Old Town School – On The Road

Dispatches from the road from our wayfaring travelers.

The Finnish Bluegrass Music Association FiBMA

Hi!

The webiste for the Finnish Bluegrass Music Association in Helsinki is

http://www.bluegrass.fi/index_english.html

The president is a man named Wasel Arar. I know he’d love some of the Bluegrass and Old Time folks from the school to come out. He’s inclusive of both styles. They have jams every week!

Another website to check out for Finnish music and happenings is

http://www.kulttuuri.net/english

M :)

Filed under: Finland 2008, Notes from Maria, Uncategorized by Maria | April 14, 2008 | Comments (1)

More Reflections from the Trip

We’re home now, but I wanted to add a little to the narrative.

Some things we saw that could find a home in Chicago. In the British Museum, sculptures created by Mozambiquan artists using decommissioned weapons — beautiful and moving. In Heathrow airport, corridors lined with images depicting apparent opposites that could switch signs according to the viewer, i.e. a high heel and a hot pepper labeled variously as “pain” or “pleasure.” In our Helsinki hotel, elevator doors filled with photographic representations of the wondors of the Finnish environment, different on every floor. In every British pub, beautiful varnished mahogany bars that offer such a warm contrast to Americas chrome, formica and marble. In every classroom at Sibelius Academy, vitrines displaying ancient or exemplary instruments, a bit of musical heritage on permanent exhibit.

How to convey this energy? Our delegation saw some extraordinary performances and our immediate response was a desire to share this with the entire community at Old Town School — we’ve just got to figure out a way to get some of these amazing artists to Chicago. But the next challenge will be generating a critical mass of enthusiasm among our Chicago colleagues and students. Those of us who traveled have the experience of having witnessed these incredible artists, butmost people at the School have no particular reason to get excited about Northern English fiddle tunes, Chinese sheng players or ancient Finnish shamanic vocal styles. What is our strategy for impressing our friends with how really special some of these things can be? That something they’re probably never stopped to imaginecould offer sucha powerful experience. If our hoped-for exchange program is to work, somehow we’ll have to engender an open-ness, a desire to try something new, that is not most people’s default setting.

Prospects for future exchanges. Our hosts were very enthusiastic about their encounters with Old Town School teachers. In the last 24 hours in Finland, Boogie taught two hip hop classes, Barb taught a clogging workshop and a vocal class, Maria taught a fiddle class, Joe was whisked away by the harmonica students and gave them a seminar that occupaied about 7 hours over two days. Over our farewell meal I asked one of the faculty how she felt things had gone, and she responded that the students were “ecstatic.” I believe with both Britain and Finland the only hurdle left to surmount before we can initiate some serious faculty swaps is to consult the calendar to find dates that work for both institutions. There is an excitement from both sides that will drive this process forward.

What’s next? This trip represents a beginning. It is a beginning on what could evolve into ongoing relationships with the Sage Gateshead and Sibelius Academy. And it is also the first step in building a program that can and should expand to other cultures and parts of the world. Due to the MacArthur Foundation’s funding proclivities, I suspect the next steps will be with Mexico and India. In any case this trip was a success on multiple levels, for the School, for our hosts, for the individual teachers involved, and for the prospects that it opens for future evolution. I offer my deepest appreciation to the team from Old Town School who made this all possible. Thank you.

Bau Graves

Filed under: England 2008, Finland 2008, Notes from Bau, Uncategorized by Bau | April 12, 2008 | Comments (3)

More From Barbie From Finland

It was hectic, trying and oddly fun to get to London on Sunday, a scurry to take the Metro to the cross-country train, then the cross-country train to the tube to Heathrow, all the while dragging our luggage carts, nearly sprinting at times, and still missing our flight.

We carted all our luggage back to the heart of London by tube again to a nice hotel with lavish rooms and abundant English breakfast, and spent Monday morning at the British Museum right down the block. Incredible collections of stuff, the Rosetta Stone, exhibits from Greece, Egypt, Africa, Asia, too much to describe.

Monday afternoon we finally flew across the North and Baltic Seas over Denmark, part of Sweden and then into Helsinki for delicious fresh salmon and reindeer meat!

We arrived Tuesday morning at the Sibelius Academy to discover that our hostess and planner Riita Lissa was in the hospital. So other staff members at Sibelius took up the slack, helped us find our workshops, loaned us guitars, let us sit in on their classes and play music with them. Beautifully rendered traditional Finnish music, some of it a thousand years old, some a hundred, and even some Andy Statman klezmer stuff.

We taught own offerings including hip hop/house and clogging, and danced the hambo with Antii, their gregarious dance instructor. Then all of us went across the bay to Espoo to a hundred and fifty year old building for the most intimate concert by world famous Maria Kalaniemi the accordian player, plus a second act by a traditional Finnish quartet in full costume. Delightful music.

I taught a vocal workshop at the Sibelius Academy Wednesday morning, an Appalachian ballad, a Delmore brothers blues, and a gospel 3 part harmony rouser, while Maria instructed fiddle and Boogie more hip hop, and Joe spent the entire day jamming with other harmonica players at the Academy, one of whom he already knew well.

Took the most wonderful afternoon walk around Helsinki with Robert. First we headed north along a big boulevard that leads to some city parks and the Sibelius sculpture, a giant windchime in his honor, stark and modern against the backdrop of one of the many harbors that touch the town. A few blocks east we found a little cafe for coffee and pastries, then turned down the main boulevard past tourist shops to the town center featuring the Parliament building, the post office, the railway station, the bustle of a big city.

Wednesday night’s concert included our new friend Olli Varis — he tours with Maria Kalaniemi, the best known folk artist in Finland, but in addition he has this very well known quartet Trepaanit composed of guitar, bowed harp, mandolin, busuki. Innovative, moody music, delicately and masterfully arranged.

But the show of shows on this trip was the women’s vocal septet singing music of Finland, Karelia, Estonia, and more. Their performance was a powerful and exquisite crafting of singing, sound effects, movement and even dance, anguised at moments, joyous at others, too rich and varied to capture in words. We would love to have them visit Chicago. Then we feasted on a wonderful dinner paid for by the Sibelius Academy people at a famous deco-style restaurant frequented by artists and musicians.

The flights home were stretched over a 32-hour day when you sum it up, as Helsinki is 8 hours ahead of us. Plenty of time to reflect on the rich music and genuine fellowship presented to us. As a team of seven we became a fun-loving family, grew to know each others’ strengths and idiosynchricies, to make up alter-ego names for each other, to be there in mini-crises that occurred, and to laugh at it all when the stress levels spiraled What a full-packed 9 days it was. Shared music is truly an incredible glue that holds the world together and bonds us to one another.

Hei hei (Finnish for goodbye),
Barbie

Filed under: Finland 2008, Notes from Barb by Barb | April 10, 2008 | Comments (0)

MARIA LOVES HELSINKI!

The Sibelius Academy is simply amazing! Yesterday, I had my first hip-hop class with Boogie my my new Finnish friends and learned a song on the jouhikko which is a 3(sometimes 4) stringed instrument that you play with a bow and hold in-between your knees….. everyone that majors in fiddle at the school learns how to play and make a jouhikko. I’ve got a video and sound file, but I think I have to wait until I get home to put them up…

Today, we went to the Global Music Centre…… we met Wasel Arar who is the president of the Bluegrass Finnish Society, he’s really excited at the prospect of having some Old Time and Bluegrass musicians come out to teach,play, and perform… they have jams every Friday at least (I may not get on the plane tomorrow so that I can stay for the jam)

We’re off to a concert right now, so more later……

Filed under: Finland 2008, Notes from Maria, Uncategorized by Maria | April 9, 2008 | Comments (3)

Bau’s Random Observations

Lots of good anecdotes and rich food for thought at every turn on this journey. A few snatches:

Sharing music. There are people everywhere who love American music, and some of them are passing experts in specific subgenres. But encounters with country singers abroad inevitably bump up against our ingrained knowledge of what that music is really supposed to sound like. For me, the more satisfying encounters are with those who are carrying on their own local styles: Geordie fiddle tunes, English music hall numbers, Finnish polskas. And here is the thrill of discovery: something steeped in its own place with a long history standing behind it and with more meaning and nuance than we as outsiders can comprehend. We’ve been very fortunate to experience several virtuoso level performances, most delivered in the most casual, relaxed manner. A delight.

Old Town School folks. Our teachers are excellent traveling companions. Curious, tolerant, flexible, ready for whatever is around the next corner, fun to be with. But getting seven of them aimed in the same direction at the same time is like herding cats!

Public spaces. We’ve been in some very interesting — and vastly different — public spaces on this trip, which of course make me reflect on the nature of the public space we’re about to create across Lincoln Avenue. The Sage Gateshead is an enormous new public performance facility. The lobby is about the size of two football fields, lots of glass and marble, a little chilly to my taste; the concert venues are all trimmed with wood, making them warm spaces to inhabit. But in all of it the scale fights against the intimacy of face to face interactions. For that everybody retires to the local pub, a very different kind of public space. Small, narrow, crowded, almost haphazardly decorated — and totally delightful. Somehow, we require both, the arena and the pub. A day at Durham Cathedral offered another kind of space, this one deliberately constructed to impress individuals with their smallness in relation to the grandeur of God. But again, one feels that the big church may have been good for inspiring awe, but the real interactions took place out in the comparative confines of the cloisters and side chapels — or down the street at the pub.

Ensembles. We had the chance to sit in on some ensemble classes at Sibelius Academy, and they are working at a very high level, far more polished and professional than anything we have at Old Town School. Granted, these are students in a degree program preparing for their performance critiques, but still it makes me wonder whether we could create mechanisms for allowing advanced students to immerse themselves in sophisticated ensemble playing that is up to professional performance standards.

The Old Town School sitcom. While riding the three-hour tour of a train from Newcastle to London, our crew fell to casting ourselves as the stars of Gilligan’s Island. The results: Bau Graves as the Skipper; Maria McCullough as Gilligan; Joe Filisko as the Professor; Robert Tenges as Ginger the Movie Star; Boogie McClarin as Mary Anne; Barb Silverman as Thurston Howell the Millionaire; and Steve Levitt as Lovey, his Wife. “Lovey” might even stick as a nickname for Steve…

Lots more to come, but we’re headed back over to Sibelius Academy soon and I need to go have a little smoked reindeer meat for breakfast.

Bau

Filed under: Finland 2008, Notes from Bau, Uncategorized by Robert | April 9, 2008 | Comments (0)

To Helsinki…Eventually

On Sunday, our flight from Newcastle to Heathrow was cancelled due to weather conditions, and we ended up taking a train into London. But we were late for our flight, and ended up in London for the night and following morning. We arrived in Helsinki, Finland on Monday evening. Joe, Maria, Boogie and I bounced around downtown Helsinki until around 2:00 a.m., and wound up at a club called D.T.M. It stands for Don’t Tell Mama. We won’t.

Tuesday morning, and we arrive at the Sibelius Academy, finally! It turns out that our host for the trip, Riita-Liisa Joutenlahti, is sick and in the hospital and it takes the faculty a while to figure out what to do with us. I’m happy that everything turned out all right, and that all of our teachers had a chance to work with students. Boogie taught a popping lesson and then a Hip-Hop group class. Joe found the academy’s harmonica students and worked with them for a while. Maria and Steve got to jam with some of the ensembles, and then Maria, Steve and Bau accompanied Barbie’s clogging class.

A word about the ensembles here. These groups of students work with old, traditional (mostly fiddle) folk tunes from Finland, and then find ways to orchestrate and elaborate on the original during the course of a session. The result, from what I’ve observed, is incredibly exciting. It seems to be a terrific way of preserving the traditions of the past, while encouraging students to take ownership of the material. I took some video and I’ll post it here.

Most of all, I’m thrilled for the teachers. They really had a chance to do what they do best.

Filed under: Finland 2008, Notes from Robert by Robert | April 8, 2008 | Comments (1)

The Singapore Chinese Orchestra…

On Friday evening we sat through a long-winded, ambitious, but ultimately disappointing performance at The Sage entitled THE LONG WALK HOME, which was written in response to the death of five Chinese immigrants in the Morecabe Bay Tragedy. I sat next to Boogie and Joe. Joe fell asleep. While the performance left something to be desired, it was remarkable that The Sage could put together a project that engaged professionals and amateurs alike. As I said: ambitious. There were more people on stage than were in the audience.

We had the opportunity to hear members of the Singapore Chinese Orchestra at The Sage, and for me it ended up being one of the highlights of our time in Newcastle. These are folks who play on traditional Chinese instruments dating back to the fourth century. As I listened to them, I started thinking about what constituted virtuosity when these instruments were first designed and played. There’s the Pipa, which resembles an Oud with large wooden frets that extend some distance away from the neck. As the player zipped along on a traditional tune dating back from the early days of the instrument, I couldn’t help but marvel at the fact that this instrument was played nearly a thousand years before the church in Europe had even discovered polyphony. There’s the Xin (pronounced “shin”) which is an egg shaped reed instrument that makes a sound akin to the modern alto flute, but with more sonance in the tone. There’s the variety of two string bowed instruments: the Gaohu, Erhu and Zhonghu. The Gaolyn Sheng, played at this concert by the remarkable Guo Chang Suo, is a set of pipes that are blown from underneath. The sound is reminiscent of the concertina.

Listening to the ensemble was a remarkable experience. Would I ever had heard these instruments had I not been in England? Ros Riley rushed me backstage to meet the artists and their manager, Terence Ho Wee San, who informed me that the music director of the complete orchestra in a man named Tsung Yeh, and that he lives in South Bend, Indiana! Terence will put me in touch with him.

He showed me a video of the full orchestra, but I wasn’t as impressed. It seemed to me that the complete band (of around 70 players) was trying to emulate the sound of a classical symphony orchestra. But the smaller group I’d just heard! They presented a concert of traditional Chinese music as it might have been heard 1,700 years ago, peppered with shorter solo pieces. It was far more exciting then the video. They’ll be in New York in July 2009, but other than that they have no plans to return to the states. We must find a way to present this group in Chicago.

Where does a person in the states go when they wish to pursue a serious course of study in traditional music? I’ve been thinking about this a lot. Do we ever want to become a conservatory for instruments and musical forms that are unrepresented in classical conservatories? Would we ever be able to do this while remaining true to our core values? I wonder.

We decided to blow off an Irish Caeli that was scheduled, and ended up in a pub called The Cumberland Arms. I am so glad that we did. We got to watch a group of sword dancers and fiddlers do one of their performances, which they present in various found spaces around Newcastle. One of the fiddlers was our new friend Ruth, and her boyfriend Tom was one of the dancers. I’ll be posting a short video of the performance.

It’s incredible the way music and dance can sometimes just emerge from a place. This point was driven home in one remarkable moment. The seven of us were sitting in the back room of The Cumberland Arms, and Joe took out his harmonica and started playing. A single note turned into two, and then three. The music began gently, but then gained in richness as he continued, drifting out over the din of noise. Soon, he held the chatty drinkers in rapt attention. It was a beautiful moment. The music simply emerged. It was perfect.

Filed under: England 2008, Notes from Robert by Robert | April 8, 2008 | Comments (0)

Day by Day

We’re having an incredible time. Other than the fact that I, Barbie S., am on the National TSA list as possibly being dangerous, we’ve had easy plane experiences, and arrived in London Thursday morning low on sleep, high in spirits, and cozy as a family of 7. Steve L. had his first Starbuck’s at the London airport before our next flight to the lovely town of Newcastle.

We spent part of Thursday toodling around Newcastle in a rented van through the beautiful rolling English countryside between our generous hosts’ homes, and visiting the impressive Sage Gateshead. This incredible blimp-shaped facility houses four music halls, one of them 1700 capacity, practice rooms, multiple programs in formal and non-formal music education (with Newcastle University) and concerts and performances of every variety and stripe, all in a glassed-in modern structure that overlooks the winding Tyne river.

Thursday night we had a jam session with our hosts and some other musicians who play fiddle and North Umbrian pipes (like a bagpipe). Delicious homemade food and baked bread, the air so clean and fresh and wholesome, our hosts Ros and Graham and Theo and Pam so joyous, so British in speech and hospitality.

After Graham’s breakfast of eggs, toast and kippers, we set out to perform at Marley Hill school, where we each led a number and Boogie got all the kids up hip-hopping. Then we vehicled into Gateshead across the river from the Sage, went to the market place past churches from the 1500’s and colored flowers dotting cobblestone walkways and charming cafes. Had a meeting with the Sage
Gateshead people this afternoon to share descriptions of Old Town School and Sage, and brainstorm ideas. Headed to a pub in Gateshead, and then a Chinese music concert here at the Sage.

Friday night’s Chinese music concert was multi-layered, long and overly ambitious, though had it’s incredible elements involving Singapore Orchestra players, professional and lay singers, chanting and movement. It was a tribute commemorating the tragic death of 23 cockle fishers in southern England due in equal parts to racial bigotry and unpredictable tidewaters. Long story for another time.

Saturday morning we drove to Durham to see the Cathedral there built in 1093 with a fascinating history behind it dating back to the 700’s, and the Wear River looping the town which was once a fortress against William the Conqueror. The town is absolutely to fall in love with, winding climbing streets, a charming bustling town square, rich history abounding. We spent two hours in a pub ordering fish and chips.

We dashed back to the Sage for a performance Saturday afternoon of seven members of the Singapore Chinese Orchestra stunning and beautifully crafted by Alistair Anderson, the humble, joyful and renowned concertina player who helped form this Sage Gateshead venue.

Then Saturday night we canned all organized plans and went to a local pub where amid the noise and jollity Joe Filisko sneaked in a brilliant rendition of a slow blues into Circle Be Unbroken, and a spontaneous combustion group of 5 guys in traditional Rapper outfits performed their sword Rappers dance to two live fiddles in a space so small you could land a hoola hoop inside it.

Today, Sunday, our flight was cancelled because of snow, so we scrambled onto a Metro train and hightailed to the rail station. We are on a London-bound train, hoping we can reschedule a flight to Helsinki. The weather lifted, sunshine reigns, and we are soaking up the English countryside from the connecter areas of two train cars, as the train is jammed with people. Luggage is piled helter skelter next to us, we are crammed like cattle a space of a few square feet, and we are laughing and joking and enjoying nevertheless.

Filed under: England 2008, Notes from Barb by Barb | April 7, 2008 | Comments (0)

Our First Two Days…

GREETINGS FROM NEWCASTLE, ENGLAND! This is the first blog entry for the Old Town School’s overseas mission. I am joined here by Old Town School teaching artists Boogie McClarin (hip-hop), Barbara Silverman (guitar, voice, clogging), Maria McCullough (fiddle), Joe Filisko (harmonica), Steve Levitt (guitar), and our Executive Director, Bau Graves. I’ve had to wait a day and a half to write this since all of us have been pretty busy, although I am happy to report that this was the first evening that all seven of us have had to hang out in a pub and throw back a few. I am hoping that we can repeat this activity, nightly.

We’ve been spending most of our time at The Sage Gateshead, which is an AMAZING concert venue across the river from Newcastle. Our host for this leg of our trip has been Ros Riley, who is in charge of the non-classical programming for the space. Today (Friday) we had the chance to meet with the administrative staff of The Sage Gateshead, which includes a number of folks who are involved in educational programming, both at the facility and elsewhere. We talked about how Old Town School is run, and gave them the opportunity to ask some questions about our programs back in Chicago.

Earlier this morning, we all had a chance to visit a primary school and were given the opportunity of throwing together an hour long concert for the kids. Everyone took turns playing and singing, and a great time was had by everyone. Boogie took the stage and the children were absolutely transfixed for twenty minutes as they performed their first hip-hop steps. Great stuff.

On a personal note, I have to say that it is really great how well all of us are getting along. Well, actually, “getting along” probably isn’t the right term. I think that there are friendships that are being formed here, among some teachers and adminstrators who had never even met before our pre-travel meeting a couple of weeks ago. Joe Filisko didn’t know Maria McCullough at all, and now the two of them are hanging out and having a wonderful time. Boogie McClarin didn’t know any of the other teachers, and yet I know that the other four are better people for having made the connection with her.

We got to spend some time walking around the narrow, winding streets of Newcastle. The architecture is a cross between the (very) old and the new; although, unlike Chicago, the new buildings have been designed and constructed to integrate with the historic.

We’re having a smashing time, so far. Unless we start annoying the hell out of each other pretty soon, I think the rest of the trip is going to be just as rewarding!

Filed under: England 2008, Notes from Robert by Robert | April 4, 2008 | Comments (0)


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