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Experiences in Music with Frank Ticheli
By Christopher Thaxter, Delta Pi, (Redlands) ’96
Music and experiences are, by nature, intertwined. "The reason we became musicians initially is because we thought it would be fun," renowned American composer Frank Ticheli,Alpha Alpha (National Honorary) '09 noted in his remarks during dinner to the brothers and guests attending the 2009 National Convention's gala dinner in Orlando, Florida. Musicians of all kinds can relate to the very special experience Ticheli described.
In a way, that experience starts with the composer. I had the chance to catch up with soon-to-be Brother Ticheli at his home in Pasadena, California a few weeks prior to the Convention that was to initiate him as an honorary member of the Fraternity.
"Music is this beautiful thing that we can share with humanity. It's one of the great aspects of who we are as human beings. To be able to share it with others is really important and powerful."
Ticheli did not know what honorary initiation would entail, but I knew about five minutes into our conversation that he was a Sinfonian at heart if not yet in name. I asked about his experiences as a musician, in particular whether there was a performance he attended that just blew him away.
Mystery
"It was a performance I played in. I was a doctoral student at the University of Michigan, and we toured around Europe. We stopped in Florence to play at the Maggio Musicale, a music festival in May. At that concert, something happened. We were performing ... and we went to that place that transcends notes on the page. We went to this place that words can't take you to, that place that's occupied by music and its mystery and its magic. It was just an incredible performance.
"And I remember thinking after the concert that maybe it was just me. But I looked around backstage and finally said, ‘Was it just me?' ‘No!' Everybody had thought that we had just gone to this almost spiritual place, musically. We just transcended anything we'd experienced before."
Photo Credit: J. Adam Wyatt Photography
Surely they had to have been playing some really special music. "Oh no, we were just doing a regular concert," Ticheli clarified. "It included a Hindemith symphony and the Holst Suite in E Flat. Just standard repertoire for wind band that I'd done a million times. But it's not just ability and level of perfection. It's spirituality, it's a mysticism, it's a magical thing that only music can achieve — that you can't teach, you can't learn and you can't consciously try to do, but you just enjoy when it happens."
Sinfonians know what he's talking about. This is the experience of music that we all share and are burning to share with others. Music reaches people in unexplained ways and nurtures us and replenishes our faculties when we need them most. I think we all concur with Ticheli when he says that "this is why I'm a musician, because of these kinds of life-changing moments." Ticheli never had the benefit of a probationary membership experience to learn about Sinfonia, but he intrinsically already knew what it was all about.
Composing
Ticheli is currently Professor of Composition at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, where he has taught since 1991. Composition, to him, is all about "paying tribute to everything that's happened before." In trying to be innovative, composers must work in context of the history they seek to be a part of. Their work should be informed.
"In other words, if you're going to write a clarinet concerto, which I'm doing right now, you don't just sit down and write it. You first ask yourself, what's been done for clarinet? How can I contribute something new based on what I already know?
"It's an intuition, but it's an informed intuition. So many young composers rely too much on pure intuition. You ask them, ‘Why are you doing this?' ‘Well, because I just felt it.' It's never enough just to have intuition. You have to know everything you can about, in this case, the clarinet concerto, chamber music for clarinet, solo music for clarinet, concertos in general and so on. It's endless."
After establishing your background, you then break free from it all. "What's cool about being a composer right now is that when you're sitting there with a blank page, you can do anything you want at any time. Here you are in measure 63. Anything can happen in measure 64. Nobody can tell you that you can't suddenly have a popular influence, or a loud interruption, or suddenly just have a silence. You could have rock or rap music right there; I don't, because that's not who I am. It's a cool time to be a composer right now, because everything's happening.
"The irony is that, because we have so many freedoms, taste becomes as crucial as ever. If you can do anything, you'd better be really careful about how you relate one note to the next. Taste comes from the knowledge of what's happened before; it's how you are reacting to the past."
Challenges
At the Convention, Ticheli explained the challenge of learning to compose. "It's never easy to compose. It's a mysterious thing that's hard to teach. The brain and the heart are constantly keeping each other in check. You have to have faith that the bad days will bring good days."
Every composer remembers and dreads moments of uncertainty, when something just isn't working or a roadblock presents itself. Ticheli explained to me that he considers these crises "blessings." You need them. Composition is like having a series of gushes of energy, then stop: a brick wall. Then, you slowly chip away for a while, and then you break through, and you run again, and you come to the next wall. There's so much anxiety among young composers who lose their confidence and fail to recognize that that's actually part of the process."
Photo Credit: J. Adam Wyatt Photography
The experience is perhaps the most important aspect of music. Composers undergo a trying experience as they create the building blocks of a new musical piece, and performers take that gift and grow through the experience of learning it and performing it, all for an audience who senses something inexplicable in the music and takes something away from the performance that cannot be defined.
Experiencing the Convention
The first Sinfonians to encounter Ticheli at the 2009 National Convention in Orlando were the players in the Sinfonia Winds ensemble. He rehearsed two pieces with them, his standard "Wild Nights!" and a new piece, "Amen!"
At the rehearsal, the players enjoyed his jovial personality. "He seemed like a little kid," observed Kevin Calavan,Omicron Pi (Cal State Fullerton) '05, one of the trumpet players in the band. Ticheli was playful and very excited to share his compositions with the ensemble.
In particular, he spent some time explaining the meaning of his short tone poem "Amen!," as he did later for the concert audience and during his remarks at the gala dinner. The piece was written in honor of the retirement of his friend of 40 years, Tracy McElroy. Although "Amen!" is completely instrumental, the thematic material is based on a song with words, which he sang for the assembly during dinner, much to everyone's amusement:
Tracy McElroy, he's the man! He and Franky both played trumpet in the band.
And they had no woes, Both drove GTO's And they cruised down Forest Lane like pros.
They were trouble, kind of bad, Mr. Floyd would sometimes get mad.
Oh ... McElroy, he's the man! He and Franky both played trumpet in the band.
They were awesome, They could double-tongue.
They were awesome. They could double-tongue.
They could double tongue.
They could double tongue.
THEY COULD DOUBLE-TONGUE!
Tracy McElroy, he's the man! He and Franky both played trumpet in the Berkner High School Band.
The piece is "more generally meant as a thank-you to all the great music educators out there," something that surely resonated with all Sinfonians present. "I'm sure you all had educators who inspired you. It's a thank-you to all of them."
Brother Ticheli
Ticheli's remarks during dinner, just following his initiation and the Sinfonia Winds concert, connected with Sinfonians immediately. He described the musical experience as a "mystical, magical feeling that can't be put into words." His spot-on comments belied his then five-hour history as a Sinfonian. "Music works as a superglue between human beings. I feel fortunate to be a musician."
Photo Credit: J. Adam Wyatt Photography
All National Honorary members are also presented with the Signature Sinfonian Award. "This is my kind of organization," he told the crowd. "You're all here for one common interest, and that's music. I just wanted to say to all of you that I'm deeply honored to be called a Sinfonian. I'm not sure I deserve the attention I got today. I hope I can live up to this distinction through my work."
Those who met Brother Ticheli quickly noticed his approachable demeanor. Walter Riley,Zeta Iota (Howard) '98, National Committeeman-at-Large, felt a "wonderful sense that Ticheli had a remarkably genuine energy and veritable sincerity in his sentiments toward Sinfonia, and I truly believe that he will continue to be an excellent embodiment of Sinfonia's mission in action."
National President John Mongiovi,Upsilon Psi (South Florida) '94, was as impressed as everyone else present with our new brother. "To share in our particular experience of exalted fellowship with a man of such talent
and accomplishment as Dr. Frank Ticheli is a privilege that I will always remember. It's not only his music that's still playing in my mind, but his remarks — and these should be considered by every Sinfonian. His recognition that music is a mystery that ‘takes us to a place that's completely untouched by words,' and that it takes faith and courage to succeed and know ‘that the bad days are going to yield good days' give practical application of our ideals to making music. My heart swells with pride that the newest Brother to join our ranks is a true Sinfonian!"
Create whatever music you can, Brothers. Seek out your experiences and enrich your lives and those of others. Continue to uncover that endless mystery that is music.
