< PreviousIAWM Journal Volume 27, No. 2 20216 hometown, I have also been able to share the creativity of string quartet writing with extraordinary performers. I listened closely to the sounds of the ensemble, and when I introduced my musical ideas to ConTempo, they welcomed them, playing my music with passion and exuberance. I wrote a number of short pieces for ConTempo—fanfares and celebratory works, as well as quintets, but my most significant quartet grew slowly in my mind after listening to repeated performances of Beethoven’s Quartet, op. 95, known as serioso. The opening notes echoed in my head and evolved into a three-movement work, the passing sound of forever. Its title, from Dermot Healy’s inspirational poetry collection, A Fool’s Errand, had also been resonating in my head for a long time .5 This collection of poetry stems from observations of the migration of barnacle geese annually between Greenland and the West Coast of Ireland. Premiered by ConTempo in January 2016, my quartet has grown and matured both in their hands and in the hands of others. ConTempo’s performance of it was released on the Navona label in 2017,6 and they have performed it more than a dozen times. It was further developed into a contemporary dance work by choreographer Ríonach Ní Néill. It incorporated movement, singing, and speaking from musicians as well as dancers. I am pleased that it still thrills me each time I hear it, and it retains the ability to surprise with each new performance. Interestingly, I wrote a much earlier work for string quartet (one of my favourites) with no specific performers in mind. On a visit to an artists’ residence in County Monaghan, in the centre of Ireland (The Tyrone Guthrie Centre at Annaghmakerrig),7 I completely abandoned the piece I had gone there to work on. Inspired by the birds’ glorious evening chorus in the woods around the “big house,” I wrote a one-movement work for quartet, Mystic Play of Shadows, which was premiered by the Vanbrugh Quartet at the West Cork Chamber Music Festival in the summer of 1996. The work found many performances by a number of quartets, including ConTempo, in subsequent years. There were also recordings and broadcasts 5 gallerypress.com/product/a-fools-errand- dermot-healy/. 6 navonarecords.com/catalog/nv6068/. 7 To learn about the artists’ residency pro- gramme, see tyroneguthrie.ie. and a beautifully expressive video response created by Mihai Cucu. 8 Another work, which was not commissioned but simply insisted to me that it needed to be created, managed to make its debut at the New Music Dublin festival on February 29, 2020, just before the world shut down for the Covid-19 pandemic. Clearly an extension of my fascination with writing for strings, this was a concerto for string quartet and symphony orchestra, Triptych. What an exciting challenge— balancing the delicacy of a string quartet with the full force of an orchestral string section, adding in the colours of winds and brass, punctuating with percussion and the strings of the concert harp. This was a palette I loved working with. I searched for ways to offer a free, improvisatory style to the large body of orchestral strings (such as repeated pizzicato glissandi by the players in their own time, short bursts of col legno battuto repeated freely/not together in the orchestral strings, ad lib harmonic tremolos, ad lib alternations of stopped notes and harmonics). The result was often a tremulous layer of sound in the string section, providing background to the highly detailed string quartet writing. I was thrilled to work closely with conductor Ryan McAdams and the Ligeti Quartet before joining them with Ireland’s National Symphony Orchestra. I often find that my greatest pleasure is in the rehearsal period, as the music begins to come to life, where composer and performer collaborate to make this happen. Connecting with the Past Looking back, I am amazed to realise that such a substantial and varied body of work exists.9 To my delight, and surprise, the past five to ten years have seen a major shift in the number of performances of my work and the range of performers who have taken it on board. I love seeing pieces evolve with repeated performances and with new musicians. While many pieces were created with and for specific musicians and ensembles, they are now being taken up by a broad range of musicians in the field. I like to think that 8 The link to this video of Mystic Play of Shadows is janesoleary.com/portfolio/mystic- play-of-shadows/. 9 For a full list of my compositions, please visit janesoleary.com. I am represented by the Contemporary Music Centre, Ireland’s resource centre for composers: cmc.ie/composers/jane- oleary. each composition only begins its life with the first performance; I wish for a long and healthy life for each piece! In 2018-19, I was privileged to be the featured composer for a season presented by an excellent new music ensemble in Belfast, founded and directed by composer Greg Caffrey in 2013. Six of my earlier works were revived and given new life by Hard Rain SoloistEnsemble. 10 It was especially wonderful to hear a revival of a sextet I wrote (Sunshowers) for Seth Bousted’s Chicago organisation ACM through a series of internet-connected workshops back in 2007. Exciting as premieres are, the full joy of being a composer comes when works continue to evolve and take on new life in further performances. At the end of that season of retrospective performances, the Belfast ensemble commissioned a new work from me, and I especially enjoyed writing for musicians I had come to know through so many performances. They premiered beneath the dark blue waves just before the lockdown of 2020, and the quintet will be released on CD in October 2021. In this work, you can hear the shimmering string sounds (violin and cello) merging with tremulous winds (flute and bass clarinet), and through it all the incisive sparkling interventions of the piano. The premiere in Belfast was accompanied by projected images of Irish artist Gwen O’Dowd’s abstract sea paintings, which had been my visual inspiration. A vision of the sea is often in my mind when writing music—attempting to emulate the fluid surface, the mysterious depths, the ever-changing colours. Nature is perhaps my most important influence—drifting clouds, swarming birds; fragments of poetry similarly relating to nature often provide me with evocative titles. Connections with art and with words, with dance and with film, have always been welcome. What’s Next? What’s next as we emerge gradually from the quiet days of 2020/2021? Following the release of my orchestral work from sea-grey shores on the Navona label early in 2021, 11 I look forward to the release of further recordings in the coming months: my quintet with Hard Rain SoloistEnsemble (Diatribe), No. 19 10 Hard Rain SoloistEnsemble link: hard- rainensemble.com 11 navonarecords.com/catalog/nv63.7 with violinist Wendy Case (Blue Griffin Records), Echoing Voices for solo alto flute with Iwona Glinka (Phasma-Music), and Silenzio della Terra with Anna Lisa Pisanu, flute, and Filippo Lattanzi, percussion (DAD Records). My string quartet, the passing sound of forever, is scheduled for an Irish tour in November this year with Navarra Quartet. I look forward to the delayed premieres in 2022 of two works completed during the pandemic. The first: unfolding soundscapes, a piano concerto for Finghin Collins and the RTE National Symphony Orchestra, was written to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Music for Galway. Performances will take place in Galway and Dublin. The second work, as the wind often does…, a quartet for bass clarinet, violin, cello, and piano, was written to commemorate Beethoven’s 250th birthday back in 2020 for performance by Concorde at the National Concert Hall. This work, like my quartet the passing sound of forever, finds its inspiration in the music of Beethoven. The opening motif from the Rondo finale of the Piano Sonata, op. 10, no. 3 provides a starting point: questioning, uncertain, rising. It also reflects Beethoven’s rondo structure: alternating rhythmic sections with free, improvisatory material. The title is an excerpt from a letter Beethoven wrote to Count Franz Brunsvik in 1814. I am grateful to all the musicians, listeners, and fellow composers I have worked with over so many years. It has been a joy to create music and to share it with others. I have never defined myself as performer, composer, teacher, curator….I have always thought of myself as all these things together! They are complementary activities, each of which nourishes the other. I hope I have given as much pleasure to others as I have had myself. Marilyn Shrude, award-winning composer, performer, educator, and dedicated advo- cate for new music, has taught at Bowl- ing Green State University in Ohio since 1977. Like many women professionals of the time, she arrived at BGSU as a facul- ty wife when her husband, John Sampen, was hired in a tenure-track position as the saxophone professor. Marilyn was initially offered and accepted a part-time position teaching aural skills and composition and directing the New Music Ensemble. Even- tually, she was hired in a tenure-track posi- tion on the composition faculty. In 2001, she was named a BGSU Distinguished Art- ist Professor. As a long-time colleague and dear friend of Marilyn’s, I cannot imagine BGSU or the world of music without her immeasurable contributions to the field, to our college, and to her students. Although what follows is a musicolo- gist’s examination of Marilyn’s career on the occasion of her 75th birthday, it also contains personal observations based on our many years of friendship—innumera- ble holiday dinners; several years teaching violin to her grade-school, hockey-playing son; and three summers (together with John) teaching BGSU students in Florence, Italy. Most musicologists don’t have such a relationship with the composers they write about. It is an honor and a gift to have known Marilyn and her music for almost half of my life. Early Years As a child in the 1950s, Marilyn was more likely to listen to polka music broad- casting from her family’s radio than any- thing resembling her current playlist (among her favorites, Berio, Lutoslowski, Cage, De- bussy, Messiaen, and Bach). The rest of the family, except for her younger sister, had no particular interest in making music. Marilyn’s inclinations, however, be- gan early. In second grade, she registered herself for 50-cent piano lessons at her Catholic grade school. Since there was no instrument at home, the nuns allowed her to practice at school during the lunch hour. Soon after, realizing Marilyn’s talent, they urged the family to purchase a piano. “It was a great financial burden for my parents at the time,” Marilyn recalled. 1 At age fifteen, Marilyn decided to be- come a nun, embarking on a journey that links her to Western art music’s earliest known women composers, but very likely unknown at the time. Leaving her closely- knit, first-generation Lebanese (father)/ Polish (mother) and extended family, she entered St. Joseph’s convent in Milwau- kee, ninety miles north of their home in Chicago. She said: 1 This and other quotes throughout the article are based on personal interviews with Marilyn. My music training continued. In addition to religious instruction and the regular high school curric- ulum, I studied three instruments [piano, organ, and cello—which the nuns switched to violin] and sang in the choir, sometimes for hours. I both loved and hated the discipline of religious life, though I sorely needed it. Extended peri- ods of prayer left my knees with painful callouses which often bled. I learned to be alone with my thoughts. After high school, Marilyn became a postulant and continued her studies at Alverno College (founded by the School Sisters of St. Francis) as a music education major. In 1965, she became a novice and began her cloistered novitiate year. In ad- dition to classes, studying, and prayer, each day consisted of eight hours of work—hard and uncomfortable work—in the laundry, kitchen, etc. “There was little time for anything else,” she remembers. As a mu- sic major, Marilyn was allotted an hour a day to practice all three of her instruments. When she asked for more time, the novice directress shamed her in front of her class- mates, “a common occurrence for all of us. It was meant to teach us humility.” Until that year, Marilyn considered herself a “closeted composer,” privately writing short, unshared pieces. Then came her first public composition, a sacred dra- ma called When Stones Cry Out, written for her novitiate class. The work portrays the struggles of St. Peter, the patron saint of her class, and an apt topic for the young Marilyn Shrude: sol sol la sol do ti MARY NATVIG (l to r) Mary Natvig and Marilyn Shrude Natvig, Marilyn Shrude: sol sol la sol do tiIAWM Journal Volume 27, No. 2 20218 peabody.jhu.edu 667-208-6600 Baltimore, MD Refine your artistry, create opportunities, and lead the way in a changing world. At the Peabody Conservatory, you’ll study with renowned faculty and forge a performing arts career as unique as you are. NEW Complete your MM degree in 13 months with the Peabody Conservatory’s low-residency program, available in Composition, Computer Music, and Guitar. Learn more: peabody.jhu.edu/LowResMM9 women finishing a difficult year of strict discipleship. Marilyn describes the music as “pretty progressive, with piano, singers, and dance,” and she recalls the dedication and hard work that she and her gifted libret- tist friend poured into the project. It doesn’t take a musicologist to see this event as a foreshadowing of Marilyn’s true calling. Indeed, like many members of the cler- gy and consecrated religious in the 1960s, Marilyn began to question her religious profession. “Things were changing. Vati- can II altered the whole orientation toward the religious life and people were leaving in droves.” Three years later, and after her graduation from Alverno College, Marilyn left the order—with no regrets. “The nuns at Alverno were good musicians, I got ex- cellent training and the whole atmosphere was conducive to learning music.” Knowing Marilyn for many years, I sense a distanced but respectful acknowl- edgment of these early memories, so un- related to her current busy life as a com- poser, performer, professor, wife, mother, and grandmother. Yet for as long as I have known her, I’ve observed Marilyn applying the same sense of purpose and dedication to her music, her students, and family—as one might to the Church. She has a tireless faith in the power and importance of creat- ing, performing, and teaching new music. Having left the order, and after two years teaching music at an urban Catholic high school, Marilyn entered Northwest- ern University as a music education major. Thanks to Alan Stout (1932-2018), who let her remain in a composition class—that she was not supposed to be taking—Marilyn immersed herself in writing, finished her MM in Music Education, and later earned a doctorate in composition from North- western. Her voice is thoughtful when she remarks, “I still consider Alan Stout to be my greatest composition mentor.” Shortly after his death in 2018, she composed and dedicated her saxophone quintet, Quietly Revealed, to him and commented: "his vast knowledge of music served to inspire a generation of composers who worked un- der his guidance.” 2 Music and Family Even a casual glance at Marilyn’s list of works reveals the importance of her family. Many of her compositions have 2 Shrude, Marilyn, Quietly Revealed, https://www.marilynshrude.com/works/quietly- revealed/, September 14, 2021. been dedicated to her parents, her partner in life and music, saxophonist John Sam- pen, and their two grown children, not sur- prisingly, both successful musicians. Their daughter, Maria, is Professor of Violin at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, and their son, David, is a free- lance actor and musician in Los Angeles. To her father, Marilyn dedicated A Window Always Open on the Sea, for cello, percussion, and piano (1990) and to her mother, A Gift of Memories (1992) for small orchestra. To both parents, she dedicated Solidarność...a meditation for solo piano (1982). 3 Like many of her works, Solidarność reflects Marilyn’s concern with human rights, and the piece was particularly personal to Marilyn as her mother and aunts were first-generation Polish Americans. Solidarność (literally, solidarity), founded in 1980, was the name of Poland’s first independent free trade union recognized by Poland’s Communist government, and it is credited for having a significant influence on the overthrow of Communist rule in Poland. Memorie di luoghi…[Memories of places] (2001), for violin and piano, is one of several works she dedicated to Maria as a performer. 4 The work recalls Marilyn’s residency in 2000 at the Rockefeller Study and Conference Center in Bellagio, Italy. In three-movements, the piece represents Marilyn’s solitary and contemplative walks to her work cabin, and it is infused with her characteristic asymmetrical and unmetered passages with a melodic language often consisting of short, palindromic “wedge” motifs (often a whole or half step followed by the same in the opposite direction, at any intervallic distance). Wedge motives are idiomatic to Marilyn’s compositional voice and communicate easily perceived structural markers and varying emotions, sometimes tender, sometimes aggressive, depending on tempo, articulation, range, and, in this work, timbral string techniques such as sul G, sul 3 Other works addressing human rights are la chanson du printemps…(1999) [Prague Spring], Récit (2005) [part of the Daniel Pearl Foundation’s “Harmony for Humanity” radio series], Trope (2007) [the Civil Rights Move- ment], Memories of a place…version for alto saxophone and string orchestra (2002) dedi- cated to New York, 9/11. 4 For more on Memorie di luoghi. . . see Mary Natvig, “Guggenheim Fellow Marilyn Shrude: Memorials and Memories,” Journal of the IAWM 18/2 (2012): 1-5. ponticello, or harmonics. The work is vir- tuosic, but introspective rather than flashy, and it should be in the standard repertory of all professional violinists. Another work that she dedicated to Maria is Notturno: In Memoriam Toru Takemitsu (1996), for violin, alto saxo- phone, and piano; it premiered at the New York Public Library at Lincoln Center. The work has been transcribed for both flute (2007) and clarinet (2011) in place of the violin, something Marilyn does not nor- mally like to do. “I don’t like to think I have pieces that can be easily transcribed for another instrument. If you are focus- ing on the real timbre of an instrument, you can’t turn a violin into a clarinet.” But as Marilyn notes, In Memoriam can be adapted more easily than some of her other works, and both transcriptions were made for BGSU colleagues. She dedicated Psalms for David (1983) to her son; it was commissioned and pre- miered by the Toledo Symphony Orches- tra, and it was the third-place winner of the 1984 Kennedy Center Friedheim Award for orchestral music. The Washington Post reviewer, Joseph McLellan, described the work as “a series of subtly colored, exotic- sounding and sometimes ecstatic wordless meditations deeply rooted in the poetry of the Old Testament.” 5 This marked the start of the prestigious awards and honors she would later receive such as the Guggenheim Foundation (2011 Fellow), American Acad- emy of Arts and Letters, Rockefeller Foun- dation, Chamber Music America/ASCAP, Meet the Composer, Sorel Foundation (Me- dallion Winner for Choral Music 2011), and the National Endowment for the Arts. Within Silence (2012), commemorat- ing the 100th birthday of John Cage, was premiered by Maria, Marilyn, and her hus- band at the World Saxophone Congress XVI in Scotland (2012). Both Notturno and Within Silence were recently recorded and are available online. Marilyn has written for or dedicated many works to John Sampen, and her solo and ensemble pieces are familiar terrain for saxophonists worldwide. One of her very early works, Music for Soprano Saxo- phone and Piano (1974), was premiered by the newly married couple in Bordeaux, France, at the 4th World Saxophone Con- 5 Marilyn Shrude, Psalms for David, https:// www.marilynshrude.com/works/psalms-for- david/, September 14, 2021. Natvig, Marilyn Shrude: sol sol la sol do tiIAWM Journal Volume 27, No. 2 202110 gress. Several years later, David Maves wrote of the couple’s performance at Pic- colo Spoleto in Charleston: She and her incredibly talented husband, John Sampen,…began the concert with an exquisite performance of an avant-garde work for piano and soprano sax- ophone that had the audience frozen in fascination….And when you can write that kind of uncompromising music and hold most of your audience in a major, though mostly conserva- tive, festival, that is a real com- positional accomplishment.6 Marilyn’s pieces have also been on the works’ list for the prestigious Interna- tional Adolphe Sax Competition. In 2002, her virtuosic work, Renewing the Myth (1988), received the ultimate distinction of being chosen as a compulsory work for the 150 participants in the competition, where Marilyn also served as a judge. Compositional Philosophy, Style, Influ- ences, Stories Marilyn’s compositional philosophy is simple: “Be as creative as you can be.” She explains: I try to push creativity in ways that may not always come nat- urally. It’s important to insert oneself in different circum- stances so that you have a dif- ferent set of influences. Keep your ears and eyes open to the sights and sounds around you… and I think it’s important to not be afraid to take risks with one’s music. I tell this to my students often: “This is the time to try anything. There’s nothing better than being in school where you can make mistakes. Do what your teachers tell you to do, but try some things that take you out of your comfort zone, and try to push that creativity in ways that may be uncomfortable.” Marilyn’s description of her creative impetus mirrors my own perception of her music as an invitation to a stimulating, 6 David Maves, Piccolo Spoleto Festival, May 1982, as cited in Shrude, Marilyn, Music for Soprano Saxophone and Piano. See: https:// www.marilynshrude.com/works/music-for-so- prano-saxophone, September 14, 2021. thought-provoking, and sometimes chal- lenging conversation with performers and audience engaged in a dialogue of discov- ery—with rhythm, texture, and timbre re- placing nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Her works for saxophone and piano, in particu- lar, are like tête-à-têtes among intimates, where silence, questioning, and extremes of emotional range are fair game. Marilyn also says she creates meanings for herself as she is writing and embeds these meanings in her compositional conversations. “I want my music to mean something—to be unique.” Like any dialogue, there are always different levels of understanding and occa- sionally hidden messages, understood only among friends (or those who have read the program notes). The most obvious of these occurs in Renewing the Myth (1988), for saxophone and piano, in which Marilyn in- serts fragments of Paganini’s Caprice No. 24, referencing the infamous composer who supposedly made a pact with the devil in ex- change for his virtuosic abilities. The allu- sion works on various levels of familiarity: some will recognize the tune, a few more will know of the legend/myth about Pagani- ni and connect it to Marilyn’s title. And even fewer will realize that the piece was written for and dedicated to the saxophone’s own “Paganini,” the virtuosic John Sampen—of course, minus the devil pact. His office is next to mine, and his virtuosity is definitely backed up with hours of practice. Marilyn often describes her musical style as atmospheric. As a young pianist, she was immediately attracted to the im- pressionists, Debussy and Ravel, and by extension, any music that was descriptive or evocative. Early in her life, Copland’s Appalachian Spring, which she first heard as the theme music to the television pro- gram “CBS Reports,” shaped her musi- cal imagination and later “the more edgy works” (as she discovered them) by Mes- siaen, Lutoslawski, Ligeti, Berio, and Crumb. As a great puzzle fan, Marilyn was inevitably attracted to the early serialists— “the expressive nature of Berg, the cleanli- ness of Webern, and the formalistic aspect of Schoenberg,” in particular. Many of Marilyn’s titles reflect her early ecclesiastical instruction: Invoca- tion,Antiphons,and Psalms (1977), Chant (1998), Lacrimosa (2006), Trope (2007), Matins (2007), Litanies (2008), Cari- tas (2008), Libro d’Ore [Book of Hours] (2014), among others, and many of the most deeply rooted influences on her com- positional vernacular are the foundational principles of Gregorian chant. She says: “The liturgy, the echo-y spaces, the sense of reverberation, incense, and the music’s other-worldliness all spoke to me.” The informed listener will likely hear how her works are suffused with the principles of pre-Vatican II musical characteristics such as a free and linear melodic style, along with the contrapuntal quirks and intricacies of 13th- and 14th-century motets, albeit with a motivic and atonal twist—character- istic intervals (the second, tritone, seventh) are easily perceived. Saxophonist Andrew Wright has written on Marilyn’s use of in- tervallic melodic cells and her structural use of the tritone and major seventh. The latter, he concludes, often substitutes for the octave in order to avoid a tonal center. 7 “Early on,” Marilyn says, “I was just getting my feet wet in different composi- tional languages and techniques: 12-tone, extended 12-tone, timbral language, ex- tended techniques, ultra-layering, and mi- cropolyphony, etc.,” all of which would eventually find their home in a largely aleatoric, quasi-improvisatory framework. Given the latter aspects of her work, the advent of computer notation was an ad- justment for Marilyn, particularly in its in- fancy when notational programs were far less sophisticated than today. As we talked, I smiled when Marilyn expressed yet an- other link to her ecclesiastical past, “I love to draw ink scores, on velum, but I couldn’t get the same effects on the computer, so I started making my music easy enough for notation programs. I found myself hav- ing to make compositional compromises, which I wasn’t always happy with.”Even- tually, she returned to more aleatoric pro- cedures and sent her handwritten scores to an engraver, a practice she continues. Notational style is often crucial to Marilyn’s compositional intention. My pieces, such as Lacrimosa and Sotto Voce,are just a bundle of notes in a box; I like gestural writing, but the kind that isn’t shrouded in complexity….Peo- ple spend all of their time count- ing and lining things up, but 7 Andrew Wright, A Survey of Selected, Original Chamber Music for Saxophone with Diverse Instruments by Marilyn Shrude (DMA dissertation, University of North Texas, 2016): 16-17.11 most of the time the composer doesn’t even care if it’s a little off, because usually we’re work- ing with bundles of notes that can shift left and right against each other contrapuntally. Per- formers should be given the op- portunity to express themselves through the music; the composer should not just say: “Here are the notes, practice it, and come back when you’re done.” Marilyn recalls the pivotal moment in the evolution of her compositional style that brought her to that conclusion—when she first encountered aleatoric counterpoint in Lutoslawski’s ground-breaking work, Venetian Games, written for the 1959-60 Venice Biennale. “For me it was like draw- ing a ‘get out of jail free’ card. I thought, I can do this and not worry about lining up every crazy rhythm, and I can still get this glorious effect. I bought the score, and I studied and studied it plus his string quartet. His music had a great influence on me.” She later met Lutoslawski in person on several occasions. Marilyn also recalls meeting Messi- aen in 1972, when she attended a concert at Lawrence University to hear him play a two-piano concert with his wife. She also went to the National Cathedral to hear the premiere of his organ piece, the ninety-min- ute Méditations sur le Mystère de la Sainte Trinité. She said that was a monumental experience. As we talked, I could see in Marilyn’s face the depth and impact of the encounters with both composers. She also met many other influential composers such as John Cage, George Crumb, György Kur- tág, Tōru Takemitsu, and Edison Denisov. Teaching Marilyn has been on the College of Musical Arts faculty at BGSU for over 40 years and has taught aural skills, ba- sic musicianship, composition lessons, new music ensemble, graduate seminars, Schenkerian analysis, counterpoint, and more. She and John have also run several programs abroad for BGSU music students (see below). For twelve years (1998-2011), Marilyn served as Chair of the Department (musicology, ethnomusicology, composi- tion, and theory), with significant changes occurring during her tenure and “lots of fires to put out.” Always juggling many hats, Marilyn was able to keep up a pro- ductive compositional and performance output during those administrative years. In 2001, she was named Distinguished Art- ist Professor of Music. In addition to her BGSU duties, Mari- lyn served on the faculty of the Interlochen Summer Arts Camp (1990-1997), where she taught music theory and class and pri- vate composition lessons and also served as chair for seven years. She has been a vis- iting professor at Indiana University, Hei- delberg College, and Oberlin College. Her guest residencies at institutions throughout the world are too many to list. When I asked Marilyn if students had changed throughout the years, she respond- ed: “This generation is much more aural… and instantaneously plugged in.” When she introduces students to the music of Luto- slowski or Berio, they are often “put off” by the sea of notes they encounter. She says, “I have to teach them the skills of de- tailed notation. I realize some students are not drawn to these compositional styles, and I have to ask myself, am I a dinosaur? But if you want to learn how to write mu- sic, you have to push notes around.” She has noticed that some of our students think graphic notation and multimedia are new, and she remarked that back in the 1950s it was the cutting-edge: “I sometimes laugh when I find them ‘discovering’ that music.” One of Marilyn’s own graphic scores, Drifting Over a Red Place (for clarinet, dancer, and images [slides]), is included in Theresa Sauer’s 2009 impressive homage to John Cage, Notations 21, that features the works of 100 composers who have used innovative and distinctive notations.8 Marilyn’s work fits on one page, a square divided into four sections (theme, varia- tion, diversion, development) and includes written instructions for the performer. The meticulous musical notation is in Mari- lyn’s own hand. The original score of the work explains the title as it included red notation reflecting the work’s eponymous inspiration, a painting by her friend, the late Dorothy Linden, and the source of the images. This version premiered at the Pic- colo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC. A later realization, that uses WX7 Wind Con- troller, was recorded for Capstone Records in 1997 (CPS-8836). Italy Although my office and Marilyn’s have been directly across the hall from one an- 8 Theresa Sauer, Notations 21 (New York: Mark Batty, 2009). other for many years, the most profound teaching experiences we have had together occurred far from our desks during the three summers when Marilyn and John (with me tagging along as the music history teacher) led a program abroad for BGSU music stu- dents in Florence, Italy. Although Marilyn and John had led previous trips abroad for BGSU students, these summers were my first experiences teaching internationally. In Florence, we spent long and productive days with our composition, saxophone, and music history students: composing, prac- ticing, rehearsing, researching, examining manuscripts in the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, attending concerts, studying music history, taking lessons, and giving concerts. We played music together, took study breaks for gelato, and had collec- tive Sunday suppers, with students and fac- ulty cooking for one another. Early Saturday mornings, we boarded busses and followed our brilliant, eccentric art history teacher up and down the hills and stairways of hot, sunny Tuscany, visiting the area’s museums, churches, and palaces. These were exhaust- ing and transformative experiences for stu- dents and faculty alike, and it was a special privilege to be part of these cohorts. During Marilyn’s first trip to Europe, in 1971, she was especially fascinated by Michelangelo’s ceiling frescos in the Sis- tine Chapel. Forty years later, when she and I were together in Florence and took art history tours, her attention was always piqued when we viewed and learned about fresco techniques, a curiosity that had been brewing since her trip to Italy. Her work Within the Wall (commissioned and pre- miered by Alia Musica, Pittsburgh, 2019) loosely portrays the steps involved in fresco making—building the scaffold, pre- paring the wall, sketching the images, ap- plying layers of plaster, constant climbing up and down, painting, chiseling, etc.— several of these steps have their own mo- tives. Marilyn revealed to me that Within the Wall was difficult to write, and she still considers it a work in process. She imag- ines Michelangelo on the scaffold, an ach- ing neck, aging uncomfortably, and with nagging self-doubts. She understands these emotions, and, in a way, the work is auto- biographical: a contemplative exploration of both the creative process and artistic psyche. She begins and ends the piece with solo piano, thus she fuses herself into the work, like paint and plaster in a fresco. Natvig, Marilyn Shrude: sol sol la sol do tiIAWM Journal Volume 27, No. 2 202112 Doctoral Program During her career at BGSU, Marilyn has painted many permanent “frescos” within the walls of the College of Musi- cal Arts and in the field of contemporary music. She founded and was the former director of the MidAmerican Center for Contemporary Music (1987-1999), and for 18 years she ran BGSU’s Annual New Music & Art Festival. At age 75, compos- ing and still teaching a full schedule, it is far from time to assess Marilyn’s ulti- mate achievement, but it is important to highlight what I believe to be Marilyn’s most significant contribution to the field of contemporary music and the College of Musical Arts at BGSU: her tireless journey resulting in our DMA program in Contemporary Music. In 1999, she and retired professor of musicology Vincent Corrigan began working on a DMA de- gree proposal. Numerous earlier attempts had been made, but all were unsuccess- ful. When Ohio legislators encouraged the development of small, targeted doctoral programs that would: 1) not duplicate others in the state, and 2) included a non- academic component, Marilyn and others spent endless hours and finally developed a DMA degree program in Contemporary Music that was approved in 2005. She chaired the Doctoral Program Implemen- tation Committee and has served as the Doctoral Program Coordinator since its inception. The total cohort is now 16 full- time students, many of them international students, with specializations in composi- tion, conducting, and performance. All students complete a required in- ternship (the non-academic component) that has offered remarkable opportunities to work with Bang on a Can, ICE, Alarm Will Sound, the Aspen Music Festival, ma- jor symphony orchestras, concert venues, etc. Students leave the program with mu- sical and organizational skills necessary in our changing artistic world, and many from outside the U.S. return to their coun- tries with the expertise to create programs of contemporary music and work with a variety of abilities and resources. The DMA in Contemporary Music has changed the culture of our college in so many ex- citing and inspiring ways, and although many others have contributed greatly to the program, Marilyn can be credited with the endurance and perseverance in foster- ing its lengthy inception, incubation, and continued success. When I asked Marilyn what she hoped her legacy would be, she answered, “I hope that whoever carries our profession into the future, they do it with dignity, love, and elegance.” I assured her—they already are. Mary Natvig teaches Music History at Bowl- ing Green State University. Her Ph.D. in mu- sicology is from the Eastman School of Music. Natvig’s first area of research was the sacred music of the 15th century, and later she turned to music history pedagogy, a field that she helped to establish with her book, Teaching Music History (Ashgate). She occasionally still performs on modern and Baroque violins and also teaches Suzuki violin. Natvig is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. Nancy Tucker is a gifted musician who “inhabits an offbeat alternative universe that inspires music to tumble into riotous abandon,” says the Los Angeles Times. She approaches the guitar as if it were a min- iature playground, exploring every sound from the strings and the wood to the pegs and the strap. Whether she is playing her heart-felt melodic, finger-style composi- tions or her inventive percussion-isms, her engaging approach to the acoustic guitar shines with personality. In addition to be- ing a guitarist, she is a composer, lyricist, humorist, and performer. Her music cen- ters around her passion for life and laugh- ter. From rural schools to urban theaters, she captures each audience’s imagination and heart with gentle invitation and conta- gious effervescence. I am delighted to have the great plea- sure of conducting this interview for the IAWM Journal. I am a visual artist, but I used to manage Nancy’s eclectic career. I have known her since her early days and have watched her grow and evolve. Marlow Shami: When did you realize that you wanted to be a musician? Nancy Tucker: My pathway to music was a long and winding road (apologies to the Beatles and their famous song). My inter- ests were many and varied. I was enthralled with wood sculpture, guitar music, veteri- nary medicine, and insects. In high school, I decided to put my whole heart and soul into art. I went to art school and about half- way through, biology began calling me, and then music. I was able to add biology to my class load, but the music department would not allow me to take classes because I was working entirely by ear. I graduated with a degree in biology and art, and I taught biol- ogy and sculpted on the side. At night, I performed in bars and res- taurants. It wasn’t ideal. I played cover tunes to a noisy crowd and occasionally slipped in an original tune. It was just my voice and my guitar for four hours a night, standing in the shadows with waitresses crisscrossing in front of me. I longed to perform my original guitar instrumentals—folk/jazz/classically influenced original songs and humorous pat- ter—for a listening audience, but it was very difficult to get that kind of work. I did not have any connections, and auditions were hard to come by and were very impersonal. Eventually, one of the patrons at a res- taurant took an interest in my original songs he heard me play one night, and he hired me to perform. Some of the people in his au- dience enjoyed my performance, and they hired me. Gradually, the number of perfor- mances increased so that, eventually, I was able to stop performing in the shadows. In those days, I accepted every performance opportunity that came along including cor- porations, assisted living facilities, girl scout gatherings, elementary schools, col- leges, pre-schools, libraries, festivals, sum- mer camps, fairs, museums, and veterans’ homes, to name just a few. I was frantically writing new material for each new audience. I traveled extensively throughout New England, New York, and Pennsylvania, and occasionally across the country. Needless to say, it was exhausting, especially when I was trying to keep the art and biology work go- ing at the same time. I had to make a choice. I discussed it with a friend, and she said that if I stopped doing art, my skills would simply freeze where I left off. If I stopped teaching biology, I could probably pick that up again in the future. But if I didn’t pursue music, I would likely lose my skills and my MEET TWO NEW IAWM MEMBERS Nancy Tucker: Her Passion for Music and Laughter MARLOW SHAMI13 momentum and have to start over again. It seemed that music would be the best choice for a while…and that was decades ago. I never looked back. Music was it. The ever- changing, consistently-challenging nature of music continues to fascinate me and cap- ture my heart to this day. MS: Who were your earliest influences? NT: I had many. There was always music and comedy in my house when I was grow- ing up. My parents and brothers played in- struments, and sometimes they performed together. Folk, rock, classical music, show tunes, and comedy records were playing al- most constantly throughout my childhood, and many variety shows on TV were cus- tomary entertainments. The performers and groups that stood out the most in my early life were Victor Borge, Carol Burnett, Ma- son Williams (Classical Gas), James Tay- lor, Leroy Anderson, Led Zeppelin, The New Christie Minstrels, Joni Mitchell, The Smothers Brothers, and The Boston Pops. MS:Do you think that watching so many variety shows influenced how you approach your career today? NT: Yes. All of those early influences showed me the vast number of choices that are available. Many of the artists were multi-talented, and their freedom of ex- pression gave me a sense of how to follow my own instincts. I have had a few news- paper reviews that describe my work, and the quotes can probably explain it better than I: “Add the footloose physical high jinks of Carol Burnett to the irreverent ver- bal wit of Paula Poundstone, the incandes- cent guitar acumen of Leo Kottke and the mixed media brilliance of Laurie Ander- son; shake well, and the astounding sum equals Nancy Tucker.”(The Daily Gazette, Schenectady, NY, ca. 1999.) “My favorite musical discovery of the festival was Nan- cy Tucker, an unnervingly talented com- bination of master guitar instrumentalist, insightful songwriter and standup comic.” (Mike Parrish, Dirty Linen International Music Magazine, ca. 1995.) MS: It sounds as if your work is very playful. Is that right? NT: Playfulness is at the center of every- thing I do. And that applies to serious com- position as well as comedy. I am curious about everything. I approach every com- position and every lyric with a deep desire to uncover all the details—sound effects, humorous moments, surprises, harmonies, and melodic possibilities. That is the rea- son it takes me a long time to write a new piece; for example, I recently listened to a work I had started a while ago. I could have left it as is, but instead, I began exploring its potential, breathing life into it, and giv- ing it character and personality. That is how I approach everything. I ask myself, “How far can I take this?” MS: I see that you have a shelf full of books in your studio. Are there any that are especially helpful? NT: There are four books that I cherish and read frequently: Stoking the Creative Fires by Phil Cousineau, Creating an Imagina- tive Life by Michael Jones, Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, and The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp.All of these books light a fire under me and keep me going. When you work alone, it is important to find ways to stay focused. MS: I have noticed that you have written a lot of music about tiny creatures. Why? NT: I believe the reason is that when I was a child, I was especially small for my age; I was close to the ground and noticed the tiniest creatures. I spent a lot of time with dragonflies, grasshoppers, katydids, toads, and salamanders. I often went deep into the woods and was sometimes up to my knees in a pond. Many of my guitar compositions and children’s songs are about the eight- legged, six-legged, and four-legged beings in the world. I taught biology in a univer- sity before becoming a full-time musician; therefore, I am fascinated by the natural world and all of its creatures. MS: Which do you love more, compos- ing or performing? NT: That’s a difficult question. The answer depends on when you ask me. My year is broken into two parts. I do most of my per- forming in the spring and summer. In the fall and winter, I compose. As I grow older, I lean more toward the composing side. I am an introvert, and I treasure the time that I spend alone. I love to delve deeply into a piece of music and work on it every day. On the other hand, bringing a joyful expe- rience to an audience is incredibly reward- ing. I have never been good at composing and performing at the same time. Each of these disciplines requires something the other one does not. Composing is intro- spective and performing requires an alert connection to a large group of people. I have to split my time seasonally or I would not be effective at either. MS: You have had a very eclectic career. Why has it been important to you to do so many different things? NT: It is important because it is my nature to explore. At the beginning of my career, I was writing and performing exclusively for adults. One day, someone asked me if I did children’s shows, and I said “yes,” not because it was true, but because I was simultaneously intrigued and terrified by the idea, and I knew I was ready for the challenge. I was hired, and facing a school auditorium filled with 300 youngsters for the first time had me quaking. I prepared for it by remembering everything I loved as a child: all the funny songs, sound ef- fects, facial expressions, physical comedy, word play, and props. Writing a show that incorporated all of those elements opened up a whole new world for me. The show was a success. That led me to family shows and then standup comedy and, eventually, to a one-woman show. All of these differ- ent shows drew from the music and variety programs I enjoyed when I was a child. MS: You have said that you love to per- form for children. What do you perform, and what do you love about doing it? When I perform for children, everything I sing is funny and participatory. I perform a very fast-moving show with songs, props, different character voices, and physical comedy. In one cartoon-type comedy that I wrote and performed, I wear a pair of flip- up sunglasses that double as mouse ears, and in another routine, which is about sing- ing in the shower, I wear a shower cap on my head and gargle. The children can par- ticipate by singing along, using hand mo- tions, or moving their entire bodies. What I love about performing for children is the spontaneity of it—the way children demand Nancy Tucker (photo by Marlow Shami) Meet Two New IAWM MembersIAWM Journal Volume 27, No. 2 202114 that you be present every moment. You have to be very grounded and aware, and there is no room for going into “automatic pilot” when you perform for them. They will let you know the moment you begin to veer off course. They also have no qualms about talking to you while you are in the middle of a show, and I like the interaction. I find the mix of children and adults in a family show to be especially enjoyable. The children appreciate my humor on one level, the adults on another, and often, the mix of ages merge together in laughter. MS: What was your most unusual per- formance? NT: Several years ago, I wrote and per- formed a one-woman show called Every- thing Reminds Me of MyTherapist. It was the first time I stepped from behind the guitar to perform comedy and theater skits. The ability to use the entire stage was so liberating! It provided an opportunity to explore props, costumes, different voice types, taped interludes, and acting. I have always used humor in my performances, but this went beyond what I had previously done. I am in the process of writing another show entitled You Can’t Be Serious. MS: You mentioned that you are an in- trovert. How do you cope with the de- mands of a performing schedule? NT: When I am on the road, I spend as much time as possible by myself so that I can recharge my batteries. I stay in ho- tels, bring my own food, and stay out of crowded places. That gives me the energy to devote myself 100% to the audience. When I first started performing, I didn’t know I was an introvert. I was exhausted all the time because I was staying in peo- ple’s houses and visiting family. Social- izing without the downtime I needed left me totally depleted. It is hard for people to understand that introversion is not about shyness but about how people unwind. An extrovert gains energy by socializing and experiencing new things. There is an as- sumption that if you are a performer, you must be an extrovert, and I can understand the reason. I believe the major difference between an extroverted performer and an introverted performer is what happens be- tween shows. An extrovert might want to spend time with people, while an introvert might search for quiet and solitude. MS: You have won several awards. Which is the most meaningful to you? NT: The awards are wonderful and of- fer recognition that I truly appreciate. My awards include a Gold Parents’ Choice Award, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Connecticut Songwriters Associ- ation, First place in the Composers Forum Competition, Grand Prize Winner of the Connecticut Comedy Festival, and Finalist in the Unisong International Songwriting Competition. There is not one that stands out more than another. What I will say, though, is that the most rewarding moments have had have nothing to do with awards. For ex- ample, several years ago, I was perform- ing in a guitar competition in New Hamp- shire. I was up against a large number of very skilled male guitarists. I was hoping to win this competition as the first woman to do so. After my performance, a woman came up to me with tears in her eyes and told me that while I was playing my gui- tar instrumental, her nine-year-old-special- needs daughter got up and danced for the first time in her life. My performing life is filled with those moments. Such moments are what keep me going, and ultimately make up the fabric of a life well spent. MS: As I look around your studio, I see a few index cards with a phrase or two written on them. Can you explain a few of them? NT: I wrote these in order to outrun my inner critic. They are constant reminders about what is important, and they help me to stay centered. One card says: “Go forth and tangent.” It has two meanings for me. One is that I can start a project and have a plan in mind, but ultimately the work has a life of its own, and I need to honor that life. The piece could take on an entirely differ- ent direction than the one I set out to ac- complish, and I cannot bend it to my will. That is when the magic happens, and I must stay open to whatever the piece of music is telling me it wants. The second mean- ing is that my happiest days are the ones when I go from one task to another in a flow that isn’t dictated by a schedule. I call them “tangenting days,” and they do not occur often enough. I always have much more to do than I can accomplish, and I tend to push myself very hard. I find that to occasionally take a tangenting day is very restful. The next reminder card says:“Keep your eye on the fascination.” This keeps me from creating mundane music. If the piece of music I am writing is no longer fasci- nating, it is time to step away from it for a while and give it some breathing room. Of- ten, the first thing I ask of myself when I en- ter the studio in the morning is: “Am I keep- ing my eye on the fascination?” That way, I am always alert to my own inner compass. The final card says: “my life is a beauti- ful work of heart.” This one still brings tears to my eyes. I wrote it when my music took a back seat for four years while I cared for my ailing parents. I was performing minimally, but I couldn’t write. It was a very difficult time, but I would do it again in a heartbeat. I had to make peace with the time I lost with my music. The phrase came to me late one night, and it still brings me a great deal of comfort. If I view my life with these words in mind, then everything has meaning. MS: Where can people find your music? NT: The best place right now is YouTube. You can type my name into the search bar and look for any of these songs/composi- tions: Everything Reminds me of my Ther- apist, Grasshopper’s Holiday, The Animal Song, Jellyfish, Mudpies,The Last Eagle, and Insects on Parade. There are many more if you keep scrolling down. You can also find CDs of my music on my web- site at nancytucker.info. Here are links to some examples of music I have written for animations. (https://www.hammondmuse- um.org/june-2021-03) (https://www.ham- mondmuseum.org/dec-2020-29) (https:// www.hammondmuseum.org/oct-2020-15) MS: What are your plans, hopes, and dreams for the future? NT: One thing I would like to do, which is probably the dream of anyone who creates for a living, is to finish everything I have started! Besides that, there is work that I am doing now that I would like to expand upon. I have been writing music for short, artistic animations for a couple of years. I say “artistic” animations because when I think of animations, I think of cartoons. But these are like abstract paintings that come to life. I would like to do more of this, plus I would like to write pieces for video and film. I have been working on a new guitar instrumental CD that was halt- ed by the pandemic. I would love to finish that. The one-woman show, You Can’t Be Serious, is waiting in the wings. In addition, there is another facet to my career as a composer that reflects the deeper aspects of my inner life and that does not show up in my works for the stage. When I 15 discovered that I had the ability to write for instruments other than guitar, it opened up a whole new language for me. That language has been wanting to emerge for many years. I have vague memories of visiting a friend of my parents when I was age six. He had a huge pedal organ in his living room, and he let me sit on the bench with him as he played, flipping levers and creating myriad sounds. I was enthralled. I told my mother I wanted to learn how to play that magical instrument. Her solution was to start piano lessons, with the promise that when I was good enough, I could take organ lessons. I never learned to read music (I played every- thing by ear), and after four years of strug- gling with the piano, I stopped. The guitar was next, and I had no in- terest in taking lessons. I have spent many years creating my own style and performing onstage with it. My love for the guitar runs very deep. When I discovered an instrument called a keyboard workstation a few years ago, with its hundreds of sounds (from vi- olin to vibraphone to flute to drums—ev- ery instrument you could imagine), I final- ly found my “pedal organ.” Using layers of sound to create classical, whimsical, or acoustic music gives me a voice I didn’t know I had. I would like to be able to have these works performed onstage, and in order to do that, I need to be able to communicate with other musicians. I am now working with score-writing software and am finally learning how to notate music. My hopes and dreams are about con- tinuing what I am doing and seeing what the muse might have in store for me. I have no idea where it will lead me, and that is very exciting. I can’t wait to see what’s next! Marlow Shami, M.S., is a nature-based teacher, artist, healer, and writer who conducts Nature- based Healing workshops and talks throughout New England. Ms. Shami specializes in the heal- ing connection between humans and the natural world. (www.marlowshami.com) Becoming a saxophonist had never been a rational decision. Rather, the saxophone found me. I felt that I had to play it, and I wanted to learn more about its history and its workings. I always had an innate desire to create music; even from my earli- est childhood, I have been drawn to classi- cal music. No one in my immediate family had been a musician; however, my great- grandmother, whom I was lucky enough to know, had been a classical pianist, and my great-grandfather had been concertmaster with the Dresden Philharmonic. Therefore, my parents were always willing to support my interest in music. I attended early childhood music edu- cation classes and played the recorder be- fore badgering my parents to give me pia- no lessons. One day, after my school’s big band concert (I was about 14 years old), I had an opportunity to test-play both the clarinet and the saxophone. I chose the sax- ophone. I am not sure why, but my instinct told me that the saxophone was my instru- ment, and my intuition has always made the best decisions throughout my life. At the time, I did not know much about the saxophone, and I was not aware that it was (and still is) a marginalized instrument within the classical music world. Adolphe Sax invented it in the 1840s (with the patent filed in 1846), but his invention arrived too late for it to become a standard orchestral instrument. The instruments in a symphony orchestra had already been well established by the mid-19th century. As with any new invention, it takes time for people to learn about it. And it takes time for performers to inspire composers to write for the in- strument. While there were some classi- cal musicians who played the saxophone before 1900, as well as composers such as Berlioz who promoted the instrument but wrote very little for it, most serious works for the instrument were not composed until after Sigurd M. Raschèr (1907-2001) and Marcel Mule (1901-2001) decided to make their careers as professional performers. Due to the efforts of many outstanding saxophonists who are commissioning new works, our repertoire list is now lengthy, and it includes extraordinary compositions by contemporary composers, including many women composers, plus a few earli- er composers such as Alexandre Glazunov and Jacques Ibert. 1 Such an impressive list 1 The list includes Chen Yi, Sofia Gubaidu- lina, Stacy Garrop, Jennifer Higdon, Libby Larsen, Joan Tower, Lera Auerbach, Judith Sha- tin, Marilyn Shrude, Karen Tanaka, Iannis Xe- nakis, Kalevi Aho, Per Nørgård, Giya Kancheli, Tristan Keuris, Philip Glass, Fazil Say, Karl Nilsson, and others. of composers should propel the saxophone into the classical music spotlight and out of its niche. Yet that is not the case. Why? Problems and Possible Solutions In order to make a living, presenters need to book performers who will attract a large audience; therefore, they usually hire either well-known musicians or program works that will attract an audience. In the classical field, saxophonists are not as fa- mous as pianists or violinists. In addition, saxophonists often play music by contem- porary composers who are not well-known by the general public; the saxophone reper- toire does not include works by composers such as Beethoven or Brahms. Another rea- son the saxophone does not have the rec- ognition it deserves might be that classical saxophonists do not have a standard rep- ertoire. There are just a limited number of pieces that every saxophonist must know. The repertoire depends on the particular school the performer attends, the teacher, and the competition listings. Furthermore, what might be considered standard reper- toire varies from one country to another. It is difficult for new compositions to become well-known, performed, and taught nation- ally, let alone globally. I like to work with composers who create dynamic new compositions for the saxophone, and I enjoy performing a diver- sity of contemporary styles that will keep our repertoire fresh and growing. Another way to expand the role of the saxophone is by commissioning and performing works for a combination of different instruments or different artists (e.g., saxophone plus Paving the Way as an Ambassador for the Saxophone DIANE HUNGER Diane Hunger Meet Two New IAWM MembersNext >