Vulnerability

After lolly gagging all morning and part of the early afternoon, I am finally at a coffee shop to do some article review and studying.  Of course, this will happen after I write this blog post.

I am at my 9th coffee shop here.  I like the atmosphere here perhaps the best?  Or maybe because the baristas are very friendly.  The chai is not the yummy sweet kind, but it doesn't have some of the spicy after bite that the other places have had.  I have two more places to try in this town, I believe, plus two more up in the town where I work.  So far, the best chai that I remember is the kind I tried when I came here for my audition, although I haven't been back there since we moved here.  And there is a Starbucks next to the music area.  I make no apologies about liking Starbucks, by the way.  However, if possible, I prefer to support local coffee shops.

At any rate, not finding a chai I love is a good thing.  I will drink less chai and more tea, thus intaking less calories and probably spending less money.

Beethoven Mass in C.  That's on my iPod right now.  Excuse me, iPhone.  Is it assumed that all iPhones serve the function as a music player as well?

Recommendation: BBC Sacred Music series.  I watched the first four episodes.  The first one was about the Gothic Revolution.  Then the second episode, my favorite of the four, is about Palestrina and the church.  The third episode is about Thomas Tallis and William Byrd.  Then fourth episode, which I want to rewatch, is about Bach and the Lutheran legacy.  The next four episodes, which I believe are in their second series, include Faure and Poulence, Brahms and Bruckner, Gorecki and Part, and I believe the last episode is about modern sacred composers.

Let's talk about music, higher education, and professionalism for a moment.

Scenario one: You are a member of a graduate class talking about modern music.  The composer of the next presentation?  Whitacre.  A few graduate students have made snide remarks about his music in the past.  However, you are the presenter and are attempting to give a thorough understanding and listing of his music.  Needless to say, one graduate student feels the need to remark about his music.  Best course of action?

This was discussed last night with two new friends and future colleagues of mine.  This happened.  Both of them enjoy Whitacre's music.  The presenter in this story was describing their experience last night and when this happened at the end of the year, commented that many high school students who have experienced Whitacre have grown to love choral music because of his compositions.  They said, "I think I kept it professional and then I continued."

What would have I done?  I am certainly not a person who likes confrontation.  However, I feel that in the past two years, I have had to toughen up a bit when it comes to the strength of my opinion.  I am not sure what I would have done, but I doubt I would have been as cool as the presenter in the story.  But that begs the question: Is ignoring rude remarks about a composer professional?  I would have said something more, but I don't think it would have been unprofessional.  Or is engaging with the quipper considered unprofessional, even if they are an intelligent, thoughtful conductor themselves?  What is "professional" in this situation versus what is "passive?"

Next: Imagine you are a conductor of a collegiate ensemble or professor of a class.  How lightly do you tread as far as current events?  What do you allow to enter your teaching versus not?  I am not talking about standing up in front of a choir spouting off my political beliefs.  I am talking specifically about relating the music you are singing to current events, even if there might be people who have a political stance on an issue.  I think that is perfectly allowable, within reason.  To think that we can perform music with all it's vulnerability without ourselves experiencing emotions about what's going on in the world?  What a cold rehearsal.  I think it's wonderful to encourage the human experience in our world to affect the performance of music, which is written from the human experience.  I do not see that as unprofessional.  But I wonder if others do.

But then again, vulnerability often makes people uncomfortable.  And vulnerability is what you need in music.  So says Weston Noble, at least.  And I agree.