Author: Alexandria Strother

I joined the University of Michigan Gilbert and Sullivan Society (UMGASS) first semester freshmen year. I had been accepted to the music school 2 weeks before school started, having spent January – August on waitlist harassing the music school almost daily to ensure that I got in, and was determined to prove that I deserved to be a voice major. The logical way to prove this seemed to be landing a lead role first semester freshmen year. I honestly didn’t believe that I could do it, but I researched every music & theater group that the University of Michigan had and auditioned for all of them, hoping that someone wanted to cast me. UMGASS did.

Looking back, I didn’t deserve the role. I was a freshmen with a meager 2 musical theater cameo roles on my resume, cast as a mezzo soprano (I’m a coloratura soprano) in a show where the other principals were veterans of the society, graduates of music schools or current juniors and seniors within SMTD. But since that first role in Princess Ida, I have performed with the society in numerous shows and outreach events (as a soprano!) and have served on the board as Treasurer and now President.

I was recruited to run for board at the end of my freshmen year. Since I am an engineering student as well as music, the current board figured that I would be a good Treasurer since I am very comfortable with math and numbers in general. After my term as Treasurer I decided to run for President and was elected.

This first semester as President has been quite a learning experience for me. Unlike Treasurer, my duties are less about defined deliverables and more about ensuring that everyone produces their deliverables in a timely fashion and fixing any and all problems which pop up throughout the production of the show. My parents often hear about the latest “UMGASS fire” that requires me to drop everything, hop in the car and quickly take care of it, so that rehearsals or the performances continue without the cast or audience members knowing.

Tonight is the opening night for UMGASS’ Yeomen of the Guard, and this production has had its share of fires that have needed to be put out. There have been times this semester when I have questioned my decision to run for board, let alone President, since the stress of producing a $15,000 show is tremendous. Yet, seeing the quality of production which is possible because of my efforts in collaboration of the rest of the board, the production staff and the cast, make all of the frantic phone calls and late nights worth it.

So yes, this blog post may be a shameless plug to try and get you to come see UMGASS’ Yeomen of the Guard this weekend (which you really should, it is pretty fantastic). If you do, stop by the Green Room and talk with the cast and crew. UMGASS is a great group of community members and students working together to create professional level productions. From freshmen year, this group has served as second family to me and I am honored to be the President of UMGASS. So come to the show (free for Umich students with a Passport to the Arts), talk to the members and see what UMGASS is all about. It will be worth your while.

Tickets available at the door and online. Yeomen of the Guard is being presented in the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre December 5 – 8.

Like many people, I have a hard time focusing on work when I sit down at my computer with the intent to study. Facebook, Netflix, StumbleUpon and other timesuckers on the internet seem to call my name as I log into Ctools, click on resources and mentally prepare myself to begin my assignment. As I work, an email notification serves as a sufficient reason to pause, easily seguing into a five minute break which turns into a 15 minute break which becomes a TV show break and the next thing I know, it’s midnight and I have barely started the first problem of my homework.

Procrastinating starting homework until the night before it is due is common and not a calamity. Yes, on those nights I get less than my preferred 8 hours of sleep, but the work always gets done. Why? Because I am the type of person that refuses to miss a deadline and so regardless of the circumstance the homework is always completed on time.

For academic classes with set due dates and assignments this system works. However, this procrastination does not work when it comes to practicing. This is due to two primary reasons. The first, there is no one specifically checking up on you to make sure that you are practicing everyday for a reasonable amount of time. The second, vocalists cannot simply “double up” their practicing to make up for a missed day. Vocally, I can only practice for a certain amount of time each day without feeling vocal fatigue. If I ignore this fatigue and sing through the discomfort, I will not be practicing tomorrow.

Without someone watching me constantly I have had to learn how to self police my practicing and I find that it has helped me with other aspects of my life. By forcing myself to practice at least an hour a day (no matter what), I have found that my procrastinating habits are lessening. Lessening, though not gone as I log into CTools to begin my homework due tomorrow morning.

The best part of being a double major is its function as the ultimate Trump Card in the subtle game of Who Has The Most Work To Do? that we all play on a daily basis. Hanging out with engineers complaining about the 370 project they just started and is due Sunday? Mention the 12 hours a week you spend in rehearsals for non-class related projects. Musicians complaining about having to write a three page paper for Musicology? Politely excuse yourself to go study for the Semiconductor Device Fundamentals midterm next week.

The worst part of being a double major? That moment after you have first met someone and they ask you, “What are you majoring in?” You reply, and at first the look of surprise on their face makes you feel great about your choice and the sacrifices you make to handle the required course load. But then, the criticism starts. From both musicians and engineers I have been told that because I am a double major there is no way I can be successful in either career. From peers who claim that I do not care about music because I “have no desire to be the conductor of a small town church choir located somewhere in the Bible Belt”, to faculty advisers who would not help me choose the best technical electives until I had “dropped my other major and was serious about engineering”, there are few people who genuinely believe that my choice to double major was a good and valid decision.

Earlier today, a professor told me “Double majors are for the undecided” upon overhearing my conversation with another student, and this is one of the first critiques I actually agree with. I am undecided. Though I am a junior, I do not know what I want to do when I graduate. Do I want to work? If so, do I work as a musician or as an engineer? Do I want to go to grad school? If so, do I pursue a Masters in Music, Engineering, Business or Law; all of which I have seriously considered within the past month? Even within Electrical Engineering: do I want to focus on Digital Signal Processing or Power?

So yes, I am undecided, but I do not think that is a bad thing. In a world as volatile as ours, who is to say what any of us will be doing in 10 years? My indecisive choice to not choose means that I would be happy in either field. By pursuing higher education in both, I am affording myself a larger scope of opportunities later in life rather than limiting myself when I have demonstrated that I am perfectly capable of managing both majors.

It was Albert Einstein who said “If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it” and yes, a double major in Vocal Performance and Electrical Engineering is unconventional at best, and an absurd waste of time at worst. But, until the day comes when my performance in one field is negatively impacted by my involvement in the other, I do not see the folly in my refusal to choose, rather, hope for others to recognize its merit.

If you Google “music” there are over 4.8 billion results and those results vary from internet radio sites to random YouTube clips to intellectual discussions on music theory to debates on whether Justin Beiber or Justin Timberlake is hotter. Most of those results would be labeled as music by the average listener, but when it comes to pieces which challenge the commonplace definition of music, what distinguishes music from noise?

The first line of the music Wikipedia page reads “Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence”. Webster provides five definitions, the most notable defining music as “the science or art of ordering tones or sounds in succession, in combination, and in temporal relationships to produce a composition having unity and continuity”. Much of classical and modern music easily fulfills these requirements but what is to be done in the unique case of John Cage’s 4’33”?

4’33” is a deliberate absence of sound requiring nothing more of the performer than to be present for four minutes and thirty three seconds as the audience is forced to listen to the sounds of the environment surrounding them. Is this music? The intention is there, John Cage is a highly respected modern composer and music theorist. The piece does use sound and silence, which is the conventional medium of music, in a highly unconventional way. When we ask, “Is this music?” we are debating whether the squeak of a chair during a performance is disruptive or part of the live musical experience.

To John Cage “there is no noise, only sound” however the distinction between music and noise is defined uniquely from person to person based upon cultural norms and personal experiences with sound within a musical context. The qualifications for a collection of sounds to be considered music vary greatly throughout the world and the relativist, post-modern viewpoint is that there is not one universal concept defining what is and what is not music.

During my Musicology class freshmen year we were taken to the pond and told to listen to the music of the environment, our very own 4’33” experience. In that context; the birds chirping, the muffled coughing, and the cars honking were part of a musical experience and united to create music. Yet, normally I just hear it all as noise pollution. Perhaps John Cage is right and the noises of the world are secretly creating beautiful harmonies which one must simply listen for to hear the music. For me, music is in the ear of the beholder and I am going to keep my ears open.

Even if you have never attended the opera, there are certain pieces from within the operatic repertoire that everyone is familiar with.  Opera has found a place for itself in mainstream American Media, and through this medium its melodies have found their way to the masses.

From Bugs Bunny…

To Family Guy…

To the inevitable Superbowl Commercials…

Opera has infiltrated its way into the ears of everyday Americans. In honor of National Opera week, I have searched YouTube and found four examples of this infiltration.

The Bug’s Bunny cartoon above, What’s Opera, Doc, aired in 1957 and is a parody of Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle, heavily borrowing music from the second opera in the cycle, Die Walküre. The leitmotif (recurring tune) of the Valkyries is sung by Elmer Fudd on “Kill the Wabbit” giving this cartoon its informal name. Wagner was a German composer who lived in the 19th century, revolutionalizing opera with his concept of Gesamantkunstwerk (Total work of art). Writing his own libretto (lyrics) and music for each of his operatic works, Wagner sought to combine the dramatic, musical, poetic and visual arts into nothing short of a spectacle. The Ride of the Valkyries, which features the Valkyrie leitmotif, takes place as the Valkyrie sisters greet each other and prepare for the transportation of the fallen heroes to Vallhalla. The leitmotif has also made appearances in American films such as Apocalypse Now (1979) and Watchmen (2009).

The Lakmé Flower duet makes an appearance in the 11^th season of Family Guy when Peter takes up skydiving in the “Turban Cowboy” episode. In the Delibes’ opera this duet is song by Lakmé and Mallika as they go to the river to gather flowers. This duet is the second piece of the opera and takes place before the real plot of the opera is revealed (Lakmé, daughter of the high priest Nilakantham, & Gérald’s, a British officer, love affair).

In Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, Lauretta threatens her father with suicide if she is not permitted to marry Rinuccio in her aria O mio babbino caro. Used in many commercials (as seen above) and films, this aria is far more famous than the one act opera which it originates from. Gianni Schicchi, is the third and final one act opera written as part of Puccini’s Il trittico. Il trittico is a collection of three one-act operas with contrasting themes written to be performed together.

Finally, we have Carmen’s L’amour est un oiseau rebelle, commonly called the Habanera. This is Carmen’s entrance aria where she warns the listener of the fleeting nature of love and to guard themselves from her love. During composition, Bizet thought he using a Spanish folk song as the inspiration for the aria. However, he was later informed that his habanera was based upon Spanish composer Sebastián Yradier’s habanera El Arreglito.

While to many, opera seems outdated and out of place in modern culture, we see many examples of opera within mainstream culture. These four pieces are easily recognizable and only a small portion of the repertoire which has infiltrated its way in the everyday sights and sounds of America.