Hangout-Ology with David Amram

((PKG)) HANGOUT-OLOGY WITH DAVID AMRAM
((TRT: 07:41))
((Topic Banner: Bop Till You Drop))
((Reporter/Camera: Aaron Fedor))
((Producer: Kathleen McLaughlin))
((Editor: Kyle Dubiel))
((Map: Beacon, New York))
((Main character: 1 male))
((Sub characters: 2 female; 1 male))
((NATS: Music))
((Courtesy: Lawrence Kraman))
He’s gonna sing the blues to you.
Get yourself a bottle of bourbon
before the evening is through.
((David Amram
Composer, Conductor, Multi-Instrumentalist))
So I try to get up and what I think maybe I should go back to sleep for 25 hours till I catch up.
This is a hulusi from China.
((NATS: Music))
((David Amram
Composer, Conductor, Multi-Instrumentalist))
I managed to get an upright position and then go for there, hope for the best. And as Dizzy Gillespie was asked, “What are you going to do when you retire?” He said, “I'll never retire. My philosophy is, ‘Bop till you drop’” And keeping that feeling, and that feeling, that thing that touches your heart, that's the mystery. That's the magic. There's no recipe for that except to stay in
((Courtesy: David Amram))
the University of Hangout-ology, no matter how many degrees you have or if you don't have any.
((NATS: Music))
((Courtesy: Lawrence Kraman))
((Kenneth Radnofsky
Professor of Saxophone, New England Conservatory))
David Amram was multicultural before multiculturalism existed.
((Courtesy: Lawrence Kraman))
He has always had a curiosity and fascination with people.
((David Amram
Composer, Conductor, Multi-Instrumentalist))
This is the doumbek or they call it a darbuki or a tabla or a tov, depending on which country you go to. But it’s all essentially very similar instruments.
((NATS: Music))
((Adira Amram
Daughter, Performer))
He's worked with so many incredible people that sometimes, as an adult, I'll look at something that he's done and it's kind of like
((Courtesy: David Amram))
I'm just like, “What? How did you know that person?” Like the connections that he has, it's just so…there's such a vast array of people too, from so many different worlds. Like collaborators that he's worked with are kind of the greats in their field. And they all love Dad.
((Courtesy: Lawrence Kraman))
((NATS: Music))
((Adira Amram
Daughter, Performer))
After dinner - my mom would make these amazing dinners. After dinner,
((Courtesy: David Amram))
we would all play music together and we had such incredible artists that came to stay with us. And everyone would take out a guitar and just start jamming. And my brother would play the drums. My sister would play guitar. I would kind of like bang on something. And now it's like any time we have a holiday,
((Courtesy: Lawrence Kraman))
everybody at some point, as soon as dinner is over, it's like instruments come out and everybody's jamming. We call it kind of like Amram Jam.
((NATS: Music))
((David Amram
Composer, Conductor, Multi-Instrumentalist))
But when the jazz players would harmonize that.
((NATS: Music))
And then the four.
((NATS: Music))
((Kenneth Radnofsky
Professor of Saxophone, New England Conservatory))
You can listen to one piece of music and you can hear an integration and a love for Arab culture, Jewish culture, Pan African, Pakistani, Irish. And you could hear it in one piece. You could even hear it in one movement, just the same as with Mozart. The moment you hear his music, you know it's David Amram.
((NATS: Music))
((Courtesy: Lawrence Kraman))
((David Amran
Composer, Conductor, Multi-Instrumentalist))
My first true musical experience was when I was six years old and my father bought me a bugle. [He] took out this shiny bugle and started playing it himself before I could even touch it. And after about 10 minutes…of not being able to get much of a sound, he handed it to me. I went…and I hit a sound and actually it was like music. I was blown away. I said, “Oh, my Lord.” So I fell in love with that. And then I used to listen to the radiators and they would, in the middle of the night, would start clacking and playing all kind of…all these different sounds. And I got into the idea of rhythms, listening to those different rhythms of the radiators. So when I heard big bands playing or I heard the Bach Brandenburg concertos and heard all that polyphony, many voices at the same time, all being together but playing different stuff, I could relate to that because it was something that I had experienced viscerally as a little boy, making that first sound on the bugle and hearing those rhythms from the radiators.
((David Amran
Composer, Conductor, Multi-Instrumentalist))
Here's the first stage, when I'm sitting there grinding it out. You could see I changed my mind a few times. Then, that's when I finally decide what it should be. That's just an example of unaccompanied violin piece I’m writing.
((NATS: Music))
((Courtesy: Lawrence Kraman))
((Alana Amram
Daughter, Musician))
He is an actor. He’s a performer. He’s a really great friend. And what else? He’s just a strange, wonderful man.
((NATS: Music))
((Courtesy: Lawrence Kraman))
((NATS: Kenneth Radnofsky
Professor of Saxophone, New England Conservatory))
David Amran has composed more than 110 orchestral and chamber works and performed as conductor, soloist and narrator with Chicago, Philadelphia Orchestra and Houston Symphonies, just to name a few. Jamie Sommerfeld calls David Amran a force of nature. Madam President, I am honored to present to you David Amran, to receive an honorary Doctorate of Music from the New England Conservatory.
((Courtesy: Lawrence Kraman))
((NATS: Audience cheers))
((David Amran
Composer, Conductor, Multi-Instrumentalist))
The Native American people believe that all of this was a gift to us by the Great Creator. And whatever religion we are, we are all gifted by music as being something we’ll never understand but we know is bigger than us and nutritious and valuable.
((Courtesy: David Amram))
((NATS: Music))