Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra Records Convergence: Convergence of Talent (Part 2 of 2)
Patrice Rushen has been composing music for TV, movies, records and Grammy awards shows when she isn’t busy teaching at USC
by Jonathan Gramling
For the past year, singer/composer Patrice Rushen has been one of the featured composers for the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra’s Musical Landscapes in Color CD project where for five years, WCO will produce CDs featuring the works of composers of color. Rushen has composed for many musical genres. She has toured, recorded well-known R&B singles and has been the musical director for many awards shows including the NAACP Image Awards. She been nominated for GRAMMY awards four times.
And over times, Rushen has grown and evolved along with the music.
“Right now, I am a patchwork quilt of activity,” Rushen said. “I teach at the University of Southern California. I’m Fuller Chair of the popular music program there and it involves developing the curriculum for that. I still very much enjoy playing. Whenever I can, I want to get out and play. And when school is not in, that’s my chance to get out and play. I’m starting to do a little bit more of that, more under my own name. I’ve often gone out and played with other people and they say ‘Featured Artist.’ I’ve enjoyed a lot of that. But now I’m being asked to do a lot more of the music that people are rediscovering and so I’m out doing some of that. I’m a mom. My kids are grown and that takes on a whole other block of time. I get that because they are independent people. But that too frees up a certain kind of head space to be able to offer my support as they need it, but watching them navigate why they don’t. I’m married and have a home and dogs and all of that. I’m a family person too.”
With Rushen’s diverse skill set and adaptability to respond the the different genres of music, her musical plate remains full.
“But the network of the way in which I am able to offer myself in service of music continues to morph,” Rushen said. “And the skill set that I have — I’ve done popular, lots of jazz and strong commitment to the jazz community — I’m now able to expand on the network of people through the symphonic space. It’s kind of incredible to just be able to comfortably go from one thing to the next and see the overlap and feel the overlap. I don’t know what that all means in terms of what I am supposed to do, but if these different things allow me to continue in my own joy of so many types of music and so many avenues in which my biggest joy a musician helps other people in whatever they do because they dig what I am doing, that’s it.”
With her involvement in WCO’s Landscapes in Color project, Rushen has been enjoying the interactions between composer and performer.
“It starts with having a lot of music that you feel really, really good about and the orchestra’s performance under Andrew’s baton has been just really, really amazing and very heartfelt,” Rushen said. “I enjoyed watching them go through it. And I really enjoyed the additional aspect of the initiative that these composers are around and can offer information that I wish I could have talked to Beethoven and ask, ‘What did you mean when you did this?’ Not to put me at that level, but just to have the composer to get to offer some indication as to where they were coming from, it informs how every artist sitting on that stage is playing their part in order to make sure that is the messaging that is going out.“
And while Landscapes could be an important move to the next level for composers of color, it may also be a launching pad for the WCO to reach its next level as well.
“There is the possibility that this, in addition to the great work that they have already done, becomes an additional way to be able to put their stamp on what it means to be an orchestra that serves the community, presenting works that are culturally relevant from the past to the present and inspiring the future,” Rushen said. “For composers of color, it’s a platform that hasn’t as often been offered us at that level. So it allows for the kinds of work that we are doing to live beyond the fact that we just did it and you might hear at a community orchestra or something like that and nobody knows because this is not a community orchestra. This is a main city, a vibrant city, artistic city and it gives the opportunity for some of that to continue to inspire composers who have been doing it anyway and will do it because of their joy and love of doing it and the calling spirit. But it also helps us celebrate that we are part of a longer legacy and we can introduce that legacy to people who may not have seen that before as we move it into the present and hopefully to the future. Just the long-term, the middle and the shorter term are all happening at the same time.”
And when hearing the music, there isn’t one prescribed way of hearing and understanding the music. The individual brings themselves into the music as well.
“When art is at its best, it inspires the art in the person who is either viewing it or watching it or listening to it or visually responds, that is what art does best,” Rushen said. “When it is doing its job, it elicits something from another person. Even if they don’t like it, that is a feeling that is a point of view. But you got something. When you didn’t hit the mark is when they didn’t care either way. That’s what I think. So I think that is great and what happens. And the benefit we have to your point about everyone bringing themselves to it is that we have the benefit of being here to offer them a bridge to at least what we were going through in the writing.”
And Rushen reminds people that the people hold the power in terms of how involved they become with the music.
“I think one of the things to be aware of is that the public has a lot of power. And the interested public in the arts and culture and the preservation and the liberation of art, their investment is to go offer their presence and their opinions about its presentation because I think as I said, a big part of what I really enjoy about working alongside WCO is that they are committed in a huge part to serve the community. Orchestras were about that. Part of their gig was to allow people to not only hear what is tried and true and kind of built the foundation for what we consider to be high art, but also to be a place for art that was resonating with that high art to also be presented with pride and dignity so that the audience could enjoy that and offer their opinion of it. It was in service. And the divide — whenever that happened — became more of a situation where the public perception was in an elitist moment. I think it is something that is around here, but I noticed that WCO wants to close that gap because we all want to move forward in terms of cultural excellence and the ability as human beings to understand good, better, best and celebrate those things. And so the public has the power. And exercise your power when you show up.”
Exercise your power to see classical music continue to evolve to become a universal music for all.
