Musicking in Dayton

It was an event that almost defied description.  As the participants arrived, it was difficult to tell what they had in common.  And yes, they were participants, not an audience.  Some were dressed for a formal event, men in the obligatory black bow tie and cuff links, ladies in black sequined dresses.  Others were men well passed retirement age, with shoulder length hair, boots, jeans and cowboy hats. Musicians came with instrument cases.  Parents came with children.  As they entered, they were greeted by a well-dressed doorman, a rented security guard, and a man with dreadlocks playing a steel drum. 

            The inside décor was every bit as eclectic.  In the entrance were tiki torches on either side of a giant stone face that could have come from the statue of Ozymandias.  The wall to the left was decorated with a variety of musical instruments that ranged from primitive folk instruments to death metal guitars.  They were hung over one bad ass West Coast custom motorcycle.  The right wall featured tombstones being the names of the establishments that had previously inhabited the building, but had gone out of business.  The date of the last departure was 2011.

            The  diversity of the people and the décor served to give context to the performances that were taking place in the room.  Only a few of the performances were happening on the stage.  On the left side of the room, the man behind the bar was engaged in making an ice sculpture.  Simultaneously, a fire dancer was entertaining the guests on the dance floor.  Simultaneous performances in fire and ice? Perhaps it bordered on cliché, but it was compelling nonetheless. On the balcony to the right an older lady was rendering a seaside Italian villa in oil paint.  Next to her a younger lady was painting the Tardis from the Dr. Who series.  Most of the guests would have been able to identify both paintings.

            The onstage performances were meant to be the aural expression of the other activities and they succeeded in doing so.  The beginning sequence was approximately as follows:  a tenor aria from an Italian opera, followed by Native American flute and drums, followed by a young female singer/songwriter.   After her performance the guests were brought to their feet by a blues band featuring a Dobro player, a guy playing harmonica, and an accordion player.  At one point in the performance, a slightly inebriated young female participated by pounding on the large ceremonial African drum that was placed in the middle of the room as part of the décor.  Blues jam meets drum circle, and the musicking cycle is complete.  Christopher Small would have been proud.  Unfortunately, Christopher Small passed away on September 5, 2011.

            In the beginning paragraphs of this paper, I purposefully chose to use the word “participants” and “guests” as opposed to such words as “audience” or “spectators,” for this is what they were.  In a Christopher Small inspired ethnographic analysis of a musical event, the question must be asked, “What exactly is going on here?” Simple observation would not have revealed the common thread that united the financiers and the fashionistas with the roofers and the rockers, but there was a relational connection between them.  That relational connection was Greg.

            Greg is the owner of the venue and the host of the event.  Greg is a lover of art and music.  Greg was also the guy playing the Native American flute and the guy playing harmonica with the band.  If Christopher Small was right, if music is all about how we structure relationships, then Greg had succeeded in creating his ideal world, if only for one evening.  He was surrounded by the art, the music and the people he loved, and all of those elements were interacting with each other.  Whether he knew it or not, Greg was musicking.

            The remainder of this paper will consist of an attempt to lay the philosophic foundation and academic structure behind the event the reader has just experienced vicariously.  Greg, the host of the event, was just following his heart and pursuing his passion, but in doing so he was engaged in an activity that has deep roots, and a promising future.  Hopefully, this paper will satisfy the curiosity of the scholars and feed the appetite of the sociomusicologists who value such events and long for them to be more commonplace.  

Finding Your Artistic Voice

One of the most important but difficult things I've encountered in my recent journey as a musician is the process of finding my voice as an artist.  For most of my life, the content and style of what I've performed has been determined by external forces; sometimes by the audience, sometimes by the organization.  Usually I'm playing in a group that has a predetermined sound or style and my job is to blend in with it.  That's okay, I don't mind blending in and I'm fairly good at it.  And its given me the ability to perform a very wide variety of styles.

But as a solo artist, or as a singer/songwriter it's different.  Now I can write or sing anything that's within my ability.  There's a different set of questions.  I started with questions like "What will get me some paying gigs?"  The entertainer in me asked, "What will this audience respond to?"  The artist in me has been slow to answer the questions, "What do I want to say?" and "How do I want to say it?"

For the moment, the songwriting has been taking the lead in artistic development.  I've discovered the sad truth about myself that I don't really rock.  When I started doing some serious songwriting, I wrote upbeat songs so that I would have something to play that would go over well with the open mic bar crowd.  These songs are holding up pretty.  But now I'm writing more personal songs and they seem to going in a old country/roots/americana/bluegrass direction.

I'm asking myself, "Why?"  Why is the Johnny Cash, Bill Monroe, Dwight Yoakam influence coming to the service? I've performed at the Schuster Center and Carnegie Hall with the Dayton Philharmonic Chorus, but I find myself feeling more comfortable at little bars and clubs.  And retirement homes.  Go figure.  I think that in spite of my aspirations and illusions to the contrary, I am a commoner.  Common as dirt.  That was my upbringing, and that's my preference.  I like hanging out with common people.  I despise things that reek of arrogance or pretension.  I guess it shouldn't be a surprise for it to show up in my music.

Celtic Traditions

This picture is from the Dayton Celtic Festival.  I play accordion for the band Sons O'Blarney.

You can find out more about the band here.  www.sonsoblarney.com

We've been playing together about 7 months.  When we started I didn't know any celtic music.  I like it well enough, but had never aspired to play it.  Now I like it.  Why?  It may come as no surprise that it's very conducive to getting audience response and interaction.  Since we do traditional Irish tunes, many people know all the words and sing along with us.  Some of the songs have long established traditions for when you are supposed to clap and shout responses to the band.

With the last name of Makofka, I grew up with polkas; ethnic music with Eastern European associations.  But I have to confess that Celtic music is every bit as much fun to play.  It can be fast.  ie crazy bluegrass fast.  As you can see in the picture, we don't have a fiddle player, so I get to play the fiddle parts.   It has been wonderful for my technique and dexterity.

Two of the songs we sing, "Finnigan's Wake" and "The Night that Patty Murphy Died" are about death and Irish wakes.  There is something healthy about including these subjects in music.  The Irish tradition for approaching death is rich and instructive.  I'm not Catholic or Irish, but if someone wants to have throw a wake for me when I'm gone it's okay with me.

Audience Response: Winning Over the Holdouts

This week's musical adventure was at Hidden Meadows Day Camp in Centerville, OH.  The high point of the show for me was that a kid who saw my show two years ago remembered that GNIROB is BORING spelled backwards.  For more information on this concept, go to www.mrmusicmaker.com

Notice the little girl in the yellow outfit.  Look at her body language in the first picture.  She has decided she is NOT going to be participating.  This was during a song where everybody makes animal noises. (technically, pet sounds, with references to Elvis and the Beach Boys)  By the second picture, she has soften a little.  This song is a dance contest between the grown-ups and the kids.  The adult leaders at the camp were GREAT and made it fun for everybody. (note:  They were great leaders, not necessarily great dancers.)  By the third picture she is in full motion.  Yes, the accordion is out and they are dancing to the Beer Barrel Polka.  What can I say, it's effective in multi-generational settings.

I point this out to support my idea that audience response is significant.  There are some artists who are so into their music (and themselves) that they probably wouldn't notice if the audience left while they were playing.  And some audiences enjoy being musical voyeurs; watching, but not participating in intimate exchanges between an artist and his music.  But for me, I'm looking for some response to let me know the music is getting through.  I'm trying to win over the holdouts who have walls of resistance to whatever effect I am trying to produce with the performance.

If you are going to music to benefit others, you have to participate in a circle of response.  You put your music out there and notice the audience response.  Then YOU respond to the feedback you are getting from your audience.  This puts the music in the context of social interaction and makes it more than just entertainment.  I believe this gives live music a greater therapeutic advantage than prerecorded music.

GoodTime Accordion Band at Bethany Village

Whenever we play for a senior center, we bring a lyric sheet so that the audience can sing along.  The tunes include Tennessee Waltz, Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue, Love Me Tender, You are My Sunshine, and other old favorites.  I usually lead the singing.  Today something unusual happened.  I usually sing the songs and expect that the audience will sing along.  But this group responded differently.  When I sang, they sat back and listened; passive observers of a reasonably entertaining show.  The songs they participated in the most were the songs that I didn't sing.  When it was just them singing they sang more loudly and enthusiastically.

The picture below shows the audience at the beginning.  They were waiting for lunch to be served and for us to start playing.  By the end of the show almost everyone was talking, smiling, and laughing.

We don't really feel like we've done our job until somebody gets up and dances.  This time it took us the entire show to make it happen.    We ended the show and were doing an encore performance of Beer Barrel Polka as they were walking out, when one couple finally started to dance.  It might have taken so long because it was a Ladies Luncheon and all the men were in the kitchen cooking and serving.  But Garrison Keillor would probably say it's because they were Lutheran.

Everyone Should Sing Somewhere

Several of the comments I heard about singing in public included the phrase "Yes, there was alcohol involved."  If people are more likely to sing in public when they've been drinking, it suggests that the thing that prevents people from singing in public is...well...inhibitions.  And nothing takes care of inhibitions better than alcohol.  Is it true that most people don't sing in public because they"re too inhibited?  Are people who do sing in public just less inhibited?  What fear do people have that keeps them from singing in public?  Do they fear being embarrassed?  What is embarrassing about singing in public?  Is it the fear of not singing well?

Have you ever been asked not to sing?  Did you stop singing as a result?  I've been asked not to sing, usually by family members.  If someone asks you not to sing, you should probably sing anyway, unless there is a sleeping baby in the room.  If you wake the baby, you have to take care of it.  What about concerts?  It's true that the person in front of you did not pay good money to hear YOU sing, so you should probably be respectful of the performer and the other members of the audience.  But if the person on the stage says, "Sing!" then sing!  The people in front of you should be singing, too.  If they were singing then your singing wouldn't bother them as much.  Have you ever asked someone not to sing?  It's alright to ask someone not to sing right here, or right now.  But I've had students who have had someone tell them they shouldn't sing at all.  How unfortunate.

One of the most amazing vocal performances I ever heard was in a small church in Philadelphia.  I was the pastor.  There was a girl in the congregation who wanted to sing.  She was the sweetest person you would ever want to meet, but she had a mental disability.  And from congregational singing the whole church knew that her ability to match pitch was not well developed. (to say the least)  But it was a small church and she wanted to sing.  I told her the same thing I told everyone who wanted to sing a solo.  Before you can sing you have to practice your song ten times in a row and then come sing it for me.  I figured this would put her off and save the congregation from five minutes of awkwardness during a service.

The next week she came back smiling.  She said, "My sister helped me and we went through the song ten times and I know every word."  She sang it for me and she did indeed know every word.  A deal's a deal so I told her she could sing it.  I don't remember  which song she sang, but I remember the performance.  From a musical perspective it was not good.  Some of the notes were close to being on pitch.  Some were not.  But when she was done there was not a dry eye in the house.  She sang the words with such sincerity and conviction that every heart was moved.

Yesterday during my interview with Charlie, he mentioned singing to his children.  He said, "I don't know if they like it because, you know me and pitch."  (Charlie is also harmonically challenged.) My thought was, "But you sang to them."  What more tender expression of love can their be then for a father to sing to his children?  I can't say for certain, but I'm pretty sure they remember it fondly.

Everybody should sing somewhere.  Some should sing on stage.  Others should sing in the living room, in the kitchen, or in the car.  Some should limit their endeavors to the shower.  Every parent should sing to their children.  Every grandparent should sing to their grandkids.    Sing when no one is listening.  If you are spiritual, sing as if someone is always listening.  Just sing.

Community Singing in America

Where do Americans sing?  Footballs fans ( a few) will sing the National Anthem.  Baseball fans sing at the seventh inning stretch.  Soccer fans (other than American) sing all the time.  Fans at concerts sing a popular song or two, but only when invited to do so. Kids sing in school, usually in music class or choir.  I have lost touch with what kids sing in school these days.  Do families still sing on car trips, or are all the family members engaged with their own ear buds?

And who would be considered the greatest American song-leader of my lifetime?  My first thought was Mitch Miller.  His TV show "Sing Along with Mitch" made him a household name from 1961-1964.  My second thought was Cliff Barrows. As song leader for the Billy Graham Crusades he lead millions in song for over 60 years.  Of course, I couldn't betray my Winona Lake roots by not mentioning Homer Rodeheaver, even though he was from an earlier time (1910-1930).

In 1977 I won my church denomination's national song leading award.  That's right, I was a nationally recognized church song leader by the time I was in 10th grade.  I remember that there were rules to follow.  You had to announce the song as hymn number, not page number, because hymnals frequently had more than one hymn per page.  You had to introduce the song with some meaningful remarks that were clear, but not to long.  Handling the transitions between hymns was a big deal.  And if you had the congregation stand to sing, you had to remember to ask them to be seated at the end.  You could hold the hymnal with one hand and conduct with the other, or put the hymnal on the pulpit and conduct with both hands, which was recommended for larger groups.

At some point churches went from having song leaders to having worship leaders.  The emphasis moved from the song to the response to the song.  And it is now preferred that you not "wave your hands in the air" but use them to play an instrument, preferably guitar.

Yesterday I did a performance at a retirement home with the Dayton Accordion Band.  In that group, we still do sing alongs.  I've only recently taken over the role of song leader with the group.  Now I lead singing while wearing a rather large accordion.  This isn't easy.  But it was instinctive to give the group cues for coming in and cut offs at the end of songs.  The group sang, by memory, some of the same songs they used to sing with Mitch Miller.  And they love singing patriotic numbers like America, the Beautiful.  But this generation sang those songs together in school.  They had a shared communal musical experience.

I wonder if there will be any kind of sing alongs in 20 years.  Will people feel comfortable singing in public? Will they have any shared songs?  I was surprised last year at my daughter's wedding.  At the end of the reception she and her friends all joined together and belted out a rousing rendition of ...wait for it... Piano Man.  That song was released  about ten years before they were born.  I don't think they knew all the verses, but they enjoyed singing the chorus.  And, yes, there was alcohol involved.

The Heart Song Project Intro

The Heart Song Project is the best name I have at the moment to describe the research I am doing in the area of music preferences.  The purpose of the study is to determine why we like the music that we like.

There are two aspects of my research that set it apart from the other studies that I have read.  Most of the studies of music preferences attempt to match or correlate music styles to personality styles.  The problem with this approach is that while we may have preferences for certain styles of music, the real emotional connection is not with styles of music, but with individual songs or works of music.  You may prefer to listen to classical music, but the thing that gives you chills or goosebumps is Handel's Messiah.  You may prefer to listen to melancholy 70s music, but the song that reaches deep into your heart is Karen Carpenter singing "Bless the Beasts and the Children.  These selections that have the most emotional impact are what I call "heart songs."

The second distinctive aspect of my work is that while most studies on music preferences use young people as test subjects, I have done my research with senior adults.  The problem is that music preferences as still in formation during adolescence.  Heart songs are still being developed.  Young people may like one style of music now and then outgrow it, replacing with another style as they reach maturity.  If you have dealt with older people you know that their music preferences are not in flux.  They are stable.  They haven't changed in years and are not likely to change in the near future.  I believe this stability of preferences gives a better indication of how these preferences were formed.

The main application of my work so far has been in the areas of memory recovery and legacy creation.  I have had senior adults tell me that they don't remember much about their childhood and certainly don't remember the music.  However, once I start asking questions from the "Life Soundtrack Worksheet" they start to remember people, places, events, and the songs associated with them.  These songs, learned in childhood and buried deep in the memory, have excellent potential for being heart songs.

The desire to assist with legacy creation has come out of my own life experiences.  When I was growing up, my father played his accordion almost every night.  A few years ago I had the opportunity to take him into a studio and just let him play.  In music performer lingo, he "tore it up."  He delivered an incredible performance, one that he would be unable to duplicate today.  In my pastoral work, I have held discussions with the relatives of the deceased while we did funeral planning.  Family members did their best to remember what songs the person enjoyed that could be played at the memorial service.  In legacy creation, I help senior adults identify the songs and performers that are most significant to them.  I have them write down the stories associated with the songs, and then I encourage them to share both the song and the story with family members.  When they tell the story and play the song for younger generations they create a legacy.  And when they are gone, the younger generation can play that song, remember the story and feel close to their departed loved one again.

Wagner Performance cancelled in Israel

I was listening to an NPR interview with Yonathon Levni, the founder of the Israel Wagner society.  He was talking about having his performance of Wagner in Israel cancelled.

Read full article here.

He asked the question of why God would give such a despicable human being the ability to write such incredible music.  Wagner's anti-semitism and the fondness of Hitler for his work are well known.

I asked myself the question, "Why bother?"  Is doing a performance of this work in this place at this time worth the anger, controversy and hard feelings?  One holocaust survivor said it would be "emotional torture."  Why not just let it rest?  How many people in Israel are wanting to listen to Wagner anyway?  Is this using the power of music to unite or divide, to heal or to harm?

Let me state a disclaimer. In many ways I am not emotionally qualified to address the issues involved here.  Some of my distant relatives were probably Polish Jews, but none that I know of were affected by the Holocaust.  I don't know and can't know the emotional effect Wagner's music would have on a Holocaust survivor.  I have also not personally read Wagner's writings on the subject.

But having said that, I do think that the performance would be a good thing.  It would be at least a major irony, and at most a major victory, for a Jewish orchestra, under the direction of a Jewish conductor, to perform the music of Wagner in the nation of Israel.  It would assert the power of music over hate.  It would be a way for Jewish people to say, "We will claim art and beauty where we find it and in doing so, prove that Wagner's Judeaophobic rantings are quite simply, wrong."

The performance might not be comforting.  It could produce conflicting emotions and inner turmoil.  It could raise questions about history, philosophy, theology, and the nature of man.  But isn't that what art does?

The Garden of Your Mind Remix (brilliant!)

PVC Alpenhorn

What I do at Wasson Music Center

Thoughts from the Adele NBC Special

1)  Adele's audience can sing!  I don't know if the soundtrack for the TV special was enhanced, but when they sang along, the audience sounded like a choir.  They had internalized nuances of pitch, tone, timbre and inflection and reproduced them with stunning cohesion.  Remember, this was an unrehearsed, unconducted performance.  The human mind has an amazing ability to record and reproduce music.  And this ability is very normal and common.  Adele's audience was not a trained choir.  They were just a group of music lovers who were able to get tickets to the show.

2)  I'm always looking for music that unites, rather than divides.  While my wife and I were watching the show she commented that "Everybody likes Adele."  While I know that this is not completely true, it is true enough.  The interesting part is that, at least in our household, Adele's appeal is multigenerational.  My wife, daughter, and granddaughter all like it.  It does not, however, appeal to both genders equally.  Neither I nor my sons are big fans.

How is the "Everybody likes Adele" affect achieved.  The Wall Street journal published an interesting article on the formula for producing music with emotional appeal.  There are several techniques including appogiaturas, harmonic tension and release, and controlling expectation and surprise.

"When the music suddenly breaks from its expected pattern, our sympathetic nervous system goes on high alert; our hearts race and we start to sweat. Depending on the context, we interpret this state of arousal as positive or negative, happy or sad.emotionally intense music releases dopamine in the pleasure and reward centers of the brain, similar to the effects of food, sex and drugs. This makes us feel good and motivates us to repeat the behavior.

Measuring listeners' responses, Dr. Zatorre's team found that the number of goose bumps observed correlated with the amount of dopamine released, even when the music was extremely sad. The results suggest that the more emotions a song provokes—whether depressing or uplifting—the more we crave the song."

To read the article click here.

Kareem Powell and Joanna C. Powell

Click here for a video of the performance I referred to earlier.

Punk Accordion Player with Nuns

Any video with the title "Punk Accordion Player with Nuns" just has to be worth watching.

Church Music Planning in One Word

If I could condense the process of planning church music down to one question, it would be this.  Is it appropriate?  Is the music we are doing appropriate for this setting, this congregation, these musicians?  What is the purpose and desired outcome of this meeting and is this music appropriate for it?

This morning I played accordion at my church.  It was a light acoustic set with an accordion, one guitar, and three vocalists.  After the service one of the church members said, "I kept waiting for you to break into a polka."  My response was, "No, it wouldn't have been appropriate for this setting."

I like playing polkas.  I would have no problem playing a polka on the same instrument, in the same room, for the same people, at a different time.  For a dinner, social event, fellowship event, fun event, or family event, let the polkas play and the dancing begin.  But this was not that event.  This was a more serious event with an air of reverence to it.  It was intended to be quiet and contemplative, instructive and inspirational.  And the music choices we made were...appropriate.

Audience Participation

Last night I went to a music recital/art show opening at Wasson Music Center and Synesthesia Gallery.  The musician was a talented pianist named Kareem Powell from Miamisburg, OH.  The featured visual artist was his brother.  His sister, a talented singer/pianist in her own right, was there.  The parents of this talented family were also in the audience.  Kareem had been playing for about an hour and I sensed he was at a transition point.  He looked like he was thinking about what to play next, so I asked him if I could try a little bit of improvisation.  He said yes, but he looked a little nervous.  I asked the audience to name a significant event.  Someone said "Graduation."  I turned to Kareem and said, "Close your eyes and think about how you are going to play this."  Then I turned back to the audience and asked them to describe a graduation in three words.  They responded with "exciting," "too long", and "sad."  I looked back at Kareem and said, "Okay, play it."

Kareem paused for just a few seconds , then started to play.  He improvised an arrangement of Pomp and Circumstances, but brilliantly played it in a minor key.  I wouldn't have tried this with just anyone, but I knew Kareem had the chops to pull it off.

My purpose was to explore what would happen if the level of audience participation in the musical event was increased.  The result was the performance of a new musical work that neither the artist nor the audience would have come up with on their own.  I felt that the dynamics of the event were also hanged.  The rest of the evening took on the feel of a family sharing music in their own living room.  There was conversation before and after each song.  Requests were made and performed.  Kareem and his sister began using phrases like, "you know what we ought to do" and "let's try this."  You would have to survey the audience to determine if the event was improved, but the increased audience particpation definitely changed it.  I think it made it more enjoyable for everyone that was there.

Purpose Statement

There is power in music. This blog is about harnessing that power for the benefit of others.  Thoreau said, "To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts."  I will be using this blog to record my thoughts and experiences in using music to make the world a better place.