Smitty: Would you say that that’s the most striking evolution of your career? Going from the pedals to the strap-on.
DHC: You know what’s funny? It’s funny because to me it’s so self-evident that that’s where the harp needed to go. That it doesn’t even seem striking to me. It just seems like “Of course!” And, I mean, in part because I think I saw or imagined a picture of some harpist back in old times and that’s what they did. They strapped their harps on and walked around playing, and I just thought, well why did we stop doing that? That was good. Let’s do it again. So that evolution doesn’t seem that amazing to me but sometimes we just take things for granted.
Smitty: Yes. The thing I kept thinking about as I was watching the DVD is the harp has so much of your personality. And it’s such a part of you, it fits.
DHC: Yes, and that’s a surprise. It’s like if you end up marrying someone who you never thought you would be with…
Smitty: (Laughs.)
DHC: …and yet the relationship is so much richer than you could’ve imagined. And somebody who you didn’t even think was romantic or attractive And then suddenly there’s just this profound romance that you have or something that they allow you to do, that they can give you freedom. And so that’s kind of how I see it. I’m glad it seems like part of me. I still think, like, my God, am I still playing the harp? I set out to write musical theater and I always felt that the harp was pulling me away from that. The thing that I think is most profound to me about Invention & Alchemy is that I feel like I finally got to realize and that rather than taking me away from the heart of what was important to me about music, the harp was able to bring me to the heart of that, and to pull some things together from me that I never thought I would be able to pull together. Like to be able to write for an orchestra but to have the conductor be the kind of theatrical presence that he was (David Lockington).
Smitty: Yes he is.
DHC: Yeah, I mean, that was….Jonathan [Wyner], my husband and also the producer of the DVD, and I were talking about that again this morning, just about how when the project first started, we didn’t even know whether David [Lockington] would agree to be the conductor, and that it was a real turning point for us the moment that we realized he was on board. And then we realized that he was on board big time and that he was not only going to conduct but that he was going to collaborate with us in every artistic sense of the word.
Smitty: And he truly enjoyed himself during that production, I could tell.
DHC: Yeah.
Smitty: He really had a great time with it.
DHC: He did and, you know, the piece with the cello.
Smitty: Yes.
DHC: When we first started working on Invention & Alchemy, I said “So, David, what’s important for you in this project?” And he said—and I think this is in the DVD….he said “Deborah, all I want is that you write a piece that we can play together.” And, you know, I had many thoughts because David is not just a great cellist, he also has a beautiful voice and he’s theatrical and I just loved what we ended up doing….which was the Scheherazade, you know, being the sultan. That was very exciting to me because I’d been working on that piece for many years in many different permutations and I felt like it finally came alive and became what I always envisioned because of him.
Smitty: Yes, it was very colorful.
DHC: Yeah, yeah.
Smitty: Vibrant and a lot of electricity there. I could feel that.
DHC: Yeah, it was so wonderful to work with him on that, and to see him invest in it musically and dramatically was just so exciting. As a composer it was exciting and then to actually get to collaborate with him, to play with him was also exciting.
And it was funny because my best friend, who’s a cellist, and we used to have a harp and cello duo, and I made her come up and try to work it out with me because I couldn’t work it out with David because he’s in Grand Rapids, and I still have the tapes of her and I working on it, and when I go over and I say “No, no, no, you have to grab the cello like this and do you mind if I touch it?” No, it’s fine. I’d say “No, go like this. Whack it like this.”
Smitty: (Laughs.) Those are fun memories.
DHC: Oh yeah. I loved all the creativity that went into this project, and we had creative collaborators who you don’t even see on screen. There were directors who came and coached us on a lot of the physical aspects and theatrical aspects of it. And then there were just surprising things that happened like in the “Danger Zone,” the one about the mad scientist. I said, you know, “I need somebody who could hold a clipboard” and they said “Oh, oh, John Clapp, the Personnel Manager. He is perfect.” And that’s one of my favorite pieces of the DVD is watching this guy and he made up everything. I don’t know if you remember the things he did like he was measuring everything on his page. He just took it on in such a way that I would never have even imagined.
Smitty: (Laughs.) Well, that’s improvisation at its best, you know?
DHC: Yeah, yes, it was, and I felt like they were all willing to do that. How often do you get a whole orchestra who is not only willing to all put on lab coats, but who will go out and get the lab coats so they can put ‘em on?
Smitty: Well, Deborah, you create such a vibe that not only was everyone willing to do all those things, but I noticed the shots of the audience.
DHC: Yes.
Smitty: They were so into it and then your interaction with them. They were so into the performance and everything. They loved it. It’s what you create that causes everything around you to happen and I think it’s beautiful.
DHC: Well, thank you. It’s really fun to have the opportunity to do that and to do it on that level.
Smitty: Yes. And before I forget. I just want to congratulate everyone that had anything to do with this project because there are so many people, like you mentioned, even on the cover, on the inside flap of the CD. There’s all of the musicians and great people, even the guest conductor John Varineau.
DHC: Right. Yes, yes, yes.
Smitty: I mean, this was a collaboration of so many people that really just demonstrates what can be done if everyone pulls right in there and just becomes a part of it.
DHC: Right. Yeah, I agree. I must say that Jonathan, my partner. We had not worked together in this way exactly on a project and he was really the force behind that.
Smitty: Oh yes.
DHC: I mean, of course I’ve played with this orchestra, and this orchestra and I have a very special relationship, which is why this happened at all. This whole project happened because I went to play with them, one of the people in the audience came up afterwards and said “I loved what I saw on stage there. I’d like the whole world to see that.”
Smitty: Isn’t that beautiful?
DHC: Well, it’s beautiful. I mean, people say that, but this man really meant it, that he wanted to make that happen, and that’s why it happened with me with this orchestra because we already had this magic between us and then David came along and that just like upped the ante because he and I had already had a musical relationship years before then in another orchestra. So there was just this whole meeting…. originally this project was just supposed to be a CD. And Jonathan was the one who said “No, that does not show your work. That’s not your work. Your work is as a performer and engaging everything, it’s not just the sound. It’s the sound and it’s the visuals and it’s how you’re involving with everyone, the audience and the people on stage. It has to be a DVD so that we can capture all of that.”
Smitty: Well, I totally agree with him.
DHC: Yeah, I do too.
Smitty: And I’m so glad he had such a great vision to pull this together.
DHC: He did and it was exciting to work with somebody who had a vision that sometimes I didn’t get at first and I’d say “I don’t understand. Why are we doing this? I don’t get it.” And then afterwards I’d say “Oh, I see.”
Smitty: Well, you seem….and I know Jonathan has seen this….you are so in your element on stage. I mean, from the very beginning of the DVD, when you told the minstrel story, I was so captured immediately. I said “You know, she’s so into this, she’s so in charge, and this is her. This is her place.”
DHC: Well, you know, you’re absolutely right. That is my place. I feel completely safe on stage in a way that I don’t in the rest of the world. And I think a lot about that and I wonder a lot about it, and both my aunt and my mother were divas, in a very good way, and they came alive. And my aunt, who is still living, still does. They come alive for me on the stage and they became accessible to me in a way on the stage.
I think that a lot of other people think that when someone gets up on a stage it’s stagy and it’s acting. My experience was the opposite, that when I would see them on the stage, there was a truth and an intimacy that there couldn’t be often in “real life.” I could reach them and they could reach me, and I would say that’s even to a certain extent true of my father as well, that communicating through music in that way allowed me to reach them, and so when I go on stage I love it. I just feel safe.
Smitty: Would you believe that your audience feels the same way?
DHC: Yeah, thank you. I do believe that. Because I think that’s how I felt and feel in the audience of a person who loves to be on stage.
Smitty: Absolutely.
DHC: Yeah, and I love it. I mean, I love seeing performers who love to perform. I’m like the greatest audience.
Smitty: Yes, I love it. So, now, what’s coming up? You’ve got several dates where you’re performing. Anything else new coming up?
