Alex Lee graduated from The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music in 2022 with his bachelor’s in saxophone performance and a second bachelor’s in music education. He has just completed his master’s in saxophone performance from the University of Missouri, Kansas City, and will be attending Michigan State University for doctoral studies.
For the past two years, Lee has been making his way as a performer with Fivemind Reeds, a reed quintet formed at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music in 2021 and composed entirely of alumni and current students. You can check out the group’s recordings and touring schedule on their website. In addition to performing in California, the group has spent the past two summers in northern Michigan as part of Interlochen Public Radio’s Sound Garden Project, which seeks to plant music in unexpected places.
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What does it mean to plant classical music in unexpected places?
Classical music is sometimes perceived as distant or elite. A lot of people don’t feel welcome in big concert halls, where they sit in silence and aren’t expected to interact with musicians. So, we take the music to people.
Can you give me an example?
So, for instance, we’ll go up to people eating at a restaurant and tell them, “Hi, we’re Fivemind Reeds, and we’re sponsored by Interlochen Public Radio, and we’d like to play a little game with you. Does this music sound more like an appetizer, or an entrée?” And then we would play twenty seconds of music for them, then talk with them about it. At the end, we’d invite them to a concert we were giving.
Where was this?
Glen Arbor, Michigan. This is our second year doing this.
Second year?
We applied last year and were there for the full eight weeks. This year we were invited back for a two-week residency.
How do people react when you approach them?
I should lead by saying that Interlochen Public Radio and the Sound Garden Project gain approval from various vendors to approach and mingle with their customers during specified and scheduled times. We call them sound samples, like food samples in a grocery store, but sonically.
Still, people are generally a little hesitant at first. It helps that we can open by saying we are sponsored by Interlochen Public Radio, so they don’t think we are out soliciting.
You mentioned the restaurant, but what other environments do you approach people?
Glen Arbor is a really beautiful northern Michigan town, they have a lot of tourist traffic in the summer. We’ll walk in the downtown area around the shops and approach people and say “Hey, you’re shopping for clothes, and we are going to play something for you.”
Right in the shops?
Actually, we are usually approaching husbands waiting outside the shops while their wives are inside shopping. We had one great experience there where we talked with a husband and he mentioned that they had three kids. So, then we went into the store and approached her and said “We’re going to play something for you, can you tell us which of your three kids this sounds most like?” And we performed this playful, slightly aggressive piece. She immediately brightened up and said: “Oh, it’s my third child, he was so rambunctious when he was younger, but he’s really mellowed out now, and he’s such a great kid.” And then we had a great conversation with her.
Where else do you bring unexpected concerts?
We would give a sunrise and sunset sounds. Every morning around 9 a.m. we would gather outdoors and play a minute of sunrise sounds, kind of like a rooster call. We would do the same thing close to sunset.
On one of our last nights there, we mixed it up a bit. We went to Empire Beach, which is about a 20 minute drive from Glen Arbor, and they have a great tradition there, where people from different towns all come together on the beach on Friday afternoon and have a cookout. It’s a tightknit community, everyone knows each other.
They heard us playing our sunset sounds from across the beach, and one of them came running up to get us and have us come over. So we played an impromptu concert. We started with a Billy Joel piece, which is a great way to get people involved. And then we’d play our more classical music and ask the audience questions like, “What season does this excerpt sound like?” It’s just a great way to bring everyone in and get them all involved.
What’s next for you?
Well, Fivemind Reeds will be performing in Los Angeles on August 17 at 7:00 p.m., at the Culver City Presbyterian Church. Everyone is welcome!
Join Fivemind Reeds for their inaugural concert series on Saturday, August 17 at 7:00 p.m. at the Culver City Presbyterian Church. Tickets are free, with a $15 suggested donation. Fivemind Reeds is Thacher Schreiber, Oboe; Darren Liou, Clarinet; Alexander Lee, Saxophone; Matthew Rasmussen, Bassoon; and Kristine Llanderal, Bass Clarinet.