Here is a complete description of the recital evening. This appeared in the Pasadena Conservatory of Music's Newsletter.
Checkered tablecloths, wine glasses shining with candlelight, trees in the corners aglow with tiny lights, a happy crowd of all ages, children, parents, grandparents chatting with friends and enjoying the ambience. Outside on the sidewalk families push strollers toward an early dinner, couples amble and window-shop, moviegoers rush to catch the previews. It's Sunday evening in Old Town Pasadena.
Inside, the people have found places at the tables; some take seats in a little balcony. A pair of men pick their way between the tables toward a small stage nestled between the starry trees. One of the men sits at a piano beside the stage. The other, clearly the focus of attention, stands at the center of the platform. He is tall, lanky, amiable, and surprisingly young. After a few friendly words of explanation, he raises a flute to his lips and begins to play.
In the audience, people sip their drinks and bask in the pleasure of hearing live music up close and personal. And in this cabaret setting, with the casual intimacy of a nightclub, the sound of classical music floats across a room full of enchanted faces.
One of the Pasadena Conservatory's many roles is to present concerts. There are student recitals, faculty programs, and different kinds of festivals. And now and then, a few times a year, the Conservatory offers a special event. These special concerts are a way for the Conservatory to have a public presence. (After all, most of the Conservatory's work is music lessons and classes, processes which are rarely open to the public.) The Conservatory's special events help it to become better known, to make friends, to raise money, and to meet like-minded people interested in the Conservatory's mission of music and education. Through such special events the Conservatory reaches out to the community.
At most institutions concerts are planned by musicians and administrators. But if a concert is supposed to appeal to members of the community, why not invite some community members to tell us what kind of concert would be most appealing?
It's my job, as Artist-in-Residence, to ask questions like that. Luckily the Conservatory is blessed with a fabulous Advisory Board, members of the community who assist PCM in various ways, so we asked them to help us design a concert. We formed a Concert Design Committee, and I asked them, "What kind of concert would you most like to attend?"
To my surprise, many of the committee members' answers were similar. People wanted to go to a concert without stuffiness. A concert with beautiful moments to reward close attention. A concert with a variety of styles. A concert with a sense of fun. A concert in a place that was enjoyable to be. They wanted to hear Jazz, classical music, show tunes, folk music, brand new music, old favorites.
Over the course of four meetings, we talked about what day of the week, what time of day, what music, and all the other details that have to be decided. We talked about whether the purpose of the concert should be to make a lot of money, to win new converts to classical music, to win new converts to the Conservatory, to save music education, to save civilization, to have a good time with friends, or all of the above.
When I asked the group about their favorite concertgoing experiences, many different kinds of music were mentioned, but when somebody remembered a concert by Gregory Jefferson, everybody lit up. Gregory had been a student at the Conservatory, and since that time had become something of a local celebrity through his TV appearances and competition victories. He had once given a concert for the Conservatory, and many members of our committee had fallen in love with him on that occasion. He plays a variety of styles, he embodies the benefits of taking music lessons, he is a product of the Conservatory, and he is a Pasadena native. He is handsome and charming. Who better to perform an outreach concert?
While I was away for the summer at music festivals, our Concert Design Committee worked on logistics. They found a venue, they discussed the decor, they decided what edibles and drinkables would be served, they even ordered napkins with the Conservatory's name. Most important, they invited their friends. And they arranged for dinner to be served afterward, where performers, organizers, and audience could bask in the glow of success.
And so, on November 9th, the Conservatory presented its first-ever Cabaret concert. Judging from the excellent attendance and the enthusiastic response, the committee came up with a winning design. Gregory Jefferson started with a classical set-everything from light classics to recent compositions. At the end of John Corigliano's Pied Piper Fantasy, a troop of Conservatory flute students marched through the audience to join Gregory in the finale, to the amazement and delight of the listeners.
For the second half, Gregory was joined by a rhythm section for a jazz set. Included in the set was a jazz arrangement of Bizet's Carmen, for which Gregory was joined by his first flute teacher at PCM, Jamie Pedrim; pianist Bryan Pezzone's zippy Skee Ball, a medley of Henry Mancini's hits, and some of Claude Bolling's friendly crossover music.Through it all, Jefferson displayed an easy command of his flute and a warm affection for all kinds of music.
Everybody I talked with had a great time. The concert was just the sort of thing the committee had been talking about at their very first meeting: intimate, fun, varied, casual, full of delicious moments. Why did we think concertgoing meant sitting stiffly in darkened rows?
A project like this has lots of good effects, not the least of which is the pleasure the committee had in working together, the tremendous amount we all learned from each other about what makes a concert memorable, and the opportunity for non-musicians to learn more about what goes on behind the scenes in the planning of a concert event.
This is only the first of our experiments in concert design. For many months a group of parents has been planning a special event for PCM families, and their event promises a completely different approach to presenting music up close and personal.
Promotions for audience-planned events appear in the Conservatory Newsletter. Here was the announcement that promoted A Musical Safari, written by Conservatory faculty member Polli Chambers-Salzar:
On April 26th, PCM parents, students and supporters will have the opportunity to attend a unique performance at the school. A group of parents have been meeting with Artist-in-Residence John Steinmetz and faculty members to plan an event with the working title "A Musical Safari." This progressive concert will involve PCM "tour guides" leading small groups of participants through a series of performances and presentations being held throughout the school.
The underlying concept of the "safari" may be described as "the anatomy of . . ." as in the anatomy of an instrument, of a lesson, and of musical composition. The first aspect will be represented by instrumental presentations by PCM faculty, in which different performers will speak about their instruments and conclude with brief performances. These private performances will take place in studios throughout the Conservatory. Audience members will also have the opportunity to observe the "anatomy" of a lesson, including traditional and Suzuki lessons, and an example of our musicianship program. These teaching demonstrations will be presented in the Alberti Studio by PCM faculty. The "anatomy" of a musical work will be the focus of presentations on composing and improvising which will most likely involve a substantial degree of audience participation.
In the intimacy of the Ives Studio, a group of adult professionals-who also study music-will perform and speak about the role music plays in their lives as they maintain their careers. These presentations fit into the overall scheme of the event in that they comprise different perspectives given from the outside. In a sense, they represent the culmination of all of the above, exemplifying what musical instruments, the study of music, and musical compositions have to do with the everyday world.
For this event the audience are not mere spectators. The "safari"
begins with an introductory session in which each of the many tour groups
will be assigned a musical fragment to rehearse along the way, as well as
a "map" for their journey. The groups will reunite at the end
for a final participatory performance that interweaves all components of
the safari including the musical fragments.