For liberal arts majors, their academic experiences can separate
a hobby from a profession.
Marci K and Lesa Terry, who have both studied ethnomusicolgy at
UCLA, are getting the most out of their Bruin beginnings.
24-year-old K (a stage name short for Katznelson) is finishing
production on her second album of pop songs, due out in September.
Terry, who just turned 50, is holding rehearsals with her 24-piece,
all-female jazz orchestra for the upcoming Playboy Jazz Festival on
June 18.
Yet despite their different goals, backgrounds and experiences,
they have one thing in common that has helped get them to where
they are today ““ academic study in ethnomusicology, proving
that even the more liberal of liberal arts majors really
aren’t as impractical as many students fear.
“Everyone thinks (ethnomusicology is) world music, which
it is. But it’s also so much more than that,” K said.
“It’s how the music you create influences other people,
but sometimes more importantly, how the people and society
influences the music created.”
K, who graduated from UCLA in 2004 with a bachelor’s
degree in ethnomusicology, incorporates influences that range from
Carole King to The Beatles with her study of music from different
cultures to create piano-driven pop songs tinged with jazz and
rock.
These personal and often relationship-focused songs have led K
as far as Jerusalem to promote her music and connect with her
fans.
“I really want people to be able to relate to both me and
my music and to be able to say, “˜I’ve been there and
I’ve felt that.’ That’s really important to
me,” K said.
K is quick to acknowledge the significance of her experience at
UCLA, which included leading the Ethnomusicology Undergraduate
Student Association and performing live on campus.
Ethnomusicology professor Anthony Seeger, who mentored K both in
and outside of the classroom, noted the department’s goal of
establishing not only students’ musical adeptness but also of
knowledge on how to apply those skills in the real world.
“Probably the most valuable topic (in the Music Industry
class) is about artist and composer contracts,” Seeger said.
“It is amazing to me that we spend years training our
students how to compose or perform, but rarely train them on how to
protect (what) they have spent so many years preparing to
create.”
That lesson, however, is already familiar to Terry, a graduate
student taking the non-traditional path of pursuing a Ph.D. right
in the middle of her career.
Terry brings with her 10 years of experience with the Uptown
Jazz Quartet, led by legendary drummer Max Roach. She has also
established herself independently as one of the few female jazz
violinists in the business, playing on Broadway, several film
scores, and even recording with stars such as Whitney Houston, Burt
Bacharach and Ray Charles.
She has also played an active role in the academic side of
music, exposing students to another side of the violin.
“I’m doing something that’s considered
unusual, although it isn’t,” Terry said.
“There’s a long tradition of strings in jazz and
improvisatory music; (people) just don’t know about
it.”
From her travels and studies worldwide, Terry has, like K,
applied her knowledge of different cultures and music to her own
creations. In particular, Terry focuses on the use of music as a
type of oral tradition within black communities.
“I’m trying to understand their music, what they
presented and why they presented it. It was music that was
purposeful, it was telling a story,” Terry said. “My
study now is focused on understanding those stories better, which
in kind informs my work.”
As the leader of the Women’s Jazz Orchestra of Los
Angeles, Terry is crafting her own story, helping to illuminate the
role of women in jazz with the upcoming festival performance. The
songs set to be performed were arranged by orchestra members,
including two Miles Davis songs; “Full Nelson,” which
Terry arranged; and “All Blue,” arranged by UCLA
ethnomusicology professor Cheryl Keyes.
Both Terry’s and K’s careers fuse scholarship with
performance, a philosophy that represents the ethnomusicology
department’s mission.
“Whether it be with an educational background or
inspirational background, (the department has) given all its
students, including myself, a strong-rooted feeling of being able
to move forward in our careers and do whatever it is we want to
do,” K said.