Lunar Module with Sage Shurman - Part 1

For Good Measure, by Ensemble for These Times (E4TT)
Episode 130: Lunar Module with Sage Shurman - Part 1

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 begin our Lunar Module, a mini-series with the E4TT/Luna Composition Lab Call for Scores winners and commissioned composers. Today we are joined by Sage Shurman, who we spoke to in June 2024. If you enjoyed today’s conversation and want to know more, check out her music here: sageshurman.com.

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),  in SF, CA on January 29, 2022
Outro music: “Lake Turkana” by Marcus Norris, performed by E4TT (Margaret Halbig, piano), in SF, CA on October 15, 2021

Transcription courtesy of Otter.ai.
Buzzsprout: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1903729/episodes/16151835

Producer, Host, and E4TT co-founder: Nanette McGuinness
Co-producer and Audio Engineer: Stephanie M. Neumann
Podcast Cover Art: Brennan Stokes
Interns: Renata Volchinskaya, Sam Mason, Addy Geenen, Yoyo Hung-Yu Lin

Curious to hear music by Luna Composition Lab alums? Check out E4TT's annual concert of music by women and non-binary composers, "Midnight Serenades," on January 25.

Chapters

• 0:45 Today we are joined by Sage Shurman, who we spoke to in June 2024.
• 0:56 Please tell me about yourself, who you are, where you grew up, your background in music, where you're going next, and what's important to you. Minor questions.
• 4:58 Why neuroscience? What drew you to that?
• 6:38 Do you want to talk about any of the musicals you're doing? You said you're writing?...
• 8:02 You've addressed this a little bit, but let's circle back to this. What does being a composer mean to you and what draws you to that?
• 9:40 At Luna Composition Lab, who was your mentor?

Transcript

Nanette McGuinness  00:00
[INTRO MUSIC] 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. In this week's episode, we begin our Luna Module, a mini-series with E4TT's Luna Composition Lab [INTRO MUSIC ENDS] Call for Scores winners and commissioned composers. Today we are joined by Sage Shurman, who we spoke to in June 2024.

Nanette McGuinness  00:38
Thank you so much for agreeing to do this conversation.

Sage Shurman  00:42
Yes, thank you for having me.

Nanette McGuinness  00:44
Please tell me about yourself, who you are, where you grew up, your background in music, where you're going next, and what's important to you. Minor questions.

Sage Shurman  00:53
Sure. So my name is Sage Shurman. I'm from sunny Los Angeles, California. Pasadena, I guess, to be more specific, and yeah, I'm a composer. So my musical journey started when I was three. Like I started playing the piano very early on. It was mostly because my brother did it honestly and I wanted to be like him...

Nanette McGuinness  00:55
[laughs]

Sage Shurman  01:16
But it really evolved into, like, a passion of mine. And I was one of those kids that was like practicing a lot, doing all those little competitions. And I really loved piano, so I was kind of going strong with the piano route until I was 11. And it's actually a bit of a sad story. My piano teacher passed, and then, like as an 11 year old, it's kind of hard thing to deal with, and you don't necessarily want to like practice piano anymore. So I was looking for other musical outlets, and I'd always kind of messed around on the piano and written stuff, but I started diving into composition more more wholeheartedly at that point, and then my composition stuff really got going in high school. And in high school, my freshman year, I did this. I got this fellowship called Luna, the Luna Composition Lab Fellowship, which is actually how I got connected with you all at Ensemble for These Times. But yeah, that was a very like Luna Labs has been a very big part of my compositional journey. And even though I was only a fellow for one year, like in the fellowship, I wrote a piano trio and I had like mentorship for a year, but really it's been what they like do for their alumni that's been the most rewarding. Because all these years, like later, now I'm a now I'm a freshman at Harvard, well, I guess I just go gonna be a sophomore next year, just finished my first year. And they're still providing me opportunities like this to talk to you guys and to, you know, get my works, get my works out there. So yeah, Luna Lab was big for me. I also did the LA Phil Composer Fellowship program. I started that my sophomore year, and I did that sophomore through senior year, and that was a very big part of my compositional journey, too. They had, we got to have like, three pieces performed every year by mostly members of the LA Phil were clike, really pertinent ensembles. So, yeah, yeah. So I guess for where I'm going next now I'm like, now I'm a freshman at Harvard, and I'm actually not studying music. I'm studying neuroscience, and that, like, that was a tough decision for me, and I did think about going to a conservatory, but I kind of decided on a broader liberal arts education, because I feel like, for me, writing music is about telling stories. And I feel like by getting a broader liberal arts education, like, I guess, I'm hoping that I'll be able to tell stories in a more interesting way, and have lived like a more, I guess, a fuller and like more diversified life, so that I have more perspectives to draw from. But I definitely like, just because I'm not studying music now, I'm still doing a lot of music projects, like this one with Ensemble for These Times, and also just like orchestrating musicals at Harvard, or like random other like music tech projects that have been very fun, and I seriously consider, like, getting a masters in, like composition or something after college too. So we'll see.

Nanette McGuinness  04:31
Yeah, no, that's interesting. I am sorry to hear about your piano teacher. No, I chose the same path. I wanted a liberal arts education also. And yeah, felt that that was the most rounding and broadening kind of education to get. Why neuroscience? What drew you to that? Yeah.

Sage Shurman  04:48
Yeah. Honestly, it kind of connects back to like, why I like music. I like thinking about like, what exactly makes people feel certain things. And I think when you think about it artistically, it's very like, I guess, abstract and like people you don't necessarily quantify, like, Oh, you did X, Y, Z thing, and that made this like, that made this neuron fire to this neuron. And like, you know, I mean, and I don't think art should necessarily be like, like, boxed into what like it materially it is, but I think that is an interesting, like, avenue of examining, like, a more biological perspective of, like, why people are feeling things and, like how art is affecting them. So I think that's like, that's why I'm drawn to it as for like, a career in neuroscience, like, I don't necessarily know where this is going, per se, but I just think it's interesting.

Nanette McGuinness  05:45
Yeah, in a sense, it's the flip side of the creative or artistic experience, as you say, the quantification. And there's been some fascinating brain research in the last few years, I don't know if you've hit it yet, about how the brain is perceiving things and reacting basically by making predictions. Yeah, yeah. So it's very you're in a cutting edge field, for sure. And you know, who knows? It might give you perspective in terms of when you write music and yeah, how to how to hit it in both directions. Yeah.

Sage Shurman  06:23
That's, that's the hope.

Nanette McGuinness  06:25
Yeah, right, exactly. Do you want to talk about any of the musicals you're doing? You said you're writing?...

Sage Shurman  06:30
Oh, sure. Yeah, I've, like, I got roped into, like, creating this music. I mean, at Harvard every year there's a freshman musical. So it's a musical, entirely created, produced, directed, by freshmen. And then, yeah, so I ended up orchestrating it, and then I actually also ended up being the pit, being the pianist in the pit. And it was like this 70s musical. It was kind of like 70s, Camp Rock vibe, Battle of the Bands.

Nanette McGuinness  07:04
Oh my gosh.

Sage Shurman  07:05
So the music was very that was fun for me, because it's just like, further diversify, like, the type of stuff I arrange for, like, this is like a rock band rather than, you know, class, like traditional classical music instrumentation.

Nanette McGuinness  07:05
mmhmm mmhmm... That sounds fun, actually. A lot of fun.

Sage Shurman  07:21
I'm actually doing I've been after, like, I feel like, once you get one gig, that was the gig to keep going. So I'm actually music directing another, like, brand new musical called Spurned next semester. And that one's about like, these rebel nuns, and it's like a western style, it'll be fun.

Nanette McGuinness  07:46
It sounds like quite the hit. So... and you're enjoying it.

Sage Shurman  07:49
Yeah.

Nanette McGuinness  07:50
That's cool. You've addressed this a little bit, but let's circle back to this. What does being a composer mean to you and what draws you to that?

Sage Shurman  07:59
Yeah. I mean, I think, like I said earlier, the thing about storytelling is really important to me. And I think, like, just... I think making things is very like, making things that can be appreciated on such, like, a broad scale by so many people like you don't need a certain skill set to be able to appreciate music like you could just live it and be with it. And that's like, that idea of like, accessibility is important to me too, and like, trying to expand, like, the scope of the classical music audience, because I think, like, what's so special about music is, like, it's a universal language, like, and I think that, like we, we can try to do a better job of, like, getting the audiences, like, beyond what they, I guess, what they currently are.

Nanette McGuinness  08:53
Yeah, when I was in grad school, as part of our kind of first year stuff. We read a book called How Musical is Man. It's a sexist title, right? Because how musical is the human being, whatever... But as I recall, and I may be misquoting the base position was that all human beings are musical and make music and perceive music, and that it is a common thread for all of us. And you know, here I am, X, many years from grad school, and I still remember that. So obviously it made its mark.

Sage Shurman  09:28
Yeah...

Nanette McGuinness  09:29
At Luna Composition Lab, who was your mentor?

Sage Shurman  09:32
So I had um Gity, Gity Razaz.

Nanette McGuinness  09:34
mhmm...

Sage Shurman  09:36

 Yeah. She was great.

Nanette McGuinness  09:37
Yeah...

Sage Shurman  09:39
Yeah...

Nanette McGuinness  09:39
Did you focus on anything with her or more just kind of...

Sage Shurman  09:43
So we like, I feel... I feel like it was almost, in some ways, a missed opportunity, like a missed opportunity for me, because I feel like Gity had, like she had, like, so much to offer. But as a freshman in high school, I feel like I didn't really know what to like she would say things, and in retrospect, I'm like, "That makes a lot of sense". But I remember like in the moment, just kind of not knowing exactly what she meant. And I try to ask her questions. If I could, I wish that Luna Lab was, like, my senior year of high school. I could have like, year of mentorship. I mean, like, everything works out the way it works out.

Nanette McGuinness  10:02
Right!

Sage Shurman  10:03
And, like, she was awesome, and I did learn a lot from her, but yeah...

Nanette McGuinness  10:26
You mean you wish you could have taken more advantage of what...

Sage Shurman  10:29
Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Nanette McGuinness  10:31
Yeah. But look at this, you know, flip side is she planted some seeds that you're still thinking about now, so maybe you weren't ready for them then, but they're there and they're percolating, and when you're ready, they spring up, and you're like, ah, that's what she meant.

Sage Shurman  10:46
Yeah...

Nanette McGuinness  10:46
So yeah, you're right. It is what it is. And one gets what one gets. But here you are what four or five years later, and the mentoring she gave you is still bearing fruit for you. So I think

Sage Shurman  10:59
Yeah...

Nanette McGuinness  10:59
That sounds pretty powerful to me.

Sage Shurman  11:01
Yeah, for sure.

Nanette McGuinness  11:01
No, I'm really impressed with the quality of the alums of the students whose works we encountered, and I'd already encountered your music even before then, and was impressed by it. And then when it came through for the call for scores, I was like, oh yeah, this is great. So you know, that's great.

Nanette McGuinness  11:20
[OUTRO MUSIC] Thank you for listening to For Good Measure and a special thank you to our guest, Sage Shurman 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 design 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]