In Focus | Clive Titmuss and Susan Adams of Early Music Studio

In Focus is our gift to the community. A way for us to help show our recognition for the people, businesses and organizations that help make our city great. The team at KelownaNow.com is passionate about this community and the people that make it amazing. We want to show our friends, neighbours, family and colleagues that we notice them and the fabulous things that they do.

What is your name?
We are Clive Titmuss and Susan Adams

What do you always find yourself saying?
Clive: Protected by obscurity.
Susan: Shape the repeated notes.

If you could spend one whole day with anyone in the world who is currently alive, who would you select and why?
Susan: It’s wonderful to spend the day with Clive…if I have to choose someone else, I think it would be fabulous to spend the day with Jerry Seinfeld. I love a good laugh!

If you were to receive any existing public award, what award would you like to win?
Clive: I’ve never won any award, and am unlikely to in the future. Protected by obscurity.
Susan: Any award with a large amount of cash would be good. I would distribute funds among individual artists who often don’t have a voice with funding agencies.

If you could spend a day with any historical figure, who would you choose and why?
Clive: Charles Darwin—a man of great intellect, courageous in his originality, and a fine writer, Voyage of the Beagle particularly. He changed our concept of humanity and human rights as well as the implications and responsibilities of being human. He also made the investigation and observation of the world, rather than trade, a respectable pursuit.
Susan: I would be very happy to spend a day with Francois Couperin. His music is full of wit and elegance, and he had such a vivid imagination. Couperin had a real sensitivity for what sounds flattering to the harpsichord, which is one of the reasons I enjoy playing his music. I think we could have a very interesting conversation.

Who inspires you?
Clive: Lately I’ve been listening to a few really good performances on keyboard instruments as I go on my long walks around the lake—so I’d like to highlight Gustav Leonhardt, who died just a few years ago, but has a large discography, and Alfred Brendel, who’s Beethoven and Schubert has been a constant joy.
Susan: I find a lot of inspiration in our beautiful Okanagan landscape; the light on the mountains and water is always changing. As well as playing music I do a lot of handweaving and I find that ideas grow from the texture and colours of the materials. I have an Etsy shop named soodesigns where I bring my creative fabric ideas to life.

What are three things on your bucket list?
Clive: Visit Vienna, Italy, and Spain. I love fountain pens and I thought I’d write a diary: “In search of the 18th century”--about architecture, art and literature.
Susan: I would add Scotland to Clive’s list of destinations. It would be interesting to make some woven pieces to complement musical ideas. The blending of historical art with contemporary life is one of the main objectives of Early Music Studio.

If you had an enormous yacht, what would you name it?
Clive: Hole in the Water—a standard term for watercraft of any kind
Susan: Floating Concert Hall

If you could foresee a single day of your future in its entirety, what date would you select?
Clive: That’s a strange and visionary question, I suppose the only day you could possible foresee being of any importance is the day of our death.
Susan: I would have to agree with that, but I think I would rather see the numbers of a really big lottery draw!

What are you passionate about?
Clive: Making music, taking tools and making wood and glue into music, and meditating and deep breathing while walking.
Susan: Playing music, fibre arts and dear friends.

What has been your favourite day of your life, up to this point?
Clive: The day I decided to give up studying English and took up music—for one thing, that’s how I met Susan.
Susan: Any day I’m breathing is a good one. Of course there have been high points…the first day I spent with Clive was stellar, with many more since then.

What has been your proudest accomplishment?
Clive: Turning a hockey stick, a wooden box of chocolates and some fish line into a primitive guitar at the age of eleven.
Susan: I was very proud of the first sweater I ever knit; a bright yellow raglan pullover. I made it when I was thirteen, and wore it until it was a rag. Since then there have been many sweaters for both of us. We have quite a collection!

Where is your favourite place to dine in Kelowna? What do you like about it?
Clive and Susan: We’ll have to echo Kyle Poirier, who referred you to us, in choosing Lake Tai on Kirschner. Vegetarian, no alcohol and therefore quiet, and really, really fast and reasonable—always great.

What is your favourite activity or event in Kelowna? Why?
Clive: Going down to, contemplating and seeing and swimming in the lake. It’s what drew me here as a child, and moving here as an adult, and it still shapes every day.
Susan: Enjoying the beautiful light and the sense of well-being which permeates the Okanagan.

Please, tell us a bit about your business or organization.
Our purpose is to play music of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries on the kind of instruments and with the style they used then. This was before music became a huge business, and music was a form of art primarily intended for solo instruments rather than bands. So we play on lutes, harpsichords, early kinds of pianos and guitars. We specialized in this field in Switzerland after University of Calgary studies. Many people play and listen to ‘early music’ without being aware that they are doing so. If you had piano lessons as a child and played any pieces by Bach, you were actually playing 18th Century music written for the harpsichord. Mozart Sonatas? They were written for a Viennese fortepiano, a lightly-constructed early piano very different from our modern version. It’s the same with Beethoven’s works written for earlier versions of modern instruments. When we have to opportunity to play and listen to period instruments, we learn things about the viewpoint of composers which in turn influences our perceptions of our current artistic environment. All musical instruments are artefacts of their period, including ours. You’d be surprised that the audience for this is actually quite large and growing, and years ago we saw the need to organize our activities and take control of our careers. So, in a what has to be described, then and now, as a difficult environment for culture and the arts in Canada, we formed the Early Music Studio. Then we turned that into a not-for-profit Society. We did that in 1987. That way we could unite the production of music performances and our artistic inner life and dedicate them to a single goal. We’ve produced a large number of concerts over 28 years, both here and in Surrey/Vancouver, and we think we’ve been vocal advocates of early music Our not-for profit approach made it possible for a synthesis of individual artists and a Board of Directors to further the charitable objectives of music making. It’s almost impossible to work in the arts without an organization that lends weight and substance to the individual artist. No level of government or private business will help you out unless you are organized and fiscally responsible. It’s a small-scale democracy, in effect and action. We depend on our volunteers, and on great people who will help us achieve our musical objectives. I’ll even tip my hat to the media on this. They really deserve some recognition for telling the story. And in Kelowna, they’ve been good to us.

What is the name of your business/organization?
Officially we’re The Society of Friends of Early Music Studio, but we usually just say “Friends of Early Music”

What does your business/organization do?
We perform, we record, we educate the public, we edit music, and we try to elevate the level of our local culture to highlight live performance. Clive also makes his own instruments, and plays on them. Naturally, we are also teachers of music--and its traditions--to a new generation. We maintain a big website with music, images and samples. And social media is a big part of the work now. That’s true for a lot of artists.

Where can people find you or your business online?
www.earlymusicstudio.com

How do people connect with you on Linkedin?
Just with our names should do it.

Where can people find your business on Facebook?
Early Music Studio

What is your Twitter account?
@EarlyMusicStu

What is your mission?
To entertain, inform and to touch the hearts and minds of everybody who loves music. There’s a lot of love out there, if you think of the size of, say, Apple.

If you could achieve one thing within your field, what would it be?
Well it’s fair to say that we’ve achieved a lot of things, playing for audiences, restoring antiques and playing on them, and making recordings, but we’d really like to get a wider audience. We think if more people knew about it, they’d love to hear it. It’s a great story, centuries in the making.

Where do you want your business/organization to be in five years?
We’d like to do better getting public money. We think there’s a bias in political culture: the physical over the emotional and intellectual life of our society. There must me a balance of these things. We think there must be a greater influence of women in public life because they understand the importance of cultural depth for the young and its value for the future of Canada. For example Arts Centres are built, but few funds or means exist to keep them running and stoking the cultural fire--buildings instead of people. We fill out a lot of forms and find it difficult to break through this bias. There’s just not enough money for it. But we’ll never quit.

Who do you consider to be a forerunner within your field?
The City of Kelowna is actually a strong supporter of the cultural industries, and it has dedicated staff. The Cultural District was conceived with the objective of making an infrastructure for artistic activity. BC in general, is not aware of how strong its artists and creators are. The City has helped with that, I would say. It would be great if they could convince councillors of the need for better financial support all around, and more for individual projects.

What three qualities do you feel that your business/organization exemplifies?
Constancy, the daily discipline of working with and loving music, and the strong need to educate and illuminate.

What would you like to say to your employees/volunteers?
They’ve been so great, and sometimes it’s pretty tough slogging. Thanks!

How does your business/organization impact the community?
We really try to make our concerts have a story, so that music lovers will hear a narrative about people and music. Instruments are important, but the music is the real star. We try to tell that story in the press and on the web, so that viewers will hear that music isn’t just about being a focus of public attention, earning vast sums which is rare, or putting on a show. It has abstract values that improve the health and lives of the people who listen to it. This is especially true for the young.

If you were trapped in an elevator with several wealthy investors from any field, which field would you want them to be experts in? What would say to them/talk about?
Things have really changed in the corporate world and almost all companies now realize that they must portray qualities that reflect the values of their customers. The environment, being a good employer, and having a charitable component are now very much in their view. It would be great to get investors and managers to see the Cultural sector as key to their corporate citizenship. I would argue for an openness to sponsoring arts events, programs, education and festivals. We are far behind our neighbours to the south in this respect. For too long we have relied on governments for this, but now they have been squeezed by costs, so it’s very important to see businesses taking up some of that responsibility and providing a venue and funding for culture and events.

If I could change one thing about Kelowna, it would be:
The sign bylaws—the stripmall signs are too big and overlit. Too many temporary signs on the highway, and far too much unnecessary energy wasted lighting parking lots at night. Too much construction of new retail space when the existing spaces have a lot of vacancies. Really, we don’t need more and it just spoils the natural landscape.

What do you think makes Kelowna great?
Kelowna has great parks. It has the lake, and the people are so friendly and courteous. Our physical surroundings are such a tremendous boon to us all. We must be more careful about what we do in the built environment.

My choice for the Kelowna In Focus spotlight is:
Our friend and colleague Alan Rinehart—he’s our next guest artist for a concert that we’re calling “Broadwood Grand” in November. Music and poetry of English Romatics coupled with music for guitars and piano.

Some general comments I would like to share are:
Don’t tailgate, don’t speed and buy smaller transportation devices that consume less energy. Take your kids to cultural events. Show them some art. Read to them. Let them play music, not just listen to it. Foster creativity in everything. Relax your wrists and sit at the right height. Eat more chocolate.

We encourage you to leave your comments and words of support below, and submit your own nomination by clicking HERE. You are also welcome to submit a form of your own by clicking HERE. Thank you, Kelowna!