By Marcia E. Gawecki

Just two weeks before Spring Break at Idyllwild Arts, a “Cadaver Trip” to Loma Linda University Medical Center was planned. Some admitted to signing up just to get off the hill for the day, while others wanted to get extra science credit. No one really wanted to see a dead body.

Well, maybe two of them did. Caleigh and Fion, two Interdisciplinary Arts majors, were the most calm and interested of the 18 students who attended that day. They weren’t nervous beforehand, walked right up close to the cadaver when it was unveiled and asked the doctor a lot of questions. After graduating next year, Fion is thinking of studying medicine instead of the arts.

“I was really impressed with Loma Linda,” Fion said. “It looked like an excellent school that I might want to go to.”

On the other hand, Caleigh plans to study painting at New York University in the fall, but also wants to study embalming and makeup for the dead.

“I’ve got four more years of art school, and my career may not take off right away,” Caleigh explained. “So I’ll need something that I can rely on for awhile.”

In fact, she had seen a dead body before. “I toured a mortuary once and saw how they get people ready for the funeral,” Caleigh said. “It’s really fascinating.”

She said that she went along on the trip because she was thinking of including art diagrams of internal organs for her senior art show in April.

William Waddell, a faculty science teacher at Idyllwild Arts, hosted the trip. It was his first time to Loma Linda University Medical Center, and he was excited about seeing the new facility.

“Loma Linda Medical Center probably has the largest anatomy facility in the United States,” Waddell said.

Al Newman, who teaches math at Idyllwild Arts, went along for support.

Dr. Benjamin Nava, director of Anatomy, lead the hour-long tour. The campus was busy that week hosting a medical convention, in which Dr. Campbell, one of President Obama’s physicians, was a keynote speaker.

Before entering the three anatomy labs, there were large signs posted: “No photographs please.” One van driver and several students admitted to having cameras with them. They were hoping to get a few pictures to show their friends who were too “chicken” to come.

“For security purposes and the dignity of our patients, we ask that you refrain from taking pictures of the cadavers and the facility,” Dr. Nava said.

The first room they entered was one of the anatomy labs. Just like on medical shows, there were several gurneys lined up in rows, in the cold, sterile-looking operating room. Overhead, large screen TVs could beam the dissection to as many as 200 students. While sheets were draped over the bodies, and there was a strong smell of embalming fluid in the air.

The students huddled together in a large group, eyes wide open, and no one spoke. Several students were holding each other’s hands for support. They were just staring at the bodies, waiting for “the moment” when one would be uncovered.

Dr. Nava must’ve lead many student tours before. Because he showed the Idyllwild Arts students three operating rooms of cadavers, a model storage room, and a plastination room before he uncovered the dead body.

“Plastination is the newest thing in anatomy,” Dr. Nava said, as he handed a plasticized human brain to the students when they were touring the storage room. Because it was made of plastic, some took it readily, while others refused.

“That’s still someone’s brain,” one said. “I’m not going to touch that!”

According to web sites, plastination is a technique used in anatomy to preserve bodies or body parts. The water and fat are replaced by certain plastics, yielding specimens that can be touched, do not smell or decay, and even retain most of the properties of the original specimen.

“We can check these parts out, right Dr. Nava?” Waddell asked as he was inspecting a plasticized chest cavity.

Dr. Nava said that Loma Linda Medical Center is setting up a library in which teachers like Waddell can check out an organ or body part. However, when Caleigh asked if she could check some out to study them for her senior show, she was refused.

It’s only for medical research and teaching purposes, the doctor said.

Along the shelves, there were plasticized arms, feet and ankles, brains and other body parts.

“There’s a great sample of a heart here somewhere,” Dr. Nava said, as he searched the back of the shelves.

“I really want to see a foot,” admitted Kayla, a dance major.

On the table in the narrow room were brains encased in glass and floating in embalming solution.

“When I went to medical school,” Dr. Nava said. “These are all we had to study. Now plastination has made it better for today’s medical students.”

The final stop was a small operating room with a single body draped over it. By that time, the students were relaxed and talking. Some, like Caleigh, came up to the body to get a closer look.

“Can anyone donate their body, or are there certain restrictions?” Caleigh asked. Dr. Nava said that the person couldn’t be too tall because they’d have to fit on the table, and into bins in the storage facility. And for the same reason, they couldn’t be heavier than 300 pounds.

“If a person dies a certain way, can you still accept them?” Caleigh asked.

“If a patient has a certain type of Hepatitis, we cannot accept them,” Dr. Nava said. “We have to protect our students and faculty.”

He added that if certain kinds of cancer have mastesized too far, it’s impossible to dissect the organs in the body, and they’d have to refuse it.

He said that the body that he was about to show the students was dissected for tours such as these.

“We didn’t show you the bodies in the other room because our medical students are working on them,” Dr. Nava said. “And the work they do can be destructive.”

For privacy, he put a smaller drape over the face of the cadaver, but not before a few students saw it. It was an older man with a moustache.

His mouth was open!” exclaimed Sorrelle, a dance major. “Did he die that way?”

“Some medical students were working on dissecting the jaw,” Dr. Nava calmly explained.

He uncovered the body to expose the head, neck, chest and one arm. The skin had turned brown, and the nails were yellow. The left arm had been dissected to show the veins and main arteries.

Like the hood of a car, he opened up the chest cavity to show the heart, lungs, stomach and other organs.

“Like most people living in the Inland Empire, the exhaust has affected his lungs,” Dr. Nava said, revealing some dark spots.

Dr. Nava reached back and checked to see if the cadaver had a gall bladder, and also showed the small and large intestines, the appendix and colon.

Each time that he showed a new part, he asked the students what it was. One stumped them, however. It was a small organ in the upper left quadrant of the abdomen.

“It has to do with red blood cells and the immune system,” Dr. Nava said. “I’ll treat anyone to dinner at the Gastrognome, if you can figure out what this is.”

“His kidney?” Newman guessed. No one seemed to know.

“It’s the spleen,” Dr. Nava said.

He concluded his tour by talking briefly about the benefits of body donation to Loma Linda Medical Center.

“You know funerals can cost thousands of dollars,” he said. “But donating your body to Loma Linda only costs $300, and Social Security will pay for it.”

The cost covers the transportation of 100-mile radius, embalming, storage, and final burial.

Conner liked the cadaver trip

When the tour was over, the students, unfazed, talked about where they were going to eat lunch.

“I think I’m going to donate my body to science,” said Conner, a music major. “It just makes sense.”

Copyright 2010 Idyllwild Me. All rights reserved.

“Nice work if you can get it,” sang Ella Fitzgerald, one of the jazz greats, of a George Gershwin tune.

Finding gigs has never been easy for musicians. It’s not enough that you can play or sing well, but you have to find a venue to support you.

It can be more challenging if you’re young, don’t have any local contacts or a car to get there.

But sometimes, all you have to do is ask. Such was the case for Alejandro Barron and his buddies Jacob Scesney and Caleb Hensinger.  All three are jazz music students at Idyllwild Arts Academy and were looking for weekend work.

“I just stopped by a few places in town, and asked if they were interested in having a jazz combo,” said Barron.

Demetri, from The Greek Place, a popular restaurant among students, agreed to have them play on Sunday afternoons for a couple of hours.

“The owner said that he couldn’t afford to pay us, but he’d give us free food,” Barron said.

They didn’t mind “playing for their supper,” because they were sick of dorm food, and all loved Greek food anyway. Later on, they put out a tip jar. After a two-hour session, they generally make about $18 to split.

“This Sunday afternoon gig is good for us because we get a chance to practice our music for two hours,” Scesney said. “More than that, we get honest reactions from people who are not our friends or teachers.”

During the winter months, Barron, on bass guitar, Scesney, on alto saxophone and sometimes Hensinger, on trumpet, would play their favorite jazz tunes in the corner of the restaurant.

“It can be hard getting a comfortable volume level,” Barron explained. “You don’t want to blast the couple eating in front of you, but you want the guy in the back corner to hear you too.”

Most times, they’d play jazz standards for the diners. But sometimes, they’d play tunes that Scesney wrote, which was rewarding for him.

“Recently, I wrote my own arrangement of a Chris Potter tune,” Scesney said. Chris Potter is his favorite sax player. “Anyway, Radiohead played it first, then Chris did an arrangement, and then I did mine off his. You can still recognize it though.”

(This new arrangement will be played by Nate Levenson, a jazz drummer, at his senior recital at Stephens this Friday, April 23 at 7:30 p.m.)

Last week, they played outside the Greek Place in the Village Lane. That way, the other 12 shops could enjoy their jam session.

“It was a little cold out there in the shade,” Barron said. “My fingers were numb.”

But they’re not complaining. They’ve got a regular gig going—at least until June when they break for the summer.

Hear their jazz combo at The Greek Place restaurant most Sundays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

By Marcia E. Gawecki

Dhaivat Mehta loves Kung Fu movies. He’s seen them all at least five times, has got quite a DVD/VHS collection of his own, and can carry on a hefty debate with his classmates on what the best Kung Fu movie is.

“It’s definitely not ‘Kung Fu Panda,'” he said with a groan (referring to the 2008 animated movie by DreamWorks). And they went on to talk about the old masters, such as Bruce Lee and David Carradine, and which films had the worst dubbed lines.

So it’s not surprising that this senior Idyllwild Arts film major would want to write a Kung Fu, or Chinese martial arts, film.

“Prima Ballerina Assoluta,” his 18-minute short film about ballet dancers, started out as a Kung Fu ninja fighters movie, with lots of death and fight scenes, Mehta said.

“But then Isaac (Webb, chair of the Moving Pictures Department) and I realized that the only ones on campus athletic enough to carry off a fight scene were the dancers, so we had to change it a bit,” he said.

The show’s title, “Prima Ballerina Assoluta,” Mehta explained, is an Italian title for a professional ballet dancer.

“We researched it, and it’s a title of utmost respect for an international ballerina with a promising career,” he said. “The title fits our movie.”

“There’s lots of beauty to be explored with dancing” he added, “but we kept some Kung Fu elements, such as a sensei.”

The sensei, or wise dance instructor, is played by Ana Lia Lenchantin, an Idyllwild resident, who hails from Argentina and has acted in a several movies before.

“The dancers act as Lenchantin’s disciples,” Mehta said, “and kneel down before her. You’ll see that in lots of Kung Fu movies.”

“There’s also an awesome chick fight, and it’s not held on the dance floor, but in the dorm room,” he added with enthusiasm.

Those three “chicks” that fight in his film are are dance majors Dakota Bailey and Ellen King, with Miracle Chance, a theater major at Idyllwild Arts.

Bailey was seen in the lunch room last week sporting a black eye. No one batted an eyelash.

“Doesn’t it look great?” Bailey beamed. “It has been so much fun working on this movie. I think I’m going to explore acting more in college.”

Laura Holliday, another film major, created the black eye for her with a “pro bruise kit” purchased online.

“It was really amazing, all the colors that were in there, including blue, black, purple, yellow and green,” she said. “The fight scene took three days to shoot, so I adjusted the colors on Dakota’s black eye each day. By the third day, it was yellow and green.”

To choreograph the fight scene, Mehta had help from Phil Dunbridge, who works in the Admissions Department at Idyllwild Arts, but had a lot of “stage combat” (fight staging) experience in college.

“I really learned a lot from him with the fight scene,” Mehta said. “I told him that I wanted it to hurt to watch that scene, and he listened to me.”

Mehta laughed about some fights he’s seen in old “B” movies, in which the men’s hats remain on their heads.

The list of experts from different departments who helped with “Prima Ballerina Assoluta” grew as production neared. Ellen Rosas, head of the Idyllwild Arts Dance Department, choreographed all of the dance scenes. And Emma Gannon, a senior from the Creative Writing Department, was brought in to help with the dialogue.

“When this became a dance movie with lots of ‘girl chat,’ I realized that I needed some help,” Mehta said. “Emma is great with all kinds of dialogue, and character stuff too.”

Most of the scenes from “Prima Ballerina Assoluta” were shot on campus, including the sound stage, Pearson and Lower Wayne dorms.

After the screenings, Mehta plans to send the short film to a variety of film festivals in the area.

Screenings of “Prima Ballerina Assoluta,” and other short films produced by students in the Idyllwild Arts Moving Pictures Department, will be held at the Rustic Theater on North Circle Drive on Friday and Saturday, May 28 & 29. All shows are free and open to the public.

For more information, contact the Idyllwild Arts Academy at (951) 659-2171 or visit www.idyllwildarts.org.

Copyright 2010 Idyllwild Me. All rights reserved.

Senior recitals continued this week at Idyllwild Arts. With 109 graduating seniors, many of whom are music students, recitals are planned at Stephens Recital Hall each week until the end of May.

On Monday evening, April 19, Charlotte “Charlie” Clist, a violinist and A-Tao Liu, a cellist, got their moment in the spotlight.

In a long black halter dress with green and copper peacock “eyes” around the neckline, Clist looked radiant. Yet, being a defiant teenager, she also had bare feet.

Clist began her performance with a String Quartet by Joseph-Maurice Ravel, “Assez vif-Tres Rythme” with her friends, Lea Hausmann on violin; Sheila Bernhoft on viola, and Ting-Yu Yang on cello. The four kept a good pace, often looking over at each other for timing. Hausmann was modest in her role as second violin. During this piece by Ravel, there was a lot of finger plucking by the string instruments. At the end of this short piece, the quartet held their bows high in the air.

For her second piece, a “Violin Concerto” by the American composer Samuel Barber, Clist was accompanied by her mother, Susan Bird, on piano. Aside from the hair color, the two were mirror images of each other, tall, thin and smiling as they played.

As it turns out, performing together is a Clist family tradition. Her mother plays piano, her father plays the French horn, and her sister plays the cello. After graduation, Clist will likely take a year off from her studies to travel and perform with her family, said Chuck Streeter, who used to drive Clist to her weekly music lessons.

The Barber “Violin Concerto” was a long piece that appeared to last 15 minutes, including the allegro, andante and presto in moto perpetuo. It gave both Clist and her mother quite a workout. When both were playing feverently, one could only envision Barber created something chaotic, like someone falling down a staircase. Several times during breaks in that piece, Clist would absentmindedly wipe sweat from her hand onto her dress.

Clist ended her senior recital as it began: with another string quartet by Ravel performed by the same talented friends. “Allegro Moderato-Tres doux” sounded very pleasant, like springtime. It is not surprising since the French composer is known for his “Impressionist” music with signature melodies and “textures.”

After several bows, Clist received a bouquet of red roses from her fellow violist, Henry Chi.

A-Tao Liu appeared onstage in a red, knee-length dress with layers of subtle ruffles, and high-heeled black pumps. Her waist-length hair was pulled back in a clasp, but hung by her side.

Many of us only see bassoons as part of an orchestra, but in this recital, we got to see one up close. And it’s a very large instrument indeed! Yet, after years of practice, A-Liu handled it with grace, often swaying from side to side as she played. Oftentimes, it sounded like the haunting instrument, but other times, it even sounded like a jazz saxophone or even a clarinet.

“That was jolly,” said Susan Bird (Clist’s mom) after Liu played “Solo De Concert” by Gabriel Pierne. Liu was accompanied by Keri Hui on piano.

“Stick around, there’s more of that to come,” quipped Peter Askim, music director at Idyllwild Arts, who was sitting next to her.

Liu’s next piece, “Valsa da Outra Esquina” by the Brazilian composer, Francisco Paulo Mignone, was performed without any accompaniment. It was just Liu and her bassoon. In between, however, you could hear her taking long breaths to feed the sound of that massive instrument.

During her next piece, “Serenata-Invano by Nielsen, Liu was accompanied by an ensemble of her friends, including Shen Liu on clarinet; Seann Trull on French horn; Monica Yang on cello and Mariya-Andoniya Andonova on bass.

Although the clarinet and French horns were standouts in that piece, it was difficult to hear Liu’s bassoon at times. Like a bass, a bassoon has many low notes and is often the “backbone” of the piece.

Next came the moody “Sarabande et Cortege” by French composer, Henri Dutilleux, that showcased Liu’s ability to play high notes.

For her final piece, “Concert Piece No. 1” by German compose, Felix Mendelssohn, Liu was joined by two more friends, Ruogu “William” Wang on clarinet and leSeul Yoen on piano. During this ensemble, however, Liu’s bassoon didn’t get lost.

During her curtain bows, Liu received bouquets of flowers from her friends. Afterwards, there was a long line waiting to congratulate her. Next year, Liu is trying to decide whether to go to Oberlin College in Ohio or the Manhattan School of Music in New York.

“It’s a cross between ‘The Crucible’ and  ‘Agnes of God,’” quipped Howard Shangraw, head of the Theater Department at Idyllwild Arts, talking about the school’s play next weekend. “It’s not too religious.”

“As it is in Heaven,” a play written by Arlene Hutton, explores generational conflict through the eyes of nine women in a Shaker village in Kentucky. Set in 1838, the play celebrates the music and dance traditions of Shakers, the “Society of Believers.” They meet in plain meetinghouses where they march, dance, sing, twitch and shout. When newcomers start to see “visions,” however, others don’t and start to question their own devotion.

The all-female cast of characters includes: Brooke Herbert as Peggy; Ari Howell as Hannah; Becca Goldberg as Phebe; Jessie Scales as Betsy; Coral Cohen as Rachel; Christine Wood as Izzy; Cathy Velarde as Fanny; Jamie Cahill as Polly and Ana Brett as Jane.

According to information sent by the play’s director, Rendon Ramsey, “Shakers were led by Mother Ann Lee, their founding prophet, who was believed to be the second coming of God. The Shakers followed Mother Lee with total devotion, one that demanded celibacy and constant labor to glorify God.”

Following Mother Ann’s death in 1783, there was an intense period in the Shaker communities in which believers experienced “visions” and “trances.”

Cathy Velarde said that her character, Fanny, is a young character who sees “visions” of angels.

“My character develops into a full arc,” Velarde explained. “At first, she’s really shy and unsure of herself. But once she starts seeing these visions of angels, she gains confidence, and even power in the community.”

Shangraw said that they’re not going to use video to show visions onstage.

“We’re going to use flashing lights,” he said. The type and intensity of light will be left up to Todd Carpenter, the show’s lighting designer.

Ari Howell and Jamie Cahill, who play characters that don’t see visions, said that working on the play has been interesting.

“I’m not really a religious person,” Ari said. “People are entitled to their own beliefs, and I can respect that. But the Shakers were much more spiritual, like me.”

Cahill agreed. She said that the Shakers believed in working all the time, to be closer to God. “All of us are onstage all the time,” she explained. “So if we’re not talking, we’re working in the background. It took some getting used to.”

Both said they were exhausted after rehearsals. “All that working is for the birds,” Ari joked.

Becca Goldberg, who plays Phebe, gets to sing a few songs.“There’s no music accompaniment at all,” Goldberg said.

However, Goldberg has assistance from the play’s choral ensemble, which includes: Sasha Mercuri, Emily Brittain, Kaylee Spates, Madi Cox (who is also Choral Director), Gabby DiMarco, Ali Timmons and Andie Huebsch.

The challenge for those setting the stage, costumes and music for “As it is in Heaven,” is that everything must be created in a simple, humble, and unassuming way like the Shakers themselves.

Costume shop members worked closely with Minnie Christine Waters, the show’s designer, to ensure that the costumes that they selected matched the period. Members included: Riley Lynch, Madeline Otto, Jacob Gershel, Cooper Smith and Ruby Day.

Goldberg scoffed at the costumes, which include long, longsleeved dresses and bonnets with huge brims. “We can’t show any skin,” she said. “And even our hair is covered up!”

Scenic designer Cody Oyama was up to the challenge. His set that he created for “As it is in Heaven” is simple, yet slanted.

“The slant was intentional,” Velarde explained. “The show itself is a little off kilter, so having a slanted set was perfect. There’s also windows hanging from the ceiling.”

Since Oyama plans on majoring in set design in college next year, they gave him ‘carte blanche’ to do what he wanted, Velarde added.

“As it is in Heaven” will play three free shows next weekend, starting Friday, April 23 and Saturday, April 24 at 7:30 p.m., and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 25, at the Boman Theater, located on the Idyllwild Arts campus, at 52500 Temecula Blvd. (at the end of Tollgate) in Idyllwild. For more information, call Idyllwild Arts at (951) 659-2171, ext.2206.

Two divas gave their final piano performance at Idyllwild Arts Academy yesterday evening, April 12, amongst a backdrop of a late snow. The cherry blossoms, lilacs and daffodils were in full bloom, and by day’s end, there was snow all over the ground.

Those students, faculty and friends who braved the cold and attended the senior recital were treated to a warm and entertaining evening showcasing the talents of Georgina Bertheau and IeSeul Yoen.

Bertheau, who appeared in a long, silky, sleeveless burgundy gown and strappy silver pumps, began her five-song lineup with “Prelude and Fugue in D Major,” from “The Well Tempered Klavier,” Book II, by Johan Sebastian Bach.

For those who know, “The Well Tempered Klavier” was created by Bach in two books of keyboard preludes and fugues in all 24 major and minor keys, starting with C major, then C minor, then C-sharp major, and so on. The rising chromatic pattern continues until every key has been represented, finishing with a B-minor fugue.

This piece was a nice warm-up for Bertheau.

Her next piece, “Sonata in G Major, Op. 31, No. 1” by Ludwig von Beethoven, was moody, and intense and the dark sound filled the room. At times, it appeared that Bertheau was angry because she wore a serious expression on her face, as she worked her way through this complex piece.

“Piano Sonata No. 1” by Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera, is not so unusual a selection, giving the fact that Bertheau comes from Costa Rica and Ginastera is considered one of the most important Latin American classical composers.

Like the others, this song was moody and complex, but Bertheau played it with more vitality, showcasing her talents across the keyboard, as the audience enjoyed it.

By the time she returned for her fourth piece, “Etude in G-flat, Op. 25, No. 9,” “Butterfly” by Frederic Chopin, Bertheau had her long hair tied back in a ponytail and her cheeks and chest were flushed crimson. Early on in the piece, she showed real emotion in her face, as she presented this piece known for its staccato and macchiato alterations (resembling the erratic flight of a butterfly.)

Her final piece, “Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23,” also by Chopin, was a perfect ending to a senior recital.

After Bertheau took her final bows, her boyfriend, Connor Merritt, gave her a bouquet of red roses.

Like her name suggests, IeSeul Yoen is a native of Seoul, South Korea. She’s attended Idyllwild Arts for four years, and plans to go to the prestigious Manhattan School of Music in the fall.

Yoen wore a strapless, long black gown with a black jacket. Braided in her hair was a sparkling pin.

Just like Bertheau, Yoen began her recital with “Prelude and Fugue in F Minor,” from “The Well-Tempered Klavier. However, Yoen’s book was created by Bach in 1722, 22 years before the one played by Bertheau. At first, Yoen was concentrating with her head down, and her eyes closed.

By the time Yoen played her second selection, “Sonata in D Major, Op. 10, No. 3,” by Beethoven, she was relaxed and confident, leaning back on the bench as she played. It was an intense and long piece, but Yoen played it with a delicate touch tempered by dramatic pauses.

Afterwards, Doug Ashcraft, her piano teacher at Idyllwild Arts, who also heads the Music department, clapped the loudest and longest. Perhaps he knew of the challenges she faced along the way?

For her third piece, “Alternating Current, Second Movement,” by the American composer Kevin Puts, Yoen relied on sheet music, and the help of the other diva, Bertheau, as page turner, who had changed into a black, knee-length dress.

According to Puts’ web site, the title refers to the alternating meter and flowing nature of the piece.

“It’s a slow dance in which contrasts descending triads with Beethovian pedal points,” Puts said. “My aim was a sense of quiet nobility.”

As an accomplished pianist, Puts knew how to entertain an audience with this piece, and Yoen played it beautifully.

For her fourth and final piece of her high school year, Yoen played “Polonaise in F Sharp Minor, Op. 44,” by Chopin. It was a jazzy, showoff piece, that was dramatic from its introduction. At times, it went round and round, sounding like carousel music. Yoen allowed herself a few confident head turns and smiles throughout the piece, clearly enjoying it.

Afterwards, by the time, she returned for her second bow, everyone was on their feet, hooting and hollering in appreciation. Camille Liu ran up and gave Yoen a colorful bouquet of paper flowers created by her good friend, A-Tao Liu.

Although “diva” is generally attributed to a celebrated female singer, it is also given to women with outstanding musical talent. Such is the case of the two divas, Yoen and Bertheau, in their final performance at Idyllwild Arts. Brava!

By Marcia E. Gawecki

She was the singing voice of Audrey Hepburn in “My Fair Lady,” and Natalie Wood in “West Side Story,” and Deborah Kerr in both “The King and I” and “An Affair to Remember.” She sang Opera, performed on Broadway and won two Emmys along the way. At age 80, one would think that Marni Nixon would rest on her laurels and retire like many legends. However, recently, she performed with other Broadway singers at a “One Night Only” concert in Palm Springs, and then gave a two-hour Master Class at the Idyllwild Arts Academy (IA).

“We were so lucky to get her,” said Doug Ashcraft, head of the Music Department at Idyllwild Arts. “Darren (Schilling, PR) saw that she was appearing nearby, and e-mailed her to see if she’d do a Master Class for us.”

Ashcroft added that Nixon had hosted a Master Class at IA about six years ago.

“I love what I do,” Marni Nixon said when asked why she is still performing. “And I still have to set a good example for my grown children.”

Her son, Andrew Gold, followed Nixon into the music business. She said he is best known for creating the theme song for the TV sitcom, “The Golden Girls.” Her daughters, Martha Carr, became a psychologist and Melanie Gold is a massage therapist. All three live in LA, and Nixon planned on visiting them that weekend.

On April 9, Stephens Recital Hall was packed to capacity with students, faculty and even some Nixon fans who live in Idyllwild.

“I’ve been following you throughout your career,” one woman said later as Nixon was autographing her CD.

Each of the students took turns performing a song of their choosing (with special meaning to them). They included: Everett Ford, Samuel Chan, Preston Pounds, Ruby Day, Joey Jennings, Paulina Kurtz, Becca Goldberg, and Melissa Haygood

“I wasn’t as nervous as I am performing,” said Samuel Chan, a classical voice major, who performed “Loveliest of Trees.” “I knew that she was there to help me.”

For Chan, Nixon suggested that he enunciate his consonants more, and then visualize while he was singing.

“Try and visualize that tree,” Nixon suggested. “Is it old? Is there snow on the branches?” She also said to put emotion behind the discovery of the tree. “Imagine that your rooomate has just died, or something just as traumatic, then you go to the woods to get away, and you come upon this tree.”

Chan performed the song for Nixon again, visualizing the tree.

“I can see you smelling the branches,” Nixon exclaimed, as Chan blushed.

“Can you see the difference?” Nixon asked everyone in the audience and they clapped in response. She added that it was good for classical voice majors to take some acting classes to help them visualize, and for musical theater students to take classical voice for the discipline.

Everett Ford sang a song in German, and Nixon asked him to translate the first and second verses. He said that it was about death and passing away freely.

“Just because the song is sung in German, doesn’t mean you don’t have to enunciate,” she said. “Be Italian, without being ‘fake.’ It will feel strange at first, but then it’ll become more natural. We need to hear the distinction of the words.”

As he performed the song over again, Nixon announced that she was going to “poke” and “pry” at him. She prodded him to stand up straight, and came up behind him, and held onto his rib cage.

“That’s where your voice needs to come from,” she said.

With other students, she mentioned posture, confidence, and the Tai Chi way of  firmly planting your feet on the ground.

After Becca Goldberg sang, “I Never Knew His Name,” about a young girl who didn’t know her father, Nixon was complimentary in her delivery, but critical of her posture.

“This might sound a bit cruel, but the way you’re standing up here says, “Oh poor me, pity me,'” Nixon said. Immediately, she went over to Goldberg and straightened out her spine.

As Goldberg was singing it again, Nixon commanded her  to push against her with all her strength. “You need to get that strength and emotion into your song,” she said. Goldberg sang another song for Nixon, a sassier, jazzier one, and her posture greatly improved.

Throughout her critique, Nixon would always ask the title and composer of the songs. Most of the students didn’t know, and referred to their sheet music at the piano. When Joey Jennings announced his second song, “Bring Home My Youth,” by Oscar Levant and Edward Heyman, Nixon asked Jennings what he knew about them.

“These are famous people,” she said. “Oscar Levant was bitter and funny and honest about his putdowns of people. This is kind of his signature song.”

When Jennings finished the song, he wiped away tears and “flipped the bird.”

“That was a good exercise,” Nixon responded. “Now, next time, instead of being angry underneath, try another emotion.”

When Paulina Kurtz sang, “My Brother Lives in San Francisco,” Nixon said that she wasn’t familiar with it.

“It’s new, and never been performed on Broadway or anything,” Kurtz said. She explained that it was about a girl recollecting her gay brother who moved to San Francisco, and the effects of AIDS.

Afterwards, some of the students in the audience were brought to tears.

“Can you give me a copy of that song?” Nixon asked. “I’d like to share it with some of my students.”

“These Master Classes are a great way for me to stay in touch with modern music,” Nixon said later.

“Just perfect,” Nixon told Melissa Heygood, the last one to perform.

“I don’t think I say it perfectly,” Melissa said later. “I think she was just a little tired.”

After the last performance, Nixon told a little bit about her career, and answered questions from the audience.

“What advice would you give to young people who are just starting their careers, knowing what you know now?” asked Ella Walker, a dance major.

“Have lots of money,” Nixon quipped, as everyone laughed. “You need to have a job at night like computer programming or something, because you need to be up and ready for auditions during the day.”

Others asked if she had travelled to Europe or Asia (because of her Suzuki teaching method) and what type of music genre she preferred.

Nixon talked about her youth, when she and her sisters would sing at local events to make money for their voice lessons.

“Sometimes the teachers would feel sorry for us and give us a break on their rates,” she said.

She said she began singing seriously, with regular performances, at age 10 or 11. Remarkably, at age 17, she performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

“She seems like one of those rare individuals who came out of the womb singing,” said Jessica Scales, a theater major, later.

“I wish we could have heard her sing,” added Andie Hubsch, another musical theater major. “But was nice just being in the presence of a legend.”

Afterwards, Nixon posed for pictures, signed autographs, and sold copies of her CDs and new book, “I Could Have Sung All Night.”

Copyright 2010 Idyllwild Me. All rights reserved.

By Marcia E. Gawecki

On Friday, March 12 at 7 p.m., there was a quiet showing of “The Cove,” this year’s winner of the Academy Award for Best Documentary, at the Green Café in Idyllwild.

In his e-mail prior to the show, Jeffrey Taylor wrote: “Director Louie Psihoyos took home this year’s Oscar for Best Documentary for his stunning heist-like story that is about half Jacques Cousteau and half James Bond. A ‘dream team” of activists venture to Japan to expose the secretive work of a small community of fishermen who slaughter dolphins so they can sell the meat nationally and abroad.

“As hard as it may be to envision, this sensitive and revealing film is both unflinching and mesmerizing in the activists attempt to get answers a la ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ means. Please don’t let the subject matter deter you from seeing this beautifully-crafted film, either tonight or at a later time.”

“I’m going to tell my friends to see this film,” said an elderly woman, one of 15 residents who attended the showing that night. “There’s only about five minutes of graphic killing that I had to turn away. But they have to see it because the message is important.”

Others in the audience included animal lovers, activists and teachers from Idyllwild Arts and Astro Camp.

“Documentaries aren’t like first-run feature films. They don’t come out in DVD right away. It might appear on TV sometime, but it’s going to be hard to rent or buy it, unfortunately,” he said.

However, Taylor plans to show “The Cove” to Idyllwild Arts students following their Spring Break in early April. Betty Bailey, a film instructor, was excited about the possibility of showing “The Cove” to film students and perhaps the entire Idyllwild Arts student body. She didn’t see the film, but had heard good things about it from Will Waddell, an Idyllwild Arts teacher, who did.

For more than a decade on Friday evenings at his Green Café office, Taylor shows a variety of little-known films, including Film Noir, silents, comedies, westerns, horrors and documentaries like “The Cove.” After the Academy Awards last year, Taylor showed the ‘Best Documentary’ winner about a tightrope walker who scaled two skyscrapers.

“I didn’t expect anyone to show up,” Taylor admitted. “But I thought the message was important. They’re killing mammals unnecessarily.”

Those who braved the movie showing said they were surprised that it was less about a brutal portrayal of the killings, and more of a message about how it all started and what one talented filmmaker and activist did to get the message out.

Richard O’Barry, who rose to popularity with “Flipper,” the popular film about a bottle-nosed dolphin in the 1960s, said that he became an activist when “Cathy,” one of the dolphins from the show, committed suicide right in front of his eyes.

Committed suicide? How is that possible? In the movie, O’Barry said that dolphins are intelligent mammals, like us (but with bigger brains), and each breath has to be taken willingly. He thought that Cathy must’ve been depressed about being held in captivity, and killed herself by not breathing.

“She took her last breath and fell to the bottom of the pool,” O’Barry said in the film. “And a week later, I was sitting in jail after cutting dolphins loose.”

O’Barry collaborated with Psihoyos in creating “The Cove,” to get the word out of the massive dolphin slayings that are held each year from September to March in Japan. In a small cove in Taiji, fishermen herd dolphins in from the sea by forming a line of boats and making noises with metal poles. The process is known as “oikomi.”

“Dolphins are keenly sensitive to noise,” O’Barry said in the movie. “They are afraid of the noise and swim to the cove to get away from it. There, they are herded into nets and the bottle nosed dolphins like the ones in “Flipper” are sent to marine parks like “Sea World,” while the other dolphins are brutally slaughtered.

“From September to March, the Taiji fishermen slaughter about 1,000 dolphins a week,” Taylor added.

Their meat is barely edible, because it has high degrees of mercury in it.  At one time, the meat was being given to Japanese school children for their lunches. Mercury poisoning can lead to many kinds of abnormalities, especially en vitro. Since the film came out, the dolphin meat in lunch program has been halted.

But the killing of the 20,000 dolphins has not.

“It’s a little more complex than you think,” said Larry, one of the attendees of “The Cove” showing, who works at Astro Camp, and is also Japanese. “Japan is a small country and doesn’t like being told by anyone what to do.”

He said that he thought “The Cove” showed an accurate portrayal, and didn’t unnecessarily blame Japan for the slaughter.

To make the documentary, the filmmakers went illegally into the cove at Taiji, because they wouldn’t have been allowed in otherwise. It’s a Japanese national park, but “Keep Out” and “No Trespassing” signs are posted everywhere. Furthermore, the fishermen are aggressive in not allowing visitors there during the dolphin-hunting season. Armed with video cameras, the fishermen try and get O’Barry and other activists arrested.

According to the film, anyone can be held in a Taiji jail for 30 days without sentencing.

“Most times, people confess to their crimes after they’ve tortured, which is legal in Japan,” O’Barry said in the movie. He is savvy enough to stay out of jail, but receives regular visits from the mayor of Taiji and the chief of police.

Psihoyos and his ‘dream team’ took high-tech video cameras illegally from the U.S. and brought them in to Taiji to depict the slaughter. They hid the cameras in rocks, on top of the hillside and underwater.

“It was important for us for people to hear the slaughter, as well as to show it,” Psihoyos said.

The crew hid the cameras at night and nearly got caught. Two deep-sea divers who could hold their breaths for 300 feet hid the audio cameras in the cove. Before, they had swum with dolphins and enjoyed the interaction.

Throughout the film, the crew interviewed Japanese politicians who insisted that the dolphin killings were humane because dolphins eat too much of the ocean’s fish, which is depleting rapidly.

“That is so absurd, that I cannot even address that comment,” said one of the representatives at the International Whaling Organization where Japan has presented its case for whaling and dolphin hunting. Dolphins and whales are not depleting the world’s fish population; we are with our massive consumption.

The Japanese government told the Taiji fishermen that they are doing a good community service by killing dolphins, because they are fish-eating parasites.

Unfortunately, “The Cove” doesn’t have a happy ending. In barely six months from now, the Taiji fishermen will continue their annual slaughter of dolphins. “They are nervous, but undeterred,” was the text at the end of the film. Fortunately, dolphin meat, with its toxic levels of mercury, is no longer being fed to Japanese schoolchildren.

What can you do? Visit “The Cove’s” web site, www.takepart.com, or text the word, DOLPHIN, to 44144, for answers. There, they tell you to write your congressmen, donate money and get the word out to others to help stop the slaughter for good.

“I had to show the movie, even if only one person saw it,” Taylor said.

In the weeks following “The Cove” showing, he has remained diligent in getting the word out. He’s put a banner on his web site, www.greencafe.com, which generates about 1,000 hits a day. He also sends weekly e-mails to his mailing list about when “The Cove” makes the news, such as when an LA restaurant was closed for selling illegal whale meat, and when “Heroes” actress Hayden Panettiere visited Taiji recently to meet with Japanese officials. Hayden had appeared in “The Cove” documentary, as one of the surfers who peacefully demonstrated in Taiji.

“Japan would have to do something if 10,000 people descended on Taiji in September,” said a local supporter, who was ready to book her flight. “Babies and animals need our voices, because they don’t have their own. ‘Flipper’ is crying out to us right now.”

For more information, visit www.takepart.com, or text the word DOLPHIN to 44144.

Copyright 2010 Idyllwild Me. All rights reserved.

By Marcia E. Gawecki

“We don’t want just to listen to dead composers,” said Peter Askim, music director and composer-in-residence, Idyllwild Arts Academy. That’s why he took 10 music students to see the Los Angeles Philharmonic on March 12, which included “Five Elements,” a contemporary piece by Qigang Chen, a Chinese composer.

The piece focused on music that sounded like the five elements–water, wood, fire, earth and metal—and changed in two-minute intervals.

“You could really hear the water,” said Sebastian, an Idyllwild Arts music student from Heidelberg. “I’m not a big fan of ‘program’ music, but this one was very good.”

“It was hard to hear it as one piece,” Askim added, “but it had its moments.”

During the “Five Elements,” Askim nudged Yu-Wei “Una” Cheng, a percussionist, to pay attention to the LA Phil percussionists as they played the timpani (kettle drums) and marimbas.

To get authentic wooden and metal sounds, the percussionists relied on several wooden and metal instruments, including a xylophone, a vibraphone and two large marimbas.

Una said that the school has a marimba that she’s played before, and they’re very old instruments.

“Before they make the marimbas, they age a special kind of wood for about 50 years,” Una explained. Only two countries make them, including the U.S. and Japan. She thinks that the one at the school was made in Japan.

Besides Chen’s “Five Elements,” LA Phil’s two-hour program included works by Beethoven and Strauss. For Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, Op 37, Joyce Yang, a young Korean pianist (not much older than the students) impressed the audience.

“She’s a student at Julliard now, but has a great career ahead of her,” added Askim.

According to the brochure, Yang is considered “the most gifted young pianist of her generation.” She has won numerous awards and has played with the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Hong Kong Philharmonic, among others.

Under the direction of Edo de Waart, the chief conductor and artistic director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Yang and the orchestra played Beethoven’s Piano Concerto to the liking of most of the students in the group.

“She played it beautifully and didn’t pound the keys. There was less ‘pomp’ and more romance in her version,” said Andrew Leeson, an instructor and Summer Program coordinator at Idyllwild Arts.

Sebastian agreed. “Beethoven is always played so heavy handed.”

Mariya-Andoniya Andonova, a bass player who was celebrating her birthday that day, came to hear Strauss’ “Ein Heldenleben” or “A Hero’s Life.” There were nine bass players in the LA Philharmonic that day, including a woman from the San Diego Symphony, whom Askim knew.

“They always make me play ‘A Hero’s Life’ during my auditions,” said Mariya, a senior from Bulgaria, who is applying to colleges. “It’s really a difficult piece to play.”

Askim, who is also a bass player, agreed that the bass part of “A Hero’s Life” was challenging, yet good to watch professionals play it. That’s why he encouraged Mariya and Michael Minor, another bass student at Idyllwild Arts, to attend the show.

“No one else will notice (the bass part) because everyone else is playing, but you’ll see Mariya give it her full attention,” Askim teased.

Martin Chalifour, principal violinist, who had solos during “A Hero’s Life,” Chris Hanulik, principal bassist, and Carrie Dennis, principal violist, chatted with the students outside Disney Hall afterwards. Martin and Carrie had recently played with the Idyllwild Arts Academy Orchestra, and Chris is Mariya’s bass instructor.

Connor Merritt, an Idyllwild Arts trombonist, was happy to attend the event. “It’s great to get away from Idyllwild for the day and hear some New Age music,” he said.

Copyright 2010 Idyllwild Me. All rights reserved.

By Marcia E. Gawecki

Out of the thousands of Southern California students who entered the Music Center Spotlight Awards this year, six Idyllwild Arts students have made it to the semifinals. Besides an opportunity to win thousands in scholarship money, Spotlight winners are also invited to summer music festivals, meet influential people and perform before large audiences. In short, it’s a big deal.

For more than two decades, the Spotlight Awards have been providing meaningful recognition, encouragement and advancement for high school students studying music and visual arts. The categories include: ballet, non-classical dance, classical voice, non-classical voice, classical instrumental, jazz instrumental, photography and two-dimensional art.

The six Idyllwild Arts semi-finalists for 2010 include: Martin Peh, Ru Guo “William” Wang and Shen Liu, classical instrumental; Caleb Hensinger, jazz instrumental; Kayla Tuggle, non-classical dance; and Li-An Tsai, for two-dimensional art. Some, like the dancers were eliminated earlier, while the four music students will find out if they made the finals today, Saturday, March 13.

“I’m happy, but it’s hard when you’re up against your best friends,” said Martin Peh, who plays the violin. His friends, William and Shen, both play the clarinet, and are just as stoic.

When William was congratulated recently, he smiled and looked down. “He’s happy, but he’s holding back his emotions,” said his girlfriend, Ai-Ching Huang, an Idyllwild Arts violist.

Last year, two Idyllwild Arts students made it to the Spotlight Finals: Tian-Peng “Timmy” Yu, a sophomore pianist, who won his classical instrumental category and Samuel Chan, a junior, who took second place in classical voice.

Timmy, who won his category, agreed that it could be nerve wrecking. “When they announced the two finalists (from the classical instrumental category) last year, they put us all in the same room,” he said. “Everyone was looking at me. It was kind of awkward.”

“But when you’re one of the two finalists, you’re already won,” Timmy added. For first place in the classical instrumental, he earned a $5,000 scholarship, while Samuel got a $4,000 scholarship. They both have been invited to attend the Aspen Summer Music Program this summer on scholarship.

Timmy said it was exciting to be a finalist. “A Hollywood director takes a video of you, and you get to talk to the media,” he said.

At last year’s Spotlight Awards at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in LA, many Idyllwild Arts students and faculty showed up to support Timmy and Samuel. The short videos depicted their life at Idyllwild Arts with interviews with their music teachers, family and friends. It’s a memento they will treasure for a lifetime, Timmy said, and was later posted on You Tube for all to see.

After the videos were shown, each of the finalists got to perform before the large audience at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

“I can’t wait to find out who made the finals this year,” said Samuel. “I want to pass on the torch.”

There were no Idyllwild Arts students in Sam’s classical voice category, but one visual artist made it to the Spotlight semi-finals this year, Li-An Tsai. She said her small watercolor depicts two people listening to music, she said.

When she received her congratulatory letter this year, Li-An didn’t celebrate for at least two hours. She had entered the Spotlight Awards last year and got a rejection letter. She was sure it was the same thing, but she waited to show her roommate, Geneva Winters, just to be sure.

“She knows English better than I do, and she said that I made it,” Li-An said. By making the semi-finals, Li-An also received $500 towards summer arts classes.

As part of the Spotlight semi-finals process, Li-An was invited to the Bergamot Station Arts Center in Santa Monica with the other finalists from the 2-D art and photography categories on March 6. For two hours, she and her IA friend, Sana Liu, toured four galleries, and talked about art with their sponsor.

“He asked us questions like, ‘What message do you want others to walk away with?’” Li-An said. “It makes you think about what you want your art to say to people.”

On March 20, Li-An will know if she made the Spotlight Finals at a gala the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, in which they’ll showcase all of the arts student’s entries.

“When I told my mom that I made it to the Spotlight Semi-finals, she said, ‘Oh good!’” added Li-An. “I don’t think she knows what an honor it is yet.”

For more information on the Music Center Spotlight Awards, visit www.musiccenter.org.

Copyright 2010 Idyllwild Me. All rights reserved.