2008 marks the third summer of our internship program, which gives college students hands-on participation in operations, decision-making, and the continued evolution of Rush Hour in its mission. We are fortunate to have four intelligent and energetic young people with a passion for live music and community building with us this summer, thanks to generous funding from the James S. Kemper Foundation.
I’ve asked them to respond directly to a few questions, and now I’d like to introduce them to you here, via their own words and thoughts.
Nick Feder, rising sophomore at Sarah Lawrence College
Ian Ford, rising senior at the University of Chicago
Louise Geraghty, rising senior at Connecticut College
Megan Kingsbury, rising sophomore at the University of Chicago
On any given RH work day, what is someone most likely to find you doing?
Nick: I’m generally sitting in front of my computer working on the website, editing podcasts, editing photos from the concerts, and making posters. And eating.
Ian: I mainly help out with the financial aspect of Rush Hour. The organization has many expenses and revenues, and part of my job is to help keep track of them all. I track all of our wonderful donors, and make sure to help thank them at the end of the process (Because it can’t be said enough: Thank You!) On concert days, you probably won’t find me at the reception with the other interns, because I’m “hiding” in the back making sure the artists have everything they need.
Louise: I am most likely engaged in a battle with Microsoft Word or e-mailing someone about information for the program.
Megan: Well, I’m rarely sitting at the intern round table! I’m usually out and about-spreading the word about Rush Hour with brochures, shopping for supplies or meeting with sponsors and volunteers.
What are your other hobbies and interests?
Ian: I have been playing music for most of my life, and still find time to practice my two instruments, bass and piano. I also play chess and do a lot of biking. I like the bike more than the CTA, so on most mornings you can find me on the lake path heading out for another day at Rush Hour.
Louise: I like clothes, singing, playing violin, and ethnomusicology.
Megan: I’m always practicing and performing with “Off-Off Campus,” an improv and sketch comedy group. I also enjoy dancing, running and cupcakes.
Nick: I suppose my biggest hobby and interest is food. (Ask anyone in the office- they can attest to that.) During the summer, my TV (among other things) becomes my main hobby and interest. During the school year, I’m the musical director of Sarah Lawrence’s all-male a cappella group, “Vocal Minority.”
What is your favorite thing about Rush Hour?
Louise: The music! I love that all of my work goes toward hearing a great concert every Tuesday.
Megan: I love standing at the back of St. James during a concert and watching the audience react to the music-some people bob their heads with the beat, some people have their eyes closed and these perfectly serene smiles on their faces-each person becomes involved with the music in their own way, which is great to witness.
Nick: My favorite and, in my mind, the most pervasive aspect of RH is its accessibility-even in the office! The senior staff has included the interns in a lot of the decision making for this season. To have that kind of access, even as an intern, is really exciting and challenging.
Ian: I have been very impressed by the music. Before I applied, I had no idea it would be this good. Rush Hour brings in world-class musicians on a weekly basis, for free! This is something I am usually happy to pay good money for. This organization is truly committed to an extremely high standard-only the best.
Why did you get involved with Rush Hour?
Megan: Rush Hour seemed like the perfect way to gain hands-on experience with an arts organization-and it really is!
Louise: Rush Hour’s approach to the concert experience in emphasizing their accessibility seemed quite unique and something in which I would like to partake.
Ian: A job in the music world was too good to turn down. I’m a music lover, and the opportunity to explore this as a possible career path was very exciting. When I interviewed with Rush Hour in April, and I easily recognized the worth of the organization. They do an amazing job of making great music accessible to all, in a day and age when it really isn’t.
Nick: I’ve never been on the administrative side of an organization like this. Having been to many classical concert series around the city, I was only granted access to the performance and nothing else. I was really interested in how things worked and what it took to put on a series of this kind.
Why is classical music important to you, and why do you think it is important for people to have access to it?
Ian: I grew up playing classical music; it is a part of me. More than that, though, classical music is an important piece of musical history and culture. We should all listen to and even study the works of the great geniuses in music, and many of these greats came from the era of “classical” music.
Nick: Classical music stimulates the brain in a very specific way that many people are not used to. It’s an experience that many ought to have but don’t either because it’s not immediately accessible to them or because it often carries the notion of being “intimidating.” Accessibility is important because the experience can change those previously conceived ideals of what classical music is all about. So in that sense, it’s a two-way street: the performers have to make it accessible and those listening should be open to a new experience.
Megan: When I think of my earliest exposure to classical music, I think of Wagner and Looney Tunes and how perfectly the music fit to the cartoon struggles. With further access to the music and educational resources, people can discover that maybe Wagner’s feelings and experiences may not be so far from Bugs Bunny’s. Classical music can communicate shared emotions without the frames of a language or time period; it ties us all together.
Louise: Classical music is important to me because I really like listening to it and playing it. It’s important that everyone should be able to access it simply because I think it’s great music: something that everyone can enjoy if they are given a way to listen.
What’s next?
Nick: I was just writing a friend from school saying, “The future is so sublime!” I can’t really tell you what’s next but I can tell you music will, of course, be a part of it. I’m chuggin’ along just fine. So, we’ll see!
Megan: I’ll be starting my second year at the University of Chicago…so my future plans include studying.
Ian: In the future, I hope to graduate from college. Other than that, my only real long-term goal is to someday have enough money saved to buy a big, beautiful Steinway piano.
Louise: I am entering my senior year at Connecticut College, where I will (hopefully) graduate in May with a double major in music (concentration in ethnomusicology) and art history. I am currently investigating funds and programs to travel after graduation to do research on hip-hop and Islam.
We are currently searching for interns for fall 2008, winter/spring 2009, and summer 2009. If you are interested with an internship with Rush Hour, please contact me for more information at julie@rushhour.org or 773.338.9480.
- Julie Hutchison
I had a conversation with a colleague from our ‘08 artist roster last week in which he remarked how Rush Hour is one of the few musical organizations he plays with that is willing to experiment with projects a little “outside the box.” Tuesday’s program, an East-West fusion, might fall into that category. After he played a traditional solo program for pipa with us last year, Yang Wei expressed an interest in – no, a fervor for – collaborating in chamber music from the Western canon. He, Brant Taylor and I spent some time over the winter months thinking about what might work for our respective instruments together.
Of course, J.S. Bach came to mind immediately. His music has been transcribed for so many combinations that an arrangement of the Two Part Invention No. 6 (written originally for Bach’s keyboard students) for cello and pipa is a natural. My thoughts then turned to Beethoven’s Op. 11 piano trio – written originally for clarinet, cello and piano and arranged (by Beethoven himself) for violin, cello and piano. Here we have three “stringed” instruments: one is plucked to make sound (the pipa), another’s strings (the cello) are bowed (and plucked on occasion). The third has the most strings, and its sound is made by a hammer’s striking from deep inside the case! Each brings its unique timbre to the trio and contributes to an overall unified sound. Beethoven was riding the crest of a celebrated career as a piano virtuoso when this piece was written, and his compositional work was supported by royalty. The piano itself was evolving as an instrument – from the “fortepiano” (a descendent of the Baroque harpsichord) to the very beginnings of the modern grand piano we know today. The cello remained the same from then to now. And the pipa was likely entertaining and soothing members of the Emperor’s court in China, far away from Vienna, the 19th century capital of European music.
Rush Hour prides itself on presenting the traditional art form of chamber music in innovative ways. One thing all performances have in common is the level of detail that goes into producing them. Stephen Sondheim’s song, “Putting It Together,” explains this more eloquently than I could. Each concert event is actually a series of decisions, a dance of organization, and coordination of elements familiar and unfamiliar. When are the artists arriving? Is the wine chilled? Where is my “executive director” nametag? Are the programs ready to go? Are there enough chairs? The questions are the same, and different every week depending on the needs of that particular concert.
Executing the details that must happen each week works largely because of our wonderful volunteers. The smiling people you see at the reception, distributing programs, plating food, and answering questions are vital members of the Rush Hour team.
This week I am asking you to consider all of the “moving” parts that make up the Rush Hour whole. You are reading your program, sipping your wine, and chatting with artists and audience members because the detail work is done. If you’d like to help put it together by volunteering your time and talents, please speak to an usher or RH staff member at Tuesday’s concert, email us at info@rushhour.org, or call us at 773-338-9480.
Nearly 450 music lovers filled the Cathedral to hear Tuesday’s performance
Audience members gather around the In-A-Flash table for a flash drive loaded with the concert and an interview with the performers
Tuesday marks the third year RH has partnered with the Poetry Foundation in combining words with music. We have had a history together of what I might call “experimental collaborations.” For the last two years, the Poetry Foundation commissioned poets to write for J.S. Bach’s Two Part Inventions and Three Part Inventions for keyboard. This year, the Poetry Foundation’s Stephen Young and I have created another interplay of disciplines: talented young people (all winners in the Chicago region of the Poetry Out Loud national recitation contest) reciting poems of their choice, and world-renowned clarinetist and veteran artist Larry Combs improvising music to their words.
notes” to form “music” – a feeling, experience or statement in sound. Together, they will enhance each other and take the individual experience to another level of richness and depth.
“The program of poetry for RH will be a new experience for me, not that I haven’t improvised, as in the jazz sense, but in matching totally improvised music to the spoken word. I would emphasize that this is not jazz, although it could take on a jazz-like flavor. It will be a big challenge!”
dance of philanthropy. My parents tell stories about learning to dance at the Arthur Murray Studios in their respective home towns. It was a part of their growing up experience; the language of the culture at that time stated that you needed to at least learn the basics of formal dance. (My dad still regrets that he was not a more apt pupil!)
The Irving Harris Foundation jumped at this idea, and gave Rush Hour a challenge: the Foundation will match, dollar for dollar, all gifts from those under 40, up to $5,000. I jumped at this opportunity to support Rush Hour, and I hope you will consider it as well. I wish I’d had the opportunity 15 years ago to support my favorite causes in a meaningful way by forgoing a cab ride or the cost of a couple of trips to Starbucks. For this challenge, the act of support is more important than the level of support and each gift is effectively doubled!
The art of giving, like ballroom dance, is not something we often consider until we are older. As a generation, we know all about giving our time to organizations. Join me in adding new dance steps to repertoire by adding support to your wonderful actions. I assure you, there is no more appreciative audience than Rush Hour.
