Let me tell you about myself: Part 2

This blog is part two of a three part series about highlights of Natalie's background and the moments that were most influential and transformational in sound and spirit.

College and Teaching Years
After I graduated from high school, I went to the University of Iowa for a violin performance degree. Along with classical violin lessons, Baroque ensemble, string and symphony orchestras, and string quartet, I dove into areas I was curious about. I joined the jazz improvisation class, apparently the first violinist to do so, joined steel pan ensemble, and took graduate-level courses in recording engineering and ethnomusicology.

My very first band experience was in San Francisco, where I’d gone for a year-long break from my studies. The members of the band were driven, creative, artistic musicians who described their version of rock ’n’ roll as “Afro-Cuban Celtic Mediterranean Polyrhythm.” I was hooked! Finding musicians, that artistic connection, that family-like bond that forms with band members inspired and motivated me as I joined or formed groups later on.

Even as a youngster, I was able to just make up music on the violin. I was always improvising, creating, writing. So it was natural, when I was college age, that I would find Iowa City’s ongoing blues jam at the Green Room. Along with the “usual suspects” (guitar, bass, drums, vocals, sometimes a saxophone), I would get up on stage with my violin and jam. That’s how I learned how to play with a band without having sheet music. Someone might shout out what key the tune was in, but otherwise, just go with it! I met future bandmates there and suddenly classical music was no longer my main focus. The Trollies was my main band in my college years in Iowa City. Between my university studies and rehearsals, I was playing gigs and touring on the weekends. This is a long way round to saying that for a while I very much thought I was going to be a rock star! After college I did audition for an all-girl band in Nashville, was asked to join, and would have been on tour in Guam the next week, but even auditioning made me realize that I did not want to be in an “assembly line” band, required to change my appearance and give up creativity. Soon my teaching career took over, but I still continued to perform in bands, recorded my own album, have done recordings with others, and made guest appearances with groups like 2Cellos and Foreigner.

One of my long-standing musical collaborations has been with guitarist Craig Erickson. I met Craig when he hired me to work for a music store in Cedar Rapids. I was the string instruments representative and taught stringed instrument lessons. I was also an educational road representative, traveling from school to school to see whether teachers needed supplies, music ordered, or instruments repaired. As a result of my meeting teachers and making connections, when a teaching position opened up at Washington High School, my name came up. Although I wasn’t certified to teach, I was encouraged to apply anyway, so I did! I was just a 23-year-old, but luckily, I did have conducting experience as an undergrad, along with one-on-one teaching experience. When I went in for my interview, the orchestra was working on a piece I had played in high school, so I had familiarity and enthusiasm. The interview went well, but the job was offered to someone else, someone who was certified to teach, of course. That summer, however, when I was in Colorado at a Suzuki violin teacher training program, I received a call from the principal of Washington HS, Ralph Plagman. He said it didn’t work out with the person they offered the job to initially, and I was offered the job. During my first two-and-a-half years teaching high school, I was also attending classes at Coe College to get my music education certification. It was quite the whirlwind. All along, Ralph Plagman, the principal, was my number one supporter. A champion of the performing arts, he always supported me in all my endeavors with the orchestra program at the high school.

I directed two string orchestras, a full symphony orchestra, alternative strings (a program I created that focused on popular and world music and encouraged improvisation), gave lessons, and also taught group lessons at two middle schools. The school year was filled with a busy concert schedule, community performances, competition season, travel, and fundraising for travel. A couple of highlights were having the orchestra accepted to the National Honors Orchestra Festival and performing at Carnegie Hall the 2007–2008 school year. And in March 2017, I took the orchestra to perform in Prague, Vienna, Salzburg, and Munich. This was a trip that retraced much of the itinerary of an orchestra tour I took as a young violinist with the Preucil School Orchestra, however, this time I was conducting the orchestra! An additional personal honor was the Superior, Division 1 ratings at State Large Group Contest for both string and symphony orchestras all years I was teaching. I tried my best to meet the competitive side of being the director for a 4A high school (All-State, regional, and Large Group competitions), while also keeping it fun, relevant, and personal-growth-oriented for the students.

I was extremely serious about my job. I am sure there were many years that I imagined continuing until retirement. I was highly dedicated, always at the school early and late. I wanted to be the absolute best I could be. I went on to get my master’s in music education at University of Northern Iowa while I was teaching full time and completed the degree in 2009. Not only do I love learning, but I love teaching. To me, they go hand in hand. I was learning by doing. The students taught me so much. We learned together, and I have vivid memories of countless students. Nevertheless, there were times when I felt burnt-out. It became a bit of a rollercoaster because of exhaustion. Unfortunately, there was a lot more to teaching than the music. I would say music was less than half of my job. Then there was the accounting, fundraising, counseling, meetings, conferences, extra duties that have nothing to do with music. There was a time I really got into the staff and team building aspects and served as a professional community leader for the music teachers in the district (helping facilitate in-service meetings) for a while. But then I would overdo it and get burnt-out.

I think what suffered the most for me was my own personal creativity and passion for music. I did have periods when I was also performing in bands while I was teaching full-time—The Mayflies (bluegrass/folk-rock) and Mirage (jazz fusion). I was looking for a musical challenge and invited other musicians to join me in forming Mirage and work on arrangements of music by Jean Luc Ponty, Frank Zappa, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, and others, as well as writing originals. Mirage was initially intended to be a one-off performance, perhaps a couple performances, but the project was so well received that we went on to play many sold out shows and also put together a second project, Tapestry: The Music of Carole King. Despite how much I enjoyed these projects, I was just too exhausted.

I knew a change had to happen. I had, from a very early age, been interested in world music and ethnomusicology. I began looking into how I could study and conduct research in that area of interest. Long story short, I received a leave of absence to get a master’s in Ethnology and Folklore from the University of Aberbeen in Scotland, 2012–2013. For me, this was a necessary break, but also an opportunity to live somewhere else, to do research in a place that inspired me. I have family ties to Scotland, and it’s one of those places that magically feels like home. I spent the year doing fieldwork all over Scotland on how traditional fiddle music is taught in the schools, learning hundreds of fiddle tunes, performing, recording, exploring, and checking out as many castles as I could. What I loved so much about Scotland is how music is such a central part of an individual’s community, history, identity, culture, and even landscape. I was so inspired by the musical community that when I returned to Iowa, I initiated the Eastern Iowa Folk Club, a first in the area, based on my experiences with folk clubs in the Aberdeen area. 

Scotland was actually the first place where I heard the term “sound healing.” I began to look into what that meant. And I realized, oh yeah, sound healing, of course! I have understood that as long as I can remember: sound has been healing for me my whole life. In fact, it has been what drives me and has led me to every significant choice in my life. I remember how shy I was when I was young, except for when I had that violin in my hands. When I needed to express something, the violin was my voice, and my way to meditate.

When I returned from Scotland, I had some renewed energy for teaching the following school year. Although I was offered a doctoral scholarship to continue my research at University of Aberdeen, I thought it was best to stick with my high school students and teaching. And this other world of using sound for health and wellness had captured my attention. I read as much as I could, searched, and found the Sound Healing Academy, based in England. During my last few years of teaching, I completed my certification and diploma and then began teaching for the Academy. My whole life has led me not only toward having a way to help myself with music and sound but also toward being of service to others. I was feeling more and more roadblocks as a teacher; the system was becoming increasingly political and constricting. I knew that a change was needed soon. The only thing that seemed to hold me back was the fear of leaving a stable, safe, and secure job and the care that I had for my students. I suppose I was also afraid, wondering, what will people think?

-Natalie Brown

Read Part 3 here…