterwards. And

01:16:52.029 --> 01:16:57.369
she said, you look green. And that's how I felt

01:16:57.369 --> 01:17:01.090
very green. Yeah. It was a beautiful, yeah, it

01:17:01.090 --> 01:17:03.050
was a beautiful concept and beautiful venue,

01:17:03.229 --> 01:17:05.590
but it is, it is. But when the waves come in

01:17:05.590 --> 01:17:08.210
crashing on the boat, it can be anyway. So that's,

01:17:08.210 --> 01:17:09.989
that's the next thing actually, August 30th.

01:17:09.989 --> 01:17:13.000
So people are interested. If you Google barge

01:17:13.000 --> 01:17:15.979
music, it's there, two o 'clock. Yeah, I'll be

01:17:15.979 --> 01:17:19.779
there. And so what do you hope your artistic

01:17:19.779 --> 01:17:23.840
legacy to be? I mean, I would just like to think

01:17:23.840 --> 01:17:28.699
that my music points a way forward for people

01:17:28.699 --> 01:17:33.420
because what I've tried to do is reach back to

01:17:33.420 --> 01:17:36.500
the past, which I think was abandoned during

01:17:36.500 --> 01:17:39.069
the course of the 20th century. with a tonality

01:17:39.069 --> 01:17:42.789
and 12 tone music a lot of what i find the most

01:17:42.789 --> 01:17:44.949
beautiful and compelling about the western musical

01:17:44.949 --> 01:17:47.090
tradition was just kind of thrown out the window

01:17:47.090 --> 01:17:50.130
uh deliberately and you know purposefully not

01:17:50.130 --> 01:17:51.909
not because it was forgotten but because people

01:17:51.909 --> 01:17:55.489
were against it and i reached back to that but

01:17:55.489 --> 01:17:58.430
i've tried to reach back to some of it without

01:17:58.430 --> 01:18:02.109
just duplicating the past you know my metaphor

01:18:02.109 --> 01:18:04.029
for that is i don't want to be put back in a

01:18:04.029 --> 01:18:07.180
corset that's the last thing i want Right. So

01:18:07.180 --> 01:18:09.779
I don't want to return to the past. But there

01:18:09.779 --> 01:18:11.899
are things about the past that I find compelling.

01:18:12.100 --> 01:18:15.479
Its sense of beauty, its sense of melody and

01:18:15.479 --> 01:18:17.760
rhythmic clarity, you know, all of those things

01:18:17.760 --> 01:18:20.800
that I think can and should be preserved. But

01:18:20.800 --> 01:18:23.979
I've tried to bring those forward into the present

01:18:23.979 --> 01:18:27.659
day using means that are more contemporary. So

01:18:27.659 --> 01:18:30.159
I'm kind of hoping that I can bridge the gap

01:18:30.159 --> 01:18:33.979
between a more distant past and a future that

01:18:33.979 --> 01:18:37.539
speaks to, you know. generations to come. I mean,

01:18:37.539 --> 01:18:40.819
that's a big, that's a big goal. And I have no

01:18:40.819 --> 01:18:43.699
idea, honestly, you know, no one can see their

01:18:43.699 --> 01:18:48.659
position in sort of music history in a compelling

01:18:48.659 --> 01:18:51.939
or safe way. But that's kind of what I've tried

01:18:51.939 --> 01:19:08.060
to do, certainly. provided us today is a master

01:19:08.060 --> 01:19:11.199
class and so i really appreciate you for being

01:19:11.199 --> 01:19:14.520
here and sharing your expertise and once again

01:19:14.520 --> 01:19:18.399
congratulations on so many successes but especially

01:19:18.399 --> 01:19:23.640
for micro bits beautiful beautiful work yeah

01:19:23.640 --> 01:19:25.340
thank you and thank you for having me this has

01:19:25.340 --> 01:19:29.390
been so much fun the time has passed like Took

01:19:29.390 --> 01:19:32.489
three minutes, it feels like. Oh, yeah. Same.

01:19:32.689 --> 01:19:35.829
I feel the same way. So for our listeners, please

01:19:35.829 --> 01:19:39.590
go to StefaniaDeKennessey .com to learn more

01:19:39.590 --> 01:19:42.649
about her work and start listening to her latest

01:19:42.649 --> 01:19:47.189
and delightful album, Microbits. Before I let

01:19:47.189 --> 01:19:49.710
you go, we have one more thing to do. It's the

01:19:49.710 --> 01:19:52.760
rapid fire questions now. We take this segment

01:19:52.760 --> 01:19:56.079
very seriously. You've shared stories and expertise

01:19:56.079 --> 01:19:59.800
today, but these questions, next questions, carefully

01:19:59.800 --> 01:20:03.840
curated by our team, which is me, will give our

01:20:03.840 --> 01:20:07.119
listeners a glimpse into who you truly are. So

01:20:07.119 --> 01:20:09.800
let's do this. I want you to answer each question

01:20:09.800 --> 01:20:12.600
with the shortest response possible. No explanation

01:20:12.600 --> 01:20:17.800
is necessary. So level one, what is your comfort

01:20:17.800 --> 01:20:24.569
food? I don't have one. Okay. How do you like

01:20:24.569 --> 01:20:27.109
your coffee in the morning? With a little milk.

01:20:28.289 --> 01:20:31.590
Cats or dogs? Cats, definitely. Yeah, I've met

01:20:31.590 --> 01:20:36.250
your cat. Sunrise or sunset? Sunset. I hate mornings.

01:20:40.130 --> 01:20:45.289
Summer or winter? Summer. Level two. What skill

01:20:45.289 --> 01:20:47.890
have you always wanted to learn but haven't had

01:20:47.890 --> 01:20:53.449
a chance to? Drawing. Good one. What is your

01:20:53.449 --> 01:20:57.729
word or words to live by? My word or words to

01:20:57.729 --> 01:21:02.569
live by? Yeah. Kindness. What is the most important

01:21:02.569 --> 01:21:05.510
quality you look for in other people? Kindness.

01:21:05.850 --> 01:21:09.189
Name a composer you wish more people knew about.

01:21:09.489 --> 01:21:13.970
Monteverdi. Now, level three. Name one piece

01:21:13.970 --> 01:21:17.609
in your current playlist. I don't listen to music.

01:21:19.920 --> 01:21:24.199
I write music. Oh, yes. So, yeah, that's right.

01:21:24.319 --> 01:21:27.000
And you mentioned that your music is always in

01:21:27.000 --> 01:21:31.380
your head. Yeah. So silence is the best. All

01:21:31.380 --> 01:21:35.699
right. Fill in the blank. Music is blank. My

01:21:35.699 --> 01:21:43.859
life. Beautiful. Ding, ding. That's it. So Stefania,

01:21:43.899 --> 01:21:46.180
thank you so much for joining us today and for

01:21:46.180 --> 01:21:49.420
sharing your artistry and journey and innovative

01:21:49.420 --> 01:21:52.260
spirit with such openness and creativity and

01:21:52.260 --> 01:21:55.159
connection. So for our audience, if you'd like

01:21:55.159 --> 01:21:57.760
to explore more of Stefania's extensive work,

01:21:57.880 --> 01:22:01.039
please visit StefaniaDeKennedy .com and subscribe

01:22:01.039 --> 01:22:04.779
to her YouTube channel at DeKennedy and Instagram.

01:22:04.840 --> 01:22:07.600
Follow her on Instagram at DeKennedy as well.

01:22:07.739 --> 01:22:10.539
Of course, I encourage you to start listening

01:22:10.539 --> 01:22:15.300
to her. latest album, Microvitz, on any streaming

01:22:15.300 --> 01:22:17.960
services. All links will be in the show notes.

01:22:18.159 --> 01:22:20.819
And of course, a huge thank you to all of you,

01:22:20.880 --> 01:22:23.279
our faithful fans and listeners for tuning in.

01:22:23.300 --> 01:22:25.680
If you enjoyed today's episode, please give a

01:22:25.680 --> 01:22:28.880
thumbs up. and subscribe to The Piano Pod on

01:22:28.880 --> 01:22:31.359
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01:22:31.359 --> 01:22:34.239
favorite social media platform and tag The Piano

01:22:34.239 --> 01:22:36.640
Pod. It's one of the best ways to help our community

01:22:36.640 --> 01:22:39.600
grow and we love hearing your feedback. For the

01:22:39.600 --> 01:22:42.800
latest updates, guest news, stories, spark, creativity,

01:22:43.119 --> 01:22:45.579
and connection, follow The Piano Pod on Substack,

01:22:45.699 --> 01:22:48.420
TikTok, and LinkedIn. I will see you in the next

01:22:48.420 --> 01:22:51.279
episode of The Piano Pod. Thank you again, Stefania.

01:22:51.420 --> 01:22:53.300
Thank you so much for having me. This has been

01:22:53.300 --> 01:22:55.840
pure joy. It really has. Thank you. Thank you.

01:22:55.840 --> 01:22:56.239
Thank you.