For Good Measure, by Ensemble for These Times (E4TT) Episode 27: Dawn Norfleet (part 2)
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In this week’s episode, we talk to Dawn Norfleet about the different instruments she plays and how vocal music has influenced her musical career. If you enjoyed today’s conversation and want to know more about Dawn Norfleet, check her out here: music.columbia.edu/bios/dawn-norfleet . Parts of this episode originally premiered on January 2022, found on Youtube, click here.
This podcast is made possible in part by a grant from the California Arts Council and generous donors, like you. Want to support For Good Measure and E4TT? Make a tax-deductible donation or sign up for our newsletter, and subscribe to the podcast!
Intro music: “Trifolium” by Gabriela Ortiz, performed by E4TT (Ilana Blumberg, violin; Abigail Monroe, cello; Margaret Halbig, piano), as part of “Below the Surface: Music by Women Composers,” January 29, 2022 Outro music: “Lake Turkana” by Marcus Norris, performed by E4TT (Margaret Halbig, piano), as part of “Alchemy,” October 15, 2021
Transcription courtesy of Otter.ai.
Producer, Host, and E4TT co-founder: Nanette McGuinness Audio Engineer: Stephanie M. Neumann Podcast Cover Art: Brennan Stokes Interns: Roziht Edwards and Merve Tokar
[INTRO MUSIC] Welcome to For Good Measure, an interview series celebrating diverse composers and other creative artists sponsored by grant from the California Arts Council. I'm Nanette McGuinness, artistic executive director of Ensemble For These Times. In this week's episode, we're joined by Dawn Norfleet, who he spoke to in January 2022. [INTRO MUSIC ENDS] In addition to being a composer, you're also a flutist and a pianist. What was the timeline for these any standout experiences? How have all three influenced your musical path?
Dawn Norfleet:
The first time I I sang harmony was when I was five years old. My mother was in a choir with her sorority, Delta Sigma Theta. So they had Delta correlators. And they invited family members to come along. And so I remember, you know, having to sing a note and hold it, while other people had to sing something else. And I was like, Oh, this is so cool. So, when I was in choir, in, at my school, in the fourth grade, I went to public schools in LA, county. And if there if there was no harmony part, I would create one. So at the same time, I started playing flute, again, in the public schools. So fourth grade, there was a little orchestra, little black girls, little black boys, you know, playing Handel and , whatever what else, whatever else was was, was set in front of us. Yeah. So So, um, then, you know, going into junior high, not middle school. I started improvising with the band. I mean, I would, I would do it on my own, basically, and then playing at my grandmother's churches and stuff. And then going into to jazz in the in high school, I had to play the saxophone, because flute players were discriminated against, you had to play, you had to play something else. So I picked up the saxophone just for high school, in order to get in the jazz band. And so. So, when I, when I went to college, when I started when I began college, music was the furthest thing from my mind, in terms of something to major in. But by the end of my sophomore year, you had a major in something. So, like, I'd taken all of these courses that I was like, you know, I didn't take to music theory at all. But I thought, Okay, I got a major in something. So I'll major in music. And then the next year, I was allowed to my school, Wellesley College, we were allowed to, you know, go to certain other schools, and it would count toward our graduation credits. So Wesleyan hat has had a very rich music program. And so I took jazz history, not jazz history, jazz, theory, and performance. And that's when all that music theory started making sense to me because I had to play it, internalize it, play it in all the keys, and hear it in improvise. So. Now, how I got into composition was, well, I started, I started writing music as a songwriter at age 15, singer, songwriter, I'd clunk out chords on the piano, and I would sing. I didn't, I didn't really write out a lot of things. I could, but I just didn't because I thought, well, who's gonna play it? So when I got to college, I stood I heard some 20th century composers. And I was just kind of fascinated by like, wow, people are making melodies out of things that have no tonality here, that's just a channel or that's bleeps and bloops and all that and I was kind of intrigued by that. So I started Did composing in that language, I never could really get into the whole tone rose thing. But a lot of times I would start with something and then I quickly leave it. So I'd say it's I started doing that my second year in college. And then when I then I went to this thing in the summer this symposium held at my college called the composer's conference, and I met you know, these amazing composers, Mario Dawood offski, John Adams, and some of the fellows there who are now like, you know, top in their field there was 10 done right Xing Jenny Jolanda just all these people and I was just like really amazed and so I decided, okay, this is what I want to do when I go to grad school so I I went to Columbia University and got my master's in composition and and yeah, so after I finished my masters I kind of turn my attention to ethnomusicology for my Pete for a PhD. Wow, kind of a 180 because my in ethnomusicology, my degree, my focus was on African American music, specifically hip hop culture, underground hip hop culture. So that's what my dissertation is.
Nanette McGuinness:
[OUTRO MUSIC] Thank you for listening to For Good Measure, and a special thank you to our guest, Dawn Norfleet for joining us today. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to our podcast by clicking on the subscribe button and support us by sharing it with your friends, posting about it on social media and leaving us a rating and a review. To learn more about E4TT Our concert season online and in the Bay Area where to make a tax deductible donation, please visit us at www.E4TT.org. This podcast is made possible in part by a grant from the California Arts Council and generous donors like you. "For Good Measure" is produced by Nanette McGuinness and Ensemble for These Times, and designed by Brennan Stokes. With special thanks to audio engineer extraordinaire Stephanie Neumann. Remember to keep supporting equity in the arts and tune in next week "for good measure." [OUTRO MUSIC ENDS]
In addition to being a composer, you’re also a flutist and a pianist. What was the timeline for these? Any standout experiences? How have all three influenced your musical path?