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G rammy
T) „ C lackamas
INSTRUCTOR
WINNER
2,
By John Howard
The Clackamas Print
When Esperanza Spalding stepped on to the stage
to accept her Grammy for “Best New Artist” in mid
February in Los Angeles, an important milestone was
reached: Spalding became the first ever jazz musician
to win the award and took the next step in her musical
career as an upright bassist and vocalist
Spalding’s jazz story began in Portland, where she
attended the Northwest Academy, a private school
focused on the development of young artists and
musicians. While at NWA, Spalding primarily played
violin but also dabbled with guitar and piano and even
considered picking up the trumpet Brian Rose, who
now teaches music technology courses at Clackamas
Community College, was an instructor at NWA at the
time and remembers Spalding’s search for the instru
ment that suited her best.
“I wasn’t about to let her be an ‘I play everything’
musician, primarily because so often these kind of play
ers are rarely very good at any one instrument,” said
Rose. “I knew she just needed to find the right one.
She wasn’t all that crazy about playing the violin, but at
^ome point she got her hands on that bass and that was
it, she found her passion.... She looked to me for help
in playing the thing, so I showed her some basic stuff
like the blues scale and rhythm changes. ”
With Spalding’s newfound interest in the upright
■ass, an instrument much larger than she, Rose’s role as
m instructor grew.
“I was just killing time at the high school I went to
here Brian was a music teacher, and I picked up the
lass,” said Spalding. “I’d find the pitches that I wanted,
nd Brian explained ‘The first chord is this, and the sec-
nd chord is this.’ It all sounded terrible for sure, but by
he seventh or eighth time around I was having an expe-
ence that was really meaningful. I was like ‘Whoa,
> we’re just making this up, huh? This is something I
ally get!”’
From that point on, Spalding was hooked. She began
write her own music and perform around the Portland
ea, singing and playing the bass. Before long, people
,;gan to realize that Spalding’s talent was real, and that
le wanted more than to just be famous: she wanted to
i her feelings and thoughts translated into notes.
“After 10 years of playing violin and feeling utterly
competent, I was relieved to see that I could actually
press something as a musician,” said Spalding]
ase see SPALDING, Page 5
John Howard Clackamas Print
Esperanza Spalding talks about heF previous music teacher, Brian Rose,
and her recent Grammy win at Portland State Univeristy.
fr. -
NEW GRANT FUNDS
a more advanced
By Erik Andersen
Co-Editor-in-Chief
[Imagine finding out that President
¡rack Obama and Vice President Joe
pen were dating. What kind of impact
you think that would have?
pat’s what seems to be the situ-
Pn here at Clackamas Community
Hege, except it’s not Obama and
ten but Alyssa Fava, president of
Sociated Student Government, and
h Briare, vice president.
If familiar with die circumstances
behind the quiet election of Briare to
the position of VP, it might be easy to
come to the conclusion that there may
be some conflict of interest. Briare
was elected into office by a panel of
five ASG members - including Fava
- shortly before the winter break, when
Babs McCambridge stepped down due
to stresses of the job.
Fava said that she is in a relation
ship with Briare. She went on to say
that there is no law set in place in ASG
that forbids members from seeing each
other romantically outside the office.
Please see ASG, Page 3
S tudent
AND COMEDY TAKJ
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