2023年1月27日
韦德体育app官网 Professor of Music Mark Stone recently traveled to South Africa for the South Africa/America Music Exchange (SAME) Festival, which featured 190 local and international musicians on a single stage.
The initiative sought to amplify the spirit of unity and collaboration through music. It included live concerts, an international symposium, and a regional workshop.
“The South Africa/America Music Exchange tour was a peak experience in my career as an artist-scholar-teacher,斯通说. “By holistically integrating multiple musical genres, 作文, 即兴创作, 学术活动, 创造性教学法, the performances and related events allowed me to be my whole self.”
Joining Stone on the trip were OU music faculty member and OU alumna Gayelynn 麦金尼, OU Associate Professor of Theatre Jeremy Barnett, and OU alumna Regina Carter.
麦金尼, Carter and Stone performed and took part in both the symposium and workshops, while Barnett took part in the symposium and provided technical assistance during the concerts.
“The South Africa trip was a truly wonderful experience,” 麦金尼 said. “It was a great collaboration of music and enrichment of not only my life, but young lives as well through music. We had a workshop on 即兴创作 that was well attended and the kids were very inquisitive. They also had good ideas about the future of African music and jazz.”
在旅途中, Stone also premiered a piece of his own — “Seven Generations” — which was based on his experiences while leading OU students on a 加纳留学 in 2022.
“Usually when I write music, it’s inspired by a life experience,” he said. 在这种情况下, I was reflecting on the experience of taking my students to Cape Coast Castle in Ghana, and how it’s been approximately seven generations since the slave trade ended at Cape Coast. We’ve come a long way since then, but we still have a long way to go. The piece is inspired by that experience. I dedicated it to those who passed through Cape Coast Castle and their descendants.”
为了同一个节日, Stone took the ideas from this solo piece and adapted it for a 14-piece marimba band with nine soloists.
“It was a process of thinking about how I can expand it,” he said. “The violin part came the easiest because I’ve known Regina for so long, but the piano and horns took a lot more work. 这是一个有趣的过程.”
当石头, being able to contribute an original 作文 and have it premiered at the festival was a highlight of the trip.
“It was huge rush for me,” he said. “When you compose a piece of music this big, it’s mostly just up in your head, 在纸上, 或者在电脑里, so to actually hear it come to life was incredible. I was really overwhelmed with tears of joy. It was so exciting to hear it all come together like that.”
You can watch the world premiere of “Seven Generations” in Makhanda, South Africa, on YouTube.