>> From the Library of Congress in Washington DC. ^M00:00:04 ^M00:00:23 >> Larry Appelbaum: Good evening, everyone. Welcome. Glad you can make it. My name is Larry Appelbaum. I'm one of the music specialists here in the Music Division of the Library. I think everyone is gathered here tonight in anticipation with this concert we're about to hear. And it is with great pleasure that I'm going to take a few minutes to talk with the composer, the arranger, and the band leader, Maria Schneider. Please help me welcome her. ^M00:00:52 [ Applause ] ^M00:00:59 So here we are and we're about 90 minutes before show time. What kind of things go through your mind? Do you have like a checklist of things that you have to do before concert? >> Maria Schneider: Well, it depends, like tonight we're playing a piece called "Cerulean Skies" that has bird calls and I don't have my people from the audience that participate. There is supposed to be birds around the room. So, I'm like, OK. Somebody said we have to hermetically seal the bird calls or putting tape around them so that people don't get germs. ^M00:01:28 [ Laughter ] ^M00:01:29 You know, those kind of-- There's a lot of logistical things. And then there is talking to somebody in the band because we're doing a premiere, you know, so talking about, "Hey, when you do that line, can you try this?" You know, just always a few little last minute details. >> Larry Appelbaum: Speaking of this premier tonight, Maria has been commissioned to write a new work and you will be the first audience to hear it. Why don't you tell us a little about the piece itself, what context it comes out of, and maybe something about the music? >> Maria Schneider: OK. So, whenever I get a commission, I-- I don't know, I almost panic a little bit, feel a lot of pressure, you know, torture. And I started working on this and writing and there were a few things that came to me. One was that as I was working on it, the-- it was a little bit of a different sound and a different approach and a different something that-- than what I had before and I immediately recognized that it was the influence of having worked with David Bowie a year and a half before and the project that we did and the kind of attitude and the sense of freedom and fun and risk-taking that he made me feel very comfortable doing and kind of that he reveled in. So, it's got some of that and it's got the intensity. He really liked my intense dark music. And it kind of made me explore that dark side. But then as I as writing it, also at the same time, many of you maybe know or if you don't know, I will tell you, I'm quite into the whole thing of what is happening right now in our digital world and rights for music creators and creators of all kinds. But specifically my interest from my perspective is music creation and this idea that there are these companies that are sort of seducing us with the idea of seducing musicians that exposure is wonderful, seducing everybody that, you know, more is better and this concept that free is just the way it has to be. But it's very conveniently-- it's very convenient that the people that are making it free are actually becoming very, very rich off of it. There's a massive redistribution of wealth to these small companies that are becoming huge and they are big data companies. And, you know, we're talking like Alphabet, Google, YouTube and this kind on inducement of infringement to gather this data. And this data is making these companies like Google more and more powerful. And there are people and scientists and people that speculate that by the year 2035, artificial intelligence could become more intelligent than we are. And actually, that could be catastrophic. You know, some say utopian, some say catastrophic and it could go different directions. For-- I can tell you for the music industry right now, it-- or not the industry, the music makers, the people that make the music because you have the music industry, you have the internet, big data-- and the piece I wrote is called "Data Lords". So the data lords, but what they're resting on and how they're attracting people to amass all these data is on the music creator. You know, that's the attractor, make that free and then you get all these eyeballs and then you get the information of how people move around. So, the piece is about the seduction and then this gathering of data. So there's this intensity that comes through and it just kind of overtakes us at the end. ^M00:05:18 [ Laughter ] ^M00:05:19 We'll see. So, "Data Lords", yeah. >> Larry Appelbaum: "Data Lords", yeah. >> Maria Schneider: So, and also, as I was writing, I thought, well, this is perfect, you know? I'm going to Library of Congress, you know? Oh, there's a copyright, you know? It's like OK, Washington D.C., this is a good place to unleash my-- the holy hell of the data lords. ^M00:05:37 [ Laughter ] ^M00:05:38 >> Larry Appelbaum: It's interesting to hear you talk about that, because I want to know what choices a creative artist has today when faced with these things. I mean, you talk about the seduction of promotion, for example, or exposure. Well, of course, when people are starting out, they need-- in fact, they feel they must have that. But what real choices do people have other than to be co-opted? >> Maria Schneider: The-- For me, I'm-- I would say that I'm one of the few musicians that has managed in this climate of what's going on, and I became very inoculated before it really hit luckily because a friend of mine started this company called ArtistShare. And the whole idea is that the artist owns their own work, the artist sells directly to the fan through the internet and through ArtistShare that they share all the data. So when somebody buys my music or-- you know, through my site, I know who they are. It's not some other company using that data but it's my information. And the idea is that I am not just sharing music but I'm sharing the whole creative process. So whenever I do a project, I announce I'm going to be doing a project. I don't have to start from square one each time because I have amass this fan base now, because I've been doing project after project, commissions and recordings, and recordings that are $200,000, and managing to pay for them because of this relationship that I've made. So, for me and what I tell all musicians now is self-ownership is king, having your own relationship with those people that you establish, that relationship of trust and respect, giving them things that are fun. So they feel like, you know, wow, this is so much more special than, you know, just going and streaming something somewhere. Wow, I'm getting this whole inside story. And it's fun for me. The connection is beautiful because it's-- Yeah, so it's that. And then the other thing is there is a group of us in New York that have started, you know, a campaign called Musicanswers.org. And one thing that's happening in this-- in the music industry and even with people that, you know, lobby, Congress and everything, is that some of the music organizations that are doing it, they are doing wonderful work but there is a little bit of a problem and that sometimes the record companies and the publishers are in those organizations with the people that make the music. And some of those record companies and publishers have actually joined the data lords. You know, Sony, Universal, Warner all took equity-- and Spotify, Spotify is a data lord. You know, they're making music free to attract eyeballs to amass data and sell advertising and with a lack of transparency. So the idea that we had was to start this campaign where we educate musicians and people, any-- all of you can join. You can go and sign up and just say, "I'm a fan of the music, I'm in the music industry," or "I'm a composer, a songwriter, a producer or performer." That's who we're advocating for. So we have videos up about YouTube. We're going to have things you should always have in a publishing contract, language you should never have in a publishing contract, the idea of empowering musicians because we have been sitting ducks for so long because, first of all, we love what we do and what we most want is that you love what we do. So, if you-- if many musicians will just give it away just to be appreciated, and of course, you know, industry looks at this and say, "What a bunch of idiots," you know? And to some extent, musicians and artists, there was a history of feeling like you're-- that if you are the starving artist, there is something-- that's an incredible story, you know? So it's like, wow, they actually feel more special when they're a starving artist, excellent, you know? ^M00:10:04 [ Laughter ] ^M00:10:05 You know, let's use them up and suck them dry, you know? So this is-- So to me, it's education and it's very difficult to move Congress and, you know, the Subcommittee on Intellectual Property is very difficult to move that when you've got buildings of lobbyists from Google and YouTube and this revolving door between government and these companies. But, if the-- if you have the power of this list of names-- and we have Carole King, we have Herbie Hancock, we have so many people now, you know, just a lot of musicians and students and everybody. And if we're all getting this knowledge and we're saying we are watching you and we do not like what you're doing, suddenly there's a shame factor. And so sometimes, I think that the strongest change you can make is that, you know? And then everything has to change, you know, rather than mandating it through law, but yes, I would like the law to change regarding the digital rights and Safe Harbor Rules and all these things. But, you know, you have to be reasonable, too, and we don't know what can change. >> Larry Appelbaum: Every time I hear you speak about this and others, I wonder who really owns the music. We often prefer to believe that the creators do, the people who actually dream up or even manufacturer or record or whatever it might be, that creative process. But who really does own the music? >> Maria Schneider: Well, I guess it-- I mean to me, the person that creates the music, the copyright holder, the person who makes the music. I mean if you-- there is that other level too that you can copyright a recording. But, you know, the thing that people forget and I think what's happened is as we've gotten from the physical product-- and a guy, Marshall Gilkes, in my band, he just did a panel about this. And he came up with an incredible point that I hadn't thought about. He said, "You know, it wasn't that long ago when Tower Records said they would wrap those CDs in those plastic things that would beep when you would go out and the cop would arrest you if you stole that, you know?" So what is the difference between that and grabbing the file somewhere? So, you know, I think people have come to think that if music is out there, that sort of ephemeral, beautiful thing, it's all of ours, it's so easy to access. But it is an asset. You know, when you write that music, the investment. When I made my last recording, "Thompson Fields", it's a $200,000 recording. Just recording it, you know, the planning of it, the mixing-- the editing, the mixing, the mastering, the putting the book together, it was a full year where I couldn't really work and make money that much because I was doing that. So that $200,000 doesn't include that I wasn't paid. Now, we haven't talked about the years proceeding up to it writing all the music. So we're talking like a $400,000 investment. That's an asset. That's my 401(k), right? ^M00:13:16 [ Laughter ] ^M00:13:17 So this is like-- you know, I remember Congress. I just-- I wanted to look at them and just say, just imagine-- because I got to testify before the Subcommittee on Intellectual Property. And I didn't get the chance to say it, but I wanted to say, imagine if, you know, we build some kind of app that could go on to your 401(k) that was just like, oh wow, this is so cool. People can just take little snippets off from Farenthold and this and that, you know, just grab Chaffetz, you know, like he's got a lot of money, let's take some of that, you know, oh yeah, share, free for all. Isn't this fun, isn't this great? But then add to it that the people that are doing that aren't just taking the money, they're actually becoming rich from it because they're gathering the information from this thing. I mean, it's incredible. So, yeah, no, the musician owns the music if that's what-- that was your question. No question. >> Larry Appelbaum: And see, I thought it was the publisher. >> Maria Schneider: No. If you give the publisher-- If a musician gives the publisher the rights and then there are, you know, rights to kind of administer and there's-- and some of these publishers, there's a lot of questions with what the publishers can do because right now there are really, what, a lot of composers consider to be huge breaches because they have-- there's these organizations called PROs that are these performing rights organizations like ASCAP. Like tonight, you know, they pay a license here. So when my music is played in this hall or if it's on the radio, they collect these royalties from restaurants and everywhere and they divvy it out to the people whose music there are. Well, there's PROs, now suddenly the publishing companies are making these moves to try to private license and take these people out of their PROs. And there's a transparency in the system that's been working. And the loss of that when the publishers start taking these-- you know, overstepping or-- you know, or if an artist gives away those rights because they feel that they want that advance or whatever it is they're getting, boy, and you lose that transparency. Now you're settling with a publisher that says, you know, oh, he won't notice that he's not getting that much royalty, she's our new artist and we want to make her happy, let's put-- you know, they can kind of divvy it how they want and you don't really know. So, it's a very-- that's why for me in this business, transparency and self-ownership is everything. I wouldn't give my music to anybody. >> Larry Appelbaum: And it's important that there-- that you have some kind of consciousness about these issues, otherwise you are at their mercy. >> Maria Schneider: Of course. And people are starting to wake up. People are starting to wake up. I think for a lot of musicians that have these contracts, maybe their contract, you know, gave a record company or a publisher whatever the right to distribute their music in different ways and it didn't specify only by CD or download. So, all of a sudden, these people-- you know, I don't know exactly what the legal which that people haven't had in their contract, but I would imagine it wasn't specific enough. So, all of a sudden, these people are like, OK. Well, you know, so if Sony, Universal, and Warner have like 80% of the world's music or something close to that and they have all these people that have these contracts that didn't have the specific language that you said, you know, it doesn't cover any-- any, you know, method of copying or whatever beyond the CD and the download. OK, all of a sudden now, these people say, OK, now, we'll give this to you Spotify in exchange for equity. And these people are stuck, stuck on something. The other night we did talk here and I brought a wonderful young musician named Spree Wilson with me. This kid has had 45 million streams on Spotify. And, you know, I don't know how often they pay if it's a quarter or whatever. He's never had a check for more than $60 from them, somewhere from 30 to 60. Now, 45 million streams, I'm telling you, that's big time, you know? If I'm paying for $200 record with my small big band audience, we're talking, you know, a mailing list of like 20,000 people and not all of them are buying and I'm paying for that record, you can see what my numbers are. Then you imagine 45 million. So, you know, after he talked to me, he was like, "Wow, I think I might want to be doing what you're doing," you know? So, you know, we just have to change the consciousness. People have to wake up. And that's what the MusicAnswers is about. It's like, "Hello, guys. Let's wake up, see what's happening." >> Larry Appelbaum: So, you're talking about the context for this piece and what sort of inspired you to write it. Can you tell us a little bit about the music itself and how that animates the argument or how that summarizes or captures your feeling about it? >> Maria Schneider: Well, the music has some beauty and it has some seduction, you know, I think, you know? But it has-- always underneath, the drums are always moving fast time. And that never stops. So it's just this-- well, all of this is going on, there's always the thing here just grabbing, grabbing, grabbing, you know, digging, digging. And then I'm doing a thing with the band where I was imagining-- it's very difficult to write music, period, let's just say that. But it's also when you add to it a little bit of the [inaudible] element and, you know, the rhythm section and the mailability and the exchange of ideas that can happen, it's hard to know exactly where those things are going to unfold, how far they're going to go. There's a certain understanding that comes through performing the music, you know, many times that people start to realize how far they can stretch, what risk they can take and keep the context of the feeling. So, it takes a while to do that. But I was trying to imagine behind these solos and fathom where they might be going and what that rhythm, what the drummer might feel like if he's playing the fast time. And I decided to create the band that is composed out of time, so I'm conducting everything free over the time but I have to listen really carefully because I have to count where they are. So, they're like one, two, three, one, two, one, two, and I'm doing these "cha-cha-cha-cha-cha." I have the whole band, I just gave them like repeated notes. And then I just look at them and "cha-cha-cha-cha.", cha-cha-cha-- it's kind of fun. It kind of feels like [inaudible], you know? So, we're-- So it's very gestural and I've never done anything like that. So, it's kind of-- it's unique that way. ^M00:20:10 >> Larry Appelbaum: And we will hear the first performance tonight. So, will there be an intermission here or are you going to do one long-- >> Maria Schneider: We're going to do it straight. We're going to do a straight 90 minutes and we're doing a variety of music. We're playing-- Luckily this is a pretty live strong hall, so we're playing a couple of real strong pieces and then we're playing a lot of like more-- almost pastoral-- a lot of my music from my last album was very inspired by where I'm from, Southwest Minnesota, wide-open prairie landscape and kind of that open-- he was just saying that I didn't realize that the premiere for Appalachian Spring was here. When I was a kid-- >> Larry Appelbaum: In that same room? >> Maria Schneider: -- that was one of those pieces that made me -- I wore that record white. And that was one of those records that made me want to just, you know, become-- you know, the small chamber version, you know? It made me want to become a composer. And for one brief period, my sister knew Aaron Copland's nephew or something and I was like, "Oh, my god, maybe I'm going to meet him someday." Anyway, yeah, so you'll hear some of these pieces that are inspired by nature. I'm a big lover of birds. Are there any birders [phonetic] in here? Oh, my god. OK. So, migration's on. What-- Have you seen any warblers down here yet? They got to be coming soon. Your trees are green. They're not quite like that in New York. I've seen the phoebes are coming through up north. Anyway, so, I'm very inspired by nature and birds and things like that, and so that's-- that balances out the Data Lords. >> Larry Appelbaum: I love hearing you mention that recording that you were out of Appalachian Spring. >> Maria Schneider: Yeah. >> Larry Appelbaum: Do you remember the first record that you bought with your own money? >> Maria Schneider: "Snoopy and the Red Baron". ^M00:22:08 [ Laughter ] ^M00:22:09 >> Larry Appelbaum: By the Royal Guardsmen. >> Maria Schneider: It might be. You know, I'm really not sure. I'm trying to think if it's with my own money. Oh, man. >> Larry Appelbaum: Because then you know it's going to be important. >> Maria Schneider: It might have been-- It might have been "Tapestry". >> Larry Appelbaum: Wow, really? >> Maria Schneider: It might have been "Tapestry". It might have been the "Fifth Dimension". I don't know. I don't remember at what point. You know, our records, when they were all sold in the clothing store. What a great era? Have any of you-- We were talking the other day about the Brill Building-- >> Larry Appelbaum: Yeah. >> Maria Schneider: -- you know, where the songwriters wrote together and-- there's a wonderful book called "All was Music in the Air". Have any of your read that? Great book about, you know, the song writing collaborators that worked in that building. It was just such a great era of music, you know, to come up. And so, I don't know, I can't really remember at what point I came of age to actually pay for my own records. >> Larry Appelbaum: But you are listening to radio, there was music around the house? >> Maria Schneider: Records mostly. Records. You know, it's Katie OM Radio on Wyndham exactly, you know. It's a town of 3,600, you know, but I listen to a lot of records. And then I was just voracious going through music. My mom had a lot of piano music around, you know, and everything from, you know, a classical music she'll pan everything. And I just-- And then a lot of show music. I was really in love with the song, you know, the "American Songbook", Cole Porter and Harold Arlen, and Rogers and Hammerstein. I just absolutely love that music. And my piano teacher really thought me to play stride and dress up those songs, you know? So, she was equally appreciative of that music as she was in making me analyze Beethoven and play a Beethoven sonata. So-- >> Larry Appelbaum: Is this Evelyn Butler? >> Maria Schneider: This is Evelyn Butler, yeah. >> Larry Appelbaum: Yeah. >> Maria Schneider: Great, great teacher. >> Larry Appelbaum: Yeah, I like how you described her lesson for teaching you about tonality. And certain scales or certain chords-- >> Maria Schneider: Yeah. >> Larry Appelbaum: -- would represent certain feelings again in nature. >> Maria Schneider: Yeah, you know, she-- the very first lesson with her-- so this is the woman she had been stride pianist in Chicago, classical pianist, and really high level. If any of you remember Dorothy Dunnigan, I compare her to be-- and they were about the same age and they were both from Chicago. So, if you know Dorothy Dunnigan, that's Mrs. Butler. That fused kind of play and just light the room up, you know, when she would play. And she was very-- I always describe her, you know, she had red hair, she wear [inaudible] but she has a face of [inaudible] kind of. ^M00:25:02 [ Laughter ] ^M00:25:03 You know, she had like this-- and kind of magnificent personality. And my first-- And I was very attracted with Dorothy because I have red hair too on top of everything. And the first lesson she-- and I still have all my little music writing notebooks, which I thought of when we went to the copyright like all the-- >> Larry Appelbaum: The copyright deposits. >> Maria Schneider: Yeah, the deposits and things. But I have all these and all the beautiful things we have in our archive, people's notes and things. So I have all the stuff and I love looking at it. So she would play a major triad and then sing, "Bright the day". And then minor and sing, "Dark the night". And she said everything in music is a feeling and there's something behind called theory. And I want you to understand why the music you play feels the way it feels. And you're going to analyze everything you play so we're going to have this music writing notebook and she started teaching me about one, four, five, one, which is the basis of tonal harmony that pieces start somewhere. They go away. They culminate and feel like they got to go back home. And so her thing for the one, four, five, four was, "Here we go, up the hill, back again home". "Home" is tonic. "Up the hill" is subdominant. Dominant is-- And you know, this is a woman who was a professional musician. I don't know to what degree she studied pedagogy, but I know something, I don't know anybody that ever had a childhood piano teacher like that. And the only reason she ended up in Wyndham was her husband and she had a daughter and a son and a husband. Her husband, his name was Ken Butler and he had been with the Miller Band for a while. And he fell in love with her. She always says because she had been married and divorced and she said her first husband was lazy and horrible. And she said she was in a bar one night and Ken walked in and she said she plays like a man, I'm going to marry her. So, anyway, he died and her son both died in like within a month. It was a really short period. And her only living family was his daughter that had married a chiropractor in Wyndham. So, this woman who would never end up in this little farm town did. And so, you know, to my-- you know, I don't want to say in a great fortune because it was such a deep misfortune for her, but it's an extraordinary thing that I got to rush with that lady and I will always appreciate that. >> Larry Appelbaum: Now, clearly she thought you about playing piano. Did you ever gig as a professional pianist? >> Maria Schneider: Very little. Very little. A few little gigs here. And, you know, I never had-- she has such extraordinary technique. And in Wyndham, everybody thought I was amazing, you know, but I knew I wasn't and I had a special painful realization. There was a farm family in-- outside of Wyndham that had a relatives coming to town and they invited us. I've never been to their house, but they're very wealthy. And we went to this Christmas party and they had a Steinway in their house. I was like, "Holy smokes." And this family came from the east, they're relatives and this girl has just won some Mozart competition. So, after dinner, she sat down and played her Mozart concierto and-- I mean, her runs were flawless and I was just-- I remember just sitting there just thinking I can kiss music goodbye. I will never-- I will never have that in my hands. I just-- And with Mrs. Butler, too, I knew I could feel my potential for technique and I knew I didn't have it. I knew I love playing. I knew I have music in me. I dreamt of being a composer but I felt like it was way too lofty of a goal, you know? I couldn't go to college and say I want to be a composer, you know? Actually it took until somebody said to me, "Hey, you seem to have some talent for composing." Then it was like, "Oh, OK." You know? I was always, you know, waiting for the validation. You know, I would-- I never proceeded with confidence. He said the other day, "You seemed like you're very confident." I was not at all. I was very scared and apologetic and, yeah. >> Larry Appelbaum: I have, of course, have many questions I would love to ask Maria. But I want to give you a chance. If anybody out there has something gnawing at them who are just dying to know, here's your chance. Here's a question. Hold on. There's a microphone right there. >> I'm curious about your year with Gill Adams and what happens. >> Yeah. So I got to work-- So I love Gill Adams so much and he was-- I would say, he was more responsible probably for anybody, for me, doing this along with Bob Brookmeyer and others who I love, you know, Dan Jones [assumed spelling], Newt Galington [assumed spelling] and whatever. But there was something about Gill's music being such-- because I told you, I grew up loving these different kinds of music equally. ^M00:30:06 And Gill's music, it wasn't some of the third stream music I always felt a little bit like it locked like this. Gill's music mixed idioms like it was just water, you know? And I love that you could feel those lines. And so it was dream to study with him. And I wanted to and in college I wanted to apply for a national endowment grant study with him. And then, one of my teachers said "Oh, you know, he smokes pot all the time." ^M00:30:36 [ Laughter ] ^M00:30:37 He has a [inaudible], he is the recluse and that's just-- you know, put that dream away. And still, I tried to call. It was amazing back then calling an operator on a dial phone and then, "Gil Evans, 212, you know, 555-1212." And they gave me his number and I got a message machine that's said, "If you wish to speak to Gil, speak after the beep." And I got so freaked out I hung it up. And then, by chance I'll tell you-- and I'll tell you how I ended up meeting Gil. But what was funny is that-- and that wasn't Miles Davis speaking, it was his son whose name is Miles who kind of talk like that or something, I don't try to. Anyway, the way I met Gil I was working at-- I was working at a Xerox machine in a music copy office. I made my living as a calligraphy, pen and ink, inkwell pen, copying parts for composers in an office in New York for eight years, pretty full time. And one day I was Xeroxing a score for a composer and we got talking and he was asking me about who I loved and I was telling him about Gil Evans and he was telling me about things he was into. And we exchanged numbers. He was a composer who knew people that I know and had gone up to Eastman recently. And he had this big dense score. It looked very interesting. His name is Tom Pearson. He was in Japan now. And then he called me that night and he said I didn't tell you today that Gil happens to be like my closest friend. And I told him about you and he wants to meet you. He needs somebody to assist him. So then I got this chance to work with him and it really-- Spree Wilson was asking me, too, on the train coming back yesterday after the advocacy thing. He said, "What was it like to work with Gil?" And I said, pretty much like working with Yoda, you know? ^M00:32:22 [ Laughter ] ^M00:32:23 It was just like-- It was like being with this-- you know, this wise old soul, you know? And he did everything so in his own very unique way, you know, with his own perspective, breaking the-- breaking rules to find things, making instruments play on their most uncomfortable range, kind of like the beginning of Rite of Spring, you know? You know, you got the bassoon playing this-- that's bringing out the stride quality. Gil was always playing with those kinds of things that you don't-- those are the things that make you have a voice and that your music just embodies you. And so, being around that long enough and then also studying then I got the endowment grant. I study with Bob Brookmeyer who was a whole another world equally strong in another realm, mainly formal development. And between being with these two forces, it really at a certain point I was like I have to start my own band because this is-- these people are so strong and I realize what they are. They are just so committed to their own ideas, and I have to find my own ideas and become committed to them, that's what I need to do if I want to have a voice. And so, they were very helpful with that. >> Larry Appelbaum: Who else has a question? Over here, Jay. >> Actually, [inaudible] so I'm going suggest you become like a little mini data lord and exploit the I stuff so that-- >> Use the mic, please. >> I'm sorry. So when these tickets go on sale, maybe like five days before something, you send everybody that lives in this area little blaster that says, "Hey," so that some of us who [inaudible] to Manhattan in November to see you at the jazz standard get a shot at getting tickets here not like wait until-- >> Maria Schneider: Yeah, the last-- >> That night when you see on the Library of Congress thing and they're all gone. >> Maria Schneider: Yeah, yeah, yeah. >> So-- >> Maria Schneider: Yeah. >> -- just a suggestion. >> Maria Schneider: Yeah, these tickets went fast, right? >> Yeah. >> Maria Schneider: Did you not get a ticket? You didn't get one? >> Larry Appelbaum: But he'll get it. >> Maria Schneider: Oh. >> Larry Appelbaum: He'll get in. Everybody here will get in. >> Maria Schneider: Oh, you're going to get in? ^M00:34:43 [ Inaudible Remark ] ^M00:34:45 >> Yeah, yeah. >> Maria Schneider: OK. OK, good. >> Larry Appelbaum: Who else has a question? Over here. Over against the wall. >> Maria Schneider: Can I work out there? >> Who do you listen to now? Who do you enjoy listening to in terms of music? >> Maria Schneider: Oh, wow. You know what? It's such variety and I've gone through so many periods but one of my favorite things to listen to is Brazilian music. I love Egberto Gismonti. He's another one where it's like, you know, it's classical. It's Brazilian folk. It's like all these things kind of mix together. I have years where it was flamenco music. And then sometimes it's-- sometimes it's vocalist, like recently just listening to Shirley Horn just-- OK, Washington DC, Shirley Horn, I hear you all. I mean Shirley Horn-- I mean thank God I got to see her sing several times and experience her sense of time on the piano and just a deep expression. And the way she would just lay back in the communication of that trio she worked with that just like followed her. And I-- you know, so anything that's just felt so deep from the heart, you know, I love and follow. I suffer from one little thing in my life and that is that I have-- this is not going sound nice but I'm going to try to make it sound just right. I have so many people send me music. And I have this feeling sometimes that-- this obligation, because every time-- every once in a while you listen to something and it's truly extraordinary. And I feel bad not listening to people's music but it becomes-- it's too much. It's so easy to record-- and I won't say it's easy to record but it's so many people are recording and trying to get stuff out there amidst all these content, you know? Everybody is trying to find their way to the top. So it's just like gorging, you know? And so I get so much stuff that sometimes I do want to just like put it away and say, "Wait, I want to just figure out what I want to hear," you know? My life isn't an obligation of email and the CDs that I get and all these things encroaching on me, leading me until-- you know, closing in on me but I want to find-- you know, just go on my discovery. So, one of my things, I'm kind of excited about when I finish this tour, I'm going to have some space and I need my field to go fallow for a while, you know, and taken music and go to concerts-- and go to concerts the way I used to go to concerts like walk by Lincoln Center and see that picture of [inaudible]. See, I don't know who that is but it looks interesting, I'm going to buy a ticket. And it changed my life. You know, that kind of Ouija board, fill it out. Go in the paper. You know, I'm going to go to that museum today. I don't know what's going to happen there. I need that my life again. I used to live that way and responsibility and obligation, it pulls you away from that. >> Larry Appelbaum: Who else has a question? Right here. Yes sir. >> Your last [inaudible] right into my question. We're all really fortunate to hear the premier tonight. But can you share what's kind on the drawing board? What's your future of next project might be or what you're thinking about? >> Maria Schneider: I have never been want to plan. I've always been want to just kind of be there and see what comes. Even when I write, I don't say, OK, I'm going to write for the Library of Congress. I want to do something about you know big data. You know, it's never like that. It's sort of-- In a way, well, I am glad I've done that because I would have never imagined really-- I mean, I did try to call Gil Evans but I didn't meet him because I tried to call him. I would have never thought of working with David Bowie in a thousand years. And I had that just a little bit space in my life that allowed that to come. But that being said, there is one thing I dream of doing that's going to surprise-- I don't know if we talked about this. It's a crazy thing. But it involves finding the right collaborator. Someday I want to write a show. Isn't that crazy? But I do. And you know what did it to me, I saw light on a piazza. Did any of you see that production? Raise your hand if you saw it. I was so moved and it was so beautiful. And I just said, "Yeah, I want to write a show." Because I wrote songs for Dawn Upshaw, and the experience of writing for words. At first I was scared because I thought, oh my God. You know, it's already hard enough just to write notes. Now, I got to figure out I wasn't writing the words. I was using the poetry of Ted Cruz but now I got figure out how to make that fit in the context and all of this, and there's another layer. But it wasn't like that. It was liberating because I love the words and I love the sentiment. And then that gave me the impetus to-- it led me. It led me. Instead of me always having to go into this blank space of any-- of infinity, suddenly there's this little beacon that says here I am. I nurture-- you know, make me, make me come alive and sound or something. So, if I could find the right story, the right collaborator, that would be a dream of mine. That's like the only-- otherwise, I just want to keep developing the sound with the band and see what comes, you know? Improvising life. >> Larry Appelbaum: I actually think we have only time for one last question. And if you don't mind I'm going to take it. ^M00:40:19 [ Laughter ] ^M00:40:20 Yes. Is recognition important to you? >> Maria Schneider: It never really-- you know what? When I started this-- That's really good question. When I started out, I never-- I thought I would be a music copyist probably forever and just have my band and, you know. And I just kind of expected that and then I thought I could also waitress because I stopped waitressing in Minnesota. And I was a terrible waitress but I figured that I could get it together to be a New York waitress if I needed to. And so, I never expected any of this. So, I would say it's fun because it's fun to share my music. And yeah, it's really fun to win a Grammy Award. I discovered that. And maybe it was because I remember when I was kid once giving a Grammy speech in my living room privately. So-- >> Larry Appelbaum: Into your hairbrush? >> Maria Schneider: Yeah, something like that, you know? Just standing up on a stool and I'd like to think. But I did-- I pretended I was Ms. America once, too, you know? So we all did these things. But it's-- as a musician it is really great to be appreciated. I will say that, absolutely. Did I count on it and do it for this, no. I expected very little, actually. So, it's just I've been very lucky. >> Larry Appelbaum: Well, I hope you can appreciate how many people on this room feel that way about you. >> Maria Schneider: Oh, thank you. >> Larry Appelbaum: So, thank you all for coming. Thank you, Maria. ^M00:41:56 [ Applause ]