All posts by BethAnne

Arts Administrator, Educator, and Performer. MM, University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, 2019 BME, Central Michigan University, 2017
Faculty

In Conversation with Theatre & Drama Assistant Professor Nancy Uffner

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Nancy Uffner is a proud longtime member of Actors’ Equity Association. Her regional theatre stage management work includes the MUNY, Weston Playhouse Theatre Company, Lythgoe Family Panto, Goodspeed Musicals, Music Theatre Wichita, the U-M Festival of New Works, Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Chicago Opera Theatre, Virginia Stage Co., Baltimore’s Center Stage, Granbury Opera House, and Cherry County Playhouse. Her national tour experience includes All Shook Up, Fame, Ken Hill’s Phantom of the Opera, South Pacific with the late Robert Goulet, and Camelot with the late Richard Harris. She has worked locally with the Peter Sparling Dance Company as well as various music and corporate events, and has taught stage management classes at Eastern Michigan University. Prior to U-M, Nancy taught at Northwestern University.  She holds an MA from the University of Michigan and a BS with secondary teaching certification from Eastern Michigan University.

What inspired you to get involved in theatre?

I had a great high school theatre teacher.  I went to undergraduate school thinking I would be a high school theatre, English, and math teacher.  The summer after freshman year, I had an acting internship at the Cherry County Playhouse in Traverse City which included providing labor for production areas.  I discovered stage management and there was no turning back. Stage management utilized some of my best skills: organization, planning, systems management, attention to detail, people skills, and seeing the big picture. Foremost, I loved the storytelling aspect of the theatre, its reflection on the human condition.

How does stage managing for Theatre differ from managing for other art forms? 

I’m drawn to stage management because it’s necessary and relevant in all performance art forms, and I’ve been fortunate to work in all mediums, including business theatre and corporate events.  I’ve not been pigeonholed. I originally thought I would work primarily in new play development, yet it turns out I’ve done more established musicals than anything else. My career has been shaped by my desire to freelance and teach in balance with a marriage and raising two daughters.

That’s interesting! Is that part of your work-life balance?

For me, it’s not quite work-life balance but more about integration of the two. I don’t know what “balance” means, frankly, nor do I think I’m very good at it.  I tend to be “all in” whatever I’m doing. Prioritizing family was purposeful, and not all career choices were possible.. I’m glad I’ve had the opportunities to make a career doing what I love while raising a family with my partner and best friend.

What have you learned about the nature of the performing arts by being behind the scenes for so many performances? 

Performing arts can impact the way people think, feel, and act.  I’m drawn to stories, dances, operas, concerts, and events that spread a message of hope, change, or reflect on an issue that needs exploring. For example, three summers ago UM alum Andrés Holder, who is from Panama, directed RENT, in Spanish, in Panama. Andrés invited me to come stage manage the show. I was honored to work with him, and what unfolded during the show moved me even more. The production took place in a conservative area where people of the LGBTQ community are typically not embraced. It was three weeks of safety, joy, and celebration for a community that typically does not have a place to do that.

What advice do you have for current SMTD students as they begin to build their life in the arts?

We have so many wonderful entrepreneurial minds in SMTD.  It’s exciting and inspiring to see students making dreams happen.  One piece of advice is to thoroughly research their needs. Learn what the needs are, or might be, and fill them. Trial and error is typically part of the journey, but it doesn’t have to be the whole journey or the usual journey.  Research is useful. Even in entrepreneurship, the wheel does not have to be reinvented. The idea or the vision is core, but the Infrastructure needs to be in place to make it happen. What are the logistics? What does it cost? Where is the money coming from?  How much personnel do you need and who are they? In my experience, the most successful, sustained ventures have the right people doing the right work as a collaborative team.

Being behind the scenes all these years has taught me many things.  I love to teach and have lots of advice and opinions, but best leave it there for now.  My office door is always open.

Student Features, Uncategorized

EXCEL Prize Winning Project Resumes This Month

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    The SMTD & Our Own Thing Piano Partnership Program (EXCEL Prize ‘18) provides free weekly piano lessons to Ypsilanti students and was created to address the lack of diversity and representation in the field of classical piano. The EXCEL Prize allowed the program to supply students with keyboards for practice, give additional training for instructors, and support guest artist workshops.

    Dr. Leah Claiborne (MM ‘15, DMA ‘18), was our 2018 EXCEL Prize Winner for her project, Our Own Thing Piano Partnership. In addition to the EXCEL Prize, Leah was also awarded the University of Michigan’s MLK Spirit Award for creating OOTPP. 

    Leah said the most important aspect when forming the program was communicating that the reason for doing it was genuine. She did this by speaking to parents and the community and showing them that she was sincere, as well as making sure that all of the team facilitating the program was on the same page. Students were recruited for the program through her church in Ypsilanti, where she served as Music Director, and other affiliated churches in the area.

    Leah is now the Assistant Professor of Piano at the University of the District of Columbia, where she teaches piano, coordinates Keyboard Studies, and teaches African American Music History. She is in the process of forming a new piano studies program with the same model as OOTPP at U of D.C.

    Our Own Thing Piano Partnership continues to thrive at SMTD, with a new group of students beginning this month.

    Most Recent

    EXCEL Partnering with SMTD Wellness Initiative

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    The Eight Dimensions of Wellness
    image source: https://uhs.umich.edu/

    This academic year, EXCEL is partnering with the SMTD Wellness Initiative to present a series of events on Life-Work Balance. 

    The Wellness Initiative was installed in Fall 2016 to provide students, faculty, and staff of the School of Music, Theatre & Dance with wellness services, education, and programming. 

    So what do Wellness and Entrepreneurship have in common? “Both of our programs aim to help students be the best they can be in all areas of their life,” says Paola Savvidou, Wellness Initiative Program Manager. “We both want students to have tools for success and longevity of a life in the arts.” This mini-series was inspired by common student feedback programs received with requests for sessions on topics related to life-work balance.

    The next installment of the EXCEL/Wellness Mini-Series is this Thursday, January 30th, 2020 and will discuss handling rejection. Rejection as a performer is part of the gig; it’s going to happen. How do we learn and grow without being too caught up in our reactions to “Am I not good enough?”. This session will explore self compassion, using a growth mindset and resilience, as well as discussions about how to learn from failures in a productive manner.

    Emily Hyssong, SMTD’s CAPS Counselor

    Facilitating will be Emily Hyssong, SMTD’s own embedded CAPS (Counseling and Psychological Services) Counselor. Reservations are appreciated for the event. RSVP here!

    Future topics to be covered include dealing with performance anxiety and the stresses of graduate school. 

    For more information on the SMTD Wellness Initiative, visit their website.

    EXCEL Highlights, Internship, Student Features

    Connecticut Summerfest Seeking U-M Intern

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    For the second year in a row, Connecticut Summerfest is recruiting a University of Michigan student for their Arts Management Internship. 

    The Connecticut Summerfest is a different kind of summer music experience. Co-Founders Aaron N. Price and current SMTD student Gala Flagello (DMA ‘22) met at The Hartt School in West Hartford, Connecticut where they recognized the potential for an affordable, compact summer music program right in their own backyard.

    Co-founders Gala Flagello (DMA ’22) and Aaron M. Price

    The structure of Connecticut Summerfest was crafted from some of the most advantageous aspects of festivals Aaron and Gala had each personally attended. It is a week-long event with three ensembles-in-residence, four composition faculty members, and a variety of guest speakers. In addition to live premieres, festival composers will benefit from a professional recording session of their new works, commissioned by the festival and the ensembles-in-residence. Resident ensembles are also invited to give a recital of their own repertoire as part of the festival’s nightly concert series. In an effort to serve a broader audience, not only are Connecticut Summerfest’s concerts free and open to the public, they are also live-streamed so that they may be enjoyed from anywhere in the world. 

    Akropolis Reed Quintet, the 2018 Ensemble-in-Residence, in recording session

    Connecticut Summerfest brings together talented emerging composers with some of the country’s most inventive chamber music ensembles for a week-long festival of artistic exchange culminating in nine world premieres. Now in its 5th season, the festival provides the Greater Hartford community with contemporary music concerts of the highest caliber through a nightly concert series featuring three ensembles-in-residence and brand-new pieces written by festival composition students. The 2020 ensemble-in-residence is the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE). 

    The Arts Management Internship is filled with opportunities to learn valuable skills in arts management in the areas of Development, Operations, and Concert Production. Responsibilities include developing and executing a social media plan, assisting with fundraising events and outreach efforts, assisting with arrival and departure logistics of festival participants, and working on concert preparation, recording, and front of house management.

    Not only is the internship designed to provide opportunities for learning, it is also customized to best suit the chosen student. “We allow our interns to work to their strengths and explore their own individual interests,” Flagello says. “For example, our intern last year was a great photographer. She was able to take photos at our concerts and events, and to take a larger role in our social media management.” The directors of this festival strongly value each intern, viewing them as prospective staff. Each of the past three interns are current employees of Connecticut Summerfest. 

    The 2020 Connecticut Summerfest takes place June 11-17 at The Hartt School. More information on the Arts Management Internship is available here on the EXCEL web page. Applications are due Friday, January 24th, 2020.

    EXCEL Highlights, Faculty, Most Recent

    EXCEL interviews Amy Porter

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    Featured in the March 2018 edition of New on NAXOS for her recording of Michael Daugherty’s Trail of Tears with the Albany Symphony Orchestra, flutist Amy Porter has been praised by critics for her exceptional musical talent and passion for scholarship. This captivating performer was described by Carl Cunningham in the Houston Post as having “succeeded in avoiding all the overdone playing styles of the most famous flutists today.” In American Record Guide, flutist Christopher Chaffee wrote, “if you have not heard her playing, you should.” Porter “played with graceful poise,” noted Allan Kozinn in The New York Times. And Geraldine Freedman, writing in the Albany Gazette, commented, “Amy Porter showed that she’s not only very versatile but that she can do everything well. She chose a program that tested every aspect of her playing from a Baroque sensibility to using the instrument as a vehicle of sound effects, and she met each challenge with passion, skill and much musicality.”

    EXCEL Highlights, Faculty

    Interview with Ellen Rowe

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    Ellen Rowe, jazz pianist and composer, is currently Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Jazz and Contemporary Improvisation at the University of Michigan. She is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, where she studied with Rayburn Wright and Bill Dobbins.  Prior to her appointment in Michigan, she served as Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Connecticut. Her latest project, “Momentum – Portraits of Women In Motion”, featuring Ingrid Jensen, Tia Fuller, Marion Hayden and Allison Miller was released in the January of 2018. Also active as a clinician, she has given workshops and master classes at the Melbourne Conservatory, Hochshule fur Musik in Cologne, Grieg Academy in Bergen and the Royal Academy of Music in London, in addition to many appearances as a guest artist at festivals and Universities around the country.

    What are all of the musical activities you do besides teaching?

    I have a trio that I play with that has members that rotate in and out depending on availability. I also have a quartet and a quintet with Prof. Bishop, and we have several albums out including “Wishing Well” and “Courage Music”. My latest project is an all-women octet called “Momentum – Portraits of Women In Motion” with an album that was just released last year, and right now I’m trying to get that band booked as much as possible. I compose and I do a fair amount of arranging, so I’ve been doing a lot of commissions for junior high, high school, and college big bands. I have about 7 or 8 pieces  published and I’m trying to grow that. I also do a lot of service-type stuff. I coordinate the Sisters in Jazz Collegiate Competition for the Jazz Education Network (JEN), I’m the education chair for International Society of Jazz Arrangers and Composers (ISJAC), and I’m on the board for the Southeastern Michigan Jazz Alliance.

    Is that the main way you network?

    Yes, especially when I first got out of college because it was a chance to meet people. Now I am involved mostly as a way to do service and help out the organizations.

    What extra-musical skills have gotten you to where you are now?

    Definitely being organized. Trying to juggle everything is super difficult, as many students know, and things like answering emails can seem trivial but are very important. Very soon after that comes having a sense of humor, and enjoying being around people. We call them “get-along skills” in the Jazz Department. 

    What was it like being a woman in jazz in your early years of college?

    During that time, the awareness level was low, shall we say. I was almost the only woman in the jazz department at Eastman. I didn’t focus on that because I was just trying to do the work, but a lot of issues still came up. I had a graduate assistant director who would be fired today (if you could fire a graduate assistant) for the way he treated me. Issues of sexual harassment. Issues of not being taken seriously. I would be described as having “a lyrical, feminine style of playing,” in a derogatory way. And at the time I thought it was a failing on my part. There was also a time when I discovered I was being paid less than the guys in a band I was working with on the weekends. 

    Is this what inspired your latest project “Women in Motion”

    Partly. The real genesis of the project is that people are always asking me what woman musicians inspire me. The truth is that while there are certainly were a few,  it was more the women that I grew up idolizing in sports, politics, social justice, and environmental causes who really had an impact and inspired me to become who I wanted to be. And those women gave me the confidence to pursue what I wanted to do. I always want to pay tribute to the women jazz musicians who came before me, like Marian McPartland and Mary Lou Williams, but in addition there were all of these other women. It was very eye-opening for me to realize I am not who I am just because of women musicians, it’s because of this big, beautiful collection of women who have been powerful and inspiring. One example is Connecticut’s first woman governor, Ella Grasso, whom I campaigned for when I lived there. I look back and it was people like her who really inspired me. Other women I wrote tunes for on the album include First Lady Michele Obama, environmental advocates and animal rights activists Dian Fossey and Jane Goodall, distance runner Joan Benoit Samuelson, jazz pianists Geri Allen and Mary Lou Williams and my mother. 

    Is this record on a label?

    Yes, it’s on Smokin’ Sleddog Records. It’s not a huge label, but they were very enthusiastic about having me and it’s a good partnership. Their main base is folk and blues, so jazz is new to them. 

    So you are doing a lot of the work yourself getting this music out there?

    Yes. It’s a lot of emailing, sometimes cold calling. There seem to be a lot of people who would love to have us but can’t quite afford it. If I had more time I would be writing grants to get some more funding. That’s probably one of the most stressful parts of my life right now; trying to get this band booked.

    Did you always want to be an educator or did you want to be a performer? Or both?

    Playing music was just always what I did. My parents both went to Juliard. My dad had perfect pitch, and I inherited it from him. He founded the school music program in my hometown. When I was getting ready for college, I knew I was going to go into music and I didn’t really consider doing anything else. I got into Eastman and followed the music education track.

    Here’s something I think is important: A therapist once told me that she finds that many women are contingency oriented. For example, once I got into Eastman I followed along the path that was laid out for me. I took my classes and did my student teaching, and I was successful. But I never stopped to consider what it was that I would truly like to be doing, or what my true goals were. I got offers to do certain things and so I agreed to do them. I got offered to go play on a cruise ship, so I did that for a while. Then a part time job offer came up at the University of Connecticut, so I did that. Then my job at Michigan came up, and of course I was thrilled, and now I’m doing this. I’ve been very lucky because I’ve had great jobs and I’ve loved doing them. However, nobody was ever asking me, “what is it that you really want to do,” so I wasn’t asking myself that either. I’m not upset about the way things worked out, but I often wonder how things could have been different if I wasn’t locked into going from one contingency to another. For instance, it might have been amazing to be Joni Mitchell’s music director, for example. That might have truly been a career goal, but I never let myself dream about what my perfect job might entail and believed in myself enough to pursue it. I do look back and wonder why I didn’t ask myself what I truly wanted to do.

    So tell us more about your running.

    I’ve always been athletic. Around junior or senior year at Eastman I got really into running. I started running 3 or 4 miles at a time, then the mileage just kept increasing. I ran a 10k in grad school. Then when I got to Michigan, a drummer friend Pete Siers convinced me I should train for a marathon. The Detroit Marathon was my first marathon, and I’ve run a lot of marathons including New York, Boston, and Chicago. I also was doing some serious mountain climbing. Then I found trail running which has been the best discovery ever because it combines the two. Trail running is how I found ultra running. I’ve run four 50 milers and two 100Ks. I turned 60 last year so I decided to run a 100K to celebrate that. 

    It’s beyond fun. I really just try to stay healthy. The discipline aspect involved in running ties right into the discipline it takes to write music or practice. It’s also confidence building. And you’re also out in nature, so it provides incredible perspective. 

    What advice do you have for students today?

    Be versatile. Everyone needs to have as many crayons in their box as they can. Everyone usually has one specialty that they’re drawn to, but in this day and age it’s important to have the flexibility to play or compose different kinds of music. Be entrepreneurial and find skills connected to your art that can provide for you as a viable source of income. I’m seeing people put together really interesting careers doing a variety of activities that might include teaching, singer-songwriter performing, writing music for Japanese anime, writing grants to start a musical collective, creating apps, etc. There’s so many ways to put together a career doing what you love. Finally, it is so important to be healthy. Take care of yourself emotionally and physically. It is critically important to be healthy so that we can express ourselves in a meaningful way and withstand the rigors of teaching, performing and travelling.

    EXCEL Highlights, Student Features

    Third Place Music Festival: Making Chamber Music Accessible

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    This week on the EXCEL Log, we are featuring student project, Third Place Music Fest, organized by Wesley Hornpetrie (MM ’18), Kaleigh Wilder (MM ’19), and Clay Gonzalez (current MM student). Now in its third season, the Third Place Concert Series, curated by Wesley, facilitates monthly concerts in local Ann Arbor venues and businesses. This past summer, Kaleigh and Clay joined the team to produce the First Annual Third Place Music Fest. The Festival ran from May 8th to 11th and featured over 20 different acts. We got to talk to Wesley and Kaleigh about the Festival.

    EXCEL: What is the mission of the Third Place Music Fest?

    Wesley: We give an opportunity for local musicians to show their stuff in local third places. That’s where the name comes from. The Third Place is an Urban Sociology term. Everyone in communities, they have their first place — their home — and their second place is their work. And they need their third place, which needs to be a place to gather and to meet new people and old friends. And it needs to be affordable. This is our version of it via a music festival.

    EXCEL: Who performed at the festival?

    Kaleigh: We had over 20 groups ranging from your “typical” classical string quartet all the way to performance art. There was math rock, free improvisation, interdisciplinary acts that combined music and dance, and jazz. I personally think this festival is important because, while there are a lot of great opportunities here in Ann Arbor, this festival allowed us to showcase other musical varieties and flavors that you don’t always get to see. And, it was in really accessible public spaces.

    Wesley: Third Place Music Fest is where quirky artists and artists on the fringes of the mainstream get to come out and be heard and feel accepted.

    EXCEL: The Festival was such a good time, and it was only your first year! How did you set up the Festival for success?

    Wesley: The TPMF was successful I think because of the combination of local artists in local spaces. The celebration of that intersection was something very special for the musicians, participating venues, and businesses in the greater Ann Arbor community. We brought the greater community to the next level of local arts scene I’m guessing the average Ann Arbor resident wasn’t aware even existed. This combination of financial and physical accessibility made it home grown and something for people to feel connected to in an authentic way.

    Kaleigh: We also have to thank the EXCEL Enterprise Fund. Receiving those funds allowed us to book Kerrytown Concert House, which is a performance venue staple in the Ann Arbor community. It also helped us with our printing costs and just the logistical financial elements of the festival.

    The Excel Enterprise Fund is a funding resource for SMTD students. The deadline for Round 2 of applications is November 8th, 2019. For more information, visit https://smtd.umich.edu/departments/entrepreneurship-leadership/excellab/ or stop by the EXCEL Lab in Moore.

    EXCEL Highlights, Faculty, Most Recent, Op-Eds

    Tim McAllister’s 8 Tips for Success

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    Hailed by The New York Times as a “virtuoso…one of the foremost saxophonists of his generation”,  “brilliant” (The Guardian, UK), and “a sterling saxophonist” (The Baltimore Sun), Dr. Timothy McAllister is one of today’s premier concert soloists and soprano chair of the acclaimed PRISM Quartet. He serves as Professor of Saxophone at The University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance. Additionally, he spends his summers as distinguished artist faculty of the Interlochen Arts Camp (MI), and regularly performs with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra. He has recently been featured with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, St. Louis Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Sao Paulo State Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony, National Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Tokyo Wind Symphony, Dallas Wind Symphony, and United States Navy Band, among others. McAllister’s work can be heard on the Nonesuch, Deutsche Grammphon, Naxos, OMM, Stradivarius, Centaur, AUR, Albany, New Dynamic, Equilibrium, New Focus and innova record labels.

    Last month, University of Michigan SMTD Academic Affairs and Wellness Initiative hosted a Student Success Workshop. Dr. McAllister, Professor of Saxophone, served on a Faculty Panel on the topic “Advancing Your Artistry.” He started by explaining that “Failure should become the most important ‘F-word’ in your life! It’s a truth in everything you do. You have to embrace it, explore it, solve its problems, grow from trial and error. Everyone grows from that point.”

    His other tips included:

    Dr. McAllister speaking at the SMTD Student Success workshop

    1. LISTEN to great artists. Open your ears! Daily/weekly listening to music’s greatest models in all genres. Develop ears for other instruments, voices, musical styles (i.e., David Shifrin, Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, Ella Fitzgerald, etc.) Pay attention to the greatness around you and connect it to what YOU do.

    2. Know the HISTORY of your instrument/genre/what you do. Know the origin of your traditions. (Who are the early legends of the opera? Where does your instrument come from?) Revere your history, know how others have walked the path of your art.

    3. ACOUSTICS: Have the skills needed to navigate performance spaces, practice rooms, instrumental equipment, how intonation and projection works. You make must transform the space for your audience – change the room when you start playing/singing! Does the ‘noise’ you make, make people weep?

    4. MUSIC: Expand your concept of what is going on around you and in the larger musical world (i.e., composers, musical trends, other ‘schools of thought’ in your field)

    5. EAR-TO-HAND SKILLS through technique. Apply theory to technique. Get away from the printed page! Build simple improvisation skills – connect the hemispheres of your brain. Good resource: Jerry Coker’s Patterns for Jazz.

    6. Be a problem solver. Every challenge is an opportunity to create.

    7. Set macro goals for your career and micro goals for the next 3 hours.

    8. Don’t skip class to practice. Organize your time and do both.

    EXCEL Highlights, Uncategorized

    Interview: Rebekah Heller, bassoonist

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    Rebekah Heller is a uniquely dynamic solo and collaborative artist. Called “an impressive solo bassoonist” by The New Yorker, she is fiercely committed to expanding the modern repertoire for the bassoon. Her debut solo album of world premiere recordings (featuring five new pieces written with and for her), 100 names, was called “pensive and potent” by The New York Times and her newly-released second album, METAFAGOTE (also entirely made 1up of pieces created with and for her), is receiving wide acclaim. As Artistic Director and bassoonist of the renowned International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Rebekah performs all over the world. Not only is she committed to advancing the music of our time, she is deeply engaged in working with younger musicians to continue the ICE-y legacy of fearless exploration and deep collaboration. She is also a committed advocate, through platforms like ICEcommons (a free, crowdsourced index of newly composed music), for underrepresented voices and outrageous experimentation.

    When you graduated from your undergraduate program, what were your goals and where did you see yourself headed?
    I actually wasn’t so clear on that. I went to Oberlin Conservatory because they had a dual degree program, so I got both a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Bachelor of Music in Bassoon Performance. I really wasn’t sure where I wanted to go, what I wanted to do, or who I wanted to be in my life. I liked playing music, but I had a lot of other interests. I was at a crossroads. I was also broke (which many people are after college), so I auditioned for the Fellowship program at the University of Texas at Austin. That was a stipended program – a free masters program plus a stipend to work on things that were really interesting to me, such as commissioning a new piece with a professor, and doing research. I got that fellowship, and that’s a big reason why I decided to continue doing music. 

    So I spent two years in Austin, then I moved to Chicago where I played in the Chicago Civic Orchestra and freelanced for a year. From there I got into the New World Symphony. I was on a very traditional orchestral track. I played with them from 2005 to 2008. That’s the time when I was flirting with the idea of moving to New York and playing with International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE). I had visited a few times in New York, but I didn’t have a lot of contacts there yet, so I wasn’t feeling ready to make the move. I won the job as Principal Bassoonist in the Jacksonville Symphony and played with them for one season. Getting a job in an orchestra really made it blatantly clear that that kind of job just didn’t suit me. It gave the courage to move to New York and be broke, bartend, and wait tables while I sought out the collaborators and the music that I wanted to make, which at the time was primarily with ICE. 

    Why did you decide to leave the orchestral world?
    For me it felt really limiting being told on a weekly basis what I was going to play and how I was going to play it. The only agency you have in those situations is over your small piece of the puzzle. I was really interested in collaboration, playing the music of living composers, solo playing, and chamber music playing. It just wasn’t deeply fulfilling for me. I really wanted to be able to choose who I was playing with, what I was playing, and why. It became clear to me that I needed more agency, more excitement, and more connection with the music I was playing.

    Do students need to move to New York to make a career in contemporary music?
    There are audiences all over the country and all over the world who are hungry for new art and new music. I don’t think it is necessary to move to New York, or even a big city, but it is necessary to find that community and activate it and be active within it. I know a lot of young musicians who are starting new music ensembles in smaller cities across the country and are getting amazing responses from community members who are excited to see really relevant, new work being produced in their hometown. It’s really exciting what is popping up all over the country.

    What are your current are your solo projects?

    Rebekah with U-M Bassoon Students in Fall 2018

    I am in the process of commissioning works for my upcoming album. This will be my third album, and it will be focused on bassoon ensemble as an instrument. My last album has a piece on it, Metafagote by Felipe Lara, for seven bassoons. It can be played live, or I pre-recorded all the tracks so I can play it as a soloist. I actually played that piece with University of Michigan students of Jeff Lyman’s studio during ICE’s residency in October 2018! It was a beautiful concert, and I realized it was a great way for students to dip their toe into the water of extended technique and experimental sound-making in the relative comfort and safety of the group. Not only that, the bassoon choir has an incredible sound. The overtones created by that many bassoons in one room is really strange; it almost sound electronic. I became almost obsessed with that sound, so I am commissioning a set of pieces for that ensemble. I’ll be doing a show to give the world premieres of all these pieces, and the album will come out next year!

    What was it like creating your first two albums?
    Each album was a slightly different process. Both were entirely made up of pieces written for me and in collaboration with me. They’re pieces that feel like belong to me just as much as the composer, which is really special and that’s what I love most about commissioning. Being able to record these works and memorialize them over time was really exciting. 

    It was also really scary! I remember listening to the final mixes of both albums, and feeling all of these fears and insecurities about releasing this thing into the world. I was worried about how differently I played those pieces now because my interpretations have evolved since recording them. I had to start thinking of these recordings as photographs –  snapshots in time. Those recordings will always exist, but that doesn’t mean that’s the musician I am now. That part of the process was harder than I imagined it would be.

    What advice do you have for current students?
    Follow your gut. The safest thing you can do is to listen to that deepest part of you that tells you why –  why you want to make music, why you want to choose this path. Follow that and let that be your leader, because that’s the only thing that matters in the end.

    Uncategorized

    New Young Creatives Book Club Tackles Imposter Syndrome

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    How do you find the confidence to get past imposter syndrome and get down to business?

    Right now, the new Young Creatives Book Club (YCBC) is tackling this big, relevant question. The book of discussion is Your Inner Critic is a Big Jerk: and other truths about being creative by writer, artist, and curator Danielle Krysa. Check out her TED Talk on the topic here!

    Here are Danielle Krysa’s 4 Strategies for dealing with your inner critic:
    1. Copy the experts.
    2. Give your inner critic a name.
    3. Say “thank you”
    4. Translate & Rewrite

    The idea to launch this book club was conceived by Melissa Coppola, a DMA Student and EXCEL Program Assistant. She says, “The aim is for like-minded, creative SMTD students to meet, socialize, and have fun through a communal learning experience. The staff has been thinking for the past two years about how EXCEL can host more casual gatherings of students interested in the topics of entrepreneurship in a welcoming and casual environment, and this idea has stuck with me. I’m so excited to be helping to lead the new program!”

    Young Creatives Book Club Sticky note activity!

    The first meeting of the Young Creatives Book Club (YCBC) was Tuesday, September 17th. The group watched the TED Talk, then they followed Danielle’s advice to answer the question, “What are the things your inner critic says?” They then put them into the various “Buckets of Lies” that the book describes as primary categories for these thoughts. Finally, the group reflected on how similar many of these thoughts were, and then took the post-it notes back to turn them into positive thoughts. For example, “I’m not good enough” might be turned into “I am trying my hardest and am exactly where I should be right now.”

    Participants of the first session really appreciated the opportunity to discuss self-criticism with other artists. “I love the community formed,” one student shared. “We are not alone. We all struggle with these sometimes paralyzing thoughts.” Another student commented, “This topic is very important but rarely touched on in school.”

    Young Creatives Book Club (YCBC) meets again on Tuesday, October 1st at 7 pm in the EXCEL Lab. Anyone is encouraged to attend, even if you weren’t at the first meeting or haven’t started reading the book! RSVP for the meeting on Handshake so we know how much food to order.

    For an exciting culmination of the series, the third meeting will be Wednesday, October 16th at 7 pm. AND, author Danielle Krysa will be joining via Skype! YCBC is crowdsourcing questions for Danielle, so you can add any of your questions for her to this Google Doc. You do not want to miss this exciting event! BUT – for those who are interested but unable to attend, the Skype call will be recorded and available to watch later.

    We hope to see you at a YCBC meeting! Questions about the Young Creatives Book Club? Stop in and ask at the EXCEL Lab, or email smtdexcel@umich.edu.