VOA – CONNECT
EPISODE # 204
AIR DATE: 12 10 2021
TRANSCRIPT
OPEN ((VO/NAT))
((Banner))
To Play
((SOT))
((Mike Clemmer, Appalachian Dulcimer Maker))
There's a lot of times that I just get out on the Pickin’ Porch and play by myself just because it’s just a very peaceful place to be and I enjoy it.
((Animation Transition))
((Banner))
To Sing
((SOT))
((Anthony Roth Costanzo, Countertenor))
It's not just the moment we're in or that it's dying or…Opera, in its heyday, you know, was often responding to the culture and the community that it was in.
((Animation Transition))
((Banner))
To Read
((SOT))
((Karen Dial, Owner, The Book Jewel))
I wanted to have an inclusivity here at the bookstore where everyone feels welcome. It's my dream came true.
((Open Animation))
BLOCK A
((PKG)) MAKING APPALACHIAN SOUND
((TRT: 08:52))
((Topic Banner: Making Appalachian Sound)
((Reporter/Camera/Editor: June Soh))
((Map: Townsend, Tennessee))
((Main character: 1 male))
((Sub character: 1 female))
((NATS/Music playing))
((Mike Clemmer, Appalachian Dulcimer Maker))
There’s just something about a Appalachian dulcimer instrument…sound is so peaceful and calming. The word dulcimer actually means sweet song. So, when I play one, I feel pretty peaceful about it too. It's really…the music affects you.
((Mike Clemmer, Appalachian Dulcimer Maker))
I am Mike Clemmer. I have a shop here in Townsend, Tennessee. I play the dulcimer and I build the dulcimers. This is one of them that I made. We're right next to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It’s one of the most beautiful countryside in the whole world and the rivers, the mountains, the wildlife. And I just can't think of a better place to be than just right here.
((NATS/Music playing))
((Mike Clemmer, Appalachian Dulcimer Maker))
The Appalachian dulcimers, this particular type, this was invented in this area because of the memories that the settlers had when they came to this area, when they came over the mountains. You have the do-re-mi of the scale.
((NATS/Music playing))
And that scale is what, basically this is why it's an American instrument. The do-re-mi is, in Europe, a little different. They have different scales.
((NATS))
((NATS: Mike Clemmer))
This is my workshop where I build my dulcimers.
((Mike Clemmer, Appalachian Dulcimer Maker))
This is my headstock that goes on the dulcimer. And I've already got this cut out and approximately sanded out. And now I am going to do the carving that I do on top of the headstock.
((NATS))
((Mike Clemmer, Appalachian Dulcimer Maker))
And I like to keep everything handmade.
((NATS))
((Mike Clemmer, Appalachian Dulcimer Maker))
I actually started building dulcimers in 1976, as a hobby to start with. And I realized that I really like this. So, in 1996, we started our shop there in Townsend. I didn't know anything about business
((Photo Courtesy: Wood-N-Strings Dulcimer Shop))
and neither had my wife. We just had about 50 dollars and two credit cards, and that's how we started. We were amazed how people would come to us and really respond to the instrument and to us. It was a lot of fun.
((NATS))
((Mike Clemmer, Appalachian Dulcimer Maker))
These are just butterflies and leaves you can have, but it's the amount of hole it’s opened that makes the sound. I can have one great big hole or I can have several small holes. But the total volume of the opening is what I have to deal with.
((NATS))
Now, this is just a burning tool.
((NATS))
((Mike Clemmer, Appalachian Dulcimer Maker))
What you need to make a good Appalachian dulcimer is good wood. I like to have wood that comes from Appalachia if you want to make an Appalachian dulcimer. This is wormy chestnut and it's very dry. You have to cure it for a while.
((NATS))
I have built approximately 5,000 instruments just in the last 25, 30 years.
((NATS))
I've got my dulcimers, as far as I know, on almost every continent.
((NATS))
This is a Ban-Jammer that I invented.
This is a hybrid between a dulcimer, like made like this, and a banjo, which is made like this. So, you get the ease of playing of a dulcimer but the sound of a banjo.
((NATS/Music playing))
And it’s just one of those kinds of sounds that just makes you smile.
((NATS/Music playing, car driving))
((Mike Clemmer, Appalachian Dulcimer Maker))
Oh, I like Townsend. It’s a very quaint, small town. Everybody knows everybody except for the newcomers, and we try to get along with them too.
((NATS))
It’s not a bad drive to work every morning, is it?
((NATS/Music playing))
((NATS: Customer))
So, what’s the rest of it made out of?
((NATS: Mike Clemmer))
Walnut.
((NATS: Customer))
The sides and the back.
((NATS: Mike Clemmer))
Yes, all walnut.
((NATS: Customer))
Walnut’s nice.
((NATS: Customer))
That’s beautiful.
((Mike Clemmer, Appalachian Dulcimer Maker))
And this is one of my Tennessee Sweeties, which is a smaller dulcimer. This is one that we started putting together because we were taking a trip or two, and we had to get it in an airplane. And this, in its case, would fit in the overhead compartment of an airplane. And that’s what we did this for. We still wanted one that sounded good, and that’s what we couldn’t find anywhere, so.
((NATS/Music playing))
((Mike Clemmer, Appalachian Dulcimer Maker))
The Pickin’ Porch is something that we've had at our shop for a long time, for twenty years. It’s a little stage behind our building on the river. And we'd have get-togethers,
((Photo Courtesy: Wood-N-Strings Dulcimer Shop))
and the guests would start playing, and it was just a free concert, that thing we did every Saturday. And about when the COVID started happening and coming around, people were a little afraid to come out and gather. So, we just stopped it.
((NATS/Music playing))
There's a lot of times that I just get out on the Pickin’ Porch and play by myself just because it’s just a very peaceful place to be and I enjoy it.
((NATS))
((Mike Clemmer, Appalachian Dulcimer Maker))
We're just getting ready to go to the jam. We go down here whether it’s raining or shining or, as long as it’s not flooding, we usually go. And it’s just a good time to get with a bunch of folks and just have a good time playing music. This is in Townsend. We are doing it every Monday. Here we are.
((NATS/Music playing))
((Mike Clemmer, Appalachian Dulcimer Maker))
It's sort of a free thing that anybody wants to be there, and that's what keeps it fresh. We don't know who all is going to be there at any given Monday. And it's a lot of fun that way.
((NATS/Music playing))
((Darlene Brazil
Visitor))
It's absolutely beautiful to see young people and old people playing together, to pass down what they know, their music, their musical instruments throughout the Appalachian Mountains. The mountain dulcimer is a gorgeous instrument.
((NATS/Music playing))
((Mike Clemmer, Appalachian Dulcimer Maker))
Sometimes, when the mood is right and the weather is right, we come up to the mountains and play a little bit. We’re going to stop here on the sightsees to get a good view of what our place looks like, what God's beauty is up here.
((NATS: Connie Clemmer, Mike Clemmer’s wife))
Isn’t this beautiful?
((NATS: Mike Clemmer))
Yeah. We’ll see if we can play some music.
((NAT/Music playing))
((Mike Clemmer, Appalachian Dulcimer Maker))
I love people, I love music, and I love woodwork. And it’s like God took all that and put it all together and made me a dulcimer player and maker. And I just really enjoy that.
((NATS/Music Playing))
TEASE ((VO/NAT))
Coming up
((Banner))
The Voice
((Anthony Roth Costanzo, Countertenor))
What I love about performing is that it expresses the human being you are. I think for most people, it's not how well it's executed technically. It's how meaningful it is.
((NATS SINGING))
BREAK ONE
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
BLOCK B
((PKG)) Countertenor
((TRT: 07:40))
((Topic Banner: The Countertenor))
((Reporter: Anna Nelson))
((Camera: Vladimir Badikov, Maxim Avloshenko))
((Editor: Natalia Latukhina))
((Producer: Dmitry Vershinin))
((Adapted by: Philip Alexiou))
((Map: New York, New York))
((Main characters: 1 male))
((NATS))
((Anthony Roth Costanzo, Countertenor))
((Courtesy: "Liquid Days"/Sony Masterworks/Apost Films + YouTube logo))
Wherever I sing, even if it's at the Metropolitan Opera, I feel like at least 50 percent of the audience has never heard a countertenor before. And if you're outside of the Opera House in real life, you know, on the street, I would say even 90 percent of people have no idea what a countertenor is. But they've heard Michael Jackson and they've heard Prince and they've heard, you know, Justin Timberlake and all the people who sing in a falsetto voice. And so, it's both a familiar and a foreign register in some ways. I've used that to my advantage to kind of draw people in and give them a way to connect immediately at first through their shock, and then as they listen hopefully through what we're able to create.
((NATS))
((Anthony Roth Costanzo, Countertenor))
I'm Anthony Roth Costanzo and I'm a countertenor, opera singer, producer, here in New York City.
((NATS))
((COURTESY: "A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries"/Capitol Films Merchant Ivory Productions/ "Tell Me What Love Is" / SME + YouTube logo))
((Anthony Roth Costanzo, Countertenor))
I began performing professionally when I was 11 years old, first in Broadway, and then by the time I was 13, I started doing opera. And so, my voice was starting to change but I didn't even know it.
And someone around the opera world said, “Are you a countertenor?” And I said, “Well, what is that? I don't know.” And I started listening to the legacy of Alfred Deller, Russell Oberlin and other countertenors since then in our modern times.
((NATS))
((COURTESY: PENA TIRANNA / UMG/ PixPicts + YouTube logo))
((Anthony Roth Costanzo, Countertenor))
And I never thought about needing to feel masculine by being low. In fact, I never associated pitch with gender in that way.
((COURTESY: arcostanzo (Instagram))
And part of that is to do with my very sophisticated parents, who were psychologists and very supportive parents. I've never worried about being gay in opera or trying to hide it or anything like that
((COURTESY: PENA TIRANNA / UMG/ PixPicts + YouTube logo))
and figured that if people had a problem with it, I just wouldn't get hired there.
((NATS))
((COURTESY: (music only - Vivi, tiranno, io t'ho scampato / UMG / ARCostanzoVEVO + logo YouTube))
((Anthony Roth Costanzo, Countertenor))
When I first did Akhnaten, this opera by Philip Glass at the
((COURTESY: "Akhnaten" / SME / Metropolitan Opera + YouTube logo))
Metropolitan Opera and the director asked me to be naked, I thought, “Okay, I better get in good shape because if anyone asks you to be naked in front of four thousand people a night, you'd want to be in the best shape you could.” And I enjoy it. I enjoy the mental release. It's a place where I can think. The audience was captivated and it became more of a ritual. And the ritualistic aspect of it actually is very intimate.
((COURTESY: English National Opera/ Richard Hubert Smith))
And it's another way to kind
((COURTESY: "Akhnaten" / SME / Metropolitan Opera + YouTube logo))
of connect the audience, to draw them in, to make them see your
((COURTESY: "Akhnaten" / SME /English National Opera + YouTube logo))
vulnerability, and then to take them on a journey with you from that place. The director asked
((COURTESY: arcostanzo (Instagram) ))
me to shave my head and then we wanted to
((COURTESY: "Akhnaten" / SME / Metropolitan Opera + YouTube logo))
do what they authentically did in ancient Egypt.
((COURTESY: arcostanzo (Instagram) ))
So, because I was naked, we waxed my entire body, which is what they did. They valued hairlessness.
((COURTESY: "Akhnaten" /SME / LA Opera - YouTube logo))
They shaved their heads. The hairlessness was sort of godliness.
((NATS))
((Anthony Roth Costanzo, Countertenor))
((COURTESY CONT'D: "Akhnaten" /SME / LA Opera - YouTube logo))
And it does transform you.
((COURTESY: "Akhnaten" / SME / Metropolitan Opera + YouTube logo))
And, you know, when I would go to the grocery store bald, then with no hair on my arms,
((COURTESY: "Akhnaten" / SME /English National Opera + YouTube logo))
I'd feel like an alien. But when I stepped
((COURTESY: "Akhnaten" /SME / LA Opera + YouTube logo))
onto the stage as Akhnaten, I felt like I was him. It's very common in France for
((COURTESY: "Akhnaten" / SME /English National Opera + YouTube logo))
people to be naked on stage, for example. In America, it's much more controversial. This was the first time at the Metropolitan Opera
((COURTESY: "Akhnaten" /SME / LA Opera - YouTube logo))
a man had appeared fully naked.
((NATS))
((COURTESY: music only: The Encounter/ UMG / ARCostanzoVEVO + logo YouTube))
((Anthony Roth Costanzo, Countertenor))
What I love about performing is that it expresses the human being you are. ((END COURTESY))
I think for most people, it's not how well it's executed technically. It's how meaningful it is.
((NATS SINGING))
((COURTESY: "Liquid Days" / Sony Masterworks / National Sawdust + Vimeo))
((Anthony Roth Costanzo, Countertenor))
When I was in graduate school, I found out that I had thyroid cancer by chance, and you can see this little
((MUSIC COURTESY: "Liquid Days" / Sony Masterworks / National Sawdust))
scar still from where they took out my thyroid. And the thing about the thyroid is that it sits on top of all your vocal nerves. So, it put into jeopardy, would I still be able to sing afterwards or not? And my doctor, I was worried so much with him about, “Well, what if you cut this? Will I be able to do that?” And at some point, he said, “You know, we don't have to take it out, but if we don't, eventually you'll die.” So, it became a question of, “Am I defined only by my ability to make sound, or am I also defined by my ability to have an impact?” And now, I'm able to sing the way that I am. So, but yeah, I can't say I look back at having cancer and the whole experience as negative. In fact, I look at it as such a positive, affirming experience.
((NATS))
((Anthony Roth Costanzo, Countertenor))
I am really ambitious and I'm driven and I'm focused. So, I never have a good time because I'm anxious to make things. I've been disciplined about not having alcohol and about sleeping eight hours a night. It's always a
((COURTESY: “How All Living Things Breathe”/ UMG/ ARCostanzoVEVO + YouTube logo))
time to reinvent opera, I think. It's not just the moment we're in or that it's dying or…Opera, in its heyday, you know, was often responding to the culture and the community that it was in. And now we treat it with such white gloves, you know, as if it's something special.
((MUSIC COURTESY: “How All Living Things Breathe”/UMG/ ARCostanzoVEVO))
Over the pandemic, I worked with the New York Philharmonic to create this initiative bandwagon and I have this idea to have a pickup truck that went all throughout New York and to present these concerts, completely spontaneous pop-up concerts. And that would mean that it's not audiences who bought tickets who knew the New York Philharmonic, but rather just people we encountered on the street. And
((End Courtesy))
the joy that music was able to bring them, especially in this time of silence of the pandemic, was very, very powerful.
((COURTESY: Pena Tiranna / UMG / ARCostanzoVEVO + YouTube))
When I created Glass Handle, which was this project where I combined Philip Glass's music with Handel's music,
((NATS))
((Anthony Roth Costanzo, Countertenor))
I knew that in order for it to have a wider reach, I wanted to work with artists like Tilda Swinton, Mickalene Thomas, painters and filmmakers, who were not as well versed in opera, but could respond as artists to that sound world and make something wild, pop art,
((COURTESY: Rompo i Lacci /UMG/ ARCostanzoVEVO + YouTube logo))
you know, exploration of the music, whether it be Tilda Swinton’s dogs looking like they were experiencing the joy of Handel on the beach, or whether it was a storytelling
((COURTESY: Stille amare/ UMG/ ARCostanzoVEVO + logo YouTube))
narrative like that video of James Ivory's, where I appear as a knight. So, you know, it was a digital and contemporary way to interpret the music through the eyes of artists who were respected by other audiences. ((END COURTESY))
((Anthony Roth Costanzo, Countertenor))
If you’ve never experienced opera, I would say, don't worry if you don't understand the language. Expect to be bored for at least 15 minutes, and
((NATS))
((COURTESY: "Liquid Days"/Sony Masterworks / Apost Films + YouTube logo))
know that after 15 minutes, you might find it less boring.
And the other thing I'd say is, remember that it's a tightrope act.
((Anthony Roth Costanzo, Countertenor))
You know, it's very difficult to sing opera. And so, once you tap into how physically demanding it is, it's kind of like watching the Olympics. And actually, everything you need to know is right in front of you. And the story plays out on the stage. The music speaks for itself. So, you might not like every opera you go to, but it's definitely worth going because some will change your life.
((NATS))
TEASE ((VO/NAT))
Coming up
((Banner))
?
((SOT))
((Karen Dial, Owner, The Book Jewel))
The book Jewel is named after my mom. Her name is Jewel, and she was a lover of books and encouraged me to read.
((NATS: Karen Dial))
Hi. I’m Karen.
((Karen Dial, Owner, The Book Jewel))
Every time I walk through the door, it's almost like I can't believe that this is really here, that we really did it.
BREAK TWO
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
BLOCK C
((PKG)) BOOKSTORE
((TRT: 03:42))
((Topic Banner: The Book Jewel))
((Reporter/Camera/Producer/Editor: Elizabeth Lee))
((Adapted by: Philip Alexiou))
((Map: Los Angeles, California))
((Main character: 1 male; 1 female))
((NATS))
((Karen Dia, Owner, The Book Jewel))
A bookstore is the same word as community.
((NATS))
Fine. How are you doing today?
((Karen Dial, Owner, The Book Jewel))
If you have a thriving community, you will have a thriving bookstore.
((NATS))
((Karen Dial, Owner, The Book Jewel))
I wanted to have an inclusivity here at the bookstore where everyone feels welcome. It's my dream came true. The book Jewel is named after my mom. Her name is Jewel, and she was a lover of books and encouraged me to read.
((NATS: Karen Dial))
Hi. I’m Karen.
((Karen Dial, Owner, The Book Jewel))
Every time I walk through the door, it's almost like I can't believe that this is really here, that we really did it.
Our grand opening was in the middle of a pandemic, August 29th, last year, 2020. Sean, our bookstore manager, and I were vacillatin g. What do we do? We're almost ready, you know. All the construction is finished. The shelves are in. And should we just go for it? And we said, “Yes!”
((Sean Moor, Manager, The Book Jewel))
And we wore the masks, and we did curbside service. We did whatever we needed to do, to make people feel comfortable about coming. And people came, masked up fully with gloves and hand sanitizer, but we were just overjoyed to see people come into a physical space and, for a moment, kind of lose themselves in that great American activity of shopping.
((NATS))
((Sean Moor, Manager, The Book Jewel))
By far, the most popular books that we're selling right now since the pandemic, since we opened, are children's books, because all these children, for better part of a year, have not been able to go to school with their friends.
((NATS))
((Karen Dial, Owner, The Book Jewel))
So, we have this darling kitty that found me, ended up in my garage and I was trying to find the cat a home and Sean and I were here at the store, and I told him the story. He goes, “Well, we should have a mascot cat here.” He came up with the name Pages. So now, we have this draw of people that come to the store just to see the cat.
((NATS))
((Karen Dial, Owner, The Book Jewel))
So, I'm in the business of buying buildings and selling buildings every so often. And so, for me, it was necessary to be the owner.
((NATS))
((Karen Dial, Owner, The Book Jewel))
We needed to own the building in order to make this happen.
We realized that that it’s going to be a big challenge. People were not even stepping out of their homes last August very much, but those who did, they walked in the store and they said, “Oh, my gosh. This is so amazing. We can do something different than watching TV or then the Internet or we can actually read a book that will vicariously take us to Hawaii or Costa Rica or give us something else to do with our lives besides sitting at home.”
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Sean Moor, Manager, The Book Jewel))
There was a little fear in the community about, will I have a job next, you know, in the fall or will the money run out? All kinds of things like that, that people bring to the store. And so, what the store is, was a place for, is a little bit of a respite, where you can feel confident that we're all going to get through this together.
((Karen Dial, Owner, The Book Jewel))
People definitely have been isolated, and they want to come into a place and feel like they belong. It's really necessary that we offer that.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Sean Moor, Manager, The Book Jewel))
Bye, bye.
IN COMING WEEKS ((VO/NAT))
In coming weeks…….
((Banner))
Without Limits
((SOT))
((Tracie Garacochea, Adaptive Skateboarder))
These girls need somebody besides their parents to tell them, how awesome they are. And to be by their side. And just love all them. And I feel like I am a kind of a grandma figure, you know, the old lady in the wheelchair at the skatepark.
((NATS))
I kept on having a vertigo, and things would happen, like my hands starting not functioning well, and I was doing sculpture, and I couldn’t hold the tools, and I was dropping them on my feet, and those are really sharp. Finally I am diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. So, your brain doesn’t not communicate properly with, let’s say, your eyes or your eyes, or anything else, so the lady, who’s chair I tried, said to me, “A wheelchair is just a tool.” And that made sense to me. It’s just a tool. And when I tell you, that it took me probably a half an hour to walk a block, and now I can get around just like everybody else.
CLOSING ((ANIM))
voanews.com/connect
BREAKTHREE BUMP IN ((ANIM))
SHOW ENDS
