The Justice

Media Credit: Asher Krell/the Justice From left to right, Amanda Gadrow (GRAD), Rob Pearson (GRAD) and Ross Brown '10 sing during rehearsal for the Early Music Ensemble's Nov. 22 concert.

Media Credit: Asher Krell/the Justice Prof. Sarah Mead (MUS), left, plays tenor viol and Koren Wake '06 plays treble viol during the Early Music Ensemble's rehearsal last week.

Media Credit: Asher Krell/the Justice Mu-Xuan Lin (GRAD) and Jeremy Slosberg '10 play harps.

The words "early music" may call to mind a static-filled recording of Chuck Berry laying down the first rock and roll tracks or a cartoon-like vision of cavemen banging rocks and sticks. In actuality, the Brandeis Early Music Ensemble brings to life a repertoire from the medieval through baroque eras, pieces that laid the essential groundwork for well-known classical artists such as Haydn and Beethoven.

The group is led by Prof. Sarah Mead (MUS), who also teaches classes in Historical Performance and in Medieval and Renaissance Studies. She has been with the Brandeis Music department for 27 years, heading the EME all the while.

Mead's instrumental expertise is the viola da gamba (or "viol"), a stringed instrument developed in the 1400s. It is slightly shorter, rounder and more sharply cut than the modern orchestral viola; it is gripped between the knees instead of rested on the shoulder; and it can be either bowed or plucked. Mead also has a vocal background and has conducted the University Chorus and Chamber Choir in the past.

More than 15 undergraduates, graduate students and alumni come together for weekly rehearsals in preparation for several concerts a year, the next being their semester show, "Point, Counterpoint," on Nov. 22. With several different combinations of vocalists, wind instruments, strings and more, the ensemble will demonstrate the beauty and versatility of the musical technique known as counterpoint, the intertwining and harmonizing of melodic textures against one another.

The EME welcomes experienced members as well as beginners and fosters a learning and helping environment rather than a strict and competitive one. According to Mead, "We like to have our vocalists also learn one of the instruments and have our instrumentalists do some singing as well."

She says that many ensemble members start the semester knowing nothing about a particular instrument but that they wish to get involved and learn. For example, in the upcoming concert, one of the pieces will feature a canon (round) with eight viola da gambas. Each of the players in this piece began playing this year and progressed immensely. Mead, a violist herself, teaches this instrument to the beginners who wish to learn it, and then the new members and experienced ones work together to refine their knowledge and learn new skills from one another.

Al Hoberman '09 has spent more than four years in the ensemble, beginning his first semester of his first year and continuing into the present. "I like playing this type of music because it isn't what you hear every day. Even most professional musicians have very little experience with music before 1700 or so. This music was written before the tradition of classical music as we know it was developed and conforms to a totally different set of rules and ideals," he says. Hoberman, who plays primarily wind instruments in the ensemble, is also proud to be a multi-instrumentalist, with knowledge ranging from ukulele to jaw harp to dulcian and a large variety of recorders.

In the lower level of the Slosberg Music Center is the Jencks Early Music Room, a temperature-controlled storage area specially made to have optimal conditions for the variety of delicate instruments. A fairly recent addition to the building, the Jencks Room was funded and finalized in early 2008 and is home to Renaissance instruments such as lutes, harps, three sizes of viola da gamba, a fortepiano (the predecessor to today's grand piano) and an original harpsichord. "Just ask any of the students in the ensemble to show you around the room to have a look any time," offered Mead.

This past summer, Mead and some of her EME students performed at the biennial Boston Early Music Festival together, one of the largest gatherings in the country featuring line up columns historical music performance and education. Mead stressed how grateful she was to participate with her students and greatly appreciated the growth and concepts they were exposed to.

However, other than occasional appearances, it has been hard to take the ensemble to perform in other areas. "It is my dream to take the students to perform on a tour, but unfortunately there just isn't enough spare money flowing into the department to make that happen."

Another key member of the group is Adina Geller '12, a Music major who brings life to the organetto in EME. The organetto, or "portable organ," is an instrument designed not from an organ itself but rather inspired from the 15th century painting by Hans Memling, "Mystical Marriage of Catherina," in which an angel is depicted playing the organetto, a symbol of the beautiful sound it creates.

Geller is extremely involved in the Fine and Performing Arts departments, focusing her studies in piano performance and studio art and also participating in ballroom dance. She says, "EME is exciting for me because I get to play something different than usual. All of us do, actually! It's fun to use skills you may have learned previously to create an entirely new sound on a unique instrument."

Performing in the EME, a welcoming and fostering environment, is also a task of artistic delicacy. Hoberman fully understands the balance of creating music outside one's familiar time frame. "Much of the work involves figuring out just how this music should be played-what instruments or voices should play which part, what tone quality is best, phrasing-everything."

As a multi-instrumentalist, Hoberman also knows that it can be a challenge to learn something new, which EME members are encouraged to do. "Modern instruments have gone through so many more years of evolution that make them more consistent and easy to play, and there are well-established methods and techniques for playing each one. Early instruments are more temperamental, and certainly more challenging because there aren't those well-established techniques to fall back on."

To watch the members of EME collaborate together is an uplifting experience. The snug setting of musicians gathering together, learning from each other and communicating through sound provides a sense to jovial serenity to the listener. In a tranquil yet cozy environment where some remove their shoes and even call their director by her first name, it is apparent that they aim to have fun and to create original, exquisite and primitive vibrations together. In a predominantly research- and science-oriented university, the Early Music Ensemble is one of the most essential expressions of culture, humanities and performance arts in our community.

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