Music is the universal language, the speech of angels, the food of love–and for some, the pen that pays the bills. This August, we are looking at the Strategy of Music in Indianapolis, which spotlights the role, invaluable and growing, that the music industry plays in our city’s economy.
We journeyed to one of the beating hearts of Indy’s music scene: The Songbook Academy, a national summer music intensive hosted annually at the Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel, Indiana. For one week, forty high school students are given the opportunity to work with industry professionals, award-winning singers and performers, and educators from top university music and theatre programs.
The week focuses on music from the Great American Songbook–a canon of American popular songs and enduring jazz standards written largely in the first half of the 20th century.
On a Tuesday in mid-July, Billie Holiday’s I’ll Be Seeing You and Sinatra’s Old Devil Moon were brought to life on The Palladium stage, where the Academy was putting on their annual Public Masterclass, a day of on-stage, real-time performances by students and critiques by mentors.
The undercurrent of energy and anticipation was almost palpable. Vocal warmups drifted through the hallways. Stagehands and personnel flitted perpetually from person to task. Tickets were checked at the door. Seats filled with supportive parents, the week’s team of vocal instructors and event coordinators, and local Indy residents simply there to enjoy the music.
The Songbook Academy is the very embodiment of music-oriented passion, creation, and abundance. We thought, who better to represent the Strategy of Music than those who have made music their livelihood, their raison d’être.
The universality of music is one reason it is so powerful. Despite this, music can be a very individual experience, too. I had the privilege of chatting with a few students as well as two figures that make the Songbook world go ‘round: Dr. Kathleen Hacker, Professor of Music at the University of Indianapolis and lifelong mentor and vocal coach with the Songbook, and Michael Feinstein, Grammy-nominated musician and Founder of the Great American Songbook Foundation.
It goes without saying that music gives us wings to soar but also a warm embrace to fall into when we need it. Dr. Hacker has seen it do both for her students, reminiscing fondly on those soaring moments, the “moments when they get it, when we give them a new concept, and all of a sudden it clicks and their faces explode.”
Having grown up all her life knowing music is integral to her identity, Hacker says singing “has always been part of who [she is].” Being able to utilize this strong sense of self when performing from the Songbook, whose lyrics contain a rich history, is vital to telling its story.
Hacker says, “Students have to put themselves into the story. They have to be the story. That takes a lot of trust, vulnerability, and imagination because some of them are singing lyrics that they have not experienced.”
Dr. Hacker is, herself, quite well-versed. Considering her thirteen years with the Songbook, I felt it only right to ask for her best nugget of wisdom from so many years in the biz: “The most important thing I want students to learn is that they have to learn who they are, they have to learn their bodies, and they have to learn to love and live in their authentic selves. If you’re going to tell a story in the Songbook, it’s gotta come from a real part of you. What we know and what we live is what we share.”
Passion like Dr. Hacker’s is what makes the Soundbook so transportive and moving. It is also the reason the students get so much out of a week-long intensive. I sat down with a few of them to ask how their time at the Songbook was going.
Kate Nevers: What is the most valuable piece of advice you’ve received so far?
Jordan Pecar (𖡡 Carmel, IN): To level up in your acting. You need to believe what you’re saying, so in the masterclasses we’ve been doing, people have been reciting their song lyrics directly to someone they’re comfortable with. Immediately there is a huge change in the acting of their song.
Emma Hudson (𖡡 Ann Arbor, MI): The idea of direct communication. When we’re singing a song, we think in our heads about the notes or the rhythm–but conveying what the lyrics actually mean and what we’re actually trying to say through them has been really interesting. It’s been cool to watch the transformation.
KN: What are you hoping to get out of this week?
JP: We’re learning a lot about things I never expected to like vocal health and vocal techniques. We just came from the Great American Songbook Museum, so that was really cool to see. I’m hoping to learn about this era of music because it’s been so influential in modern music. It’s been cool to hear what has come from the past.
EH: I’m hoping to listen to and learn more about the Great American Songbook’s history and wide variety of music. Also to come away with new techniques for interpreting songs and approaching songs I don’t know. Tips and tricks like that.
KN: What does this experience and music, in general, mean to you?
JP: Music has always been a way for me to express myself. I love singing in general–it’s so fun–but I really connect to the deeper pieces. The purpose of the Great American Songbook is that from any era, any age, you’re able to connect to it. That’s why I like this era and music in general.
EH: Music is about connecting us to one another. My first memories of listening to music are with my family, singing with my dad–that’s what brought us together. Even us here, we’ve come from different parts of the country to bond over this music, and it’s been such a cool experience to do that.
Like the music it honors and the students it hosts, the Academy is a haven of passion, creativity, and ambition. In 2007, Founder Michael Feinstein nurtured his passion into the flourishing hub of music, art, and community that the Academy and the Great American Songbook Foundation are today.
Amid the backstage chaos, I shared a brief but wholly enjoyable conversation with Feinstein on the Songbook, his career in the arts, and the life he’s devoted to creating connection through music.
Feinstein has been here since the birth of the Academy. He helped it learn how to walk and, now, looks on fondly as it takes on a life of its own. Closest to his heart is “meeting all these young people and working with them.” He especially cherishes seeing graduates participating in something that keeps the Songbook alive: “I feel like it’s a success story for an important part of American history.” He likens this to “planting seeds.”
To help them blossom fully, Feinstein says “The first thing I usually say is follow your heart, find what your heart wants. We live in a time where there is so much noise, confusion, and distraction that it can be hard to quiet ourselves to simply feel what we yearn for.”
Sitting in on the Public Masterclass, there was no question that everyone in that concert hall understood music’s ability to quiet the noise. Students took to the stage one by one, each song lifted by their devotion to the mechanics, history, and soul of the lyrics.
Feinstein’s hope for his students is that they leave with an appreciation for the history and context of the songs they perform: “Music is a cultural record of what has happened in our society, and when we look back at history, it’s something that teaches us about the human condition.”
However, studying history is only as important as the ways it is used to build the future. For the Great American Songbook and the Songbook Academy, Feinstein’s hopes for its future are bright: “As we continue to build our Songbook museum, it will show us, as a society, how we’ve lived, what we need to change, and what we need to keep. The vision is to keep sharing the music.”
