Editorial
A note from the editor
By Lucas Phillips '16
September 18, 2015
As you’ll see from our front cover, this week I reviewed Michael “Doc” Woods’ concert, “Ion Eyes.” I didn’t get involved with the Spectator until the spring of my first year, but I’ve been reviewing Doc’s concerts since my first month at Hamilton. Rarely in the newspaper or in our academic papers do we ever get to write about the same thing twice. So, as I was writing the review, I realized the special opportunity I’ve had to think about Woods’ evolution as a composer and my own evolution as a reviewer, as a writer and as a music listener in these short few years.
In fact, my report of Woods’ 2012 suite, “Uthuh Planets” was my first ever music review. I’d been involved with my high school newspaper, but was never called upon to write about the arts. Searching for some of my old articles for the Spectator, I came across one on our website. It was a review of the cellist Elinor Frey from 2013. I’d never seen the online version, and what I found was that the cellist herself had commented on my article: “Someone at my Hamilton College concert wrote a review and it really feels like they got what I was going for. Feels great.” I realize that part of the power about writing about the arts is making those who share their gifts feel understood or, at least, noticed.
But for the reviewer, too, it is about understanding. What strikes me most is the way, as I was writing about Woods’ concert, I’ve become familiar with his music. I’ve spent time in Woods’ office, studying his scores and hearing his recordings of classical music, big band, and jazz combo tunes. I recognize some of his favorite patterns, his characteristic sonic humor, the way he manipulates normal conventions in unusual ways. But it’s not just music that I am familiar with, it’s also music that I have a certain connection to. It’s music that’s taught me about music.
While Woods’ has never given me a lesson in how to review a concert, he’s taught me how to voice trombone harmonies over breakfast, how to sound (a little) like Duke Ellington and when to play simpler lines on the bass. Most of all, he’s reminded me that music is beyond its melodies and harmonies, its rhythms and tone colors. It’s beyond the conventions of a concert review—how was the sound mixing, who played sax, what song was best, how did the audience respond. It’s about spirit.
—Lucas Phillips
Editor-in-Chief