Music and More: Sara Penny Blog

  Sharing Our Art by Sara Penny, CCAC Vice President (for Iron County Today)   Part of the challenge of any art form is the moment you share it. I try to get my violin students to share their music for the joy of it, not just as a performance. Playing for a family party or a neighbor who is homebound can be more meaningful than in front of a big audience.     Probably my most important performance was for a friend's sister who had been violently assaulted. We were living in Beaumont, Texas at the time. My friend had taken time from work to help her sister, but needed to get back to work. Her sister's face was swollen, bruised, and unrecognizable. I just played my violin so she could relax and feel safe enough to be able to sleep. The music soothed her so she could start to recover. I saw her several months later and fortunately she was healing. Music can help calm trauma.    How do you use music and art in daily life? Do you have certain mu...

  "Fun is the Fuel" by Sara Penny, CCAC Vice President (column for Iron County Today) "Fun is the fuel", wrote Steve Magness when describing the Norwegian soccer player Erling Haaland. This is true in the arts as well. If you love the music you are playing the audience feels that and enjoys it a lot more. If you are having fun in any performance, that emotion transmits to everyone on stage and in the audience in an authentic way. Deeply felt emotions transmit. Art that connects is memorable. "No matter what happens just smile and enjoy it. Just live in the moment," said Haaland. I remember when Xun Sun was directing the Orchestra of Southern Utah and when we were struggling with intonation or rhythm he would just smile bigger as an encouragement to get us on track. I like the advice to students that when they make a mistake they smile and then I know they realize the error and we don't have to stop for a correction. As Magness writes, "Our image o...

  Arts Impact the Body by Sara Penny, CCAC Vice President The physical benefits of music and dancing are significant. Playing the violin for one hour is equivalent to walking two miles. Dancing has even more of a physical impact, with one hour of dancing being equivalent to three or four miles of moderate walking. Obviously, the intensity of the music impacts the physical effort. String teachers talk about balancing the violin to avoid neck and shoulder strain.  The violin becomes an extension of the body and voice.  Even the most accomplished soprano has an upper limit, but the violin rests on the vocal cords and can create pitches much higher than the human voice. The cello rests near the heart and can extend the lower range.  There are also emotional demands.  When James Harrison conducted the Orchestra of Southern Utah, he said, "If you are not exhausted after a Beethoven symphony, you haven't given enough." There is research on the brain's engagement with m...

  Audition Opportunities and Strategies (column for Iron County Today) By Sara Penny, CCAC Vice President  Auditions are tricky events. Sometimes everything clicks and you remember all the lines or music notes. Other times your nerves interfere and accuracy is compromised.  The Orchestra of Southern Utah holds auditions in July for new members and returning strings. The audition excerpts are on the website,  myosu.org , under the Musician tab. We try to create a musical family and welcome back those who have had to take a break.  There is also an opportunity to solo with the orchestra for ages 13 to 25. Video auditions are due in September, so the summer is a good time to polish a concerto or aria. Same website for application and more information.  The concerto concert honors R. L. Halversen. He taught many of us in Cedar City. He was instrumental in building the community strings as well as helping start Cedar City Music Arts.  I started lessons in e...

  Dance  Enhances Cedar City by Sara Penny, CCAC Vice President Dancing  traditions in Cedar have evolved to eight community studios plus school and university programs. The Paiutes celebrate spring with the Bear  Dance , that has deep historical roots.  The annual Pow Wow celebrates the restoration of tribal status. The amazing colors of the regalia and the sounds of the drum circles are powerful.    Pioneers danced with fiddlers and later local bands. As children, we learned square  dancing  in school, but I don’t know if that is still happening. The Rubik’s Cube Youth Square  Dancers  participate in local parades and community events.  Today’s  dancers  use recorded music, although occasionally a live pianist or other musicians are incorporated. Why does this community have so many  dance  options? Several influential teachers created an atmosphere of collaboration and taught a variety of styles. Whe...

  Summer Art Projects by Sara Penny, CCAC Vice President Summer is a great time to deal with the reality of the stages of life:  Acquisition, Maintenance  and  Dispersal .  On the  Acquisition front, we hope you are creating art. Whatever your medium, we like to encourage your art. Research consistently shows that making music, dancing, painting, and going to museums can enhance your brain and contribute to your longevity. Museums are neutral places for observation and contemplation which can help relieve anxiety and offer fresh insights. There are new exhibits at the Southern Utah Museum of Art, the city offices, and the library. Local galleries have continual changes in their displays as well. Encourage the students in your life to create their entries for our Art and Photography Contest in conjunction with the Cedar Livestock and Heritage Festival. This year,  twelve selected pieces will be exhibited at the Cedar City Library, and cash prizes will a...

  Theater Skills Pay Off in Life By Sara Penny, CCAC Vice President (column for Iron County Today) Projection and articulation are valuable skills that I learned by being in Cedar High School plays. When you are in a play you have to memorize lines and be confident on stage. We certainly had to learn to be flexible and adapt quickly because “stuff happens” in a play. Sometimes there is more drama in the drama than the audience can see. One of the most interesting experiences of being in a play is trying to get inside a character’s head to portray their story. This teaches empathy. We could use more empathy in the world, as we try to understand each other. It takes a certain amount of confidence to get onstage in front of an audience and this pays off for business meetings and parenting later in life. As a high school teacher in Texas I quickly realized that waffling on decisions did not work well with teenagers. Nuance is nice, but a direct authoritative answer gets attention and a...

  Creativity Activated  by Sara Penny, CCAC Vice President "Methinks that the moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow," is a famous quote by Henry David Thoreau. It is often helpful to take a walk to unlock new ideas and to solve creative challenges. Physical movement helps unlock the flow of ideas by activating the part of the brain where thoughts get organized. Sometimes you just need a break to prepare the mind for performances. It is recommended to take a walk as preparation for a concert. One of our past orchestra conductors, Gerard Yun, recommended a banana if you need to calm down, or a piece of chocolate if you need a spark of energy.  April is a particularly demanding month for the arts community.  Students in the schools and at the University are performing in plays, dancing, and concerts. Many are participating in regional and state competitions. The students have worked all year and now is the culmination of their efforts. School calendars...

Believe Recast as Be-Live by Sara Penny, CCAC Vice President “Believe! Be live! What a word!” exclaimed Amy Krouse Rosenthal in the  Anthropocene Reviewed . This collection of essays by John Green uncovers fascinating insights into everything from lawns to the Monopoly game. He rethinks the commonplace world with new perspectives. My grandson and daughter got me the book and I can recommend it as interesting with a healthy dose of humor. Each essay is self-contained so you can choose the ones of interest, when you can find a few minutes to read.  One chapter credits the Council on Books in Wartime as a crucial use of books to bolster morale during World War II. In 1942 the Council sent thousands of pocketsize paperbacks to U.S. soldiers because "Books are weapons in the war of ideas." For example, Betty Smith's  A Tree Grows in Brooklyn  and the F. Scott Fitzgerald's  Great Gatsy  were among the selections. A soldier reported that the books were "as popular...

Discovering Magic Through the Arts by Sara Penny, CCAC Vice President for Iron County Today “The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper,” wrote the Irish poet W. B. Yeats. We are surrounded by natural beauty, but it takes some extra focus to take the time to appreciate a glorious sunset or a stunning vista. Last fall I had a visitor from New Jersey. As we drove around the corner to the Kolob overlook the gigantic sandstone monoliths came into view and she was shocked. "What in the world?" was her reaction. She had never seen anything like it. I realized that I have come to expect the spectacular without appreciating the magic of the sight.  Fortunately we have artists who help us remember to pay attention to the magic around us through their work. Your Arts Council recently hosted our Winter Arts Social and it was wonderful to hear the progress of individual artists. Nano Taggart received the Service to the Arts Award for his contribu...

  Nurturing for the Long Run By Sara Penny, CCAC Vice President, for Iron County Today      Luke Heaton at Whittlesticks has a plant from his grandparents that likes music. It is over 70 years old.  The ten foot vines of the Wax Plant thrive in his shop where he makes and repairs string instruments. When he was in high school, he practiced string bass near this huge  hanging plant and it even flowered in the summer. While he was away for his violin making apprenticeship, it deteriorated. Now, it has music at the shop, and it is thriving again.        Our arts organizations need that constant care and encouragement to thrive. For 96 years, Cedar City Music Arts (CCMA) has brought musical professionals to Cedar City. I remember CCMA performances in the Southern Utah University Auditorium as a child. I was told that they used to use the old auditorium above the school district offices on 300 West and that the legendary violinist Isaac ...

Instruments Can Gain Value by Sara Penny, CCAC Vice President for Iron County Today Rare instruments that have survived for centuries are valued for incredible tone. The Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO) recently announced that it has acquired a viola made in 1610 by the acclaimed Italian instrument maker Giovanni Paolo Maggini. Another example is the Danish String Quartet violinist Frederik Øland receiving a Domenico Montagnana violin made between 1730 and 1740, and cellist Fredrik Sjölin receiving a 1687 Ruggieri cello and a Sartory cello bow. Sometimes an investor will buy the instrument, insure it for a fortune, and let a performer use it.  There is a quartet of Stradvarius instruments at the Smithsonian that are played on a regular basis to maintain the tone. As Shinichi Suzuki said, "Tone has living soul." If an instrument is not played regularly it loses part of of the tone, so practicing makes the instrument more valuable. When I was 14 my Grandma Hafen took me to Ba...

Delegate and Celebrate (column for Iron County Today) By Sara Penny, CCAC Vice President  It is impossible for one person to do it all. Learning to delegate and engage others is valuable in the arts, as well as in business. Not only can we accomplish more, we are training others to propel our organizations forward. I am all about collaboration in my projects and with my students. When we work together and build each other up, it is good for everyone. Building an arts organization takes lots of teamwork. Learning to delegate is essential so the project continues. The tricky bit is finding the right people and giving them the freedom and support to excel. That is when everyone can celebrate and show appreciation. If you are waiting to be found, there are countless opportunities to get involved in our arts community.  The dance and theater groups require sets, props, and costumes. That means teams to build and sew. For example, the costumes for the recent Cedar City Junior Ballet...

  Muscle Memory in Music  by Sara Penny      Imagine you are at the piano ready to play a Mozart Concerto with an orchestra. You are in front of 2000 people and they start a different concerto than you prepared. Portuguese pianist Maria João Pires was in Amsterdam when this happened at an open rehearsal. She panicked, the conductor leaned over and said you can do this, and she played beautifully. She prepared #23 and the orchestra started playing #20. Details matter. It had been perhaps 11 months since she’d last played the piece. She said, “that’s the moment where you start losing the memory of the details. That’s how the memory functions, you know. And when people see this panic, they perhaps don’t know that the reality is, we lose our memories after just a couple of months.” In the Open Culture article they explain, "The eleventh-hour call Pires received asking her to take the gig was part of the problem, but so was a misheard number. According to the Köchel ...

  Bit by Bit to Create Art  By Sara Penny, CCAC Vice President       “With a big task, we don’t get overwhelmed. We break it down, and those become our milestones. That is the engineering mindset,” said Arvind Krishna, IBM CEO. This struck me because in violin teaching we strive for “one point lessons” where we focus on just one technical challenge such as posture or bow hold or getting the second finger in tune. This is more effective instead of expecting the student to make multiple corrections all at once. Learning something like vibrato takes months for many students. We have to balance the violin on the shoulder so the left hand can be relaxed. We have to feel the motion of the undulations to mimic the vibrato of the singing voice. We have to adjust the width depending on the intensity of the musical phrase. The same for notereading. This takes a dedicated step by step procedure and lots of repetition. Sometimes the math brain skills need to develop be...