Perhaps you thought the chimes that ring from College Library
every hour on the hour were just a way to tell time. Today they are
being used much like the death tolls in John Donne’s poems to
provide the emotional backdrop to the Sept. 11, 2001 commemoration
in Royce Quad.
Just as the chimes will signal the beginning of the proceedings
at noon with 12 rings, the UCLA Brass Quintet will create the
somber mood necessary to remember the horrific event of a year ago.
After the chimes, Chancellor Albert Carnesale will give a short
speech followed by the quintet playing pieces they hope will aid
the grief fueling such an event.
“It’s framed in a way so it’s a meditation
without words,” said Carolyn O’Keefe, the
quintet’s lead trumpeter, and a UCLA alumna and
administrator. “The music will provide the inspiration, mood
or whatever people want to draw from it to have that moment of
remembrance without a lot of talking.”
The selection of works slated for performance on the Royce Hall
steps includes Gustav Holst’s “Song Without
Words,” an apt metaphor for the event since, aside from
Carnesale’s speech, there will be no text to accompany the
ceremony ““ only the brass quintet equivalent of bells tolling
the loss of human life.
In addition to the Holst piece, the quintet will perform Bach
chorales and a John Tavener piece which was also used for Princess
Diana’s funeral. While some of the pieces are religious, most
of them are not explicitly so and were chosen for their mood rather
than an affiliation to a specific faith, according to
O’Keefe.
Brass groups are typically known for bombastic displays such as
at football games. Trumpets easily overwhelm violins and flutes,
even when the latter numbers are greater. As such, a brass quintet
may be expected to play such crowd favorites as “Amazing
Grace” and “America,” lending patriotism and
spirituality to the event. Yet the pieces that will be played,
chosen by O’Keefe along with Carnesale’s office, opt
for reflection instead of rah-rah spirit.
“Brass can be very loud, but it can produce a very mellow,
nice warm kind of sound,” O’Keefe said. “We play
a lot of weddings. It’s very regal to have a brass
quintet.”
The quintet consists of two trumpets (O’Keefe and Melanie
Hoffman), a French horn (Jean Marinelli), a trombone (Lori Stuntz)
and a tuba (Doug Tornquist). All the quintet members have their
music doctorates and are either freelance musicians, teachers or
both. O’Keefe compiled the group after having worked with
many of these people in various opera and concert productions.
Recently they have played for many UCLA events such as
commencement ceremonies, funerals for professors, and weddings, not
to mention the Sept. 11 commemoration held almost a year ago also
at Royce Quad.
As with last year’s event, the performance for a Sept. 11
event adds an extra emotion for the players.
“Last year, we had just experienced this tragedy also and
here we were trying to perform for all of these people to grieve
together,” said O’Keefe. “It’s hard to
separate yourself from those emotions and be able to put a
professional front on your playing.”
“If you do have emotions, it does come through the
music,” O’Keefe added. “It is even more when
it’s this kind of event.”
The half-hour long event, though short and simple, is just one
way UCLA can deal with the tragedy through music.