Having survived four March winter storms and a few power outages, the Swarthmore College Music and Dance Department is now ready to host its series of spring concerts, featuring students from a variety of classes and music and dance groups. One of these is the Wind Ensemble Concert, featuring over thirty members from the student body, faculty, and Swarthmore community.

Wind Ensemble is one of the largest music courses at Swarthmore, with over 30 members this semester. It is also one of the oldest, ongoing since the 1980s. Andrew Hauze, a Swarthmore professor trained as a conductor, pianist, and organist, has taught the class every semester for the past seven years.

“The biggest challenge from semester to semester is figuring out who is playing, what their level is, and finding music that everyone can play together,” says Hauze. “…I love that it brings students together from all across campus. I get to hear about what they’re doing in their courses, and meet students from all departments.”

The Wind Ensemble is open to students from all class years and majors who play wind, brass, or percussion instruments. As a Tri-Co class, the Ensemble often has at least a few students from Bryn Mawr and Haverford, in addition to faculty and members from the local community. As Hauze explains, “if we have room, we open the Ensemble to community members, especially those who play instruments we don’t have in that year’s ensemble. It’s really nice – [students and community members] really get to know each other and many of the faculty and community members keep coming year after year, for over a decade, so there’s this intergenerational dynamic.”

This semester’s Wind Ensemble features two faculty members, Gilbert Rose (Classics) on the trumpet and Carr Everbach (Engineering) on the trombone, in addition to four community members. The Ensemble features a variety of instruments and musicians, ranging from six clarinetists and flutists to a pianist, and one player of the less-known euphonium (a baritone horn). Regarding Wind Ensembles in general, Professor Hauze notes, “one of the strange things about Wind Ensembles as a group is that it only began to coalesce in the 20th century. So if we want to play older music it needs to be arrangements not originally intended for this group. I like to get a mix of pieces originally written for these instruments and pieces that have been arranged. The Ensemble always plays together, for every piece.”

On Saturday, March 24, Swarthmore Professor of Music Lei Ouyang Bryant and recent alumnus Tommy Neale ’17 presented selections of their respective scholarship at the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Society for Ethnomusicology’s annual conference in College Park, Maryland. Neale’s conference presentation consisted of a condensed version of the senior comprehensive paper that he presented to the music faculty for evaluation last semester. The topic of his paper is a music theoretical, historical, and cultural analysis of “Paranoid Android,” the lead single from Radiohead’s third studio album, OK Computer.

After reading his paper and listening to his presentation, Professor Bryant realized that Tommy’s research would be a good candidate for a conference presentation. She said, “I was really impressed with his multi-faceted examination of Radiohead. In his paper, he rigorously investigates the band, their music, and the particular historical and cultural moment of the album. Tommy has a wonderfully analytical mind and is really engaging in both writing and public speaking.” But the process of preparing his comprehensive for a conference presentation has not been without its challenges. Neale was tasked with condensing his 36-page thesis into a 10-page document and 20-minute presentation, that still somehow preserves his original points. Out of necessity, his presentation eschewed some of the finer music theoretical details that were contained in his original thesis, and focused mainly on the relationship between instrumentation, timbre, and ethnomusicology.

Both the process of writing his comprehensive and the subject matter of “Paranoid Android” were extremely important to Neale. He calls the initial process of writing his comprehensive as “tremendously worth doing” but also “very difficult” saying, “doing comps changed me.” “Paranoid Android” was “very formative” for Neale as a young listener, and he acknowledges the tremendous influence Radiohead has had on his own songwriting process. The process of sustained scholarship on a single topic is certainly a Herculean task, especially when the topic of one’s scholarship is a piece of art that holds such personal significance. The subject matter of “Paranoid Android” particularly resonates with Neale, especially given his experiences at Swarthmore. He describes Swarthmore as a “hyper-anxious place,” and says that the only way he has been able to keep his anxiety under control is by “going totally low tech…keep(ing) the stimulation really low.” “Paranoid Android,” written in the early days of the Internet Age, provides for Neale a distillation of this fear of sensory overload. “The main point of Radiohead,” he says, “is sort of turning the soundscape of modernity on itself critically.” In a world that can often be hyper-stimulating, Radiohead has provided for Neale a blueprint for survival.

He cites “the allure of doing something totally sideways…something very, very non-classical” for his senior comprehensive as one of his reasons in selecting “Paranoid Android.” But he is also quick to mention that his primary motivation was his love of Radiohead: “I think the reason that I loved them before is the reason I did comps, is the reason I still love them now.” But when asked how this process of scholarship has informed his conception of the song, Neale wryly chuckles. “In the end,” he says, “the research gets so far away from why you loved the song in the first place.” He says he is taking six months off from even listening to “Paranoid Android” again, perhaps to give his brain time to rest.

Rachel Hottle ’18

On Sunday, April 8th at 3:00PM the Swarthmore College Chinese Music Ensemble will be showcasing its talents in Lang Concert Hall for their spring concert in a program shared with Gamelan Semara Santi. The Ensemble is co-directed by Professor Lei Ouyang Bryant and Wang Guowei, a world-renowned performer who comes down from New York to rehearse with the students.

The Chinese Music Ensemble will be playing five pieces, all personally arranged by Wang Guowei to suit each musician’s abilities while still creating a cohesive piece. Many are related to nature, including “Flower Drum Song,” “August Flowers in Bloom,” and “Colorful Clouds Chasing the Moon.” Another piece, “The Happy Farmer,” is quick and fast-paced, leading some members of the Ensemble to jokingly call it, “The Stressed Farmer.” To round out the repertoire, the Ensemble is bringing back “Three Folk Songs,” which, as the title indicates, is composed of three separate folk songs.

The Chinese Music Ensemble was established as an official performance ensemble for the first time last semester, drawing both seasoned musicians and beginners looking to learn something new. Students will play traditional Chinese instruments such as the guzheng (zither), erhu (bowed fiddle), hulusi (gourd flute), and yangqin (hammered dulcimer). Though many students used their knowledge of Western instruments – for example, the hulusi is similar to the clarient – they had to adjust to various changes such as the use of cipher notation, which assigns a number to each note rather than a letter.

After a successful fall concert, the Ensemble drew more new members, with only four returners, turning last semester’s beginners into teachers for their peers. Lesia Liao ‘18, who started playing the yangqin just last semester, will now be playing a solo in “The Happy Farmer.”

The performances of Gamelan and the Chinese Music Ensemble will transport audiences across the world to China and Indonesia. As the Chinese Music Ensemble continues introducing students to traditional Chinese music, their spring concert’s ambitious repertoire will enrapture audiences with their energy and rich, melodic sound.

Tiffany Wang ’21

Janis Siegel, a Featured Guest Artist at Swarthmore College this year, has performed and hosted multiple workshops with voice students on campus throughout the academic year. Known for her Grammy award-winning work with the vocal group The Manhattan Transfer, Siegel is a big name in the music world, and music students at Swarthmore have been eager for opportunities to work with her. She has collaborated with solo performers and ensembles alike on campus, including a workshop held with Swarthmore’s Garnet Singers.

Shelby Billups ‘20, voice student and member of the Swarthmore Garnet Singers, has worked with Siegel as both a soloist and ensemble member. On the experiences, she says, “With Ms. Siegel, you never know what to expect and I think that’s what added to the excitement of being in a class with her. You have a chance to spontaneously explore different styles of your voice.” Josie Ross ‘21, another Garnet Singers member and solo workshop participant, speaks of the ease of working with Siegel. “Siegel has a warm, welcoming presence that makes you comfortable to step outside of your comfort zone. When I was invited to the workshop, I was nervous to sing to such a experienced performer. However, her collaborative style gave me the courage to try singing techniques in front of a group of strangers.”

Not only voice students will benefit from Siegel’s presence and mentorship on campus. This semester, the Swarthmore College Jazz Ensemble will perform its first ever concert with a guest artist or vocalist, and aiding the ensemble in this debut is none other than Janis Siegel. Members of the ensemble are honored to take part in this Jazz Ensemble first, and trombonist Sam Gardner ‘19 voices their excitement. “Janis Siegel is a total professional,” he says. “It should be a fun and different show.” Siegel will perform with the Jazz Ensemble in seven out of eleven concert pieces. The repertoire includes several Duke Ellington works and a brand new version of “Genie in a Bottle” by Christina Aguilera, arranged by Janis Siegel and ensemble conductor Andrew Neu.

Swarthmore Jazz Ensemble is a standard jazz big band comprised of five saxes, four trombones, four trumpets, piano, bass, and drums. The group has rehearsed three hours per week throughout the semester in preparation for this performance. Says Andrew Neu, “Not only do we have such a superstar guest artist with us, but the Swarthmore Jazz Ensemble is a talented group of musicians in their own right. Every one of their past performances has been an exciting night of dynamic jazz, and the word is spreading about how great they are. If you haven’t seen the band, then you need to find out what everyone has been talking about!”

The Swarthmore Jazz Ensemble Concert with Janis Siegel will be held Saturday, April 7th at 8PM in Lang Concert Hall. This event is free and open to the public. For more information, visit https://www.swarthmore.edu/music/concerts-events.

Maya Kikuchi ’20

Fitting with this month’s celebration of Women’s History, Professor Deborah Wong from the University of California, Riverside will deliver the 2018 Genevieve Lee ’96 Memorial Lecture with a presentation on the way Asian American women use the arts to promote social change. The Lee Lecture is an annual endowed lecture that supports the development of multi-disciplinary Asian American studies. This year’s lecture is sponsored through the Asian Studies Program and Department of Music and Dance at Swarthmore College. Titled “Women of Color Creating Change: Taiko, FandangObon, and Asian American Arts Activism,” Professor Wong’s lecture will explore two case studies of the arts as a form of social change. The first case study looks at taiko and the role of gender within the taiko community among a diverse group of women. The second examines FandangObon, a festival based in L.A. that brings together Japanese, Mexican, and African American communities for a celebration of dance, music and environmental consciousness.

As a Professor of Music and an ethnomusicologist who specializes in Asian American and Thai music, Professor Deborah Wong has defined her academic career by working with diverse groups of people in order to seek out and promote interethnic collaborations. ‘Inter’ and ‘diversity’ are key words to Professor Wong’s research and are reflected in the works she has published. Speak it Louder: Asian Americans Making Music for example, a book that Professor Wong published in 2004, tracks the multitude of musical genres Asian Americans have contributed to. From traditional Asian, to jazz, pop, and classical, her work looks at how Asian Americans have created and participated in a diverse array of music traditions.

Lesia Liao ’18 read Speak It Louder to learn more about the field of ethnomusicology for an independent research project with Professor Lei Ouyang Bryant of the Swarthmore Department of Music & Dance. Liao has been working to create an annotated bibliography for Asian Americans involved in music to investigate what Asian American music is and how we might define it. Liao notes that “ethnomusicology…is especially interesting because it takes music as a site of identity formation and one[‘]s grappling with experiences.”

Professor Wong’s lecture will discuss just how to address that relationship between music and identity formation, particularly among Asian American women. Liao voiced her excitement for learning how Professor Wong balances community engagement with ethnographic research, and related the relevance and importance of this lecture, stating that “this talk will be relevant and engaging with people of color, activists who seek different ways to engage in the movement such as through the arts, Asian Americans, and anyone with an interest in the Asian-American experience, anthropology, or music.”

Among her many accomplishments, Professor Wong has also served as the President of the Society for Ethnomusicology, an editor for Wesleyan University Press’s Music/Culture series, a research member for the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation, Chair of the Advisory Council for the Smithsonian Institution’s Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, and a project manager for the Great Leap Online Archive.

Professor Lei Ouyang Bryant has long been impressed with Professor Wong’s involvement in ethnomusicology and the public sector, and has been the one to suggest bringing Professor Wong to campus as the Genevieve Lee ’96 lecturer:

“I have had the great pleasure of getting to know her through our shared interest in Taiko communities and her leadership for the Society for Ethnomusicology. I believe that Professor Wong’s commitment to Asian American communities and public sector work are both important connections to the interests of students at Swarthmore.”

As an activist, academic, and ethnomusicologist, Professor Wong’s lecture will prove to be an engaging and insightful discussion on Asian American women’s involvement in the arts and social activism.

This event is free and open to the public. The lecture will take place on Monday, April 2 at 4:30 PM in the Scheuer Room in Kohlberg.

Marion Kudla ’19