Interview with Jim Kendros
by George Leverett / December 2011 Jim is a full time performer in the Chicago area. Between performances he can be found offering the pre-concert lecture for several orchestras (ongoing), and hosting a local radio program. More can be found at his website: http://jimkendrosmusic.com/Welcome.html This interview was conducted around the time of Jim's first hurdy gurdy performance with the Northbrook Symphony Orchestra. This is the first interview on this new section of our website, and as such I feel a bit of introduction is in order. It's no secret that Jim is featured throughout our website. We first got to know him when he ordered a hurdy gurdy from us in 2006. In October he came out from Chicago to pick up his new instrument, but his schedule kept getting delayed (flights / traffic /etc). Hours became days and, when all was said & done, it worked out so that he arrived right at the exact moment Anwyn and I were having our anniversary party (we were married in October). Of course, everyone at our party was in costume, and it was such a beautiful evening that we all ended up doing folk dancing in the moonlight (we were calling contra dance steps, complete with live acoustic music). I felt for Jim, feeling fairly certain that he & his partner Kristin must have thought we were absolutely mad! But Jim, ever gregarious and good natured, joined right in on the festivities. Over the years we've kept in pretty close contact, and nowadays Jim even helps brainstorm & playtest many of our new features before we put them into production. I feel fortunate to know him, and am very proud to be able to profile this excellent musician as the first in our interview series. I must warn you that when we get to talking, we can go for a while (hence the length of this interview). Enjoy! |
JK: You know, I had the hurdy gurdy on a small table and I was very self conscious when everyone was waiting for me to change instruments. But at the same time, I look at it this way: let's say you're playing a piece and you're a violinist or violist and you have to tune between movements. That's sort of the way I look at it, we're between movements and we understand that the musicians are getting ready for the next, and the soloist must retune. In this case I didn't have to retune, but I was changing my hurdy gurdies. What I find fascinating about hurdy gurdies is that no one instrument can have everything you want, unlike a violin where everything is built to one specification. Even if you get three large hurdy gurdies with all the strings you want on them, you can swap out strings to play in different keys, and different setups, etc. For me I think it would be standard operating procedure to have two instruments on the concert stage. I know that's kind of a new thing for people, but looking at the way the instrument functions and what is required in the music, it's probably best to play more than one instrument.
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GL: I notice you played Mouret's Fanfare Rondeau as one of your solo pieces. I love the way you play that, your trills & ornamentation are great, but notable to me is your use of the trompette. When I play I tend to emphasize just the main beats of a song, but you're using the trompette to get almost a counter rhythm to the melody. It's quite unexpected, but very interesting and musically very effective. How do you approach the trompette in your playing?
JK: I have so much to learn on the trompette, and would love to study with someone like Nigel Eaton whose trompette playing, I think, is just unparalleled. He's a wizard on that. But I find that when I'm playing something like Fanfare Rondeau or Beethoven's Ode to Joy, especially where there's a little bit of a longer note, that's where I start gyrating the crank a little bit to get the counter rhythm, as you say. I love that idea because I'm playing the whole sha-bang: melody, harmony, and now I've got a little snare drummer with me on percussion. I really really like counter rhythms. I approach it that way where there's a longer note especially; say I'm playing a bunch of 1/16th and 1/8th notes, and all of a sudden a quarter note comes up, I'll just throw in the counter rhythm with that to make it kind of polyphonic. |