Posts tagged with music
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![For Local Natives, the Music Begins At Home
This story was produced in partnership with FILTER Magazine.
So you’re in high school, and you have a band, and you want to play your first gig. You invite a couple hundred of your friends over to your dad’s house. What’s the worst that could happen?
You could end up with a hole kicked through your dad’s wall. You could also end up launching a world tour.
Both were the case for Taylor Rice and Ryan Hahn, the guitarist/vocalists for Los Angeles indie rock band Local Natives, who are rolling with laughter recalling that story before they head onstage during a recent stop in Brooklyn. (They perform a trio of shows at SXSW this week.) It was like “out of a movie,” they explain: kids packed inside the house and wrapped around the staircase; the crowd moshed, the cops came. Oh, and somebody kicked a hole through dad’s living room wall.
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But at least one good thing came out of it: The drummer from the opening band, a guy named Kelcey Ayer, asked the duo if they’d want to play together sometime. He’s now the group’s keyboardist — and one-third of the distinct harmony that defines the band.
That first show was years before the group — now on an international tour — added drummer Matt Frazier and bassist Andy Hamm. It was before they moved into a house together in LA and self-funded a debut album that would catapult them into rock darlinghood. (Gorilla Manor, named for the house). It was before they’d open for the National and Arcade Fire, and the three years of emotional highs and lows (like sales success and the departure of a bandmate) that would characterize their follow-up, Hummingbird (and land them at number 12 on the charts).
In reality, the making of the Local Natives began on a sunny fall morning in Orange County, California, on the first day of middle school, when Hahn, now 26, spotted an empty seat next to Rice.
“We’re the constant in each other’s lives in a way that I’m not sure many people really experience,” Rice says, his Lothario looks gentled as he talks of the bandmembers he holds as brothers.
It’s crazy how interlaced their lives still are, from the everybody-gets-a-vote struggles of selecting album artwork — this time around, it features an image of the guys looking like they’re being pulled off a concrete cliff — to workshopping each song, to the tragedies they encounter together (like Ayer recently losing his mother). “If something happens to one person in our band,” Hahn says, “it happens to everyone.”
As transparent as they are melodic, the albums are records in more than one sense.
Gorilla Manor feels like extended adolescence and the crazy idea that they could be a band fulltime. Listen to Hahn and Rice as they join Ayer in singing to his grandfather on “Airplanes.” It’s Grizzly Bear meets Band of Horses meets is this for real?
The new album shows that it is. And that early adulthood is hard, even when you’re a band on the make, as relationships fray, like when bassist Andy Hamm exited in March 2011. The record’s center, though, is a processing of what came three months after: Just after the band began work on the album, Ayer learned of the sudden death of his mother.
In many ways, the album is a dedication to her: the title, Hummingbird, comes from a line in “Colombia,” a goosebump-inducing track named for her home country.
“A hummingbird crashed right in front of me, and I understood all you did for us,” Ayer sings as the song begins. Soft guitars urge Ayers along as he prays that his mother felt his love. As momentum rises around him, he addresses her directly — “Patricia, every day I ask myself, am I giving enough?” — and the percussion builds, guitars tower, and Rice and Hahn join Ayers in the crescendo, the three old friends asking together, “Am I loving enough, am I loving enough, am I?”
The track shows why the album is, as Hahn says, a shared catharsis, both for the emotional weight of the songs and the work that went into them. Hahn had a version of “Bowery,” the album’s closer, before the first record, but it wasn’t finalized until they were in the studio for the second. Though the writing process began in their re-established home of Los Angeles, they had a “writing vacation” in a geodesic dome in the desert of Joshua Tree, and, for the last stages of recording, decamped to Brooklyn to live with and record in the home studio of a newfound brother — the National’s Aaron Dessner, who would produce their next album.
The band’s become succinct with the years. While they packed every guitar they could onto Gorilla Manor, they worked hard to make sure Hummingbird had room to breathe. Between the sonic sparseness and the emotional heaviness, Rice understands why people might call it their “sadder” record, though to him it’s much more “expansive” and “joyful,” as evidenced by the twinkling and heartsore “Breakers.”
“Where the songs were coming from emotionally,” Rice says, “they needed that space.”
The Local Natives will perform tonight at FILTER’s SXSW Showcase, Showdown At Cedar Street. RSVP here.
— Drake Baer](http://25.media.tumblr.com/97f63c2f102e6f8d3f96069d175f98fd/tumblr_mjcvzz0kxK1rrpm57o1_r1_1280.jpg)
For Local Natives, the Music Begins At Home
This story was produced in partnership with FILTER Magazine.
So you’re in high school, and you have a band, and you want to play your first gig. You invite a couple hundred of your friends over to your dad’s house. What’s the worst that could happen?
You could end up with a hole kicked through your dad’s wall. You could also end up launching a world tour.
Both were the case for Taylor Rice and Ryan Hahn, the guitarist/vocalists for Los Angeles indie rock band Local Natives, who are rolling with laughter recalling that story before they head onstage during a recent stop in Brooklyn. (They perform a trio of shows at SXSW this week.) It was like “out of a movie,” they explain: kids packed inside the house and wrapped around the staircase; the crowd moshed, the cops came. Oh, and somebody kicked a hole through dad’s living room wall.
View post 3,272 notes -
Trapped in the Tumblr Closet: Chilly Gonzales
Chilly Gonzales is a musical genius. Or so he says. This alt-rocker cum piano virtuoso (née Jason Beck) freely admits the name’s just a front — a brand that calls attention to the persona one adopts as performance artist — and prefers to err on the side of outrageous in his work.
Gonzo was born in Canada, lives in Paris, and collaborates regularly with the likes of Feist, Daft Punk, and Drake. He raps while he plays, wears bedroom garb during performances (imagine the juxtaposition of his bathrobe and slippers to the rigid penguin suits of his accompanying orchestras), and broke a Guinness World Record a few years back (for the longest concert by a solo artist — 27 hours, 3 minutes, 44 seconds). His stuff is moving and soulful; he’s turning young people on to the power of the orchestra. And when the orchestra’s rapidly aging current audience is dead and gone in a few decades? The concert halls will be filled with Chilly fans, he predicts. We don’t doubt it.
View post 506 notes -
Art + Rap + The Internet = Yung Jake
This story was produced in partnership with MTV Hive.
He was supposed to look directly at the interviewer, not at the video camera, please. But Yung Jake — internet incarnate, rapper, memester, artiste of the online world — found it frustratingly difficult to make eye contact with a human being. As he was talking, his gaze kept shifting back to the lens, then down to the iPhone nestled in his palm. He sighed. “I’m just more interested in interacting with the virtual world than I am with real people.”
Yung Jake won’t admit his age (“I’m
youngyung”), where he grew up, (“all over”), or how he should be artistically categorized (“I call myself whatever world wants to accept me”). Something like 10 years ago, this might have been a freakish way to publicly define oneself. But today, in a world in which screens are hot and people are, well, not, such a proclamation is legitimate, on trend, and, increasingly, more normal than not.View post 511 notes -
![Carrie Brownstein Is Your Tumblr Dreamcrush
She was a 90s riot grrrl, hung out with Kurt Cobain, and had a music blog on NPR. She worked briefly at an ad agency (Portland-based, of course) before she decided to write comedy; in Portlandia, the IFC sketch comedy series she co-created — now wrapping up its third season — she plays a feminist bookstore owner, new age helicopter mom, kinky greaser, newspaper blog editor, and, of course, herself (alongside creative partner Fred Armisen). Now she’s got a new band, Wild Flag. And a shitload of blogs devoted to her every move.
In real life, though, Carrie Brownstein isn’t quite so different from the fans who adore her. She once cried because she loved Madonna. She had a crush on Danny from New Kids on the Block. She wrote fan letters and plastered rock posters on her teenage bedroom wall. Portlandia, she says, is like its own version of a fan ballad — an ode to the endearing absurdities of her Pacific Northwest home. On the eve of tomorrow’s season finale, Brownstein talks fandom, emoticons, and what was so great about the 90s.
[[MORE]]
You studied sociolinguistics in college. Is that like the use of emoticons?
Actually, kind of. Sociolinguistics examines the relationship between language and society. So what I did in college was mostly discourse analysis: looking at the ways people communicate via computers, social media, and phones, and the way that language changes. So yeah, emoticons, that would be part of it.
But you’re not, like, xo-ing your online following.
I definitely am guilty of a few too many xos or xs. I think I’m mostly guilty of exclamation points. You know when you’re in elementary school and you’re learning punctuation, the exclamation point is rarely used. Like you think, “Oh, exclamation point, that’s just for something really dramatic, or really hyperbolic.” But now, with email or text, like if I don’t put an exclamation point, people think I’m mad at them. Like I’m mad or just suicidal.
You’re the subject of a whole lot of fan blogs on Tumblr. Who was your Harry Styles?
When I was really young, I was obsessed with Madonna. I remember crying to my mom that Madonna and I would never be friends, and feeling really heartbroken that we would never get to hang out. Which I think is a really common feeling when you love someone’s music, or someone’s style, and you just think, “Why can’t we be friends? This person probably really understands me.” I really loved Duran Duran in the 80s. I just thought that band was so cool. And I actually really loved the New Kids on the Block.
Did you hear they’re reuniting?
I know! And I remember I could never decide who was the cutest. Like sometimes it was Jon, sometimes it was Jordan, you’d just switch your alliances a lot. The funniest thing about loving a boyband is there’s that urge to pick the one you think you have the most possibility to be with. You know, you’re like, “Well, I’m gonna love Danny, because he’s like not as cute as the other ones so maybe I have a chance.”
Poor Danny.
I know, poor Danny! And then I loved Jon who I think maybe turned out to be gay. That’s probably why I loved him.
So what’d your mom say about you and Madonna?
She told me it was very unlikely that we would be friends, which turned out to be true.
Really? You’ve never met?
No, you know, I’m not Gwyneth Paltrow, so we never ended up being friends. And you know, now I don’t think I want to. I mean, I haven’t been as interested in Madonna for a long time, but I think it’s often disappointing to meet people you admire. I guess we still have a chance, but now I rescind my offer. I’m taking back the fan letters!
Did Carrie Brownstein really write fan letters?
Yup, all of that. I would cut out pictures from magazines of actors and of bands. I loved old movie stars like Cary Grant and Gary Cooper. In high school, I got really into punk. I didn’t write letters to Joey Ramone or Joe Strummer, but I would write letters to actors. The best I would ever get back was some kind of form letter or an autographed picture. I did all of it. Although you know what I didn’t do: Some of my friends would bake bands cupcakes. I never did that.
Why, too desperate?
I always thought, “Well first of all, I’m a terrible cook, so it’s not going to taste good.” But I also just assumed they would throw it out, because, you know, you think it could be poisonous.
Has anyone ever sent you cupcakes?
Yes, and I have the same feeling. I always think, “I should trust this person,” but the part of me that’s a realist — or even slightly paranoid — thinks, like, well what if this person’s trying to get me really high or kill me? But if I have friends around I just say, “Will you just eat this for me?” And sometimes they will.
Fan letters, cupcakes … Is it all part of coming of age?
It’s part of relating to your environment, and figuring out who you are and how you want to express yourself. Sometimes I think with movies or with music or with television, a show or a song will help describe who you are or what you mean at a time when you’re unable to express that for yourself. It’s such a relief to listen to a song or watch a movie or television show and think, “That’s it! That’s how I feel.” It’s so validating. And the great thing about Tumblr, or fandom on the internet, is that you get to be a fan with other people … Tumblr sites tend to be these little love letters, whether it’s to a fan or a person or a book or an animal. It’s just this way that people can express themselves, and it’s very personal and I think that that’s very sweet.
Portlandia’s now finishing up its third season. Were Portlanders hesitant fans of the show?
Portland isn’t a city that’s used to seeing itself on screen like LA or New York. So because Portlandia was one of the only shows that took place in Portland, I think there was a lot of pressure on it to be factual and realistic. I think once people got over that initial discomfort of seeing themselves reflected back, they were able to laugh.
— Jessica BennettCollage art by Anna Feldmann](http://25.media.tumblr.com/179c99209c87ac1538f825fa60c98084/tumblr_mifv7310lk1rrpm57o1_r1_1280.jpg)
![Carrie Brownstein Is Your Tumblr Dreamcrush
She was a 90s riot grrrl, hung out with Kurt Cobain, and had a music blog on NPR. She worked briefly at an ad agency (Portland-based, of course) before she decided to write comedy; in Portlandia, the IFC sketch comedy series she co-created — now wrapping up its third season — she plays a feminist bookstore owner, new age helicopter mom, kinky greaser, newspaper blog editor, and, of course, herself (alongside creative partner Fred Armisen). Now she’s got a new band, Wild Flag. And a shitload of blogs devoted to her every move.
In real life, though, Carrie Brownstein isn’t quite so different from the fans who adore her. She once cried because she loved Madonna. She had a crush on Danny from New Kids on the Block. She wrote fan letters and plastered rock posters on her teenage bedroom wall. Portlandia, she says, is like its own version of a fan ballad — an ode to the endearing absurdities of her Pacific Northwest home. On the eve of tomorrow’s season finale, Brownstein talks fandom, emoticons, and what was so great about the 90s.
[[MORE]]
You studied sociolinguistics in college. Is that like the use of emoticons?
Actually, kind of. Sociolinguistics examines the relationship between language and society. So what I did in college was mostly discourse analysis: looking at the ways people communicate via computers, social media, and phones, and the way that language changes. So yeah, emoticons, that would be part of it.
But you’re not, like, xo-ing your online following.
I definitely am guilty of a few too many xos or xs. I think I’m mostly guilty of exclamation points. You know when you’re in elementary school and you’re learning punctuation, the exclamation point is rarely used. Like you think, “Oh, exclamation point, that’s just for something really dramatic, or really hyperbolic.” But now, with email or text, like if I don’t put an exclamation point, people think I’m mad at them. Like I’m mad or just suicidal.
You’re the subject of a whole lot of fan blogs on Tumblr. Who was your Harry Styles?
When I was really young, I was obsessed with Madonna. I remember crying to my mom that Madonna and I would never be friends, and feeling really heartbroken that we would never get to hang out. Which I think is a really common feeling when you love someone’s music, or someone’s style, and you just think, “Why can’t we be friends? This person probably really understands me.” I really loved Duran Duran in the 80s. I just thought that band was so cool. And I actually really loved the New Kids on the Block.
Did you hear they’re reuniting?
I know! And I remember I could never decide who was the cutest. Like sometimes it was Jon, sometimes it was Jordan, you’d just switch your alliances a lot. The funniest thing about loving a boyband is there’s that urge to pick the one you think you have the most possibility to be with. You know, you’re like, “Well, I’m gonna love Danny, because he’s like not as cute as the other ones so maybe I have a chance.”
Poor Danny.
I know, poor Danny! And then I loved Jon who I think maybe turned out to be gay. That’s probably why I loved him.
So what’d your mom say about you and Madonna?
She told me it was very unlikely that we would be friends, which turned out to be true.
Really? You’ve never met?
No, you know, I’m not Gwyneth Paltrow, so we never ended up being friends. And you know, now I don’t think I want to. I mean, I haven’t been as interested in Madonna for a long time, but I think it’s often disappointing to meet people you admire. I guess we still have a chance, but now I rescind my offer. I’m taking back the fan letters!
Did Carrie Brownstein really write fan letters?
Yup, all of that. I would cut out pictures from magazines of actors and of bands. I loved old movie stars like Cary Grant and Gary Cooper. In high school, I got really into punk. I didn’t write letters to Joey Ramone or Joe Strummer, but I would write letters to actors. The best I would ever get back was some kind of form letter or an autographed picture. I did all of it. Although you know what I didn’t do: Some of my friends would bake bands cupcakes. I never did that.
Why, too desperate?
I always thought, “Well first of all, I’m a terrible cook, so it’s not going to taste good.” But I also just assumed they would throw it out, because, you know, you think it could be poisonous.
Has anyone ever sent you cupcakes?
Yes, and I have the same feeling. I always think, “I should trust this person,” but the part of me that’s a realist — or even slightly paranoid — thinks, like, well what if this person’s trying to get me really high or kill me? But if I have friends around I just say, “Will you just eat this for me?” And sometimes they will.
Fan letters, cupcakes … Is it all part of coming of age?
It’s part of relating to your environment, and figuring out who you are and how you want to express yourself. Sometimes I think with movies or with music or with television, a show or a song will help describe who you are or what you mean at a time when you’re unable to express that for yourself. It’s such a relief to listen to a song or watch a movie or television show and think, “That’s it! That’s how I feel.” It’s so validating. And the great thing about Tumblr, or fandom on the internet, is that you get to be a fan with other people … Tumblr sites tend to be these little love letters, whether it’s to a fan or a person or a book or an animal. It’s just this way that people can express themselves, and it’s very personal and I think that that’s very sweet.
Portlandia’s now finishing up its third season. Were Portlanders hesitant fans of the show?
Portland isn’t a city that’s used to seeing itself on screen like LA or New York. So because Portlandia was one of the only shows that took place in Portland, I think there was a lot of pressure on it to be factual and realistic. I think once people got over that initial discomfort of seeing themselves reflected back, they were able to laugh.
— Jessica BennettCollage art by Anna Feldmann](http://25.media.tumblr.com/d47e146c8d8dc54d7209655b3ed61a8f/tumblr_mifv7310lk1rrpm57o2_r1_1280.jpg)
![Carrie Brownstein Is Your Tumblr Dreamcrush
She was a 90s riot grrrl, hung out with Kurt Cobain, and had a music blog on NPR. She worked briefly at an ad agency (Portland-based, of course) before she decided to write comedy; in Portlandia, the IFC sketch comedy series she co-created — now wrapping up its third season — she plays a feminist bookstore owner, new age helicopter mom, kinky greaser, newspaper blog editor, and, of course, herself (alongside creative partner Fred Armisen). Now she’s got a new band, Wild Flag. And a shitload of blogs devoted to her every move.
In real life, though, Carrie Brownstein isn’t quite so different from the fans who adore her. She once cried because she loved Madonna. She had a crush on Danny from New Kids on the Block. She wrote fan letters and plastered rock posters on her teenage bedroom wall. Portlandia, she says, is like its own version of a fan ballad — an ode to the endearing absurdities of her Pacific Northwest home. On the eve of tomorrow’s season finale, Brownstein talks fandom, emoticons, and what was so great about the 90s.
[[MORE]]
You studied sociolinguistics in college. Is that like the use of emoticons?
Actually, kind of. Sociolinguistics examines the relationship between language and society. So what I did in college was mostly discourse analysis: looking at the ways people communicate via computers, social media, and phones, and the way that language changes. So yeah, emoticons, that would be part of it.
But you’re not, like, xo-ing your online following.
I definitely am guilty of a few too many xos or xs. I think I’m mostly guilty of exclamation points. You know when you’re in elementary school and you’re learning punctuation, the exclamation point is rarely used. Like you think, “Oh, exclamation point, that’s just for something really dramatic, or really hyperbolic.” But now, with email or text, like if I don’t put an exclamation point, people think I’m mad at them. Like I’m mad or just suicidal.
You’re the subject of a whole lot of fan blogs on Tumblr. Who was your Harry Styles?
When I was really young, I was obsessed with Madonna. I remember crying to my mom that Madonna and I would never be friends, and feeling really heartbroken that we would never get to hang out. Which I think is a really common feeling when you love someone’s music, or someone’s style, and you just think, “Why can’t we be friends? This person probably really understands me.” I really loved Duran Duran in the 80s. I just thought that band was so cool. And I actually really loved the New Kids on the Block.
Did you hear they’re reuniting?
I know! And I remember I could never decide who was the cutest. Like sometimes it was Jon, sometimes it was Jordan, you’d just switch your alliances a lot. The funniest thing about loving a boyband is there’s that urge to pick the one you think you have the most possibility to be with. You know, you’re like, “Well, I’m gonna love Danny, because he’s like not as cute as the other ones so maybe I have a chance.”
Poor Danny.
I know, poor Danny! And then I loved Jon who I think maybe turned out to be gay. That’s probably why I loved him.
So what’d your mom say about you and Madonna?
She told me it was very unlikely that we would be friends, which turned out to be true.
Really? You’ve never met?
No, you know, I’m not Gwyneth Paltrow, so we never ended up being friends. And you know, now I don’t think I want to. I mean, I haven’t been as interested in Madonna for a long time, but I think it’s often disappointing to meet people you admire. I guess we still have a chance, but now I rescind my offer. I’m taking back the fan letters!
Did Carrie Brownstein really write fan letters?
Yup, all of that. I would cut out pictures from magazines of actors and of bands. I loved old movie stars like Cary Grant and Gary Cooper. In high school, I got really into punk. I didn’t write letters to Joey Ramone or Joe Strummer, but I would write letters to actors. The best I would ever get back was some kind of form letter or an autographed picture. I did all of it. Although you know what I didn’t do: Some of my friends would bake bands cupcakes. I never did that.
Why, too desperate?
I always thought, “Well first of all, I’m a terrible cook, so it’s not going to taste good.” But I also just assumed they would throw it out, because, you know, you think it could be poisonous.
Has anyone ever sent you cupcakes?
Yes, and I have the same feeling. I always think, “I should trust this person,” but the part of me that’s a realist — or even slightly paranoid — thinks, like, well what if this person’s trying to get me really high or kill me? But if I have friends around I just say, “Will you just eat this for me?” And sometimes they will.
Fan letters, cupcakes … Is it all part of coming of age?
It’s part of relating to your environment, and figuring out who you are and how you want to express yourself. Sometimes I think with movies or with music or with television, a show or a song will help describe who you are or what you mean at a time when you’re unable to express that for yourself. It’s such a relief to listen to a song or watch a movie or television show and think, “That’s it! That’s how I feel.” It’s so validating. And the great thing about Tumblr, or fandom on the internet, is that you get to be a fan with other people … Tumblr sites tend to be these little love letters, whether it’s to a fan or a person or a book or an animal. It’s just this way that people can express themselves, and it’s very personal and I think that that’s very sweet.
Portlandia’s now finishing up its third season. Were Portlanders hesitant fans of the show?
Portland isn’t a city that’s used to seeing itself on screen like LA or New York. So because Portlandia was one of the only shows that took place in Portland, I think there was a lot of pressure on it to be factual and realistic. I think once people got over that initial discomfort of seeing themselves reflected back, they were able to laugh.
— Jessica BennettCollage art by Anna Feldmann](http://24.media.tumblr.com/4b9f6ced4cd6a191874945c4a12816ff/tumblr_mifv7310lk1rrpm57o3_r1_1280.jpg)
Carrie Brownstein Is Your Tumblr Dreamcrush
She was a 90s riot grrrl, hung out with Kurt Cobain, and had a music blog on NPR. She worked briefly at an ad agency (Portland-based, of course) before she decided to write comedy; in Portlandia, the IFC sketch comedy series she co-created — now wrapping up its third season — she plays a feminist bookstore owner, new age helicopter mom, kinky greaser,
newspaperblog editor, and, of course, herself (alongside creative partner Fred Armisen). Now she’s got a new band, Wild Flag. And a shitload of blogs devoted to her every move.In real life, though, Carrie Brownstein isn’t quite so different from the fans who adore her. She once cried because she loved Madonna. She had a crush on Danny from New Kids on the Block. She wrote fan letters and plastered rock posters on her teenage bedroom wall. Portlandia, she says, is like its own version of a fan ballad — an ode to the endearing absurdities of her Pacific Northwest home. On the eve of tomorrow’s season finale, Brownstein talks fandom, emoticons, and what was so great about the 90s.
View post 3,111 notes -
Strumming Along With Musician Andrew Bird
Once upon a time (the mid 90s) in a gloriously music-laden land (Chicago), a lanky, sharp-witted, sharp-featured tenderfoot (Andrew Bird) graduated from Northwestern’s acclaimed music conservatory and dove into the sea of indie rock. Inhabited by hard-edged musicians who took pride in their lack of skill and almost-affected amateurishness, it was about passion — forget technique. Live shows were supposed to be truly live, and in-concert mistakes were nothing less than standard. “Experience the sound in its raw, unadulterated form,” they’d say. And Bird — despite his “super-trained” background — fit right in, rolling with the sonic tides to the eventual mid-ocean calm of celebrated musician status.
View post 2,030 notes -
![Bringing Orchestra to the Social Masses
Kristi Seehafer, first violinist with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, started playing the violin in the fourth grade.The reason she picked up the instrument in the first place was out of grumbling necessity: She had to get her own because her brother wouldn’t let her touch his.
What began as sibling rivalry gave way to full-blown wonder and then, once she was older, to the discovery of her life’s calling, after she fell under the spell of a performance in her hometown by the Milwaukee Symphony. It was a night she remembers that something clicked, “and I knew I had to play in an orchestra.”
Her telling of that story is captured in a YouTube video clip. That it’s posted to the orchestra’s Tumblr page is revelatory. Physically, symphony orchestras perform at a considerable distance from their audiences, and the Nashville Symphony Orchestra is no different. Its home is the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, which includes a 30,000-square-foot concert hall. Given that size, it’s not an easy task to foster a close bond between performer and listener.
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But the orchestra’s various social media channels represent an attempt to shrink that Nashville space, compressing it so that concertgoers are welcomed into the orchestra’s wheelhouse by coming through the back door. We spoke with principal clarinetist James Zimmerman, one of the keepers of the NSO Tumblr, about how that’s working out so far.
Why put the Nashville Symphony Orchestra on Tumblr?
I think Tumblr is going to be a big part of how orchestras brand themselves going forward. One stigma that orchestras have been battling for decades is the completely false assertion that “classical music is for old people.” It’s true that the older crowd might be more likely to have developed the sophistication needed to fully appreciate what we’re doing, but engaging young people in ways that young people are familiar with is a way we can get them engaged early in their lives.
What is the day-to-day life of a symphony musician like?
Generally, an orchestra spends the first half of the week rehearsing and the second half performing. Things can get exciting when there’s a really high-profile guest artist — this year, some of our more exciting names are Yo-Yo Ma and Boyz II Men. Those acts really fill the hall. On our off days, most of us spend time doing other musical things, like playing for recording sessions, teaching, or repairing or dealing instruments.
There are a lot of headlines about how the orchestra is dying these days. Does this worry you?
It worries me a little, but I try to turn those worries into motivation to play better. We’re all aware of the challenges certain arts institutions are facing these days. I read those headlines and horror stories, and I wonder what I can do to make things better, and I keep coming back to the same thing: put my best playing forward all the time. I believe that maybe if I play a solo particularly beautifully, somebody in the audience will hear it and want to buy another ticket, or bring a friend, or make a donation, or buy our CDs. We have people in management whose job it is to raise money, market our products, and engage the community — if they succeed in those jobs, and I succeed in my job of bringing the best clarinet playing I can to our audiences, I think we’ll be okay.
Social media is so fast, staccato almost, while an orchestra is something to be enjoyed over time. It must be interesting to balance that.
A symphony concert is something that’s a couple hours long, requires sitting still and almost meditating as you have an imaginative journey — in a way, it couldn’t be more different than a quick Tumblr post. Trying to encapsulate our experience in a Tumblr-sized snapshot is fun to do.
What do symphony members do for fun (other than Tumbl)?
All kinds of stuff. At one point or another, we all did music purely for the fun of it, not because it was our jobs, and then eventually we made careers out of it. In a sense, when your hobby becomes your job, it’s not your hobby anymore — meaning you have to fill that space with something else. So, in the symphony, we’ve got people who are into all kinds of things. We’ve got a certified yoga instructor, a couple guys that restore cars, a guy who makes beautiful pottery, some sports nuts, marathon runners, a triathlete, and all kinds of other stuff. Our job might be a little unusual, but outside of work, we do lots of “normal” things!
— Andy MeekPhoto of Béla Fleck performing with the Nashville Symphony last year, by Mickey Dobo.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/af948fb30773dcee9f80fd2f7f6acea6/tumblr_mi4p2ksN3N1rrpm57o1_1280.jpg)
Bringing Orchestra to the Social Masses
Kristi Seehafer, first violinist with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, started playing the violin in the fourth grade.The reason she picked up the instrument in the first place was out of grumbling necessity: She had to get her own because her brother wouldn’t let her touch his.
What began as sibling rivalry gave way to full-blown wonder and then, once she was older, to the discovery of her life’s calling, after she fell under the spell of a performance in her hometown by the Milwaukee Symphony. It was a night she remembers that something clicked, “and I knew I had to play in an orchestra.”
Her telling of that story is captured in a YouTube video clip. That it’s posted to the orchestra’s Tumblr page is revelatory. Physically, symphony orchestras perform at a considerable distance from their audiences, and the Nashville Symphony Orchestra is no different. Its home is the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, which includes a 30,000-square-foot concert hall. Given that size, it’s not an easy task to foster a close bond between performer and listener.
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