Christopher Goodpasture has been on faculty at Interlochen for just 8 weeks. He visited Classical IPR's Studio A to discuss how the semester is going so far and what he likes doing when not in the practice room.
Listen to Classical IPR's conversation with Christopher Goodpasture in this podcast episode, or read an edited transcript of the conversation below.
Want to see video of Christopher Goodpasture performing in Studio A? Check out Classical IPR on Instagram!
Music performed in Studio A
Ludwig van Beethoven: Bagatelle in G major, Op. 126, No. 5, "Quasi allegretto"
Alexander Scriabin: Prelude in F-sharp minor, Op. 74, No. 2, "Très lent, contemplatif"
George Gershwin: Prelude No. 2 in C-sharp minor, "Andante con moto"
Michael Culler engineered this edition of Studio A.
Scott Clemens is IPR's digital content producer.
Nancy Deneen: We're more than halfway through October and now that the school year is thoroughly underway, how would you describe your experience as a faculty member at Interlochen Arts Academy?
Christopher Goodpasture: It's been very rewarding, I would say. I have always enjoyed teaching, whether it's at the undergraduate or high school level, but this is just such a special place because everyone here is so committed to what they're doing. There's a real feel at the school for pursuing a serious career in the arts and in music.
It's just an incredible sort of bubble that I've fallen into, and it's been very fun to get to know them on a very personal level and work with them even just in the past couple months. It's been really fun and very stimulating and educational for me. I've always thought of teaching as a great learning tool for myself, and I've always viewed the greatest teachers in my life as great students themselves and very willing students even in old age. It's been a challenge, but one that I'm certainly happy to take on.
ND: You not only teach solo piano students, but you also coach chamber music at Interlochen Arts Academy. What are the common threads in teaching the solo students and the small ensembles, and what are the biggest differences?
CG: Chamber music has been a huge part of my life since I was probably thirteen or fourteen, so the age of some of these students here. And chamber music is, I think, an essential skill for any musician, but particularly for pianists. I think the social aspect of playing chamber music with string players or wind players or even other pianists is crucial to developing as a musician and developing a keen and attentive listening skill.
Some of the main differences between teaching a solo pianist versus a chamber musician is that of collaboration. Practicing a Liszt etude in your practice room for hours at a time doesn't teach you much about working with other people. Having the experience to rehearse and talk about ideas in a way that's very fruitful are very important skills to cultivate at a young age even outside of music.
It's a very good "people" skill. It's a good social skill. Teaching these listening skills through chamber music is very important and it also informs our solo playing. It allows [pianists] to open up our ears and our minds to new sonic possibilities that we can start to use in our own solo preparation.
There aren't too many specific pianistic differences, but in terms of the holistic experience of being a chamber musician and a solo performer, there are a lot of benefits that can go either way. Certainly chamber music really enhances our ability to listen and to listen beyond ourselves, which is a crucial skill to have.
ND: Here in the studio today, you have brought some solo pieces that you're going to play. What will you share with our listeners first?
CG: I was thinking a little too hard about what I wanted to play at first because I was thinking I should come up with an interesting theme or a through-line to make it really interesting and different. The main thing I wanted to do was just play three pieces that I really loved and that I've always felt very connected to.
I'm playing three short pieces by very different composers and from different styles. The first is a Beethoven bagatelle. A "bagatelle" is like a little trifle or a short whimsical piece. This particular one is from Op. 126 and it's my favorite one from the set. There are six and this one for some reason speaks to me the most. It has this kind of dreamlike childlike attitude or a sort of affect to it that really speaks to me something nostalgic. It's a beautiful, short one minute and a half piece, but it says quite a lot in a short amount of time.
[Performance of Bagatelle in G major, Op. 126, No. 5, "Quasi allegretto" by Ludwig van Beethoven]
ND: In addition to mentorship for young musicians, your work has also included intentional work toward art and audience engagement. And in your case, what does that look like?
CG: I think there's an ever-increasing need in classical music to be more than just a face, or just a performer, but rather to actually connect with an audience on a more personal level. I think it's helpful to be able to speak about what you do, and the thought process behind your programming. I was part of this ensemble called "Ensemble Connect" in New York for a couple years, this was back in 2018, and that was a big part of their mission, which is to instill in their fellows a sense of being able to interface with the audience in a way that really elucidates the music that they're about to hear or says something more about the performer who's playing the music.
It's nice to show that we are more than just practicing monkeys in our practice rooms... we're doing more than just practicing and then reproducing in front of people. We actually have a chance to bring out our personal thoughts behind what we do. It certainly contextualizes the music in a way that can be very helpful. Providing a little bit of context and insight can really help create a space for open-mindedness, which I think is key for any audience.
ND: Do you have a favorite type of music or a composer's style to play? And if so, what is it or who are they?
CG: it's nice that you didn't ask "do I have a favorite composer" because I get asked that and I never really know what to say because that preference can change quite frequently. It just depends on my mood and my disposition at the time. I tend to gravitate towards — at least these days — more subdued styles. I love Schubert. I love late Beethoven. I like Debussy, a lot of Impressionist music. There's a Spanish composer — he's Catalan — Federico Mompou, who I really love, and I've always loved his music. There's something extremely intimate and softspoken and very poetic about his music. He's a composer that I've always felt very strongly about and his music is not heard very often.
ND: I imagine you're introducing audiences to him.
CG: A lot of the time I am. But the nice thing about his music is it speaks for itself. It's extremely unique and idiosyncratic. Think "Debussy mixed with a little bit of Bill Evans" but also with a Spanish flair.
Meanwhile, I used to love Liszt. Liszt used to be like a big part of my life. I have a student now who's obsessed with Liszt. All he wants to do is play Liszt. It makes me think of myself when I was a little bit older than him. It's just interesting how we go through phases of styles and things that we really, really gravitate toward and feel so passionate about, but it's really a fluid thing.
ND: What are you going to play next?
CG: Alexander Scriabin, whose style evolved so dramatically from beginning to end. He started out writing in the style of Chopin, a very romantic idiom, and then towards the end of his life he started writing some relatively experimental music. And this [piano piece] is certainly one of them. This is a short prelude from his set of Op. 74 preludes and the second installment of that set. Scriabin's wife and Scriabin himself mentioned publicly that this was one of his greatest pieces that he had ever written, which says quite a lot about it because it's so short, it's so compact.
It may sound simple in certain ways, but it's incredibly dense and there's so much going on. So many voices are happening simultaneously. Every time I go back to it, I find a new way of bringing something new out or expressing it in a different way. And that always tantalizes me as a pianist.
This piece in particular has a very cosmic aspect to it. It sounds otherworldly, maybe even extraterrestrial. There's this element of mystery. It's a very evocative piece and extremely beautiful.
ND: You just illustrated your point about audience engagement and the communication, because now I and others will hear this knowing this was considered by the composer to be so important in his body of work and your impressions of what it is will make all the difference in how we hear it.
[Performance of Prelude in F-sharp minor, Op. 74, No. 2, "Très lent, contemplatif" by Alexander Scriabin.]
ND: What should our listeners be on the lookout for on the horizon?
CG: As far as our students are concerned, we have departmental recitals that take place in Dendrinos Chapel every month. Those are a great chance for students to play what they're working on. Meanwhile, I don't have anything at Interlochen this fall, but in the spring, I plan to do some collaborations with a couple of faculty members.
ND: When you're not studying, teaching, practicing, performing, what do you like to do?
CG: I love basketball. For some people that might be a big surprise. I used to play and there's something about the sport that just speaks to me so much. I grew up playing basketball, watching the Lakers in the 2000s when they had Kobe Bryant and Shaq. And that really turned me on to basketball. At the time it was very exciting to be following basketball in Los Angeles. It's just stuck with me ever since. I'm a huge NBA freak — I just love basketball and I follow it pretty, pretty closely.
I also enjoy painting and doing artistic things just for fun, another type of catharsis. I like to exercise when I can. Otherwise, I love traveling. I'm devoting my time to playing some video games and watching NBA, playing basketball and practicing doing some artistic things on the side when I can.
ND: So what piece will you leave us with today?
CG: The last piece I'll play is a prelude by George Gershwin. It's prelude number 2 out of 3. And this piece, kind of similar to the Beethoven, it keys into something childlike for me. I think that has to do with the association. I learned it when I was a young child. And so I have very fond memories of playing this piece growing up and throughout my life. I've always brought it back and played it just for fun.
Whether it's an encore or by myself. It's one of the few pieces I can just whip out and play. Every time I play it, something new kind of happens. I let my own feeling for the music take control rather than thinking too much about "am I doing the right thing?"
It's a liberating experience to play this piece because I feel like I can do what I want to in it. It's interesting for me on a personal level to see how it's evolved throughout my life and how my approach to it and how my ears have changed over time. So it's a good barometer for evolution for me.
[Performance of Prelude No. 2 in C-sharp minor, "Andante con moto" by George Gershwin.]
