The Education of Miss Karena - taking chances

E83: Something old, something new - Leitmotifs II

Rings and starburst chandeliers

I loved this moment. The mesmerizing starburst chandeliers at the Met in the Lincoln Center retracted into the ceiling where they now twinkled like stars. Taking their cue, the audience would settle into a hush - just the occasional rustle of the programme, a muffled cough. This is the moment for the orchestra to shine before the chorus and main singers dominate the stage.

I settled back into my seat, cocooned by sound. It was the start of the second, longer, opera in Wagner’s Ring Cycle, Der Ring des Nibelungen.

How did I find myself in the middle of a 16-hour 4-part Ring Cycle by Wagner? You heard me right - I had suckered myself (paying for the privilege .. sarcastic)  into a seat to listen to a jarring sequence of chords. The shortest of these four productions was 2.5 hours. Watched after a long day at work. 

• Das Rheingold (The Rhinegold) 2:40 hours

• Die Walküre (The Valkyrie) 3:55 hours

• Siegfried  4:10 hours

• Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods) 4:35 hours

Making the most of Manhattan

I was 23 and single when a charismatic Clark Kent look-a-like (complete with the glasses, rolled-up shirt sleeves and suspenders) had to talk me into taking a one-year contract on Wall Street. A job others would give their right arm for. [Why had I been interviewing for a job I neither wanted nor needed? It’s one of my favourite career tips.] Given this opportunity, I was determined to make the most of Manhattan before returning to live in my parents’ home in London. 

You would think that moving from one English-speaking country to another would be a piece of cake. But everything was different. After a lifetime at home surrounded by my large family, I was suddenly living alone. I learned that the toilet paper and toothpaste stock don’t automatically replenish. I quickly learned to cook rice and curry for one instead of eight after eating the same meal for two weeks straight. People spoke a different vocabulary: vacuum instead of hoover, mail instead of post, erasers instead of rubbers. It was an embarrassing learning curve. 

Something Old. Something New. 

This was my fourth country and fourth continent. And fortunately, I had evolved some strategies for making transitions. You need to keep some structure from your old life until you are able to re-scaffold the new. One way is to hold onto the things that are steady - core interests and values. For me, that is music. 

Discovering Opera on both sides of the Atlantic

In my last months in London, I’d been introduced to a new genre: Opera. Knowing that I sang church music in the choir and belted out “Sound of Music” in school plays, a friend drafted me in as an extra (voice) for the London Symphony’s production on the larger stage at the newly opened Barbican. At their opera-lovers evenings, we bolted out standards like the Gloria all’Egitto from Aida, buzzed our lips with the famous Madama Butterfly Humming Chorus, celebrated Puccini, Verdi and Rossini - music that I recognized from various movie scores and TV ads.

Lincoln Center was an equally mesmerizing oasis of calm and culture in Manhattan. Soon I’d gathered a posse of work friends who kept me company for these familiar songs. We’d dress up and dine before heading over to the Met. The Met is the jewel in the Lincoln Center. Its wide sweeping staircase looks out onto the famous plaza and fountain. Our opera evenings at the Met always felt decadent and special.

Stretching the senses

MM, in particular, was a real music aficionado. Slightly eccentric and very intense, he composed classical music in his spare time and carried around a tome on quantum physics for his commuting read. Sensing a noob, and wanting company, he talked up this special musical adventure - Der Ring des Nibelungen - a four-evening celebration of Wagner’s 16-hour opus. I leaned into the challenge and happily clueless I wrote him a check. 

“Do you know the story?” MM asked me the week before the performances. I shook my head. I’d figured I would keep up with the read- along the libretto as I had for Puccini’s Turandot and Verdi’s Aida. He stared at me, a little befuddled. “OK. Are you free this weekend? You will enjoy it better if you understand it.”

The Education of Miss Karena

Thus began “The Education of Miss Karena”. It unfolded over many hours.

• I learned the outline of the story of the Ring Cycle. It blends the Norse tales of the Edde with folk tales from Rhineland. It was a steep learning curve for someone not raised in liberal arts, who had kept her head down getting a Math/CompSci degree. I learned about the Rhine Gold and the Vikings (foreshadowing our family fascination with Lord of the Rings)

• The story is layered with characters. The dwarfs. The water sprite Rhine maidens. The Nordic Valkyrie. The Gods.

• We drilled the leitmotifs for each set of characters.

We took a break and his wife introduced me to my first prosciutto & melon, and the simplicity of a margherita pizza. Then, back to the sophisticated Aiwa sound system and the well-thumbed score. 

As each character leapt onto the stage, accompanied by their signature sound, Wagner leitmotifs taught me about memory metaphors. They helped me understand positioning my reader’s mind, and the value of branding.

Being a noob exposes you to new ideas

I will never again attend a Ring Cycle. 16 hours of my life I will never get back. And Wagner’s “melodies” are definitely not my cup of tea. File it under the category “been there, done that.”

But I do not regret signing up for this adventure. By being a total noob, but one willing to place myself in the uncomfortable situation of exploring unfamiliar music, I’d bumped into the concept of leitmotifs. And learned so much about how our feelings and thoughts get manipulated. Or (putting a positive spin on it) get positioned.

Used positively, it is the band playing before a big college game. It is the playlist priming the Olympian with rhythm before she dives into the pool, each carefully timed stroke moving her swiftly to victory. It is the carefully curated set of songs my son uses at the gym, each new song pumping him up to move through the exact number of reps and onto the next piece of equipment in the circuit.

You see these tugs on your emotions everywhere. When I was learning to podcast, I recognized this musical “signature” idea being used well by certain podcasters to signal a change in speaker and the beginning or end of their show.

You cannot unsee it

All these years later, I only recall the Valkyries and the Rhinemaidens leitmotifs. Some familiar parts are universally used because the language of sound is universal. 

So I sit up to attention each time the Ride of the Valkyries is used by a director in a movie - Hollywood, Bollywood, or K-drama. 

Drumbh …. Drumbhh …. Thrummmmmm
The strong percussive beat.

Primed. And ready. 
I nod conspiratorially at the signal on the screen: 
“Ahhh! I know where you want to take me.”

This essay pairs well with:

• E82: Sound metaphors and Leitmotifs I

• Paul Graham’s Noob Essay http://paulgraham.com/noob.html - a similar varietal

• Helen Jiang’s A lesson in music - her ‘notes’ of Wagner resurrected this special memory and inspired this two-part essay

A Lesson in Music

• Spotify playlist for E83:

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This week I am thrilled to welcome to our Tribe Tilt a podcasting guru, legend, and alpaca farmer in the Welsh valleys - Steve Heatherington. As well as one of my closest friends from the US. We share a diverse set of interests!

This is a community that believes in the best of humanity - connecting people, sharing ideas, and exploring thoughts respectfully. And we believe we can make a difference to the people and places that are precious to us.

Have you also been enjoying the interactions between our tribe in the comments section, on LinkedIn, Twitter, and WhatsApp? I’m exploring expanding to Substack Notes after Twitter blocked my Jimin (BTS) tweet announcing last week’s edition. (Always be testing)

The best idea can come from anyone, anywhere, at any time. You have permission.

See you next week. Stay healthy. From there all else becomes possible.
Karena