Part 2
Take us through a day in your life, from a possible morning routine through to your work, please. Do you have a fixed schedule? How do music and other aspects of your life feed back into each other - do you separate them or instead try to make them blend seamlessly?
I am such a routine manic! and it only became more exaggerated during the pandemic.Now that I can work from home from now until forever, I am basically in Pavone’s office 24/7.
I am a morning worker. I have the clearest ideas and capabilities for mental work in the morning. I start working literally when my eyes are still half open and I haven’t made coffee yet.
Pavone’s office in the morning consists of a few things; composing, working on writing (such as this interview) or other proposals I am working on, booking things, invoicing students, and practicing. If I am steeped in composing a piece, things like this get put aside. Most things get put aside when I am composing - the whole first half of the day I’ll be in the Pavone composing zone. Same with practicing, if I have gigs coming up, that will dominate office hours. Otherwise, I touch on all or most of those things, most days. I workout almost every day before lunch (or a few hours after lunch but before teaching). 6 days a week to be exact. Four days of the week, I teach piano and violin lessons from my house in the afternoons after 3 or 4 pm, that’s when Pavone’s office becomes Pavone’s music school. On the days that I don’t teach, the office reigns. I take a day or two off (on weekends) and go be a human.
Evenings on workdays are strictly for chilling. I can’t really work at night - but the mornings are fierce.
Can you talk about a breakthrough work, event or performance in your career? Why does it feel special to you? When, why and how did you start working on it, what were some of the motivations and ideas behind it?
I feel like there have been a few. Two stick out for me right now.
In 2007, I began writing for a string quartet of violin, viola, cello, and double bass. We premiered some work at the Kitchen in Manhattan and released the music with Tzadik records. Shortly after, I was awarded an emerging artists grant from the Jerome Foundation and decided to augment the group and added guitar, drums, and voice, so it was a string quartet with rhythm section and singer. I wrote a song cycle about plutonium themes of deconstruction and reconstruction and other myths from Greek mythology. I spent a good year and a half on the work. To me, I felt like I was writing my first novel. I was really excited about the work and I still think it is one of the best things I’ve ever done. My parents, who live in Manhattan called me an hour before the premiere, which was in Brooklyn, to tell me they couldn’t come because it was raining, and the record, released on Tzadik the following year received little to no - to bad attention and the whole thing basically crushed me.
Breakthrough moment number two was forming the string ensemble(s) that I currently have been working with and writing for since 2017. I spent a great deal of time cultivating music for solo viola from 2012 onward. I literally spent hours every day in a cement practice room working on solo music - for years. I worked as a public school teacher then, and I would go to the practice space after work every day and drink beer and play the viola. For hours, for years. Every day. I’ve made 4 solo viola records since. But in 2017, I got it in me to take this language I was developing and create an ensemble based on expanding the techniques and notation I was developing for others - I feel like I really found my voice now and I have so many ideas, I can’t keep up with myself. I just need money.
Please, if anyone is reading this that has it ….
There are many descriptions of the ideal state of mind for being creative. What is it like for you? What supports this ideal state of mind and what are distractions? Are there strategies to enter into this state more easily?
Yes, it is a specific state of mind. I need to have a whole or at least the first half of a day set aside, and for that to be the only thing on my plate. I’ll initially mark off a week or two to my morning routine to be designated to composing, which means - nothing else matters - no errands, no bills, no social calls.
What usually ends up happening the first day or two, is that all the tiny little things I’d been neglecting, like making a doctors appointment, paying a bill… tiny little things, get attended to and I accept that because it is part of the process of clearing my mind. For example, I’ve been trying to compose all week, but every morning, the first thing I need to do is answer one of these questions, because it’s hanging over my head. Once there is no other little nag left to do, the composing begins, but it has already started because while I was doing all the little tasks I was already subconsciously thinking about the piece. Then I work every day because even if I have a day where I am slightly blocked, it is inevitable to see progress if you do the same thing consistently.
I’d say in my experience, the first day or two of getting the piece rolling are the most constipated, but once I get the piece started, I’m all in - it’s a superflow, and I don’t need to think about having too strict of a structure in my routine, because I become pretty obsessed with finishing the puzzle that I’ve created for myself.
Music and sounds can heal, but they can also hurt. Do you personally have experiences with either or both of these? Where do you personally see the biggest need and potential for music as a tool for healing?
I am interested in the ways that music not only has the power to incite a range of emotions but also in the ways that the emotions generated might provoke a healing process. In my studies of this potential, I have learned from sound healers and alternative healing practices about the ways that sound can incite feelings.
Music's physical properties, such as sonic vibrations, are often utilized for healing as they move water within the body. Using this information, I am working to make the audience-performer relationship more integral. I want the compositions to engage the audience as participants, not just observers.
Our sense of hearing shares intriguing connections to other senses. From your experience, what are some of the most inspiring overlaps between different senses - and what do they tell us about the way our senses work?
Everyone knows that when one sense is hindered, another is heightened. I think it is biology. We have all experienced this.
When you smell the air at the change of a season it triggers the memory of that season from the past. When you hear a song that reminds you of a time and place in your life, you think of that time and place. I am not saying anything new here - we all know this.
Art can be a purpose in its own right, but it can also directly feed back into everyday life, take on a social and political role and lead to more engagement. Can you describe your approach to art and being an artist?
A big part of art for me is about the process. A big part of my life, in general, is about the process, potentially all of it. I am very interested in seeing how things develop over time, stand the test of time, and present themselves over time. When I complete a project I usually see very clearly how I would have done it differently and that generally informs how is prepare for the next project.
The way this is reflected in my life is, how I spend most of my time when I am not creating art. I am generally in some kind of class or lesson all week, every week. I have approximately twenty private students in piano, violin, and composition that I guide through their process weekly, and I take approximately 6 to 8 exercise classes per week where I am assessing the progress of the efficiency of my strength, and flexibility, and stamina.
What can music express about life and death which words alone may not?
I have a lot of feelings about life and death. Music has the ability to help you feel things that are not exactly tangible, aligning with our human perception of life and death. Otherwise, I don’t necessarily think you can put the meaning of life and death on music.
