I haven’t been to a single MCANA institute that hasn’t fascinated me, offering more than I can gobble up. The November media workshop, generously sponsored by Syracuse University’s Goldring Arts Journalism department, gave eight MCANA members a chance to practice with computers, sound and video. Instructors addressed us as a group and also circulated among us offering individual options--or remediation or reassurance, depending. How juicy is that.
We were surveyed in advance to check our experience and interest, and asked to bring a project we could realize, with assistance. Mine was to fashion a memorial ceremony for my late daughter, using music and slide-show formatted photos. And no, I don’t know what I’m doing. In my case, “assistance” was a euphemism for Director of Technology Training Chris Aliberto copying my photos CD into an orange 8-gig flash drive strip (our souvenir) that conveniently doubles as a bracelet. The bracelet now contains some half-dozen music and dance videos taken off You Tube, photo groups made into slide shows, plus an answering machine greeting Chris captured. I can’t do this yet, but I’m launched. I know what to ask to get slide shows into loop format before Sunday’s service. And I’m not afraid to ask.
The campus of Syracuse University amounts to a whole town--of a certain size, too. Our sessions were in its newest building, the serendipitously named Newhouse III School of Public Communications, a Polshek-designed sequel to the original I.M. Pei building. The workshop was an integrated arts experience. Two films were screened: Herzog’s engrossing, Oscar-nominated Antarctic documentary, Encounters at the End of the World, and the disturbing--not to say repellent-- Requiem for a Dream, in which we watch the addicts “spiral out of control, we bear witness to the dirtiest, ugliest portions of the underworld addicts reside in.” (Forget the loaded adjectives: note that I now include hyperlinks.)
The score of “Encounters” is by Associate Professor Douglas Quin, who introduced the film and talked about it afterwards. The score of “Requiem” was performed by Kronos Quartet, whose members participated in a Q&A panel after the film. Kronos Quartet performed new music the following evening, complete with last-minute replacement--Aleksandra Vrebalov’s “...hold me neighbor, in this storm...,” a strong Kronos staple.
Least effective was a rambling, poorly structured panel about sound vs. noise that ran too long, without projecting its point. Most effective was the lowering of our collective panic level and raised consciousness of how electronic media assist musical life. For instance, Vivien Schweitzer (group member) led a Times review not with an assessment of Joshua Bell’s Carnegie Hall performance, but with his pianist’s bluetooth page-turning device. (Bet she wouldn’t have done that before Syracuse.)
Outside the training sessions in Newhouse III, references were heard to “the former Syracuse Symphony.” One of the respected regionals, the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra last April filed for Chapter 7 (meaning plans to liquidate). Unfunded pension obligations were the apparent culprit. Orchestra members continue to concertize in and out of the area, in large or small ensembles.
Decidedly healthier is the NPR radio station WCNY at 91.3, which plays classical music station 24/7, right through drive time, with a rousing Sousa march every morning. Most meals were elegantly taken care of, but the university setting offereda variety of international cheap eats. (Hotel breakfast: perfectly poached egg, toast and jelly, perfect slice of bacon, coffee, $5.03.)
I count myself lucky to have been at this institute, and mega-lucky that Johanna Keller, who directs the Goldring program, masterminded every detail with spirit and affection. We salute her.
Now if I can just get my facebook off the twitter account on my iPhone.
Comments