Part 2
Collaborations can take on many forms. What role do they play in your approach and what are your preferred ways of engaging with other creatives, such as the ensembles you're working with?
The art of music is the art of collaboration. Whether it's collaborating with a composer, with vocal or instrumental musicians, other conductors, or venues/presenters, collaborations are a welcome and essential aspect of my work. With Choral Arts Initiative, collaboration is a regular occurrence. There is almost always a consultation with the artistic leadership team, which is comprised of section leaders, the assistant conductor, and the singer representatives (singer elected and board-appointed ex-officio positions). Yes, there are moments as a conductor where some executive decisions are made without input. But, most of the time, I strive to establish a thoroughly transparent process to let the vocal musicians know when the decision is ours or when the decision is mine.
Take us through a day in your life, from a possible morning routine through to your work, please. Do you have a fixed schedule? How do music and other aspects of your life feed back into each other - do you separate them or instead try to make them blend seamlessly?
Like many musicians, I wear several different "hats" and so there is no typical day. The most consistent part of my day-to-day life is my teaching position at Moorpark College, with regular rehearsals and courses that I teach. Outside of that, my work with Choral Arts Initiative truly varies depending on the day or week. Since I serve as both the Executive and Artistic Director, one day can be more of an "executive" role (e.g., negotiating contracts, securing venue partnerships, record label relations, writing grant proposals, meetings, etc.) where as the next day can be more of an "artistic" role (e.g., talking with composers about future projects, future programming concepts, score study, rehearsal preparations, etc.).
While no two days are the same, there are definitely protected "pockets" built into every day. That includes waking up and staying away from emails or work for at least the first 1-2 hours. During this time, I brainstorm, reflect, and make my most critical or important decisions, whether a business deal or a personal matter. Shortly after this, I will do some form of exercise for at least half an hour. I will meditate for 5-10 minutes at some point in the afternoon. Finally, I will wrap up my day with a quick journal entry/reflection in the evening. These aspects of my day happen with disciplined regularity regardless of what the schedule for the day might be. Initially, I used to blend music and life/work altogether. After all, music is my job, and my job is music. However, I have learned to separate the two to manage my time better and set healthy boundaries over time.
Can you talk about a breakthrough work, event or performance in your career? Why does it feel special to you? When, why and how did you start working on it, what were some of the motivations and ideas behind it?
"From Wilderness" really felt like a breakthrough work, for a variety of reasons. For one, it was the first real activity we had after things shutdown at the start of the pandemic. It felt great to get back into things with renewed perspective and purpose. We also learned a lot from our first album in 2017, and we could take the lessons we learned from that and apply it to this new album from a recording, production, and rehearsal standpoint. Having lots of spare time during the shutdown gave us ample opportunity to plan and analyze our rehearsal and recording processes. The recording phase went from June to October 2021. Pre-release spanned October 2021 to actual release in April 2022. Seeing the success of it in the marketplace was equally rewarding, e.g., getting to see it charting on Billboard, Spotify, iTunes, etc.
It was also a project featuring music by one of my closest friends since college; seeing his joy and success was very meaningful.
The motives behind the piece reside with the composer (you should check out his 15 Questions interview!). But we were undoubtedly motivated to record the album as an organization. As an ensemble focusing on contemporary works, we prioritize capturing works in the moment. We wanted to capture as much of "From Wilderness" as possible in its inception. The process reinforced our belief that we need to capture more works from living composers at the moment to share it with a broader audience.
There are many descriptions of the ideal state of mind for being creative. What is it like for you? What supports this ideal state of mind and what are distractions? Are there strategies to enter into this state more easily?
There are many myths about how to access creativity, but the easiest way for me to access it is to immerse myself with the unfamiliar or uncomfortable constantly. Drawing programmatic inspiration can happen through attending ballets, symphony performances, or even a DJ set at a nightclub. Putting myself in environments outside of my typical day can inspire new ideas. Another important way to access creativity is by having daily space for reflection. It's a protected time for me on my calendar every day. Creativity is not all about lightbulb moments. It's an accumulation of thoughts, reflections, and ideas that build over time, with which you can eventually synthesize things like narrative threads for a program idea or an entirely brand-new endeavor or initiative. We often think that creativity starts and stops with coming up with something "creative", but creativity is coming up with something that's A) novel and B) useful. The challenging part of creativity is figuring out how we take those novel/useful ideas and implement them. That's innovation. Creativity is one half of work for a creative organization; innovating and implementing creative ideas is the other.
Music and sounds can heal, but they can also hurt. Do you personally have experiences with either or both of these? Where do you personally see the biggest need and potential for music as a tool for healing?
If we think about it, we all enter the world singing, except we often mistake this for crying. Sometimes when we experience anguish, sadness, frustration, or shame, we can only muster a sound. I believe that the most significant need and potential for music as a tool for healing is to redefine and reframe what, exactly, is "music" and—even more specifically—what is "new music" in this space?
Our sense of hearing shares intriguing connections to other senses. From your experience, what are some of the most inspiring overlaps between different senses - and what do they tell us about how our senses work? What happens to sound at its outermost borders?
If we look at sound from a broad perspective, it is nothing but air moving through space and making contact with an object. Music, or sound speaking more broadly, can influence our affects, senses, and emotions. Hearing is a neurological skillset; thus it affects everything, from thoughts, to motions, to motor skills, and everything in between. It's why some feel they take in information better while there's music playing in the background or why surgeons listen to music in the operating room.
As a musician that primarily works with human voices, one of the most inspiring things I experience is the coordination of breath between multiple musicians. Music requires us to share the same inhalation and exhalation while we express the music together. It is an inspiring and compelling connection.
Art can be a purpose in its own right, but it can also directly feed back into everyday life, take on a social and political role and lead to more engagement. Can you describe your approach to art and being an artist?
Right now, there's more music being written by living composers that directly speak to social and political topics in ways that I haven't seen and to a degree that hasn't been documented in musical history. As a musical programmer, I must keep my views and perspectives in check. As an organization, we perform for a community and have to think of diverse audience perspectives. As an ensemble, we do not view our organization as a political activist charity. We do, though, view ourselves as artists who can provide artful commentary on current relevant topics in our lives, such as privilege, racism, spirituality, freedom, and much more.
What can music express about life and death which words alone may not?
I don't know if there's a limit on that. Without sounding too cliché, the challenge for any composer is how to best capture lived experiences in novel ways through music. As a conductor that focuses on new music, one of the exciting parts of my job is finding novel and distinct ways to describe those lived experiences. In the choral arts, we are marrying the music and the text. Words alone can provide clarity and perspective to experiences, but combined with sung music, a new level of perspective can blossom from that text.
