{"id":3961,"date":"2019-05-09T15:37:58","date_gmt":"2019-05-09T15:37:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/atb\/?p=3961"},"modified":"2019-05-09T15:37:58","modified_gmt":"2019-05-09T15:37:58","slug":"bluegrass-meets-klezmer-ofer-ben-amots-keith-reed-and-grace-hale-20-join-for-musical-collaboration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/atb\/2019\/05\/09\/bluegrass-meets-klezmer-ofer-ben-amots-keith-reed-and-grace-hale-20-join-for-musical-collaboration\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Bluegrass Meets Klezmer:\u2019 Ofer Ben-Amots, Keith Reed, and Grace Hale \u201920 Join for Musical Collaboration"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Miriam Brown \u201921<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

American Southern bluegrass and Eastern-European Jewish klezmer may seem like an unlikely musical pairing. In fact, when Professor of Music Ofer Ben-Amots first asked Grace Hale \u201920<\/b>to participate in a collaboration combining the musical genres, she wasn\u2019t even sure she heard him correctly. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe repeated himself jokingly,\u201d Hale says. \u2018Yes, Grace. [The theme] is Bluegrass Meets Klezmer. Haven\u2019t you heard of such a thing?\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ben-Amots explained that he, Keith Reed, bluegrass program director, \u00a0and mandolin player Sierra Hull were collaborating for two performances: one on March 31, with the Portland Chamber Orchestra, and one on April 9, with the Walla Walla Symphony. Hull needed her song \u201cSunday\u201d to be arranged for orchestra, and Ben-Amots wanted Hale to do it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was like being thrown off the deep end,\u201d Hale says, \u201cand I was absolutely elated.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This was the second time that the Walla Walla Symphony played Ben-Amots\u2019 music, but Hull\u2019s first time working with an orchestra and Hale\u2019s first time arranging a song. Neither Hull nor Hale knew quite what to expect or how their final product would be received. They had four weeks to prepare the \u201cSunday\u201d arrangement \u2014 four weeks that Hull was on tour and Hale was in Australia for Ben-Amots\u2019 composition block. Needless to say, communication was slim, but Hale felt a sense of peace in accepting the uncertainty of how the product would be received.<\/span><\/p>\n

The performances were so successful that they left Hale wanting to know more. Now, she is studying orchestration independently with Ben-Amots.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt certainly showcased CC and the Music Department in a whole new light,\u201d Ben-Amots said. \u201cGrace Hale\u2019s orchestral arrangement of Sierra Hull\u2019s song \u2018Sunday\u2019 has been highly successful and an artistic breakthrough! \u2026 It\u2019s also a wonderful message to other students: if you are bold and diligent you can get a head start and make a significant mark in the field, during your college years.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Miriam Brown \u201921 American Southern bluegrass and Eastern-European Jewish klezmer may seem like an unlikely musical pairing. In fact, when Professor of Music Ofer Ben-Amots first asked Grace Hale \u201920to participate in a collaboration combining the musical genres, she wasn\u2019t even sure she heard him correctly. \u201cHe repeated himself jokingly,\u201d Hale says. \u2018Yes, Grace. … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “\u2018Bluegrass Meets Klezmer:\u2019 Ofer Ben-Amots, Keith Reed, and Grace Hale \u201920 Join for Musical Collaboration”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":648,"featured_media":3963,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-around-campus","category-kudos","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/atb\/files\/2019\/05\/BluegrassOrchestra.jpeg?fit=960%2C640","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/atb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/atb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/atb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/atb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/648"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/atb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3961"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/atb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3964,"href":"http:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/atb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3961\/revisions\/3964"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/atb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/atb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/atb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/atb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}