by Sam Garvin

“How loud is ‘mezzo piano’?” Maestro Kyle Wiley Pickett asked. I sat there, on the other side of his desk, wondering what the answer was. There was a brief pause, and then he said, “So–I’m asking you,” and I realized that the question was not rhetorical. I was supposed to be interviewing Maestro Pickett, but now I had gone from asking the questions to answering them. I formed what I hoped would be an adequate answer. “Between piano and mezzo forte,” I said, expecting him to reply with some precise dynamic definition. To my surprise, however, he quickly informed me that I had given the best possible answer. “I’ll ask so many people,” he continued, “‘How loud is loud?’ And they’re like, ‘I don’t know, is it…87 decibels?’ But the answer is, ‘Mezzo piano is louder than piano and softer than mezzo forte.’”

Maestro Pickett’s question was posed to me as a means of explaining how conductors control the dynamics and sound of a symphony. As he rather modestly put it, the role of a conductor is to act as a “traffic cop” to the orchestra. But by the end of the interview, it became apparent that what I thought were the easiest parts of conducting might actually be the most difficult, and those things I thought would be the hardest might be the easiest. It all revolves around the concept of what Maestro Pickett describes as “musical decisions.” I had prepared questions for the interview regarding whether or not music can serve as a means to inspire and direct people, but before I had even asked them, I already knew the answer. It became obvious that Maestro Pickett has been inspired and directed by music since his childhood.

In 4th grade, Maestro Pickett took up the flute, an instrument that, along with the piano, carried him throughout college and into his career of conducting. Conducting was something he says he did not expect to end up doing. When I asked if the flute has any influence on his conducting style, I got an answer I wasn’t expecting: “I don’t think it does.” While he said that he has seen other conductors direct an orchestra with an emphasis on the qualities of the instrument that they play, he indicated that the flute served more as a vessel on his road to conducting. Regardless, the flute led him to discover conducting, and for fourteen years he was in charge of both the North State Symphony in California (an ensemble he created by merging the orchestras of Redding and Chico) and the Juneau Symphony in Alaska. In 2013, he applied for two open conducting positions at the Springfield Symphony Orchestra and the Topeka Symphony Orchestra and, to our luck, was accepted to both.

This concert season marks the Maestro’s fifth year with the SSO. As the conductor and artistic director of the symphony, Maestro Pickett both conducts and chooses the season’s theme and music. The year’s theme is “Revolution,” with monthly concerts commemorating events such as the 100th anniversary of the American entry into World War I, the Russian Revolution, the Chinese Cultural Revolution, and perhaps most importantly, the 500th anniversary of the nailing of Martin Luther’s 95 Theses, the spark that started the Protestant Reformation. With the time it surely takes Maestro Pickett to do both jobs, I was lucky to be able to catch him for an interview.

One of the things I asked the Maestro was, “What is conducting?” When I posed this question, Maestro Pickett gave both a short and long answer. In the most basic form, the Maestro says, being a conductor is like being a traffic cop, conveying various signals to the orchestra as to when to play notes, and at what volume, like a traffic cop giving signals to oncoming cars. Although I thought that this was a good way to put it, I felt that this was fairly obvious to any symphony attendee. And indeed, as the Maestro continued, I realized that this was only the start of his explanation. Somewhat similar to the idea of a “musical decision,” the Maestro introduced a new concept: “musical vision.” For a single piece, a “musical vision” is more or less the conglomeration of all the musical choices in that piece that form an idealized version of how the piece should be played. And from this, the Maestro said that conducting was the process of trying to line up a musical vision in a conductor’s head with what the symphony plays. He presented this process as a sort of compromise between the conductor’s vision and the music that the symphony plays. “And sometimes,” said the Maestro, “you have to adjust what’s in your head.”

One of the Maestro’s observations stood out to me, mainly because of its non-intuitive nature. His observation was that seemingly straightforward pieces are often harder to conduct. To explain this, Maestro Pickett told me about something he noticed during his education as a conductor, when he was asked to conduct both a Mozart symphony and Stravinsky’s Petrushka. Stravinsky, a famed practitioner of atonality, wrote pieces with melodies and rhythms that were purposefully untraditional, irregular, and even confusing. Petrushka, as Maestro Pickett explained, stands in stark contrast with the straightforward, typical classical-era elegance of a Mozart symphony. Despite this, he said that the Mozart symphony was actually harder to conduct, and the reason for this was the amount of “musical choices” (a recurring topic, I noted) that the score forced him to make. A musical choice, says the Maestro, is anything present in the score that is not definite, such as tone, volume, or even rhythm and tempo to a certain extent. (The example Maestro Pickett gave of “mezzo piano,” falls under the category of a “musical decision,” because the conductor has the final say in its dynamic level). According to Maestro Pickett, the musical choices present in the Mozart symphony were far greater than in Petrushka, which he found straightforward after mastering its technical challenges in rhythm.

As I learned more about Maestro Pickett’s experiences as a growing musician, I began to wonder how the youth of today can become involved in a musical community, and in what ways Maestro Pickett had become involved when he was a child. The first method of involvement he suggested was his also first step into the musical world: playing an instrument. Many children have already discovered the joy of making music in their orchestras or private lessons. But just as Maestro Pickett was once at that point of being inspired by music, he now has the opportunity to inspire those who come to see him conduct. Another, much different, way of involvement Maestro Pickett suggested was to start by singing, which he says is good because it often naturally arises out of an innate passion for music. Seeing as the voice is perhaps the most natural way to make music, this makes sense.

As children, both Maestro Pickett and his wife, Alice, were often taken to the symphony hall by their parents. This experience, he says, gradually piqued his interest in music. He told me that recently, he took his kids to the symphony hall and they pointed out that a piece he was conducting sounded similar to a song from the Star Wars soundtrack. While it was just an observation, it shows that listening to music can expand one’s knowledge and even form a direct connection to the musical community. And this sort of involvement, as in Maestro Pickett’s case, can form a career path, and even spread a passion for music to others. “But why a world with music, as opposed to one without?” I thought after the interview. Soon I realized that the answer was staring me in the face. You could see it in the office that I had just left behind. You could see it in the symphony hall, packed with those passionate and enthusiastic about music. Among other things, music creates friendships and builds communities. It encourages unity and harmony between musicians and non-musicians alike. It promotes happiness and satisfaction. And ultimately, I knew the answer to my question was simply that music instills joy.

Sam Garvin is a 8th grade student at the Springfield Scholars Program. He is interestedin travel and other cultures, in-school subjects such as mathematics, and both playing andlistening to music. He is a regular attendant of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra.