BY RON EVANS
I’m not usually the jealous type. At least not when it comes to things like relationships, financial success or good strong hairlines. Ok, I lied about that last one. But...I do get jealous over brilliant creative ideas that I wish I’d thought of. One such project was conceived by Wenatchee Valley College Music Program Director/Instructor Rhia Foster and Professor of English Derek Sheffield for Foster’s Music Audio/Technology I course. The course is designed to give students a basic overview of music software and to prepare them for music technology in the music industry and university.
For the Pro Tools First & Final project, the envy-inducing idea was to pair local poets with local composers and audio production students. A poem on paper can obviously be an incredibly powerful thing on its own, but when the author is reading the work in their own voice it’s likely as close as we can get to feeling it how they felt when they wrote it. Or at least how they want us to feel when we read it. The students were tasked with adding to that feeling using original works of their own, soundscapes or existing music and a delicate, thoughtful touch concerning production. It’s a perfect project for a socially distant world as all parties could record their own parts independently to be paired digitally in the final project.
“It was interestingly the pandemic and the move to all online courses that really made me start thinking outside of the box to come up with projects that we could do from home but still in the spirit of collaboration. The project was something I have been rolling around for a while but it wasn't until I spoke to Derek Sheffield about it that it really began to take shape.” Foster said.
I reached out to Foster about the details of this project and the current status of the WVC Music program in the time of COVID 19.
WVC Music Program Director/Instructor Rhia Foster. Impeccable hairline.
Pairing/composing a piece of music with spoken word is similar to scoring for a film, you want to add mood or texture or heighten the emotional impact without overtaking the original piece. Talk about that process a bit - from a teaching standpoint.
Absolutely true! I think that this project has taken this poetry to another level. It was wonderful poetry to begin with but the music heightens the experience. Derek and I agreed that this is a cool direction to go with our two classes and something we'd love to see more of in the poet/musician community. I tried to take this opportunity to prep my students for future work with artists. I gave them guidelines to help them be kind, thoughtful, open minded and aware of the poet's intentions and art. I am hoping that that is a lesson they can take with them from class along with all the tech stuff. Putting them directly in contact with their poets gave them the opportunity to really be accountable for their actions and their work - the results were lovely and well balanced.
My students all turned in AMAZING projects and several have reached out to tell me how much they enjoyed the experience- speaking to the poets, tossing ideas around with them, learning to be flexible, and getting to be really creative without a lot of limitations. The poets I heard from also really loved this personal contact, the time and energy the students spent, and the amazing final product.
Have there been any noteworthy surprises in the process or results?
I have been overjoyed and impressed by some of the creative elements that have come from this project. The students really went above and beyond. The submissions included everything from totally original music recorded on software they just learned about to borrowed beats and sound effects. They ranged from poets reading their poems to students rapping poems. The poem “Blood Moon” by Holly Thorpe was done in collaboration with Elijah Bromberg and Elijah wrote beautiful piano music to highlight the intensity of Holly's work over the sounds of crackling wildfire.
Holly Thorpe on her experience with having her poem “soundtracked.”
“As a relatively new and unpublished poet, it’s really cool to have someone handle my work with such care and pay homage to it. Working the Elijah (Bromberg), the student who picked my poem, was a lot of fun. It was fascinating to see my poem through fresh eyes and to watch him read it and interpret it in his own way. The final product blew me away. Elijah’s music was haunting and beautiful and he captured the ebb and flow of the piece really well. It gave me a new appreciation for poetry as a form of word music, and I felt very seen by his project: he read my poem, understood it and felt something because of it. That’s all a writer can hope for. To have him turn it into his own art and share it with me was a gift.”
Below is a sampling of the student work from this project. CREDITS: Title/Poet/Audio Tech
What’s the status with college classes looking toward the fall? Has all of this program been done outside a studio/class?
So far WVC hasn't released an official statement about fall courses. I believe that a majority of classes, at least in the music department, will be online. This class was held completely online - no students have been allowed on campus in our department since the beginning of the spring quarter. We faced some equity issues and I tried to be very sensitive to students with technology challenges and low income. This class would traditionally be held in a lab on campus. That lab would come with the full Pro Tools software, Finale scoring software, and studio time. This quarter students were lended recording equipment and did multiple projects in several recording DAWs (digital audio workstations). The students rose to the challenges of the new version of the course and proved to me that they have the desire to not only learn new skills but that they can conquer anything handed to them.
What are some of the challenges you have faced as an instructor both in the time of COVID 19 and in general as funding for the arts continues to not be a top priority for most institutions?
I teach a wide variety of courses from technology, to ear training and theory, to lecture based history courses so coming up with online plans for multiple styles of class in a very short period was very challenging. I will continue to refine my courses in the fall, I'm sure. As the program director it was challenging keeping up with faculty needs. There were a lot of questions about some courses like, how do you teach piano or choir online? And keeping up with administrative demands, especially when things have been so fluid.
I am concerned about the fact that funding is becoming more scarce and that overall in the nation we are seeing less support for the arts. It is a scary time for us - especially since the demand for art and music is high in times like these and the amount of support is dwindling. The importance of arts programs in our schools is undeniable on so many levels. I will say I am grateful for a community here in the Wenatchee Valley that has continued to be supportive of arts programs and for a dean and administrative team that is very pro-music-department right now. So very grateful.
What other courses/projects do you have coming up and how can people get involved?
We'll be teaching this course again in the fall and this project will absolutely stay! It was such a hit for everyone involved I can’t imagine not doing it again. We also built podcasts this term which encompassed learning how to interview and learning HOW TO LISTEN which I will continue to do as well. We heard some wonderful stories and valuable thoughts from our students. It is possible that this kind of project will turn into something bigger. Definitely check out terrain.org for some more of the students' work on this project (some of these projects were selected to be published there). I think the power of these collaborations will open up a lot of opportunities for the students and the projects. I would love to hear from folks that have poems they'd like to submit! We often don't have the same number of students in Derek's poetry class and in my tech course so it is really helpful to have poems from the community to throw into the ring. At some point I'd love to see a stash of great poetry that is in waiting for music, sound effects, and a fresh take!
As someone who never graduated high school, I have no idea how schoolin’ type stuff works. Can anyone sign up for your classes or do you have to be an enrolled WVC student?
Anyone can take courses at WVC! You can enroll as a student, audit classes (less money but no grade is given), or take continuing education courses. So there are options for any phase of life you're in. Wvc.edu can help outline some of these options for you.
Further:
Instagram- @wvcmus
Facebook- WVC Music Dept
WVC Spotify - WVC mus