Behind the Curtain with Brennan Stokes - Part 5

For Good Measure, by Ensemble for These Times (E4TT)
Episode 99: Behind the Curtain with Brennan Stokes (part 5)

Looking for a way to listen to diverse creators and to support equity in the arts? Tune in weekly to For Good Measure!

In this week’s episode, we continue our conversation with E4TT Assistant Director and For Good Measure podcast cover artist Brennan Stokes. If you enjoyed today’s conversation and want to know more about Brennan Stokes, check him out here: https://soundcloud.com/brennan-stokes.

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.

Co-Producer, Host, and E4TT co-founder: Nanette McGuinness
Co-Producer and Audio Engineer: Stephanie M. Neumann
Podcast Cover Art: Brennan Stokes
With assistance from Hannah Chen, Sam Mason, Renata Volchinskaya

Curious to hear a little music from our guest Ursula Kwong-Brown, who we spoke to in our most recent episode, check out the world premiere of the work she just wrote for us, which we are performing on our season opening concert November 8.

Chapters

• 0:35 Today we continue our interview with E4TT assistant director and For Good Measure cover art designer, Brennan Stokes.
• 0:44 As the reigning Miss Gay San Francisco as well as Miss Golden Gate 2023, you're very active in the LGBTQ community. How does your identity intersect with or affect your music making? Or composing? If at all?
• 5:51 You've actually been talking about Brazilian and Venezuelan composers, which leads me to ask you - I didn't know this when we first met, but you are half Peruvian... tell me how that part of your identity affects your musicianship or your music making...
• 8:56 Would you say that the dance experience and the dance rhythms are what you associate with your Peruvian roots, or is that too simplistic?
• 10:07 Do you have any advice for emerging composers or young musicians?
• 16:19 What are some upcoming events we can look forward to from you from either of your identities, or recent projects you'd like to share with us?

Transcript

Nanette McGuinness  00:00
[INTRO MUSIC BEGINS] Welcome to For Good Measure, an interview series celebrating diverse composers and other creative artists sponsored by a grant from the California Arts Council. I'm Nanette McGuinness, artistic executive director of Ensemble for These Times. Today we continue our interview with E4TT assistant director and For Good Measure cover art designer, Brennan Stokes, as the reigning Miss Gay San Francisco as well as Miss Golden Gate 2023. [INTRO MUSIC ENDS] You're very active in the LGBTQ community. How does your identity intersect with or affect your music making? Or composing? If at all?

Brennan Stokes  00:45
Yeah, the it's been really fun to to be an active title holder with the Imperial Council of San Francisco. There's definitely a gratifying nature to being able to do drag and raise funds for your local nonprofits and charities, as well as this idea of you know, like my, my drag persona, Nikita Vega, to, again, kind of donning this elaborate costume and this process of transformation from Brennan to Nikita as and back again, is has been really fun to shift into and to really explore my masculine and feminine and in between energies and mindsets and again, I think it again just really kind of rings that bell for me of the flair for the dramatic some of the theatrics.

Nanette McGuinness  01:47
That I was thinking, yeah!

Brennan Stokes  01:48
And it's just been so fun to again feel like there's this other side to me, that gets to be just this really fun. You know, the, the numbers that I do are sometimes funny, sometimes serious, sometimes more dramatic, in nature. But that's been really fun to to explore the, the ever shifting natures of you know, what gender even means as definitely as a construct. And to explore again, this this idea of the masculine, the feminine, I think it helps me to even kind of center and balance those energies when composing, to feel like if there are moments you know, just you can still be kind of, again, not associate strictly that, like, masculine has to be strong, but there's the to have to have feminine strength to have masculine tenderness to put, you know, begin to figure out what, you know, in what vein do I want to channel my energy or to have, you know, particularly if I'm writing a piece as most of my pieces so far have been for either you know, sopranos or messo-sopranos you know, I'm writing for women's voice, and with texts from typically like a woman's perspective, I think as a as a gay man, there's definitely this you know, there's that similarity I think for gay men and straight women we have our affections for men. So I think there's there's something to be said for you know, reading texts where there is a longing for there's there's pain there's heartbreak, you know, associated with a man and there's something that I think is that resounds very deeply and that draws you know, to be able to write for the female voice which again, it's almost like you know, as I don't have that exact register but it's fun to even kind of imagine kind of allowing that feeling of the voice of this higher range to to explore and embody kind of definitely as Nikita. And she is definitely more feminine-presenting drag and I have always very much enjoyed the transformation of you know, shaving off my stubble or my beard and you know, completely turning into a female-presenting drag queen has been has been really fun to to just increase I think general creativity and inspire myself to kind of push what this idea of transformation can be.

Nanette McGuinness  04:45
Yeah, push expectations push boundaries, push creatively. Does Nakita sing? I've not seen her perform.

Brennan Stokes  04:52
Nakita has not performed live. She is an excellent lipsyncer, though. Actually, I did make my kind of my piano debut at the the gay pageant when I where I bought my title, performing a short piece by a Brazilian 20th century composer, Camargo Guarnieri. And it was the first time I had kind of displayed my more classical training on the keyboard, in public and in drag, and that was that was also really fun.

Nanette McGuinness  05:26
And successful, it sounds like. yeah, it was,

Brennan Stokes  05:30
Yeah, it was, it was fun to, to to begin to channel those talents through my drag.

Nanette McGuinness  05:38
You've actually been talking about Brazilian and Venezuelan composers, which leads me to ask you - I didn't know this when we first met, but you are half Peruvian.

Brennan Stokes  05:49
Yeah!

Nanette McGuinness  05:50
Yeah. So I can hear that might be part of why you're exploring these composers, but tell me how that part of your identity affects your musicianship or your music making or your composing.

Brennan Stokes  06:02
Yeah, definitely. No, my, my mom is full Peruvian. And I've been able to go back to Peru and see the family several times over the years. I think the most recent time was actually Thanksgiving of 2018, kind of all of the my mom's schedule my schedule lined up and was also able to go with my uncle and some cousins. And so it's always been really, really, really great to go back and kind of get in touch with the Peruvian roots and still maintain contact with some of my cousins, you know, via social media. So my, my family back in Los Angeles as well. And I think growing up listening to Peruvian music, and especially at family gatherings at my grandma's house. That musical language that culture was definitely steeped into, steeped into me as even as a young child and teen. It was always fun, you know, it's at some point in the family gatherings, you know, there's always a point where, you know, people, there's always once someone who starts dancing, and the rest of the family, you know, there's definitely a bit of a dance floor that starts to open up to Peruvian music. And I think even that, that's also something even recently that I, you know, have been trying to explore even compositionally as music. If I find myself in a bit of a roadblock, even try and with my body, try and explore movements to that can express what it is that I'm trying to compose, and kind of even physically break through that mental barrier and trying to translate what is this feeling? Or this body movement? You know, how does the body want to react to, to music? And how does it know? How am I both in my head in my hands and body voice? You know, if it's if there are roadblocks in the mental and the vocal and maybe with them at the piano, it's not quite coming out, and maybe it's time to actually get up and

Nanette McGuinness  08:12
Physicalize.

Brennan Stokes  08:13
Yeah, physicalize and trying to physically manifest what is it that I am trying to, to get out? And that that also has been very helpful. So I definitely am. I'm always thankful for, you know, kind of having the that even kind of early exposure and experiences of dancing with family and just having music be that you know, that that ground floor that really connects us all?

Nanette McGuinness  08:42
Would you say that the dance experience and the dance rhythms are what you associate with your Peruvian roots, or is that too simplistic?

Brennan Stokes  08:53
I think there's an element of the dance and there's lots of kind of like brewing waltzes that are out there but there's kind of there's always kind of this sweet melancholy and even kind of some of the harmony and there's this kind of a lovely sadness sometimes that's kind of interwoven and a lot of the Peruvian folk music that I would grew up listening to like wistful melancholy. Yeah, and just there was always just again, just a different musical language and experience to have especially most of the music is on guitar as well. So that was also fun to hear. Just a different tambor and texture, then then just piano, so it was always been really, really beautiful to have my my Peruvian roots to also go back to and be inspired by.

Nanette McGuinness  09:51
Yeah, it sounds very enriching. Do you have any advice for emerging composers or young musicians?

Brennan Stokes  09:58
Advice? I think if for myself, you know, I, for those who I think, have a natural affinity or gift or talent for their instrument, whatever it is, I know I would, I wish I had even kind of gone back. And even if it was of my own accord to like, you know, try out a competition to, I think there's something about, you know, being adjudicated, that is really meaningful, because I was definitely I think, you know, the really talented piano kid in my small, elementary middle school. So that always felt really nice to feel like everyone, you know, like, "Yeah, it's like, you're just, you're really great all the time." But then the, you know, I kind of wish I'd even push myself even just to try some sort of, you know, competition, wherever you have to, you know, put your best foot forward and maybe that little bit of like, you know, there's there are people that are better, or just more meat, you know, a chance to just meet your kind of talent or other talented peers, be inspired by it.

Nanette McGuinness  11:12
Take your fish and move it to another pond.

Brennan Stokes  11:14
Yeah, and just kind of see what the bigger world of kind of where even your your local community like what what's the talent pool, like, you know, kind of get to meet some of the other like, the your peers, and see kind of be able to be inspired by each other, and maybe not quite as competitive. But even just for this, the exposure of having to, there's something to be said, I think, for preparing for something, and even if you don't feel greater about it, just still just to just to go for it, and to not be afraid of results, but just to try and no continually try and push yourself to just try something scary, that you think is going to be scary and see. See if the the scary beard comes off the giant.

Nanette McGuinness  12:06
Nice metaphor, Would would you recommend that for composers as well as musicians?

Brennan Stokes  12:13
Yeah, because especially for composers, you know, I think there's there at least I will speak for myself, knowing that there's, there are plenty of sketches and unfinished pieces. So I think even if it's a call for scores, if it's a competition, that there's, you know, you have to submit something finished. And there's, there's something I think to be really proud of in, in finishing, just knowing you've put a double bar on something and that it is on a even if it's a very base level that you have something finished to show someone. Because I know right now, especially, you know, there's always going to be new ideas, and there's always going to be projects on the bucket list that you want to do. But but you can't, you know, for me right now, you know, it's like, well, like, I've had this idea for something or I've got a sketch for something. But you know, that's not the same as saying I've got, you know, at the very least, like a rough draft of the finished score for this. And from there, you can always, you know, you can edit, you can change, you could rewrite the piece if you like, but at least you have something to hand to hand, another musician to hand an ensemble to say, hey, here's this piece.

Nanette McGuinness  13:28
An accomplishment.

Brennan Stokes  13:29
Yeah, that's something done, it's something checked off, it's, you know, something ready to be presented, even if it's not accepted or well liked is a totally different thing. And I think another part is, advice that I have just benefited greatly from for myself is to just trust as much as you can, I think too is for composers, especially to find and be proud of the work that you do, no matter how simplistic it may be, no matter if it's your first baby pieces of a new composer and this new journey to you know, to find pride in that, you know, you're expressing yourself, you are being creative, you are putting something else out there into the world that did not exist before. You're saying something in a way that other people probably won't say it. And again, good or bad as a completely separate issue, but no to, to whatever it is that you put out, you know, find some pride in knowing that it is done it is it is written. You know, it may not be the best thing you ever write. And that's also fine. But you know, again, there's something just really lovely about this act of creation. That's, that's done. And you know, I think the more art we are able to have out here in the world, the better, the better. We're off for at least having it, if not, at the very least as a learning experience for for the next piece that, you know, there's something to be said about finishing something and going like, you know what, like, "Is it the is it my favorite thing I've ever written?" No. But like, you know, but like, but Lena like, boy, you know, what are the takeaways, you know, to be able to learn from the pieces that you write into not you know, the tenacity, the, the diligence to see something through to the end is definitely, I think, a reward in and of itself.

Nanette McGuinness  15:30
Right, as opposed to stomping on yourself with the criticism of, "Oh, this is awful, which is very hard to move forward from."
 
Brennan Stokes  15:39
"This is awful," or just, it's like, "Well, I don't think it's good." Or it's like, "Oh, I could do something better." And it's like, "Well, before you go and do something better, like, let's see if like, if you can actually pull this around, can you? Can you turn this piece around?" And maybe the answer is no. But at least you know, you're gonna you're gonna fly that car right off the edge and flaming glory. And it's gonna be a marvelous bonfire on which you can make your s'mores later.

Nanette McGuinness  16:05
I love that image! What are some upcoming events we can look forward to from you from either of your identities, or recent projects you'd like to share with us?

Brennan Stokes  16:16
Oh! Yeah, well, I am actually trying to and so part of the reason why I've been kind of on this deep dive of Latin composers is I am hoping to be able to either next summer or maybe early autumn, put on a kind of a solo piano concert as a fundraiser, featuring kind of a pan Latin composer program. I think it'd be really great to be able to showcase kind of Latin excellence in the classical world.  And especially I will definitely be programming a piece Teresa Carreño! I just I feel like everyone needs to know this name. Alongside, again, some of the some of the great Latin composers of history as well as hopefully maybe something by composers that Ensemble for These Times has graciously programmed of Tanya Leo and Gabriela Ortiz, really fabulous women of today who are making big moves and have really just incredible music for audiences to to enjoy.

Nanette McGuinness  16:52
Yes.  They're excellent composers. Yeah, that's a great thing. So you have to keep us posted about that.

Brennan Stokes  17:35
Definitely.

Nanette McGuinness  17:36
I learned a lot about you and your thinking that I didn't know before. I think our listeners will be fascinated. So thank you, Brennan. Oh, yeah, thank

Brennan Stokes  17:44
Oh, yeah, thank you for having me!

Nanette McGuinness  17:47
[OUTRO MUSIC BEGINS] Thank you for listening to For Good Measure, and a special thank you to our guest, Brennan Stokes, 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, or 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 co-producer and audio engineer Stephanie M. Neumann. Remember to keep supporting equity in the arts and tune in next week "for good measure." [OUTRO MUSIC ENDS]