A friend was wondering about the old Montana license plate I had when I was in grad school and as a postdoc. As with many things there are stories - in this case, motorcycles, mistaken identity, license plate theft and vampires .. but the real story involves 'why'.
I started as an undergrad at the University of Utah. Gale Dick, my mentor, was one of those people who had to make a choice between music and science. He went with physics, but continued as an amateur with Friday night music with friends. His place was small, but had a large living room with a homemade harpsichord, his wife's piano and enough chairs for about a dozen people. The first night I went was a revelation. A music student from the U opened with a piece he was working on for his master's recital - Bach's E Major Violin Partita. His playing wasn't close to the level of Hilary Hahn (the video is one she posted during the pandemic. Note the three Grammys behind her.)
It completely took me and I was a regular from then on. It took me awhile to understand why Bach was so attractive - the symmetries and partly broken symmetries continue to delight and amaze. A few weeks later about a couple of violinists, a cellist and a harpsichord player played Vivaldi's No.11 Op.3 'L'estro Armonico'. Here's a delightful performance featuring the Balanas sisters. The orchestra is modern and larger than Vivaldi would have used, but the sisters, not afraid of showmanship, are fun to watch.
Not only were they having great fun, but the structure lit something inside. I'm not a musician by any stretch of the imagination. Growing up I was at church enough to learn how to read music from the hymnals and can "hear" single lines of music reading scores. I found the score in the campus library and "listened" to the various parts, marveling how Vivaldi put them together. Some of you are musicians and/or have connections with music.
Vivaldi was a priest, a beyond-prolific innovator and the teacher at a home for orphan girls. His teaching must have been wonderful as the concerts they gave became locally famous and a few of the girls became recognized as virtuosos when women weren't recognized. He ran afoul of the Church and died in poverty. Although he had a great influence on Bach, it took until the 20th century for his music to be rediscovered and, a few years ago the Church apologized. Studying some of his scores, and then those of other musicians, and more carefully listening started me down a path.
As a grad student at Stony Brook I went for the vanity plate for my VW Rabbit. Stony Brook was only 40 miles from NYC and its music. It also had a growing music department and an excellent piano trio in residence. A cello student friend invited me to master classes with visiting greats where I felt the imposter syndrome and asked some really stupid questions afterwards, but it was part of an education.
Stony Brook had student recitals several times a week, but no concert series. Not having any idea what that entailed, a chemistry grad student and I decided we could start one. The immediate problem was money. The music department and the office of the provost basically laughed. Tom and I figured the graduate student association might be able to help out since the music school had about fifty grad students. More laughter. We ran for the graduate student senate and won two of the three positions. We proposed allocating $15,000 of the $22,000 fund towards a concert series that grad students could attend for free. It passed by a 2-1 vote. We put together an eight concert series cleaning the hall before and after ourselves (with friends), acting as ticket agents and signing performers. The first year went much more smoothly than it should have and we returned about $9,000 from ticket sales and $4,000 in donations to the graduate student union. The next year the office of the provost provided the seed money and the season was slightly profitable (we didn't have to pay for the hall and the agency we were working with gave us a discount and more than a little guidance. The third year - well - the music department took over for us with a manager when Tom and I had to step down given our thesis work. The series continues to this day. In theory I don't have to pay for tickets.
Since then there have been periods of connection with music of various types. I still know so little, but it's an area of such rich enjoyment. Like art, it's an essential source of connection for thinking a bit more broadly.
__________
An for an encore the Balanas sisters perform their violin and cello arrangement from Summer of the Four Seasons. There's a delightful electricity between them.
Comments