BY SAMUEL COTTELL
Time for Three is Zachary De Pue (violin), Nicolas Kendall (violin), and Ranaan Meyer (double bass). It’s an ensemble that defies tradition, describing itself as a ‘classically trained garage band’. Tf3 makes its first visit to Australia this month to perform with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in an exciting program including the ensemble’s unique arrangements of popular music. The group is here this month to promote classical music to everyone. CutCommon writer Samuel Cottell catches up with Tf3 bassist Ranaan Meyer to talk bullying, music, and engaging audiences.
Tf3 formed 15 years ago out of late night jam sessions at the Curtis Institute of Music where the three members were studying at the time. The combination of two violins and bass was not something they actively thought about but was more a combination of what they had at the time.
“Really, the group is an organic formation,” Ranaan says. “This is a question we that we get asked a lot: why two violins and bass? We never would have just set out and chosen these instruments. I think we would have had to have been crazy to some extent – and I think we are crazy to some extent. But that has nothing to do with our choice.
“We would just jam, and the admin at Curtis caught wind of us and they wanted to know why were consistently being kicked out of the practice rooms late at night.”
After being booked for a corporate gig where they claim the crowd went crazy for them, Tf3 thought it was time to do another gig and test the audience response. Luckily for us, the second gig also prompted the audience to go wild.
“They went crazy for us, so we thought, it’s either just a really enthusiastic crowd or we have something special here. We owed it to you to try it again, so we tried another gig and got the same gig and we knew there was something special. The audiences are what determined the existence of Tf3.”
Ranaan says it’s hard to describe the group – despite playing in it himself, he finds it difficult to put into words what Tf3 is all about. “It’s quite frustrating because if we knew how to describe it things would move faster for us. I’ve learned to love it though – I’ve learned to bask in the fact that you can’t explain it and you just have to see it.
“We are fortunate to have a career where we get to make music and travel the world and make a living doing it. We generally say things like we a ‘classically trained garage band’ or we’re the ‘bad boys of classical music’, or we play all genres of music wrapped into one.
“We are classically trained, we like to think of our music as sophisticated and fun, but we don’t take ourselves too seriously.
“We will get up on stage and play music that is extremely difficult but we don’t look at it that way, we look at it like it’s just a joyous abundance of possibilities and that seems to make the audience very happy.”
The group will be giving the Australian premiere of ‘Concert 4-3’, a work written for Tf3 by American Grammy Award and Pulitzer Prize winner Jennifer Higdon.
“We learned a lot from the piece and learned a lot from her. It’s a collaboration of sorts, but she did the lion’s share of the work as the composer and also she really put her stamp on it. It’s truly a Jenifer Higdon identity, but through her identity she captures the essence of Tf3 in a bluegrass, Appalachia, American folk sort of way and we kind of spring board and bounce of the energy of that.
“It’s definitely a piece in which you have to search for the meaning, it’s not obvious at first. It’s truly an opportunity for the audience to sit back and experience our energy but then also to be provoked to think, ‘what is this’?.”
Tf3 will also perform a diverse selection of arrangements that the group has developed over the years. How does a group diverse as this select repertoire, songs and create arrangements?
“We are open to many different possibilities,” Ranaan says. He and Nicolas were recently commissioned to write a work as residence for an orchestra in Sun Valley, Idaho, which boasts audiences of up to 5000 people.
“It’s about being creative, getting into a residency atmosphere where we can just sit down, think and literally make the best of our music creativity. That’s an ideal circumstance.” They collaborated with Kenji Bunch for orchestrations and will premiere the work – the fourth piece written for Tf3 and orchestra.
As well as bringing large audiences to their concerts, the trio also send a message through its music and performances. Two years ago, they musicians created their first music video performing an arrangement of Kayne West’s song ‘Stronger’.
“The bullying prevention video that we did was really our first music video – and we felt like the first music video that we would do should have a message,” Ranaan says. “We all, at times, had felt put down because we simply did not belong to the ‘popular’. Playing a string instrument was not the coolest thing to do when we were growing up in school. Sometimes kids would be cruel and we would be punished for simply having a violin or bass in our hands. I feel like that is changing in a significant way. That video is really about empowering anyone to follow their dreams – especially, in this case, musicians.”
Today, some sceptics seem to make grandiose claims that ‘classical music is dead’ and I asked Meyer’s about his take on this and how he thinks Tf3 can help engage different audiences and get them involved with classical music concerts.
“To tell you the truth, people just want you to be yourself, for better or worse. Tf3 really tries to live in being in ourselves.”
Tf3 runs a young professional series with the Indianapolis Symphony called Happy Hour at the Symphony, in which younger audiences engage with three to four performances a year.
“The repertoire is really progressive and it mashes up the music that has stood the test of time with the music of today.
“I think that is all part of the bigger picture to creating sustainability in our art form and exposing younger people to great music that has stood the test of time.
“No, [classical music] is not dead it never will be, just like anything that lasts for a long time. It’s a journey up and down, left and right and we are just hoping to do our little part to expose the larger world to all music.”
Catch Tf3 with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra on 27, 28 and 29 August. For further information visit www.sydneysymphony.com.
Image credit LeAnn Mueller.
