Tag: Music

San Francisco’s ‘KDFC Day’ honors USC’s Bay Area radio station

Published September 1, 2023

Arts

San Francisco’s ‘KDFC Day’ honors USC’s Bay Area radio station

The station — part of the USC-operated network that’s the most-listened-to group of classical music stations in the country — is celebrating its 75th anniversary.

September 01, 2023

USC staff

San Francisco Mayor London Breed has declared Friday, Sept. 1, as “KDFC Day” in honor of the storied USC-owned radio station.

Celebrating its 75th anniversary, KDFC is part of USC’s Classical California radio network, the most-listened-to network of classical music radio stations in America. The network serves more than 800,000 listeners each week.

Since 1948, KDFC — one of the first FM stations in San Francisco — has been at the center of the Bay Area arts ecosystem, amplifying the efforts of arts partners such as the San Francisco Symphony and San Francisco Opera through concerts and programming.

Community-focused programming such as Kids Discovery Day and innovative live concerts including the SKY Concerts at The Bowes Center for the Performing Arts are just some examples of how KDFC has become a part of the cultural fabric of the region.

The station reaches over 250,000 listeners each week over the radio, and over 160,000 through digital devices making it one of the most popular classical stations in the United States.

About KDFC and Classical California

KDFC, based in downtown San Francisco, serves the Bay Area and other communities in Northern California and is broadcast on 90.3 FM in San Francisco, 104.9 FM in San Jose, 89.9 FM in Napa Wine Country, 103.9 FM in Monterey and 92.5 FM in Ukiah.

Sister station KUSC, located in downtown Los Angeles, serves communities throughout Southern California and is broadcast on 91.5 FM in Los Angeles and Orange County, 88.5 FM in Palm Springs, 91.1 FM in Thousand Oaks, 93.7 FM in Santa Barbara and 99.7 FM San Luis Obispo.

Listeners can also hear these stations streaming at kusc.org, kdfc.com and on their smartphone apps. Classical California also offers a variety of digital content and community events.

Gaming’s Unsung Heroes

Published August 3, 2023

Lauren Kott knows how a good soundtrack can shape a video game. Whether she’s diving through a vast ocean world, guarding a forest against dark spirits or preventing parasitic aliens from taking over the universe, the right music can make or break the experience.

So, when she entered her master’s program in screen scoring at the USC Thornton School of Music, she knew she wanted to do one thing: compose music for video games.

The Seattle native picked the right school and field at the perfect time. In 2020, the video game industry was valued at $159.3 billion and has only grown since — current estimates value it at around $350 billion. (By comparison, in 2020, the film industry was valued at about $19 billion.)

People play video games to be somewhere else or to feel awesome. When you’re Master Chief in Halo, you want to feel like Master Chief. In order to do that, you need an amazing soundtrack.

Lauren Kott

“People play video games to be somewhere else or to feel awesome,” Kott says. “When you’re Master Chief in Halo, you want to feel like Master Chief. In order to do that, you need an amazing soundtrack. That feeling people get when they play the game is heavily dependent on the vibe the music sets.”

The industry’s cultural capital is also rising: The 2023 Grammy Awards announced a new category for Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media, recognizing the industry’s “significant cultural impact.” Of the five nominees, two are graduates of USC Thornton’s screen scoring program, one of the few programs in the nation that lets students specialize in creating music for video games and learn from active composers in the industry.

“It’s such a small program; the instructors are so involved and invested in all of us,” Kott says.

“I came in and said I wanted to focus on video games, and because of the smaller program [size], we can focus on these individualized goals.”

Early days of video game scoring

Though more students are now entering USC’s screen scoring program — started in the mid-1980s — with the sole purpose of scoring video games, USC Thornton Professor of Practice Jeanine Cowen admits that this level of interest in the field didn’t always exist. When Cowen started teaching at the Berklee College of Music in Boston in 2004, she says it was difficult to convince students that legitimate opportunities existed in the video game industry.

“The uninformed public perception was that games are all about violence, moral decay and teenage boys,” Cowen, who also chairs the screen scoring program, says with a laugh. “But we learned that’s not necessarily the case.”

By 2007, Cowen had written her first course focusing on game audio. What started as a graduate certificate at USC eventually became a master’s degree. Around that same time, there was a significant shift in public perception of video games, which Cowen credits to the release of the Nintendo Wii. The family-friendly system targeted the more casual gamer, making it one of the highest-selling game systems of all time.

“It had huge sales to households that had no gaming console or system previously, so it was selling to the families that saw it as a family entertainment,” Cowen says. “And that kind of changed the game for the entire industry.”

Cowen began her career in the video game industry in the early ’90s, well before gaming had made its way into the mainstream. While Cowen was working for a game developer in quality assurance, one of the chief engineers approached her about her musical background. At that time, her department did not handle musical compositions, only the actual software and the occasional “bleeps and bloops” of the game.

“They were just like, ‘Hey Jeanine, you know how to do this, so you do it,’ and that was where I started,” Cowen says.

“It was very basic, and I had absolutely no idea what the heck I was doing, but it opened my eyes and made me go, ‘Oh, this is different than just writing music.'”

Learning from the best

Kott met Cowen as an undergraduate at the Berklee College of Music, where she asked Cowen to be a mentor. After Kott’s graduation in 2022, the pair stayed in touch.

“Jeanine will probably never flex on herself, but she is so technically proficient,” Kott says. “She can code; she can compose game audio; she is the gal that does it all.”

USC is also where Kott met Garry Schyman. An adjunct instructor at USC Thornton, Schyman has more than four decades of screen-scoring experience, with 30 years in the video game industry. Though he started in the film and television industries — scoring episodes of Magnum, P.I. and The A-Team — Schyman says that some of his favorite projects have been with video games.

“The most interesting music I’ve ever been asked to write is for games, by far — nothing in film or television can come close,” he says.

Schyman, a 1978 USC Thornton graduate, got his start in video games in 1993. A friend had approached him about scoring a mystery game for Macintosh and Microsoft Disk Operating System (DOS) called Voyeur.

“I was not a gamer at all, but it was just really a cool opportunity,” Schyman says. “I had one of those experiences where I was like, ‘Oh, this is going to be big.'”

Since then, he has scored more than 20 games, including Destroy All Humans!, Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor and the BioShock series, the latter of which won him multiple awards.

“I’d like to think I’ve gotten better over the years,” Schyman says. “I know how to do it, at least: I just try to look at what I’m scoring and find the right music for it.”

Creating music for a player vs. a viewer

Two of the most significant differences between scoring a film or television series and scoring a video game are length and looping. A two-hour film will not need as much music as a game with 12 hours of gameplay. And a lot of that is done through a process known as looping, where a piece of music repeats itself.

“This makes a lot of sense when you think about how in a game the music needs to be interactive to what the player is doing: Two players might take a very different amount of time to get from point A to point B,” Schyman says.

That interactivity — something that is not present in scoring to picture — combined with great storytelling, beautiful visuals and a great score are what Schyman says make for a truly immersive experience.

“I remember when BioShock came out, there was a story in The New York Times essentially asking: Are video games art? And they used BioShock as the main example [to say yes],” “I was very proud that perhaps my little contribution added a tiny bit to that conversation.”

The future of sound and gaming

When asked about the new Grammy Awards category, Cowen, Kott and Schyman had the same response: It’s about time.

For the longest time, there was that misconception that video game music was just ‘bleeps and bloops,’ but there is a lot of great music created for games.

Jeanine Cowen

“For the longest time, there was that misconception that video game music was just ‘bleeps and bloops,’ but there is a lot of great music created for games,” Cowen says.

But for people like Kott, the fact that video game compositions and games in general still manage to fly under the radar is part of the appeal. Rather than a huge red carpet or a grand premiere covered extensively in the media, video games are simply released and played at home.

Platforms like Twitch, Discord and even YouTube have helped shine more of a light on the industry, but Kott says that gaming still has this underground feel to it that she enjoys. Even her one-year master’s program was unknown to many USC students.

“Our cohort was basically 20 people in one room, and we all had projects off campus on the weekends, so we were kind of our own little family,” Kott says. “I liked that small community feel.”

For Cowen and Schyman, after years of video game scoring being considered a “niche” field, they’re happy that students are seeing the opportunities that are available to them in the industry.

“It’s really satisfying to see the success of our former students,” Schyman says. “I can confidently say our program at USC is the best in the world.”

The post Gaming’s Unsung Heroes appeared first on USC News.

Gaming’s Unsung Heroes

Published August 3, 2023

Arts

Gaming’s Unsung Heroes

The USC Thornton School of Music has embraced and contributed to the growing industry of video game scoring.

August 03, 2023

Grayson Schmidt

Lauren Kott knows how a good soundtrack can shape a video game. Whether she’s diving through a vast ocean world, guarding a forest against dark spirits or preventing parasitic aliens from taking over the universe, the right music can make or break the experience.

So, when she entered her master’s program in screen scoring at the USC Thornton School of Music, she knew she wanted to do one thing: compose music for video games.

The Seattle native picked the right school and field at the perfect time. In 2020, the video game industry was valued at $159.3 billion and has only grown since — current estimates value it at around $350 billion. (By comparison, in 2020, the film industry was valued at about $19 billion.)

People play video games to be somewhere else or to feel awesome. When you’re Master Chief in Halo, you want to feel like Master Chief. In order to do that, you need an amazing soundtrack.

Lauren Kott

“People play video games to be somewhere else or to feel awesome,” Kott says. “When you’re Master Chief in Halo, you want to feel like Master Chief. In order to do that, you need an amazing soundtrack. That feeling people get when they play the game is heavily dependent on the vibe the music sets.”

The industry’s cultural capital is also rising: The 2023 Grammy Awards announced a new category for Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media, recognizing the industry’s “significant cultural impact.” Of the five nominees, two are graduates of USC Thornton’s screen scoring program, one of the few programs in the nation that lets students specialize in creating music for video games and learn from active composers in the industry.

“It’s such a small program; the instructors are so involved and invested in all of us,” Kott says.

“I came in and said I wanted to focus on video games, and because of the smaller program [size], we can focus on these individualized goals.”

Early days of video game scoring

Though more students are now entering USC’s screen scoring program — started in the mid-1980s — with the sole purpose of scoring video games, USC Thornton Professor of Practice Jeanine Cowen admits that this level of interest in the field didn’t always exist. When Cowen started teaching at the Berklee College of Music in Boston in 2004, she says it was difficult to convince students that legitimate opportunities existed in the video game industry.

“The uninformed public perception was that games are all about violence, moral decay and teenage boys,” Cowen, who also chairs the screen scoring program, says with a laugh. “But we learned that’s not necessarily the case.”

By 2007, Cowen had written her first course focusing on game audio. What started as a graduate certificate at USC eventually became a master’s degree. Around that same time, there was a significant shift in public perception of video games, which Cowen credits to the release of the Nintendo Wii. The family-friendly system targeted the more casual gamer, making it one of the highest-selling game systems of all time.

“It had huge sales to households that had no gaming console or system previously, so it was selling to the families that saw it as a family entertainment,” Cowen says. “And that kind of changed the game for the entire industry.”

Cowen began her career in the video game industry in the early ’90s, well before gaming had made its way into the mainstream. While Cowen was working for a game developer in quality assurance, one of the chief engineers approached her about her musical background. At that time, her department did not handle musical compositions, only the actual software and the occasional “bleeps and bloops” of the game.

“They were just like, ‘Hey Jeanine, you know how to do this, so you do it,’ and that was where I started,” Cowen says.

“It was very basic, and I had absolutely no idea what the heck I was doing, but it opened my eyes and made me go, ‘Oh, this is different than just writing music.’”

Learning from the best

Kott met Cowen as an undergraduate at the Berklee College of Music, where she asked Cowen to be a mentor. After Kott’s graduation in 2022, the pair stayed in touch.

“Jeanine will probably never flex on herself, but she is so technically proficient,” Kott says. “She can code; she can compose game audio; she is the gal that does it all.”

A man is conducting an orchestra on a sound stage.
Garry Schyman (center, in black) conducts his score for the game Torn at Fox Newman Scoring Stage in Los Angeles. (Photo/Courtesy Garry Schyman)

USC is also where Kott met Garry Schyman. An adjunct instructor at USC Thornton, Schyman has more than four decades of screen-scoring experience, with 30 years in the video game industry. Though he started in the film and television industries — scoring episodes of Magnum, P.I. and The A-Team — Schyman says that some of his favorite projects have been with video games.

“The most interesting music I’ve ever been asked to write is for games, by far — nothing in film or television can come close,” he says.

Schyman, a 1978 USC Thornton graduate, got his start in video games in 1993. A friend had approached him about scoring a mystery game for Macintosh and Microsoft Disk Operating System (DOS) called Voyeur.

“I was not a gamer at all, but it was just really a cool opportunity,” Schyman says. “I had one of those experiences where I was like, ‘Oh, this is going to be big.’”

Since then, he has scored more than 20 games, including Destroy All Humans!, Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor and the BioShock series, the latter of which won him multiple awards.

“I’d like to think I’ve gotten better over the years,” Schyman says. “I know how to do it, at least: I just try to look at what I’m scoring and find the right music for it.”

Creating music for a player vs. a viewer

Two of the most significant differences between scoring a film or television series and scoring a video game are length and looping. A two-hour film will not need as much music as a game with 12 hours of gameplay. And a lot of that is done through a process known as looping, where a piece of music repeats itself.

“This makes a lot of sense when you think about how in a game the music needs to be interactive to what the player is doing: Two players might take a very different amount of time to get from point A to point B,” Schyman says.

That interactivity — something that is not present in scoring to picture — combined with great storytelling, beautiful visuals and a great score are what Schyman says make for a truly immersive experience.

“I remember when BioShock came out, there was a story in The New York Times essentially asking: Are video games art? And they used BioShock as the main example [to say yes],” “I was very proud that perhaps my little contribution added a tiny bit to that conversation.”

The future of sound and gaming

When asked about the new Grammy Awards category, Cowen, Kott and Schyman had the same response: It’s about time.

For the longest time, there was that misconception that video game music was just ‘bleeps and bloops,’ but there is a lot of great music created for games.

Jeanine Cowen

“For the longest time, there was that misconception that video game music was just ‘bleeps and bloops,’ but there is a lot of great music created for games,” Cowen says.

But for people like Kott, the fact that video game compositions and games in general still manage to fly under the radar is part of the appeal. Rather than a huge red carpet or a grand premiere covered extensively in the media, video games are simply released and played at home.

Platforms like Twitch, Discord and even YouTube have helped shine more of a light on the industry, but Kott says that gaming still has this underground feel to it that she enjoys. Even her one-year master’s program was unknown to many USC students.

“Our cohort was basically 20 people in one room, and we all had projects off campus on the weekends, so we were kind of our own little family,” Kott says. “I liked that small community feel.”

For Cowen and Schyman, after years of video game scoring being considered a “niche” field, they’re happy that students are seeing the opportunities that are available to them in the industry.

“It’s really satisfying to see the success of our former students,” Schyman says. “I can confidently say our program at USC is the best in the world.”

The post Gaming’s Unsung Heroes appeared first on USC Today.

Trojan’s new challenge: Get the Pacific Northwest hooked on classical music’s unheard voices

Published July 7, 2023

8427

https://music.usc.edu/spotlights/michelle-maestas-simonsen-alumni-spotlight/
Story Headline and Deck – USC News *
Lifting Up Unheard Voices

Radio host and Thornton alum Michelle Maestas Simonsen takes on new role as program director at Seattle’s Classical KING.
Body Copy *
Michelle Maestas Simonsen (BM ’06, MCM ’12) wants more people to know about Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, and Nadia Boulanger. She wants listeners to have the chance to hear new music by Julie Giroux and Takashi Yoshimatsu.

As radio host at Classical KING FM 98.1, Seattle’s classical music station, she has introduced countless audiences to talented women composers and composers of color, both old and new. And in her 15-year career at USC Thornton as director of production and operations, she has overseen countless rehearsals and performances that have brought classical music forward, celebrating its history while embracing its future.
Simonsen will continue to prioritize unheard voices as she takes on a new role at Classical KING. In June, she starts a new position as program director at the listener-supported station for classical music and the arts in Seattle, Bellevue, and the Puget Sound Region.

“Classical music is a universal language, and I believe that it should be accessible to everyone, regardless of their background or identity,” said Simonsen, who earned her bachelor’s degree in saxophone performance at the USC Thornton School of Music and a Master of Communication Management – Broadcast & Entertainment from the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

“By emphasizing diversity and inclusion in our programming, we can help to make Classical KING a more welcoming and inclusive space for all listeners. Classical KING has already done some fantastic work in promoting diversity and amplifying the voices of women composers and composers of color, and I’m excited to continue that work in my new role as program director.”

Classical KING recently partnered with other classical radio stations in various markets and the League of American Orchestras to conduct research to identify who is listening to classical music and what barriers may be preventing others from engaging with the genre.

“By making data-driven decisions based on this research,” she said, “we can work to reach new audiences and engage with more listeners from diverse backgrounds.”
That mission is personally important to Simonsen, whose mother is Chinese and father is (Spanish) Basque. She aims to be a role model, especially for women and girls of color.
“We all play a role in lifting each other up and moving forward.”
Simonsen’s passion for music comes through in her storytelling about the composers she programs.

“Telling their stories and making them come alive to listeners is something I am always striving to do.”

Bologne, for example, is a fascinating historical figure most people have never heard of. Born to a French nobleman and an enslaved African woman in then-French colony Guadalupe, he was educated in Paris and became an expert fencer, virtuoso violinist and the first conductor of African (Senegal) descent in Europe.

“He was one of Mozart’s contemporaries, and he was even more famous in Paris. During the French Revolution, he was a colonel of a legion entirely made up of ‘citizens of color,'” she said. “How can you not tell his story? He was certainly fascinating. I’m glad someone has decided to take his interesting life story and make a film.”

On-Air Personality

A native of Wasilla, Alaska, Simonsen first got a taste for broadcast at a young age when she recorded ads for Q99.7 FM in Wasilla and hosted an evening hour with other students from her class. As a USC Thornton undergraduate, she was a student intern at KUSC. Then, in 2009, she worked with Alan Chapman and Gail Eichenthal — who both became mentors and inspirations — on live KUSC broadcasts for various special University programs and for the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.

“I realized how much I loved working with broadcast and live events. I loved getting to know the hosts, how all of the technology worked, and how running the show (my part) worked together.”

It was only later that she thought about pursuing a career in radio.

“During the pandemic I thought about how I could see my future and what my dream would be when I was older. I realized I wanted to do what Alan Chapman was doing. I wanted to do pre-concert lectures, talk about what was great and wonderful about the music introduced on the radio and bring it alive for listeners.”
She reached out to Chapman and Brenda Barnes, the former president of KUSC, for advice and feedback.

“I spent all my free time on evenings and weekends working on the storytelling element, recording and recording and recording again. I sent them both samples and received clear, very no-nonsense, feedback about what to improve. I would go back and work on these things again and again,” she said. “Without their advice and encouragement, I wouldn’t be starting my dream job this summer.”

“I’ve worked alongside Michelle many times in her role overseeing operations at Bovard Auditorium,” Chapman said. “She made the production of live concert broadcasts a breeze. Her organizational skills and way with people, combined with her multidimensional musical background, insure her success at KING.”

Eichenthal has also been a champion for her over the years, she said, and has called on her for special events for KUSC and the Los Angeles community.

“I’ve learned so much from her and also her ability to carefully consider and dissect the important story whatever the case,” she said. “She certainly was an inspiration for pursuing a new career.”

“Michelle has a unique ability to instill confidence and trust,” Eichenthal wrote. “No matter how high-pressured the situation, she puts her colleagues at ease. I can’t think of another person I’ve worked with who has such wide-ranging skills: the administrative know-how to manage a large production, the musical knowledge to understand the nuances of performance, the uncanny ability to trouble-shoot the smallest details, and the people skills to work with everyone from her crew to literal rock stars.”

Part of an Inspiring Community

Simonsen’s passion for classical music developed early.

“One of my favorite compositions from Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty was already ingrained in my memory by the time I was five years old,” she said. “I also vividly recall the awe-inspiring experience of hearing the San Francisco Symphony perform Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf as a child, even though I couldn’t see over the seat. These magical moments ignited a spark in me, compelling me to learn how to participate in creating such beautiful music.”

Her maternal grandmother, a painter and pianist, instilled in her the importance of music education. She attended Interlochen Arts Camp and later the Interlochen Arts Academy for high school before starting at USC Thornton.

“USC Thornton was an incredible experience for me because it allowed me to explore different aspects of the college experience beyond pure performance,” Simonsen said. “I studied saxophone performance, but I also had the opportunity to play with jazz ensembles and take lessons from many different teachers, including composition and jazz. Additionally, I was able to study entrepreneurship with the Marshall School of Business, which ultimately inspired me to start my own contracting company with my husband, a fellow Thornton alum.”

Like many Thornton alumni and professional musicians, Simonsen has assembled a multi-faceted career. She has played saxophone all over Southern California with many bands including two of her own, the Red Light Brass Band and West Coast Edition. With the Red Light Brass Band she has recorded three albums. She’s a voiceover artist and podcaster. Additionally, she and her husband, Dr. Walter Simonsen, who earned his master’s degree and doctorate in jazz studies trumpet at USC Thornton, handle full-service consulting and live ensemble booking for events.

And on top of all that has been her full-time job with USC Thornton for the past 15-plus years, in various roles including treasurer of the Staff Council, chief emergency officer and, finally, director of production and operations. She said the job found her.

“I had been working for the Music Department and Guest Talent at Disney, while also playing in the Los Angeles Lakers Band, when a serendipitous conversation during a Lakers game led me to the opportunity at USC Thornton. The drummer asked if I would be interested in producing concerts for USC, and I applied for the job. I was fortunate enough to have [Associate Dean for Operations] Jeff de Caen, one of my greatest mentors, take a chance on me.”

While working full-time, she completed her Master of Communication Management and put her learning to practical use. She proposed some changes to the Thornton staff’s reporting structure and was promoted to director of operations and production.

Over the years, she worked on a number of major events, including producing three Piatigorsky International Cello Festivals and executive producing special events and concerts for Thornton, including live KUSC and Met Opera broadcasts. In addition, she was involved in University service, serving on the boards of the Thornton Alumni Association and various USC alumnae organizations working to raise money for scholarships. For her outstanding service, she was honored with the Widney Alumni Award in 2013.

While producing concerts featuring prominent artists, from Steve Miller and the Beach Boys to Yo-Yo Ma and Elton John, has been an incredible opportunity, she said, collaborating with her University colleagues and the faculty and students at USC Thornton has been a source of “real joy and love.”

“They are the heart of the Thornton community, and I am continually amazed by the incredible talent and dedication of everyone involved. Often, the young artists I work with turn out to be rising stars in the industry, and it’s incredibly rewarding to help them achieve their goals. Giving back to the school that gave me my start has been my greatest joy, and I feel privileged to be a part of this dynamic and inspiring community.”

“Thornton and its faculty and staff have been a centerpiece in my life story,” Simonsen said, “and I am grateful for the relationships and experiences I gained there.”

The post Trojan’s new challenge: Get the Pacific Northwest hooked on classical music’s unheard voices appeared first on USC News.

Musical numbers: The deep relationship between music and math

Published June 5, 2023

8333

https://dornsife.usc.edu/news/stories/3842/relationship-between-music-and-math/
Story Headline and Deck – USC News *
Musical numbers: the deep relationship between music and math

From Coltrane’s Circle of Tones to the shared skills required for both, discover how math and music intertwine in creative expression.
Body Copy *
When famed jazz trumpeter John Coltrane wanted to illustrate his understanding of music, he turned to mathematics.

Coltrane took the Circle of Fifths, a geometric diagram that sketches out the spatial connections between music notes and expanded it with his own ideas around tonal relationships. His drawing, dubbed Coltrane’s Circle of Tones, has inspired whole essays on “musical geometry.”

Mathematics and music may seem like disparate worlds, but they share a profound, symbiotic relationship that stretches back centuries. This connection isn’t a coincidence. Math is woven into the very essence of the art form, from the way we organize musical scales to the physics that dictates an instrument’s sound. Learning one may even enhance one’s ability to master the other.

The relationship between music and math flow both ways. Prominent Princeton University mathematician Manjul Barghava, a renowned tabla drum player and a poet, said in a Quanta Magazine story, “All kinds of creative thoughts come together when I think about all three.”

This synergy upends the stereotype that mathematicians are exclusively left-brained scholars, disinterested or incapable of soulful expression.

“Mathematicians would actually object to the idea that math isn’t interested in beauty,” says Cymra Haskell, professor (teaching) of mathematics at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, who plays the fiddle. “When I write down a proof of a result in mathematics, it feels like a puzzle coming together. There can be an intense pleasure in that, similar to the pleasure I feel when I listen to a beautiful piece of music or gaze at a beautiful painting or go for a walk in the mountains, on the beach or in a wood.”

Musical numbers

Mathematics professor Ken Alexander (wearing red tie) plays flute with the Pacific Symphony Orchestra. (Photo: Courtesy of Pacific Symphony Orchestra.)

Western music today is based around sets of 12 notes that rise in pitch, called octaves. The tuning of each note isn’t arbitrary; it’s based on math. Each note within an octave has a frequency about 5.95% higher than the previous one. As a result, each note has twice the frequency of the same note an octave lower. Hence, the measured rise as you play through an octave.

Math is also represented, whimsically, in other areas of classical music. Johann Sebastian Bach’s compositions, for instance, are peppered with the numbers 14 and 41. It’s a reference to numerology, which assigns letters of the alphabet individual numbers; that is, A=1, B=2, C=3 and so forth. Adding the numeric values of the letters in Bach’s name — B+A+C+H or 2+1+3+8 — equals 14. And 14 backwards is 41.

Just as musicians benefit from math, mathematicians benefit from music. Ken Alexander, professor of mathematics at USC Dornsife, was a flutist with Orchestra Nova LA (formely known as the Los Angeles Doctors Symphony Orchestra) for 30 years. He says there’s a strong connection between the skills needed to play an instrument and those essential to solving math problems.

“What’s written on a page of music is just a sequence of pitches and how long you hold each pitch. You have to see that, underneath, there are themes, flows and a cadence in the music. There are all kinds of patterns that you have to identify,” he says.

Identifying patterns is also key to mathematical discovery. “In math, a lot of great insights and breakthroughs come about when people see how different parts of mathematics are actually related to each other. Pattern recognition is a very central aspect,” he says.

Research supports Alexander’s assertion. Assal Habibi, an associate professor (research) of psychology, studies how music training affects cognitive outcomes for children through the Brain and Music Lab she heads at USC Dornsife’s Brain and Creativity Institute. She has found that music training enhances executive functions like working memory, which can, in turn, improve mathematical abilities.

“Working memory is about keeping information in your mind and manipulating that information, like remembering a phone number and being able to repeat it backwards,” she explains. Without a robust memory to retain complex information, the pattern recognition Alexander and other mathematicians prize isn’t so feasible.

Strength in numbers

Studying mathematics may seem like a solitary pursuit, but only so much can be done alone, says Alexander. The collaboration between mathematicians to solve a problem mirrors the collaboration between musicians in a band or orchestra. “You work very intensely, mentally, on your own, and then you come together to try to make something out of what you accomplished individually,” he says.

Musical collaborations aren’t unusual for faculty in the USC Dornsife mathematics department. Haskell says she and a colleague recently played the fiddle together. And Alexander often plays with pianist David Kempe, a computer scientist with the USC Viterbi School of Engineering.

Habibi’s research has also demonstrated that music training can enhance social skills, making it an invaluable tool for collaboration.

The children in her study are enrolled in the LA Phil’s Youth Orchestra Los Angeles program. This means they aren’t just learning an instrument on their own. “You really have to pay attention to others and adjust your playing,” she says. Her research found that social skills are another executive ability amplified by music training.

Can adults reap the cognitive benefits of learning music (and perhaps boost their math skills)? Habibi says yes, although the improvements aren’t as pronounced as they are in children.

Her research found that adults with no prior music training, when enrolled in a choir, boosted their speech perception and attention skills, she says.

Another study found that older adults with a limited background in music improved their memory after four months of lessons on the keyboard harmonica.

Perhaps being “math-brained” could have a little something to do with the sound of music.

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Musicians as varied in sound as John Coltrane and Johann Sebastian Bach have cited mathematics as inspiration.
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With operatic flourish, activist Dolores Huerta and younger cousin to receive USC doctorates on same day

Published May 11, 2023

When June 5, 1968, began, Robert Kennedy seemed to be on track to be elected president in November.

Minutes past midnight, Kennedy addressed his supporters from the lectern of the Ambassador Hotel, 4 miles from USC. Next to Kennedy was his friend, ally and farmworker activist Dolores Huerta. She was wearing a red frock, and her face seemed filled with hope.

Then, Kennedy left the stage.

So ends the first act of Dolores, a new opera based on Huerta’s life that was composed by her cousin Nicolas Lell Benavides, a USC lecturer who will receive his doctorate this week from the USC Thornton School of Music.

“In that moment, the Chicano civil rights movement, the United Farm Workers, they were in a crisis,” Benavides said. “They had spent their resources to help get him elected, and now he’s not there for them. Dolores said: ‘What matters is our dream, our perseverance. We go on. There is no one human who represents this movement, or the loss of hope.'”

Although the two were born years apart, their lives will intersect at USC’s commencement on Friday as Huerta is awarded a USC honorary degree and Benavides receives his Doctor of Musical Arts in composition.

“It seems like just yesterday he graduated from Santa Clara University,” Huerta said. “And now he’s getting his doctorate.”

Decades apart but close in heart

Benavides, 36, is more than 50 years younger than his cousin. She’s known for leading the 1960s grape boycott that led to a landmark labor contract, but her work as a civil rights leader never stopped.

“Growing up, she was always the most patient listener,” Benavides said. “She still is, and that’s what makes her a great leader. I know it sounds like propaganda at some point, but it’s true.”

Benavides was not fully aware of Dolores Huerta’s status as a civil rights leader until 2007, when he was studying at Santa Clara University earning a bachelor’s degree in music with a minor in Spanish.

“It was a course called ‘Intro to Chicano Studies,’ and we came to a point where we were to study Dolores. I was like, ‘Oh, that’s my cousin.’ Then, we had this midterm essay project and I asked, ‘Do you mind if I call her and interview her?’ I got a good grade on that paper because nobody could refute anything I wrote. I went to the source,” he said.

“That was one of the first times I realized what a big deal she is. That’s a testament to her humility.”

Dolores: It’s not just about opera

Raised, as were many of his family members, in New Mexico, Benavides grew up around music of many kinds — except classical.

“I did rancheras, folk music, jazz, a lot of popular sounds, and it wasn’t until I graduated high school that I first heard an orchestra,” he said. “I’m one of those weirdos who heard an orchestra play when I was 18 and thought, ‘That — that’s what I want!'”

“He gets his musical genius from his mother,” Huerta said. “His mother and grandfather had a band, and they played Latino songs. They made a record when Nick was very young, and it’s still being played on radio stations in Mexico.”

In 2014, Benavides earned his master’s degree in composition from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He then spent four years in the music industry writing, teaching and running a nonprofit before arriving at USC Thornton in 2018. While finishing his dissertation, he served as a lecturer, and he will continue to teach aural skills and composition for non-majors after commencement.

Benavides’ operatic progress moved at a fast tempo: He worked with the Washington National Opera and the Nashville Opera, and he earned support from the National Endowment for the Arts for a new opera with librettist Marella Martin Koch.

The pair were commissioned to develop a full opera about Huerta in 2021.

The genesis for Dolores began in late 2016 — a time of tumult and fear surrounding the presidential election.

“Friends were down. Some of them felt powerless,” Benavides said. “I thought, that’s crazy, because historically there are so many examples of people who’ve been hit with difficult situations, and they persisted. I saw no excuse to give up.”

“I think it’s quite exciting,” Huerta said. “And I’m really happy that he chose to do this.”

Civil rights history condensed in music and time in Dolores opera

The opera covers a time span of a few months, but most of the action takes place over the course of a day.

“I would be honored to stand by your side, as you have stood by ours,” Huerta sings to Kennedy just before his assassination.

“It plays with the tropes of an opera, but turns it on its head,” Benavides said. “The female protagonist has a lot more power. She’s not a soprano. She’s a mezzo soprano, so she’s more down to earth because she’s someone of the people.”

Historical figures including Cesar Chavez, Richard Nixon, Larry Itliong, Paul Schrade and Ethel Kennedy play into the story.

Audience members will hear English, Spanish, Spanglish, a chamber orchestra, trombones, trumpets, electric guitar, saxophone and an opera chorus.

“The chorus is vital,” Benavides said. “It’s the sound of the people, people moving, organizing, it’s a sound that inspires the hair on the back of your neck to stand up.”

Dolores opera: A not-so-close collaboration

Huerta is, of course, an adviser to Benavides. But she has given her younger cousin plenty of creative space.

“I haven’t given him any advice,” Huerta said. “I’m just really thrilled he chose to do this.”

She’s told me, ‘I’m here for you as a resource, but you write the work you want to write.’

Nicolas Lell Benavides, Dolores opera creator

“She’s been generous, helping us with inspiration, with rights to things, but she’s hands-off,” Benavides said. “She’s told me, ‘I’m here for you as a resource, but you write the work you want to write.'”

“For me, it’s an origin story of Dolores Huerta, the person who invented ‘Si se puede‘ [‘Yes, we can’], the person who rallied generations — especially people like me, Chicanos in this country — to fight for our rights, especially farm workers, the most vulnerable among us.”

Dolores has been commissioned by four opera companies and is expected to premiere across the Southwest during the 2024-25 season. West Edge Opera in Oakland, Calif.; The Broad Stage in Santa Monica; the San Diego Opera; and Opera Southwest in Albuquerque, N.M., all plan to stage it.

“I’m really looking forward to it. And to think that Nick was chasing a tragic moment, like the assassination of Robert Kennedy, and put that into musical form so that memory can be transformed into a spiritual remembrance. It gives us a better way to remember him, through music,” Huerta said.

“Had Bobby Kennedy not been assassinated, we would have a different world right now,” she added.

When the opera debuts, Benavides hopes to see plenty of family members in the audience.

“I come from a family that doesn’t know anything about classical music. Opera at its worst is full of gatekeeping and exclusivity, but opera at its best is a beautiful story that’s sung on stage. It’s just an emotional vehicle. For the audience, it’s a beautiful ride.”

The post With operatic flourish, activist Dolores Huerta and younger cousin to receive USC doctorates on same day appeared first on USC News.

With operatic flourish, activist Dolores Huerta and younger cousin receive USC doctorates on same day

Published May 11, 2023

Arts

With operatic flourish, activist Dolores Huerta and younger cousin receive USC doctorates on same day

COMMENCEMENT: Hers is an honorary degree; his is a doctorate of musical arts. The conferral is a prelude to an operatic interpretation of Huerta’s remarkable life, which the composer calls “a microcosm of loss and perseverance.”

May 11, 2023

Ron Mackovich-Rodriguez

When June 5, 1968, began, Robert Kennedy seemed to be on track to be elected president in November.

Minutes past midnight, Kennedy addressed his supporters from the lectern of the Ambassador Hotel, 4 miles from USC. Next to Kennedy was his friend, ally and farmworker activist Dolores Huerta. She was wearing a red frock, and her face seemed filled with hope.

Then, Kennedy left the stage.

So ends the first act of Dolores, a new opera based on Huerta’s life that was composed by her cousin Nicolás Lell Benavides, a USC lecturer who will receive his doctorate this week from the USC Thornton School of Music.

“In that moment, the Chicano civil rights movement, the United Farm Workers, they were in a crisis,” Benavides said. “They had spent their resources to help get him elected, and now he’s not there for them. Dolores said: ‘What matters is our dream, our perseverance. We go on. There is no one human who represents this movement, or the loss of hope.’”

Although the two were born years apart, their lives will intersect at USC’s commencement on Friday as Huerta is awarded a USC honorary degree and Benavides receives his Doctor of Musical Arts in composition.

“It seems like just yesterday he graduated from Santa Clara University,” Huerta said. “And now he’s getting his doctorate.”

Decades apart but close in heart

Benavides, 36, is more than 50 years younger than his cousin. She’s known for leading the 1960s grape boycott that led to a landmark labor contract, but her work as a civil rights leader never stopped.

Dolores opera: Dolores Huerta and Nicolás Benavides at a wedding
Dolores Huerta and Nicolás Lell Benavides attend a wedding in New Mexico in 2015. (Photo/Courtesy of Nicolás Benavides)

“Growing up, she was always the most patient listener,” Benavides said. “She still is, and that’s what makes her a great leader. I know it sounds like propaganda at some point, but it’s true.”

Benavides was not fully aware of Dolores Huerta’s status as a civil rights leader until 2007, when he was studying at Santa Clara University earning a bachelor’s degree in music with a minor in Spanish.

“It was a course called ‘Intro to Chicano Studies,’ and we came to a point where we were to study Dolores. I was like, ‘Oh, that’s my cousin.’ Then, we had this midterm essay project and I asked, ‘Do you mind if I call her and interview her?’ I got a good grade on that paper because nobody could refute anything I wrote. I went to the source,” he said.

“That was one of the first times I realized what a big deal she is. That’s a testament to her humility.”

Dolores: It’s not just about opera

Raised, as were many of his family members, in New Mexico, Benavides grew up around music of many kinds — except classical.

“I did rancheras, folk music, jazz, a lot of popular sounds, and it wasn’t until I graduated high school that I first heard an orchestra,” he said. “I’m one of those weirdos who heard an orchestra play when I was 18 and thought, ‘That — that’s what I want!’”

“He gets his musical genius from his mother,” Huerta said. “His mother and grandfather had a band, and they played Latino songs. They made a record when Nick was very young, and it’s still being played on radio stations in Mexico.”

In 2014, Benavides earned his master’s degree in composition from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He then spent four years in the music industry writing, teaching and running a nonprofit before arriving at USC Thornton in 2018. While finishing his dissertation, he served as a lecturer, and he will continue to teach aural skills and composition for non-majors after commencement.

Benavides’ operatic progress moved at a fast tempo: He worked with the Washington National Opera and the Nashville Opera, and he earned support from the National Endowment for the Arts for a new opera with librettist Marella Martin Koch.

The pair were commissioned to develop a full opera about Huerta in 2021.

The genesis for Dolores began in late 2016 — a time of tumult and fear surrounding the presidential election.

“Friends were down. Some of them felt powerless,” Benavides said. “I thought, that’s crazy, because historically there are so many examples of people who’ve been hit with difficult situations, and they persisted. I saw no excuse to give up.”

“I think it’s quite exciting,” Huerta said. “And I’m really happy that he chose to do this.”

Civil rights history condensed in music and time in Dolores opera

The opera covers a time span of a few months, but most of the action takes place over the course of a day.

“I would be honored to stand by your side, as you have stood by ours,” Huerta sings to Kennedy just before his assassination.

“It plays with the tropes of an opera, but turns it on its head,” Benavides said. “The female protagonist has a lot more power. She’s not a soprano. She’s a mezzo soprano, so she’s more down to earth because she’s someone of the people.”

Historical figures including Cesar Chavez, Richard Nixon, Larry Itliong, Paul Schrade and Ethel Kennedy play into the story.

Audience members will hear English, Spanish, Spanglish, a chamber orchestra, trombones, trumpets, electric guitar, saxophone and an opera chorus.

“The chorus is vital,” Benavides said. “It’s the sound of the people, people moving, organizing, it’s a sound that inspires the hair on the back of your neck to stand up.”

Dolores opera: A not-so-close collaboration

Huerta is, of course, an adviser to Benavides. But she has given her younger cousin plenty of creative space.

“I haven’t given him any advice,” Huerta said. “I’m just really thrilled he chose to do this.”

She’s told me, ‘I’m here for you as a resource, but you write the work you want to write.’

Nicolás Lell Benavides, Dolores opera creator

“She’s been generous, helping us with inspiration, with rights to things, but she’s hands-off,” Benavides said. “She’s told me, ‘I’m here for you as a resource, but you write the work you want to write.’”

“For me, it’s an origin story of Dolores Huerta, the person who invented ‘Si se puede’ [‘Yes, we can’], the person who rallied generations — especially people like me, Chicanos in this country — to fight for our rights, especially farm workers, the most vulnerable among us.”

Dolores has been commissioned by four opera companies and is expected to premiere across the Southwest during the 2024-25 season. West Edge Opera in Oakland, Calif.; The Broad Stage in Santa Monica; the San Diego Opera; and Opera Southwest in Albuquerque, N.M., all plan to stage it.

“I’m really looking forward to it. And to think that Nick was chasing a tragic moment, like the assassination of Robert Kennedy, and put that into musical form so that memory can be transformed into a spiritual remembrance. It gives us a better way to remember him, through music,” Huerta said.

“Had Bobby Kennedy not been assassinated, we would have a different world right now,” she added.

When the opera debuts, Benavides hopes to see plenty of family members in the audience.

“I come from a family that doesn’t know anything about classical music. Opera at its worst is full of gatekeeping and exclusivity, but opera at its best is a beautiful story that’s sung on stage. It’s just an emotional vehicle. For the audience, it’s a beautiful ride.”

The post With operatic flourish, activist Dolores Huerta and younger cousin receive USC doctorates on same day appeared first on USC Today.

Studying for finals? Let classical music help

Published April 28, 2023Last updated


This story was first published on Dec. 5, 2014.

As the season of cramming and finals approaches, Trojans can get help with a healthy, easily accessible study aid — classical music.


It’s a solution available 24/7 at Classical KUSC in Los Angeles or Classical KDFC in San Francisco. Listen either on the radio or live-streamed at kusc.org or kdfc.com. There’s a new version of KUSC’s free app and one for KDFC to use on mobile devices.

A number of academic studies recently zeroed in on classical music, showing that listening benefits the brain, sleep patterns, the immune system and stress levels — all helpful when facing those all-important end-of-semester tests.

Face the music

University research in France, published in Learning and Individual Differences, found that students who listened to a one-hour lecture where classical music was played in the background scored significantly higher in a quiz on the lecture when compared to a similar group of students who heard the lecture with no music.

The researchers speculated that the music put students in a heightened emotional state, making them more receptive to information.

“It is possible that music, provoking a change in the learning environment, influenced the students’ motivation to remain focused during the lecture, which led to better performance on the multiple-choice quiz,” they wrote.

According to research from the Duke Cancer Institute, classical music can also lessen anxiety.

Researchers gave headphones playing Bach concertos to men undergoing a stressful biopsy and discovered they had no spike in diastolic blood pressure during the procedure and reported significantly less pain.

But make sure you are listening to classical music, because not all music aids blood pressure, a University of San Diego study found.

Scientists at the university compared changes in blood pressure among individuals listening to classical, jazz or pop music. Those listening to classical had significantly lower systolic blood pressure when compared to those listening to other musical genres or no music at all.

??Just relax

Classical music helps you relax even when you don’t pay attention to the music, a Russian study published in Human Physiology found.

Children who listened to classical music for one hour a day over a six-month period exhibited brain changes that indicated greater levels of relaxation — even when the children were not asked to pay attention to the music.

If testing anxiety causes sleepless nights, classical music can help soothe insomnia. A team of researchers at the University of Toronto found that tuning into classical music before bedtime helped people fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer. Works by Brahms, Handel, Mozart, Strauss and Bach were effective sleep aids because they use rhythms and tonal patterns that create a meditative mood and slow brainwaves, the study found.

(KUSC and KDFC make it easy to access quality classical music all night, every night. The California Classical All Night program airs on both stations from midnight to 5 a.m., seven days a week.)

Cut out the cannons

So what selections do classical music experts favor for listeners trying to absorb new information?

KUSC host and producer Alan Chapman suggested pieces that are more restrained to provide a nice aura in the background. Skip over large orchestral pieces, particularly those with a dynamic that ranges from whispers to booming cannons.

“The 1812 Overture would not be a good study aid, unless you were studying to be a demolitions expert,” he observed — a sentiment echoed by KDFC host and assistant program director Rik Malone.

Chapman suggested choosing solo piano pieces, perhaps Mozart sonatas or French piano music by Poulenc, Debussy or Faure. Mozart string quartets are also good choices, he said, for the regularity of phrase structure in classic period pieces.

Guitar music is gentle enough to study by, as is lute music, which has enjoyable, dulcet tones. Sample Bach lute suites, Chapman suggested.

Elizabethan consort music from the late 16th century, played on viols, was intended to create a pleasant atmosphere at court without demanding attention, Chapman said, and is another good candidate for music to study by.

So before turning to the books, turn on Classical KUSC or Classical KDFC.

The post Studying for finals? Let classical music help appeared first on USC News.

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