Guardian: Hey, Steve, can you hear me?
Steven Schick: Hello, we’ve connected!
G: Yeah, finally ‘mdash;
SS: That’s great. Thank you for calling back, I was just about to ring you. I got checked into my room and everything, so anyway, great.
G: First I should ask what you’re doing in San Francisco.
SS: I am working with Paul Dresher, the composer. He and I are doing a big piece which will premiere in March at Stanford, so I’m up here to rehearse with him and then I’m off to Canada tomorrow, to the Banff Center for the Arts for a few days.
G: Is that where you guys are going to work, in Canada?
SS: No, this is another thing altogether. So there are actually two projects, one with Paul and then I go tomorrow for another thing altogether. I’m organizing a summer course in contemporary percussion music at the Banff Center, so I’m going up to plan that. Hey, I’m just going to grab a chair, I’m not going to hang up on you, but I need to reach it, hang on one second ‘mdash;
G: Yeah, that’s fine.
SS: And I’m back!
G: Awesome. Wait, so where exactly is the summer course going to be held?
SS: At the Banff Center for the Arts in the Canadian Rockies, and it’s just about as beautiful a place as you’ll find on the planet. I’ll be teaching there in the summertime. So that should be pretty good.
G: Yeah, you always have kind of a full plate.
SS: There’s a reasonably full plate, exactly. G: All right, well about the Informances show, if you could sort of give me a summary of what we can expect from that ‘mdash; I wasn’t able to find too much information on it.
SS: Of course ‘mdash; we’re just making these things up as we go along, and this is our very second one. Thank you first of all for being interested. It started as a result of wanting to amplify the La Jolla Symphony and Chorus concerts, trying to make them more relevant to the university community, and also to take a look at the themes that are involved and explore them just a little bit. So rather than coming simply to a symphony orchestra concert, hearing an hour and a half or two hours of music and that’s it, we create a companion concert that will flesh some of those themes out. So this year’s theme with the symphony is called the DNA of music, and that means that every concert will have some sort of take or look at the building blocks of the musical experience. So that’s what we’re doing. We had our very first concert called ‘Time’ and the second was called ‘Motion.’ This one is called ‘Home,’ with the idea that you can tell a lot about a home, or, one’s home should be or can be heard in music. It’s a premiere of Anthony Davis’ ‘Amistad Symphony,’ which is drawn from the opera about the slave ship uprising. The concert coincides with the 200th birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin, so we are doing the Aaron Copland Lincoln portrait in our concert and a commissioned piece from a young UCSD composer, Rick Snow, about Darwin, and then doing the Pines of Rome, which is this great piece of Respighi about sort of ancient Rome. So that’s where we are ‘mdash; we wanted to explore those things a little bit.
G: Can you tell me a little bit more about the Rome piece?
SS: Oh, yes, okay. It’s by the Italian composer Respighi, it’s called the ‘Pines of Rome,’ it was written in the 1920s and it’s about four gardens, or four areas of Rome. The last one, for example, is the pines along the Apian Way, which is basically an impression of Roman soldiers marching down the Apian Way. It’s unbelievably loud and unbelievably exciting.
G: How did you guys choose that one in relation to the other pieces?
SS: We were looking at ways at looking at home, and of course the first thing that comes to mind is our home, and so we took a look at Lincoln, Copland, you know, Anthony Davis and Rick Snow, both of whom live in San Diego, and then I was thinking about, well, have other composers in other places at other times also had this kind of relationship with their homes? So not just our home, but perhaps somebody else’s home. Of course, there are quite a number of them, but that was one that I chose because I really like the piece.
G: Right ‘mdash; that always helps.
SS: It really does ‘hellip; it really does.
G: So how does that fit into the DNA theme?
SS: Well that’s the way we fit it in, because each concert has a different title, like this one is ‘Home.’ Now, the Informance ‘mdash; what I’ve been describing to you thus far is basically the concert that will take place on the weekend, which is the 7th and 8th or something like that. So what we’re doing at the Loft on the 4th is basically takeoffs of all that sort of stuff. So Cecil Lytle, who’s the narrator of the Lincoln portrait, is of course the long-time provost of Marshall College and really a big figure and an important figure for us at UCSD, he’s also a fabulous pianist, and so he’s going to be doing some playing. And we’ll talk about the impact of African-American composers on music of the concert hall, so in other words, African-Americans who have written for symphony orchestras or recitals ‘mdash; things like that. And then we’ll have Anthony Davis also play, who’s also a wonderful pianist, and will play a set of piano variations that he’s written on his ‘Amistad Symphony.’ Rick Snow will talk about his piece. We’re going to have a discussion also of the relationship of so-called art music ‘mdash; and I don’t know what to call it, because I don’t think that popular music is not art, I don’t like that term, but you know, music that’s destined for the concert stage ‘mdash; we’re going to talk about if there’s a social component to that music. Should we be involved in our community? Should we care about political and social events? Or should we care more? That kind of question, that actually kind of rarely comes up in classical music circles.
G: Right, but, everyone who comes to the show probably does care.
SS: I think so ‘mdash; I think you’re right. Oh, there’s one more piece just to mention: We’ll play a piece by Lou Harrison, a great American composer who died a couple of years ago, for violin and percussionists, and we’ll play that with Peter Clark, who’s the concert master of the La Jolla Symphony.
G: You guys have done one Informance already, right?
SS: That’s right, in December, around the concert we called ‘Motion,’ and that featured a dance company and a lot of guest musicians. Basically people who were associated with the concert but had something else to offer. So it’s a mixture of conversation and performance.
G: Sort of more targeted toward students, I’m guessing.
SS: And it’s also targeted to get students and UCSD people together with the people who come and are our regular subscription audience. In fact it’s weird that the orchestra’s on campus, and I’m a professor, and that there’s as little comingling as there is. And so, I want our community members to see students, and feel what it’s like there, and I want students to see that there are people in their 40s, 50s ‘mdash; 60s and 70s in some cases ‘mdash; who still want to learn something. I think it’s a nice combination.
G: How was audience interaction the first time around? Did you learn something from it?
SS: You know, it was fabulous. And we did things that were sort of experiments ‘mdash; there was improvisation with this Mexican dance company, Tijuana-based dance company Lux Boreal, and redfishbluefish, and then there were questions, and there was conversation ‘mdash; you know, I thought it was really great.
G: Was the crowd very big?
SS: The best thing about the Loft is it’s an intimate space. I’m guessing we had like 80 people or something like that.
G: Was that capacity?
SS: Yeah it’s pretty close, actually. It gets full ‘mdash; it felt full. You know, there would have been room for some more, and the coverage that you’ll give us will be really, really helpful, but it really felt both full and kind of intimate at the same time.
G: I was actually wondering about that ‘mdash; the Loft seems so small to me, I was wondering how you guys dealt with that space.
SS: Well keep in mind that for the Informances, we’re not using the full symphony ‘mdash; that would really be impossible. So we’ll just talk about it and we’ll feature people who play smaller pieces. You know, for example we’ll have piano solos in the next Informance, and we’ll have a piece for some percussionists and violin, but the full symphony orchestra would be out of the question.
G: How were the dancers able to deal with the space?
SS: First of all, they did a fabulous piece that’s supposed to be done on a four by four square. They did an improvisation in and amongst the audience using that space, so that was great. It was a lot of fun. So yeah, we’ll think of something to do, we have a plan but it’s supposed to be conversation, so who knows exactly how the evening will go.
G: You might have to dance.
SS: You know, stranger things have happened.
G: All right, so last year I interviewed you when you became the conductor for the La Jolla Symphony’hellip;
SS: I remember that very well.
G: And I was just wondering how you’ve been doing since then, because that was a huge thing to take on.
SS:
You know, it’s good to check in with you about this. You know, it’s ‘mdash; pardon me, I’ve got a little bit of a cold ‘mdash; the increase in the workload has been kind of stunning. Because you know, I’m learning now a program every five weeks for the orchestra, in other words memorizing some scores, learning others from the score, managing rehearsals and things like that. And that’s fine; that’s exactly what I signed up for. It’s been interesting to see it, to be part of an ongoing ensemble. Often times in the professional musical world, you play a concert with these group of people, a little bit like what I’m doing this week ‘mdash; here, then going somewhere else, and the scenery changes all the time. To see the same group time after time after time, rehearsal after rehearsal, and to develop a rapport, a way of working with the same group, it’s been just fascinating. And actually very, very rewarding. So I have to say that’s a great thing. And then ‘mdash; you know that I’m a percussionist, and so having a chance to conduct a Beethoven’s Symphony as I did in the concert that you interviewed me about, or as we’ll do later in this year Bauer or Brahams or Stravinsky ‘mdash; it’s just music that I never thought I would have this relationship with. And it’s actually stunning. And the orchestra plays well, and we’re having a good time together, so it’s been very positive, including the workload. But it’s a sobering thing.
G: And how does it compare to being a professor?
SS: I see it as a part of my professorship. In the first place I mean literally, because the La Jolla Symphony and Chorus has an affiliation with UCSD. I’m not paid to be its conductor so I do this as part of my association with UCSD, so it feeds right into that. Of course you’re right ‘mdash; it’s kind of teaching work, but I’m not in a classroom per say. But this year I started a course on the symphony which I’ll continue in the future, a course not just on the symphony in an abstract way but on our symphony, the one that’s associated with UCSD, and the concerts that we give and using the orchestra and its rehearsals in the laboratory.
G: Oh wow, so is that for music majors or is it more of a general ‘mdash;
SS: It’s a general education course, Music 9, a lower-division course that satisfies all those requirements. I had a fabulous time with that class actually, and I’ll do it again in the fall.
G: I had no idea; I didn’t know that you had gone back to teaching.
SS: Yeah, no, I never left teaching at all. Never. I didn’t actually even ‘mdash; I just added this.
G: Maybe that’s why it’s so sobering.
SS: That must be why.
G: So what did you teach last year?
SS: Let’s see, you’re talking about 2007-08? I taught all of my percussion students, so I have graduate percussion students and redfishbluefish. I taught a seminar on the performance of contemporary music and interpretation, I taught a master class, I taught mostly within the music department ‘mdash; and so this year I’ve taught a little bit outside.
G: So, back to the show, you said both the composers of the Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin pieces are from around here?
SS: Well, the Charles Darwin piece is composed by a student here. The Lincoln piece is composed by a very famous American composer, a traditional American composer who’s been dead now for several years called Aaron Copland, but it will be narrated by Cecil Lytle, who has the UCSD connection. But these concerts coincide with the 200th birthday of both Lincoln and Darwin, who were born on the same day.
G: I was just wondering if either of these historical figures has meant anything special to you.
SS: A little but this was just thrown at us, I mean by the calendar, you know. I was made aware of that, so I thought, oh ‘mdash; we’ll use this as an angle. I would have to say that Lincoln especially ‘mdash; you know, I’m a Midwestern boy, and I really kind of resonated with Lincoln, and I’m certainly not the only one who ever did, but I’m old enough to remember the 100th anniversary of his death, his assassination, and ‘mdash; and feeling sad. I was 11 years old in 1965, and so I remember thinking, oh right, it was 100 years ago today. And I think it’s a very beautiful piece by Copland, and I think it really is extraordinarily timeless. In fact, a performance of that was done on the Lincoln memorial concert before the inauguration. The same thing exactly.
G: Except there’s going to be a narration over it?
SS: There was a narration then ‘mdash; I think Tom Hanks narrated it.
G: Oh, really? Well, you guys got the next best thing.
SS: I only heard about it, because I didn’t actually see the concert, but someone told me. So if that’s wrong I got bad information, but I believe that it’s true.
G: And Charles Darwin ‘mdash; any connection there?
SS: It’s hard to know. I think it’s really safe to say that I’m not more than a generalist on either of these. I wouldn’t ever say that I know something.
G: So they’re not your muses or anything.
SS: Well that would be an extreme ‘mdash; but I don’t mind being a generalist.
G: Do you do your own composition? I thought you might have.
SS: No, I never did anything, and I’m really actually quite happy not to have. I wrote a book and I’m sort of very, very slowly at work on another one.
G: When did your book come out?
SS: My book was released in 2006, and it’s about percussion music and about the pieces that I’ve commissioned. It’s 99 percent research-free, so it actually works just fine.
G: I recently read about your trip up California recording sounds.
SS: Yeah, right, the walking trip.
G: What have you taken away from that? Have you used any of those, or have they inspired you to take on anything in particular since then?
SS: Well, I suppose the only thing that they’ve really inspired me to do is to think about doing more walking trips. That has been fascinating for me. And I don’t know when I will, but I think about it a lot. And it was a spectacular thing ‘mdash; I mean, it was a 716-mile trip.
G: Yeah, I couldn’t believe it.
SS: It was an extraordinary experience. It’s been now a couple of years, so it’s not that new anymore, but it’s ‘mdash; just listening and walking, you know, like everybody walks but nobody listens. You’re sort of plugging your ears. So it was a fascinating thing, really to listen carefully to the sounds of our home, and in fact if there was one thing that really led into this concert it was that. Like, what does California sound like? That’s a question which hardly anybody asks, and yet it’s so important to us, you know? It sounds like people speaking different languages, it sounds like construction, it sounds like the ocean, it sounds like traffic, it sounds like a ‘mdash; a lot of things, things that have become important to us that we don’t even notice anymore. If we forget what things sound like, then we pretty soon forget who we are, I think.
G: If you were to take another walking trip, would you keep it within California?
SS: Yeah, the one that I’m most interested in ‘mdash; although this is at least a couple years away, because I don’t know when I would find the time ‘mdash;
G: Yeah, me either.
SS: It would be to reprieve John Muir’s walk from San Francisco to Yosemite Valley. That’s what I would most like.
G: That would be amazing ‘mdash; maybe a little less of the urban sounds, right?
SS: You’d get everything, because of course where he walked was through Oakland.
G: Oh, no way.
SS: I mean, Oakland was a much different place in the 1870s ‘mdash;
G: A few more oaks, maybe.
SS: Yeah, exactly. And then of course walking across the San Joaquin valley and the
n walking up along the Modesto River ‘mdash; it would take probably a month to do it, maybe three or four weeks. So that’s the question, really, is will there be time.
G: What do you think you bring out of that experience as a conductor?
SS: Look, I think a musician who has something to say has got to be more than a player. By that I mean the distinction between somebody who can execute an instrument, who has mastered an instrument, and somebody who has something to say. I will always continue, like every other musician, to work on the craft of playing ‘mdash; and I’m not saying I’ve mastered percussion or conducting, certainly not conducting ‘mdash; but as a corollary, as a counterweight to that, you have to be able to be a rich and full human being. Maybe a little unpredictable. Maybe a little ‘mdash; with a few surprises even for yourself, in order to be an interesting artist. And I think taking a walk like that would give you some surprises.
G: Yeah, well it would give you a lot of time to think, wouldn’t it.
SS: Well that’s what I thought about the first one, that’s for sure. And it was fascinating.
G: How long did it take, that walk?
SS: It was about five and a half, six weeks.
G: And where were you staying?
SS: I stayed at a lot of little hotels along the way, I camped a little bit and I stayed with friends. Kind of a mixture of things.
G: That’s so great. Okay, let’s see. After the recent inauguration, I was wondering how you think things could possibly be changing for you, or California, or the nation ‘mdash; just sort of what you foresee.
SS: It’s an interesting thing ‘mdash; the thing on everyone’s mind, the kind of elephant in the room for all the art organizations, is the economy. We will be hit as hard, if not harder, than everybody else, but it seems to me that basically making art might be actually really, really good for the economy. I read someplace, and I think that this sounds right, that for every dollar spent on a ticket ‘mdash; to classical, popular jazz, whatever kind of music ‘mdash; that roughly $9 or $10 is generated in economic stimulus. Right now the project I’m working on here with Paul, I mean we’re building sets, we’re hiring a lighting designer, we’re buying equipment, so it’s really ‘mdash; we’re actually making something as opposed to the idiots who got us into this into the first place, who weren’t making anything, just creating money with each other, you know?
G: Right.
SS: As one of the guys working on the project said, ‘We’re entering the era of the big but.’ I said, ‘What?’ And it’s like, ‘You know we would love to do your concert, buuut ‘hellip; you know the economy.’
G: So they just use it as an excuse.
SS: Right ‘mdash; the year of the Big But.
G: Do you think that’s going to be changing anytime soon?
SS: We’ll see. I’ve already had two trips cancelled because of the economy, one to Europe and one to Brazil. So you know, that’s too bad. I won’t make that money or have those experiences, and you know ‘mdash; I’m very happy to be home, but I think there’s a lot of people who don’t have teaching positions and that aren’t insulated and will be hurting.
G: What do you think the inauguration of the new president will mean?
SS: I think I’m as hopeful as everybody else is. I think he’s an extraordinary person and I really hope he’ll be a great president, and actually I kind of think he will be. I think it’s going to be exciting to see what happens in the next four years, maybe eight. You know, the raw material of art ‘mdash; you don’t make art if you don’t have hope. Because art is about the future. You make it, you know ‘mdash; I’m practicing now for a concert in three months, or I’m writing a book that will be produced in seven years, or something like that. And if you don’t believe in the future, then there’s no reason to make art; it’s not for the past that you make it. And so I think the idea that there are good times, or better times, or more worthy times on the way is definitely going to be a stimulus to art-making.
G: I agree. Even if things don’t improve, it provides the motivation.
SS: Yeah, right, exactly.
G: Well, that’s pretty much it. Thank you so much for talking with me.
SS: And I won’t really have cell reception in Banff, but I will check my e-mail, so ‘mdash;
G: Okay, if I have any follow-ups, I’ll just shoot you an e-mail.
SS: Perfect. Thank you so much for your time, Simone. I really appreciate that.
G: Yeah, no problem. Have fun in San Francisco. Love San Francisco.
SS: Yeah, it’s a great city. All right, nice to talk to you.
G: See you around.