April Faith-Slaker, musician
Photo by Carlos M. Torres
Musician April Faith-Slaker will be performing this Sunday, December 11 at Omahype’s 2nd Annual Holiday Throwdown at Slowdown, featuring live holiday music from a hootenanny-style lineup of local musicians, live comedy from OK Party Comedy and an expanded Rock-N-Shop with local designers, record labels and artists (details below). She generously shares with Les Femmes Folles about balancing graduate school and her music endeavors, being raised by a single mom, how Omaha is a great place and its a great time to be a female artist right now and more…
Tell me about your background/from Omaha?
I first moved to Omaha in 2007 after finishing law school, having accepted a position at the Center for Children, Families and the Law at UNL. Since returning to school to pursue a PhD at Northwestern University in Chicago, I’ve been hectically bouncing back and forth between these two cities, sometimes staying here for chunks of time, sometimes staying there for a while. I’m still working on striking a balance between my “day job” as a graduate student and my creative endeavors with the music and artistic communities here.
How did you get interested in music?
I began my classical music training at the Music Institute of Chicago when I was 3 years old, with a miniature cello in tow. I first learned to break some of the classical music barriers that are propagated by sheet music and rigid concert rituals when I joined a band at the Academy of Irish Music when I was about 15. I have to laugh at myself a bit when I remember my first experience with that band: I was like, where is the sheet music? what key are we playing in?? to which, the other musicians kind of looked stunned and were like, just play! I figured it out, though, and learned to shed some of the roles and expectations in which I had become so entrenched in the classical music world, and now consider one of my strengths as a musician my ability to improvise.
It was the purchase of my electric cello on an ebay whim when I was in college that really created the bridge between my cello playing and more contemporary styles of music. The ability to plug my cello into an amp allowed for an expansion of collaboration and performance opportunities. Shortly after that, I started playing with a band called the Metaphysicians (this is what happens when philosophy majors form a band). Ever since, I have been exploring different styles of music, while maintaining elements from my classical training. I realized I had gotten a bit carried away, though, when I showed up to a classical orchestra audition with my electric cello … I got into the orchestra, but let’s just say it was an underappreciated approach ;)
Tell me about the work you do/style/inspirations.
Currently, I participate in a variety of musical groups. To keep up with my classical training, I play with various chamber music ensembles. It helps that my sister is a professional pianist, so she keeps me on my toes. Here in town, I am continually humbled by the opportunities to collaborate with really talented musicians and artists who draw from a spectrum of styles. I can be seen performing with the Mynabirds from time to time and I also compose and perform with ætherplough, a contemporary performance group. Playing with the Mynabirds is a ton of fun – Laura is inspiring to work with and her music lends itself well to cello counterpoint parts. My work with ætherplough allows for different musical goal: its interdisciplinary nature allows for a sort of boundary-pushing that is needed here in Omaha. Musically, this translates to opportunities to experiment with nontraditional ideas. For example, in our last show I wrote a piece that involved placing plastic Easter eggs on the strings inside a piano to alter the sound. This use of a prepared piano is, of course, not original (John Cage is known for having done this), but it’s something that isn’t commonly seen here in Omaha. On that note, though, these sorts of sound experiments have led to some funny stories. Notably, the first time I tried putting plastic Easter eggs in a piano, I did it during a house-sitting gig… and then forgot about them, accidentally leaving the eggs inside the piano for the family to discover. Oops.
Photo by Chris Machian
What will you be performing this Sunday?
I’ll be playing with Laura Burhenn (of the Mynabirds) on a couple of songs. Also, I’ll be playing with some ætherplough regulars: Chelsea Balzer, Kori Kay, Scott Zimmerman (aka Zip), and Matt Walker. We’re still working out the details regarding what we’ll be playing, but one of the great things about playing with really talented musicians is that it allows for putting together good shows in a short amount of time. Sometimes, the best live performances are the ones where there’s still a bit of improvising and uncertainty. In some ways, it makes for a more natural performance. The show should be a lot of fun, though; there are a handful of bands and musicians participating, some of whom will be doing original holiday songs, others of whom will be doing creative covers of songs we all know and love.
Does your gender impact your career and/or craft?
I think this is a complicated issue. I was raised by a single mom, which shaped my expectations. I tend to see females as having great capacities to be strong and independent, which really prepared me in some ways by arming me with certain expectations of myself, but left me woefully unprepared for the fact that gender equality isn’t a ubiquitously held view out there in the world. But historical legacies such as these tend to leave their marks in both positive and negative ways. We (women) still have a few things to prove to some people…and we are. With regard to my career and musical endeavors specifically, I can’t say that I don’t feel the sorts of pressures that are often discussed as being the hallmark of being a female of my generation: pressures to balance having both a career and a personal/family life. With all of that, where is the room for creativity and artistic fun? I think it’s important to not let go of that, but doing so has certainly come at an expense for me. It’s worth it, though.
Is Omaha a good place to be a woman in music?
Yes, I think this is a really good time and place to be a female musician. There are a number of really strong creative women in this town - many of whom are featured on this blog – who demonstrate that there are very real opportunities for creative endeavors. With regard to this topic, though, I’ve noticed a different dynamic here in Omaha than I have experienced in other places. It seems more common here for artists and musicians to be really pushing to express political and civic responsibilities through and with their art, and there are a number of women who are really driving these efforts. It might be something about Nebraska being a more conservative environment relative to a number of other artistic communities in the country that engenders this. In part, too, it seems that there being few commercial opportunities for artists helps foster an artistic community that is really committed to art for the sake of art, self-fulfillment, and/or civic engagement. There seems to be something about a commercial focus in other places that at least somewhat undermines these sorts of endeavors. And this is definitely a gender story, in part because of gender statements that still need to be made (especially in places like Nebraska) and in part because there are a number of women here who are pushing this.
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April Faith-Slaker will perform Sunday, December 11, at Omahype’s Throwndown at Slowdown, 729 N. 14th St. Doors open at 4p.m., festivities run 5p.m.-midnight. $5 suggested donation. For details visit omahype.com.
Visit April’s blog at aprilfs.blogspot.com.
