Deborah Henson-Conant Interview Page 4

DHC:  Well, right now I’m just trying to recuperate. I don’t mean physically like I’m falling apart or anything. I just mean that everything took second place with this project. I just dropped everything because this was such an amazing project. Right now I have all of this sheet music that I write and a lot of people want to play the music that I write and so I need to get it written and communicate with the printers to get it printed. There’s always sort of day-to-day stuff that completely fell behind.  I’m like right now there’s this song that I sing on the DVD called “Congratulations, You Made It This Far.” The birthday song.

And we have a birthday card that we’ve been selling for years with that song in it as a CD single.  Well, we’re out of them. And I’m just dealing with manufacturers to get it reprinted, a lot of things like that right now are taking up my life.  It’s sort of just getting things back in order after the DVD came out. As boring as that may sound, that’s actually exciting to me right now. And then the other thing that I love to do that I’ll be doing again soon in the fall is that I do a one-woman show and I do that at a theater here in Boston.

Smitty:  Oh, great.

DHC:  And in the spring it starts again with orchestra performances and stuff like that.  But right now it is just getting my bearings underneath me a little bit. Get back on stage solo, which I really love, and then I also perform a little bit with private performances, private concerts which is different. Yeah, it’s very different to be sort of in a very small environment versus this huge, you know, 2,000 seats. And I actually love both. 

Smitty:  Yes, well your music is for all the ages, I think, and you could see that with the DVD as well.

DHC:  Yes, that’s right.

Smitty:  The audience was so diverse.  And everyone, you could tell they were so into it.  It was as though they were on stage with you, and I think that’s just a wonderful thing.

DHC:  Well, that’s great.  I’m really happy to think that people feel that way. It’s very important to me that my shows are….it is something that people will come to together….often people will come to my show and then they’ll come back, bringing their kids. Or young people will come and come back and bring their parents.  And I feel that that’s really important, that I can provide an environment where diverse people can meet. Especially people in the same family.

Smitty:  I can appreciate that. Well, I tell ya, I cannot say enough about this DVD and the CD as well….it’s so colorful, and just looking at the cover itself just tells you that there’s something great inside.

DHC:  Aw, that’s great because we worked really hard on that too. Each aspect of it was very creative and we love the cover and we wanted to give the image, or try to express what’s inside, because what’s inside it’s so hard to describe with words.  I mean, how would you describe it?

Smitty:  Well, after I finished it, I said “This is sort of like an electrifying performance that grabs everyone.” That’s what I said. And then I said “This project should have its own special watermark with gilded edges.” That was my response.

DHC:  Uh-huh.  So I hear that you’re not comparing it to anything or putting it in any category.

Smitty:  No, because I didn’t think it fit in any category.  I think it was music for all tastes and all ages, I really did.

DHC:  Wow.

Smitty:  Yeah, because there was so much there, and the real spice, I think, is your great storytelling.

DHC:  Well, thank you.

Smitty:  I love that.

DHC:  That’s great. I love it. I love to tell stories and I love to hear stories, and to me music is a story.

Smitty:  Yes it is.

DHC:  You know, so and I understand that I’m actually up there saying stories out loud, but the music itself is a story to me as well, and so that is all very integrated, and that’s something that I learned was okay when I went to Scotland.

Smitty:  Oh wow.

DHC:  I mean, I’ve always integrated music and story in terms of musical theater, but in Scotland they do it in some ways more like me.  I often think that what I do is an amalgam of everything I’ve loved. It’s an amalgam of Scottish storytelling, German cabaret, Italian opera, and I don’t know, American jazz and, I mean, it’s just…

Smitty:  I would not put this in a category.

DHC:  Yeah, I know.

Smitty:  I couldn’t.  And I love the humor too.  I think that’s something that we just don’t have enough of.

DHC:  Right.

Smitty:  And I just love that.

DHC:  Yeah, that’s great.  I mean, you’re bringing out many of the things that were really important to us in making it.

Smitty:  Oh, great.

DHC:  It’s very important to me to have humor. I mean, it’s not that it’s important to have humor; I just see the world humorously.  Therefore, if I am going to actually show my vision, it’s gonna have humor in it.

Smitty:  Yeah.

DHC:  And this is what I love about theater….that you can have the transition between humor and pathos….I love that going back and forth between the two and trying to touch all those emotions in the course of an evening, and so it’s great to know that that is working for the 2,000 other people who happen to be in the room.

Smitty:  Well, let me tell you, it is just a magnificent project. And the Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra, they are just…

DHC:  Aren’t they amazing?

Smitty:  They are, wow.

DHC:  Yeah, I love that we were able to show some of the individual playing…

Smitty:  Yes.

DHC: …and some of the individual personalities along with the power that you usually identify with an orchestra.

Smitty:  Yes indeed.

DHC:  Because that’s really important to me since I went into orchestral writing ten years ago and, again, you know, there was the stereotype of like “Oh wow, you gotta be careful.  The orchestra’s all these people in tuxedos,” and I especially with the Grand Rapids Symphony got this feeling of just all this personality and that you could either show it individually and you see the individual personality or you could put it all together and you see this great powerful force.  And I love, again, the transition between seeing them collectively, the collective force, versus the individual power.

Smitty:  Yeah, it’s truly amazing, and I just cannot thank you enough for….and everyone, and Jonathan especially….for putting this together and being so detailed in everything, because it all comes together to be something truly special, it really is.

DHC:  Great, I’m going to pass that on. That is great.  Well, I will say that if people are interested in reading more about the technical aspects of the project, because some people are; I think www.apple.com did….there was an article that they wrote about Jonathan and just about what it was technically. that’s in their archives.  I’m sure you can also find it through my Web site.

Smitty:  Oh wow. So, now, give me your Web site.

DHC:  The Web site is www.hipharp.com.

Smitty:  Yes, and then there’s a Web site for Invention…

DHC:  There’s also a Web site for Invention & Alchemy…  (www.InventionAndAlchemy.com) .…if people just want to go and learn a little bit more about the DVD.

Smitty:  Yes, and it’s available now?

DHC:  Yes, absolutely.  I know it’s on Amazon, I think it’s going be on CD Baby soon, but people can definitely get it through my Web site, and a lot of people choose to do that because if I’m around I can also sign it.

Smitty:  Very cool.

DHC:  Yeah, it is fun. It’s fun to be able to do that.

Smitty:  Well, I can’t wait to see the live performance so I’ve got to get up to Massachusetts.

DHC:  That’s right.  Yeah, well, I’m sure that I’ll be out there, especially if I’m doing the one-woman show, so at some point it would be fun if you get to catch one of those.

Smitty:  Yes, I will. We’ve been talking with the amazing Ms. Deborah Henson Conant about her fantastic career and most notably her great new CD and DVD; it’s appropriately called Invention & Alchemy. I highly recommend this project. Deborah, it has been such an honor, congratulations again on this wonderful masterpiece, and all the very best in 2006 and beyond my friend.

DHC: Thank you so much.

Baldwin “Smitty” Smith

For More Information Visit www.HipHarp.com or www.InventionAndAlchemy.com