The Listening Room: Demystifying Classical Music in The Upstate

There is an air about the classical music scene that folks who don’t understand it are wary of. I almost feel sorry inviting my extended family to my concerts, as they are more comfortable in a football stadium than a recital hall. Some people avoid orchestral concerts because of the unspoken rules and intimidating formality; they don’t know what to wear, or they fear the embarrassment of having to cough between movements. I want to be an aid in tearing down that barrier. Performing, at least for me, is meant to be a shared experience, not a show-and-tell. In an attempt to draw a new demographic to the classical music scene in the South Carolina upstate, Sarye, Leila, Juniper, and I used our Petrie 360 platform to organize a chamber music concert blending spoken-word poetry and standard classical repertoire. We called the concert Whose Cup of Tea? inviting patrons to sip their drinks while enjoying a laid-back concert. We read translations of all foreign vocal pieces aloud before they ...

  While "Summertime" is one of the most recorded songs since its premiere in 1935, the history behind it is often muddled. It comes from George Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess with lyrics by DuBose Heyward, author of the original novel Porgy  about a disabled street beggar in the black tenements of my hometown, Charleston, SC. In the summer of 1934, Heyward convinced Gershwin to visit the Lowcountry to observe Gullah customs and attend African American spirituals at black churches across the Lowcountry. He stayed six weeks in a beachfront cabin on Folly Island, where he drew inspiration from the landscape and culture for his American folk opera. Folly was different then; the iconic bridge hadn't been built yet, and it reminded Gershwin of a "battered South Sea Island". He wrote about it here in a letter to a friend... "This place is different from any place I’ve seen or lived in before . . . it’s been hard for me to work here as the wild waves, playing ...

Robert Dick is known for his work mapping previously unexplored sonic possibilities of the modern flute, from multiphonics to vocalizations. His work for flute alone, “Fish are Jumping”, was titled based on lyrics from “Summertime” in George Gershwin’s opera Porgy and Bess . The title provides imagery of the piece's essence, written to mimic fish jumping in a summertime pond. Dick combines the virtuosity found in classical music and an affection for jazz and blues to create a well-rounded blend of sounds often unheard of in classical training.  Rather than a physical place, Robert Dick uses the modern flute as a landscape. Below are his instructions for the techniques used in Fish are Jumping: If we think of the flute as a landscape, then the mechanisms of the keys are a source of percussive rhythms and the breath becomes the current of a flowing stream of water. The score itself serves as a map. Unlike how Gershwin translates Charleston's landscape to music,  Fish are Jumpin...