Ben Folds & the SLSO? Splendid!

Charlie Kinzer introduced me to Ben Folds around 1999.  Charlie was one of my best childhood friends, and one of the smartest kids I had ever met.  Back then my friends and I would would spend our nights firing up the dial-up modem and chatting on the ICQ instant messaging system.  As Charlie and I were chatting one night, he told me he was going to send me a song I should hear.  He sent me a copy of "Brick" by Ben Folds Five.  He said it was a great song, and that I would love it.  Fifteen years later, I do love the song.  But lately I've been thinking a lot about the night I first heard it.  I certainly did not understand the subject matter of the song, and now I wonder if Charlie understood the gravity of the lyrics.  I mean, he was the smartest person in our class, so maybe he did understand it.  I certainly didn't.

The second time I was really exposed to the music of Ben Folds was in my friend Kevin's car in 2005.  A group of us were making the trek from Champaign to West Lafayette, IN to watch the Illinois vs. Purdue basketball game.  Kevin was a HUGE Ben Folds fan, and we therefore listened to Ben Fold/Five the entire length of the journey.  At the time, I thought Kevin's devotion to the music was a little extreme, but I can admit I've always liked the way Ben can slip the word "fuck" into so many of his songs.

Over the years I grew more and more fond of the music, and I've been lucky enough to see him in concert a number of times, including last summer with Ben Folds Five.  Right on the heels of that Ben Folds Five concert last year, I found out that Ben would be playing a number of shows in 2014 with orchestras around the country.  Two dates with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra were announced, and that sealed the deal for me.  

I contacted one of my SAI sisters, Amber, who moved back to Missouri a couple years ago, and we got tickets.  We found out that another of our SAI sisters, Clare, would be in attendance the same night with her husband, and we made a plan to meet up for dinner and the show.  A week before the concert, I learned that the guy who taught my saxophone methods class in college would be playing with the SLSO for the concert.  How cool is that?  He's been playing with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra this season as well, which is cool, but those shows did not include Ben Folds!  Holmes is so cool.  (Clearly.  Based on the number of times I used "cool" to describe him/his situation.)

I had enjoyed each of the three previous Ben Folds/Five concerts I attended, and this was no exception.  After the orchestra was situated on stage, Folds took to the piano and opened with one of my personal favorites, "Effington".  That song holds a special place in the hearts of Central Illinois fans, because it was inspired by his drive between Effingham, IL and Normal, IL for a show at Illinois State University.  The first part of the show included "Smoke", "Jesusland",  and "Picture Window".  At that point we were treated to the first movement of the piano concerto Ben had spent most of 2013 writing.  He'll soon be performing it with the Nashville Symphony and the Nashville Ballet.

The concerto movement was lovely.  I found it interesting that Ben's posture changed significantly during that piece.  While Folds is known for a more relaxed posture at the piano (sometime including standing in front of, or even on top of the keyboard), for this part of the performance, he sat up straight.  He didn't stomp his foot down on the pedals.  He demonstrated for the audience the removal of the tape he typically wears on his fingers to protect them while they bang into ivory for hours during a show.  He was a different performer.  The music was different, too, obviously.  The word "fuck" was nowhere to be found, for one.  But the music was still distinctively Ben Folds.  The influence of his rock music was apparent, but that only enhanced the concerto movement for me.  I wanted the piece to sound like a piano concerto composed by Ben Folds, and I truly believe he delivered that.

One of the illicit photos I surreptitiously took during the show 

The rest of the first set included "Landed, "Fred Jones pt. 2", and "Steven's Last Night in Town".  The last song of the set was terrific.  One of the few pieces that includes wind instruments in the original version, the orchestra was really able to make that piece come alive.  It kept the energy high going into intermission.

Following intermission (and one of the longest bathroom lines I have seen EVER), Folds and the SLSO took the stage for the second set.  They opened with "Zak and Sara", followed by "Cologne", which was preceded with a humorous story about the birth of the song while Ben was on tour in Europe.  Ben Folds is known by his fans for improvising music on stage.  This often starts with some fan shouting "Rock This Bitch" at the stage.  At that point, Folds will launch into an improvised song about whatever is on his mind at the time.  Thankfully this concert was no different in that regard.  What was pretty magical though, was how he incorporated the orchestra.  The sections of the orchestra were instructed to play different parts as he built the sound up from the bottom.  Over the top of the orchestra, he sang to us about how he was staying at the hotel with the casino (where our friends Clare & Bill stayed!) and the trouble with trying to eat healthy while on tour.  Apparently it's very difficult to eat vegetables when you're getting room service on the regular.

Instructing the instrumentalists on their parts for "Rock this Bitch"

The rest of the set was amazing.  After thoroughly rocking the bitch, he played the unmistakable opening chords to "Annie Waits".  That was actually a really interesting social experiment on audience reactions in different genres, but I'll get to that later.  Next we were treated to a somewhat rare performance of "The Luckiest", which was the first time I had heard him play it live.  That was followed by "Not the Same", which included some more patented Ben Folds on-stage shenanigans.  One of the reasons I really love seeing him live is because he invites audience participation.  For "Not the Same", he broke the audience into three voice parts, taught us a chord change by rote, and invited us to sing along on the chorus. 

Following "Not the Same", he played "Brick", and I thought of Charlie Kinzer.  Is that weird to think of your childhood best friend during a song about a teenage abortion?  Hmmm, that might be a thought to ponder another time.  Anyway, he wrapped things up with "One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces" and "Narcolepsy".  After a standing ovation, in which I happily participated, the orchestra left the stage, but Ben returned for an encore.  I'll be honest.  I don't remember what the first song he played was.  I know that for the Sunday night show, he played "Rockin' the Suburbs" first, but that wasn't the case on Saturday night.  He closed out the whole evening with the song "Army", which is one of my favorite Ben Folds songs ever.  I always hope he'll play "Army", but I was interested in whether or not he would perform it with the orchestra on this concert.  The song features a horn break in the middle, and a concert with an orchestra would be the perfect opportunity to perform it.  I have to admit, however, that he played it in my preferred way - by splitting the audience in half and having us sing the horn lines.  I seriously love that he invites audience participation.

Beyond my notes on the individual songs performed, I made notes about the performance as a whole.  I love that the conductor danced throughout the concert, even singing along at times.  You could tell he was an actual fan.  The lighting director for the event also did a great job.  I assume the lighting concept was a watered down version of what happens during a typical Ben Folds show, but seeing in the context of the orchestra concert really changed my perception of the performance.  I thought it might be distracting at first, but I found it totally enhanced my experience.  It was surprisingly wonderful.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the evening for my friend Amber and me was the eclectic mix of patrons at the concert.  There was a fair mix of Ben Folds fans and St. Louis Symphony Orchestra ticket holders.  The audience interactions made this distinction more apparent.  As I mentioned earlier, the song "Annie Waits" has a distinct opening that includes singular claps from the audience before the first verse.  For example:

Many Ben Folds fans in the audience clapped in time as we've been conditioned to do over the years.  The season ticket holders near my seats were noticeably startled when that happened.  Amber and I discussed our own internal struggle about appropriate behavior at the concert.  Both of us bridged the gap between Ben Folds fans and orchestra fans by being rock music loving classically trained musicians.  I would never yell or "WOO!" during an orchestra concert, but I absolutely do during rock shows.  Finding the appropriate response during this concert was interesting to say the least.

It was really a spectacular evening, though.  I was able to spend a night enjoying music I love, performed by musicians I admire (and 1 I know!), with people who bring me great happiness.  It may have taken me two weeks since the concert to finally write about it, but clearly that was because I have a lot of thoughts and feelings on the matter.  If you've made it to the end of this, gold star for you.  When I started writing it, I thought it would be a love letter.  I didn't know it would be a love tome.

Hazing Prevention? Splendid!

So, last week I heard a story about an organization on our local college campus that, like every other organization, does "getting to know you" activities before initiating new members.  I think icebreakers and group games are a great way to get to know potential members.  It’s also a great way for potential members to decide if they genuinely want to join a group.

What concerns me was the nature of these activities.  I was only told about two of them, so I’m sure some of the others are totally innocuous.  The two I heard about, though, gave me some cause for concern. 

Activity 1 included pledges being blindfolded, driven around campus, and dropped off at a previously unknown location (this year, the cemetery) with the rest of the initiation class, and told to find their way home.

Activity 2 paired potential new members with members form the brother organization.  The brothers competed to create the best hairstyle on their partner.  Instead of styling their actual hair, they used shaving cream as sculpting material.

As I’ve mentioned many times, I’m a member of Sigma Alpha Iota.  In addition to being a member of the fraternity, I also serve as an advisor to the collegiate chapter at U of I, and I oversaw 4 collegiate chapters during my term as a Province Officer for the organization.  SAI takes hazing very seriously, and because of this, I’m pretty sensitive to the subject.  We have a fairly strict hazing policy that forbids “any action or situation that recklessly or intentionally endangers mental or physical health or any action taken or situation created which produces mental or physical discomfort, embarrassment, harassment or ridicule.”

I’m sure my experiences in such a group are what set off the alarms in my head the moment I heard “blindfolded”.  I'm really sad that these activities happened, but I’m especially sad they happened to mostly freshman girls.  These young women are looking for support and friendship, and this is what they receive.  When one girl was told that sounded like hazing, her response was "but they didn't yell at us, and no one got hurt!"

That broke my heart.  It also made me mad.  I wish I could explain to that young woman that hazing doesn’t always end up in injury or death.  It isn’t limited to verbal abuse or alcohol consumption.  It’s about stripping an individual of his or her dignity.

The week before these incidents occurred was National Hazing Prevention week, which adds a whole new layer of frustration to the story, in my opinion.  Hazingprevention.org is full of useful information on the subject.  It has a thorough definition of hazing, as well as the difference between hazing and bullying.  There are all sorts of resources and ideas for activities.  I highly suggest checking it out.

I have to reiterate how happy I am to be in a fraternity that takes hazing very seriously.  I am so proud of my collegiate chapter advisees for being keenly aware that potential new members and members-in-training should be treated with respect.

Sisters in Music? Splendid

In the fall of 2003, I was a freshman in college.  I was having the time of my life, loving my new town, my new classes, and all the incredible new friends I made in the Marching Illini.  There was a group of about 10 junior and senior girls in my section who really looked out for me.  At the end of rehearsal one day, three of them approached me about joining their women’s music fraternity.  I had no intention of “going Greek” during college, and I initially told them I wasn’t interested.  They asked me to attend an informational meeting for the group before making any decisions.

Sometime in the next week, another trumpet playing music major friend of mine and I attended an information night about the group.  I like to say that the girl who ran the event started with the line, “You should join Sigma Alpha Iota because we like music and we like food… a lot.”  That may or may not have been a direct quote, but it’s the sentiment that counts.  It’s the same sentiment that worked to get me to another meeting.

In all seriousness, I didn’t really understand the scope of Sigma Alpha Iota when I rushed and was a pledge.  (Yes, we still called them that in those days!  Now it’s recruitment and members-in-training.)  What I did understand was that it was an organization of women who came together because of their interest in music.  I saw that the members of my chapter were leaders in ensembles and other organizations.  They were women I really admired.  As a member of a male-dominated trumpet section, it was great to have those role models.  Going through my education period allowed me to grow closer to the other members of my pledge class which was important.  Not only was my trumpet section male-dominated, it was also huge, so had it not been for SAI I probably never would have made friends outside my section!

Every SAI remembers her Initiation.

I loved my collegiate SAI experience.  I served on quite a few committees, held a position on the executive board, helped organize fundraisers benefitting VH1 Save the Music, and formed genuine connections with my sisters in music.

Sigma Delta Chapter 2006

Executive Board

It was a tradition in my collegiate chapter to share favorite memories and write letters to graduating seniors as a way to say goodbye.   I didn’t grow up with sisters, and I honestly didn’t expect to gain any through a Greek organization in college.  So imagine my surprise the first time I realized the stifled sobs during one of these events was coming from ME!  I was saying goodbye to my Pledge Mom (it was still okay to call them that back then!) and another of my very good friends in the trumpet section.  That was the moment I realized that they were my sisters.

My Pledge Daughter and I say goodbye to my Pledge Mom

I had no idea my journey in membership of Sigma Alpha Iota was just beginning.  Little did I know that I would continue to be an active member of the local alumnae chapter, an advisor to two collegiate chapters, and a Province Officer in the national organization.  But those are stories for another time.

Vita Brevis, Ars Longa