Welcome to Classically Minded. Today’s Guest is Graham Rosen.

Garrett: Hi Graham, thanks for sharing your story with us. First off, congratulations on your engagement, you and Naomi must be thrilled!

Graham: Thanks, we are so thrilled! Planning a wedding during a pandemic is definitely a challenge. Our wedding date is still TBD, but I am optimistic we will be celebrating soon with friends and family.

Garrett: I’m so happy for you two. It’s been a while since we’ve had a chance to catch up. I’m curious, has your career gone in the direction you thought it would?

Graham: No, my career has not gone in the direction I thought it would! As I began to navigate my professional path, I realized that the strength of my work depended on the diversity of my work. The way that I see it, I have two clear careers with a lot of opportunities for one to influence the other. 

One of my passions and careers is in Eurhythmics instructing. Dalcroze Eurhythmics is a wonderful method of pairing musical sounds with movements. Think rhythmic games, or acting out a story with musical accompaniment, where kinesthetic learning is paired with musical concepts to live vocabulary to its fullest.

My other career is in audio engineering, which I majored in at CIM. I specialize in recording acoustic music, mostly classical and jazz, and have been privileged to work with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Punch Brothers, and The Bad Plus (and everything in between!). 

This brings me to my real career, the freelance identity between these two.

I believe that instructing children has influenced the clarity of my communication at an audio gig.

Reciprocally, the strength of mixing a wide variety of genres has opened my understanding to the wide variety of learners in my classrooms. Each gig influences the next, and reflecting on all of them makes my impact stronger both in the classroom and on stage. 

Garrett: I appreciate the creative energy you bring to all your projects. A while back I came across your online Eurhythmics videos for your students. They are so goofy and engaging. And to be honest, I borrowed some of your ideas for my online choir students. I should have committed and used hand puppets too…

Garrett: How has the pandemic affected your professional life as a musician?

Graham: The pandemic canceled about a third of my work. Most event-based gigs were canceled, however, I began teaching a lot more, mostly because a lot of parents went to private forms of teaching when schools were closed.

I’ve since started my own virtual Eurhythmics studio and have six families and learning pods as part of my weekly schedule! Teaching remotely is difficult, but just as worthwhile as being in person. 

I’ve missed concerts the most during this pandemic. There is absolutely a limit to the immersion from a live-streamed concert. I’ve persevered by, gasp, going to concerts… well, working a concert’s live stream.

At the BOP STOP, a jazz club I audio engineer for, we’ve started live streaming concerts and I remember walking into the club and hearing a drum set for the first time in months...

I know it sounds crazy, but the cymbals were the sounds I missed the most. Those buzzy and fluttery high frequencies, it felt like my ears were being tickled and splashed with the most amazing sounds! 

Garrett: Tell us about Elephant Ornament.
Elephant Ornament is a passion project of electronic music and sound collage I create in my free time. I slice, dice, and reorient audio into new kaleidoscopic sound worlds and ‘beats’. It’s a way for me to reflect on all the music and sounds that have impacted me, and create something new ‘just the way I like it’.

I have a new EP coming out on April 26th that I’m incredibly excited about where I exclusively use sampled audio from the BOP STOP. 

Garrett: What nonprofit would you like to support? Why does it inspire you and how does it promote diversity and accessibility in music?

The nonprofit I would like to support is the “Refresh Collective”. I’ve worked with them a few times at the BOP STOP and their mission and compassion really struck me. They are an incredible organization that focuses on giving youth from lower-income homes an artistic way of expressing themselves. They are taught screen printing and design and sell their own t-shirts to fund the school’s scholarship fund. They are also taught how to rhyme, produce and record their own hip hop music, a musical cornerstone for many of these kids. They are able to put their experiences in a song, reflect critically about the world around them, and create music that uplifts their peers. 

Graham: Garrett, thank you so much for inviting me to be a part of this project! Woohoo! 

Garrett: I hope to hear from you soon, keep in touch!

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Classically Minded was born to document the lives and experiences of musicians during quarantine.