University Place

cc >> Welcome to the Midday. I'm Norman Gilliland. Today, we're broadcasting live, well, we're always live, but today particularly live and lively, because we're on stage here at Lawrence University in Appleton with some fabulous young talent. We're going to have three ensembles. We're going to have piano. We're going to have string quartet. We're also going to have a bluegrass band. Now, let's bring out our first performer who's a pianist. His name is Jonathan Fagan. He's ready to play right here. We're going to find out... a little bit about Jonathan and a little bit about what he's going to play. >> Sure. >> How long have you been here at Lawrence, Jonathan? >> This is my third year, so I'm a junior. >> Should I ask how many hours a day do you practice? >> That's a dangerous question. I always just like to say, as much as I can. But, you know, playing with ensembles and rehearsals and all that adds up. Probably around, I don't know, probably around four or five hours a day. >> Four or five hours a day? >> I try. >> Wow. Can you get it up to five or six? That really doesn't sound like quite enough, four hours.

laughs

You do what you can. If you were, regardless of the audience, here and both on television, this will be broadcast a little later on Wisconsin Public Television. Regardless of the audience here in the hall and out there listening on the radio, if you were sitting at the piano like this and were just going to put your fingers to the keys, what would you most likely be playing? >> I'm not sure, and that's the fun of it, I guess. But I just love improvising, even taking segments of classical pieces I'm working on, playing them in different ways. I'm a jazz and a classical pianist, so that makes it a lot of fun. I just, you know, take a Bach tune and put it in different keys and try doing different things with it. >> Bach liked doing that, too. >> I know. >> You're in good company. >> That's the great part. >> Is there a way to teach improv, of is that totally up to you? >> There is. I think, I mean, our jazz faculty has really shaped the way that I think about that, but you know, you introduce little boundaries, little boxes, I like to call them, that you're in. You know, just improvise using, you do this with little kids all the time, improvise using the white keys, improvise using the black keys, improvise using different rhythms. You just start to build these little structures that you play with and kind of grow out of. Ideally, when you sit down, you've got all that internalized and you just play, you don't think. You know, it's kind of a cliche. All the jazz musicians say, "I'm not thinking, I'm just feeling, man," or whatever.

laughter

>> I'm in the zone. >> I'm in the zone. But that zone comes out of a lot of thoughtful work. And that's what I love about this place, is you get to explore all of that. >> What do you learn from your fellow students here at Lawrence? >> Boy, what do I not learn from my fellow students at Lawrence? Just hearing the different ways they talk about music, they approach music, they perform. Everybody comes from really different backgrounds here, and I think that helps. Everybody has, you know, people go to summer festivals and they come back with these perspectives. A lot of students in my studio went to Spain last year. When they came back, they studied with teachers there, and now in our studio comments, they're writing all these things they learned in Spain. Just talking to them and getting to know them as people, to. >> So what about that? What about the competitive aspect of being in a place like Lawrence. >> You know, I don't think about that nearly as much as I thought I would when I first got here. It seems like a really friendly environment, and you know, even in the case where there's a competition and we're all playing, everybody's hearing each other's pieces. We're encouraging each other. We view this as a team effort, I think. >> That's certainly a great way to look at it. You'll probably learn a lot more that way. >> I think so. >> Now, about Frdric Chopin. He is one of those composers who's really a pianist's pianist, in a way. He wrote things for orchestra, but they're essentially accompanying the piano, don't you think, those concertos, for example? >> Oh, yeah. Even in solo repertoires, you know, our teacher always has us writing, okay, this is a horn here, this is-- Then I know he loved to go to the opera, so all bel canto style opera, that gives you a lot of insight into how he's thinking and how he's writing, too. >> You're going to be playing the "Opus 10, No. 3 tude." I remembered that right? >> Yeah. >> Which is one that really does sing. In fact, in the 1950s, there was a pop song put to this. >> Really? >> Yes. >> I did not know this. I'll have to go look it up. >> Yes, I can provide you a copy of that, as soon as I remember the name. No, you're all way too young out there! >> I'll have to bring it to my jazz combo. >> Well, there you go. It's quite possible, but yes, it's a very songful tude. It's one of my personal favorites, too. >> Yeah. >> So, anything else we should be listening for when we hear it? >> Just enjoy it, hopefully. >> Can't have better advice than that. Here you go, Jonathan Fagan, with Chopin's "Opus 10, No. 3."

applause

>> When did you discover Chopin? >> When did I discover Chopin? I don't know if I would count when I was younger and just playing little, you know, little things as discovering Chopin. I think when I got to college, I started to really get it about what he was writing and who he was. But then again, I probably still don't get it

laughter

>> There's so much to get. >> Exactly. >> What about jazz? >> What about jazz? >> Such as, when did you discover jazz, and what is jazz anyway? >> What is jazz. >> It's changed so much over the years. >> I think we started in my jazz history class with that exact question. The best answer, which one of my student friends who actually is here, he described jazz as a feeling. I think that's really accurate. I think it's just, I mean, you can go into the roots. It's from New Orleans. It's from a tradition, a lot of horn players, a lot of piano players. >> Even some banjo players early on. >> Yeah, banjo. I still love banjo. >> Yeah, me too. >> But I think it's just this feeling of freedom within a structure of a class coming out of oppression and trying to make something new. Then again, you could say that about a lot of popular music. >> So there's just something elusive about jazz. >> Yeah. >> What about this piece that you have? Is this an improvisation? >> Well, I wrote a tune over the summer. It started with a melody. I was just playing around with some harmonies that my piano teacher gave me, and that I liked. It just kind of came from there. I'm not sure. >> That's what a lot of composers would say. What's the name of this piece? >> It's called "Phase Change." After I was thinking about, I think it was my high school chemistry class, they had this beaker full of some kind of liquid, and it just kind of boiled very slowly, and turned from one form into another. I was thinking about that's how people are, too, kind of. >> That is so true. >> We change very gradually. >> And sometimes we boil over.

laughter

"Phase Change." >> All right.

applause

>> "Phase Change" with Jonathan Fagan. Just another question or two before you go. I know you've got another four hours of practice to get in, right? >> Yeah, I've got to do that. I'm good. >> If somebody were to say to you, oh, you know, your style of piano jazz reminds me of so and so, and so and so, you might say that's probably because I spent a lot of time listening to...? >> Probably my teacher here, Bill Carrothers, actually. He's seriously one of my favorite pianists to listen to. Bill Evans, probably. >> Certainly one of the great classic jazz pianists, Bill Evans. >> I remember, I think his CDs were the first thing I got. I think my mom and I went to Tower Records or something back at home and bought a stack of about seven of them. I haven't stopped listening to them since. That might have something to do with it. >> I venture to say it does. One of these days, somebody could be standing right there and saying the same thing about Jonathan Fagan, don't you think?

applause

>> Thank you. >> Wasn't he great? Gosh.

applause

On our stage now, as you can see it's a string quartet. Awesome. How are you all today? >> Great, thank you. >> Very Good. >> I didn't hear anything from you. >> I'm doing wonderfully.

laughter

>> Well, I'm awfully happy to hear that. Let's see, let's start with the viola. We'll see who raises his hand.

laughs

The viola. I mean, you have to wonder, isn't the repertoire for the viola so much more limited than it is for the violin? >> There's definitely not a lot of classical repertoire out there for like, concertos, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and any composer like that. But as we progress to the 20th century, we got Hindemith, Shostakovich, a lot of really great composers out there that gave the viola a lot of great stuff. So, there's a lot of repertoire out there that a lot of people actually don't know about. >> So, you're living in the right century? >> Yes.

laughter

>> And our viola player, by the way, is Kyle Stalsberg. So, let's go a little higher. No, let's go lower, what do you say? Let's go lower and pick up our cellist. At least I assume you're a cellist, there's no instrument listed next to your name for some reason.

laughter

It's a sign of your modesty, I'm sure, as a performer. Mariatonia Longhi, did I get that right? >> Mariatonia, yeah. Maria is fine. >> I like that. Maria. What about your cello? How long have you been bonding with it? >> Um, I've had her since like my sophomore year in high school. We're best friends.

laughter

She's a sweetie. She's really nice. Yeah. >> She. She's really nice? It is a female instrument, do you think? >> I'm thinking. I think yeah. I think she looks it, and she sounds it. I don't think she needs a name. She's just like, she's great. She's great. >> There's a wonderful story, I wish I could remember better, about the cellist Lynn Harrell. He was, what shall we say, in a controversy with a certain airline that will remain nameless, because they... >> Messed up his cello? >> No, actually, they took away his, whatever you call them, companion flyer miles for his cello, because they said it's not a person. So, he did this very funny video about how, what shall we say, tricky he is as an individual, and not to be trusted, because he travels with his cello, that doesn't even eat lunch on the airplane. Have you had travels with your instrument? >> No, actually, I'm afraid to take her on a plane, so we drive from New York every time we come here. It's a nice bonding experience, I think.

laughter

A nice road trip, it's fun. >> You have a favorite cello repertoire? >> My favorite concerto is Dvorak, because the second movement is like the most beautiful thing in the world. I always cry. It's so emotional. >> You cry when you're playing? >> No, not when I play it.

laughter

Somebody professional, yeah. >> When you get to the right point though, you'll know, won't you? When you're crying, you'll know, I'm in the groove or in the zone, as the jazz players would say. >> In the zone, yeah. >> We'll look forward to hearing some Haydn cello. Hayden wrote concertos for the cello, right? Have you played those yet? >> I was going to say I don't really like Haydn, then I was like, wait.

laughter

We're playing Haydn. >> That's for another show. >> Yeah, exactly. >> Well, we'll expect you to do your best anyway. Even if it is Haydn. Now we have two violinists. You are Sophie Yang. Thank you. Have you been playing the violin from a very-- You're still at a very early age, but an even earlier age? >> Mm-hmm, I started when I was 6-1/2. >> Did you enjoy it when you were 6-1/2? How did it come about that you were taking violin lessons at that age? >> I actually wanted to play the piano when I started. My mom was like, we don't have space. We can't buy one, so she's like, pick something smaller. We went to the symphony a lot and they had a petting zoo, and I liked the violin. So it's actually worked out really well. >> You know, we had a Wisconsin Public Radio petting zoo a couple years ago at one of the art fairs on the square in Madison. It was absolutely fascinating to see little kids, younger than 6-1/2, some of them, pick up these instruments and just have the knack. You know, they'd never picked it up before and they just had this ability, you could tell. Because one, they could play better than I could, and they had never even touched the instrument before. It's just a fascinating thing, how some people just take right to it. Do you felt it worked that way for you? >> I don't know. I don't really remember. It was just something that became a part of my life every day. It gradually felt more and more natural and more of a part of myself. >> How do you feel about Haydn?

laughter

>> Okay, actually, when we first picked this to start with, I was like, "Uh, I don't know." But I really like it now. >> You've bonded with Haydn. That means that you're Andrea Johnson. >> I am, last time I checked.

laughter

>> Let's see, in this configuration, would you be first or second violin? >> First. >> What does Haydn give you as a first violinist that he wouldn't give to the second violinist, anything? >> All of the hard stuff.

laughter

>> Is that true? >> Sure. >> We'll talk about it later. I heard her say that.

inaudible

She gets moments. Everybody gets at least a moment. Haydn was very egalitarian that way. You're playing one of the last of the Haydn string quartets, it's "Opus 76, No. 5." I think there are only a couple more after this out of the many that he wrote. So this is Haydn after many years of developing this form. He developed it more than any other composer, Haydn did, because he wrote so many of them over such a long period of time. You're going to be playing the last two movements of the "Opus 76, No. 5." It's a minuet and finale, does that make sense? Okay. You have a name for your quartet. It's Quartet Masque. >> Yes. >> Just one quick question. Do you play often together? Have you been playing for a year or two together, since you've been at Lawrence? >> Yes, this is our second year. >> Quartet Masque, with the last two movements of Haydn's "Opus 76, No. 5."

applause

>> Quartet Masque, that's the name of the ensemble. That was two movements from Haydn's "Opus 76, No. 5." It sounded to me like you like Haydn just fine.

laughter

We'll look forward to your next performance. We're in, of course, Appleton, Wisconsin. Right now, I'm surrounded by members of a bluegrass band, which is a little unusual for this time of day here on WPR. I'm looking forward to being things a little unusual. I hope this name doesn't have anything to do with your being on this show. The Involuntary String Band.

laughter

Who's the spokesperson for this band? You're closest, you can explain that. And you are? >> I'm Martha. Well, I guess the origin of our name came, well, we were unsure about what we were going to name our band, so we actually went on band-name-generator.com.

laughter

>> Come on! You've got to be kidding. >> So that's how we got it. But yeah, it stuck. >> That raises questions, I'll give you credit for that. Did you form this band since Lawrence? Let me turn over here to our bass player. We have heard, by the way, that was Martha McDonnell, who is one of the fiddlers with the group. Now we have Nick Allen, who is the bass player, bassist. Do you play also classical bass or jazz bass, or are you just a bluegrass guy? >> No, all of us do a bit of all sorts of things. I play a lot of classical repertoire in school. I'm also in another bluegrass band. Me and Ilan, we play in a funk band together. There's a ton on stuff that we all do. >> Do you play the electric bass also to give you a lot of other stuff to play? >> Yeah, yeah, I play the electric bass too. >> So it's all music to you. Okay, and over here we have a very traditional looking guitar to me. You are... >> Ilan Blanck. >> Ilan, anything special about your instrument and how you got into bluegrass? It's maybe more of a natural for a guitarist than it would be for a bassist. >> Maybe, but not in my case. I actually never had any exposure to bluegrass or traditional old-time music. At the beginning of last year they were looking to start a group and I happened to be a guitarist who was around. I've had a great time learning and playing with them. >> What kind of things do you play with a bluegrass group as a guitarist? Anything you want? >> Well, I guess bluegrass is a really easy way to describe music with a sort of instrumentation. But we sort of try to do some different things. It gives me a lot of flexibility to add some different inflections along with everyone else. >> Who's the loudest in this group? Is there anybody that you have to kind of play to get over? I mean, the bass, of course, is a big instrument. But you're usually relegated to the background. With a guitar you're in front, but you have to compete with a mandolin. We'll get to the mandolin in a minute. How do the dynamics work? >> We usually try to be pretty conscious of how we're playing. I think probably the loudest would be the mandolin and the violin just because they're the highest pitched and because of the violin's tension compared to mine. >> That brings us over. We have to ask about this. This is Davey Harrison who's playing the mandolin. There's so many different kinds of mandolin, but you have a very small one there. >> Yeah. >> How did you get into bluegrass? Mandolin isn't the first instrument you'd think of for an entree into this, is it? >> Actually, what everyone kind of thinks of as the founder of bluegrass is Bill Monroe. He was a mandolin player. Really, this is the instrument that kind of pulled it all together. It was a combination of the fiddle tunes from Ireland, taking that and taking some of the roots music, the slave music from the South. It's really a massive melting pot of all these styles. It's like Celtic music with African beat really. Yeah, I originally fell in love with the mandolin, as I think a lot of people my age who play this instrument did, with players like Sam Bush and Christy Lee. It's a really good time to start getting into this instrument with so many people blazing trails. Chris just won the MacArthur Fellowship last year. It's getting a lot of fantastic exposure. And if you play this particular style of mandolin, which is the American style of mandolin, it's kind of a prerequisite that you start getting into the bluegrass community. It really is infectious. It sort of came to me after I fell in love with this instrument. >> You've got a couple of food related pieces here. Am I reading this right?

laughter

I'm not sure who would be responsible for that, but you get to eat after the show. How's that, everybody? >> That's good. >> And so this first one is called... >> Chinkapin Pie. >> All right. And chinkapin, in 20 words of fewer, is? >> It's a type of bird. I guess a bird made into a pie.

laughter

>> Oh, like those famous blackbirds of the nursery rhythm. Well, here it is, Chinkapin Pie. This is the Involuntary String Band.

tuning

applause

>> As I guess they might say in bluegrass circles, that was mighty tasty.

laughter

Now we're going to wrap things up with a vocal. >> Yep. >> Who are our vocalists? >> Ilan and I. >> Okay, so that means everybody has to play relatively quietly so they don't drown out the vocalists. Is that the trick here? >> Yes. >> That's it. This is You Are What You Eat.

laughter

tuning

You could find A million reasons -- They're not all bad Be careful What you believe in In a band, in the sand Out of touch, out of time I hope our love Is not a crime 'Cause I don't know What to do When my heart it pull me One way And my head Don't have a clue And I'm not one To mess about And scream and shout But if you are what you eat And you eat how you feel Then I don't feel so good 'Cause I'm a hypocrite Who makes me sick But worst of all I'm full of it I want to Practice what I preach So eat what you believe I think it's Time for me to put my money Where my mouth is Ocean shores are receding Are you aware -- For sale Distances can be deceiving I'm not the same Never been about the fame Or the cash I want it bad But there is no one to blame 'Cause I don't know What to do When my heart It tells me one thing But my head's Not sure it's true And I'm not one To mess about Scream and shout But if you are what you eat And you eat how you feel Then I don't feel to good 'Cause I'm a hypocrite Who makes me sick But worst of all I'm full of it I want to Practice what I preach So eat what you believe I think it's Time for me to put my money Where my mouth is 'Cause I never did Get your letter But I'll give you The benefit of the doubt It makes me feel better 'Cause I'm so sure That it's you But you're not Making this easy And I don't know what to do And I'm not one To mess about Scream and shout But if you are what you eat And you eat how you feel And I don't feel to good 'Cause I'm a hypocrite Who makes me sick But worst of all I'm full of it I want to Practice what I preach So eat what you believe I think it's Time for me to Put my money Where my mouth is

applause

>> Well, it sounded pretty voluntary to me.

laughter

That was the voluntary Involuntary String Band. That's the third of our ensembles and solos for this broadcast from Lawrence University, here in Appleton, Wisconsin. Another round of applause for all of our performers, if you will.

applause

That's enough. After all, we don't want to get them swelled up too much.

laughter

Save those standing ovations for later. Thanks to our engineer, Britny True, and also to-- You can go now, that's your alarm. To Stephanie -- and also to our friend Julia here. You're listening to Wisconsin Public Radio.

applause