My first try at a minimalist composition influenced by Canadian composer Ann Southam. In this piece I am attempting to replicate the displaced/phasing rhythms of St. Peter's Basilica's bells heard every Sunday afternoon in London Ontario. The middle voices are repeated and switch from 4/8 to 6/8 time while the right hand switches from 5/8 time to 6/8 time. The changing time signatures are to keep the middle voices (bells) changing continuously in variation, unless the performer chooses to remain in continuum with each hand. This is a semi improvised piece where the performer can choose to remain or shift from each musical cell. The familiar motive heard from most church bells are heard in the lower voice. This is still a work in progress as I am still planning on expanding on these ideas :)
Influential Teacher Interview with violist Sharon Wei on Education and Performance:
Me: So you perform with "Ensemble Made In Canada", so tell me how your group came to be.
Wei: All of us have known each other since we were quite young. We played as string players in the youth orchestra together in Toronto and I've met pianist Angela Park here at Western in my first year and we've all kept in touch through the years and we all love playing chamber music. The piano quartet literature is not one that is studied by a preformed group so we thought it we interesting to delve into that repertoire.
Me: How important was your educational experience in setting you up for the performance profession?
Wei: For the ensemble in particular?
Me: Yes
Wei: Chamber music was always emphasized my first day at Western. One of the greatest parts of the program here is you get the opportunity to put on a full rectal at the end of the year which was very different from a lot of the other schools I've attended afterwards. When I left Western I continued my studies in Philadelphia at Yale and chamber music still played a significant role in my education both formally and informally. We would always have lots of groups on the go at the same time and we got to play with faculty members with was really exciting and lots of informal chamber music parties as well.
Me: So this is a big question; what does education mean to you?
Wei: Haha, education for who?
Me: Oh, good question! [laughs] Education in regards to the performer. The aspiring young student or musician.
Wei: Yeah I think every performer needs to have a well-rounded education. When their studying their pieces they can really put it in an historical context and know where it comes from and to know that it's a live person that came up with these pieces and I think when you put it into context historically what was happening at the time, what was happening with art and architecture and politics it all changes the landscape of how you want to approach a piece.
Me: What are some ways you taught as a pedagogue to try to encourage delving into music to that extent?
Wei: I think it's always important to know the background of a piece, to know about the composer and about his country and what kind of environment did he or she write the piece in but then to know that it's more than just the notes on the page. You know we talk a lot in lessons about the character and the motion that music is trying to convey and how do we use our technique to actually bring that story to life.
Me: Cool yeah! One thing I'd like to mention too that I notice, what you do with me as a student and what admire and what I take from to teach others is the absence of 'abstract' words. I've never heard you use the word 'musical' like: 'make this more musical' or 'expressive', it's always been 'on-point' like there is a practical way to tackle this and that. Do you find that history and knowing and understanding the politics around music contributes in the same way?
Wei: I think so. I think the more you can articulate how you feel about a piece of music then I think it's something that perhaps younger kids are not asked to do enough. You know: 'what is this music describing?', 'what story is it telling"' and then once you have that idea than you can begin to really bring it to life.
Me: Is there a common issue that arises more so than others in terms of technique for viola players or?
Wei: Not just for viola players but I think the issue of feeling relaxed when we play and knowing where your body holds tension. I think that's kind of a recurring theme with all instrumentalists.
Me: So being aware of where all the tension is in your body can be a life-long lesson regarding other fields of study too.
Wei: Yes definitely. I think we all know orchestral players who kind of play through their pain in their 20's and 30's and then it comes back to haunt them in their 40's and 50's and I think it's really important to know or at least start studying when you're in University about the body, how it works and how at the end of the day we actually are athletes with our instrument and our body is our work-tool and it's important to know how to prevent a lot of the problems that many musicians face later on.
Me: How important is organization in the life of a professional musician?
Wei: I think organization is key! You know in my business of music class we just did a time management class and I think it was probably the most useful because musicians tend to have lots of different activities on-the-go. One week does not look necessarily similar to other weeks so it's important to know how to organize your time but also how to organize it in such a way that you're always looking toward the future as well. I think musician time-lines are very different. Even right now just before you came in I'm working on 2016 and 2017 and trying to figure out which weeks will work and what might be possible and where are we going to travel too so I think it's a different type of timeline.
Me: So how important also is routine?
Wei: I think to have a daily practice routine is really important again for the sake of training your body so you don't over-work on the last minute, Like any other courses you can't cram in the last minute and expect great results.
Me: We like to pin against each other quality and quantity where like, cause I know when I started the viola I wanted to learn everything I could get my hands on, and then I was told it's 'quality over quantity' and we narrow things down and narrow it down. Was there ever a student that you would want to take on quantity?
Wei: I think quantity completely relates to the quality of their practice. If a student has figured out how to have great quality in practice they can take on a much larger quantity of music because they know how to target their practicing so that it's very efficient. Some students can work on one piece but not practice with complete focus it takes much longer, but if you are focused you can learn so much. I'm happy to go as fast as you want to go!
Me: Last question. Do you still practice in front of a mirror? [laughs]
Wei: I do [laughs]
I'd like to thank Sharon Wei for being generous with her time and giving us some great insight!