Artist Highlight

SERAPHIC FIRE:

A GLIMPSE INTO THE LIFE OF OUR ARTISTS

You may be wondering: how are Seraphic Fire artists keeping busy during the pandemic? Patrick Quigley sat down with Brenna Wells and Reggie Mobley to learn more about their passions and how they’ve restructured their time since March 2020.

Brenna Wells

PDQ: We all know and love you as one of our Seraphic Fire sopranos, but you own your own business in Washington state. Can you tell us about what you do?

BW: I continue to work as a freelance soprano in my own state and across the US, but I wanted to diversify my professional life and make a difference in my community . Five years ago, I opened my business: Little Sprouts Music Together . I teach Music Together classes and curriculum - an international research and evidence-based early childhood music curriculum . We teach the fundamentals of music to children ages 0-6 and their parents or caregivers . This helps children build not only their musical skills, but also supports their entire development . Anyone can be musical, especially when encouraged and nurtured from an early age .

PDQ: How has the pandemic affected how you run your business?

BW: The pandemic essentially shut down my business, as it did for all the performing arts ensembles I work with and love . It became clear early on that I would need to “pivot” quickly or risk losing my entire livelihood and all the hard work I’d poured into starting this new business . I decided to move my classes online . After observing a wonderful dance class my sons attended, I jumped into offering my Music Together classes via Zoom, as well as “on demand” via my website . It was a steep learning curve, but once I learned all the new technology and how to streamline it for my use and the family’s use, it was up and we were off and running!

PDQ: How has your career as a singer influenced how you adapted to this change?

BW: As professional singers, we are very used to adapting to any situation . We are constantly traveling, getting sick at the least opportune time, sleeping and living in an unusual new space, singing with new people, new conductors, new music, new and maybe not-so-great venues, jumping into a gig at the last minute, etc . We are very good at adapting, making changes, overcoming physical and emotional obstacles, and always showing up and getting the job done . It’s what we do . I feel this crazy life prepared me for being able to adapt and overcome this giant obstacle .

PDQ: If you could go back and tell yourself one thing at the beginning of the pandemic, what would it be?

BW: Ha! I think the quote I often joke about is “little did she know . . .” But, in all seriousness, I would tell myself, “we are all feeling the same overwhelming feelings right now .” I would tell myself to breathe more; to trust that the path I was about to embark on would be appreciated, loved, and needed - especially now . I would also tell myself to be more patient and that this would be a long process filled with more unknowns than I could have ever imagined .

PDQ: What excites you most about the future following this?

BW: I am excited that Music Together decided to launch this online mode of teaching and that I can now offer my classes this way . I have reconnected with families who had moved away from the Seattle area and who are now excited to be back in my virtual classroom . I believe this is also an exciting avenue to reach families who might nothave the ability to come to class due to disabilities or auto-immune issues . I have even had a few families with children who’ve been seriously ill and hospitalized recently . They’ve been able to watch and even participate in my classes from their hospital rooms, and the parents have shared with me that it was crucial to their recovery process . I want to create a community of musical children and parents and I truly believe that we can make the world a kinder and more compassionate place through music .

Reggie Mobley

PDQ: Many artists have tapped into new skills within and outside of music since the onset of the pandemic. You have taken on a new role with your consulting work; could you tell us about what you have been doing?

RM: The main transition for me is that I have become a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Consultant for arts organizations . A lot of arts organizations have been looking for ways to be active and helpful, all while doing some soul searching and seeing how they may have been complicit in this systemic racism issue . I have been consulting a lot through Zoom calls, editing statements, and steering policy changes within organizations . I have become a tool of oversight to help these organizations find their way to a more equitable existence so that post COVID-19 we can hit the ground running both professionally and academically .

PDQ: By the time people get to Seraphic Fire, they have been in the music education system for around 25 years. What are some of the barriers that you are aware of in the education sector?

RM: It is more at the university level where you get to focus on music as your major, however this issue begins in grade school . For example, how many career composers of color have you studied? Female composers? In truth, the strong majority of music history has been whitewashed since near the beginning . By focusing solely on the white male pillars of Western-European music, women, the LGBTQ community and students of color lack representation and it is important that the curriculum changes to reflect that music history isn’t as heteronormative and white as we see it . The truth is that Isabella Leonarda and Hildegard von Bingen existed, Esteban Salas existed, and we need to teach this .

PDQ: Do you think physical distance has played a role in the ability for people to express their opinions on this matter?

RM: Absolutely . Operating via Skype, Zoom, or even Facebook Messenger presents its own challenges . There is something about not being face-toface that absolves one from being emotionally and socially responsible to the person in front of you . It is far easier to behave without manners or etiquette because you are behind a screen . It is the same way we dehumanize people behind that fourth wall; that space has not only distanced us physically, but as humans .

PDQ: Through your consulting work, do you have hope for what happens when we are able to be back in the same room together to talk about this topic?

RM: I want to say yes, however I am not fully there yet . After the tragedies of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, there was such an intense ground swell of corporations and arts organizations proposing changes to their policies . However, as the dust begins to settle, we are seeing a lot of this work be pushed to the side . At this point, we can’t trust that organizations are going to change until we see the change . It’s time to start showing your work .