Jesse Stewart: Percussionist, Composer, Community Activist, Artist, Writer, Instrument-builder

Jesse Stewart is an award-winning percussionist, scholar, composer, artist, writer, instrument-maker and community activist. In 2012 he founded “We Are All Musicians” founded on his belief that music is a fundamental human right, through which he helps create opportunites for people to make music regardless of age, musical training, socio-economic circumstance and ability. During the conversation he demonstrates how any object can be used to create interesting music, and we also get to hear him improvise on a waterphone, as well as with me on my violin, with a unique instrument which he explains. I do hope you’ll find Jesse to be as inspiring and interesting as I do! Below are timestamps for all the topics we covered.

The video is close-captioned and the transcript will be published soon, at the same link on my podcast website: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/jesse-stewart-e13-s2-percussionist-composer-community-activist-artist-writer-instrument-builder

Jesse Stewart website: https://www.jessestewart.ca/home.html

Please help me with a tip? https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman

photo credit: Michele McMillan

Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro

(01:50) percussion

(03:48) waterphone

(07:06) discussion of Pulse water dripping on drum head

(09:18) intersection of visual art and music, Reinhard Reitzenstein, Gayle Young, Suzy Lake

(12:09) building a vibraphone

(14:31) Glacialis ice music

(16:43) exploring boxes and balloons, and different instruments in teaching orchestration

(26:28) studies in composition and ethnomusicology James Tenney, David Mott, Rob Bowman

(32:07) recovering from brain surgery, making videos of many different instruments and found objects like canoe paddles

(37:35) demonstration of different found objects

(42:20) snare drum compositions with demonstration of sonic exploration with wrenches

(46:06) Community activism: We Are All Musicians

(49:16) Adaptive Use Musical Instrument, Pauline Oliveros

(56:38) improv with violin, waterphone and the gongs with the AUMI

(01:100:32) Ajay Heble and upcoming book about the pedagogy of musical improvisation

(01:07:38) improv with dancers, cellist Peggy Lee, Propeller Dance, Natasha Bakht

(01:11:56) notating the drum studies, discussion of jazz drumming, Elvin Jones

(01:20:43) fond memories of playing with Kevin Breit, Matt Brubeck, David Mott, William Partker, playing for the Dalai Lama