by Kristine Peters,
Education Coordinator
Wharton Music Center
An Interview with Simon Lipskar, Conductor of Youth Orchestra
Simon has been with the New Jersey Youth Symphony for 11 years. His main
instrument is violin, although he also plays piano and is a trained
tenor. Simon holds a Master of Music degree in Conducting from
the San Francisco Conservatory and is currently a Senior Literary Agent
for Writers House in New York City.
Tell me about the juxtaposition of being a Literary Agent and being an
Educational Conductor.
When I was hired for the job at NJYS, I had made the decision to stop being a
full-time conductor – mostly for my children. Most of NJYS students will not go
on to professional musical careers, so it is valuable for them to see someone
knowledgeable, experienced and musically educated still seriously engaged with
music, but with other parts to his life. The biggest gift this model provides
is the idea that, for them too, music can still be an important part of their
lives, even if they don’t pursue music professionally, which can lead them to
find unique and creative ways of engaging with music as adults. People
who engage in music are the best audiences. They create the possibility of
continuity for music in a real way, in a culture where classical music does not
always receive the attention it deserves.
Why is Youth Orchestra important to the New Jersey Youth Symphony?
Youth Orchestra (YO) represents a linchpin in terms of providing students an
experience that inspires them to want to continue on and to achieve at the
highest levels of the organization. It would be very easy for YO to lack that
directionality and for it to be a resting place after students get there. Along
with being the final transitional ensemble, YO is also the moment where
students get to play the “real” repertoire for the first time without excuse
and without caveat. Repertoire programmed for this orchestra is made up of only
pieces that major symphony orchestras perform.
One of the things I love about youth orchestras as an art form that people
don’t talk about enough is that so much art that kids do is about doing
minimized versions of the real thing. What’s extraordinary about working with
youth orchestras is that students have the opportunity to engage in the truly
highest creations of the art form. They’re not asked to wait until they’ve
grown up to engage with Beethoven. It’s an incredibly special opportunity for
young people.
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| Youth Orchestra students on break during a recent rehearsal. |
What musical skills are you building?
One of the most important things that I expect of them is
that they learn to have their ears open. I expect them to pay attention to
what’s going on around them and be conscious
of what other people are playing. It’s too easy to get into single-line tunnel
vision. Your ears can hear the score, even if your eyes can’t. One of my
favorite activities to do with them is have them mix up all around the room:
they are not allowed to sit next to someone who plays the same instrument, and
they create little circles looking in at each other and play the piece without
the conductor. It’s a great lesson because they are forced to hear what’s
happening; they realize that their ears are what is keeping them together, so
they learn they can do an astonishing amount without relying on a conductor.
Another thing that’s important to me, even though it’s not a musical skill, is
the courage to make art. It’s easy for teenagers to retreat behind the fear of
exposure. So I show them in rehearsal, by being extroverted, that I am not
afraid of anything, I’m not afraid of making a complete fool of myself. Not
because I’m a clown, but because the only way to experience music fully is to
give ourselves over to it. It’s important for students to not be afraid of
making musical art.
Why is community education important?
For good or ill, the reality is that music is no longer central to our culture
and society in the way it was when the great classical music was written. The
music being written from mid-1700s until early 1900s was the most important
cultural product of the times. It had a more central role. Understanding the
world required understanding the music then being written. People during those
times had deeper understandings of musical structure and form, in such a way
that people literally heard music differently than we hear it now. When they
heard a harmonic progression that is surprising, they knew it was surprising.
When a composer tweaked or pulled on a structure, or when Beethoven created
extended codas, the audience listening knew what he was doing and reacted
specifically to what he was doing. Those general understandings are now gone.
Community music schools nurture this great artistic expression of humanity,
teaching the skills and ideas that are required to engage with classical music,
an engagement that requires intense hard work. It’s worthy of doing because the
intrinsic value of the art. Of course it develops many valuable non-musical
skills and capabilities, but at the end of the day it is art for art’s sake.
Music expresses something powerful about what it means to be human; as music
educators, we are lucky to be able to spend our lives helping young people
understand, touch, engage with and ultimately learn from this extraordinary art
form.
Youth Orchestra, for students in grades 7-12, meets on Mondays at 6:15-9:15 p.m. at 570 Central Avenue in New Providence. For more information about the New Jersey Youth Symphony, visit www.NJYS.org.
