For Good Measure, by Ensemble for These Times (E4TT) Episode 32: Dawn Norfleet (part 7)
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In this week’s episode, we talk to Dawn Norfleet about the importance of self-care and of experiencing many musical genres. 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 continue our conversation with Dawn Norfleet, who we spoke to in January 2022[INTRO MUSIC ENDS]. Do you have any advice for young women composers or emerging composers in general?
Dawn Norfleet:
or emerging composers who are, let's say that, let's say they're very young, like, in their teens, or 20s, I would encourage them to listen to lots of different kinds of music and play a lot of different kinds of music. Or at least be open to it. If even if you don't want to play it, like if you're college, if you have an opportunity, take a course in a style of music that that's unfamiliar to you. I think that's, that's one thing for oneself for, for one thing, it expands your ear and another. Another thing, it allows you to hear how other people make music, music, people of different cultures make different music for a variety of reasons. And sometimes that can lead you to be interested in the people that make that kind of music. That's what that's what drew me to ethnomusicology, actually, that that when I when I found out that something called ethnomusicology existed, I was like, What the heck is that. But then, you know, being around people that make music, and finding out why they make music, as well as how they make music, that just really fascinated me. And so in this universe, now that's so we're, we're drawn closer together and pulled further apart by this technology, we can get into our bubbles, you know, where we communicate pretty much with people who think, like us, and so we could be listening to same music and that kind of thing. Taking steps to just go beyond that. A lot of times it will be through a course that you take in college or going to a concert series or something like that. And, yeah, I'd say that, you know, music, music can be a safe way to make a first step into reaching beyond something that you're familiar with. Your something that you're unfamiliar with. Um, let's see there. There's other advice that I have. Yeah, don't compare yourself to other people. You don't know what their, their issues are. Like thinking that? Well, I'm 17 years old, and I haven't had my, you know, I haven't gotten into this thing yet that I've applied for two times, and I didn't get in and I must be horrible. Now. Going back to something that I'd said earlier, when I, when I graduated from college, I stopped playing the flute for about two or three years. So I was pretty much self taught until college. So I took flute lessons for three years in college. And then I convinced myself that, you know, there are other people who are my age that were much better than me. And so yeah, I actually stopped playing. So when I came back to it, I realized that nobody has my own voice. So when you're 17, or 13, or 14 or 15, or 21, or whatever. There are a lot more opportunities for, for girls, for women for non binary people. Will people color for you know, all these different groups people, there are a lot more opportunities. And what I'm also really realizing is that could also bring potential for additional stress and pressure, you know, another competition another way for somebody to tell me, I'm not good enough. What I have said was that, I mean, I was trying to think of a nice way of saying it, but you went some things and you lose some things, you win some things, you don't win some things. But when you don't win something, there are opportunities of reflection, of even seeing the way the world works, you know, there, there are many. Just because you didn't get something doesn't mean you are terrible, it means that that particular time, you didn't get it. And there, you know, there are, there'll be other opportunities after you know, and I'm saying opportunities a lot, because every day that you're alive, there is another chance for something to happen. And it's, you know, up to us to make things happen when they seem to be working our way. So one thing I've learned is that nobody has my voice, nobody has my unique voice. So even though I may not I may not be strong in one area, I have strengths in all these other areas. So my mission as an artist is to be the best me that I can be. So that can mean you know, improving my intellect, my artistry, taking lessons performing you know, and then getting balance, you know, something that is not in that realm of what I'm trying to achieve. And that's that's also something I've I've said to a, an aspiring composer, her, I remember talking to her in her father, like her father was was concerned about all this pressure, and, like, how do you get balanced, and I said, you know, have something that's just away from all of that for me, when I was in grad school. I, that's the same time that I started my jazz my career as a jazz musician. So I was I would do, you know, I would take my classes, and then I would, you know, do my field research. And then I would also, you know, go to jam sessions, and go to jazz concerts and you know, perform. So I had a whole other life that was totally separate from my academic life, my scholarly life. And my attitude was okay, well, if they throw me out of school tomorrow, I'll still have.. No, no, no. And even even when I was working on my comps, I mean, ethnomusicology, that ethnomusicology exam was was nuts. I mean, they could test you on anything. And there was the famous needle drop where they, you know, get an album, drop the needle, and you'd have to, you know, say something about the culture this is crazy because it could have been anything. But how I prepare for that was I would, you know, have I would schedule time for study, eating, walking, exercising, and then every Friday night I'd walk over to Blockbuster Video. Get the get two movies, watch one fall asleep on the other one, then watch the second one the next night. What you know, so I would schedule in time for for exercise and time for relaxation. Because that relaxation time is resetting time. And one thing I need to go back to is Going away, like I'm in an urban area. And for me, my reset was going, you know, like going up the coast. And just being away from the internet, being away from, you know, Netflix and just no cell phones and stuff like that, and reset, recharge, and renew.
Nanette McGuinness:
That's such wonderful advice. And the whole notion of getting away or being away with your videos and going up the coast. That's great. Don't you find that the brain needs to percolate. And that when you go away from something even for a short time, but also for a long time, that when you come back and you get the rust off, because there will be that rust? That's very disheartening, something has grown in the absence and whether it's a skill, or whether it's insight. Don't you find that something's happened? Something exciting?
Dawn Norfleet:
Yes. And as intense as anyone can be everyone needs sleep. You know, everyone needs sleep. And so it. It also makes sense that everyone needs to take a break, you know, from whatever hustle they're involved in. Yeah, yeah.
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]