Some Nerve

by | Jun 7, 2017 | Uncategorized

To regular readers of this blog, please bear with me today – things are going to be a little different. There is still a video in which I perform and embarrass myself – however, I’m not playing the cello, and I’ve got some company for a change.

This past weekend, I went back to New York to attend my redacted anniversary high school reunion. I was incredibly fortunate to attend Hunter College High School, a unique place that gave me a great education and many of my closest friends. (Film buffs may recognize the exterior from the movie “The Fisher King.”) Hunter is a public school, but admission is based on a highly competitive exam given citywide. Alums include Elena Kagan, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Ruby Dee. Our class was drawn from across the five boroughs, from my Upper West Side neighborhood to the far reaches of Riverdale, Jamaica and Bensonhurst. The class also looked like the city we lived in – ethnic and economic diversity was both a given and, more importantly, a strength.

New York is a city of constant change, and Hunter too has changed in the years since we were there – the student body is richer, whiter and less representative of the city as a whole. That’s not a positive, in my opinion – I learned so much from those different from me as we went through school together, and the work many of my classmates are doing shows how important true diversity is.

Meet Fred McIntosh, who came to Hunter from P.S. 244 in Brooklyn – he went on to NYU Law School, and has been working towards getting more students of color ready for the exams necessary for admission to Hunter and the city’s other elite public high schools. On Saturday, Fred mentioned the staggering cost of test preparation tutoring which many wealthy parents now spring for in hopes of landing their child a spot at Hunter. In our day, that tutoring didn’t exist, and if it had, neither he nor I (nor many of our classmates, I suspect) could have afforded it, and we might not have been accepted. You can watch Fred’s inspiring TedX Hunter talk here, and support his efforts to re-level the playing field by contributing to Exam Schools Partnership Initiative.

There are so many others in our class I could talk about – a doctor who visits elderly homebound women; a counselor for academically challenged students at a technical college; a director of programs at the Interfaith Center of New York – the list goes on and on.

I think the “other-directed” work these people do comes in part from what they got at Hunter – being surrounded by so many interesting, different people makes you better able to see the world through someone else’s eyes, and more interested in making things work for them.

I’m proud to be a part of such a great group of people, and I was really excited to see them all. However, I was quite anxious about the reunion, too, because I’d agreed to do something I hadn’t done in a while – sing in public.

One of my closest friends at Hunter was Morris Levy, a man who knows more about the history of American popular music than any six people you could name, and a very gifted singer and arranger. We became good friends in Jazz Chorus, which was my favorite extra-curricular activity at the school, and in our junior year (I think), we formed a barbershop quartet, because, hey, what teenage girl doesn’t like a guy in a weird hat and bow tie?

The group decided to sing again for the reunion, and half a dozen times in the months leading up to it, I thought about backing out. Now, I’m no stranger to making a fool of myself in public (I do it for a living, after all), but this was different – I’d be up there without my cello!

Patty Chang Anker, another great friend from Jazz Chorus who was at the party Saturday, made quite a splash a couple of years back with her book “Some Nerve”, about how she and others overcame fears of experiences ranging from public speaking to wedgies. The book has helped me a lot, and its lessons came in handy on Saturday, that’s for sure. If you’re afraid of anything, pick up a copy!

Luckily there was an open bar, and it was hard to hear. And we even inspired someone to join us – that’s our classmate Rob Otey behind me, playing the role of Yoko Ono. He had some nerve, too!

From last Saturday's reunion – the triumphant return of the Hunter College High School, Class of 1987 barbershop quartet, with special guest Robert C Otey in the role of Yoko Ono.

Posted by Nat Chaitkin on Wednesday, June 7, 2017

Thanks to all my classmates for reminding me how lucky I am to have you as friends and sources of inspiration. And to everyone else, I’ll get back to Bach next week, I promise.

 

Till next time,

Nat

 

 

 

 

 

All In The Family, Part 5 (Birthday Edition)

by | May 16, 2017 | Uncategorized

Today would have been my father’s 79th birthday. He passed away over five years ago, though for me, especially today, it feels like it happened yesterday. He gave me many different gifts, and since his passing, I’ve seen them come together in ways I hadn’t expected, but that I think he’d be pleased to see. We shared a love for many things, including baseball and the Pink Panther movies, but I’ll focus here on the two most important – music and social justice.

 

First of all, the music world is very different from the one he knew, but there are many things happening now that he would have liked.

 

My dad believed that art was for everyone, and often lamented that more people didn’t know and love the music that was so central to his life. Anyone who’s read this blog before knows I have offered many reasons why great music has such a small fan base, and I’ve tried to offer some solutions to the problem – thankfully, many others in the classical music world are working on this, too – a development I know he would appreciated.

 

I started Bach and Boombox because of the connections between all kinds of music that my dad showed me. Along with countless new classical music concerts, he also took me to many jazz performances (he’d been a jazz pianist in his early days), and introduced me to the Beatles, too. He was a firm believer in the saying – “There are two kinds of music – good, and the other kind.”

 

Nowadays, I spend much of my time sharing the joy of playing music with kids who might not get to otherwise, through 4-Way’s String Project at Woodford Paideia. My dad helped open my eyes to the inequities in society early on, and we often talked about how they could be addressed – I think he’d be especially pleased that we’ve found a way to be of service through music.

 

This past weekend, ProMusica Chamber Orchestra gave our final concert of the season, and the program began with a brief performance by violin students from the orchestra’s Play Us Forward program, most of whom come from economically challenging circumstances. On stage with them were players from the orchestra (including yours truly) and our guest artists for the evening, violinist Vadim Gluzman (who has been a big supporter of the program) and violist Paul Neubauer, who a few minutes later would give a thrilling performance of Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante. In the picture below (courtesy of another ProMusica cellist – thank you, Cora!), you can see all of us, playing together – this is the kind of musical and social connection I’m sure Dad would have liked to see.

In his own music, my dad shared a great deal of himself, and you can hear his varied musical influences, from Schoenberg to Stan Getz. So to close, let’s hear a short dance for piano, performed by his friend Richard Becker, that gives you a good sense of him and where he was coming from. Like all his music, it’s both intense and subtle, and at about the 2:00 mark, it starts to sound (to me, at least) like an Earth, Wind and Fire record – a little bit of funk to finish.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/322913645″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”100″ iframe=”true” /]

 

Happy Birthday, Dad – I miss you.

 

 

The Arts Mean Business

by | Mar 29, 2017 | Uncategorized

Recently, it was proposed (yet again) that the National Endowment for the Arts be eliminated, which has arts advocates (and anyone who can do math, frankly) in an uproar. Just before the budget proposal was unveiled, I submitted the following piece to Movers and Makers, Cincinnati’s monthly chronicle of local culture and philanthropy – you can read it below, or here. Though it isn’t about the NEA, my underlying point applies to its fight for survival – when it comes to the arts, investing a little money goes a long way, and is repaid many times over. No one will argue more passionately than I for the intrinsic value of art, but in times like these, it’s also good to stick to the bottom line when you make your case, and there’s a good one to be made.

The Arts Mean Business 

Recently, there’s been news from the former site of King Records, at 1540 Brewster Avenue in Evanston. The city wants to save the space, while its owner, Dynamic Industries, wants to tear it down. In a recent article in the Enquirer, Sharon Coolidge offered several good reasons to save the building, including the symbolic importance of a place that was way ahead of its time, as well as the possibility of lucrative music tourism.

King’s owner was Syd Nathan, a savvy businessman who would have a profound impact on both American popular music and social progress. He opened King in 1943, producing country records, a genre to which major labels weren’t yet paying much attention. He soon found another market to crack – R&B. At a time when the music business (like pretty much everything else in America) was segregated, Nathan was a real pioneer, bringing black musicians into King to make what were then called “race records”.

The white musicians started covering the songs the black musicians were playing, and vice versa, and this interaction helped give birth to rock and roll. Musicians of all kinds recorded at King until it closed in 1971 – since then, the building has fallen into disrepair, and is in imminent danger of being bulldozed.

 

One big reason – 55 feet high, in fact – we can’t let this happen is the mural of James Brown on Liberty Street. The Godfather of Soul was King Records – nearly all of his most important records were made there. When I perform my solo program, Bach and Boombox, I use a clip from his 1970 hit “Get Up”. When I ask the audience where it was recorded, only a few people know – that shouldn’t be.

When James Brown came back to town for a visit 20 years ago, he was very upset to see the King building in shambles. Cincinnati is where Brown rose to fame, and if we’re going to claim him as our own, we need to walk the walk here, and restore King to a state he’d be proud of. And according to Mark Twain, we’re right on schedule!

It’s important to remember that Syd Nathan integrated his studio not just out of idealism, but also to make a buck. He saw an opportunity to expand his reach, and being a good businessman, he took it. It’s a nice reminder that art, social progress, and the bottom line can coexist very nicely.

There’s a more recent local example of the artistic and social good a little money can do – it’s on Warsaw Avenue.

In 2012, City Council member Laure Quinlivan created the Cincinnati Artist Ambassador Fellowship program (CAAF), offering small grants to city artists for community-oriented projects. I was fortunate to receive one of the fellowships, and wound up developing both my solo program and a small business.

Violinist Eddy Kwon, who directs MYCincinnati, Price Hill’s marvelous free youth orchestra, used his CAAF grant to start the MYCincinnati Ambassador Ensemble. Eddy and six students created an original performance piece, based on their own experiences.

Watching this group’s performance was one of the most powerful musical experiences I’ve ever had. They played their instruments, spoke, and sang about being teased, bullied, and even arrested – Ziyad Tooles, the group’s bassist, accused of shoplifting a bottle of mouthwash (which he’d paid for), was handcuffed outside his neighborhood Kroger at the age of 13, and the group’s depiction of this incident was devastating.

I have visited MYCincinnati many times as a guest teacher, and always enjoy talking with Ziyad – he is an energetic, funny, and inspired young man. Until that performance, however, I had no idea he’d been through something that awful. Recreating that incident through performance must have been both challenging and empowering for him.

Ziyad is now learning to conduct, and has led several MYCincinnati performances. Whether he pursues music or some other career, I’m sure he will have an outsize impact, thanks in no small part to his experiences as a member of the Ambassador Ensemble.

What, you may rightly ask, does this have to do with King Records? The answer is that both Syd Nathan’s work and Eddy’s represent what great things can happen when you give musicians room to experiment and collaborate, and that it can be good business, too. MYCincinnati has been a big part of the recent revitalization of Price Hill, attracting new residents and businesses to the area, and the $6,000 (not a misprint) Eddy got from the city has been multiplied many times over, from empowering students like Ziyad, to the great publicity generated during the group’s 2016 tour to Cleveland, Columbus and Pittsburgh.

Unfortunately, the CAAF program only lasted two years before falling victim to budget cuts. Let’s bring them back – Eddy’s work shows that they are a great investment, in art, people, and the economy, and so, in that spirit, I propose we rename them for Syd Nathan.

Hard to believe, but it’s an election year again, and I urge you to press local candidates to support economic development through the arts, by restoring the CAAF grants, and by saving 1540 Brewster from the wrecking ball. And Laure Quinlivan is running for council again – if you live in the city of Cincinnati, make sure you vote for her this fall. She knows better than anyone that the arts mean business!

Cities like Memphis and Nashville have reaped huge economic benefits from music tourism – we should join them. In a town that treasures both its history and arts scene, while always watching the bottom line, this is a no-brainer, people – let’s get on up and #SaveKingRecords!

Till next time,

Nat

 

 

 

 

Happy 332nd Birthday!

by | Mar 21, 2017 | Uncategorized

I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s that time of year again – Bach turns 332 today, and he hasn’t aged a bit! To celebrate, here’s a video on the final movement of the first Suite – perfect party music, by the way – a raucous Gigue! We’ll also learn how Bach was a pioneer in “foreshadowing”, used all the time by modern writers and moviemakers!

 

https://youtu.be/4Pp1nLrt2EE&w=600

Thanks for watching, and if you’d like to make a gift in honor of Bach’s big day to 4-Way’s free lessons program, please click the donate button or visit 4-WayQuartet.com/education – thank you!




Till next time (and the D Minor Suite!),

 

Nat

 

Don’t Be So Binary

by | Mar 4, 2017 | Uncategorized

Today’s video is on the Minuets from the G major Suite, and that means we have to talk about form.

 

Wait, come back! I promise, it will be ok. As you’ll see, it takes a pop musician to explain baroque paired dance form effectively, and as a bonus, you’ll get to see my soon-to-be world famous James Brown impression. I promise you won’t be disappointed!

Pairs of dances in classical music have a basic structure – A-B-A. In other words, you play the first Minuet (here, sunny and bright, in G Major), followed by the second one (darker and mysterious, in g minor), and then return to play the first one again. Simple, right?  You wish – classical musicians are good at making things complicated, so we call this “Rounded Binary Form.”

Yuck.

Luckily, there’s a much better way to say the same thing, and it comes courtesy of the Godfather of Soul, Mr. James Brown. His many valuable contributions include assembling one of the tightest bands in history, displaying astonishing dance moves, and eliminating the need for understandable lyrics. The original is great, but since I don’t want to get sued, in the video I recreate one of the greatest moments in his 1970 masterpiece “Get Up”, where he offers a much better alternative to “rounded binary form”. I think you’ll appreciate his description much better, and at the risk of boasting, I think my impression is pretty good, too – enjoy!

 

https://youtu.be/0KDXzxWJvlM&w=600

 

Please share this if you like it, and post your comments – I’ll see you next time for the Gigue!

Nat

Dirty Dancing

by | Jan 29, 2017 | Uncategorized

 

https://youtu.be/pKIkBn4glkg&w=650

Today’s piece is perfect for a Sunday morning – it’s a sarabande, a slow movement full of repose, calm and peace. There is another side to the sarabande, however, one that made the Catholic church try to ban it. Watch the video to hear the piece and learn more!

Thanks for watching – if you’re enjoying the videos, please take a moment to support 4-Way’s free lessons program by visiting our website or clicking on the donate button below. Thank you!



Till next time (and the Minuets),

 

Nat