Lunar Module with Madeline Clara Cheng - Part 2

For Good Measure, by Ensemble for These Times (E4TT)
Episode 134: Lunar Module with Madeline Clara Cheng - Part 2

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 Lunar Module, a mini-series with the E4TT/ Luna Composition Lab Call for Scores winners and commissioned composers. Today we are joined by Madeline Clara Cheng, who we spoke to in May 2024. If you enjoyed today’s conversation and want to know more, check out her music here: https://madelineclaracheng.wixsite.com/music.

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/16322750

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

• 0:47 You've kind of talked about what being a composer means to you and what draws you to it, but would you like to expand on that or talk more?
• 3:16 Given your dance background and how much you enjoyed that process, do you see maybe writing more pieces for dance or for dancers?
• 6:01 Do you think you're going to use any fixed media, like the actual bird calls?
• 7:11 What year of school are you in? Remind me.
• 7:24 So obviously, you know, you have your internship this summer, you have the sophomore in college, and you know past that, who knows, right? Or do you have any thoughts beyond, Yeah, who knows?

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 Lunar Module episode, we continue talking to E4TT Luna Composition Lab call for scores winner and commissioned composer [INTRO MUSIC ENDS] Madeline Clara Cheng, who we spoke to in May 2024.

Nanette McGuinness  00:29
You've kind of talked about what being a composer means to you and what draws you to it, but would you like to expand on that or talk more?

Madeline Clara Cheng  00:43
Yes, of course. So I feel like as a composer, you're really in a unique position where it's primed for creativity and collaboration. You get a really special look into the behind the scenes of it all. It's this cool intersection where you get to work with performers inherently like you, you know, you have to be workshopping your piece, you have to be, you know, working with them, especially on new collaborations and new commissions, where you want to make sure it's something that they they enjoy playing as well.

Nanette McGuinness  00:43
[laughs] Yes, thank you.

Madeline Clara Cheng  00:46
Yes, exactly. [laughs] You get to work with arts administrators, with venue managers, conductors, ensemble managers, everyone who's part of like getting to make this happen, and you get to work, of course, with so many other creatives who are part of the bigger picture, especially in I'm in a lot of the theater spaces as well, especially at my school, I'm really into a lot of interdisciplinary work. So it, it happens to be that you have to work with, you know, people who do like the scenic design, people who stage manage. It's it kind of all plays together in this bigger artistic picture, especially when you're doing a lot of a lot of the interdisciplinary work. Or I got to work with with some dancers this year, and it wasn't what I first expected, which was more you write a piece and they choreograph to it, we were both basically writing the piece together. Even though they didn't have a ton of musical background, they had a lot of creative input into the music. And in turn, when they got to choreograph, I got to watch them be like, Oh, but I feel like, you know, this? Like, I really like to see this part of the music hit a little bit more. So it was a truly collaborative process. Same deal when I got to work with with an animator, with a film director for the first time, scoring their piece, and she had so much musical intuition. And it's so fascinating to see how different artists approach music and how they listen to it, because they all describe it in such different ways, and it's fun. They use a lot of metaphors, a lot of things that are more familiar to them, but it's very exciting to create that work. And you know when, especially when creating music and creating pieces meant for live performers, it's you're just creating this living, breathing piece. And I think that writing music or creating any art really is such a meaningful way to make impactful work that you know lives on long after you're gone.

Nanette McGuinness  03:02
That's beautifully put. Given your dance background and how much you enjoyed that process, do you see maybe writing more pieces for dance or for dancers?

Madeline Clara Cheng  03:12
I would really love to. The lovely dancers that I got to work with this this semester, they were, they're immediately like, Okay, we gotta, we gotta do this again, this is so much fun, and we're thinking of ways where we can make the piece that we spent all semester on, you know, continue to live on, and seeing what more we can do with with our creative minds. I've been looking into other opportunities for how I can, I can get involved with other, you know, cross art collaboration spaces. And there's a few really cool opportunities at at my university that I'm really excited to potentially be a part of in the future. So I don't want to say that I am certainly doing that because I don't know for sure if you know the application was a success or not, but fingers crossed, I'm I'm so excited that either way, I'll make sure to make things happen. I'm actually, this one I can say I'm doing and this one means a lot to me, because my sister is, like, a birder, or someone who is, like, really, really interested in birds and knows a lot about them. She goes, like, on, like, walks a lot, where she can, like, point out every single bird. We have this thing where I will find a random bird, just like on the street, and I'll send her like a picture of it, and within a minute, she'll tell me which bird it is to, you know, to prove that she knows. So she's very passionate about ornithology and about conservation of the environment. And there's, there's a student at my school right now who is also into that space, and she's also in the music school. So for her capstone project, she wants to do this really cool interdisciplinary collaboration, which is between like music and visual artists and dancers and performers. So she asked if I wanted to be a part of that as a composer, and specifically this would be for, like, endangered North American birds. So I get to pick a bird, and I get to, like, write a piece based off of its bird song and its story, and, you know, maybe the environment that it lives in. So I'm really excited to get into that. I'll be also working on that this summer, along with the commission for your ensemble. But that one will be a, like, professionally recorded thing with with all the dancers and artists who are working on that project. And that one will be, I believe, like, screened in several different like schools in the area to teach them about environmental conservation. So I'm really excited about that.

Nanette McGuinness  05:43
That's nice. There's some birders in my in-laws family, so I know that passion. Now, do you think you're going to use any fixed media, like the actual bird calls?

Madeline Clara Cheng  05:53
I'm thinking of that, at first I was thinking of, you know, like, like famous composers like Messiaen and like, to incorporate the very bird like sounds with their performers. I certainly think that would be like almost, almost a given to to incorporate. But I think it'd be very cool to have the authentic sound of what it's like as well. And, you know, having that sort of interplay and interaction between the two.

Nanette McGuinness  06:17
Yes, Stephanie Neumann, my co-producer who is also a composer, does a lot of work with fixed media, and when she wrote a piece for us a couple of years ago, a lovely piece, it involved fixed media. So that can be very interesting.

Madeline Clara Cheng  06:30
For sure.

Nanette McGuinness  06:31
Going back to your interest in dance and working with dancers, we have a piece coming up in 2025 that might be of interest to you, by Han Lash. Han is, yeah, composer, harpist and dancer, and the piece will have Han dancing and writing the music, so...

Madeline Clara Cheng  06:50
Wow, that's, that's so awesome.

Nanette McGuinness  06:52
Yeah, yeah. We're really excited. That's going to be April of 2025, so you can keep an eye out for that.

Madeline Clara Cheng  06:58
Sure.

Nanette McGuinness  06:58
Um, yeah, what year of school are you in? Remind me.

Madeline Clara Cheng  07:02
I just finished my sophomore year.

Nanette McGuinness  07:04
Got it, got it. And that's USC?

Madeline Clara Cheng  07:08
Yes.

Nanette McGuinness  07:09
Oh, okay, great. Very nice, yeah. So obviously, you know, you have your internship this summer, you have the sophomore in college, and you know past that, who knows, right? Or do you have any thoughts beyond, Yeah, who knows?

Madeline Clara Cheng  07:25
I mean, I have, I have, you know, so much, so much ahead of me. And I, I think I have, like, a bit of an issue when it comes to, like, having a future orientation, where I think, like, I almost think so, like, a little too far ahead in the future, and I just worry about all these details that I can't control, and everyone I say that to tells me to stop doing that. And I know it's not, I know it's not good for me, but, you know, I have to remember that I don't think anyone really knows exactly what they're doing. So it's, it's, it's okay to like, you know, take, take a second and um, and breathe and remember that I'm not, you know, behind in the game or anything like that.

Nanette McGuinness  08:09
You're not behind in the game. And I will say that for most creative people who are goal oriented, the big goal is clear. The immediate where we are is clear, the messy middle, like in a novel, those details and how to get from A to Q, totally messy. So you're not behind. So not only are you not behind the, I think you're in great shape and this is very normal. So I mean, just from my perspective.

Nanette McGuinness  08:38
[OUTRO MUSIC] Thank you for listening to For Good Measure and a special thank you to our guest, Madeline Clara Cheng, 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 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].