This morning I heard news that my composition teacher Dr. Mary Jeanne van Appledorn passed away this morning. She was an incredible musician, soul, and probably the quirkiest person I have ever met. I haven’t seen her since I left TTU in 2007 and she retired shortly after… I began my studies with her mostly on a whim…composing early on without a clue…how to actually get music from inside onto a page. One private lesson a week - now I’m double majoring in composition and voice. She showed me a world that was hidden inside my heart. She taught me a new language…musical vocabulary. Her attention to detail and craftsmanship were unreal. I remember those hours spent writing an orchestral score on 11x17 paper with her blue graphite pencils, NO mechanical pencils…she hated when I brought those to lessons. We would sit in her tiny office jammed with books, scores, and tapes. that office. wow. it was like chaotic but she knew exactly where every score she had EVER written was and where that tape recording from the 1970s she needed to find to use as a musical example if i just - wasn’t getting it..or send me home with a stack of VHS tapes to watch something if i just - wasnt getting it. Her laugh was infectious…and she was always laughing…cracking herself up with a joke she came up with about a composer and their use of a modal scale - like that was funny to her. True Story: I rode in Dr. Vans car, she was driving, she was smoking her pipe. True Story: The place I was driven to was her apartment. (imagine The Cove from M.Nights Lady in the Water, on a smaller scale) contrary to what you might think her apartment was not like her office. it was cute and cozy like grandmas. I remember asking Dr. Van about her personal life…I was genuinely interested in her story… she sat staring off into the distance and spouted some sage like advice.. all I can remember is her saying something like “you just do, you improvise” which at 20years old just didn’t work for me. Why isn’t she telling me the secret to life!? To music!? Give me concrete things when I ask huge amorphous questions!!! When I first began creating music it was therapy…I needed to get emotions out…music was my outlet…because back then I was not about to tell you how I was feeling…just listen to me play. ok. now you get me. One of our last lessons together we headed to the practice room at the end of the hall on the right with the two upright pianos started improvising together. We played for 30 minutes non-stop banging out themes and melodies and singing at the top of our lungs shoving more musical texture into that miniature room until finally she banged as loudly as she could with her whole arm and let out one of her infamous cackles “CawCawHAHAHAHA!!! WOW! That’s it, I’m done” and she giggled and excused herself from the room. Improvisation: the process of devising a solution to a requirement by making-do, despite absence of resources that might be expected to produce a solution.
Posted on: Fri, 12 Dec 2014 17:33:03 +0000
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