My Music. My Story

Ecomusicology

22

My Music. My Story. Kipp Normand

Words by Jennifer Delgadillo

TUCKED INSIDE THE STUDIOS OF THE HARRISON CENTER, THERE’S A CAVE OF WONDERS WHERE SAINTSAËNS’ AQUARIUM PLAYS ON THE PHONOGRAPH. KIPP NORMAND HAS OCCUPIED THIS SPACE FOR OVER 18 YEARS.

Looking around, one can see cutouts of butterflies, statues of saints, piles of books and other printed curiosities. Ornate mirrors, glass cases, royal-looking props and boxes with assembled narratives bring the chaos into focus: Normand is an artist. He is also a musician and a selfdescribed armchair historian. When you live a life like Normand’s, you are bound to accumulate beautiful, interesting things and their stories. Classical Music Indy invited Normand to discuss his relationship to music. Here’s the interview, edited for brevity and clarity.

WHAT ROLE DOES MUSIC PLAY IN YOUR LIFE?

I think music is everything. Of all of the forms of art, it has the most direct connection, I think, to the human spirit. Something about the sound can affect your emotions—sometimes just a song can remind you of the smell, or the sight, or the feeling of wind. Or even something from your childhood. It’s just so wonderful.

HOW DID YOU START PLAYING MUSIC?

I started to learn to play musical instruments when I was a little kid, and it was in a really formal sort of situation, in the orchestra in my elementary school. They would take us to the symphony and the art museum. Those were fancy, culturally-uplifting field trips. For years, I played the violin, and then I just stopped. When I was in college, 15 years later, I picked it up again. My primary interest was in playing old-timey music, so I had a lot to learn. But I was familiar with a lot of the tunes because one of my violin teachers used to give me sheet music for folk tunes, which is crazy because nobody who plays proper folk music ever learned it from a sheet of paper.

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT CLASSICAL MUSIC?

I really love it. I really, really love it. My grandma was not a big fan. She used to say, “Oh, that’s long hair music,” and she preferred to watch Lawrence Welk on television or Guy Lombardo. But my grandfather thought classical music was great and he loved it. He especially liked Mozart and a record that I have. I got it after he was old and he was giving me stuff. It’s a recording from the late 1940s. And Tchaikovsky. I think people are tired of The Nutcracker at Christmas, but I go every year. I love it. With Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, I became a Beethoven addict. My mom bought me a complete box set. I wanted to play them all the time. My brother had a fancy stereo for which he saved up money from his paper route, and I was not allowed to touch it. [Mine] was not very elaborate, so I played all my Beethoven there and I would really crank it up sometimes.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE KIND OF MUSIC TO LISTEN TO FOR PLEASURE?

It depends on my mood. I like to listen to a lot of different things. There was a record company called Esoteric Records. They specialized in putting out the weirdest, most obscure stuff. Also, the opera singer Claudia Muzio. She’s good. She was known for having one of the broadest ranges of any singer at the time. There’s a story about how she was singing a duet with this male singer — I think he was either a tenor or a baritone — and he was ill, or he ran into some piece of scenery on the stage and knocked himself unconscious. So, instead of bringing down the curtain, she sang his part, as well as hers and finished the whole thing. The audience went nuts.

I like lots of contemporary music on records, too. I love Andrew Bird, Kishi Bashi. Both of these dudes have taken their violin virtuosity and turned into something really amazing. Of course, since I am from Detroit, I love Aretha Franklin. I like weird modern, music too, and I love music by people who invent their own instruments.

HOW DOES MUSIC INFLUENCE YOUR ART PRACTICE?

I find that music really fuels my imagination and gives me energy for creative work. It is interesting to note that many of my installations and even two-dimensional works are made from old sheet music, piano rolls, broken violins, drums, horns of all types, parts of pianos and harmoniums and whatever bits of musical junk I can get my hands on. Also, I don’t know if you have ever seen my installation The Museum of Psychphonics at the Murphy Building. It’s all about music and its connection to the human spirit.

WHAT DO YOU LOVE MOST ABOUT THE LOCAL CLASSICAL MUSIC SCENE?

I love what people are doing — especially Classical Music Indy, what those folks are doing to bring audiences to classical music. They are bringing attention to female composers, composers of color who have been doing work for many years, but it has often been overlooked, or not performed. Commissioning new compositions, airing shows like Melanated Moments in Classical Music, and highlighting new music is so different from what a lot of organizations are doing. I applaud that. ■

Ecomusicology

23