On April 30th, 45^th Parallel will perform Treasured Resources: Water and Music, featuring the world premiere of Waterways by Columbia Riverkeeper composer-in-residence Deena T. Grossman. 45^th Parallel executive director Lisa Lipton spoke with Deena about her music and creative process in this interview:

Lisa: This must be an exciting concert for you. My understanding is that you were going to premiere Waterways in 2021, and then it was canceled because of Covid. Tell me what this experience is like for you. Does it feel like you’re going to visit a friend you haven’t seen in many years?

Deena: We were able to do a recording of the piece in 2022, so I did get a chance to work with everyone and hear the piece. One of my greatest joys as a composer is to work with the musicians and then hear them bring my music to life – the collaborative aspect is why I’m a composer. Although I was able to hear it, it wasn't performed live for the public. I’m very excited to hear it, and it happens to feature a lot of the same musicians that are on the recording. There’s something electric about the specific type of energy we experience as listeners of a premiere. Also, once it’s done once, it will happen again and again.

Lisa: You yourself are a flutist. Is it difficult to write for the instrument you play?

Deena: On the contrary, it’s easier because I know it from the inside out. It’s almost like a native language, one that I speak well. Much of my writing for flute is influenced by Shakuhachi music. My husband Larry, when we first met, was playing a lot of this style of music, and we studied it when we lived in Japan. The music of the Shakuhachi became part of my musical body. I’ve heard the music for so many years that the particular kinds of repertoire, the soloistic pieces, the tone colors, and the qualities, all have become part of my writing. Even in pieces like Waterways, where I’m not necessarily thinking of that style of music, I can hear its influence come out.

Lisa: I like that you know from where your influences emerge. Many people can’t pinpoint something so directly. When did you become the composer-in-residence at Columbia Riverkeeper, and what does that mean?

Deena: In 2018 I became aware that there was a proposal for the world’s largest methanol refinery, to be housed in the wetlands adjacent to the Columbia at the port of Kalama.

Lisa: This would mean all of that refinery stuff might end up in the river?

Deena: Yes, in many, many ways. It would have meant that oil would be brought from Canada and the midwest in large quantities, then processed there, made into methanol and then stored in this location. Methanol is highly toxic, highly flammable, and has no smell. If it catches on fire, it can’t be put out in normal ways because of its chemical composition.

Lisa: So it could actually be on fire while also in the water.

Deena: I suppose that’s possible. Anyway, it was a terrible idea, and the Columbia Riverkeeper staff were fighting it in court, and there was a grassroots part of their organization involved with this specific project. I became a part of that, went up to Kalama, met with people opposing this project, and felt very strongly that this monstrous thing was a terrible danger to our river and to our area, so I got involved as a citizen activist. When doing this I decided that I wanted somehow to have my compositional talents benefit their efforts. In 2020, just after the pandemic hit, I started writing Waterways. I was walking from Reed College to the Willamette river, meandering through the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden and the Springwater Corridor near Johnson Creek, gathering inspiration for this piece. When I finished the piece, I met with the executive director of Columbia Riverkeeper, told them I had dedicated this piece to the organization, and asked if we could do a benefit concert of it, with all profits going to the organization. They were very receptive, and in total there have been four concerts to date. They’ve been received really well, and while we’re showcasing my work, we include other composers as well, with the unifying theme of advocating for cleaner waterways. It’s been a wonderful relationship.

Lisa: It sounds like you are really inspired not only by water and nature, but also by people’s actions in maintaining and preserving water and natural areas.

Deena: Yes, I think it’s essential for everyone to find a way to connect with our natural environment and support its continuation, because our natural areas are threatened in countless ways, and I think we can all find ways to support our collective future. This is my way of doing that, my way of making a contribution.

Lisa: I think one of the best ways to make a contribution is through art and music, because it’s not necessarily negative or reprimanding – you’re inviting people to participate in something beautiful and come to their own conclusions about its meaning. How long have you been composing music? Has it always been classical?

Deena: I was probably about 8 when I began. I started composing little songs for the piano, and then had my first real music teacher. I studied recorder, tin whistle, and flute with her. We did all sorts of things in these lessons, including improvisation. She would write me little pieces to play, and then I in turn wrote little pieces for her to play. In high school I was in band and orchestra and took a theory class. I decided then that music and composition were what I wanted to study in college.

Lisa: Were your parents or anyone else in your family musical?

Deena: My parents both loved music. My dad played guitar and sang. Mostly he played folk songs – we used to sing together all the time. I listened to a lot of their LPs growing up: Kabuki music from Japan, Ravi Shankar recordings with Zakir Hussain on Tabla, the Brahms clarinet quintet – one of my all time favorite pieces – as well as opera, Pete Seeger, Lead Belly, and a lot of American folk music. I grew up going to all kinds of concerts.

Lisa: If I remember correctly, you grew up in the Bay Area. Were you always drawn to the water?

Deena: I grew up in Berkeley and we spent a lot of time at the beaches and camping in the forest, near lakes. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that I’m an Aquarius! My favorite thing to do is swim.

Lisa: Do you swim here?

Deena: I do. I swim mostly in public pools or in the lakes up on Mt. Adams, but I feel the best when I’m in the water.

Lisa: What advice you would give someone who wants to combine their skill in art or music with something else about which they are passionate?

Deena: I think that it's actually not that difficult. If someone’s really interested in a certain community group or social activist group, or even a farmers’ co-op, something connected to our natural world, there’s always a way to bring your creative energy to help support that group, no matter what you or they are doing. The form that it takes will be different for everyone. It’s all about relationships with other people and making connections. Something will always inspire you if you let it. Once I was at Leach Botanical Garden and I thought, “this is a place I want to make music,” and now I’ve done two concerts there. Tell people what you do, get the word out, and see what happens!

Lisa: You’ve said before that collaboration is one of the most important aspects of music-making and composition for you. Was this encouraged early in your life?

Deena: Yes. I’d also say that I’m a first-born and just have a natural drive and tendency to believe I can make something happen and lead people to it. During my first year at U.C. Santa Barbara we had a design-your-own-curriculum course, and I designed a sort of big installation of performances in an outdoor canyon – this showed me anything is possible!

We hope you’ll join us for this special performance of Deena T. Grossman’s work Waterways at The Old Madeleine Church for our April concert Treasured Resources: Water and Music!

Lisa Lipton
Executive Director, 45^th Parallel Universe