NOTE Magazine - Issue 15: Music in Film by Classical Music Indy

SPRING 2021

ISSUE 15

in Film

Music

Contributors

JENNIFER HUTCHINSON DELGADILLO is a MexicanAmerican artist and writer living on the Near Eastside of Indianapolis. CRYSTAL HAMMON is a freelance writer and an ardent fan of classical music and opera. She loves playing “the airline bump game” to earn free travel vouchers and blogs at CrystalHammon.com.

NICHOLAS JOHNSON, PH.D. is an assistant professor of musicology at Butler University, the musicology director of the Vienna Summer Music Festival and a local musician.

KATHY JONAS is a freelance writer who lives in South Bend and Bloomington, with intimate knowledge of US 31 and SR 37 and all detours and road construction delays in between.

AMY LYNCH is an Indianapolisbased freelance writer and active vice president of the Midwest Travel Journalists Association. She enjoys live music and breakfast any time of day.

KYLE LONG is host of Cultural Manifesto on 90.1 WFYI Public Radio and performs as a DJ at a variety of clubs and cultural events around Indianapolis.

TOM ALVAREZ A principal of Klein & Alvarez Productions LLC, Tom Alvarez is a freelance journalist. For 40 years, he has covered theatre, dance and music for numerous publications and websites. He appears on WISH-TV’s Indy Style as a regular contributor and writes On the Aisle, a blog at Tom Alvarez.studio.

MICHAEL TOULOUSE has worked in broadcasting for nearly three decades, sharing classical music with radio audiences throughout Indiana. As an experienced interviewer and program host, he is known for immersing himself in a subject to highlight the fascinating details that often go unnoticed.

M i

Music in Film SPECIAL THANKS TO NOTE MAGAZINE COMMUNITY ADVISORY BOARD AND CONTRIBUTING STAFF:

Crystal Hammon

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

Amy McAdams-Gonzales DESIGNER

Lisa Brooks, D.M.A. Lillian Crabb Rob Funkhouser Gregory Heinle Lindsey Henry Kyle Long Stephania Pfeiffer Eric Salazar Michael Toulouse Julian Winborn ABOUT THE COVER: Recorded

at the world famous Abbey Road Studios, our cover image is from the album “Excelsius,” an epic orchestral and choral masterpiece from award-winning film and orchestral composer Larry Groupé, for a docudrama.

NOTE magazine is a publication of Classical Music Indy, Inc. To purchase print copies or access digital editions, visit www.classicalmusicindy.org. For more information contact us at info@classicalmusicindy.org.

02 Editor’s Note

04 Film Score Academy

HOW COMPOSERS EXPLOIT SOUND

AND MUSIC TO CREATE A MOOD.

06 A Bigger Tent for Creativity

TYRON COOPER

08 Keeping Score

LAURA KARPMAN

10 Godzilla!

TOHO STUDIOS AND AKIRA IFUKUBE

12 Reflective Raconteur

ASHTON GLECKMAN

14 Match the Film Score

to the Composer

16 The Music of Blaxploitation

COMPOSER J.J. JOHNSON

18 The Waterphone

THE INSTRUMENT HOLLYWOOD COMPOSERS

DEPEND ON TO CREEP YOU OUT

20 My Music. My Story.

NICOLE PENCE

22 My Music. My Story.

TONY ADKINS

24 Music Unites Artist

CELLIST MAYA NOJIRI SUTHERLAND

26 Classical Pairings

AT HOME MOVIE AND COCKTAIL NIGHT

29 On Air

MORRICONE SEGRETO

Dear Classical Music Fans and Friends, Last fall, Classical Music Indy staff were eager to learn how classical music audiences were engaging in the expanded virtual marketplace. This led our team to explore the most searched classical music topics on the internet. You might guess the top search results (think Beethoven and Mozart), but what came next determined this issue’s cover story: movie scores. I find I have a film for every mood — films I watch to learn, to laugh, to escape, or to be comforted — and the film’s music truly elevates my experience. I hope this issue of NOTE elevates your movie listening experience in unexpected ways. First, Larry Groupé introduces us to music in film, describing the score as a powerful character in a film. From there, we explore a variety of film composers whose works have reached national, even global audiences, but all have a local connection. Then have fun testing your film score knowledge on pages 14-15. Nicholas Johnson, the host of Classical Pairings, brings us two original cocktail creations you can enjoy while watching a movie at home. Turn to page 27 for two amazing accompaniments to films by John Williams and Michael Abels. And finally, our Anytime Classical host, Michael Toulouse, pays homage to Ennio Morricone, the legendary composer who passed away last July. Turn to page 29 to discover Morricone works that never made it into movie theaters. Classically yours,

Jenny Burch

President & CEO

The podcast about classical musical works composed by, for, and about Black people. SUBSCRIBE ON YOUR FAVORITE PODCAST PLATFORM.

The largest locally-owned national bank is proud to be a major supporter of the Arts.

317-261-9000

Film Score Academy HOW COMPOSERS EXPLOIT SOUND AND MUSIC TO CREATE A MOOD ____ by Kathy Jonas

Larry Groupé sees himself as a

Allen’s character, who is unseen for most of the speech. In Allen’s case, her music crescendos dramatically to its loudest in the film during Bridge’s speech. “I use a constant shift between major and minor keys to provide shadows, to uncover what’s behind the character.”

filmmaker who supplies the musical component to a piece of art. And

NORTH BY NORTHWEST

he views the music as a critical and

Composer Bernard Herrmann, considered one of the industry’s best to score films, including classics such as Citizen Kane and Taxi Driver, influenced Groupé, who knew he wanted to be a composer from the time he was 16 or 17. In Alfred Hitchcock’s 1959 masterpiece North by Northwest, Groupé says Herrmann creatively uses the dance form “The Fandango” to inspire the syncopated rhythms that thrust Cary Grant’s figure from the United Nations to Mount Rushmore. This hyperkinetic, almost dizzying music contributes to an unsettling feeling that “just never goes away,” according to Groupé, notably during the overture and the finale.

powerful character in the film. Groupé, a prolific composer and filmmaker, is an associate professor of music scoring for visual media at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. He’s known for movies like The Contender, Straw Dogs (the 2011 version) and the 2020 film The Outpost. How do musical scores enhance the film experience? Let’s examine two films — one of Groupé’s and a classic film — to see how the scores work hand in hand with elements such as the cinematography, script and dialogue to evoke emotion. THE CONTENDER This 2000 political thriller written and directed by frequent collaborator Rod Lurie, with a score by Groupé, was nominated for two Academy Awards. The Contender stars Jeff Bridges as the president and Joan Allen as the first woman vice-presidential nominee. Groupé recalls his assignment was to create music with a theme of “integrity.” “It was great direction. It was not defining. It was an open canvas,” says Groupé. The predominant music is a melodic piece that plays in different forms and modulations throughout, but culminates in the scene called “the Speech” in which Bridges speaks before Congress, defending his controversial VP pick. The music represents

Refraining from music when music is not advantageous is another scoring technique used in North by Northwest’s most famous scene, says Groupé. When Grant finds himself alone with the crop duster in what is supposed to be Indiana, some of the sounds are the airplane, passing cars and the corn stalks moving. “Hermann is the master of motif,” he adds. Creating the overall musical tone is the toughest part of the job, and inspiration comes from different places such as a particular character or a location. In the thriller Straw Dogs, for example, Groupé sat at a swampy Mississippi farmhouse and conjured up a dark, gothic, film noir mood for the beginning of the film rather than the conventional Cajun score that was suggested. “I wanted a bolder statement: Get ready for a huge ride.” ■

Photo by WFYI

Film Scores: A Bigger Tent for Musical Creativity ____

by Kyle Long

You can’t help feeling a sense of awe when encountering Tyron Cooper. Cooper is a man of extraordinary talents, possessing a masterful skill on

Music in Film

the guitar and a rich, expressive singing voice.

Cooper is also an accomplished academic and currently serves as both an associate professor of African American and African Diaspora Studies at Indiana University, and the director of the school’s Archives of African American Music and Culture. Over the last decade Cooper has added another dimension to his work, as a four-time Emmy winning composer for PBS.

Scoring films was not an early aspiration for Cooper, who grew up performing gospel music with his family band The Cooper Singers. Cooper recalls that the opportunity to score films happened entirely by chance, “I was appearing in a documentary about the opera singer Angela Brown. That’s when I met WFYI producers Clayton Taylor and Bob Williams. After that project they asked if I was interested in scoring.” Cooper was indeed interested, and he developed a strong relationship with WFYI that led to scoring an acclaimed list of projects that includes Attucks: The School That Opened a City and Eva A-7063.

kind of sonic representation. So, scoring really requires you to engage the community on a deep level. IN RECENT YEARS THERE’S BEEN AN INCREASED SCRUTINY AND CRITICISM OF THE FILM INDUSTRY’S LACK OF DIVERSITY. ANY THOUGHTS YOU’D LIKE TO SHARE REGARDING THE LACK OF OPPORTUNITY FOR BLACK COMPOSERS IN THE FILM INDUSTRY?

If you follow historical trends in the broader entertainment industry, African Americans have always been situated on the margins, while at the same time doing much of the definitive work in creating the sounds, textures and styles that now give definition to the entertainment industry. For example, if you think about the emergence of rhythm and blues and how that evolved into rock and roll, and how many African American artists have not received the credit that was due to them. So, there’s always been this type of alternative trajectory for African American artists in the entertainment industry. I believe we’ve made some progress, but there’s much more to do.

Tyron with Eva Kor, Photo by Ted Green

NOTE recently spoke with Cooper to learn more about his work composing music for films. WHAT ATTRACTED YOU TO SCORING FILMS?

The first project I did was for WFYI, scoring a theme for the documentary Open Door: China in Indiana. That project really sparked a strong curiosity in me, in regard to scoring being a space where I could learn about other communities.

For me, film scoring started out as a compartmental creative zone. But over time I realized that the ideals behind film scoring, in terms of being really broad in your creative thinking, started seeping into my musical language in general. I’m now far more open to new ways of approaching musical creativity. I often think about film scoring as being a portal for me to enter the lives of other people, and I think about the responsibility I have in being trusted to elevate those said lives through musical representation. So, I’m always thinking about what people might say when they hear the sounds I use to represent them. ■

WFYI Public Media is the NPR affiliate for central Indiana. To learn more about the films Attucks: The School That Opened a City, and Eva A-7063, visit www.wfyi.org.

Music in Film

Scoring is one of the best ways I’ve found to engage with other people — and on their terms. You have to buy into their narrative from a sociopolitical and sociocultural perspective. You have to understand the nuances of how other people go about life and put all of that into some

YOU HAVE A LOT OF IDENTITIES AS A MUSICIAN. HOW HAS SCORING FILMS IMPACTED OTHER ASPECTS OF YOUR CREATIVE WORK?

Keeping Score MULTI-FACETED COMPOSER LAURA KARPMAN PROUDLY BLAZES HER OWN TRAIL. ____ Words by Amy Lynch • Photo by Jay L. Clendenin

With a career that spans film, television, theater, interactive media, opera and video games, composer Laura Karpman is something of a musical chameleon. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she studied piano and voice as a young girl, inspired by her mother’s record collection. “She had really eclectic tastes — West Side Story and the Rite of Spring to Wes Montgomery and Miles Davis,” Laura recalls. “That imprinted on me musically, and I started writing my own songs around age 7.” Challenged to find composer role models to emulate, Laura pioneered her own path, earning a Bachelor of Music from the University of Michigan, and a Master and Doctorate of Music Composition from Juilliard, where she studied with the legendary Milton Babbitt. “I started getting my first commissions in graduate school; those felt really big at the time,” she says. “Then at Sundance Institute, I got really turned on by the technology emerging at that point and composing for motion pictures. I think I’d been moving in that direction for a long time without really knowing it. It was a pivotal moment.”

“Every project is special, but some blow it out of the water. Lovecraft was one of those,” she says. “Misha (Green) wanted to blend iconic orchestral music with spoken word in a way that’s never been done before. I had the incredible experience of writing a requiem based on a Sonia Sanchez poem in the episode for the Tulsa Massacre victims, and the reaction to it was just stunning. A lot of fans had never heard an operatic voice, and it made me realize that classical music was missing an audience it desperately needs to reach.” Laura is currently working on the score for Marvel Studios’ new What If…? animated anthology series. In an Indianapolis connection, she provided the theme for Classical Music Indy’s Melanated Moments in Classical Music podcast after working with co-host Angela Brown on Ask Your Mama. A fierce champion of inclusion, Laura founded the Alliance for Women Film Composers, and she’s the first female American composer to be inducted into — and the first female governor of — the music branch of the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences. She credits the ability to pivot in unexpected directions as the key to her success, but has trouble singling out a favorite media to work in. “Video games are fun and there’s lots of freedom,” Laura says. “I love narrative writing and the process of filmmaking. I love documentaries. I don’t see a big distinction between writing music for film, operas or other formats. It’s all the same artistic expression; it’s just collaborative in different ways.” ■

Listen to Karpman’s theme music for the Melanated Moments in Classical Music podcast at www.classicalmusicindy.org/melanated-moments.

Music in Film

Living in New York, wanting to teach and participate in the world of new music, Laura saw an opportunity to move back to LA, where she still resides with her wife, fellow composer Nora Kroll-Rosenbaum and their son, Benny.

There, Laura’s career took off thanks to lifechanging projects like the Grammy-winning Ask Your Mama album (a multimedia opera based on the poems of Langston Hughes) and Why We Hate, a Discovery Channel docuseries produced by Steven Spielberg and Alex Gibney. More recently, Laura penned music for HBO’s Lovecraft Country.

FROM A TERRIFYING VILLAIN TO A KIDDY MATINEE HERO,

GODZILLA INSPIRED ONE OF JAPAN’S MOST REVERED COMPOSERS. ____ by Crystal Hammon

What happens when you pair the most dangerous year in a lifetime with the world’s longest running movie franchise? You get Godzilla, history’s most dangerous movie monster — with a few altruistic exceptions.

The original Godzilla was made by Toho Studios in Japan during the late 1940s, but the film wasn’t released until 1954, two years after the end of American occupation following World War II. For the unindoctrinated, the anti-hero Godzilla is always portrayed as the byproduct of human failure or atrocity. In the 1954 original, the first in a franchise of 36 Godzilla films, the monster is the presumed result of the atomic bomb America detonated in 1945 against Japan. Shamed by the movie’s unveiled reference to a radioactive monster (Godzilla) bent on destroying Japan, America understood that it was being cast as a villain and prevented Toho Studios from releasing the film when it was ready. “The Godzilla of the 1950s was bad, bad, bad,” says Michael Schelle, Ph.D., professor of music at Butler University and composer with expertise in the history of film music and Japanese music. “But Godzilla is good during the 1960s and 1970s. He is friendly, and he tries to protect Tokyo from all the other monsters that are being created by smog and air pollution. In some of the movies, you even hear the cast yelling ‘He’s here! He’s here to save us!’” After Godzilla’s good-guy era, he returns to the role of the villain and remains so in most subsequent films.

Ifukube built a reputation as a composer of classical compositions for orchestras and string quartets after winning first prize in a 1935 competition for young composers, but it was his pivot to film scores in 1947 that made him famous. He wrote the scores for 300 to 400 movies, including 28 Godzilla films. The scores for more recent Godzilla films often use elements of the original Ifukube themes as nostalgic recognition of Ifukube’s work. His ascent to fame was circuitous. Ifukube studied violin as a child and composed music as a teenager, but for many years, music was a passion pursued outside a full-time job as a forestry officer. Ironically, Ifukube only turned to music as a career after being exposed to radiation through a project he was asked to do by the Japanese Imperial Army, according to one of his online biographies. Although it was not uncommon in Europe and Asia, very few American concert composers from Ifukube’s era were involved in film music, according to Schelle. “Aaron Copland did a couple of movie scores from the 1930s through 1950s, but most composers were in one discipline of music or the other,” he says. “Of course, there’s a lot more crossover in the past three decades, but when I was growing up as a composer, the message was still, ‘Don’t do that unless you want to sell out.’ There’s a much healthier attitude now.” continued on next page

TheMusic Vinyl Revival in Film

To score the music for Godzilla, Toho Studios picked Akira Ifukube, a prolific composer of concert music and music professor who taught at two different universities in Japan and became president of a third near the end of his career. “Ifukube is considered the dean of Japanese composers,” says Schelle, who authored The Score:

Interviews with Film Composers. “When he got the gig for Godzilla, he sort of said, ‘Well, I’m not a film composer, but that sounds fun.’”

Ifukube’s Godzilla compositions follow three basic themes, recycled throughout most of the 32 Japanesemade films. One is very martial-like music any time there is a military presence on screen or when Godzilla stomps through a scene. A second motif accompanies action-packed scenes. Schelle compares the third theme to a requiem. “It’s very slow, very beautiful, very heartbreaking,” he says. “And for decades, he would use a gorgeous, slow requiem at the end when Godzilla would die, even though Godzilla always came back for another sequel.” The lineage of ownership in the Godzilla franchise(s) is a confusing mix of players. During the early 1990s, Toho Studios sold the rights to Godzilla to Sony, resulting in a handful of disappointing, American-made films. In 2003, Toho Studios reacquired the rights, then worked out agreements that have allowed Warner Brothers and Legendary Entertainment to make Godzilla films such as the 2021 release of Godzilla vs. Kong, with music by Tom Holkenborg, a Dutch composer. Schelle says many of the recent Hollywood scores have been underwhelming compared with the music of Ifukube and the Japanese composers who eventually replaced him. “They don’t have the personality that some of the Japanese Godzilla scores have,” he says. “When Ifukube passed the torch in the 1970s and 1980s, so often the Japanese composers that followed him would still reference those original Godzilla themes and leitmotifs — some more than others, but they would always pop up,” he says.

Music in Film

The reason for that, Schelle speculates, could be largely cultural: Japanese culture is one that honors elders. Ifukube was a beloved composer who received his country’s highest honor as Person of Cultural Merit before his death in 2006. ■

Schelle’s Movie Tip:

Purchase or rent the 1954 original version of Godzilla, a beautifully remastered version made by The Criterion Collection.

Reflective Raconteur

by Tom Alvarez

At 20, Ashton Gleckman is already an accomplished composer and filmmaker, but it’s conversation and storytelling — not fame and fortune — that interests the young artist. When you’re a budding 17-year-old filmmaker, and someone like Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer (The Lion King, Pirates of the Caribbean, Gladiator, Inception) calls you “the boy with bat ears,” you know that you’ve got a future. The boy in question is now a man, 20-year-old Carmel resident Ashton Gleckman, a composer, producer and founder of Blackbird Pictures. A wunderkind if there ever were one, the son of Ari and Jennifer Gleckman is a gifted musician who began his career at age six. Since then, he has released a feature-length documentary film, five albums, written and directed five short films, composed scores for numerous projects and produced over 30 hours of online video tutorials. Greatly influenced by documentary auteurs Ken Burns and Werner Herzog, Gleckman’s first major film, We Shall Not Die Now, a Holocaust documentary, was released in 2019. The film premiered at the 28th annual Heartland Film Festival and won the festival’s Audience Choice Award.

Not missing a beat, Gleckman begins filming the sixpart series Kennedy next month in Boston, followed by shoots in New York, Washington D.C. and Chicago. “He’s [Kennedy] a figure who has fascinated me for as long as I can remember,” Gleckman says. “From war hero, to congressman, to senator, to president, there is so much to explore. Ninety-nine percent of the projects about Kennedy have been about the assassination. Our documentary will take viewers back to his birth in 1917, journey through his entire life up to 1963, and explore his lasting legacy. It will feature a big ensemble of the country’s greatest historians, who will help to tell the story.” Release is set for 2022. The attention his work has received has been welcome, but for Gleckman, attention is beside the point. “I’ve never really been interested in the whole fame and fortune thing,” he says. “I’m just doing what I love and seeing where the wind blows. I want to continue telling stories to as many people as I can.” ■ You can see We Shall Not Die Now on Amazon Prime, Vimeo On Demand (VOD) and other streaming services.

Music in Film

“There is something extraordinary about the power of music combined with images,” says Gleckman, who wrote, directed and scored the film. “Music sounds beautiful when you listen to it on its own, but when you take that music and attach it to film, it become its own entity.” His journey with film music began by falling in love with music’s impact and the way directors and composers collaborate in storytelling.

At the very least, Gleckman hopes his films create conversations, be it about the Holocaust in We Shall Not Die Now, or struggling regions of America as depicted in The Hills I Call Home, a film that focuses on the town and residents of Beattyville, Kentucky. The film is Gleckman’s second and will be released on March 23 via Gravitas Ventures on Vimeo On Demand and streams on Amazon, iTunes and Google Play.

Music in Film

1 North by Northwest. Bernard Herrmann. 2 The Pink Panther. Henry Mancini. 3 The Graduate. Paul Simon. 4 A Clockwork Orange. Wendy Carlos. 5 Shaft. Isaac Hayes. 6 Star Wars. John Williams. 7 Blade Runner (1982). Vangelis. 8 Desperado. Los Lobos. 9 Toy Story. Randy Newman. 10 Emma (1996). Rachel Portman. 11 Men in Black. Danny Elfman. 12 The Truman Show. Burkhard Dallwitz. 13 The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Howard Shore. 14 Girl with a Pearl Earring. Alexandre Desplat. 15 Avatar. James Horner. 16 The Blind Side. Carter Burwell. 17 Tron: Legacy. Daft Punk. 18 The Conjuring. Joseph Bishara. 19 Interstellar. Hans Zimmer. 20 The Theory of Everything. Jóhann Jóhannsson. 21 Moana. Lin-Manuel Miranda. 22 Manchester by The Sea. Lesley Barber. 23 Get Out. Michael Abels. 24 Coco. Michael Giacchino. 25 Black Panther. Ludwig Göransson. 26 Colette. Thomas Adès. 27 Joker. Hildur Guðnadóttir. 28 Avengers: Endgame. Alan Silvestri. 29 Nomadland. Ludovico Einaudi. 30 Soul. Jon Batiste, Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross. 31 Shirley. Tamar-Kali.

ANSWER KEY:

MATCHING PUZZLE. TO THE TEST WITH OUR PUT YOUR KNOWLEDGE

Are you a film score connoisseur?

Match the Film Score to the Composer F I L M S COR E North by Northwest The Pink Panther The Graduate A Clockwork Orange Shaft

CO M P O S E R Vangelis Los Lobos Paul Simon Wendy Carlos Randy Newman

Star Wars

Carter Burwell

Blade Runner (1982)

John Williams

Desperado Toy Story

Lin-Manuel Miranda Danny Elfman

Emma (1996)

Rachel Portman

Men in Black

Howard Shore

The Truman Show

Alexandre Desplat

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

Bernard Herrmann

Girl with a Pearl Earring Avatar The Blind Side Tron: Legacy The Conjuring Interstellar The Theory of Everything Moana Manchester by The Sea Get Out Coco Black Panther Colette Joker Nomadland Soul Shirley

Hans Zimmer Burkhard Dallwitz Michael Abels Tamar-Kali Jóhann Jóhannsson Isaac Hayes Michael Giacchino Lesley Barber Alan Silvestri Jon Batiste, Trent Reznor, and Atticus Ross Daft Punk Henry Mancini Hildur Guðnadóttir Ludovico Einaudi Joseph Bishara Ludwig Göransson Thomas Adès

Music in Film

Avengers: Endgame

James Horner

The Music of

BLAX PLOIT ATION INDIANAPOLIS MUSICIAN AND

COMPOSER J.J. JOHNSON PUT HIS SIGNATURE ON SOME OF THE MOST ICONIC FILM SCORES OF THE BLAXPLOITATION GENRE. ____ by Kyle Long

By the late 1960s trombonist J.J. Johnson had reached the pinnacle of success for a jazz musician. Johnson had performed on groundbreaking early bebop sessions alongside Miles Davis and Charlie Parker. He’d been an essential player in the development of cool jazz and third stream music. Perhaps most importantly, Johnson had been recognized by fans, critics and fellow musicians as one of the greatest trombonists in jazz history. But Johnson was not the sort of artist to rest on his laurels. As a musician, Johnson was constantly searching for new challenges. So, after scaling the heights of New York’s jazz scene, he set his sights on the film industry of Hollywood. In some ways Johnson’s desire to score films was a natural progression from his early years writing arrangements for big band music. Johnson had learned the fundamentals of composing and arranging music in his hometown Indianapolis, where he studied at Crispus Attucks High School’s celebrated music program.

Johnson worked his way up in the jazz world with astonishing speed. But success would not come so easily for Johnson in the largely white world of Hollywood. As a Black man, he was typecast from the start.

But Johnson persevered and did the best work he could within the constraints of the genre. Johnson composed music for iconic Blaxploitation films like Cleopatra Jones and Willie Dynamite. His bestknown score was written for the 1972 film Across 110th Street. The film’s title theme, co-written with R&B star Bobby Womack, was a Billboard hit in April of 1973, and was later revived in director Quentin Tarantino’s 1997 film Jackie Brown. As Blaxploitation cinema began declining in popularity during the late 1970s, opportunities for Johnson dried up. He shifted his attention to television, composing music for hit shows including Starsky and Hutch, CHiPs, and Six Million Dollar Man. But Johnson eventually grew so frustrated with the limited opportunities available to him in Hollywood that he called it quits, moving back to his hometown Indianapolis during the late 1980s. Johnson viewed his time in Hollywood with disappointment, and there’s no doubt that many critics dismissed his work composing music for low budget exploitation films as inconsequential, but that would later prove to be untrue. The 1990s brought a critical reevaluation of Blaxploitation cinema, along with a more nuanced understanding of the enormous influence these films had on global pop culture. A new generation of fans embraced Blaxploitation films as an important cultural touchstone, most notably within the hip-hop community. While Johnson didn’t realize it at the time, the music he composed in Hollywood during the 1970s would be viewed by future generations as one of the defining sounds of that era. As music fans continue to honor J.J. Johnson’s legacy in jazz music, it’s also important to acknowledge his pioneering work in the film industry. ■

Music in Film

Johnson’s dramatic rise out of Indianapolis reads like one of the fantastic Hollywood scripts he was tasked to score during his tenure in California. While still in his teens, Johnson began taking professional gigs in the nightclubs of Indiana Avenue, Indianapolis’ famous Black entertainment district. Johnson’s remarkable talent didn’t go unnoticed, and when he sat in for a gig with the Benny Carter orchestra, the famous band leader offered him a permanent spot in the group. Johnson accepted, and at 20 years old, he hit the road with one of the hottest bands in the country.

Johnson’s arrival in Hollywood in the early 1970s aligned with the dawn of the Blaxploitation film era. Johnson’s early work in the film industry found him writing arrangements for Blaxploitation fare such as Isaac Hayes’ Shaft, and Marvin Gaye’s Trouble Man. Johnson would never break loose from this mold, and nearly all the commissions he received in Hollywood would be in the Blaxploitation genre, a reality that troubled Johnson.

The Waterphone THE INSTRUMENT HOLLYWOOD COMPOSERS DEPEND ON TO CREEP YOU OUT ____

by Crystal Hammon

Imagine yourself watching a horror movie. You’re suddenly aware that something very sinister or unnatural is about to happen, alerted by a very distinct musical sound, a sound that’s so ubiquitous in horror films that it’s almost cliché. The obscure musical instrument that often marks moments of suspense and mystery in film was invented in 1967 by the artist, composer and percussionist Richard Waters. It’s called a waterphone.

among composers of musicals and film scores. It makes an appearance in Poltergeist, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, The Matrix, Jurassic Park and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and many other films. “Almost all of John Williams’ scores call for a waterphone,” says Rick Dior, a professor of percussion at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte, and owner of two waterphones, handcrafted by Waters.

Evoking a range of emotions, from wonder to terror, from heaven to hell and back again, the waterphone’s versatility quickly won favor

In 2009 Dior played percussion for a Broadway tour of Wicked in Charlotte. The touring company had a cheap knockoff of

Waters’ original waterphone. Aware of the differences between the two, Dior brought his authentic waterphones to rehearsal. “At the end of one of these pieces, there’s a big waterphone solo,” Dior says. “After I played the solo, the conductor looked up at me and asked, ‘What was that?’ I said, ‘That’s a real waterphone.’ He [the conductor] was speechless.” The waterphone is the instrumental trifecta of a Tibetan water drum, an African kalimba and a 16th-century peg or nail violin. Its otherworldly sound stems from a unique design, which Waters guarded jealously until his patent expired in the 1980s. Made with a stainless-steel diaphragm and brass tines, the instrument is tuned to microtonal and diatonic scales that are more typical in Eastern music. The waterphone’s name refers to the fact that the diaphragm can be filled with water, and its pitch can be adjusted by the amount of water added. Although cheaper models are available, many musicians say that an original waterphone, which can cost between $1,100 and $1,700 each, is unrivaled. The band Aerosmith and singer Tom Waits are among the musicians who became devotees of Waters’ invention. Despite his invention’s fan base, Richard Waters had little interest in marketing the waterphone, according to his daughter, Rayme. The instrument’s popularity among global musicians spread by word of mouth and the growth of the internet.

Years later, Waters attempted to interest his daughter in the business, hoping she might continue his legacy. Rayme Waters demurred, but after her father’s death in 2013, she had second thoughts. “When somebody dies, everything takes on larger meaning, so I took a welding class,” she says. “As it turns out, I’m a pretty good welder, but I just didn’t have the passion for it.” She eventually sold the business to its current owner, Brooks Hubbert, a musician and metalworker from Pensacola, Florida. Percussionist Emil Richards was one of the first to introduce the waterphone to Hollywood. Blurring the lines between sound design and music, Richards influenced many composers with the diverse arsenal of sound he brought to his work, including the waterphone. Before his death in 2019, Richards donated a waterphone from his personal collection to the Rhythm! Discovery Center in downtown Indianapolis. “One of the reasons instruments like this [the waterphone] remain anonymous is that percussion is, by its nature, sort of anonymous in how it’s credited,” says Rob Funkhouser, an Indianapolis composer and percussionist who serves as the operations and education manager at the Rhythm! Discovery Center. “It’s just part of a percussionist’s job to pull things out of our hats.” One of the beauties of the instrument: practically anyone can play a waterphone by plucking, bowing or using a mallet to strike the brass tines. “The concept of virtuosity is not really relevant to the waterphone,” he says.

To learn more about the waterphone, listen to the Every Little Thing podcast, where you can hear Rayme Waters speak about her father’s invention. You can also hear Brooks Hubbert demonstrate an original waterphone on his YouTube channel.

Music in Film

Now a novelist who lives in Palo Alto, California, Rayme Waters recalls taking phone calls from famous musicians who wanted to order waterphones. Her father was unfazed by messages from the rich and famous, including one left by a wellknown English band: “Oh, that’s really long

distance,” he said dismissively. “They’ll have to call me back.” She remembers thinking, “I would call them back if I were you, and I’m only 14 years old.”

My Music. My Story.

Nicole Pence ____

by Jennifer Delgadillo

Four-time Emmy Award winning journalist Nicole Pence Becker weaves music into her personal life as a mother of four and her work life as owner of Pence Media Group, a digital and media consultancy. Nicole lives in Carmel with her husband Jason and sons Andrew, Colin, Matthew and Luke.

WHAT ROLE DOES MUSIC PLAY IN YOUR LIFE?

WHO ARE YOUR FAVORITE COMPOSERS OR MUSICIANS?

It plays a big role in my life with young sons. We use music to generate creativity, but it’s also a way we get them to calm down. My husband was a drum major in high school, and he has an ear for music. We have dance parties nearly every night. So, I would say music is a big part of our parenting style because it influences the mood, and it’s a fun way to get some sillies out. We crank up the techno music — they love electronic dance music (EDM) — and, if it is time for them to relax, we play some relaxing music.

I am very excited about watching old musicals with the kids like Oklahoma and The King and I. I think it is kind of neat to have them recognize that the music is different than what they hear now.

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

We listen to a lot of EDM, I think because we like the rotation in the music. We also listen to a lot of musicals. Soundtracks are everything to me. I don’t listen to pop as much as I used to growing up. I tend to lean towards musicals and getting the kids into them when I think it’s appropriate. I’m very into taking that nostalgic road. WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE MEMORIES THAT ARE LINKED TO MUSIC?

It was really fun this year because the kids understood our wedding anniversary, so when we celebrated with a family dinner, the kids asked us to dress up. They had heard from their grandmother that our wedding song was At Last by Etta James. We also picked A Thousand Years, which was played at some point during the wedding ceremony. The kids had listened to both of them and knew that they were the songs that mommy and daddy had celebrated their wedding with. And I thought, “Gosh, isn’t that crazy?” When you get married, maybe you want to have kids one day, but you don’t have any idea who they will be, what they will look like or when that will happen. And here we are four years later, and the twins understood that song was a part of our wedding. It was neat to connect to all that.

IF YOU WERE A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT, WHAT WOULD YOU BE AND WHY?

I thought about that the other day when the kids were shaking the tambourine up in the playroom. I think I would be a tambourine. I think they’re misunderstood and are a very big part of a song or a moment. They’re loud; I’m loud. I think they’re kind of fun, and I’m fun. CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT THE OVERLAP BETWEEN YOUR WORK EXPERIENCE AND MUSIC?

As a journalist, music has been an incredibly important part of some of the feature stories we did. If we were doing a feature on a criminal investigation, or infertility, or a couple battling something difficult in their lives, the music choice was so important. Fast forwarding to today, we just did media assets for two different projects. I know the value of music and how it can attract an audience. I produce and put together stories that are moving, and part of that is through music. So, it is very much a part of my work because it can be incredibly valuable or incredibly problematic. You need to recognize the difference very quickly when you’re telling stories. You’ve got to have it right. ■

My Music. My Story.

Tony Adkins ____

Words by Jennifer Delgadillo Photo by Lara Francisco, Medelita

Maurice “Tony” Adkins, the Dancing Doctor, is a physician assistant (PA) for pediatric neurosurgery at Children’s Hospital of Orange County.

Maurice “Tony” Adkins gained internet fame when a pediatric patient’s mother captured a poignant video of Adkins dancing with her son just prior to his neurosurgery. “I turned on the music and said, ‘Alright, you’ve got to get up for this dance.’ We started dancing, and he was laughing, having a good time,” Adkins says. “It pretty much started from there.” HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR A WORK DAY? DO YOU LISTEN TO MUSIC, OR SING IN YOUR CAR?

Oh, yes. I usually get up around 5:30 a.m. and do my morning routine, then hop in the car and play old-school and new R&B. It just gets me in the mood. When I’m about to get out of the car at work, I usually say a small prayer asking for strength to take care of others during the day. It’s an honor to be able to take care of somebody else’s kids.

Being in pediatric neurosurgery is like being a homicide detective. You see some really bad things that happen to kids that you don’t want anybody’s kids to go through. So, I do all those things that prepare me. There’s no burnout in sight for me because I love what I do. HOW DO YOU CHOOSE THE SONGS? DO YOU PLAN THEM BASED ON THE PERSON, OR IS IT SPONTANEOUS?

A little bit of both. I have kids who ask to see me, and they want to dance, so I just pick something from the list on my phone that is kid-friendly. Sometimes they come with a song and say, “I want to do this song.” Other times I have a song in my head and think, “I’m gonna do this one if somebody doesn’t have a song that they want.”

WITH THE PANDEMIC AND THE CHANGES IN HOSPITALS RIGHT NOW, HAVE YOU SEEN A GROWING NEED FOR BRINGING POSITIVITY INTO THE WORKPLACE?

Yes, most definitely. There’s so much needed right now because we can’t have visitors come into the hospital. We used to have pet therapy, Disney characters, baseball players and football players. Right now, it falls on the providers to do all the things visitors used to come in and do. We make it positive for kids in the hospital, but it’ll be nice to have visitors return. DO YOU BRING THE DANCING DOCTOR INTO YOUR PERSONAL LIFE TOO?

I’ve always gravitated towards music and dance. When I was a little kid, my cousins and I would get together, go into our parents’ rooms, put on some of their clothes, and then go perform for everybody. With my own kids, sometimes we do little skits. WHO ARE THE MUSICIANS THAT GET THE MOST PLAY AT YOUR HOUSE?

We listen to a variety of R&B and hip-hop, usually Bruno Mars and Jay-Z. I love oldschool folks like Run-DMC and Public Enemy. A lot of old-school because that’s what I know. I grew up with their videos playing on TV. WHAT ROLE DOES MUSIC PLAY IN YOUR OWN HEALING WHEN YOU’VE HAD A LONG OR DIFFICULT DAY AT WORK?

Music just takes everything away. I use music as a way to meditate when I’m writing something that’s really heavy, you know? I listen to soft jazz. I also work out a lot, and usually listen to techno or rap/hip-hop. Music plays into my life so much. It’s in my heart and my brain. IF YOU WERE A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT, WHAT WOULD YOU BE AND WHY?

A guitar. The way that the strings are pulled, it can be high, or it can be low. When you’re feeling great, you’re plucking the high notes; when you’re feeling sad, you’re plucking the low notes. ■

Visit Adkins’ Instagram feed, @t_malone3, and you’ll see inspiring videos of babies, toddlers and children sharing a dance with Adkins during their hospitalization.

music unites artist

Best of Both Worlds CELLIST MAYA NOJIRI SUTHERLAND CELEBRATES HER ASIAN HERITAGE AND WESTERN CULTURE.

____

Words by Amy Lynch • Photo by SnoStudios Photo+Video

Born in a suburb of Tokyo, Japan and raised in a home that embraced Western culture, Maya Nojiri Sutherland grew up surrounded by music. “There was always music in my house,” she explains. “My dad is an enthusiastic devotee of classical music, and my mom’s a performing pianist.” Following in her mother’s footsteps, Maya started piano lessons around age 6, but shifted to cello at age 11, resonating with the sound of the instrument and finding it a much better fit. “When I was playing piano, I didn’t think of pursuing a music-based career at all,” she recalls. “After I switched to the cello, it was like riding a tide that was out of my control. It was only natural for me to continue on this path.” Soon after Maya took up cello, she entered a preparatory music program to study basic solfège and ensemble skills. She advanced to the Toho Gakuen College of Music, taking lessons from a former Chicago Symphony Orchestra player who recommended her for an audition at Indiana University. “I moved to Bloomington in 2006 for a performance diploma,” she says. “I loved studying with my teacher so much, I ended up getting a master’s degree as well and continued on to the Doctor of Music program.” Now in the process of writing her dissertation and tending to her three young children, Maya also works on a freelance basis, teaches private lessons and performs with regional orchestras. A Music Unites Artist, she plays with the Forward Motion ensemble and serves as a Japanese interpreter for a local school district. Surprisingly, she considers herself an introvert.

“Being able to express myself in a musical sense is what I enjoy most about performing,” she says. “I get to feel connected with people in the audience without using words, especially my colleagues at Forward Motion and other Music Unites Artists.” As a strong advocate for new music and modern classical, Maya views performance as a vital element of creating art with living composers. “One of my most memorable performances was the Forward Motion debut a few years back,” she notes. “I wanted to be part of a new music ensemble so badly; it was my dream come true when Eric Salazar reached out to me to join this group. We played Music in Similar Motion by Philip Glass and other pieces; it was exceptionally challenging, but such a joyous experience.” For Maya, being part of Music Unites offers a sense of support and community. “This program brings music to people through unconventional venues,” she says. “In contrast to performing in traditional concert hall settings, we feel the audience in such close proximity. We get to talk to people, sometimes take requests, share and create the moment together.” Despite her passion for all things modern, Maya still respects the role of classical in the greater music diaspora. “For musicians in the contemporary era, I think classical is a reminder of where we all came from,” she says. “To me, it’s our responsibility as performers, and also my passion, to keep creating new art with living composers, so that music as an art form keeps evolving and being passed on for generations to come.” ■ Learn more about Maya by visiting the Indianapolisbased new music ensemble, Forward Motion, at www.forwardmotionnewmusic.com.

Classical Pairings AT HOME MOVIE AND COCKTAIL NIGHT ____

by Nicholas Johnson, Ph.D.

During the pandemic we have had more time to catch up on movies and to enjoy beautiful soundtracks. Every movie night is better with a feature cocktail. Here are two selections made with a local spirit, designed to pair with leading film composers. THE COMPOSER:

THE COMPOSER:

Probably the most important living composer of film music, Williams’ compositions bring us close to galaxies far away, magical kingdoms and heroic journeys. In his career spanning almost seven decades, he has written classical melodies and themes that are known by film and music fans around the world. He was given an award in 2005 by the American Film Institute for composing “the greatest film score of all time” — 1977’s Star Wars.

After a long career for the concert stage, Michael Abels has won Oscar Awards for his film scores for Get Out and Us. He was a pre-COVID guest of Butler University, which gave me the good fortune to meet him. I was struck by his humility, creativity and energy. His music blends elements of American and African styles, creating haunting atmospheres that paint aural landscapes behind some of recent cinema’s most unforgettable offerings. Even if horror films are not your favorite, listen to his remarkable soundtracks.

John Williams (b. 1932)

THE COCKTAIL:

A Galaxy Far, Far Away This drink uses the color of Blue Curaçao to give an otherworldly appearance. Enjoy this play on a classic vodka martini alongside the soundtracks of Star Wars, Harry Potter or E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.

In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, add 1 ounce vodka from Hotel Tango, 1 ounce vanilla vodka, ½ ounce Blue Curaçao and 3 dashes of orange bitters. If you prefer your drinks sweeter, add ¼ ounce simple syrup. Stir and strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with a maraschino cherry, but be sure to use a cocktail pick for the cherry. (Otherwise, you’ll dilute the magical blue color.) Despite the hue, the drink is orangeand vanilla-forward. Strike up the music of a cantina band, and imagine yourself in a galaxy far, far away.

Michael Abels (b. 1962)

THE COCKTAIL:

Hypnotherapy This thoroughly macabre cocktail stuns its victim with a blend of brown sugar aromas and the sight of a blood orange slice, floating in a snifter. It’s a complex drink that can be enjoyed while listening to the evocative score of Get Out. The concoction embodies the evil machinations of Missy, the hypnotherapist.

In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, add 2 dashes dark walnut bitters, 1 ounce rye whiskey from 1205 Distillery, ½ ounce Montenegro amaro and ½ ounce dark rum. Stir and strain into a brandy snifter. Garnish with a thin slice of a blood orange. Swirl, smell and enjoy this blend of sweet, bitter, fruits and nuts in a cocktail built to match the richness and depth of an Abels score.

Find Nicholas Johnson’s latest pairings at www.classicalmusicindy.org/cmi-video. These videos, part of the Classical Pairings Host Challenge, are presented by The National Bank of Indianapolis.

Classical Pairings The New Way to Consume Classical Music

Classical Pairings combines local leaders in classical music with Indy’s top craft food & beverage makers. Join host Nicholas Johnson as he blends two different cultural experiences into one delightful listening and palatable pleasure.

the macallister s o c i e t y Classical music, forever.

The MacAllister Society ensures estate gifts and bequests are expertly managed through designated funds and endowment that expand classical music in our community.

the macallister society

Plan your gift to Classical Music Indy by contacting Jenny Burch at jburch@classicalmusicindy.org or 317-803-4544.

ON AIR:

Ennio Morricone

OVER A CAREER THAT SPANNED SEVEN DECADES, THE ADVENTUROUS ENNIO MORRICONE COMPOSED CONCERT MUSIC AND SCORES FOR FILM AND TELEVISION. A NEW ALBUM UNEARTHS SEVEN HIDDEN TRACKS FROM HIS MOST CREATIVE ERA.

____ by Michael Toulouse Is it possible to feel nostalgia for something that never really happened? That question became less hypothetical last July with the passing of 91-year-old Ennio Morricone. The prolific Italian composer wrote concert music and chart-topping pop, but his enduring legacy is embedded in the soundtracks of hundreds of movies. Some of that music never made it to movie theaters, and now it has been rescued by an Italian film archive and Decca Records. It’s available digitally on CD or vinyl under the title Morricone Segreto. The tug of the past is hard to escape in this collection, thanks to the instruments. The tracks all date from the late 1960s to the early 1980s, when studio recordings were dominated by electric guitars, Hammond organs, driving but understated percussion and the occasional sitar. There’s singing, as well, but without lyrics; the staccato syllables sprinkled here and there hearken back to Morricone’s acclaimed score for the Dollars Trilogy.

Italian cinema’s busiest composer wasted no time reminiscing about those “spaghetti westerns.” He plunged enthusiastically into Il Gruppo, a collective of composers who championed improvisation and unconventional use of traditional instruments. Morricone’s avant-garde taste is easy to hear in scores that actually got released, highlighted here with excerpts from Storie di Vita e Malavita, La Smagliatura and others. Simply revisiting old material would be a disservice to such an adventurous composer. Morricone Segreto asks “what might have been” in seven previouslyunheard tracks, the most haunting of which come from his music for Lui per Lei, an unreleased film by Claudio Rispoli. Even in well-known Italian movies, the actors look “dubbed,” because directors waited until post-production to add the dialogue. The voices and visuals were independent, and Morricone added yet a third artistic component in his legendary scores — music with a life of its own. ■

Michael Toulouse is the award-winning host of Anytime Classical, exceptional syndicated classical music radio programming 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Learn more at www.anytimeclassical.org.

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