Culture
The Living Music of Lindsey Goodman
By: Emily Votaw
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Born outside of the Washington D.C. area and raised in Youngstown, OH – nationally recognized flutist Lindsey Goodman is not only an advocate for innovative ways to utilize art and sound – she also happens to be a Southeast Ohio native.
Currently located in Pickerington, Goodman just released her debut solo album, reach through the sky, on Indiana University Southeast’s New Dynamic Records. She also recently returned from a string of release performances for the album in New York City, Ohio and West Virginia.
Crafted with the assistance of the members of ASSEM3LY, a trio that Goodman co-founded several seasons back (Scott Christian, Anne Waltner and Robert Frankenberry,) as well as producer Erich Stem, engineer Kojin Tashiro and sound engineer supervisor Timothy Haertel; the album examines the place of technology within the realm of modern music; the importance of utilizing new composers and, in essence, is made up of what Goodman refers to as “living music.”
“Some people call it ‘modern music’ or ‘new music’ – but I prefer the term ‘living music.’ Because, at some point, all music was new,” said Goodman in an interview shortly following the release of reach through the sky. “I’m a firm believer that those of us living in 2016 should have art that reflects the world that we see outside our windows, or on our laptop screens.”
The album features commissions by Grant Cooper, Rob Deemer, Gilda Lyons, Jeffrey Nytch, Judith Shatin and Erich Stem. Wildly inventive, reach through the sky pulls from a variety of genres and musical styles to create a sound that is all it’s own. Rather than depending on the musical works “the masters” played in a traditional manner, the album utilizes technology to create sounds that are impossible to create anyplace outside of the recording studio.
“There are pieces (on the album) that are only able to be realized in a studio, as I play separate parts myself,” says Goodman. “I think that this is super important because I don’t know about you, but I can’t go 15 minutes without touching my iPhone or my mac book or iPad – I need technology in my daily life; and I think that most of us are like that. Technology informs the way that we live, and, therefore, should inform the way that we make art.”
Goodman has been playing the flute ever since she realized that she wanted to be a professional musician during her teenage years. She rigorioulsly pursued her dream of becoming a fulltime musician, attending universities and conservatories throughout the nation before landing her first gig (while still an undergraduate student) with the Pittsburg New Music Ensemble in 2001. This summer she will celebrate 15 years with the group.
“One of the really remarkable things about the flute, in my opinion, is that it’s the most vocal of the instruments, and if we really think about the way that humans first made music, we made music with our voices and then the next instruments we created were percussion and flute-like instruments,” said Goodman. “I think it’s no coincidence that an instrument that has a lot of vocal qualities is one of the first ones that we looked to to resonate with what we wanted to express through music.”
Goodman added that she feels that the modern flute is reliably “flexible,” and therefore capable of allowing modern composers to utilize the instrument in innovative ways in their 21st-century compositions.
“Some people will think that they don’t like living music, new music — they want to stick with the standards, Beethoven, Bach, Brahms – and I love those composers too. I’m lucky enough to also play with the West Virginia Symphony, and I get to play all those wonderful masterworks with them – but, you know what, when I call up Bach, he never returns my messages,” joked Goodman. “I think it’s so great to be working with composers that I can go and have a coffee with.”
For more information on Goodman, visit her website and Facebook page. To get your own copy of reach through the sky, visit CDbaby.com, New Dynamic Records or iTunes.