Alumni Musicians Reunite at UMBC
New Music. Experimental. Avant-garde. Contemporary.
Their music has been described in many ways, and in November Jeff Arnal ‘97, John Dierker ‘88, Will Redman ’98, Jonathan Vincent ’97 and Marc Miller, former student, will combine their efforts as a cohesive group for the first time. The event, which promises to raise questions and welcome new discoveries, mirrors how the five musicians met – at UMBC, through music.
“This particular group has never performed together before as a quintet, but we have worked together in other capacities,” said Redman, percussionist and organizer of the event. “Even though we all work in the avant-garde or experimental realm, we have very different approaches to what we do.”
Brooklyn resident Arnal, a new father, is a percussionist who accompanies modern dance classes and teaches private lessons. Dierker, a first wave reedman, has been influencing the Baltimore music scene for more than 20 years with his improvisational, versatile style. Miller, former member of the Baltimore band Oxes, now plays with Dierker and Redman in Microkingdom, and is known for his use of a telecaster, Fender tube amp and volume pedal. Redman, also a new dad, not only plays in Microkingdom but is also a composer and teacher at Towson University and recently completed a massive graphic score, Book. Vincent, who runs a music teaching business in Washington, DC, has written an apocalyptic noise rock opera and two vaudeville musicals based on works by Jean Genet and Gore Vidal.
Linking the musicians’ connections to one another is as hard as explaining their music in one word. But one thing that brought them together was music at UMBC.
Vincent made connections with Arnal and Mike Cerri, former studio director and professor, and began experimenting. There other members of the November quintet became acquainted.
“Arnal somehow convinced Cerri to let us use an entire room in the music department. We collected recording equipment, old car parts and a broken electric piano in the room with two baby grand pianos tuned a quarter tone apart,” Vincent said.
“I slept in there, learned music I never thought I could play but eventually did, and we practiced there for many times a week with the mysterious saxophone player named John Dierker, whom we discovered playing late at night in a locked room on the third floor.”
When it comes to learning about the experimental sound perfected in that lone studio, one name was continuously mentioned.
“I think we’d all agree that studying with Professor Stuart Saunders Smith was a significant formative experience in all our musical lives,” Redman said. “I can only speak for myself when I say that Smith had an incredibly profound influence on the direction that my musical career took.”
“I played a cassette tape of my music for him, and he looked at me with an expression that suggested a mandate for an instant reappraisal of my whole world view. I literally felt alive again,” said Vincent.
Of his experience with Smith, Arnal said his world was “turned upside down” and everything “started to look and sound different.” He said Smith played a large role in his interest in improvisation and experimental music.
Smith had equal praise for this group of former students, stating it was their “strong personalities” that aided in their success. He tried to help them by encouraging them to pursue new avenues.
“I encourage each student to let composition emerge from their unique self, unfeathered by commercial culture. And each of them did that,” Smith said. “Ninety-eight percent of making art is hard work, and all of these composers work hard. They always have. I’m very proud of them.”
Presented by the UMBC Department of Music’s TNT series, this performance will be Thursday, November 6, at 8 p.m., in the Fine Arts Recital Hall. To purchase tickets, order online through MissonTix or call 410-752-8959. Tickets will also be available at the door.
(10/30/08)
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