Blog Archives - LOKI KARUNA

11/17/2016 0 Comments

November Masterworks

With the world the way it is right now, I often find it hard to justify myself as a musician without making an effort to play an active role in our society outside of music. Classical music is guilty of letting the events of the world slip by if it doesn't immediately concern classical music, but this week the Knoxville Symphony is presenting a program I am very proud to be a part of.

The show starts with a concert overture by Charles Ives, entitled "Variations on America". It uses the tune "My Country 'Tis of Thee" and transforms this song we know into beautiful, yet sometimes a little ugly, sounds that, in my opinion, represent the varying opinions and cultures of America. My favorite variation puts the song into a Spanish setting, and even though it's a bit humorous, I think it fits well considering we we all went through last week.

The second piece is a work by African-American composer William Grant Still. If you don't know he was, I highly encourage you to do a little research on him, as he is the most important classical composer of color of our time. The piece we're performing is his first symphony, subtitled "Afro-American Symphony". The piece was meant to show classical artists that the traditions and culture of black America are as important as any other, and he takes jazz, blues, and folk themes and mashes them together in a symphony that is quite beautiful, and quite timeless.

Speaking of folk music, the concert also has a mandolin concerto. It was written and will be performed by Jeff Midkiff, and it plays on the folk sounds of the south with an overall sonority anyone could recognize. The piece does a great job of featuring all members of the orchestra, and toward the end has a nice duet between mandolin soloist and concert master, forcing him to play in more of a fiddle style. I'm very happy to have come across this piece and I think it will be the crowd favorite.

The concert will conclude with Aaron Copland's "Appalachian Spring", which is performed quite regularly around the world. The music comes from a ballet that depicts a young couple starting a life in the wild wilderness, and sounds exactly like you might expect it - southern American. Aside from Copland's American heritage and pride for what we do as musicians here, he was gay, and it's important to acknowledge this type of diversity in classical music as well.

I really hope you can make it if you're in the Knoxville area this week. Visit knoxvillesymphony.com for more information on tickets - hope to see you there!!

11/4/2016 0 Comments

Why New Music?

Well before I began thinking about becoming a radio host, or anyone who would program music for anything, I've had a strong thirst for new and interesting music. This certainly applies to classical music, but in my life it means that I'm constantly searching iTunes for the latest pop hits, scouring YouTube for something I hadn't heard before, and waiting patiently for my favorites (like Nicki Minaj and Beyonce) to give us another album. I don't think I'm unique in the fact that I want to hear new things outside of classical, but unfortunately it seems that most people that love instrumental music only want to hear what they know.
When I think of the phenomenon of new music and how it affected its listeners, my first thought is The Rite of Spring by Stravinsky. When it premiered, the audience went wild, and not in a good way. Chairs were thrown, people fought, and the music was treated like trash because it was so new and so different. Today, of course, the work is considered a masterpiece and acclaimed as the greatest piece of music written in the 20th century, but I like the idea of being there when the music is born with a deep appreciation.
   On my radio show I make it a point to integrate as much new or unfamiliar music as I can so that listeners are learning something. There's nothing I hate more than the idea that classical music is background noise, and I refuse to be a programmer of elevator music. I do understand that some of the sounds of symphonies, concertos, and sonatas written in the past few decades can be a little jarring, but I also make a point to give listeners something to attach their minds to while the music plays. It would be one thing if I pressed "play" on the weirdest sounding thing and said "Good Luck!", but I spend most of my time outside of practicing, playing with the KSO, and bartending doing research and preparing a script for myself, so that any and every listener can at least understand the perspective and goals of the composer and performers they hear. As I type this I'm listening to the third symphony of Carl Nielsen, and I even though I think the music is very nice, I can see how someone would have a problem with it.
   So why do I think this is important? To start, as a classical musician I fear that one day orchestras will become museum pieces, instead of remaining an active and important part of the communities in which they live. In my opinion, the biggest part of the continuation of classical music is the integration of new music, new musicians, and new ideas about what it means to hear a live concert. By "new ideas about what it means to hear a live concert", I'm referring to the entire experience, or gesamtkunstwerk if you're feeling like looking up a long German word. Who cares what you wear to the show? What you eat or drink in the concert hall? When you clap? Not me. With the steady yet intentional programming of new and lesser-heard pieces of music into every concert, classical radio show, and recital, classical music grows, moves, and evolves with the rest of the world, ensuring its place in society for decades to come.
   We're all entitled to like or not like anything when it comes to art, but I have to do my part in preserving the art that I've dedicated my life to, and I think you should do the same in whatever your walk of life is. If you're interested in a healthy mix of classic sounds and contemporary masterpieces, listen to my show on 91.9 FM (if you're in the Knoxville area) or stream live at wuot.org, Monday-Friday from 1-4 PM EST.